same old national

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Hit and Run – time for an inquiry

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:37 am, March 22nd, 2017 - 21 comments

Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s book Hit and Run makes a compelling case for the Government to conduct a full inquiry to see if New Zealand forces were complicit in the killing of innocent men and women and if there was a cover up.

Nothing to fear, nothing to hide

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:55 pm, March 21st, 2017 - 14 comments

Todd Barclay has chosen to co-operate fully with the police investigation into his actions by getting a lawyer and refusing to say anything to them.

National’s water problem

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:03 am, March 21st, 2017 - 48 comments

The Government’s timid backdown on water charging is placing it in a very uncomfortable position.

National’s flawed RMA ripoff still failing

Written By: lprent - Date published: 7:22 am, March 15th, 2017 - 13 comments

Maori Party Co-Leader, Marama Fox, is playing hardball over Nick Smith latest attempts to weasel out of commitments on the deeply flawed RMA changes that National has spent the last few years trying to find any support for in Parliament. The bill is crap. The Maori party should just drop it regardless how many baubles they think they will get from it.

Nick Smith is a disgrace

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:00 pm, March 14th, 2017 - 32 comments

In a functioning democracy Nick Smith’s handling of the Resource Management Bill should result in him losing his ministerial warrant.

National accuses John Key of shying away from the hard issues

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:35 am, March 6th, 2017 - 61 comments

Shambolic scenes as Bill English’s twitter account tweets criticism of John Key not taking the hard decisions regarding superannuation eligibility, then the tweet gets deleted. And Bill did not know the tweet had been sent out.

Who would have thunk that Government’s approach to housing is inadequate

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:46 am, March 2nd, 2017 - 34 comments

Radio New Zealand has reported on a review of the Government’s housing policy which described it as fragmented and lacking a robust plan but it took intervention by the Ombudsman to have the review released.

National bolster their moribund blue-greens

Written By: lprent - Date published: 8:28 am, February 28th, 2017 - 74 comments

I read this morning in Politik that Vernon Tava has left the Greens and appears to be leaning towards National. It doesn’t seem to me to much of a problem to lose a conservationist to National. It just means that the Greens can concentrate more effectively on the work of getting everyone trying to build a cleaner sustainable future.

Housing crisis what housing crisis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:02 am, February 27th, 2017 - 52 comments

The Government’s estimate of the extent of the housing crisis has recently been shown to be totally out of touch and to add further pathos it is counting kiwi families urgently housed in motels in tourism statistics.

Nick Smith becomes Minister of Government Information

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:05 am, February 24th, 2017 - 62 comments

The Government intends to change the definitions of various indicators in an effort to solve some of the country’s most serious problems.

Forest and Bird takes it the Government in the Supreme Court

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:10 am, February 24th, 2017 - 25 comments

The Crown is seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal decision obtained by Forest and Bird which is preventing Conservation land in the Hawkes Bay from being used for the controversial Ruataniwha dam.

Kia Kaha Canterbury

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:00 am, February 16th, 2017 - 35 comments

It seems almost inevitable that the recent fires in Canterbury and the Hawkes Bay are the result of climate change and the harbingers of things to come.

Government will not support victims of domestic violence

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:33 am, February 14th, 2017 - 19 comments

The Government is refusing to support Jan Logie’s bill aimed at helping the victims of domestic violence despite the bill receiving support from the ANZ and Business New Zealand supporting the bill going at least to select committee.

Bloomberg warns world of New Zealand’s toxic trusts

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:56 am, February 12th, 2017 - 21 comments

Bloomberg magazine has highlighted how foreign trusts are damaging New Zealand’s reputation and are being used for criminal activity.

Medicinal Cannabis law reform

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:37 am, February 8th, 2017 - 30 comments

The Government is finally moving to adopt Labour policy and loosen requirements for the use of medicinal cannabis.

The SOE sell down three years on

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, February 7th, 2017 - 78 comments

Some time in the next 12 months it is likely that the forgone dividend payments and loss in share value from the Power Company shares and Air NZ share sale will be greater than the amount received, only three years after the sale.

Smartest guy in the room

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:43 pm, February 4th, 2017 - 93 comments

The Government signed a deal with Peter Thiel that socialised the losses and allowed him to privatise the gains of the joint venture fund that the parties entered into.

The Peter Thiel citizenship grant

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:16 am, February 2nd, 2017 - 78 comments

The Peter Thiel paper dump raise more questions than they answer and hints at ongoing communication with National ministers and that John Key approached Thiel to make the donation subsequently made to Key’s earthquake fund.

Bill English thinks he was pro Springbok tour

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:51 am, January 20th, 2017 - 102 comments

Bill English says that he was probably for the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand although has hinted that he has since changed his mind.

The end of ‘governing from the centre’?

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 3:33 pm, January 10th, 2017 - 124 comments

And a return to the politics of division by Blinglish…

Refining that dog whistle

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, January 10th, 2017 - 71 comments

Bill English has used a proposal for timing of his Waitangi speech to wrongly claim that he is being silenced. And most of the media bought it.

The St Johns Industrial Dispute – #HealthyAmbosSaveLives

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:43 am, January 7th, 2017 - 51 comments

St Johns is one of the first organisations to use new Industrial powers brought in by the Government and is attempting to refuse to negotiate with First Union and is docking workers pay for wearing a campaign t-shirt.

Steven Joyce rewrites history

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:53 am, December 20th, 2016 - 62 comments

Steven Joyce believes that doing something is the same as not doing something.

McCully is going

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:27 pm, December 15th, 2016 - 26 comments

Murray McCully has announced that he too is standing down from politics at the next election and his removal as a Minister this week appears almost inevitable.

Bill English to be elected as National Leader

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:30 am, December 9th, 2016 - 222 comments

Video of left wingers responding to the news that Bill English will be National’s next leader.

National plans to sell Housing Corp home Key grew up in

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, November 25th, 2016 - 39 comments

John Key, the state house tenant turned good who has relied heavily on his humble upbringing is overseeing the sale of the state house he grew up in.

Brownlee should stop vilifying scientists

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:53 am, November 22nd, 2016 - 21 comments

Gerry Brownlee has attacked a public servant firstly for not approached the Government for increased Geonet monitoring and then for raising the issue but not telling him personally.

Brownlee bullies GNS staff

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:15 am, November 21st, 2016 - 49 comments

Gerry Brownlee has chosen to respond to the cautious words of a public servant by publicly attacking him.

Andrew Little: Promises to Pike families must be kept

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:57 am, November 20th, 2016 - 81 comments

Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the Pike River disaster. Here is a statement released by Andrew Little urging that the mine not be sealed and the deaths of the miners be investigated and their bodies brought home.

National tries to have it both ways

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:31 am, November 19th, 2016 - 51 comments

Despite the Kaikoura earthquakes, the damage to the Capital and the fact the EQC fund is now in deficit, the Government is still holding out the possibility of tax cuts in election year.