same old national

Categories under same old national

No categories

John Key’s housing announcement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:00 am, January 29th, 2015 - 119 comments

John Key’s housing announcement contained very little new information. Work has been put in for the past couple of years in developing the policy. The net effect will be that the Government will have more money for other capital projects not related to emergency housing. It will keep its fingers crossed that charities can pick up the slack. And the risk is that not one new house will be constructed at a time of intense need.

Armstrong and Small on Nick Smith’s RMA reforms

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:05 am, January 24th, 2015 - 26 comments

Senior political reporters Vern Small and John Armstrong have both chosen to pan Nick Smith’s proposed RMA changes using remarkably similar logic. Update: and Fran O’Sullivan has a go too.

Who was the better economic manager – Helen Clark or John Key?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 6:59 pm, January 20th, 2015 - 150 comments

Sometimes a simple graph is much more eloquent and powerful than a whole lot of words …

What should John Key do in 2015?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:57 am, January 18th, 2015 - 39 comments

James Griffin has written a tongue in cheek article on what John Key should be doing this year. But the article is full of political fluff and has no real proposals for action. What should John Key be doing this year?

TV3, Cameron Brewer and more of the same

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:06 pm, January 17th, 2015 - 39 comments

TV3 recently interviewed Cameron Brewer to provide adverse commentary on a story about Labour seeded by David Farrar and Cameron Slater. And they did not even mention Brewer’s links to the National Party.

Dirty Politics in 2015

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:53 am, January 13th, 2015 - 81 comments

Political Scientists Bronwyn Hayward and Mark Boyd were interviewed on Radio New Zealand yesterday on New Zealand politics in 2014 and what happened during the election. They talked extensively on dirty politics, on the role of the media and how things can be improved in 2015.

The Government wishes Andrea Vance a very merry Christmas

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:50 am, December 25th, 2014 - 25 comments

On the eve of Christmas in a cynical attempt to avoid political damage the Government has apologised to Andrea Vance for breaching her rights of privacy in 2013 after requiring Parliamentary Services to hand over her metadata and attempting to cover up the exercise.

The Sky City Convention Centre

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:41 am, December 23rd, 2014 - 81 comments

Sky City is doing what Rio Tinto and Warner Brothers have done in the past. Threaten to walk away from a deal unless the Government writes you a big cheque …

Thumbs down for Joyce’s ministerial domain

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:23 am, December 22nd, 2014 - 33 comments

A new report shows that Steven Joyce’s MBIE fiefdom is failing miserably. Meanwhile the MBIE is under fire for the major cost blow out of the Sky City Casino deal – another deal with Joyce’s imprints all over it.

Why wasn’t Brownlee sacked?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:50 am, December 19th, 2014 - 49 comments

The Civil Aviation Authority report into Gerry Brownlee’s breach of security at Christchurch Airport has now been released albeit in a heavily redacted form. The report contradicts Brownlee’s claim that the door was opened for him by a Security Officer and that the officer consented to his use of the security area. Why was the release of the report delayed? And why wasn’t Brownlee sacked as a Minister?

‘Ditch the [misleading] rhetoric’

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:39 am, December 12th, 2014 - 16 comments

On RNZ this morning PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff criticised Bill English for his misleading rhetoric about rises in “average wages”. NZ’s income and wealth gaps have increased in recent decades. The lowest income remain low; the top earners get big salary increases.

Groser and National have a plan to save the world from global warming

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:00 pm, December 6th, 2014 - 61 comments

Tim Groser and National have a plan to solve global warming so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.

Is John Key on the skids?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 4:25 pm, December 3rd, 2014 - 85 comments

In the House today Megan Woods embarrassed John Key with some very simple yet direct questions about Jason Ede. Key’s attempts to joke away the issue was met with silence from his side of the house. Dirty Politics is clearly having an effect.

Local Bodies: Government Responsible for Invercargill Poverty

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:00 am, December 2nd, 2014 - 6 comments

The second annual Child Poverty Monitor was released today. bsprout on Local Bodies on poverty and inequalities in Invercargill, “provides a good snapshot of New Zealand society”.

Dirty political money – why isn’t it illegal?

Written By: lprent - Date published: 7:30 pm, November 26th, 2014 - 39 comments

The Greens have released information that shows National having 77% of their donations in the last 3 years ($3.375 million) funnelled to them in non-public quite large donations. What are they providing for that? Well amongst other things it pays for sleazeballs like Jason Ede. But what legislation?

Oh dear – National’s “white elephant” is still growing?

Written By: lprent - Date published: 4:56 pm, November 23rd, 2014 - 44 comments

Public transport traffic in Auckland keeps growing by large 7.7% per year. Car traffic despite all of the motorway and roading improvements grew by just 2.3% in the whole period of 2006 and 2013 amongst commuters. But our current idiotic National transport minister wants more roads? And won’t let Aucklanders decide what they should do despite them voting with their AT Hop cards.

NRT: Policy of fear

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:58 pm, November 20th, 2014 - 17 comments

Community groups have a vital role in New Zealand. They speak on social problems such as poverty, mental illness and addiction. They also often have a direct role in fixing them via government funding. The tension between those two roles is one that National is ruthlessly exploiting to stifle dissent.

Gerry Brownlee and Airport security

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:16 pm, November 18th, 2014 - 11 comments

Gerry Brownlee has admitted and been fined for entering a security area at Christchurch Airport. But there is an issue about whether he had a defence to the charge that he actually faced. And despite John Key’s and the CAA’s indication the report into the incident would be released it is now being withheld.

Paid parental leave bill faces defeat

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 6th, 2014 - 9 comments

The first repercussion of the election result is the almost inevitable defeat of Sue Moroney’s Paid Parental Leave private member’s bill. The Government is clearly determined to prevent her from getting credit for raising and highlighting an issue of importance to Kiwi families.

The exciting sexy selloff of our State housing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:18 am, November 1st, 2014 - 78 comments

Paula Bennett thinks that selling off much of the country’s housing stock is exciting and sexy and that the market and a group of charities will be able to resolve the country’s housing issues.

There is no child poverty in New Zealand

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:03 am, October 29th, 2014 - 64 comments

A recently published UNICEF report on levels of child poverty amongst developed economies suggests that despite our rockstar economy and our brighter future child poverty levels in New Zealand have stagnated since 2008 while in Australia meaningful changes have been made.

Collective bargaining? Yeah right …

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:30 am, October 26th, 2014 - 11 comments

JAmooches continues their analysis of the effects of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. Today the focus is on the provisions that negate the requirement for the parties to act in good faith bargaining, in particular for being able to conclude collective agreements.

NRT: Political interference at Maori Television

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:04 pm, October 24th, 2014 - 11 comments

A government-owned television channel arranges an interview with a former opposition MP, but the government-appointed CEO spikes it. Something from Russia or Cuba maybe? No – according to Hone Harawira its happening right here in New Zealand. National’s specially appointed CEO Paora Maxwell apparently personally doing the gagging of a previously independent Native Affairs show.

Dirty politics and dirty cyclists

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:18 am, October 22nd, 2014 - 32 comments

Jason Ede has resurfaced at Teamtalk, a company with significant links to the National Party and a managing director with unusual views about cyclists.

NRT: National’s failure on housing

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:54 pm, October 21st, 2014 - 25 comments

A year ago National rammed through special housing areas promising 9000 homes consented in the first year under it. Over the last year they have managed to build 5 and consented 294. Nick Smith fails maths yet again. This year 13,000 – yeah right!

The 4th estate & its pretenders

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:59 am, October 19th, 2014 - 63 comments

Some journalists continue to try to fulfill the fourth estate ideal of pursuing truth & speaking truth to power. Others, with powerful links to corporate media & governments, work to suppress debate and democracy, often using threats, abusive nastiness & fear mongering.

Hiding the government’s failure on poverty

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:00 pm, October 17th, 2014 - 81 comments

Thanks to Radio New Zealand, we now know that National got no real plan to address poverty, but also that they really, really don’t want to be honest about it.

NRT: We don’t need new laws to fight terrorism

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:14 pm, October 8th, 2014 - 10 comments

John Key has been busy lying about the need for yet more ‘anti-terrorism’ laws. How many do the police and security forces need? As NRT points out, are they just too lazy to use the ones they already have? Or is this just because John Key wants to get his own plastic sword? Surely we pay him enough to buy his own?

NRT: A surprise policy

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:12 pm, October 7th, 2014 - 32 comments

Remember National’s social housing policy? The one they campaigned on? The one that talked about how much money they were spending and was all about upgrading and investing in state houses? Somehow, post-election, its transmogrified into selling off a third of the state housing stock. John Key lying to voters as usual eh?

The long reach of “5 Eyes”: re-post

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:52 am, October 6th, 2014 - 15 comments

With Chris Finlayson just announced as minister in charge of GCSB & SIS, I thought it appropriate to re-post something I published on The Standard back in July 2013: links 5 Eyes’ attorney generals, cyber-security, Dotcom, etc.

Unaffordable housing & the culture of greed

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:17 am, October 4th, 2014 - 47 comments

Rental housing remains unaffordable for many. The problem is the greed of investors & speculators, supported by a culture in which housing investment is seen as a way to individual prosperity.