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It’s the little things …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:40 am, April 22nd, 2014 - 36 comments

Another day and another hole in Judith Collins’ description of events surrounding the dinner that she had with senior Oravida figures and a Chinese Official who may or may not have been able to sort out importation problems for Oravida, a company who her husband is a Director of and who has made large donations to the National Party.

The drone strike killing of a Kiwi

Written By: redfed - Date published: 8:41 am, April 21st, 2014 - 282 comments

The Government is completely indifferent to the killing of innocent children and New Zealand citizens because it is part of the war against terrorism. But the extra judicial killing of innocent adults and children is by definition a terrorist act.

The housing bubble

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:38 am, April 20th, 2014 - 176 comments

Another week and another report suggesting that New Zealand’s housing market is heading towards a potential crisis. The Government’s primary response is to blame Labour. The Greens and Labour have a collection of policies which would improve matters significantly. But the politics are difficult because who would want to threaten the value of the family home?

The week that was

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:29 pm, April 18th, 2014 - 37 comments

The highs and lows and the good and bad of what was a fascinating week in Politics.

LB: EDUCANZ, Professionalism and Politics

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:18 am, April 17th, 2014 - 8 comments

We now have a Ministry of Education that is under the beck and call of the Minister, and where political ideology determines policy, and shortly we will have a new Teachers Council that will be governed only by political appointees. Under a National led Government, teachers will lose any professional independence and become classroom technicians that have to support politically prescribed programmes and data collection. Anyone want a career in teaching?

Tell the police, New Zealand has been robbed …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:56 am, April 17th, 2014 - 72 comments

Genesis Energy’s shares have been sold at a price well below their value. And despite considerable demand from local mum and dad investors one in four of the shares has been sold to overseas institutions.

NRT: The PCE on the Environmental Reporting Bill

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:55 am, April 16th, 2014 - 2 comments

No Right Turn on the Environmental Reporting Bill that has the watchdogs up in arms. Listening to Amy Adams last night going on about how transparent and open to public scrutiny regulations are made me wonder what bloody universe she lived in – bizarro world perhaps?. Submissions on the Environmental Reporting Bill are due on Thursday.

Collins under fire

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:06 am, April 16th, 2014 - 115 comments

Judith Collins, once one of National’s most assured performers, is facing increasing pressure. Her handling of the ACC privacy release form scandal is under scrutiny. And the release of a letter from Oravida to the Government asking for help in handling reputational risk focusses even more attention on the “private dinner” and the identity of the mysterious Chinese Government Official.

Tau Henare and the baubles of retirement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:30 am, April 12th, 2014 - 16 comments

Tau Henare is leaving politics and is rumoured to be the next chair of Maori Television. Makes you wonder what offers were made to persuade the many other National MPs who are retiring to go so meekly.

iPredict needs “Next National Minister Resignation”

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 7:13 pm, April 10th, 2014 - 35 comments

Who will it be? Judith? Simon? Hekia? Amy? Or a surprise?

NRT: Is the Minister of Energy a muppet?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:55 pm, April 9th, 2014 - 11 comments

When looking at Simon Bridges – a purported government minister. You have to remember that he is damn sloppy even for a politician. But oh so typical of his usual muppet behaviour is that he wasn’t aware that he was opening up our biggest forest park for oil and gas exploration. Of course it could just be National’s bulldoze anything for a little immediate profit….

Poverty denial – NZ Herald editorial

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:44 am, April 8th, 2014 - 210 comments

Today’s NZ Herald editorial joins Paula Bennett’s beneficiary-bashing stunt, asking for flying privileges to be cut, & denying there is a lot of poverty in NZ- a view from the privileged part of NZ’s inequality gap.

The politics of the Royal Tour

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:04 am, April 8th, 2014 - 85 comments

Is it just me or is John Key politicising the Royal Tour in a way that has not occurred before? And is he a Royalist or a Republican or both at the same time but for different parts of the electorate?

Polity: Armstrong on National on Labour

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:20 pm, April 7th, 2014 - 13 comments

It isn’t a new ploy from National or its supporters. “Mortgage rate rises under National: Good. Mortgage rate rises under Labour: Dreadful!”. I’ve seen David Farrar argue both that a recession is the perfect time to cut taxes because it stimulates the economy, and a recovery is also the perfect time to cut taxes to provide a dividend. It reminds me of that old chestnut, most recently applied to Don Brash: “The answer is tax cuts. What is the question again?”

Local Bodies: The Great Oil Gamble and Wasted Opportunities

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:37 am, April 7th, 2014 - 24 comments

Gamble Big’ rather than ‘Think Big’ should be this National Government’s mantra.Opening up huge areas of our land and territorial waters for open slather oil and gas exploration is a gamble on so many levels. When many countries like Denmark are actively chasing a sustainable, clean energy future, this government is throwing all its hopes on a big strike of fossil fuel.

National preparing for November election?

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:01 am, April 4th, 2014 - 36 comments

A guest post concerning apparent confusion on the part of the National Party about when this year’s election is. Stand by for breathless denunciation of the party by Farrar, Slater and the Young Nats for its inability to organise a piss up in a brewery.

Fact checking John Key’s budget speech

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:25 pm, April 3rd, 2014 - 144 comments

David Parker has been performing some fact checking on John Key’s recent budget speech and the results are somewhat startling …

Rogernomics, income inequality & gender politics

Written By: karol - Date published: 12:22 pm, April 3rd, 2014 - 22 comments

All of us, in our diversity, can make a big impact this election year. Time to end the “neoliberal” tyranny! Crime stats are celebrated masking the continuing impact of income & social inequalities. Rogernomics fractured gender politics & rape crisis intiatives.

Drill baby drill

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:12 am, April 3rd, 2014 - 40 comments

Two days after the IPCC has warned us of the threat posed by climate change and Simon Bridges has announced a huge block offer of parts of New Zealand and much of its territorial water. This will include the pristine waters off Auckland’s west coast, home of Maui’s dolphin. In a world that has to address its consumption of petroleum you have to question if it is worth the risk.

Patricia Grace takes on RONS

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:29 am, April 1st, 2014 - 48 comments

The Kapiti Expressway is one of the National government’s RONS projects: it makes no sense economically. It is destructive to the environment and the local communities. The NZTA is attempting to run roughshod over ancestral lands, including that of writer, Patricia Grace. She is taking a stand.

NRT: Cash for honours

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:44 am, March 28th, 2014 - 17 comments

Yesterday No Right Turn did a post on how Graeme Douglas became Sir Graeme Douglas by looking at his donations donating heavily to the National party after being gonged. But this other post on the same overall subject was more interesting. It is no wonder that National wanted the more lucrative royal honours reinstated.

The struggle over gambling corruption

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:04 am, March 25th, 2014 - 48 comments

There has been a long struggle by the Problem Gambling Foundation & others against SkyCity & the powerful and secretive Pokie Trusts. The government has tended to support the trusts, while maintaining their distance from them. The defunding of the PGF is the latest chapter in the struggle.

Power disconnections increase as hardship grants are cut

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:47 am, March 25th, 2014 - 38 comments

Radio New Zealand has reported that power disconnections have soared at the same time that WINZ hardship grants have plummeted. Simon Bridges has suggested that it is the power companies fault. The Government should be blaming increasing poverty and inadequate WINZ hardship grants instead.

Polity: Buy low, sell high. Except National.

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:06 pm, March 24th, 2014 - 27 comments

Rob at Polity points out National’s intensely unstrategic view about investments and asset sales. In a down market where all the indications said “buy,” National sold our assets for a pittance, and refused to invest in the Super Fund. The Super Fund has been making returns of 21%, far exceeding the Crown’s cost of borrowing. And National will only start investing in the Super Fund when equities are expensive again. It is almost as if they wanted to waste taxpayers funds eh?

LocalBodies: National Slumps in Polls As Ministers Struggle

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:19 am, March 24th, 2014 - 22 comments

There is danger of reading too much into polls months out from an election. Commentators were claiming that National was too strong to lose the next election based on a rogue poll. Few looked at multiple polls, accounted for the margin of error nor the trends over past months. The last fortnight has seen a National with the latest Roy Morgan Poll plummeting from the Colmar Brunton result of 51% to 45.5%. And it is based on a lack of ministerial performance…

his precious $

Written By: geoff - Date published: 8:20 am, March 22nd, 2014 - 41 comments

As reported on TV3 news a few nights ago, John Key said that “I have a very strong sense of how precious children are…” The children, that is, of Chinese consumers who are buying milk powder… As for kiwi kids, well…how precious are they, John? National cares so much for kiwi kids they were prepared […]

And now for the real news…

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:00 am, March 21st, 2014 - 15 comments

“Rockstar economy”? Let’s hear it for another chorus of,”There is no depression in New Zealand”! Demographia reports on absolute food and housing poverty for too many Kiwis. Simon Collins reports on the ethnic inequality gaps & high rates of Maori imprisonment.

Parata replaces Collins and Adams as National’s weakest link

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:20 am, March 20th, 2014 - 57 comments

This week Hekia Parata has achieved what I thought was impossible. She has shown even worse judgment than Judith Collins and is threatening to replace Collins as National’s minister who is most in trouble. Hekia’s days as a Minister must be numbered …

What use is oil extraction here?

Written By: lprent - Date published: 9:10 am, March 20th, 2014 - 26 comments

One of the more irritating traits of National politicians is their bone-headed and short-term obsession about being rentiers selling raw and lightly processed raw materials offshore. Sure it is great in the short-term for the seller of the rights to those raw materials, but it does little to nothing for the other 4+ million people […]

Out of the Loop

Written By: geoff - Date published: 9:49 pm, March 17th, 2014 - 155 comments

As I’ve previously pointed out, John Key’s National government only serves the privileged elite.

But their policy of only favouring the favoured few is not only venal, it’s really stupid economics as well.

Hekia Parata wants to punish poor schools

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:43 am, March 17th, 2014 - 46 comments

Yesterday Hekia Parata floated the idea that funding of schools should be based on measuring the periodic change in academic standards. This is a retrograde proposal which almost inevitably would penalise poor schools and worsen educational standards for many. Today she has been trying to dampen down the idea and has emphasised that it will not be considered until after the next election. A better reason to vote this Government out I cannot imagine.