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The Genesis share float – or is that share sink?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:03 am, March 14th, 2014 - 24 comments

The Government is continuing with the Genesis share float. Shares with an anticipated yield of 15% are being sold to pay off debt on which interest at 5% is being charged. What sort of economic lunacy is this?

Scandals

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 9:31 am, March 13th, 2014 - 8 comments

Just a wee list to try and keep track of the current scandals our dear friends in the National party are dealing with.

Amy Adams has some explaining to do

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:12 pm, March 12th, 2014 - 33 comments

Amy Adams is now facing questions of conflict of interest after details have been published that land and company shares she owns may increase in value because of the proposed Canterbury Irrigation Scheme.

ImperatorFish: John Key explains to the media

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:41 am, March 12th, 2014 - 4 comments

[satire] Let me explain. There has been no breach of Cabinet rules. This has been confirmed by the Cabinet Office. Not the real Cabinet Office, but the one that exists in the deepest recesses of my imagination. That particular Cabinet Office always gives me the advice I want to hear, and the one thing I’ve learned from all my years in this place is to always listen to the voices in my head.

Polity: “Promoting” vs “endorsing”

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:22 am, March 12th, 2014 - 16 comments

The Orivida mess smells worse by the day for National. Yesterday, it turned out the Cabinet Office’s advice clearing Judith Collins of any wrongdoing had failed to even look at the most important piece of the evidence – the Chinese text of Orivida’s website. It had to rush out new advice to cover that off, which Key still won’t release. That is why today John Key will spend much of question time dancing on the head of a pin…

National – pissing debt against a wall.

Written By: lprent - Date published: 3:41 pm, March 11th, 2014 - 77 comments

The deficit was $637 million dollars bigger than expected. In fact it was more than double the expected size. Why? Well mostly because of much smaller tax revenues than previously estimated. So much for the mythic recovery that National’s spinners have been pushing over xmas. We just finished paying off the mountain of debt that National gave me back in the 1970’s and early 80s. Now the shifty party of crony business morons are trying to do it to another generation.

Polity: Why announce the election date this week?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:30 pm, March 11th, 2014 - 18 comments

Rob Salmond at Polity has a look at why National surprisingly announced the election date yesterday. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that it was a deflection from something. Rob thinks that National was worried about where a look at donations to National’s campaign would lead. He may be right, as in the past National has had some legally and morally dubious donation regimes

Beltway blues: serving the public interest?

Written By: karol - Date published: 12:00 pm, March 10th, 2014 - 32 comments

Gower’s one-dimensional, distorted, gotcha reporting, highlights the failings of TV3 news & The Nation. Corin Dann and Qu &A are less one-dimensional, but speak within the B-Hive-Media Loop, that speaks for the comfortable middle & Business classes, & manufactured a “problem” week for Cunliffe.

Give us the names or pay the money back, John

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 11:59 am, March 8th, 2014 - 157 comments

John Key has taken at least $165,000 in anonymous donations through secret dinner donations.

Will he follow David Cunliffe’s example and either name names or pay the money back? Or is Key too tricky for that?

Key hides advice, Collins goes to ground

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 11:36 pm, March 6th, 2014 - 76 comments

Radio New Zealand has reported that John Key is refusing to release the advice he claims clears Judith Collins over her conflict of interest. And is now claiming that the Cabinet rules are ” just a guideline anyway”

Glen Innes ‘war zone’

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:08 am, March 6th, 2014 - 52 comments

A photo/video documentary project in March Metro Magazine shows Glen Innes as a war zone. The National Government’s war on the poor continues with the sales and removal of state housing. Protest this evening at Glen Innes.

Collins and Oravida

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 7:01 am, March 5th, 2014 - 114 comments

Judith Collin’s endorses a company, Orivida, that her husband is a (presumably paid) director of. That same company has previously made political donations to the National Party.

That’s a conflict of interest.

National’s ICT failures.

Written By: lprent - Date published: 10:55 pm, March 4th, 2014 - 23 comments

After having the past five and bit years with National’s negative policies about anything to do with new technologies, it is really nice to see some partially formed red-tinged morning ideas about how to encourage local usage of the net appearing on the sky’s horizon. National’s ICT strategy seems to see how uselessly slow they can do everything and how much they can slow down the development of ICT in NZ.

How short are memories?

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 11:39 pm, March 3rd, 2014 - 216 comments

John Key is attacking David Cunliffe for using a trust to obscure some donations – whilst repeating the word ‘tricky’ about Cunliffe as many times in one sound-bite as humanly possible. It’s an astonishingly brazen stone to throw given National’s glass house. Do no reporters remember John Key, Hollow Man, or anything about National’s funding […]

NRT: Treasury, National, and child poverty

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:18 pm, February 28th, 2014 - 10 comments

In many ways what is even more irritating about this screwup by treasury is that it isn’t likely to be the children living below the poverty line that has an impact. It is the large numbers of elderly that Treasury has now discovered getting worse off and falling into poverty. After all they have a vote. Whereas children don’t so the future accumulated costs of their poverty aren’t something that this government will concern itself about.

The Genesis share float has problems

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:21 am, February 27th, 2014 - 17 comments

The Government has effectively conceded that the Genesis share float will not meet expectations and is softening New Zealand up to the prospect that only 30% of the shares may be sold. It makes you wonder why they are still going a head with the sale.

David Cunliffe’s home

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:56 pm, February 20th, 2014 - 227 comments

National is now targeting David Cunliffe and his family. Metiria Turei was attacked for living in a castle and wearing designer jackets, and now David Cunliffe is being attacked for being wealthy. The criticisms miss the point. There is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy. But there is everything wrong in setting fire to the ladder of social support after you have had the opportunity to climb it.

Polity: Key practices 56% truth inflation

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:48 pm, February 19th, 2014 - 21 comments

John Key makes up the figures during a session of parliament for the expected unemployment in coming years when he took office. The apparent reason is to make his governments piss-poor performance running the economy look better. Of course there is that problem that Rob Salmond can link to the December 2008 projections from the Treasury which show John Key to be lying (yet again).

Poverty on the agenda

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:26 am, February 19th, 2014 - 81 comments

The documentary ‘Mind the Gap’ and an interview with a UNICEF advocacy manager focus on poverty and inequality. Zombie “neoliberal” policies have increased poverty & inequality, damaging the futures of too many children. We will all benefit from good government policies underpinned by a commitment to collective approaches and responsibility.

LB: Greens’ Solar Sense and National’s Nonsense

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 4:00 pm, February 18th, 2014 - 28 comments

Local Bodies looks at some (very cool) solar installations and the Greens solar policy. We are now seeing a stark contrast between a Government desperate to support the status quo of increasing charges and large company profits, while the future focussed Greens are truly progressive in their thinking.

Easy Vote or Voter Intimidation?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 9:19 pm, February 17th, 2014 - 123 comments

Good to see Labour has stood up against National’s “harder-to-vote” revisions to the Electoral Amendment Bill, especially making voters now have to state their name to get a voting paper. The reason for this is to allow scrutineers to more easily challenge a voter’s credentials, and is similar to voter intimidation practices in conservative States in the US. Expect National Party scrutineers questioning more voter credentials in the 2014 election.

National’s Herald shows its true colours

Written By: lprent - Date published: 8:04 am, February 17th, 2014 - 113 comments

The NZ Herald starts cuddling up even closer to the National party. I guess they have definitely dropped that shallow facade of being the “Newspaper of Record”. Mind you, it isn’t a good look when Paula Bennett, the minister meant to take care of children, cuddles up with the heartless hypocrite who laughs at dead children. National really must be worried about this election.

Rotten

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 4:24 pm, February 14th, 2014 - 270 comments

Stuff has an astounding interview with John Key where he reveals he has regular catch-ups with Cameron Slater.

We’ve always known that there were close ties between National and the abomination that is Whaleoil but now we know that the ties go right to the top.

NRT: Ticket clipping

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 4:53 pm, February 13th, 2014 - 29 comments

National’s charter schools are predicated on the idea that the public education system is doing a bad job. They’re (over-)funded to do things differently. So its more than a little odd that He Puna Marama Trust’s charter school is simply getting local state schools to do all their teaching for them. They just clip the ticket converting taxpayers money to private profit. Ridiculous corrupt NAct policy.

Local Bodies: First they ignore you

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:30 am, February 11th, 2014 - 13 comments

Local bodies writes on the way that National has been concentrating their personal attacks at the Greens. It is a pretty typical display by National in any election year. But you get the impression they’re going to seriously be dumpster diving for dirt this year – especially Judith Collins. National are getting desperate at their disappearing coalition partners. “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win”

Play it again John

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:00 am, February 8th, 2014 - 39 comments

John Key has welcomed Tony Abbott’s confirmation that Australia would extend access to students under the Higher Education Loan Program to long-term New Zealand residents in Australia. But this policy was announced eight months ago.

NZ Herald watch – history repeats

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:50 am, February 7th, 2014 - 146 comments

The NZ Herald has a long history of opposing Maori resistance and supporting colonisation. It has always been right wing with a strong commercial focus & MO. Yesterday it censored news of Waitangi Day protests. Today an editorial spins in slippery style, for the Govt’s failing PowerCo sales.

National’s election year strategy and designer jackets

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:30 am, February 2nd, 2014 - 111 comments

National’s attacks on Metiria Turei appear to me as being deliberate and programmed rather than an inconsequential argument on the cost of designer jackets.

The flag diversion

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:44 am, January 30th, 2014 - 119 comments

It appears that John Key is trying to divert attention away from this Government’s appalling record regarding child poverty and Labour’s Best Start and Paid Parental Leave by starting a discussion on what the Country’s flag should look like.

Media Watch: infotainment & “balance” – inequality

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:01 am, January 30th, 2014 - 56 comments

The ratings/sales driven ethos of the corporate MSM skews the coverage of the election campaigns of parties of the “left” and the “right”. Focus on individuals, implying they represent large sections of the population. The left are leading the agenda on inequality.

Useless and venal

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 7:53 am, January 28th, 2014 - 197 comments

Following David Cunliffe’s announcement of Best Start New Zealand’s right wing took it upon themselves to show how useless and venal they are. It started with Jordon “the new Cameron Slater” Williams and the National front group Taxpayers’ Union’s eviscerating attack on “Middleclass Welfare” (honestly guys that line’s so 2007) only to blame it on” “Labour […]