same old national

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The “socialist” vs capitalist PR war: NZ Power

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:19 am, April 21st, 2013 - 123 comments

The Key government and its allies are playing the “red scare” gambit, the Greens get to the heart of the reason for NZ Power, Parker goes Third Way, while Bernard Hickey and Matt McCarten weigh in to support the (alleged) “socialist” NZ Power policy. Bomber Bradbury adds some words of caution. [updated title]

Stealth Taxers

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 10:09 am, April 19th, 2013 - 16 comments

National, far from being their idealised “low tax party” are in fact the “stealth tax party”. While they’ve lowered the top rate of tax and the company rate, helping out the wealthiest, there has been regressive tax after regressive tax increase on the smaller hidden things.

Asset Sales: Orcon

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 6:08 pm, April 15th, 2013 - 8 comments

It was announced today that Government-owned Orcon was sold off last Friday.

Sums it up, really

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:56 am, April 12th, 2013 - 134 comments

National’s 3 quarters of the way through its time at the crease now. And what has it achieved? A record debt pile. 300,000 jobless. 100,000 underemployed. Rising poverty. 1,000 a week fleeing to Australia. A new housing bubble. A record high dollar that’s killing our businesses. And falling household incomes. A list of articles on Stuff sums it up.

ImperatorFish: Arrest of The Environment ends campaign of terror against businesses

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:57 am, April 4th, 2013 - 9 comments

How austerity is destroying Britain… coming soon near you

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:23 am, April 1st, 2013 - 79 comments

A raft of Tory policies have been dismantling the British welfare state: bedroom tax, privatising the NHS: NZ’s NAct government is following the same pattern of slyly changing small things, adding up to major changes that are ultimately socially & economically destructive.

Pokies and corruption?

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:15 am, March 31st, 2013 - 61 comments

Significant International Affairs files, relating to dodgy Pokies’ trusts, going missing, SkyCity convention centre deals made through flawed government processes. No corruption in NZ, just governance through sloppy processes? Cui bono?

Two Things

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 5:45 pm, March 6th, 2013 - 5 comments

Parata was told it was too early to make Christchurch school decisions by her ministry and why aren’t we allowed to know how much the state paid off Don Elder when he resigned over Solid Energy’s rapid decline?

Child Support (Almost) Amendment Bill: Cunliffe speech

Written By: karol - Date published: 7:51 am, February 28th, 2013 - 34 comments

Another excellent Cunlife speech last night, speaking to the Child Support Amendment Bill (Committee Stage Schedule 2). An “almost” Bill showing the government’s callous disregard of child poverty and single/separated (usually women) parents.

Save the Trees!

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:11 pm, February 22nd, 2013 - 41 comments

The Government is currently attempting for a second time to remove blanket tree protection from Auckland’s district plan. Submissions close on February 28, 2013 – Greg Presland tells us why and how you can have your say.

Happy Gilmore returns

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 5:36 pm, February 15th, 2013 - 13 comments

So Aaron Gilmore returns as ex-speaker Lockwood Smith heads to London. His Prime Ministerial ambitions can finally continue…

Opposition speeches & ‘Roads of Madness’

Written By: karol - Date published: 12:05 pm, January 30th, 2013 - 54 comments

Debates on the PM’s statement to the House show that this do-nothing government needs to go. Plenty of good ideas from opposition MPs. An excellent speech by Genter against Joyce’s ‘Roads of Madness’ & for public transport.

Jobs(.govt.nz) to Australia

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 10:52 am, January 23rd, 2013 - 27 comments

Danyl at Dimpost has discovered that National is so serious about (enhancing) the drain of jobs and Kiwis to Australia that they’ve actually outsourced the Government Jobs website (http://jobs.govt.nz/) to… Australia. While I love irony, surely this says everything about National’s actually commitment to the people of our country.

Hello everybody! Hi Dr Nick!

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 10:50 am, January 22nd, 2013 - 39 comments

So Nick Smith is to be returned to cabinet after spending nearly a year on the bench for his ethical flaws. Presumably 10 months on the back benches heals all those desires to abuse your powers to try to help your friends get money.

The spinmeister of Planet Key: Retrospective

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:07 am, December 18th, 2012 - 37 comments

On TV3 this morning, John Key was soothing and slick. All is well on Planet Key, and critics are delusional. He reeled of numbers and facts, but material realities of daily lives, and the suffering of people on low incomes aren’t mentioned. And asset sales?

NRT: Reported back

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:23 pm, December 12th, 2012 - 4 comments

The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee has reported back on David Clark’s Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill, with the National majority recommending it not be passed. The bill will now go back before the House, where its fate will be in the hands of Peter Dunne. Will he vote for it or not?

Spreading privilege

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 8:27 am, October 12th, 2012 - 10 comments

This week I’ve been to see the surrealists at the Tate Modern in London, and read about the surrealists at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. God knows what Cameron was talking about, with his line about spreading privilege – Knighthoods for all? Everybody off to Eton and Oxbridge?

Implausible deniability

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:11 pm, September 26th, 2012 - 16 comments

There’s a lot of it about in right-wing parties at the moment. For John Key, John Banks and David Cameron it appears to be becoming the strategy of choice. It’s not working very well for any of them.

The losses keep coming

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 12:08 pm, September 24th, 2012 - 54 comments

Welcome to National’s economy: Kiwirail has just announced 158 infrastructure and engineering job losses, and this afternoon Solid Energy will probably announce the loss of 300 jobs at Spring Creek, and 200-250 elsewhere. This on top of the swathe of job losses in Huntly and Christchurch Solid Energy announced a month ago.

Planet Key, Planet Paula, and the War on the Poor

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, September 19th, 2012 - 67 comments

Over the last week, the government’s off-world set of distorted realities has come to the foreground: those of “Planet John Key” and “Planet Paula”. These worlds highlight the way Bennett’s latest welfare reforms wage war on the poor and undermine fairness and democracy.

Bye bye workers’ rights

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 4:55 pm, September 3rd, 2012 - 12 comments

The government is pushing on with their Environmental Relations Act Amendment Bill, reducing workers’ rights to rest breaks.

Turn off turnout – National’s 2014 strategy?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 3:56 pm, August 27th, 2012 - 41 comments

Depress turnout among low-income voters by changing the enrolment rules – it’s an old right-wing trick. The Republicans are doing it in the US – it looks like National may try it on here. They should not succeed.

Why asset sales – it’s politics

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 5:06 pm, July 30th, 2012 - 20 comments

Finally the truth is out. Gaynor and Armstrong agree – National Party politics are the real reason for asset sales. They make no sense economically. They are not about debt reduction. Key’s asset sales are a political bribe – nothing more and nothing less.

Milk it, dig it, drill it, sell it – for a brighter future?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:54 pm, July 24th, 2012 - 21 comments

National’s internal polling is telling it people are serious about how it plans to get to the birghter future. So Joyce was wheeled out at the weekend to sell the same old story – more cows, more coal, more oil; and asset sales so we can afford schools and hospitals once at least. He also attacked Labour/Greens – maybe their polls are telling them people aren’t buying.

Doubts over Cameron’s welfare blitz

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 12:57 pm, June 26th, 2012 - 2 comments

That’s the Guardian headline. Supposedly designed to give the Tories “political momentum”, it is late and over budget. The Treasury is resigned to the programme costing money rather than providing savings. The LibDems won’t have a bar of it. Critics describe it as “pitch-rolling”, preparing the ground for further “reforms”. More like spin-bowling here.

Spot the difference

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 9:37 pm, June 25th, 2012 - 39 comments

There – “Cameron announces Tory plan to slash benefits.” Here – “The Government wants Work and Income to cut the number of long-term beneficiaries on a working-age benefit, John Key has just announced.” Tories normally do this when they are in trouble.

Pike Road?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:27 pm, June 21st, 2012 - 10 comments

A strong safety warning today about sheeptruck disaster met Ministerial indifference from Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges. He said Australian legislation to promote safety and fairness in the road transport industry was not needed here because “New Zealand already has a system of work time requirements to help manage the risk of fatigue”. More infamous last words from a National politician – but the police are really worried.

Basher Bennett rides to Hekia’s rescue

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 3:26 pm, June 6th, 2012 - 41 comments

Same old National – when they’re in trouble, out comes the club for a distracting headline. Hekia Parata’s under fire and digging herself into a very deep hole, so Paula Bennett rides to the rescue with the “news” that Cabinet is discussing allowing judges to direct miscreant parents not to have children. Who knows what the judges think about this hospital pass – let’s hope the media sees it for what it is.

One law for some

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 7:48 pm, June 4th, 2012 - 18 comments

Financially troubled private school Wanganui Collegiate received a $3million grant in Budget 2012, 3 times the annual operating grant of the larger Wanganui City College. Since then it has been advertising its low class sizes and ability to reduce fees significantly. Private schools will no doubt be using the current outrage over increased class sizes for recruiting purposes, but they should not be doing it with taxpayers’ money.

David Parker’s Greece-proof paper

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 5:05 pm, May 22nd, 2012 - 30 comments

Don’t blame Greece: if you change nothing, nothing changes. National’s problems are their own to solve, but they don’t have the guts to look at the big problems in New Zealand’s economy. 0.6% growth in total over the last 3 years – less than population. But National only tinkers and distracts, as our brightest and best head to Aussie.

Another MMP rort?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 11:50 am, May 4th, 2012 - 44 comments

The media are doing a good job investigating John Banks’ donation history. The Police are presumably also doing theirs, and it seems clear that the matter must end up in Court and the issue of who is telling the truth will be decided by a judge. Some in the media have dismissed the question of any threat to National’s majority. Short-term maybe, long-term I’m not so sure.