political parties

A paean about Grant Robertson

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:40 pm, October 3rd, 2014 - 385 comments

Like many on the left, I was disillusioned with the election result. It felt pretty hopeless on election night that John Key could romp home to victory on the back of dirty politics. But there is hope. Here are my ten key reasons why I am voting for and supporting Grant Robertson to be our next Prime Minister.

First they sold Auckland, then the rest of NZ…?

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:00 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 28 comments

A quiet shift in a dodgy Key govt-SkyCity deal: TVNZ land, sold to SkyCity for its convention centre, is to be used for a new hotel. Plus: non-mandated deal between Auckland Transport Authority & a US corporate – intense surveillance of Aucklanders’ diverse activities.

How very Orwellian

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:30 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 38 comments

A request for a civilised leadership campaign by Labour President Moira Coatsworth has been described as “Orwellian” by Phil Quin. This is a remarkable choice of words to use.

New Zealand’s brighter future

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 4:00 pm, October 2nd, 2014 - 139 comments

The early election has meant that National has avoided the bad news of the collapse in international milk prices during the campaign period. And the Reserve Bank has finally taken action to drive down the value of New Zealand’s currency. It may be that the brighter future promised by National is not going to be so bright.

The politics of poverty

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:34 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 86 comments

Every election Key is confronted with the issue of poverty. His response is always pure politics with no effective action, and this election has been no different. We will be here again in 2017.

Labour announces leadership election details

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:53 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 154 comments

Labour has announced details of the leadership contest including timing, closing of nominations, and the dates of hustings meetings.

Maori support for Labour

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:25 am, October 1st, 2014 - 56 comments

One of the few bright spots for Labour in the election was the renewed support of Maori. What now for the Maori Party?

Parker as interim leader

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 1:43 pm, September 30th, 2014 - 80 comments

According to early reports (Twitter) David Parker is interim leader of the Labour Party, with Annette King as deputy.

NRT: A model for unaccountability

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:32 pm, September 30th, 2014 - 14 comments

The Act party, well known for rorts, dodgy deals, general corruption, and the poor calibre of their candidates, is doing it again. National gave their single novice MP an “under-secretary” position to allow Act to rort extra money from taxpayers. It also provides him with a position that is wholly unaccountable to parliament or the public via OIA.

Grooming Bennett

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:20 am, September 30th, 2014 - 85 comments

Key is grooming Bennett for a finance role and eventual succession. No point in Nat members making a fuss, they don’t get a say in who leads them.

Join now to elect a leader

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:37 pm, September 29th, 2014 - 162 comments

Labour’s leadership rules state that if you want to have a vote in this leadership election you need to be a paid-up member by Wednesday 1 October, 11.59pm.

The Monkeywrench

Written By: Bill - Date published: 2:01 pm, September 29th, 2014 - 75 comments

Some thoughts from a different angle on ‘what went wrong’, or maybe just saying stuff along the lines of what plenty of other people are thinking

Labour – a rock and a hard place

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:50 am, September 29th, 2014 - 93 comments

Labour is being criticised for leadership divisions. If the party had not examined its leadership it would be being criticised for ignoring the message of the voters. So never mind the media frenzy, concentrate on running (like last time) a positive and constructive selection process and review.

Hello National, bye bye breaks …

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 28th, 2014 - 53 comments

Our guest poster has a look at the Employment relations Amendment Bill that National will attempt to sneak through during Labour’s leadership primary. This bill is clearly targeted at those employees who are most vulnerable. It reinforces the Nat’s slow and steady but effective chipping away of employee’s rights and will really resonate with its core constituency

Pick up the ball

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:53 am, September 28th, 2014 - 30 comments

In the spirit of new badly needed Left Unity. The Left opposition needs to start setting the agenda. First “feed the kids” needs to be picked up. Second the corporate welfare for Solid Energy needs a lot of scrutiny. So does the the state funding of oil exploration.

Robertson announces that he is standing for leader

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:05 am, September 28th, 2014 - 193 comments

Grant Robertson is the second Labour MP to announce that he wishes to seek the party’s leadership.

David Clark on Dunedin North

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:01 am, September 28th, 2014 - 44 comments

MP for Dunedin North David Clark has been reflecting on the very successful result in the electorate.

Labour has a leadership contest

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:58 pm, September 27th, 2014 - 196 comments

David Cunliffe has announced that he has resigned as leader of the Labour Party but will stand again to seek a mandate for change.

Cunliffe’s statement

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:12 pm, September 27th, 2014 - 280 comments

Labour’s Council is currently meeting. David Cunliffe is expected to make a statement today at 2:30. It will be covered live by RNZ, 3 News and other outlets. Update: David Cunliffe has announced his resignation from the leader’s position but will contest the vacant leadership. Get ready for a leadership contest …

What will Kim Dotcom do next?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:34 am, September 27th, 2014 - 173 comments

Nice to see one Journalist speaking up about National’s vicious personal attacks on Kim Dotcom. What will Dotcom do next? My guess is that he will stay out of NZ politics from now on.

National education

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:24 am, September 27th, 2014 - 10 comments

So National will continue their rorts by giving ministries to their tame poodles, Rimmer and the Hair. Despite each making the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party look like it has a serious electoral mandate. I guess it makes it look like National has friends, and Act and UF appreciate the extra cash. But Seymour will probably […]

Stop deep sea oil drilling hikoi

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:30 am, September 27th, 2014 - 2 comments

National wants to permit deep sea oil drilling. Last time there was huge opposition and the opposition is starting again. The hikoi is under way.

Local Bodies: Greens Immediately Become the Opposition.

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:16 am, September 27th, 2014 - 63 comments

bspout at Local Bodies was well up on the Greens list, but as the Greens only got 10%, he didn’t get into parliament. But as he says, with Labour navel gazing and NZ First lacking experience, the greens are currently the only effective opposition at present.

I disagree

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 1:53 pm, September 26th, 2014 - 112 comments

With Lynn, which according to the trolls should see me banned 😈

I think the Labour results show voters understand MMP, not that Labour doesn’t.

Labour obviously never worked out MMP

Written By: lprent - Date published: 8:59 am, September 26th, 2014 - 104 comments

Perhaps it is time for activists to have two parties. The one that specialises in electorates and the one that focuses on party vote. Because it is becoming evident that Labour is unlikely to ever manage to make the transition to being a MMP party. Their MPs clearly don’t care for the party or the brand.

Key rorts system

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:48 am, September 26th, 2014 - 52 comments

There is a rort being negotiated in Parliament that will cost the thick edge of $1 million a year. Where is the Taxpayer’s union on this?

The last five days

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 5:53 pm, September 25th, 2014 - 63 comments

An accident… Then an odd thing starts to happen. Instead of helping the survivors and securing the scene, the rescue crew start fighting amongst themselves. How did the crash happen? Was it was the driver’s fault? What was the main cause of the accident?

Labour’s Choice

Written By: KJT - Date published: 2:48 pm, September 24th, 2014 - 140 comments

Labours choice.

WANTED: new ideas on child poverty

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 24th, 2014 - 88 comments

It’s great to see John Key taking a sudden interest in addressing child poverty in New Zealand. But why the change of heart?

Some brief musings on unity

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 11:21 am, September 24th, 2014 - 287 comments

It’s up to all of us.

The Election That Left One Third of Us Behind

Written By: Bryan Gould - Date published: 5:32 pm, September 23rd, 2014 - 171 comments

No one should begrudge John Key and the National party the right to celebrate an impressive election victory. It is little consolation to those who opposed them that the win is very much a personal triumph for the Prime Minister rather than for the party and government he leads. As the tumult and the shouting […]