political parties
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Greens back emissions trading scheme
Written By: - Date published: 5:08 pm, August 26th, 2008 - 48 comments
The Greens have decided to back the government’s emissions trading scheme saying in a press release that it’s a start but there’s more to do: We reported on Thursday that we had achieved virtually nothing in two areas – agriculture, and protection of important biodiversity from pine plantings. We have now made some progress on […]
Kiwis waking up to Nats’ secret agenda
Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, August 26th, 2008 - 96 comments
According to the TV3 poll last night, 46% of voters believe National has a secret agenda. And why wouldn’t they? We’ve had Bill English talking about a secret agenda to ‘sort out’ Working for Families and sell Kiwibank while being recorded, on the same recordings, we’ve had Lockwood Smith talking about the need to adopt popular […]
Sales pitch
Written By: - Date published: 9:33 am, August 26th, 2008 - 59 comments
He just doesn’t give up does he? Maurice Williamson was spotted this morning still trying to sell his toll booth idea to Auckland motorists. Spy photos below.
Whom to believe?
Written By: - Date published: 1:20 pm, August 25th, 2008 - 17 comments
On Agenda on Sunday, National’s Transport spokesperson, Maurice Williamson, said National would impose tolls on major new road projects – Transmission Gully, Waterview etc – and on the Harbour Bridge if a tolled second crossing of the harbour is built. Williamson said a typical person using those toll roads for commuting would spend about $50 a week […]
Nat: our ‘diversity’ is just a gimmick
Written By: - Date published: 11:39 am, August 25th, 2008 - 35 comments
Unless a party has a systematic bias towards one sector of the population, it would be normal to expect that their candidates would represent a cross-section of the community – after all, talented, qualified people can be found in all groups; political aptitude is not just a Pakeha male trait. So, it was kind of […]
Adapting to the end of cheap oil
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 pm, August 24th, 2008 - 30 comments
On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows a welcome shift in thinking and an acknowledgment that the age of cheap oil is over. Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices Rise contains a model built on the consensus of a number of international […]
Reflections on Shawn Tan
Written By: - Date published: 7:46 pm, August 23rd, 2008 - 57 comments
There’s a lot of heat but not much light in the debate about the EPMU’s suspension of Shawn Tan. What we know from the media is that Tan was told he had to seek approval from the union’s national executive in line with his collective agreement and the rules of the union and then failed […]
Greens call for public input on ETS
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, August 22nd, 2008 - 22 comments
One thing you can always say for the Greens, they’re democratic to their core. Currently, they find themselves facing a tough choice – whether or not to support Labour’s Emissions Trading Scheme – and, true to their democratic principles, they’re asking for advice from the public on their decision. Jeanette Fitzsimmons outlines the following pros […]
Mythbusting: Half of new generation is thermal
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, August 22nd, 2008 - 16 comments
Reading National’s energy policy last week I was surprised to learn that of 1942MW of new generation that has come online since 2000 1073MW of that has been thermal*. Sure enough, John Key is going around using that as a ground for National’s policy of building more gas power plants and giving up on the […]
Key demands we publish full quote
Written By: - Date published: 11:43 am, August 20th, 2008 - 53 comments
John Key called us to task in his interview with Wammo today: “every leftwing blogger out there has a field-day going on and on about the fact that Labour say I said climate change is a hoax…they should just get their facts right down at The Standard because the facts are I said ‘Kyoto is […]
National’s “major policy shift it talks about behind closed doors”
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, August 20th, 2008 - 30 comments
This revealing quote is buried in the middle of today’s Herald story by Fran O’Sullivan headed “All change on the gravy train”. It does make one wonder where the real journalists are in that paper. If the Herald knows there is a major policy shift being talked about by National behind closed doors, why isn’t […]
Kiwis don’t trust Nats
Written By: - Date published: 6:13 am, August 20th, 2008 - 38 comments
According to the Colmar/Brunton poll, 50% of Kiwis don’t believe National is being open about its plans vs 37% who believe the Nats are being upfront (presumably, the other 13% offered no opinion). That’s got to be worrying for National. As I’ve said time and again, the three grounds that politicians are ultimately judged on […]
Nats: some of us look like youse
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, August 18th, 2008 - 142 comments
National is desperate for you to know its party list is a diverse one. It’s a diverse list alright. I mean you’ve got a woman at 7, another at 10, yet more at 17 and 20 – you’re talking up to four women in a National Cabinet! And two of them aren’t even Pakeha! OK, all […]
PM loses a mate
Written By: - Date published: 4:53 pm, August 15th, 2008 - 55 comments
The death at just 59 of alpine legend Gottlieb Braun-Elwert will be greatly mourned around the Tekapo community, and much further afield too. Braun-Elwert was one of those Europeans who came here and found our great outdoors intoxicating. He arrived in his 20s on a hitch-hiking tour, fell in love with the country’s natural splendour, […]
An election strategy, not a governing strategy
Written By: - Date published: 2:50 pm, August 15th, 2008 - 20 comments
When you look at the policy National has released, it’s clear that the focus is on winning the election, not on developing policy that would work. There is a most appalling lack of detail – most of the policy one-page wonders from National have left me with more questions than answers because of lack of […]
Energy policy fails to energise
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 14th, 2008 - 31 comments
A positive and ambitious energy policy that reflects the personality of National leader John Key, was announced today. Old people wiped tears from their eyes and youths vowed never to tag another fence as they heard the ambitious vision National has developed for New Zealand’s energy future under heroic leader, John Key. Actually, there’s 10 […]
National and the media
Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, August 14th, 2008 - 17 comments
A few mini-posts on National’s relationship with the media in light of the secret agenda tapes. _______________________________________________ A signature Crosby/Textor move, seen here and abroad, is for their politicians to be matey with media as long as they run the lines, but, if they start to get critical, shut them out. So, a few months […]
Into hiding
Written By: - Date published: 3:45 pm, August 13th, 2008 - 22 comments
The secret agenda scandal has reminded many people that, behind John Key’s smile, National’s leaders are still the same bunch who were cutting benefits and flogging off assets in the 1990s, or people who came into Parliament hoping to continue those policies. That’s not good for National’s election hopes. So, what have they done? Remove […]
Should the sins of the father be visited upon the children?
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, August 13th, 2008 - 91 comments
When the DPB was first proposed it had a very simple purpose, to allow mothers to leave abusive relationships, to allow them to protect their children from beatings, alcoholism and psychological abuse. It was intended to ensure that those children would have a real chance at a healthy and happy life. It did not, and could […]
Wait, what’s working?
Written By: - Date published: 6:26 am, August 13th, 2008 - 18 comments
ENGLISH: So we’re sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They’re facing a recession. The last thing we want is to spend the whole election campaign with families of four on TV saying ‘Mr Key’s taking money off us’. You can’t do that. So later on we’re gonna have to have a […]
Bill’s big wink
Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, August 12th, 2008 - 44 comments
‘No ifs, no buts, no maybes’ – that’s the phrase Bill English chose to use when denying he had any intentions of launching a coup against John Key after the election. It’s a phrase that is burned indelibly into many New Zealander’s memories, not least of all English’s; a phrase heavy with connotations of deceit. […]
Cartoon: Attacking the poor
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, August 12th, 2008 - 21 comments
The Child Poverty Action Group thinks that National’s welfare policy is likely to hurt vulnerable children.
Gordon Campbell on Nats’ welfare plan
Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, August 12th, 2008 - 15 comments
Dog whistle politics to some, beneficiary bashing to others. But is there logic to National’s policy on benefits? Gordon Campbell asks: Will John Key’s policy announcement on welfare this afternoon do much to resolve the problems it claims to address? Hardly… It is as if National felt the need to beat up on beneficiaries somehow, and somewhere […]
Sensitive about security
Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, August 12th, 2008 - 20 comments
National activist/advisor Matthew Hooton on Nine to Noon: ‘the National Party leadership group is very sensitive about security. They look at the last election campaign that was lost on basically matters of security: the leak of the ‘gone by lunchtime’ notes and the Brethren link.’ No. National lost because it had a secret agenda; not […]
Nats bashing on solo mums
Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, August 11th, 2008 - 110 comments
Wonder of wonders, the Nats’ benefits policy has an 11 page document attached to it. Oh, wait, it’s mostly just stats ripped from the MSD website and long-winded rewordings of the bullet-points, not actual detail of the Nats’ policy. So, what have we got from the party that proclaims it wants more disciplined spending, less […]
3 more points on the secret agenda tapes
Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, August 11th, 2008 - 61 comments
1) A secret agenda is not something that people talk about in public or when they know the information will get to the public. Therefore, the only way to expose a secret agenda with definite proof is by recording that evidence when the target does not know they are being recorded. The Police can’t just […]
Ambitious for beneficiary-bashing
Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, August 11th, 2008 - 40 comments
That nice man, Mr Key, the one who says the old Left/Right divide is over, that he’s a new man with a new (ambitious) vision for New Zealand has rolled out an unprecedented and exciting policy today: beneficiary bashing. At present, we have a world-leading benefit system. By investing in staff, WINZ has become more […]
Policies for the wrong time (again)
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 pm, August 10th, 2008 - 40 comments
We’ve heard a lot about the ‘private’ opinions of some senior National MP’s this week. What we haven’t heard much about is the policy direction National was putting out in public during the conference. Rod Oram has a very interesting commentary on that topic in Sunday Star Times “National needs a shake-up”. Rod Oram always […]
Giving with one hand, taking with the other
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, August 10th, 2008 - 30 comments
I’ve gotta admit feeling a little bit sorry for Key over the story of his offer to donate “a good part” of his PM’s salary – should he win – to charity. One of those cases of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Crosby/Textor would be rightly concerned about the potential downside of […]
A hard place
Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, August 10th, 2008 - 13 comments
Kudos to Crosby Textor for doing such a good job of changing the secret agenda debate to the issue of who taped the conversations (although whoever came up with the absurd idea of taking photos of John’s rubbish should probably be put on leave until the election is over) but they have a harder job […]
Semantics
Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, August 10th, 2008 - 17 comments
The SST reports that English says that he will “never” challenge Key for the leadership. Yet I’m told that over the past couple of years, even to some in the press gallery, English hasn’t made a secret of his future leadership ambitions around Parliament. Makes you wonder what else his faction has on Key.
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