political parties

The Greens sticking to their guns (and their values)

Written By: weka - Date published: 10:57 am, September 11th, 2020 - 157 comments

The Greens just boldly stepped up their election campaign.

National’s infrastructure bank

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:24 am, September 11th, 2020 - 21 comments

National’s proposed Infrastructure Bank is an accounting trick, with very high risks that the entire power of our political order for anyone affected by these monster projects will weaken citizens’ rights.

Labour voters, if you could vote to keep the Greens in parliament would you?

Written By: weka - Date published: 9:13 am, September 10th, 2020 - 116 comments

Choices, choices.

How has Conservation Fared Under This Government?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:00 am, September 10th, 2020 - 39 comments

I’m going to give this government just 5 out of 10 on the conservation front.

Labour announces tax policies

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:55 pm, September 9th, 2020 - 98 comments

Labour and the Greens have both recently announced taxation policies. Meanwhile there is no sign of any fiscal policy or alternative budget from National.

What did Brownlee know about Southern Response’s misleading and deceptive conduct?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 4:37 pm, September 8th, 2020 - 27 comments

The Court of Appeal has ruled that Southern Response has engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and has potentially short changed thousands of Cantabrians hundreds of millions of dollars.

Will NZ First make it back into Parliament?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:07 am, September 8th, 2020 - 43 comments

One of the most interesting questions about the current election campaign is will New Zealand First make it back into Parliament after the election, with polling and a slew of not dissimilar parties on the right suggesting that Winston’s time may be up.

Landlord lobby group hopes National Government will ditch warm flat requirement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:49 am, September 7th, 2020 - 56 comments

The NZ Property Investors Federation has proposed to its members they should hold off on making flats warmer and drier just in case there is a change of government.

Will Jacinda Ardern meet her promise to transform?

Written By: Simon Louisson - Date published: 6:53 am, September 4th, 2020 - 62 comments

Neoliberalism has run its course and displayed its profound inability to address inequality issues. It makes the poor get ever poorer while the affluent top 10% ticks of society get bloated and increasingly insufferable on untaxed capital gains. In 2017 Jacinda Ardern set a goal of bringing all children out of poverty within six years. So how is that going? And what are the next steps?

What progressive housing policy for renters looks like

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:05 am, September 4th, 2020 - 17 comments

Currently your politicians do NOT represent people who rent. But you all have a choice to vote for solutions that do!

Pollwatch: August Roy Morgan poll, reported 1st September 2020

Written By: Matthew Whitehead - Date published: 4:30 pm, September 2nd, 2020 - 30 comments

Pollwatch returns, with a Labour majority government no longer a complete certainty, and with another poor result for National.

Left wing twitter is the worst *

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:42 am, September 1st, 2020 - 69 comments

* but you should see what Judith Collins’ husband has been posting.

Kia kaha Greens

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:06 am, August 29th, 2020 - 304 comments

The Green Party is facing major push back from members relating to a decision to give shovel ready funding to a private school involved in education about the environment.

If National wins the hope for clean water and swimmable rivers will be gone by lunchtime

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:03 am, August 27th, 2020 - 40 comments

National has promised that if it gains power rules designed to improve water quality in our streams and rivers will be “gone by lunchtime.

National’s latest deception

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:45 am, August 26th, 2020 - 98 comments

National’s social media team has published an edited version of a response to a written question by Chris Hipkins to suggest that returning kiwis in quarantine were not subject to compulsory testing, when the reality is anyone refusing a test can be held for up to 26 days following the fortnight stay.

The election campaign and the sponsored Herald article

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:42 am, August 25th, 2020 - 58 comments

Radius Chair and NBR rich lister Brien Cree has a sponsored article in the Herald this morning that is critical of the Government’s Covid response.

Is New Zealand or the United States the Covid cot case?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:39 am, August 22nd, 2020 - 28 comments

This week Donald Trump has defended the US’s abysmal handling of Covid 19 by claiming that the disease is out of control in New Zealand. And National’s rhetoric continues to match what he is saying.

What if we had a Policy Costings Unit for all political parties?

Written By: weka - Date published: 6:10 am, August 21st, 2020 - 22 comments

Surely political parties would welcome support to have their election year promises independently costed?

What does Judith do about Gerry?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:32 am, August 19th, 2020 - 113 comments

Gerry Brownlee has chosen to not only repeat his conspiracy theories involving Ashley Bloomfield but also claim that the media is against National. Both claims have no factual foundation.

What is wrong with postal voting?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:48 am, August 16th, 2020 - 73 comments

Judith Collins’s and National’s ridiculing the proposition that New Zealand could safely hold an election using postal voting has some disturbing similarities with Donald Trump’s approach in America.

TheY aRe onlY aSKing qUestiOns

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:32 am, August 13th, 2020 - 112 comments

Yesterday National suggested a wide based and interesting conspiracy theory involving the Government and the Ministry of Health and all of the Health Boards suppressing news of community spread of Covid 19 for political advantage while at the same time complaining that the Government should be consulting with them on decisions.

UMR Poll August 2020

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 3:36 pm, August 12th, 2020 - 34 comments

The latest Rogue Poll™ is out. This time it’s UMR’s turn and Judith Collins is on the rise.

Will National politicise the new Covid outbreak? *

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:38 pm, August 12th, 2020 - 182 comments

*Rhetorical question. Of course they will.

The strange tale of the Auckland Central selection and Merv from Manurewa

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:01 am, August 11th, 2020 - 57 comments

News has emerged that a senior National Party figure rang talkback radio and made derogatory comments about National’s only Sri Lankan candidate in an apparent attempt to reduce her chance of being selected as National’s Auckland Central candidate.

Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government: Style over substance or a guiding light for progressive politics?

Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 8:42 am, August 10th, 2020 - 33 comments

Critics have dismissed the Jacinda Ardern government as being one of style over substance. This is unfair given the challenges this government has faced and the policy achievements it has had. However, it is a government that has much work to do if it wins a second term. And its over-reliance on Jacinda as party leader is a huge strategic risk, especially when the governments front bench is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be lightweight.