political parties

Don Presland obituary

Written By: advantage - Date published: 6:30 am, October 23rd, 2017 - 23 comments

Long time Unionist and Labour supporter Don Presland died last week. Family friend Ad writes about Don’s decades of standing up for workers’ rights and in celebration of the life of a really good man.

The government’s mandate

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:49 am, October 22nd, 2017 - 27 comments

Where this government ranks in terms of proportion of the vote compared to the historical record. Useful analysis.

DPF personifies why the Nats lost and why they will lose again

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 9:16 am, October 21st, 2017 - 61 comments

National CRUSH puny parties! Why National no mates?

This coming digital war

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:12 am, October 21st, 2017 - 68 comments

This is the first Labour Government of the digital age. How progressives respond to social media attacks may be crucial to its success.

NZ First: We could and should be doing better

Written By: lprent - Date published: 8:58 am, October 20th, 2017 - 15 comments

NZ First chose to be inside Cabinet in a full coalition. I’d rather expected that they would choose to be in a confidence and supply agreement as they did with Labour back in 2005. That they decided to take the risk despite their previous experience with National is a stunning level of trust. But they work well with Labour.

Where to for National?

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 8:16 am, October 20th, 2017 - 186 comments

National need to apologise to the country for dirty politics and blatant lies. They need a huge clear out of dead wood, starting at the top. Then they need to try and figure out how MMP works.

Jacinda Ardern’s speech

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:00 am, October 20th, 2017 - 25 comments

If you missed it last night – Jacinda Ardern’s first speech as PM elect is everything that we could want and expect. But the take-home line of the drama belongs to Winston Peters.

James Shaw: “This is an historic moment”

Written By: weka - Date published: 10:08 pm, October 19th, 2017 - 50 comments

While the Green Party delegates are debating a Confidence and Supply agreement in support of a Labour-led government, James Shaw made a speech to the press at parliament on Thurs night outlining the Greens’ response to the new Labour government and where the Greens might fit into that. UPDATE: the membership have endorsed the deal.

We have a Government

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:37 pm, October 19th, 2017 - 26 comments

NZ First have chosen to support Labour to form the next government of NZ and have secured a coalition deal. The Greens are in the process of making a decision about a Confidence and Supply deal before they make an announcement. Matthew Whitehead writes about what the options are and how Confidence and Supply agreements can work.

The next Prime Minister is …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 6:58 pm, October 19th, 2017 - 416 comments

Winston Peters has announced that he will be going into coalition with Labour and Jacinda Ardern will be the next Prime Minister. Let the attacks from the right about how unfair it is that a minority party did not ascend into Government and how MMP needs to be reformed begin. For the rest of us – this is a time of hope…

Today is a win-win with Winston

Written By: lprent - Date published: 8:48 am, October 19th, 2017 - 103 comments

It appears that Winston is about to announce the decision of the NZ First party about their coalition partner today. For those who seem to think that coalitions should be formed with rapidity, they simply shouldn’t. That is the path to making stupid decisions, and I am yet to hear a single good reason to do it.

Green Party makes important announcement …

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:47 pm, October 18th, 2017 - 36 comments

Breaking news from Parliament …

A letter to my middle-class, well meaning, professional, liberal friends and family

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:24 am, October 18th, 2017 - 4 comments

A post about the responsibility to advocate for change in a visible way.

Peters’ greatest hits

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:10 am, October 18th, 2017 - 8 comments

Lloyd Burr at Newshub rounded up 23 of Peters’ most quotable attacks on the Nats and their failed government. Add them to the collection of issues that Peters will have to disown if he goes wrong and picks Right.

Another day

Written By: lprent - Date published: 5:03 pm, October 17th, 2017 - 34 comments

Just watched the “waiting for Winston Peters” live feed from Stuff. It sounds like the NZ First board know what they want and now there will be a bit more negotiation with both major parties to get closer to what the NZF board were after. They are heading back home leaving the politicians to finish up.
Updated: Winston in one-on-one talks with Bill and Jacinda last night. Looks like it is getting serious.

This is the day *

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:15 am, October 16th, 2017 - 120 comments

* but delays are possible.

The first 100 days of a Labour led government

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:32 am, October 16th, 2017 - 30 comments

Maybe Peters learned from history and is not doomed to repeat it. If we get a Labour led government, what should be its top priorities in the first 100 days?

Nats – lousy at government – “brilliant” at opposition

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:57 am, October 15th, 2017 - 102 comments

Peters has the opportunity to put an end to this useless government (and turn National into “the opposition from hell”). I think he’s going to ’96 us, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong

IMF: higher taxes for rich will cut inequality and won’t hurt growth

Written By: Simon Louisson - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 14th, 2017 - 104 comments

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it now favours higher taxes on the rich and has demolished the myth this might adversely affect economic growth. The authoritative Washington-based think tank in its influential half-yearly monitor also argued for taxes on capital, suggesting a wealth and/or land taxes should be considered, something that will make Gareth […]

Every body wants to rule the world

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:19 am, October 12th, 2017 - 195 comments

D day approaches. What will happen? Will we have a decaying toothless National Government moderated by coalition with New Zealand First or will we have something more exciting?

Last day of talks

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:40 am, October 12th, 2017 - 26 comments

It’s the last day of coalition talks (probably). Peters has certainly created big expectations of “change”, but what they will mean in practice is still anyone’s guess.

Green options

Written By: weka - Date published: 7:17 am, October 12th, 2017 - 12 comments

If the Greens prioritise change over power, then the whole ‘they have no leverage’ rhetoric becomes less important than the fact that the Greens are necessary to form government but still have choices in how they participate in that.

Guest post: Deconstructing yet another National has moral right to govern argument

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:15 am, October 11th, 2017 - 41 comments

A guest post by Swordfish on the implausibility of the claims by Dr Claire Robinson’s odd claim that the 2017 election result was a win for the status quo.

Nats’ secret tax plan

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:18 am, October 10th, 2017 - 35 comments

Newsroom (Shane Cowlishaw) reports that the Nats were considering significant hikes to fuel taxes, described in a document that was supposed to be released before the election – but somehow wasn’t.

Can we please stop pretending that ACT is a political party

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 6:49 am, October 10th, 2017 - 35 comments

https://twitter.com/lyndonhood/status/890029332956983296

ACT was a political party once, but it died a long time ago.

Politics or Policy?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 5:46 pm, October 9th, 2017 - 56 comments

Policy is everything, Winston Peters said today. This should not be a surprise. Before every election, he has refused to give any hint of Party support preference until after the vote. But he will have thought a lot about what he might want, as it has long been clear that his Party would decide the outcome. So what are his policies?