political parties

Won’t the Government think about the kiwis?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:05 am, April 13th, 2017 - 55 comments

The Government has granted Alpine Pure the right to construct a pipeline through a breeding area for a critically endangered Kiwi so that it can extract water from a Unesco World Heritage site for free.

Stay on the treadmill suckers!

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 10:53 am, April 12th, 2017 - 32 comments

That is the Nats’ advice to aspiring Auckland house buyers.

Motels are full of homeless so now what?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:15 am, April 11th, 2017 - 83 comments

Ordinary people are priced out of home ownership and increasingly out of renting, the state-housing safety net has been deliberately run down, and now the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff is full. National leaps into action – by asking the Salvation Army for ideas…

A basic primer on the law of defamation

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 5:58 pm, April 10th, 2017 - 133 comments

There has been some very confused reporting on the fate of Andrew Little in the Hagaman defamation trial.

National’s Filipino campaign

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:11 am, April 9th, 2017 - 29 comments

National’s New Lynn candidate Paulo Garcia appears to be receiving campaigning assistance from the Philippine Ambassador for New Zealand. Is this appropriate?

National’s response to the Syria attack

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:06 am, April 8th, 2017 - 56 comments

Unlike the Australian and United Kingdom Governments’ response to the American attack has been muted and confused. Is this just the nature of anything that Bill English says or is it an attempt to assess public opinion before responding?

Green Party criticises US strike on Syria

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:08 am, April 8th, 2017 - 141 comments

“We expect and deserve cooler heads than this from our global leaders.”

MSD and our privacy

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 11:36 am, April 7th, 2017 - 16 comments

National’s plans for our privacy and access to social services are a perfect cocktail of over-reach and incompetence.

Resource Management Act Third Reading

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:53 am, April 6th, 2017 - 19 comments

Nick Smith’s RMA reforms are close to being completed. Will his high homes for the reforms be met?

Labour’s leadership team

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:22 am, April 6th, 2017 - 40 comments

Labour’s new tactic of featuring a leadership team seems to be working well.

Avoid big plans and win

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:30 am, April 4th, 2017 - 27 comments

To win the 2017 election Labour does not need a broad suite of policies, rather it needs to make sure that it is asking the right questions.

Pity the RWNJ (for they are going to be spinning in pain)

Written By: lprent - Date published: 6:04 pm, April 3rd, 2017 - 60 comments

If you are one of the right wing nut jobs that read this site, then Horizon puts out some truly scary polls. But if you aren’t an idiot and actually take the time to read material before criticizing it (unlike Hooton on ‘Hit and Run’) then this points to a tight election as is usual under MMP. But with all of the swing in the direction of a Labour led coalition. But I am sure the simpleton spinners will have another explanation.

Mana Māori truce didn’t last long

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 10:15 am, April 3rd, 2017 - 58 comments

“A poisonous and destructive cancer” – that’s not something you say to your allies.

Conflict of interest what conflict of interest?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:00 am, April 3rd, 2017 - 22 comments

The lobbying body for fishing industry and Nathan Guy who is the responsible minister think there is no conflict of interest in the lobbying body inheriting huge powers previously held by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Green Party announces its initial party list

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:16 pm, April 2nd, 2017 - 91 comments

The Green Party has released its indicative party list for consideration by the party membership.

The Auckland Labour list conference of 2017

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:36 am, April 2nd, 2017 - 23 comments

Some impressions from the Auckland Labour list conference.

National’s policing problem

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:09 pm, March 30th, 2017 - 48 comments

National is facing increasing public concern about the ability of the police to do its job properly.

Why is National standing Todd Barclay?

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 12:10 pm, March 28th, 2017 - 58 comments

Todd Barclay has broken his word and refused to cooperate with the police regarding his behaviour in Clutha-Southland.

Motels are not state houses

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:22 am, March 28th, 2017 - 39 comments

It’s almost as if deliberately running down state housing stock doesn’t make the need for homes magically go away – who could possibly have predicted that?

Another reason for water pricing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:52 am, March 28th, 2017 - 19 comments

The Government will be embarassed by another example of a corporation planning to extract ten billion litres of fresh water a year essentially at no cost which has arisen.

What does National do about English?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:45 am, March 27th, 2017 - 51 comments

John Key has claimed that the transfer of power from himself to Bill English was flawless and designed to ensure continuation of National’s rule. Based on the last couple of opinion poll results he should reconsider his optimism.

Marama Fox on working with a Labour/Green government

Written By: weka - Date published: 7:24 am, March 27th, 2017 - 73 comments

Marama Fox opens the way for the Māori Party to work with Labour and the Greens.

Clifton: Nat MPs getting nervous

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 6:42 pm, March 26th, 2017 - 79 comments

English is down 6% in the latest Colmar Brunton. Jane Clifton sees Nat MPs getting nervous. “For the Nats, having so long taken a fourth term as read, the possibility that their own leader may soon be less secure in his job than Labour’s will be a toughie.”