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NZ Election result

Written By: - Date published: 6:03 am, October 17th, 2023 - 45 comments

In parliamentary politics, there are no final victories. After losing the 2023 election, Labour must now immediately focus on winning in 2026.

Why are the Greens so happy?

Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, October 15th, 2023 - 75 comments

The trad left/right spectrum people are wondering why the Greens are so happy. Didn’t the left just lose?

That was not as good as was hoped for

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, October 15th, 2023 - 129 comments

Last night was not a good night for the Labour Party …

Neck and neck

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, October 13th, 2023 - 8 comments

Last post before election day but the big mo is on and the election is getting closer and closer.

About last night’s debate

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, October 13th, 2023 - 42 comments

It is very clear now why National did not agree to a further debate between the leaders. Last night’s debate between Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luzon was totally one sided.

Down to the wire

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, October 12th, 2023 - 52 comments

Two new polls were released last night and they both confirm a tightening of the race with the right slumping and the left improving.

Multimillionaire landlords are the real squeezed middle according to National

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, October 11th, 2023 - 24 comments

Craig Rennie of the CTU has continued his excellent work analysing National’s proposed tax cuts and has come up with a doozie.  Landlords who own multiple properties will get huge tax cuts if National’s policy is put in place.

Labour surges in latest poll

Written By: - Date published: 7:55 am, October 11th, 2023 - 82 comments

A new poll has Labour surging into the 30s, Act continuing its decline and National going backward. This election is not over.

Managing Expectations: Community transmission of coronavirus in NZ was inevitable

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, October 10th, 2023 - 5 comments

The sad thing about the NZ COVID response is that overall it did deliver in that it protected the public health system and saved lives. But expectations about stopping all community transmission were set too high, and walking back from that politically has been challenging for Labour.

Winston Peters? I barely know him

Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, October 9th, 2023 - 46 comments

National has over the past couple of weeks indicated that it will ring Winston if it needs his votes, then saying that if he negotiates too hard it will seek a further election. This is real coalition of chaos stuff.

The Big Mo

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, October 8th, 2023 - 48 comments

Recent polls suggest that National and Act is going backward while Labour has stabilised. A win for the left is possible but this last week will be all important.

Like two cats in a sack

Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, October 6th, 2023 - 15 comments

The minor leader’s debate last night confirmed the fact that David Seymour and Winston Peters hate each other.

National’s credibility problem

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, October 6th, 2023 - 31 comments

National has suffered further damage to its credibility with its promise of a $250 tax cut per fortnight for an average family only being realised if that family spent at least $300 per week on childcare and was a two income family with each adult earning between $53,500 and $66,000.

Managing Expectations – the NZ Housing crisis and Labour’s response.

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, October 6th, 2023 - 42 comments

Watching the 2023 election campaign in New Zealand, one of Labour’s challenges appears to be that it has failed to manage voters’ expectations over the last six years. Recalling the election campaign in 2017, Jacinda Ardern gave people hope that politics could be different. However government is about handling problems – like building at scale and pandemics.

Why can’t National answer straight forward questions about the Council of Trade Union’s critique of their tax policy?

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, October 5th, 2023 - 40 comments

National’s tax policy doesn’t add up, and they’re trashing election and media conventions to avoid accountability. UPDATED.

National set to renege on Paris Agreement

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, October 5th, 2023 - 16 comments

National says it is not interested in meeting its financial obligations under the international Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by the previous National government. Reneging on the accord will have huge trade, diplomatic and reputational damage implications.

Even Capitalists think that too much Capitalism is a bad thing

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, October 5th, 2023 - 9 comments

In recent times Goldman Sax has warned National that its policies will hurt the economy. And S&P has praised Labour’s handling of the economy and expressed a high assessment of various factors relating to the country.

The weird and wacky 2023 election campaign

Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, October 4th, 2023 - 30 comments

In a week of weird events National’s decision not to debate Labour in the Press’s leader’s debate has been a massive own goal because the country will be able to see how toxic David Seymour’s and Winston Peters’ relationship is.

Should you be more worried about co-governance or the top 1%?

Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, October 3rd, 2023 - 52 comments

To the those voting ACT or NZF or National this year because you are worried about co-governance. I have a secret for you. You have been co-governed by the richest 1% for decades.

Why won’t Winston Peters answer straight forward questions about NZ First policy?

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, October 2nd, 2023 - 116 comments

Jack Tame vs Winston Peters.

Skyfall comes to Wellington

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 1st, 2023 - 5 comments

Skyfall was 10 years ago but it has a message for all public servants local or central as you choose your vote.

What really matters this election – poverty

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, September 30th, 2023 - 38 comments

National has shown its real priorities with proposals to cut benefits that will pay for increased tax concessions for landlords and increasing prison resources in anticipation of the crime wave the increased poverty will cause.

Hipkins goes on the offensive

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, September 29th, 2023 - 39 comments

Chris Hipkins has upped the ante in the election campaign by directly calling out the right’s use of dog whistle racism.

Tax or quality public services – which is more important to NZ voters?

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 pm, September 27th, 2023 - 16 comments

Earlier this year Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesmen, that Britain’s problem was that it wanted Scandinavian levels of Public Services and North American levels of taxation. His view was that Britain was overdue for an honest debate about tax and public spending. In New Zealand, there is a similar challenge.

Winston adds to National’s tax cut credibility problem

Written By: - Date published: 2:18 pm, September 27th, 2023 - 26 comments

National’s failure to adequately explain how its new revenue policies will work has seen its support sag. And its problem is that if it depends on Winston Peters for confidence and supply he has expressed major reservations about these policies and there is no guarantee he will support them. And a significant majority of New Zealanders understand this.

A Green surge and fighting for the election

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 27th, 2023 - 31 comments

Don’t share defeatist bollocks. It tells swing, undecided and habitual non-voters to not bother voting left. Instead, there are still actions that will make a difference over the next three weeks.

Even Mike Hosking thinks that a National-Act-NZ First coalition would be an absolute disaster

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, September 26th, 2023 - 63 comments

As the polls show a further slump in support for the right and as Winston Peters emerges as a kingmaker there is growing concern about the possibility of a real coalition of chaos being elected.

Greens: Climate future of communities on the line this election

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, September 25th, 2023 - 2 comments

“The extreme weather events that Aotearoa has seen this year have been supercharged by climate change. How we go about building resilient and affordable communities that meet everyone’s needs despite the challenges of climate change will be a critical question for the next government. For the Greens, the answer is clear: we must slash our emissions, and take action to protect our homes and communities from extreme weather”

National’s back of the envelope $715 million tax calculation

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, September 25th, 2023 - 39 comments

Nicola Willis has essentially confirmed that the design of National’s foreign purchase of land tax was and remains sufficient to be done on the back of an envelope.

National really, really needs New Zealand to be in a recession

Written By: - Date published: 7:59 am, September 24th, 2023 - 22 comments

After Stats NZ shot down National’s claim that the country is in recession National pirouetted by claiming that New Zealand WILL be in recession in the near future and that the Reserve Bank has predicted this. But according to the Reserve Bank this may not be true …

There is no recession in New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, September 21st, 2023 - 57 comments

The growth figures are up and National operatives will be in despair.  Not only did the economy grow considerably faster than anticipated in the last quarter at 0.9% but the previous quarter’s figure has been resolved from -0.1% to 0%.

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