political parties

Iain Lees-Galloway: We’re winning on zero hour contracts

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:11 pm, March 2nd, 2016 - 78 comments

Iain Lees-Galloway on Labour offering tentative support for the Employment Standards Legislation Bill.

Supercity IT cost blowout

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:02 am, March 2nd, 2016 - 70 comments

The real costs of the Auckland IT merger are at least six times higher than National’s original $200 million estimate. This significantly alters the economic case that was made for the “supercity”. Was National’s estimate deliberately wrong, or was it just incompetent?

Bridges to Nowhere

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 9:13 pm, February 29th, 2016 - 37 comments

Lying, incompetent or duped. One of these descriptions applies to Transport Minister Simon Bridges. He’s been sprung allowing Kiwirail to mothball a rail line he has repeatedly said was not under threat. What did he know and when? If he didn’t know, why the hell didn’t he know?

Fuster and Cluck ride again?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:39 pm, February 27th, 2016 - 13 comments

John Palino has all but announced that he will also stand for the super city Mayoralty and there is a rumour that Simon Lusk will be his campaign manager.

David Seymour thinks ACT is the environmental party

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, February 27th, 2016 - 72 comments

David Seymour will at ACT’s conference today outline why ACT and not the Greens is the real environmental party.

The flag change campaign’s last throw of the dice

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:11 pm, February 23rd, 2016 - 133 comments

The pro change Flag Campaign has been launched on Social Media using themes that will appeal to progressives about the need for change. The problem is what they want it to be changed to.

Latest Colmar Brunton poll result

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:57 am, February 22nd, 2016 - 202 comments

The latest Colmar Brunton poll result suggests that it is not all doom and gloom for the left.

Homosexual law reform happened 30 years ago

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:16 am, February 21st, 2016 - 95 comments

Some thoughts on yesterday’s gay pride parade and why National has in the space of 30 years changed from being deeply anti gay rights to being superficially in support.

Another poverty report to ignore

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 10:19 am, February 20th, 2016 - 72 comments

Another report on child poverty for the Nats to ignore.

The responses to the Bain report leak

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:26 am, February 20th, 2016 - 47 comments

A review of some commentary about the leak of information from the Bain compensation claim report includes a comment from David Seymour which is surprisingly good.

Someone wants to crush Bain’s compensation claim

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:34 am, February 18th, 2016 - 142 comments

Leaks to the Herald about details from the report investigating the compensation claim by David Bain suggests that the Government is moving to refuse the claim.

Back Stabbers

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 11:32 pm, February 17th, 2016 - 111 comments

The National Party Caucus is split and divided over John Key’s vanity project, the flag referendum. For the first time, there have been leaks to the media directly from within Team Key. The signs are ominous for the PM.

Common ground at Abel Tasman National Park

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:30 am, February 16th, 2016 - 76 comments

The desire of many New Zealanders to put a beach in the South Island under public control presents the opposition parties with a great opportunity to identify and defend common ground.

Shock Horror media bias exists in New Zealand

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:31 am, February 15th, 2016 - 85 comments

Claire Robinson has analysed press use of photos during the 2014 general election campaign and has concluded that the major newspapers exhibited substantial bias in favour of Prime Minister John Key.

John Key, Nikki Kaye, and Maggie Barry booed off the stage

Written By: BLiP - Date published: 7:00 am, February 15th, 2016 - 202 comments

National Ltd™ MPs Nikki Kaye and Maggie Barry were also subject to the same vociferous booing. Nikki Kaye’s speech lasted less than John Key’s 20 second effort while Maggie Barry didn’t even bother trying to speak.

Key’s Bitter Legacy; Gareth Hughes Nails the PM’s Vanity.

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 11:06 am, February 12th, 2016 - 218 comments

The Green’s Gareth Hughes delivered a blistering speech in reply to the PM’s statement to the House. It begs the question ‘what will Key’s lasting legacy be?’. A failed flag referendum? Poverty? Inequality? Corruption? Selfies with AB’s?

As Key’s star fades, the less he seems to have left us to remember him by. What was the point of him anyway?

Gareth Hughes on the Prime Minister of New Zealand

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:59 am, February 12th, 2016 - 66 comments

Green MP Gareth Hughes’ response in Parliament to John’ Key’s opening speech for 2017. Hughes cleanly and definitively nails Key’s true contribution to New Zealand.

Establishment appointed Council protects Establishment

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 5:21 pm, February 11th, 2016 - 39 comments

So National’s appointed ECan (undermining democracy since 2010) has decided that leading business man Hugh Fletcher & Chief Justice Sian Elias shouldn’t be fined for their cows sh!ting in a lake. National were accused of taking voting rights so they could favour dairy over Christchurch, and this seems a good example. Canterbury has suffered enough – it needs democracy back.

Northland Fishing Competition

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 2:25 pm, February 11th, 2016 - 35 comments

Winston Peters has stitched John Key up again, this time hook, line and sinker. When Key lied in Parliament about the Northland MP’s supposedly leisurely lifestyle, Peters offered a challenge: provide some evidence or donate $100k to charity. Will cowardly Key take the bait?

Key’s sham “consultation” an insult to Māori

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:19 am, February 11th, 2016 - 17 comments

Last week 95bFM tweeted some audio from a Key media session, which shows his “consultation” with Māori over the TPP to be a condescending sham.

Leave Josie Butler alone

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:56 pm, February 10th, 2016 - 83 comments

Stuff is asking the employer of Josie Butler, thrower of the fake sex toy at Steven Joyce, if it will take disciplinary action against her for protest activity taken while she was not at work.

National the party of economic lunacy

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:02 am, February 10th, 2016 - 166 comments

A “$17 billion hole in the economy”. An estimated $18 billion lost because National stopped investing in the super fund. A record national debt. And we’re still talking about tax cuts? Lunacy!

Private group sells tickets to Prime Minister’s official speech

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:30 am, February 10th, 2016 - 56 comments

It has become clear that John Key’s recent SOTN speech was delivered to an audience that paid for the privilege of attending.

Happy Mondayised holiday!

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:22 am, February 8th, 2016 - 28 comments

Thanks to David Clark, to Grant Robertson, to Labour, and to those who supported the bill…

The Whitehead Report does not exonerate Murray McCully

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:28 am, February 7th, 2016 - 11 comments

The Whitehead report into the circumstances surrounding the failed waiver of diplomatic immunity for the Malaysian attache charged with sexual assault charges has been released and blames the incident on an inadvertently worded email. But questions remain about why Murray McCully only took active steps after media broke the story and the effects his reorganisation of MFAT has had on its ability to do its job.

20,000 protesters – 0 arrests

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:03 am, February 5th, 2016 - 230 comments

Despite the travesty inside SkyCity, what was happening outside was in many respects a democratic nation at its finest.

The TPPA day of shame

Written By: redfed - Date published: 7:00 am, February 4th, 2016 - 224 comments

Undated: The TPPA has now been signed, but not ratified, and not (hello NZ Herald!) “passed in to law”. There have been widespread protests throughout Auckland.

RNZ had live coverage with John Campbell.

Key’s second waitress bungle

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:04 am, February 3rd, 2016 - 78 comments

Key’s badly dented “political antennae” took another solid beating yesterday, with his second high-profile bungle involving a waitress.

A tale of two States of the Nation speeches

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:57 am, February 2nd, 2016 - 6 comments

The State of the Nation speeches provide an interesting start to the political year. John Key’s speech borrowed Labour Green policy that until now the Government has consistently derided and tried to present it as a “kickstart” while Andrew Little’s tertiary education policy announcement has received almost universal support and National is struggling to work out what attack lines to use.

Praise for Labour’s tertiary bombshell

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:03 am, February 2nd, 2016 - 31 comments

Although there have been predictable howls of outrage from the usual suspects, the media reaction to Labour’s bold tertiary education policy has been generally great.

Another policy to be proud of

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:01 am, February 1st, 2016 - 284 comments

Labour has rolled out another big bold policy that will shape the national discussion for years. Critics, most of whom received a free tertiary education themselves back in the day, want to deny a younger generation the same right (and pocket a tax cut instead). Enter Steven Joyce…