Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, April 21st, 2024 - 35 comments
Liz Truss’s short reign as UK Prime Minister foundered after her budget requiring borrowing to fund tax cuts was released. The budget tanked the UK economy and caused Truss’s resignation. This week amongst announcements of massive cuts it has emerged that the Government is also planning borrowing for tax cuts.
Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, April 2nd, 2024 - 5 comments
Greenpeace is calling the Government’s new policy priority list “the next onslaught in the war on nature” following Christopher Luxon’s announcement this morning.
Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, March 29th, 2024 - 53 comments
We have just had yet another week of the Government manufacturing culture wars and picking fights while ignoring the big issues. Like dealing with climate change, child poverty and homelessness.
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, March 15th, 2024 - 4 comments
The IRD has estimated that National’s proposed Overseas Gambling Levy Policy will bring in $500 million less than it promised during the election campaign.
Written By: - Date published: 2:55 pm, March 13th, 2024 - 45 comments
The right has this belief that they are economic geniuses. Occasionally this belief is shown to be faulty. Like this week when National’s costings for tax cuts to Landlords was $800 million more than previously estimated.
Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, March 11th, 2024 - 127 comments
Recently the Government has been working out how to cut funding for school lunches for poor kids while at the same time it has also announced that it will restore interest deductibility for landlords.
Written By: - Date published: 8:52 pm, March 8th, 2024 - 39 comments
The Atlas aligned Taxpayer’s Union has released its latest Curia poll results. And the results are bad news for Christopher Luxon.
Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, March 1st, 2024 - 51 comments
It has been revealed that Christopher Luxon receives $52,000 a year from the taxpayer to pay for him staying in his own apartment. Update within the space of an hour he has said that it was his entitlement but then said that he will pay the money back.
Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, February 29th, 2024 - 12 comments
National spent much of yesterday ramming through under urgency and without a select committee process two measures which will have detrimental effects on Māori health.
Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, February 21st, 2024 - 72 comments
Yesterday it was announced that Grant Robertson was leaving politics.
Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, February 12th, 2024 - 23 comments
National has trashed its comment last terms that lobbyists should not have special access rights by handing out four swipe cards to lobbyists and refusing to say who they are.
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, February 8th, 2024 - 78 comments
National has announced the cancellation of funding for Cultural Reports because of the cost and the abandonment of Labour’s plan to decrease the muster despite the cost.
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, February 2nd, 2024 - 6 comments
The release from the Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa around tobacco industry interference was a glimpse behind the curtain into a troubling reality.
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, February 1st, 2024 - 48 comments
Yesterday in Parliament Christopher Luxon showed that he is struggling on the job.
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, January 29th, 2024 - 30 comments
The last week has shown how Christopher Luxon has no understanding of New Zealand’s history and no appreciation about how dangerous Act’s proposed Treaty Principles Bill is.
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, January 27th, 2024 - 26 comments
This week there were two pieces of economic news showing a dramatic improvement credit for which should be given to the last Labour Government.
Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, January 16th, 2024 - 13 comments
The day after Christopher Luxon made the pilgrimage to meet with Kiingi Tuuheitia and try and calm feelings ahead of the Weekend’s hui at Ngaruwahia to discuss the Government’s attacks on Te Tiriti and Te Reo Shane Jones went onto Morning Report and applied the blowtorch to Luxon’s attempt to keep matters calm.
Written By: - Date published: 8:49 pm, January 7th, 2024 - 57 comments
South Africa has taken a case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice. A group of prominent New Zealand lawyers have asked the New Zealand Government to join South Africa in support of their application. I think we should.
Written By: - Date published: 10:18 pm, December 23rd, 2023 - 118 comments
Unlike Mike Smith and other noisy members of the imperialist cohort, I applaud that NZ foreign policy has remained consistent in upholding UN and ICC policies against invasions and forced annexations. Ardern, Hipkins and now Luxon have all said the same thing.Supporting the UN charter has massively reduced war casualties over the last 70 years. Clearly the Russian Federation finds this constraining.
Written By: - Date published: 9:35 pm, December 22nd, 2023 - 32 comments
It is not clear exactly who persuaded Luxon to put Zelensky on his Xmas calling list. It might have been Albo or MFAT, no doubt on orders from the US, who are desperate to keep the illusion of victory alive until after the US Presidential election.
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, December 17th, 2023 - 35 comments
Judith Collins has been appointed a Kings Counsel even before she has had time to show her performance as Attorney General and even though previous highly respected lawyers such as David Lange, Geoffrey Palmer and Margaret Wilson were not appointed while serving as Attorneys General.
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, December 15th, 2023 - 30 comments
National has this week chosen to smash through under urgency legislation that will increase unemployment and interest rates, reduce workers wages and increase the country’s emissions of greenhouse gasses.
Written By: - Date published: 9:37 pm, December 14th, 2023 - 40 comments
A notably different approach to sequencing political comeback was on show at the VUW post-election seminar last week. Luxon put rebuilding the party first, Hipkins put it last. On policy Luxon was bottom-up and early, Hipkins was top-down and late.
Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, December 12th, 2023 - 38 comments
So Christopher Luxon thinks there is too much immigration. It was not what he was saying last year.
Written By: - Date published: 2:47 pm, December 10th, 2023 - 58 comments
Chris Luxon failed miserably at his first character test as PM.
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, December 6th, 2023 - 9 comments
The decision in 2021 to introduce the smoking ban was a courageous one. Smoking causes many deaths each year and places a strain on the country’s health system. Smoking is addictive and we should do all we can to discourage young people from taking up this habit. This being said, putting a total ban on tobacco sales of people born after 2009 is well-meaning, but would likely have unintended and profoundly negative consequences.
Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, December 3rd, 2023 - 48 comments
This morning on Q&A and despite being pulled up on it Chris Bishop repeated National’s claim that under the Smokefree reforms there would only be allowed one tobacco retail shop in Northland when there would actually be at least 34.
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, November 28th, 2023 - 130 comments
An increase in lung cancer rates and a decrease in the amount that working families receive so that tax credits for landlords can be put in place tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of this Government. Your blood should be boiling by this stage and it is only two days in.
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, November 25th, 2023 - 48 comments
On Friday, three parties finally signed agreements to gain a slim majority in parliament. What this means is that some time on Monday Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro will be able to swear in the new ministers of the Executive Council. On Monday Labour and the Greens will have their constitutional muzzle removed. On December 5th parliament will lumber back into work. Then the fun begins for this political blogger.
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, November 23rd, 2023 - 102 comments
Today may be the day we have a new Government, that is as long as Act and NZ First can resolve their fight over who is to be Deputy Prime Minister.
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, November 22nd, 2023 - 93 comments
Now that the policy negotiations between Act National and NZ First have been concluded talks have progressed to the most sensitive and difficult area, who will get the baubles of office.
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