john key

Remember, John, you promised no asset sales

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:06 am, April 20th, 2010 - 29 comments

In 2008 John Key made this crystal clear promise: “That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully.” Now, Land Information New Zealand is proposing the sale of seven high country stations as part of the tenure review process. Key must keep his promise not to sell state assets and turn down this proposal immediately.

NZ hero still prisoner of the Japanese State

Written By: the sprout - Date published: 8:35 am, April 18th, 2010 - 100 comments

Pete Bethune is one of New Zealand’s heroes. He’s been a successful entrepreneur and gone on to use his wealth to fight the big guys on the grounds of principle. As skipper of the New Zealand flagged hi-tech boat Earthrace, his circumnavigation attempts showcased kiwi ingenuity to the world and demonstrated the value of bio-fuels to […]

When did telling the truth become a mistake?

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:09 pm, April 15th, 2010 - 71 comments

Phil Goff is being attacked by John Key’s apologists because he won’t pledge to reverse National’s GST hike given he can’t yet know the state of the government’s books when he becomes PM. How ironic to see the Right, who supposedly want accountable government, pillory a politician for being straight up with the public, rather than telling them what they want to hear.

Confidence in Key govt falls off a cliff

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:42 am, April 12th, 2010 - 20 comments

Smile and wave is easy enough in the first year, people are willing to give you a chance. But at some point, the public expects a government to get to work tackling the big problems. National displays no will or ability to do so. In just two months, 1 in 8 Kiwis has switched from thinking the country is heading in the right direction under Key to thinking things are getting worse.

Key’s promises on crime

Written By: r0b - Date published: 6:53 am, April 5th, 2010 - 58 comments

John Key makes big promises and he doesn’t deliver. Tax cuts North of $50? Jobs summit? Close the gap with Australia? His rhetoric on crime is another example. Key promised to tackle violent crime. Key promised a war on P. Well, the first report card is in, and it isn’t good.

Beneficiary bashing – an inglorious National sport

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:45 am, March 30th, 2010 - 30 comments

Lifted from comments for wider reading by commentator acclaim.. Beneficiary bashing in this country is definitely becoming uglier by the day. It seems that Paula Bennett’s attacks on beneficiaries seemingly condoned by the Prime Minister has given prejudice free reign in the country. It is now permissible to demonize a vulnerable group in society based […]

About time for another Key photo op

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 9:02 am, March 25th, 2010 - 29 comments

That time of the cycle again. Unpopular policy. Crappy week in the House. Nats gotta switch the mood. Photo op. Something stupid for the papers to run. Something for the journos to say ‘your ministers are a bunch of incompetents, lairs, and thieves. All your important promises have been broken. And you keep lying to us. But damn you’re cute’. What will it be? I’ve got an inside hint. You can have a look. But don’t tell anyone.

The PM’s private spy agency

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 7:33 pm, March 22nd, 2010 - 5 comments

While the public has been focusing on the acquittal of the Waihopai Three, there’s been a quiet revolution in our intelligence community. The Prime Minister has got himself a private spy agency.

As well as looking at foreigners, it will also be “assessing”, and advising the government on, the beliefs, actions, and plans of New Zealanders.

The problem is compounded by the lack of oversight.

Nat kneejerk over Waihopai 3

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:52 pm, March 22nd, 2010 - 17 comments

Key is talking ‘toughening’ the law in the wake of the Waihopai 3 acquittals. He clearly doesn’t understand that a jury decision, let alone one in a district court, has no precedent effect. Others Nats are muttering about canning jury trials. It’s scary the way the Nats resort to heavyhanded tactics so quickly. They never work either, just ask the boyracers in their uncrushed cars.

Nats all at sea on whaling

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:18 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 14 comments

In Kaikoura, John Key said commercial whaling “might be acceptable if it was acceptable to others”. You gotta love the leadership there. But you’ve also got to question what kind of two-faced game the Nats are playing because in the House, Murray McCully said precisely the opposite – that the Government opposes commercial whaling.

Hysterical media coverage

Written By: r0b - Date published: 2:45 pm, March 17th, 2010 - 26 comments

Suddenly John Key is all over the place complaining about “hysterical” media coverage of National’s plans to turn large chunks of our National Parks into smouldering slag. John seems to have forgotten what “hysterical” politics really looks like. Let’s take a trip down memory lane…

Wage gap is the John Key credibility gap

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:34 am, March 13th, 2010 - 46 comments

There’s a nickname for John Key that’s picking up currency from both Left and Right around the blogosphere: ‘smile and wave’. The one thing Key can be depended on is to turn up grinning in some cheesy photo op. All his promises fall by the wayside. Meanwhile, 276,000 Kiwis are jobless, the wage gap with Australia keeps widening, and so does Key’s credibility gap.

Who needs evidence?

Written By: r0b - Date published: 1:04 pm, March 9th, 2010 - 12 comments

John Key doesn’t need evidence. He just knows stuff. John Key just knows that Don Brash’s emails were stolen by a mysterious hacker, despite having no evidence at all. The same “reasoning” underpins most of National’s flagship policies. Key just knows they’ll work, even when the evidence says otherwise…

John Key lies about “surgical” mining

Written By: Michael Foxglove - Date published: 9:01 am, March 6th, 2010 - 25 comments

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee is refusing to rule out landscape-scarring mining on our most precious conservation land. This makes a liar of John Key who promised the government was considering “surgical mining”.

Ex leaders

Written By: r0b - Date published: 10:58 am, March 3rd, 2010 - 27 comments

Comparing the post-leadership careers of Clark and Brash is quite a study in contrasts. Clark’s has been stellar, Brash’s an embarrassment. But the world of difference between these two leaders is much clearer with the perfect hindsight of 2010 than it was when they were locked in a tight electoral battle in 2005.

How will history look back at the leadership of John Key?