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NRT: Who’d have thunk it?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:23 pm, June 27th, 2014 - 60 comments

Capital gains tax is now accepted by a more people than who oppose it. But for a policy long considered a “third rail” of New Zealand politics, its a significant shift. It ought to put paid forever to the idea that parties must go with the flow of public opinion because they are unable to affect it. Weak parties are. But if Labour stops being scared of its own shadow and afraid of its left-wing heritage, it can actually change things, and build the majorities it needs to govern.

The people respond to the Herald Editorial on Donghua Liu

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:53 am, June 27th, 2014 - 66 comments

Further to lprent’s post this morning there is an avalanche of responses on the Herald website to its Donghua Liu editorial. People are obviously furious and the anger is palpable. And there is a trade me sale of John Key’s book with a very funny series of questions and answers

Dear John Armstrong

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 6:45 pm, June 26th, 2014 - 82 comments

A dear John letter to Herald Columnist John Armstrong.

Polity: Labour’s fiscal plan: B+

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:30 pm, June 25th, 2014 - 20 comments

I’m a glass half-full kind of a guy, so I want to start by emphasising the parts of Labour’s just-released fiscal plan that I like. The good: commitment to paying off government debt during economic good times, tax rate changes are welcome, and targeting tax avoidance by large multinationals. Bad: the top tax rate is still too low, and no need to signal second term tax cuts. Overall I would give this package a B+.

Labour’s alternative budget

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:00 pm, June 25th, 2014 - 139 comments

Labour has announced details of its alternative budget with the headline a change in the top tax rate to 36 cents in the dollar for the top 2% of taxpayers.

CTU: Labour’s financial plan will make life fairer for working Kiwis

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:56 pm, June 25th, 2014 - 8 comments

Labour’s Fiscal Plan shows a clear and positive difference from National. Those who earn over over 150,000 will pay more tax and applying tax to trusts to combat tax avoidance, are welcome steps to reducing inequality and the unfairness of the tax system. It’s a relief to see more effort in stopping the billions of dollars of tax evasion. Labour’s commitment to funding the real costs of Health and Education, taking account of rising costs and the changing population, forces National to front up and say what it is going to do to prevent our public services from deteriorating further.

Key and Herald embarrassed as Liu statement changes

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:19 pm, June 25th, 2014 - 113 comments

The Herald has now published details of a further statement from Donghua Liu which directly contradicts previous claims. So what did it do to ensure the accuracy of the original claims and why did it print those allegations without verification? And who is the mysterious person who prepared a statement that with the benefit of hindsight was clearly inaccurate?

Tales from the underbelly of John Key’s NZ

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:59 am, June 25th, 2014 - 114 comments

The underbelly of John Key’s “rockstar economy” is mostly kept in the shadows, but every so often more tales emerge from the growing numbers of homeless. Vote left & vote the bastards out, this election!

Polity: TPP deal on rocks. Surprise!

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:41 am, June 24th, 2014 - 10 comments

John Key is abandoning hope of a TPP deal. As it stands at present there is nothing in it for New Zealand. Of course the usual ugly swamp that is US internal politics is making the deal descend into a mire.

Expect nothing to happen for another year or two, and maybe the damn thing will never happen.

The spirit of ’35

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:32 am, June 24th, 2014 - 50 comments

Jan Logie’s post: “Work and Income – stories from hidden people” is a must read: stories from a divisive society, under a callous government that benefits the few at the expense of too many. We can do much better than that. Vote for change this election!

NRT: Our misogynistic political media

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:25 pm, June 23rd, 2014 - 44 comments

In previous elections, the major parties have submitted lists heavily dominated by men, and this passes without comment. This year, Labour has submitted one with a slight imbalance (53:47) towards women. The reaction is sadly predictable. Misogynist reporting. Also incorrect, there is no gender rule. Not mentioned: Labour’s list is gender-balanced up to position 40; that slight imbalance comes from the bottom, unelectable end of the list and will not translate into caucus places.

Imperator Fish: Critics slam Labour list selections – again

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:08 pm, June 23rd, 2014 - 20 comments

Some things are so predicable that Imperator Fish can write about them years ahead. Like the typical reactions to the Labour list. Let us observe the predictability of the right and others to it today. Marks for any bit of originality, but don’t be surprised if there aren’t any.

Labour list announced

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:06 pm, June 23rd, 2014 - 189 comments

The Labour list for 2014 has been announced.

Polity: Colin Craig confused

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:30 pm, June 23rd, 2014 - 27 comments

This morning’s news from the Fairfax/Ipsos poll is that 81% of New Zealanders hate coat-tailing and want it gone. I agree with them. So does Labour. So do the Greens. So do Internet MANA. National, of course, relishes coat-tailing. So – to the 81% – if you want 2014 to be the last election with any coat-tailing, vote for a change of government. In the meantime of course, we have Crazy Colin Craig who thinks that Key’s job is to give just him a seat, entirely of his own accord, with no “insipid” discussions about the quid pro quo. Good luck with that.

John Key: a tale of two ‘truths’

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:08 am, June 23rd, 2014 - 34 comments

John Key claimed he didn’t know about the big shift in the US-NZ surveillance relationship in 2009. Now he claims he always likes to be fully briefed on intelligence matters. Robert David Steele points the way from such anti-democratic governance & misinformation, to an open source everything revolution.

Local Bodies: Politics, Sharks and Voter Apathy

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:00 am, June 23rd, 2014 - 10 comments

I had a conversation at our farmer’s market this morning about how my election campaign was going and the person I was speaking to had the view that all politicians don’t actually do much, apart from talking. I find that this thinking is actually fairly common, many people talk about the nonsense that goes on in Parliament and how all politicians are as bad as each other, “It doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing really changes.” I find this view really frustrating, but at the same time I can see why people may feel this way.

The police must investigate the alleged Liu donations because…

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:05 pm, June 22nd, 2014 - 24 comments

Scott Yorke makes some excellent arguments in favour of a full police investigation into the Liu saga.

Colin Craig to run in East Coast Bays – McCully sacrificed

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:18 pm, June 22nd, 2014 - 47 comments

In a speech today Colin Craig has confirmed that he will be standing in Murray McCully’s seat of East Coast Bays.

NZ Herald – again that curious lack of detail

Written By: lprent - Date published: 2:20 pm, June 22nd, 2014 - 112 comments

I’ve been around the Labour party campaigners for a long time. I’d have expected to hear of auction sales of near to $100,000 by rumour if nothing else. It is possible that I didn’t. But then so is time travel. Quite simply the NZ Heralds reporting of Liu’s letter without any corroboration or details about where and when isn’t what I expect from journalists. It is what I expect from Whaleoil – a simple smear. I hadn’t realised that the Herald was that desperate.

Turn out and vote National out

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:00 am, June 21st, 2014 - 110 comments

At the last election, the high non-vote spoke to one important truth – many voters saw no reason to turn out. The media had told them that National would win by a landslide and they either didn’t mind or thought that one vote wouldn’t make any difference. This election is radically different. It is rapidly becoming clear that we are losing control of our country. Vote on September 20, and vote against this Government.

NRT: An abuse of the OIA

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 4:14 pm, June 20th, 2014 - 39 comments

So it turns out that Immigration released letters from David Cunliffe and Chris Carter in support of Donghua Liu. However, the Department of Internal Affairs refused to release the letters sent by Mr Williamson and Mr Banks under the privacy and commercial provisions in the Official Information Act. This looks like a blatantly political release decision to advance the interests of the government of the day. Transparency of official information applies to everyone, not just the government’s enemies.

It takes a child to raise a country – so Tick for Kids

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 11:00 am, June 20th, 2014 - 80 comments

Overshadowed by the political smears that have dominated the past few days, the Tick for Kids campaign has been launched to put our children at the centre of the election campaign.

Local Bodies: National’s Campaign Strategy Stinks

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:58 am, June 20th, 2014 - 25 comments

We all know from reading Nicky Hager’s The Hollow Men (or watching the documentary) that the National Party actually advocates for a small section of society. Their policies rarely support most New Zealanders and after each period of a National led Government we have costly messes like leaky buildings and dead miners as the aftermath. This isn’t to say that Labour shouldn’t take responsibility for not repealing dodgy legislation, but National has always stood for less regulation, fewer protections for workers and the environment and an upward flow of money to the already rich.

Polity: The game is the game

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:24 am, June 20th, 2014 - 24 comments

Rob Salmond offers some advice to the National smear team. When you screw up and start contradicting each other’s stories, you look like a pack of low-rent numpties. And it reveals your tactics for all to see, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place. Bill English and John Key should really communicate so they don’t trample over each others stories. And the spectacle of Michael Woodhouse changing his mind within hours about when he first saw the letter, and what he did with it? Pure comedy

The anatomy of a smear campaign

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:59 am, June 20th, 2014 - 322 comments

David Cunliffe does not recall signing a letter 11 years ago which did not advocate for Donghua Liu’s application for residence yet gets pilloried by the media for stating that he did not advocate for Mr Liu. Michael Woodhouse denies telling John Key about the letter, then says officials from his office briefed Mr Key’s office on the letters and then his office admits that he told Key’s office about the letter yet there is no media criticism of what clearly is an attempt to hide a smear campaign. Is this yet more evidence of media bias?

Puddleglum on Christchurch

Written By: lprent - Date published: 1:21 pm, June 19th, 2014 - 17 comments

There is a very long but worth reading post over at The Political Scientist. If you’re serious about campaigning in NZ at present, then it is definitely worth setting aside the time to ponder it. In particular the demographics and the occupational changes across Christchurch that may affect this years election outcome. Tony Milne also has a good post on Christchurch and its continuing travails..

The dirtiest election campaign backfires

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 10:00 am, June 19th, 2014 - 280 comments

Yesterday wasn’t a good day for Labour. But it’s not the end of the world – because we know how this game goes.

Stand up – for an inclusive, caring & sharing NZ

Written By: karol - Date published: 7:21 am, June 19th, 2014 - 57 comments

Stand up: fight back: We know what we are up against. We’ve seen the depth of the negative, right wing campaigning. NZ wants and needs better politics, and a more inclusive society.

Good news, National are afraid of David Cunliffe

Written By: geoff - Date published: 8:46 pm, June 18th, 2014 - 222 comments

The weak and transparent smear attempt from National says more about them than David Cunliffe.

The Donghua Liu letter – is that it?

Written By: lprent - Date published: 3:50 pm, June 18th, 2014 - 324 comments

It is a damn form letter written to immigration by electorate offices every day. Prepared by electorate office staff. Signed in a stack by the MP. Requesting information about a constituent case or even a drop-in to the office. I’ve seen many of these per day going on in a neighbouring electorate office. Their files are strewn all over immense file directories. It is seldom that the MPs meet with the people until after the information is received from immigration. It isn’t “advocacy”. It is just dumpster diving for crap by National’s researchers.