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Networks of influence: Key & Anadarko Petroleum

Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, May 2nd, 2013 - 18 comments

John Key’s networks of influence include the bosses and directors of Anadarko Petroleum, which is doing some oil exploration in NZ. Gordon Campbell’s excellent piece of investigative journalism shows Anadarko and it’s bosses are not to be trusted.

Key goes negative

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, May 2nd, 2013 - 156 comments

John Key has gone hard negative, with his rants about North Korea and communism, and now an attack on the Greens. Negative is where you go when you don’t have a positive story to tell the electorate. I wonder if the Nats’ internal polling has got Key spooked…

Networks of influence: (dis)Advantage NZ

Written By: - Date published: 9:33 am, April 30th, 2013 - 21 comments

An Advantage New Zealand conference at SkyCity is the centre of major PR for John Key-backed, big oil exploration in NZ. While promoting and backing each others’ destructive profiteering, and endangering NZ’s environment, they are nurturing their networks of influence over expensive dinners and on the golf course.

It’s not us: it’s the big banks

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, April 29th, 2013 - 31 comments

MSM articles show the big Aussie banks are making record profits, Kiwis can save, and Adam Smith worshiping think tanks are not to be trusted. Cunliffe & Norman said it a while back – NAct policies and government spending cuts are not the answer.

Meanwhile: US, intellectual property, GCSB

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, April 26th, 2013 - 18 comments

In his meetings with Ian Fletcher, Key’s main aims and activities are hidden in plain sight. They connect with US-led initiatives around digital copyright, intellectual property and commerce.  Recently there have been some worrying developments in the bigger picture: GCSB, ACTA, TPPA, SOPA, CISPA.

NRT: MMP review: Running down the clock

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, April 26th, 2013 - 1 comment

I/S at No Right Turn on the strange disappearance of the Electoral Commission recommendations on MMP. Soon it will be too late to have changes in place for 2014…

‘That politician got amnesia again’

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, April 26th, 2013 - 21 comments

Today’s anonymous Dominion Post editorial points to the beginning of John Key’s fall from grace.  It centres on Key’s personal qualities, continues to support the MSM’s support of personality politics, glosses over the serious issues masked by Key’s (alleged) amnesia, and uses a false equivalence with Helen Clark.

Fletcher-Key meetings: networks of influence

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, April 24th, 2013 - 90 comments

There were a number of meetings between Key and Ian Fletcher prior to Fletcher’s appointment as GCSB boss.  Key tried to cover up his cronyism, and preoccupation with undemocratic shifts in the government’s control of the GCSB, and its focus on intellectual property & commerce.

Power profits and the consumer

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 pm, April 22nd, 2013 - 16 comments

New Zealand’s energy pricing over the last twenty years was thoroughly canvassed by Dr Geoff Bertram last year in a paper presented to the Fabian Society as part of its “Light-handed Regulation” series.  In the light of the Labour/Greens’ announcement last week about NZ Power his paper is well worth a read.

When they’re laughing at you…

Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, April 22nd, 2013 - 160 comments

You know it’s getting near time to go.

In Saturday’s DomPost, Chelsie Preston Crayford shows what she thinks of John Key and asset sales.

Do the lights ever go out on Planet Key?

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 pm, April 19th, 2013 - 33 comments

John Key says that the Labour-Green Power policy is “barking mad” and will take people back to the power cuts of the 1970s.  Another John Key brainfade, or just being “clueless”? I look at power cuts and fuel poverty since the 1990s.

The buck stops with the directors: Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, April 19th, 2013 - 9 comments

Pike River found guilty of breaches of health and safety, leading to the death of of 29 miners. The CTU is calling for law changes to make company directors responsible for their company’s negligence. And the NZ MSM coverage of the catastrophe immediately after it happened?

NZ Power

Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, April 18th, 2013 - 223 comments

At noon today Labour and the Greens jointly announced new energy policies. “NZ Power” is big and it’s bold. It will completely restructure the way the electricity sector is run, and result in lower power prices for both domestic and business consumers.

The Greens, electricity & sustainability

Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, April 16th, 2013 - 48 comments

The Greens and Labour are planning a joint announcement on their policies on power prices. Both parties want to bring down costs of electricity.  The policies of the two parties will also have some differences.   How will it mesh with Green Party policies on sustainability?

GCSB changes – outrageous anti-democratic

Written By: - Date published: 6:13 pm, April 15th, 2013 - 42 comments

Key has announced changes to the GCSB roles that will include assisting business and the police in spying against Kiwis.  it is anti-democratic, and will increase lack of accountability of the intelligence and crime fighting services.

Seeking a wormald to the truth

Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, April 15th, 2013 - 33 comments

Dotcom has promised some significant revelations from this week’s court proceedings.  This morning his lawyer focused on Grant Wormald, the role of the police Special Tactics Group, and the truth.  Is the GCSB is off the hook? Meanwhile, Key has been claiming he is “honest and upfront”. [Update – Key’s announced changes to the GCSB outrageous & undemocratic]

Networks of influence

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, April 14th, 2013 - 57 comments

John Key is into networking and schmoozing with the wealthy & influential. He’s  given special attention to the entertainment industries, GCSB, intellectual property & commerce.  He crossed paths with Warner’s people the year before the Hobbit dispute, but never played golf with Dotcom.

The stealthy dismantling of democracy

Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, April 12th, 2013 - 27 comments

John Key’s government has been gradually dismantling NZ’s democratic processes. Various activities this week are a major part of a frightening shift: a Bill enabling mining conservation land; punitive social security Act; Key’s control over NZ’s “intelligence community”.

The Key-Fletcher trail

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, April 11th, 2013 - 77 comments

The PM, Fletcher, the GCSB – questions need answering: why, when, where, who? It’s all about intellectual property, global commerce and international networks. From London to Aus 2009, to NZ 2010, then down the rabbit hole to Dotcom, Hobbits & uncertain links with complex global money mazes.

Security: social, financial, personal, digital

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, April 10th, 2013 - 18 comments

Yesterday more planks in the NAct raft amounting to major changes, were before the House.  These undermine democracy, fairness, the security and rights of individuals, and increase hardship for those on low incomes.  Ardern on Social Security. Cunliffe on child support, privacy breaches & trust.

Climb the mountain of conflict

Written By: - Date published: 6:57 pm, April 8th, 2013 - 54 comments

North Korea is playing nuclear brinksmanship at the moment. Its leadership probably doesn’t want war but the constant threat of war is how it get concessions from the West, gains mana, and keeps its people in line. The West is trying to defuse this situation by talking down the prospects of war, while showing its readiness. Into this delicate, high stakes game stumbled John Key.

PM’s Science Advisor worried PM doesn’t understand science

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, April 5th, 2013 - 74 comments

Why else would he say “that he is particularly concerned by the trend for the complex nature of science to be ignored or misunderstood in societal debates, leading to the argument that you can find a scientist to support any given position. This, he says, totally misinterprets the way that scientific consensus is achieved and can engender serious mistrust in the scientific enterprise.”

Rennie: Key vetoed the shortlist?

Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, April 4th, 2013 - 115 comments

Rennie now says it was ultimately Key’s decision to scrap the original shortlist for head of the GCSB.  Has Key misled the House and the country, or has he successfully employed the science of obfuscation?

The CV of a Spy Boss

Written By: - Date published: 5:14 pm, April 3rd, 2013 - 89 comments

Key & Rennie say Ian Fletcher was the most suitable candidate to head the GCSB?  His CV includes working on intellectual property, globalisation and free trade, & was private secretary to the Blair minister who fudged the legal advice on attacking Iraq.

Granny Herald: Cunliffe wrong to be right

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, April 2nd, 2013 - 19 comments

Sometimes, I wonder where Granny Herald gets her crack from. It’s clearly strong stuff. Like when she runs an editorial soundly condemning an opposition MP for doing something that the same editorial admits is justified. Today, Cunliffe gets an earful for daring to suggest that IT multi-nationals are ripping us off.

Key delusions

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, March 28th, 2013 - 57 comments

John Key often lives in a different world than us – and not just in that he doesn’t mix with us. Over Sky City and Anzac Day he is very much in his own bubble.

Cunliffe off to a flyer in revenue

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, March 22nd, 2013 - 150 comments

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The revenue portfolio looked like a big step down for Cunliffe but already he’s made a mark as the parliamentary voice of a business/union coalition against Dunne’s stealth taxes. The result: humiliating backdowns for Dunne, a stain that may threaten his hold on Ohariu, and Cunliffe and Labour on the side of the winners.

Good poll for Shearer

Written By: - Date published: 6:28 am, March 22nd, 2013 - 36 comments

The latest Herald Digipoll is mixed news for the left, but good news personally for David Shearer. Even John Armstrong is cautiously impressed…

Democracy needs straight answers to straight questions

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, March 21st, 2013 - 49 comments

The current Speaker in the House, David Carter, is a disaster.  Yesterday he let the government get away with avoiding providing serious answers to important questions: a government ploy? Russel Norman has complained.  Democracy needs the government to be held to account.

The difference

Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, March 20th, 2013 - 221 comments

Key hid his Tranzrail shares while asking questions about Tranzrail because he’s a sneaky, avaricious bastard.
Banks filed a false election return keeping his big money donors secret because he’s corrupt.
Shearer forgot to declare his UN Bank account because he’s a bit of a munter.
Time will tell which the public tolerates more.

Polling merry-go-round

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, March 20th, 2013 - 28 comments

The Roy Morgan polls continue their mad merry-go-round, and we bloggers continue to get too excited about it. The latest RM projects a win for Labour / Greens.