Damn close election. Now the coalition fun starts

Written By: lprent - Date published: 2:02 am, November 9th, 2008 - 141 comments
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Lynn Prentice

That was incredibly close. National plus Act plus probably Peter Dunne have scraped a small majority.

How close is shown in the election results table.

59 (nat) + 5 (act) + 1 (dunne) = 65. Less one for the speaker is 64 in a parliament of 122. That would mean that they have extra seats in hand for passing legislation after they get a majority. But because the number of seats are limited, it looks like a ‘waka’ jumping paradise because every MP is important. This feels to me like the scenario like the National/NZF coalition of the 1990’s.

The question is if a newbie politician has the skills required to maintain a coalition. Imagine if they do anything that Act objects to and will vote against. That is a hamstrung coalition because National would have to seek external support. Of course they can seek support outside of those two support parties, but there aren’t that many parties that they could work with on the ‘left’. Helen at least had parties within working distance on both the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ of themselves.

It should make for an ‘interesting’ coalition agreement because Act has their own agenda. It will be a case of the “tail wagging the dog” as various right commentators have described this type of coalition. But without a alternative partner on particular legislation as Helen managed to do.

It is no wonder that the National politicians are trying to hammer the message of people moving in the same direction – they need the help. It is going to be quite amusing watching the National politicians contorting themselves to inoculate themselves against the dead embrace of Act. They need another party with enough votes to work with on the left of them – there really isn’t one that they can easily work with.

In the meantime it is time for the ‘left’ to start working on being the most effective opposition (in their unique ways) that they can be. I’ll probably blog on Helen standing down tommorrow after I get over the shock.

[Update: The speaker does get a vote.]

141 comments on “Damn close election. Now the coalition fun starts ”

Comments are now closed

Ari 1

9 November 2008 at 2:35 am

Hey Lynn- or anyone else who’s knowledgeable on matters relating to the Speaker- quick question:

When the speaker is appointed, is one seat removed from parliament, does someone from the bottom of that party’s list take the vacated seat, or does something else happen? I was running the numbers as if NZF had won an electorate seat and noticed National + ACT + UF had a 1 seat majority.
lprent 2

9 November 2008 at 2:45 am

Nope. It has to be a sitting MP, who is then not allowed to vote. At least that is what my recollection is. Very close election isn’t it. Not exactly a mandate for change.

Damn I’m having real hassles trying to write a post about Helen standing down. Time for bed.
zANavAShi 3

9 November 2008 at 2:57 am

Oooh yay, a new post! I have nothing to say, just needed a break from the live thread for a while 😀

Hey Lynn, are you feeling (like me) an agonising desire to rush down to the 24hr gas station to buy a pack of smokes? Lucky you that you have a cold right now, eh.
theaveragekeywi 4

9 November 2008 at 2:57 am

F’in Douglas aye?

I wonder if the average National Party supporter has any idea what has been unleashed. I’m reasonably well-off and voted Green. I’m just imagining being less well-off having and voted National; that must be the case for a whole heap of voters.

It’s sad

Let the 1000 day count down begin…
sean 5

9 November 2008 at 3:06 am

Even after all this, you still can’t be gracious enough to say well done. Sore loser.
lprent 6

9 November 2008 at 3:11 am

z: I fell off the wagon while getting some code written for the election. Turned out that I’d managed to forget to condition myself to work on code at home without cigarettes. So I had some really screwy code to do with a very limited time frame, a irritating set of conditioned behavior, and no ability to concentrate… damn..

However, the election is over, I have other code to write at home and no time constraints. My partner is off for 6 weeks in PNG (ie no-one to get irritable with), and I haven’t allowed the other conditioning to relapse. It is give up smoking again for the second time.
Jared 7

9 November 2008 at 3:16 am

Hahahaha, a mandate for change? How about a maximum of 57 seats under a Labour coalition, thats a 2 vote majority without even taking into account a coalition, and under a coalition with act/uf you are looking at 66 votes. It was well known that Helen would stand down, hardly a surprise there.
lprent 8

9 November 2008 at 3:26 am

sean: Well I don’t operate that way. I don’t get excited when we win, nor do I get upset when we lose. That is the route to burnout.

They are just battles in a long struggle. My advice to people who think that they can change the world is to ask what do they think about a 30 year campaign they’re embarking on. That is the average time for most major social and economic change to happen.

Of course thinking that way, I don’t get too concerned about temporary setbacks or advances, and I don’t really expect others to do so either. I prefer to save my congratulations for something significant and this isn’t it.

I’d suggest that you look at various peoples expectations of what the Nat’s were going to be able to do, and compare it with the actual results.

They can’t govern alone. They have to govern with a party that has never been in government. They have no natural balancing party to compensate. They’re doing this with an untried leader who also hasn’t been in government and is a newbie to politics. They’re doing it in a position without a padding of MP’s if they lose one or two for any number of reasons.

That looks distinctly unstable to me. If I was in the Nat’s, I’d be unsure if this was a victory or a setback. Meanwhile Labour has largely managed its internal rejuve.
Ari 9

9 November 2008 at 3:37 am

Lynn- so essentially there are then 121 votes in the House?

That would still have given the Nats a majority had NZF won an electorate- although it would be a very slim one.
Jared 10

9 November 2008 at 3:43 am

Labour has lost stalwarts such as Tizard, Burton, Duynhoven, O’Conner and you are trying to tell me that Labour has maintained its integrity?

Last election Labour led National by only 2 seats without a majority, this time around National lead Labour by over 16 without coalition partners. that is what I would call close, not a 16 seat margin
lprent 11

9 November 2008 at 3:51 am

I screwed up the calcs (I blame beer). I’ve adjusted the text, but the effect is the same.

It is 57 vs 65. Drop one for the speaker = 57 vs 64. If Act doesn’t like legislation and votes against it then 64 vs 59 assuming dunne votes with the Nat’s or is the speaker and Act doesn’t provide the speaker.

That is a tail wagging problem for the Nat’s, because it is hard to see the Nat’s getting an alternative party to help overcome the Act dislike of a particular bill. Act doesn’t support a lot of centrist positions, so the Nat’s will be pulled right policy wise. Not good if they want to hold the centre. Also not good if they want to hold their few moderate centrist MP’s.

Range wise the best party for National to override Act with would be Labour because the moderate centre-left of Labour has a lot in common with the moderate centre-right of National. But Labour is the effective opposition party and cooperation isn’t the role of the opposition party. Their alternatives are Greens or Maori party. Now have a look at this at NRT. There is hell of difference in voting patterns, and the greens and maori party tend to vote similar.

Essentially this isn’t good for the Nat’s. As I said it is no wonder that they are talking ‘unity’. That is the only way that they can stop getting hauled rightwards
Rocket Boy 12

9 November 2008 at 3:55 am

Um, how about ‘congratulations National & ACT, hard fought election – well done’?

How is this going to be difficult for a ‘newbie’ politician to maintain this ‘interesting’ coalition?

Are there two parties in parliament that are closer than ACT and National? You could easily swap most of the ACT MP’s into National and no one would notice, hell Rodney is in a safe National seat and they happily vote to keep him there.

I also don’t see how it was ‘damn close’? Nearly 46% for National against 34% for Labour, it was a hiding.
lprent 13

9 November 2008 at 4:04 am

RB: I explained further up. But essentially the only way that the Nats got the vote was to move closer to the centre. However there are no real centre parties to keep them there policy wise because of the alternative support that the main party needs when their bills conflict with the smaller coalition partner. For instance to keep them at the centre.

Also while a number of the right wing MP’s are interchangeable with Act ones. There is a grouping of relative moderates in the Nat’s who aren’t. If the party goes too far right, then it will cause the waka jumping syndrome.
Paul Robeson 14

9 November 2008 at 4:09 am

Lynn- nice band aid.

But it was a pants down hiding.

Though I would love to have seen each person who voted forced to choose on the basis of ACC- yes I want to pay for a lawyer to fight for my money while I’m in hospital having broken my leg at work, or having had a car accident.

and other things.

Labour doesn’t do media that well, the last two campaigns in the media have been a bit weak, or not quite sure of who they are talking to I think.

Their on the ground organisation is great, but nothing with the sizzle of the Roses chocolate campaign, or those Ansell billboards. The negative angle was overplayed.

ahh well. Love your work and your democracy in getting information out there.
gingercrush 15

9 November 2008 at 4:10 am

Sorry but the result is not close. A close result is when the opposition has a chance to form a government. In that case Labour. But Labour-Green-Progressives-Maori CANNOT form a government whatsoever. Thus under MMP it can not be called a close result.
Vinsin 16

9 November 2008 at 4:13 am

To all these people complaining that the election wasn’t close please remember that in fact we run a MMP system. This means it isn’t who gets the most votes on the day – remembering no-one party has yet to get over 50% – it’s who can form a coalition. This is why it was damn close. Anyways hopefully the country can survive a National led government, Mr Key has a lot of work ahead of him and I hope he and his National party do well and prove themselves to be the right choice – pardon the pun.
Paul Robeson 17

9 November 2008 at 4:15 am

It would be interesting to start a reasons for and against a grand coalition thread.

Because if most National party members (it is claimed) don’t support an ACT policy that gets included for the sake of a coalition agreement (and I wonder if we might see a few of ‘oh it was the condition of their support’ type deals) surely it makes more sense for Labour and National to vote together to pass centerist policy that both agree on.

Why is this flawed?

Or is it necessary for the MMP party vote to be valid that parties release a much more thorough policy manifesto prior to the election? Thus allowing pundits questionaire to be perfectable.
gingercrush 18

9 November 2008 at 4:15 am

It is not damn close. Labour can’t form coalition partners and govern. Unless you put Act in their lot which can hardly be called possible in any way.
lprent 19

9 November 2008 at 4:16 am

Jared:What a particular party gets is irrelevant. The only thing that counts, and what the party wanting to form the government has to do is that they have the votes to pass legislation. In this case they do, but only if Act allows then to do so.

Not good if the major party wishes to maintain its integrity and position at the next election. It is a very bad position for the Nat’s to get themselves into as it carries a high risk of losing what allowed them to get into power – perceived moderation.

As for the Labour MP’s. The actual drop was from 49 MP’s to 44 MP’s the losses wer because the party at all levels wanted to rejuve without bloodletting or massive defeat (like the Nat’s had in 1999 and even worse in 2002). There is a big difference between planned change and imposed change.
lprent 20

9 November 2008 at 4:24 am

gingercrush: It is obvious you’re young. I’m not, and I think strategically rather than tactically. I’m considering if the Nat’s will be able to survive the 2011 election with the current configuration. The subtext is if the coalition will be able to survive waka jumping if the Nat’s get pulled to far right by Act.

The right won a battle not a campaign. The battle may cost them the campaign
gingercrush 21

9 November 2008 at 4:30 am

You think strategically absurd ideas that are largely unwarranted and are not in any way factual.

The subtext is that the National party is in a strong position because it holds a huge size in comparison to other partners. By bringing in United Future and the Maori Party this allows National to be more moderate and not to go too far to the right. On more moderate policies National can use the Maori Party and United Future and possibly Labour (who are likely to vote for moderate ideas) and not be reliant on Act for votes. That is clearly a strength in National’s favour.

National will not lose party members even if they swing to the right. Simply because you have dedicated National members who are dedicated to the party and the ideas.

National is in ideal shape because it use its centrist parties and its right party Act to pass legislation.
lprent 22

9 November 2008 at 4:34 am

Paul: The main reason why is that both major parties themselves are coalitions. The ends of each party detest the other party, in particular the activists. Unity governments tend to get creepy and embedded in stasis fast, and their activists leave, usually to form an opposition. Both parties usually implode.

Besides you need the contention to examine all proposals deeply. That is why loyal oppositions formed in the first place.
lprent 23

9 November 2008 at 4:43 am

gingercrush: absurd – nope – you just don’t want to think on them. I do…

If they get Maori Party. That is why I said that the coalition forming would be interesting. I can’t see how that could happen. I can see why the Nat’s would want it to happen. In the current circumstances I suspect that Act would actively not want it to happen.

I also can’t see how that would help much, except on the override Act voting. The Maori party generally vote like the Greens. Both the National and Act supporters here have shown how they like any green style social policies. The Maori party are also actively aware of how opposed both their members and their voters would be to that.

Every maori electorate voted massively for Labour in their party vote this election, typically with Maori party having about half the labour vote. Both national and NZF combined are usually about half of the maori party vote. Tell me what would the maori party voters say to being in an alliance or coalition with the Nat’s in 2011. I don’t think that the MP wish to commit suicide this early.
lprent 24

9 November 2008 at 4:49 am

Anyway off to bed. Just a gentle warning – I’m not exactly tolerant of trolling right now. Some kind of cold, lack of sleep, and a bit of shock. Don’t be stupid because I’m in a ban permanently mood if people disrupt discussion.
gingercrush 25

9 November 2008 at 5:04 am

Well we’ll see. The thing is they’re not dependent on Maori Party support. It can and will be useful and I am positive some type of arrangement will be made but its not essential.

Rather than wanting the National-led government to fall apart in hope of forming the government in 2011. The left needs to rebuild. The Greens need to work out why they tend to poll far higher than their actual results are. Labour needs to properly engage the Green voters. In several electorates they lost their MPs because of the Green candidate. The electorates do still play a role in MMP. It is far easier to build party support when you have an Electorate MP. Thus some agreement should be made so that Green voters vote for Labour electorate candidates but still vote Green. That way you shore up electorate support and that can help when building governments.

The Greens I think are in a predicament. They poll high but results are consistently lower. Why is that? In every other way the polls were largely accurate. Maori would split their votes. National was in the 45-48% range. Labour was in the low-mid 30s. Greens were 9% and yet they are what 6.4. That is a worry. Clearly people like their message but something happens where that message doesn’t end up reflected in results. Greens need to come to terms with that.

Labour has a clear job they need to do. Get even more South Auckland voters out. They are your future, they can win you elections. But also Labour can’t afford to forget about the provinces.

National-Act won this election because in 2005 they grabbed a number of provinces back in the party and electorate vote. 2008 they built on that and also got more votes in the big cities. For Labour to return, they need to shore-up their advantage in the big cities BUT also regain voters from the provinces who use to be Labour.

Most importantly, stop abusing the Greens and treating them as a party you use only if you have to. They are your natural ally. 2008 National moved towards the center while Labour also tried to stay in the future. But its a message for both the left and right. You must be centrist but you also need a clear right or left message. For Labour they lost their left ideals, National needs to be more careful in circulating the right. But in areas such as Law and Order a more right policy works.

Also I don’t want to think about racial lines. But I would be rather interesting to see where Asian and Indian voters went in this election. Maori are clearly still voting left, Pacific Island is left. But I think this election, perhaps Asians and Indians voted right.

So for the left to regain power. They need to consolidate, build, have a clear agenda and work with natural allies.

And I need sleep.
Ari 26

9 November 2008 at 5:12 am

You think strategically absurd ideas that are largely unwarranted and are not in any way factual.

The subtext is that the National party is in a strong position because it holds a huge size in comparison to other partners. By bringing in United Future and the Maori Party this allows National to be more moderate and not to go too far to the right. On more moderate policies National can use the Maori Party and United Future and possibly Labour (who are likely to vote for moderate ideas) and not be reliant on Act for votes. That is clearly a strength in National’s favour.

National will not lose party members even if they swing to the right. Simply because you have dedicated National members who are dedicated to the party and the ideas.

National is in ideal shape because it use its centrist parties and its right party Act to pass legislation.

National has two parties signed on right now- UF is roughly where National is, Act is far to the right. If they can agree to get the Maori Party to swing on issues Act is not keen on, (WITHOUT having to agree to anything that will fracture their already very divided party) then they are no longer paralysed by Act. However, as lprent points out to you, if the Maori Party were to form a natural “bloc” with the Party that votes closest to it the most often, it would end up with the Greens. National is going to have a hard time coming to a compromise with a Party that thinks like the Greens when Peter Dunne throws his appeals to “common sense” out the window almost every time the Greens are involved.

That’s not to say National can’t do it- but I’d not be optimistic about their chances with John Key in charge, and a prominent National MP caught making very racially offensive remarks.
Ari 27

9 November 2008 at 5:28 am

The Greens I think are in a predicament. They poll high but results are consistently lower. Why is that? In every other way the polls were largely accurate. Maori would split their votes. National was in the 45-48% range. Labour was in the low-mid 30s. Greens were 9% and yet they are what 6.4. That is a worry. Clearly people like their message but something happens where that message doesn’t end up reflected in results. Greens need to come to terms with that.

National was polling above 50% for a long time. Labour polling higher 30s than they got. NZ First actually bumped the threshold in one poll.

Firstly: The Greens always poll a lot higher than we get. I imagine this is because Greens are far more likely to answer polls when they get the chance because, much like Labour supporters, we are very active. However, unlike Labour, we don’t have such a large base, so this translates into volatility in polling trends.

I think it’s also because we do incredibly well on special votes- it’s entirely possible we’ll be up a bit more by the time those are counted.

Secondly: I think National stole more votes from Labour and NZ First than we gave them credit for.

Finally, I think you’re right that Labour “losing their ideals” to an extent is what’s hurt them.
adrian 28

9 November 2008 at 6:00 am

Watch this space. Winston was smiling too much, what’s the bet that on monday morning he files a 2million defamation case against the Yellow Dog who gets bankrupted, can’t hold a seat in Parliament and Act is dog tucker. We still live in interesting times.
travellerev 29

9 November 2008 at 6:18 am

F*&kin hell,

Everywhere in the world everybody hates the banksters and here they vote one in.
New Zealand, New Zealand I fear for you big time.

zANavAShi

Sweety, you send me your email address in a comment (not to published) on my blog and I’ll send you a couple of timelines to give to your JK voting friends.

When all their jobs start to disappear and their medical bills start to rise and the banks start to gobble up our savings and the farmers loose their farms and exporting business start to go belly up you can show them that without a shadow of a doubt JK was one of the assholes on Wall street setting this up with his banking scum mates. It will be fun watching National voters turning on JK when they find out.

Ari and Iprent,

Judging by remarks Angelina Greensill (Maori party) made when I spoke with her yesterday I don’t give a National/Maori cooperation much of a chance, they’re on to him big time.
higherstandard 30

9 November 2008 at 7:16 am

Congrats to National

Lynn you could take a leaf out of Helen’s book and at least wish the new government well.

Eve grow up.

[lprent: Why? Just another skirmish. It is going to be interesting being able to take cheap shots in the way that the right have been doing for the last 6 years. Especially at Act]
RedLogix 31

9 November 2008 at 7:36 am

If NZ1 had achieved 0.7% more and gotten over the 5% threshold then the result would have probably looked like this:

Nat = 57

Labour = 43

Greens = 9 (I’ll include the extra likely from specials)

NZ1 = 6

MP = 5

ACT = 5

UF = 1

JAP = 1

Total Seats = 127

Majority required = 64.

Right Bloc (wo/MP) = 57 + 5 + 1 = 63

Left Bloc(wo/MP) = 43 + 9 + 6 + 1 = 59

All of a sudden a very different kettle of fish indeed, and would have placed the Maori party in a much stronger position,

I’ll congratulate ACT on the most filthy, malicious campaign of sustained lies and smears this country has ever seen. Every accusation they made has been proven false, yet with a complicit media running interference for you it has been a spectacular success. Well done.

Already this is the most morally corrupt govt this country has ever seen, and hell it hasn’t even taken the Benches yet.

Also congratulations must go to every Green voter in Ohariu who split the electorate vote. If even half the votes that were wasted on Gareth Hughes had gone to Charles Chaveau then Peter Dunne would have been finally tipped out.

In the meantime I take satisfaction in the secure knowledge that the right has no idea what is about to hit them.
GNZ 32

9 November 2008 at 7:39 am

National doesn’t need congratulations – they sleepwalked to victory.
As to the Maori Party National just wants a counter balance to ACT, that could be a pretty loose arrangement. I suggest everyone except ACT voters should be in favour of that.

BTW 43 + 9 + 6 + 1 = 56 ???
try 59

[lprent: Middle of the night typo..]
GNZ 33

9 November 2008 at 7:53 am

If Maori party were the king maker (59 seats for the left block) that would have been a win for Helen. the problem is that .7 would have to have come from somewhere and it would presumably have been more strategic voting by Labour greens – so it would have been a toss up. One more Maori seat would have sealed the deal.
Adam 34

9 November 2008 at 8:42 am

Nice to see you guys in complete denial it only makes this victory all the more sweeter. Ding Dong the witch is dead.
Carol 35

9 November 2008 at 8:43 am

Congratulations to National & Key for succeeding in a hard fought campaign. It was smart of you to realise that the only way to get the support of a big enough proportion of the vote was to campaign as Labour-Lite. I hope you keep to that position, for the good of us all.

However, I have concerns that, in fact, this government will do a lot of damage to NZ and its people.

I think that the section of Nat/right wingers who have supported this campaign through visciously articulating mysogynistic, homophobic misinformation about lies and corruption and demonisation of Clark/Labour, have done themselves and their cause no credit.

It was a close election. It is only the 5 ACT MPs that have carried National across the line. And, when they got a smaller percentage of the party vote than at least one other party who got no MPs, that is a big distortion of democracy, and needs to be fixed ASAP. It is also a distortion that ACT has 5 MPs and Greens only 3 more with a much higher proportion of the party vote.

As Iprent has said, the left loses this battle, but the long campaign goes on.

As an aging leftie dyke, I’m strongly heartened to see all the young lefties, here and elsewhere, with their fresh ideas, perspectives and ways of doing things, and who have the energy and smartness to keep on with the struggle over the long term.

I hope to be there supporting the on-going campaigns against undemocratic corporate power, and for a fair, prosperous, liveable and sustainable society – I hope to be out there on the streets and cyberways over the next 3 years, where we hold the government to account for their claims to represent all New Zealanders.

To Helen Clark – one of the best PMs I’ve had the privilege to experience, and I’m sure there are other important jobs in the future that will benefit us all through her vast skills and committment to the left. She will go down in history as a great PM.
Janet 36

9 November 2008 at 8:51 am

It is quite good that the Nats have won more electorate seats, including city seats. They will find out how much work they are and what constituents expect of them, especially as economic times worsen, and the policy changes of the new government create problems locally.

Brent Edwards on Radio NZ is suggesting Rodney Hide gets the portfolio of ACC. Now that is asking for trouble.

I look forward to The Standard keeping the new government honest by measuring achievements against the promises – and they have made a lot.
Dale 37

9 November 2008 at 8:56 am

Its great to have ACT with the numbers they have it will pull National back to the right where they belong.With any luck that destructive ETS act will get turffed out. Now we can all look forward to a brighter future.
Carol 38

9 November 2008 at 9:05 am

Well, Janet, Nikki Kaye has Auckland Central. She claims to be in the liberal centre-right mold of Katherine Rich and Marilyn Waring. She seems quite intelligent and capable. At the moment she gets criticised for just parotting the party line. But she’s young and inexperienced. It’ll be interesting if she becomes someone who stands up against the more socially conservative elements in National &/or its coalition partners, or if she just moves away from the centre as she gets older.
Janet 39

9 November 2008 at 9:08 am

It’s not in my nature to be nasty but I observed some unethical behaviour by the Nats in Wgtn Central in the campaign so I am pleased that Stephen Franks lost. Irony is that if he had stayed with Act he would have got back in to parliament. 60 on the Nat list showed he wasn’t that popular with them either.
RedLogix 40

9 November 2008 at 9:13 am

Nice to see you guys in complete denial it only makes this victory all the more sweeter. Ding Dong the witch is dead.

No one is denying the effect of the result. John Key gets to form a government … we know that.

But neither was it a landslide and as Lynn accurately points out, Mr Key has relatively few palatable options to turn to when the going gets rougher in the upcoming months.

Anyone can be a nice person while things are going well; but it is when things start going wrong that a person’s real character is revealed. While Mr Key did his level best to grin and slouch his way into power, we have already seen glimpses of his petulant, vindictive side. I think middle New Zealand is going to be rather surprised at the slippery and ruthless Mr Key who is going to emerge once the realities of power are sheeted home.

National have successfully banked the electorate’s vapid and predictable “time for a change” sentiments with an on message, disciplined and well run campaign, by pretending to be more center than Labour. It’s not hard to do when you are in Opposition, after all you do not have to match the platitudes and rhetoric with actual action.

But Mr Key is only one man. His Cabinet is stacked with men who have a life-time record of hard right politics. They may be able to fudge it for a while, but sooner or later their group instincts will overrule the deliberately vague and mostly forgotten centrist promises they made on the campaign trail. At that point they will need all the luck they can get, because this election was no landslide. We also returned to Parliament a strong, vibrant and deeply committed left wing that will have no hesitation to come after them given the slightest opportunity. Then we will see some real Ding Dong.

And yes I’m more than a little peeved that ACT has done so well despite the concrete fact that it’s leader is a proven false allegator and liar. I’m not going to apologise for being pissed to see the little troll so well fed.
Janet 41

9 November 2008 at 9:15 am

Anyone want to make bets on Tariana Turia becoming the Alamein Kopu of this government? She is sounding very cosy with National this morning and I can’t see the Maori Party being happy about this for very long.
TimeWarp 42

9 November 2008 at 9:16 am

Following your comments Redlogix:

10% of list votes were ‘wasted’ discards. (That’s not a ballpark number, I’ve confirmed it in calculation.)

Astoundingly something like a quarter of Maori electorate voters gave their list vote to The Maori Party – a choice that given the overhang I find very hard to fathom.

The Right voted well tactically, the Left did not.

So lprent – while it is a close result in terms of working majority, it could have been an even closer race.

I’m generally a fan of MMP (although voted my referendum preference to STV), but I am starting to question that. A foundation principle of a robust voting system should be a transparent process, and effectively this is not the case with MMP. That’s not a reflection of the MMP system within itself, but of some widespread misunderstanding of the process IMHO. I have thought since the introduction of MMP the threshold should be as low as 3%, and I feel even more strongly now that would be appropriate given the high proportion of voters without current list representation.
Christopher Nimmo 43

9 November 2008 at 9:20 am

Hey, check out the Wellington Central booth details on electionresults.govt.nz now. The Greens may have scraped 20% of the party vote there, but I think it could have been considerably better. I would have though that Newtown would have been a strong Green area, but there are only 400 total votes between four boothes. No idea what it was last time, but hmmmmmm… And although one Aro booth had 1600 votes, the other only had 180.

I think this probably looks more like a general failure to GOTV for the Greens than a massive polling screwup. We’ll see. I would have hoped that we’d easily get 10-15% of specials for the extra seat anyway.

Also, why are my word verifications “lost” and “alleged”? WP reference?
CMR 44

9 November 2008 at 9:20 am

Well done to labour Lite it was an emphatic victory.If it is a close result, I can’t see it. It was good to see both Clark and Peters behave with dignity.Lets hope the most regular participants in this blog can emulate that.

New Labour leader? I pick Cunliffe.
Dom 45

9 November 2008 at 9:28 am

Congratulations to National for gaining power.

Now lets see them keep it…
heather 46

9 November 2008 at 9:41 am

My congratulations go to Tony O’reilly of NZ’s news media monopoly.

Mr O’reilly ran a very strong campaign to influence the outcome of the 08 elections.

Mr O’reilly it has to be said, worked tirelessly to support candidates from the right-wing spectrum particularly with regard to harassing and defaming a certain politician who has been known in the past to challenge corporate and political malfeasance.

Mr O’reilly also engaged in an entirely new form of budget journalism which ensured the general population were kept remarkably well-informed regarding National’s radically innovative policies to deal with the global financial crises, “change,” stamping out crime, and cutting taxes. 😉
giggles 47

9 November 2008 at 9:46 am

Jeeez Eve, you gonna spend the next three years sulking? The country has spoken and they certainly don’t agree with you.
David Farrar 48

9 November 2008 at 9:49 am

Someone else may have said this but the Speaker (since MMP) does get a vote and it is exercised by the Party’s Whip.

So you need 62 votes to pass laws and for now they have 65. I suspect special may reduce that to 64.

It does mean Peter Dunne is not essential – he will be a Minister (or Speaker) but that Nat/ACT can pass laws without him. Also Nat/Maori can pass laws without ACT if necessary – an intriguing possibility on some issues.

[lprent: Thanks – I wasn’t quite sure. Been a long time since I did constitutional law]
coge 49

9 November 2008 at 9:50 am

The worst thing to happen to Labour last night was Helen steeping down . It would have been better for Labour if she at least remained leader of the opposition through Keys honeymoon period. As such it will be one hell of a honeymoon!

Also, here is a great opportunity for the greens to substantially increase their polling, at Labour expense.
If they can lose the marxist faction.
Lew 50

9 November 2008 at 9:57 am

Heather: http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0811/New_Zealands_Media_Coverage_of_the_2008_Election_Study__Preliminary_Results.pdf

L
Magnus 51

9 November 2008 at 10:04 am

CMR: Cunliffe isn’t ready. His family is too young and the party vote in his electorate was too low for a Party Leader. He still has some work to do. Give him a few years though and the country will love him. He has talent, ambition and he works hard. His star is definitely ascending.
Goff is the obvious choice for now. He’ll be a very good caretaker opposition leader while the left finds itself again, but he’s no Prime Minister. He’s a nice guy, but no appeal to the public, or the party for that matter 😉
james 52

9 November 2008 at 10:08 am

I am pleased Helen stepped down. For far too long has she been the target of a particularly nasty and personal media campaign.
She is by far the very best, most gifted, hardworking parliamentarian the country has ever known so why should she continue to subject herself to daily snipes and sneers.

I hope she has a decent rest, recovers her self-esteem and feels rejuventated enough to return to parliament but lets some bloke take the heat for a while.

Cunniliffe looks particularly promising as being able to both deal with the media and the blokeiness from the right. Goff has too much of a right wing history for my part.
Julian Garrett 53

9 November 2008 at 10:08 am

Lots of angry Lefties here.

Diddums.

I am usually a bit of a fence sitter, however there were a couple of things in this election campaign that made me sit up and take notice. Firstly was the unbelievably negativity of the Labour party. There was no “There is a way out of this mess”, it was more a matter or slandering the opposition leader with lies and the “neutron bomb” of the H-fee which turned out to be a total fizzer. Full credit to Key in that at no time did he take the bait. He stayed on message, and more importantly, he stayed positive. Maybe he took a leaf out of the Obama campaign there.

Secondly was “This one is about trust” which I assumed to be a joke when I first read it. We trust Helen to rule with an iron fist and thats about it. I had thought about printing the “yeah right” off one of the Tui beer ads and plastering that all over the billboards (No, I didn’t, it was just a thought, but hey, the colours even match!), if you consider the scandals Ms Clark has been involved in:

Paintergate
Corngate
Electoral Finance Act
That grubby little shit Peters – I dont care what the cops have cleared him of, the evidence stinks, and she knew about it all along
Kiwisaver – I’m sorry but spending the surplus on a ridiculously generous super scheme is a bit silly dont you think
And last and most entertaining of all, her motorcade breaking all the rules cos she wanted to get home in a hurry so she didn’t miss the footy.

Actually I like the last one – if I were PM, I would have done the same.

And as for the election being close – 13 points isn’t close. Its a kicking.

[lprent: It is interesting that you complain about a dirty politics and the importance of staying positive. Then you immediately start sprouting a list of dirty and negative politics from the right. But of course that is the signature of the right – do as I say, not do as I do. Just another hypocrite of the right. ]
mike 54

9 November 2008 at 10:08 am

Excellent result. A big swing from left to right – who would have thought Act would get 5 seats!

Labour strategists must be kicking themselves for going with the negative attack style on Key.

Be ready for a long stint in opposition as I think the end of MMP is just around the corner.
RedLogix 55

9 November 2008 at 10:24 am

Lots of angry Lefties here.

So what. Lots of ugly gloating righties too. I can live with National doing well… but the ACT result is just plain perverse.

It’s leader is a proven liar.

It’s flagship campaign policy “Dump the ETS scam” is nothing more than a naked transfer of wealth from the taxpayer to big business.

It’s “Zero tolerance of Crime” rhetoric is flat out evil vindictiveness.

Roger Douglas.

Virtually everything I loath about NZ politics is captured by the ACT party.

So yes I’m going to be angry about it. It is perfectly possible to be dignified and expresss anger at something I believe is wrong at the same time.

Amusing that you accuse Labour of a dirty negative campaign, and then immediately in the next paras regurgitate a mindless list of smears and lies yourself. Go away and have a long hard think about it.
ghostwhowalks 56

9 November 2008 at 10:24 am

Last thing I would have expected to have national along with ACT to get an actual majority even with a overhang.

Their real secret is they have run a dirty campaign, but have used others like Wishart to do it for them.
I suppose Wisharts funding will dry up now there is no need for his “investigations”

And Hide was used as part of the attack machine on Peters, but all of his formal allegations were rejected , yet none of the mud stuck to the yellow canary.

Never mind we shall be watching him and his well funded rackets club with interest
rave 57

9 November 2008 at 10:31 am

This is realpolitic. National didnt quite buy the last election but they bought this one because they own the media.

Let’s not buy the bullshit about congratulations for well fought campaigns. The Nats lied and lied and lied, and Labour was too entrapped in managing capitalism to see it needed to return to its big majority class roots and take the fight to National. It fought for the centre and ironically lost it to the new middle class migrants that it has backed for years.

This is not a Labour lite government. Key’s concerns expressed over jobs and incomes are fake and will be blown away by the crisis. Either you are for the workers or you are for Lord Ashcroft.

National and Act are there because of the MSM, the demonisation of Peters, the moral panic about crime in middle class migrant communities, and the Greens ‘politically correct’ idealism.

If you include NZF in the broad left then there was only 5000 party votes separating the left and right blocs.

Having got Peters out of the way the road is clear to push to the right with Rogernomics part 2. Douglas did this in 1984 when he got the Treasury documents.
This means plundering the piggy banks to siphon off profits for the private sector.

Having got the middle class on side with law and order the road is clear to go strong on Rodney’s three strikes, privatising prisons, and stealing NZF immigration policy. Small businesses will get more freedom to hire and fire and keep the unions out of workplaces.

Having quarantined the Greens Key will role back the ETS to please the farmers and the big polluters. He’ll roll out the roads and fibre with PPPs funded by the Cullen fund and bank insurance guarantees.

In other words there is no way this government can rule in the interests of defending profits in NZ without openly attacking those who create the profits, the working class. As the crisis begins to hit the mass of workers whose interests are not represented by the new government will start looking for a party that is strong enough to stand up for the workers, defend union rights, and oppose the criminalisation of dissent.
Mary-Ann 58

9 November 2008 at 10:36 am

Lew: The ‘ Election Campaign Media Analysis’ you refer to completely ignores the well-oiled, strategically orchestrated media attacks on Winston Peters in the many months leading up to the election campaign in order to knock NZ First out of the running before the election campaign proper started.
Clint Heine 59

9 November 2008 at 10:39 am

DIDDUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lprent: as articulate as ever I see.]
RedLogix 60

9 November 2008 at 10:41 am

Ah yes Clint, very dignified.
Richard Hurst 61

9 November 2008 at 10:47 am

National reaching out to the Maori party is a very sensible idea especially in regard to the next election and if the Maori party really believe they have the solutions to intergenerational problems that afflict Maori perhaps its time to see if their abilities can match their rhetoric.
Best result of the election (apart from National winning! hate me if you like) was Winston and his gang of gray yes men being booted out forever. The most destructive and random element in New Zealand MMP politics has been removed much to everyone’s relief I’m sure.
Nasi_Lemak 62

9 November 2008 at 10:53 am

This is my 1st time posting on the standard. I’ve been keeping up with the blog now & then during the campaign, largely because some of the comments just crack me up. These are my thoughts re the last few months and last night’s result:

1. I think that National deserves to be congratulated. It was a tough campaign and ultimately they did well, taking several former Labour stronghold electorates. Personally I don’t believe that the race was close, with TV3 making predictions very early on during the night. I was very happy to see a little more multiculturalism at the Nat’s Party at Sky City too. Sikhs dancing and pacific drums in the background… The National Party today is at least somewhat different to the National Party we remember from the early 90’s…yay!

2. Both Helen Clark and John Key made very gracious speeches last night. It would have been very difficult for Helen to step down, knowing that losing this election would mean losing her place at the helm of the Labour Party. While it is a loss to Labour, I think she made the right decision. She has had a decent time in charge and now it is time for somebody new to take over leading the party. No doubt she will still continue to benefit NZ in whatever role she takes on.

3. Some bloggers have commented that the Maori Party are more similar in policy to the Greens saying such things as:
“The Maori party generally vote like the Greens”

Interesting that this has been mentioned. One of the TV3 panelists (I think..?) said that traditionally Maori tend to be more conservative and believe in the right to decide things for themselves…or something to that effect… In any case the panelist concluded that this aligns them with Act quite well. Who knows? Only time will tell.

4. I am ELATED that Winston has left the building. No place for him in Parliament anymore…way too dodgy for my liking.

5. I’m optimistic about the next few months and years. If John Key and the National led govt don’t take this country to new heights, then we all have a chance to make our dissatisfaction known in 3 years time (and beforehand as I’m sure many will do… 🙂 ). Till then, I say congrats to the Nats – hard battle fought and won. Hopefully they make good on their promise to help ALL NZ’ers.
RedLogix 63

9 November 2008 at 10:56 am

National reaching out to the Maori party is a very sensible idea especially in regard to the next election and if the Maori party really believe they have the solutions to intergenerational problems that afflict Maori perhaps its time to see if their abilities can match their rhetoric

Not unreasonable on the surface. It is a sensible tactic from Key, especially given that it is probably his worst nightmare to be totally beholden to ACT.

But the MP option is not a simple one for three reasons:

1. While ACT and National have a close voting record, there is a considerable distance between those two and the MP voting record. Any accomodation between the Nats and MP has some very large and fundamental stressors builtin.

2. The MP will not be content to simply prop up the Nats for nothing. Already they have deftly extracted a deal to maintain the Maori seats at no cost. And some of the things that are dear to their hearts (such as the privatising of the S&F into tribal hands) will be very hard to sell to the middle NZ who just voted for National in such numbers.

3. Equally the MP cannot cosy up to the Nats without alienating their largely Labour afflialiated support base… without extracting something pretty major in return.

So yes I agree that it is a smart tactical move from Mr Key; strategically it is fraught with risk.
peteremcc 64

9 November 2008 at 11:00 am

Not close, and you’ve misunderstood how the Speaker works.

Under FPP, the speaker didn’t have a vote, unless it was tied, then they casted the deciding vote. In otherwords, they did have a vote, they just didn’t use it when not neccersary.

Under MMP, the parties vote in blocks and the Speaker’s vote IS included in that.
For concience issues, the speaker votes in the same way as they did for FPP.
Santi 65

9 November 2008 at 11:00 am

The right won a battle not a campaign. The battle may cost them the campaign

You can only laugh at ridiculous statements like this by lprent. A genius in the making, no doubt!
J Mex 66

9 November 2008 at 11:07 am

Mary-Ann – Peters bought it all on himself by his lying, obfuscation and by treating the media with contempt. Every time he said something along the lines of “I can clear that up in three minutes” and then spent three weeks doing anything but.

The most recent example is Winnie saying something along the lines of, “That is rubbish, I never campaigned from a helicopter” and when shown pictures of him campaigning around the country in a black and white helicopter said something like “That’s right, I flew around the country in a helicopter but I never stood at the door with a megaphone yelling for people to give me votes. That would be ridiculous!”

It’s that type of absurdness toward the media that got them hounding him.

You and Redlogix seem to be confused between being found innocent and not being prosecuted. Helen Clark has intentionally done the same thing. She said last night that all the investigations had found that NZF did nothing wrong. That is patently not true. ALL of them found that he had broken the rules or lied, but nobody was prosecuted for a variety of reasons. The entire Privledges committee (except Labour and NZF) found that Peters had lied to the public and parliament.

It amazed me how willing the Left were (except the Green to their credit) to ignore the zenophobia and downright scumminess of parts of NZF and bizarrely cuddle them as forming part of the left church.

NZ politics is all the better for the removal of that circus sideshow.
J Mex 67

9 November 2008 at 11:12 am

Oh Mary Anne and Redlogix, let’s not forget the complete hypocrisy of NZF with Peters campaigns against secret trust and big business backing and pretending that it was all old ladies and cake stalls.

Nope. NZF – Clean as a whistle*

* Whistles are often filthy items.
lprent 68

9 November 2008 at 11:15 am

JMex: I don’t like NZF. I’m glad that they’re gone. However the means by which the right did it was both cynical and completely hypocritical.

We saw the Nats and Act running far more money through anonymous trusts to conceal the identity of the donors (and their influence) at the same period. I found it difficult to distinguish what the right was braying about with what they were doing themselves. The only real difference was that the Nat’s had better bookwork.

The greens have a policy about political donor transparency. I suspect that the greens would have happily censured both Act and National for the same thing if it’d come up in front of the privileges committee. However both Act and National acted in their usual way about the whole things – as hypocrites, in the usual ‘do as I say, not do as I do’ manner.

It was one of the most unedifying and disgusting things I’ve seen political parties doing.
Piggy 69

9 November 2008 at 11:22 am

Funny thought – had half the people who voted for the green candidate in Ã–hariu given their vote to the labour guy, Peter Dunne wouldn’t be an MP right now. He’s not going to be happy with barely winning his home seat by only 1,000!
Julian Garrett 70

9 November 2008 at 11:26 am

[lprent: It is interesting that you complain about a dirty politics and the importance of staying positive. Then you immediately start sprouting a list of dirty and negative politics from the right. But of course that is the signature of the right – do as I say, not do as I do. Just another hypocrite of the right. ]

Did I miss something?

Did Key stay on message. Yup

Did Key stay positive? Yup

Did Key devote his campaign soley to muckraking and mudslinging? No

And Winston – does anyone believe that he is squeaky clean? Hahahaha

Come on, be serious – politics is a dirty game, but if you look at the two parties, one said “we can do something positive here”, and the other said “Can you trust him?” Personally, yes, I think I can trust him. And its that simple.
J Mex 71

9 November 2008 at 11:26 am

Lprent

“The only real difference was that the Nat’s had better bookwork.”

Correct – Um, in a way. The Nat’s admitted, and recorded, they were doing it. NZF said, they weren’t, and signed documents that said they had none of these donations.

Another way of paraphrasing your innocuously sounding statement is:

“The only real difference was that the Nat’s didn’t lie about it.”
lprent 72

9 November 2008 at 11:31 am

Julian: Campaigns are not just 6 weeks or 3 months (which is what you are referring to). They now pretty much run the course of the parliamentary term, increasing in the election year. Look at the whole period.

Plus of course the wingnuts also campaign. They keep running the lines you just did and have done for a long time now. Given the concerted nature of it over time, I’d add that to the rights dirty campaign tactics.
Killinginthenameof 73

9 November 2008 at 11:35 am

“Piggy
Funny thought – had half the people who voted for the green candidate in Ã–hariu given their voted to the labour guy, Peter Dunne wouldn’t be an MP right now. He’s not going to be happy with barely winning his home seat by only 1,000!”

Yes, Ohariu is a big area for improvement next time around.
lprent 74

9 November 2008 at 11:36 am

JMex: Correct – except that the Nats and Act lie by omission. They say that they don’t know who the donors are. I don’t believe that because the whole process prior to the EFA was completely open to abuse. All it takes is a word in someones ear to make the difference between anonymous and influence peddling. If a system has no effective safeguards, then you have to assume the worst.

I’m with the greens on this – full transparency on political donations. It gets rid of the corruption issue, or at least makes it open to public scrutiny. The EFA did not go far enough in this area
Lew 75

9 November 2008 at 11:40 am

Mary-Ann: Yes, it does, but that issue shows very strongly indeed during the research period. The fact that we don’t have any data for the period beforehand doesn’t lead to a conclusion at direct odds with what data we DO have.

My essential point is that all the complaints that the media have been fawning over John Key and National are not upheld by this preliminary research. If anything National succeeded in spite of hostile media coverage. The final results may be different, however – and it’d be unwise to (as the KBR want to do) try to parlay this into a general `media conspiracy against the right’ argument.

L
Julian Garrett 76

9 November 2008 at 11:43 am

Iprent – like I said – politics is a dirty game.

Now get over it and get ready for a few years in opposition!
Jennifer 77

9 November 2008 at 11:46 am

Act’s claims were NOT false, but the time to prosecute had expired. So Winston was guilty in past years which you ignore making him seem innocent of any misbehaviour in relation to his returns. Get over it, the man was guilty and Helen knew it. TRUST – I don’t think so. The rest of NZ has wised up, why don’t you.
J Mex 78

9 November 2008 at 11:51 am

And therein lies the crux of the issue Lynn.

You are unwilling to believe that National don’t know who their anonymous donors are, but you are willing to believe that Winston didn’t even know that he had a massive anonymous donor even though it was proven that he spoke to him on the phone and two minutes later his lawyer rang up and said “further to your discussion with my client, here are the bank details…” Oh, and the donor did say that Winston asked him for it.

It wouldn’t matter what the electoral law had said about full transparency around political donations, Winston would not have adhered to it. According to winston, he never even received a donation. His lawyer got some money, for a bill that was never seen, and provided some free work and… well, you all know the drill.

But hey, I forget myself here. National = bad. Winston = media and vast right wing and big money conspiracy victim. And valuable member of the broad left church.
Ianmac 79

9 November 2008 at 12:01 pm

I think that the National/Act campaign was the dirtiest in my lifetime. They knew that they had to get rid of NZF. The campaign to undermine him was unrelenting, full of innuendo, hypocrisy and half truths, and supported by MSM, and some bloggers.
I am not a NZF voter but I do despise the manner in which National/Act “won”. All the more sad given that Key was calling foul, and “dirt digging Labour” at the same time his lot were doing just that.
Christopher Nimmo 80

9 November 2008 at 12:06 pm

Ohariu was pretty unfortunate. I heard somebody on TV1 last night saying that Dunne was going to win it for sure because Shanks hadn’t done much campaigning.

WHAT? Shanks had at least three different campaign vehicles that I saw, was doing roaming megaphone campaigning, had billboards that outnumbered everyone else’s 10-1, and had elderly men holding placards on every street corner. I nearly voted for her because she seemed to have the best chance of victory (voted Chauvel in the end).

I think that if Chauvel had had a greater electorate presence (beyond the occasional mailer), or even if he just lived in the electorate, he would have taken it easily. Maybe Hughes split the left vote a little, but hey- he was a great candidate, and he absolutely deserved every one of those votes.

Next time.

But what was up with all those progressive, ALCP voters?
Julian Garrett 81

9 November 2008 at 12:12 pm

Ianmac, are you prepared to say that Winston did nothing wrong?
KJ 82

9 November 2008 at 12:21 pm

lanmac’s Comment
“I think that the National/Act campaign was the dirtiest in my lifetime.”

Are you kidding? Campaigning on policy and promises is dirty? You must have your head up your arse or you completely missed Labour’s campaign on “We must attack John Key, We Must Attack JOHN KEY, WE MUST ATTACK JOHN KEY”.

If you want dirty politics, try paying your party president to go overseas (in the middle of your campaign) and trawl through thousands of documents trying to link John Key to a scandal that happened 20 years ago.

Now pull your head out of your arse.
TimeWarp 83

9 November 2008 at 12:22 pm

Nice KJ… got the result you wanted, and still an angry little man by all appearances.
Felix 84

9 November 2008 at 12:25 pm

Julian,

What do you think about ACT being found in breach by the electoral commission? I assume you feel just as strongly about that as you do about Winston.
KJ 85

9 November 2008 at 12:26 pm

No I just think it’s rather a shame that people like lanmac, after losing an election to go and say something so obscenely untrue. You cannot deny that in comparison to Labour’s campaign, National’s was squeaky clean.
KJ 86

9 November 2008 at 12:28 pm

Felix, Act’s “breach” was as ridiculous as the jacket itself.
Winston’s breach was several hundred thousand dollars of undeclared donations.
Julian Garrett 87

9 November 2008 at 12:55 pm

Maybe that was the responsibility of Labour to push that one a little more clearly – I do remember reading something about Act being in breach of the electoral commission, was in the paper for maybe a day. I would have thought if it was such a big issue then Labour would have treated it as such.

Instead they chose to attack Key.

And with regards to Winston, he’s been at it for years. I cant remember where I read it, the herald perhaps, but “he’s the sort of guy who would try and convince you that night is day and day is night, and you would walk outside on fine day and find lo, a total eclipse of the sun”. We all know what he’s like, and hey, many of us admire him for that – he’s a consumate politician. I actually think he will sorely missed. There are very few who can debate a point as well as he can.
Inventory2 88

9 November 2008 at 12:58 pm

Mary-Ann said “Lew: The â€˜ Election Campaign Media Analysis’ you refer to completely ignores the well-oiled, strategically orchestrated media attacks on Winston Peters in the many months leading up to the election campaign in order to knock NZ First out of the running before the election campaign proper started.”

Mary-Ann – a good theory, but lacking in substance. Who said his party did not receive donations from big business when they did? Who denied receiving money from Owen Glenn when he had? Who filed false returns of funding for each of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 years (and remember the reason for late filing of the 2007 return – Peters was overseas, and had to sign it off)? Who denied using a helicopter? Who denied lobbying for Owen Glenn when patently, he had?

The answer to all those questions is Winston Raymond Peters. The man who came into politics with the slogan “Keeping them honest” was revealed to have clay feet. Peters is the author of his own demise – all the media had to do was to join the dots. The 49th Parliament may be less lively for his absence, but it will be a better place.
Julian Garrett 89

9 November 2008 at 12:58 pm

And the breach of the elctoral act in question was to do with pointing fingers at Winston for breaking every other act…
Ianmac 90

9 November 2008 at 1:39 pm

KJ: Ridiculous comment from you.Do you remember what Williams actually said about his trip to anyone? Bet you can’t because it was a Herald story publicised not Williams.
Is it dirty to check on the credentials of a potential PM? Remember the fuss over the Immigration woman Thompson whose credentials had not been checked properly when she was appointed by the Nats in 1993?
How come that Nat + Hide managed to call for an inquiry re Winston’s crimes yet the result was Not Guilty?
As for failing to disclose donations- a crime is it? How come this year the Nats have apparently only had a few thousand donated by the Transport Forum(?) Not disclosed the rest? Crime ! Accuse. Accuse!
The point is that Nat Act acted with electoral malice to take out an opponent. Historically the hypocrisy will come back to haunt Key.
j 91

9 November 2008 at 1:51 pm

“The right won a battle not a campaign. The battle may cost them the campaign

You can only laugh at ridiculous statements like this by lprent. A genius in the making, no doubt!”

For god’s sake give Lynn a break, you’ve got to give him some thin thread of hope to hang on to.

We owe them a noblesse oblige to be gracious even if has not been reciprocated.

Hey Randel, hope you took my advice and got a good single malt to ease the pain.
Joanna 92

9 November 2008 at 1:55 pm

Of course the campaign was dirty from both sides (in my opinion, the NACTs ran a much dirtier campaign), BUT I think this strategy lost the election for the left (that and “aw, gee, maybe its time for a change” thing).

What the left needs to remember is the right is VERY VERY VERY good at dirty campaigns – the left – not so much so – the HFee fiasco was a good example of this.
Is it fair, nope, does that matter, nope.
gingercrush 93

9 November 2008 at 2:08 pm

Hmm some food for thought. South Auckland most certainly did not go out and vote. You can compare Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, Hamilton and Provincial numbers and turnout between 2005 and 2008 is close. But in South Auckland the turnout is significantly lower. Even taking into account special votes and the like the story still is that South Auckland voters didn’t go to the ballot box. I think one of the big stories that I haven’t seen so far in the post election analysis is that South Auckland voters on election day in 2008 simply did not turn up. And this further hurt Labour this year.

Manurewa

2005 31, 070 votes
2008 22, 447 votes
LAB 2005 18, 254
NAT 2005 7, 938
NZF 2005 1, 714
GRN 2005 603
LAB 2008 11, 386
NAT 2008 7, 018
NZF 2008 1, 078
GRN 2008 506

Mangere

2005 28, 967 votes
2008 21, 688 votes
LAB 2005 20, 900
NAT 2005 3, 894
NZF 2005 1, 189
GRN 2005 503
LAB 2008 13, 162
NAT 2008 3, 641
NZPP 2008 2, 212
NZF 2008 767
GRN 2008 452

Manukau East

2005 33, 193 votes
2008 23, 322 votes
LAB 2005 18, 100
NAT 2005 10, 219
NZF 2005 1, 434
GRN 2005 583
LAB 2008 13, 433
NAT 2008 5, 770
NZPP 2008 964
NZF 2008 918
GRN 2008 420

[lprent: Excellent work. I was meaning to look at a few issues like this myself. But this cold, and a bit of hangover are stifling my cognation. There is an adage in the NZLP, “it isn’t that national wins elections, it is that Labour loses them”.

It looks like you’ve pointed out three instances. The total vote dropped in all three. There was a small impact from NZPP, but no gained vote to anyone else. The Manakau East vote was particularly interesting – people just didn’t vote for the two main parties.]

[lprent: except you forgot the specials
Mangere
2002 – 25,022
2005 – 28,967
2008 – 21,688+6,429=28,117
forgot the specials!

Manakau East
2002 – 27,276
2005 – 33,193
2008 – 23,322+4,435=27,757
That is a significant drop from 2005 numbers. But dropped back to 2002
levels
]
KJ 94

9 November 2008 at 2:24 pm

lanmac: Are you denying Williams role in the H-fee smear?
Who is Batman?
It is not dirty to check the credentials, trying desperately to implicate someone who was not involved is dirty.
Winston was found Not-Guilty of criminal activity and fraud, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t lying through his teeth the entire time (is lying a crime?).
Donation returns are not due in yet I believe.
Winston Peters had a long political career with a scandal around every corner, and he was voted out this year, get over it.

Good luck next election.
Inventory2 95

9 November 2008 at 2:26 pm

Ianmac said “As for failing to disclose donations- a crime is it?”

Actually Ianmac, it is. But that’s not the worst part. Receiving donations from big business interests when you say you don’t, won’t, never have and never will is quite simply dishonest, not to mention hypocritical. Peters has been very quick to hang those kind of labels on everyone else, normally with the shelter of Parliamentary privilege. There’s a certain karmic aspect to his fall from grace.
Julie Fairey 96

9 November 2008 at 2:37 pm

gingercrush, that’s v interesting about the South Auckland seats, I wonder what it looked like in the other major Auckland urban seats where Labour lost (Waitakere) or lost the party vote (Mt Roskill, New Lynn, no doubt others).

Having watched the Mt Roskill campaign quite closely, I have to say Labour did work very hard in the seat (disclosure: my partner has been running their campaign) and focused a lot of effort on turnout.

But at the end of the day you have to give people a reason to vote for you; a vision thing, if you will. And imho the decision to go with a largely negative campaign, rather than communicate their policy vision for a fourth term (which I think could have been quite inspiring, pre-the collapse of global capitalism), was the main mistake Labour made. Winning a fourth term was always going to be hard, which meant the campaign strategy needed to be extra smart.
KJ 97

9 November 2008 at 2:39 pm

I2: Thank you for defending me from this rabid-lefty. =)

Today was my first time posting on the sub-standard, and reading posts from lefty’s who are angry that they didn’t win makes me sick in my gut, so quite happily I will never visit this despicable website ever again.

[lprent: Well you have made your mark as a only as a probable troll. They don’t seem to like interacting much in case it makes their viewpoint look daft – ie they can’t defend themselves. So it is probably a good thing you’re departing. I don’t think that you measure up to the standard]
gingercrush 98

9 November 2008 at 2:44 pm

Waitakere
2005 32, 254 votes
2008 27,543 votes

Mt. Roskill
2005 33, 393 votes
2008 29, 624 votes

New Lynn
2005 33, 202 votes
2008 31, 073 votes

Mt. Albert
2005 32, 343 votes
2008 29, 543 votes

All seem to have had slightly lower turnout but significantly its nothing like the drop in South Auckland. And it doesn’t factor in special/advance votes.
Julie Fairey 99

9 November 2008 at 2:47 pm

Thanks gc. So the 2005 figures are final finals (after specials etc) and the 2008 figures are not?
gingercrush 100

9 November 2008 at 2:54 pm

I think so but not entirely sure.

I also look forward to future Standard blog posts in regard to what Labour has to do next to bring back voters. Should make for interesting reading. Also will be awaiting right blog posts on how they can keep the voters they got yesterday.
KJ 101

9 November 2008 at 2:56 pm

IrishBill: You said you were never visiting this “despicable” website again. Like so many right wingers you seem incapable of keeping your word without a little help. Consider yourself helped. Goodbye.
lprent 102

9 November 2008 at 2:58 pm

I know that in Mt Albert the special pre-votes (which may or may not be in that total – probably not) were about 2500. I think the roskill ones were about 1500. That doesn’t include votes from places outside of the local area.
rave 103

9 November 2008 at 3:41 pm

Special votes will not change the proportions I would think.
So the approx 7,000 missing Labour voters in each those three electorates will take some explaining.
I see that in Waitakere, Auck Central and Maungakiekie the Labour turnout was also down.
Lyn Pillays vote was halved, Nation won with 1000 more votes and the Greens went down. That’s another 7,000 approx abstentions.
In Auckland Central Tizards vote went down from 15k to 10 k and Nat won with about 200 approx more than they got in 2005 and the Greens went down.
Maungakiekie is more difficult, as it had changed boundaries that favoured National and while Labour went down over 3k National went up by 4 k and the Greens by 400.

So it looks like the more solid working class suburbs in Auckland did not come out as they did last time. How do we explain this?
RedLogix 104

9 November 2008 at 4:00 pm

So it looks like the more solid working class suburbs in Auckland did not come out as they did last time. How do we explain this?

Chris Trotter predicted exactly this a year ago. They like hitting their children.
rave 105

9 November 2008 at 4:04 pm

The rough difference between the total right bloc party vote (Nat/Act) and total Left bloc (LPGMPNZ1) is approx 50,000 (not 5,000 as I said above – hurried maths).
From a comparison with 2005 it looks like a good part of this difference may be accounted for by Labour abstentions rather than a swing of Labour voters to National.
GNZ 106

9 November 2008 at 4:08 pm

the two people (so far) I have asked who didn’t vote said something like “there was no one good to vote for this year.” If labour had had more positive ads at least one of their votes would probably have been in the bag maybe both.

to be fair national’s billboards were terrible. you’d have to crash your car to finish reading all their fine print.

The Winston peters campaign damage was done by Owen Glen rather than by ACT or National, and that was because Labour was interpreted as being indiscreet with its comments about him. A little more tact and it would not have been a problem and Winston would still be in and you’d have a Labour coalition.
Brian Smaller 107

9 November 2008 at 4:09 pm

What planet are you guys on? It was a disaster. Better brish up your CVs. Oh yeah, not much call for lapdogs in the real world.

[lprent: Note – probable troll. Definitely hasn’t read the About or Policy]
RedLogix 108

9 November 2008 at 4:16 pm

Oh and in case you have forgotten, Key now has to face up to a CIR on the S59 Repeal sometime soon. Wonder how much he is looking forward to opening up that can of worms?
KJ 109

9 November 2008 at 4:19 pm

You lost.

I asked a question and i was censored, great democratic action, reminds me of the Labour party’s electoral finance act.

[lprent: we took you at your word (that you’d never be back). Are you saying that your word isn’t worth anything? Perhaps you should read the About and Policy. It could save you from aggravation if you wish to comment here]
RedLogix 110

9 November 2008 at 4:24 pm

KJ,

You promised to leave. Now you are back. Your actions are the 180deg opposite of your words.

I wonder if you voted National because you recognised a Party of kindred spirits?

PS Yes we know we lost. Why did you feel the need to point that out?
Steve Withers 111

9 November 2008 at 4:33 pm

It’s closer than some of the National / ACT folk care to accept.

The 6% or 7% who went to National this time, backed Labour for 3 elections. If National hurts these people they will go back to Labour. I’m betting these voters aren’t captains of industry….but rather employees of one sort or another.

Also interesting in a down economy would be sacking thousands of “bureaucrats”….

That would make one wonder……..
Ianmac 112

9 November 2008 at 5:03 pm

Steve said:”The 6% or 7% who went to National this time, backed Labour for 3 elections. If National hurts these people they will go back to Labour. I’m betting these voters aren’t captains of industry .but rather employees of one sort or another.”
Very true. I wonder what will happen when they find out that the so-called Anti-smacking Referendum changes nothing?
When crime stays the same or rises?
When they tell Parnell that the new prison will be built in their back yard?
When the unemployed numbers rocket?
When they realize that their Kiwisaver is only half as big?
When they have to employ a lawyer to get their ACC entitlement?
“Oy John Key. You over-promised us!”
TimeWarp 113

9 November 2008 at 5:05 pm

Promises? I didn’t see many.

“I’m ambitious for a better NZ” and “It’s time for a change” don’t count.
Julian Garrett 114

9 November 2008 at 7:02 pm

“Promises? I didn’t see many.

“I’m ambitious for a better NZ’ and “It’s time for a change’ don’t count.”

And he STILL got in! How good is THAT!
Felix 115

9 November 2008 at 7:21 pm

Nonsense, there were lots of promises. The question is, will he be held to them?

Julian, are you hoping Key keeps his centrist promises or are you hoping for a big shift to the right?
Julian Garrett 116

9 November 2008 at 7:51 pm

Time will tell. I hope he stays relatively honest and can carry some of his stallar business credentials over to his new job.

Centrist is good by me. In this climate a step too far to the right is pretty dicey I’ll admit…
Julian Garrett 117

9 November 2008 at 8:35 pm

Oh and by the way, after Cullens tax cut promises, I wonder what the mini-budget he was going to deliver in December was all about.

NO TAX CUTS.

I’ll bet the farm on that one…
RedLogix 118

9 November 2008 at 8:49 pm

I’ll bet the farm on that one and loose it.

The tax cuts had already been embedded in legislation. Undoing them would have required a new bill in Parliament, and this could not have been justified unless some extraordinary new information comes to hand over the next month or so.

In which case both Cullen and Key would have been hypothetically in the same boat, and faced with the same unpalatable options.

Besides the bad old Muldoon days when govts could hide bad Treasury data from an incoming govt (and the nation) are long gone. These days we have PREFU’s and mandatory updates on a very regular basis.

Hell you could even check the Treasury website for yourself. It really does contain all sorts of hard information anyone with pretensions to being a political tragic should know.
Julian Garrett 119

9 November 2008 at 9:27 pm

Care to quote that piece of legislation?
Julian Garrett 120

9 November 2008 at 10:20 pm

Actually, go one better.

Convince me that he wont “defer” these cuts, just like he did in 2007.

Then I’ll believe you.

[lprent: Convince me that he would. Convince me that National won’t leave the country in government debt paying additional taxcuts that we cannot afford. That is a extremely stupid style of argument – specifically it is a Act troll technique. Convince me that the world is round – I bet you don’t know the arguments in any of these cases]
RedLogix 121

9 November 2008 at 10:36 pm

Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts, Annual Rates, and Remedial Matters) Act 2008

A few minutes google monkeying. In future you will do your own homework.

Now about that farm; I trust it’s a decent milking herd we are talking here, and not some loss making flock of hill-maggots you’re trying to offload onto me.

[lprent: fixed: extra single quote in the href]
RedLogix 122

9 November 2008 at 10:43 pm

Can someone fix the link please? I tried four times to get it right but it keeps changing it’s format on me.
Julian Garrett 123

9 November 2008 at 10:46 pm

Hahahaha, yes and if you have the majority in Parliament, you just pass another piece of legislation deferring it.

Thats dead easy… something similar to last time around. Cullen is as cunning as a shithouse rat and meaner than my Scottish flatmate.

Plus they are bloody stingey tax cuts, he might as well not have even bothered.

(Yes I do earn a lot of money, I’m one of the “rich pricks” that Cullen despises)

[lprent: Also a characteristic of the breed of act troll. Unable to argue coherently, has no actual content, does maniacal laughing, and claims to be rich – probably a wannabee. All pretty boring. ]
RedLogix 124

9 November 2008 at 11:11 pm

Changing or introducing new legislation in the manner and circumstances you suggest would not be a trivial matter. The political cost would have been immense, and would have been completely unthinkable, unless some absolutely compelling external circumstances dictated it.

Of course such hypothetical circumstances would have applied equally to a Key led govt.

Cullen is as cunning as a shithouse rat and meaner than my Scottish flatmate.

Now you reveal your true lack of character. You clearly have never met the man, know nothing about him, or his values. If you ever do have the pleasure of spending some time with him, and I hope that maybe you will one day, then don’t feel too bad about what you just said… you didn’t know any better.

PS This ‘flatmate’ of yours. Still living with your mum eh?
Felix 125

9 November 2008 at 11:17 pm

Of course Labour never had a majority in parliament so it’s a bit of a moot point.

What do you think about English’s tax cuts? Do you think they’re too stingy as well? Do you think he’ll stick to them?
TimeWarp 126

9 November 2008 at 11:19 pm

Good grief JG. He’s gone… get over it LOL. You’ll have to find someone else to bag. Speculating what his mini-budget would have been?

The only then thing that is certain is the likelihood of something more prudent than the new borrow, spend and give approach promised.

Funniest thing about this election was the supposedly purist ACT supporters creaming themselves about an incoming government that has every indication of limited fiscal discipline.
Julian Garrett 127

9 November 2008 at 11:23 pm

Changing or introducing new legislation in the manner and circumstances you suggest would not be a trivial matter. The political cost would have been immense, and would have been completely unthinkable, unless some absolutely compelling external circumstances dictated it.

Like the worst global financial meltdown since the 1930’s perhaps?? That would probably do it. I hear in the USA the government is stumping $700 billion to bail out a few banks. Deferring tax cuts is small fry.

Not to mention he has done it before. And most media sites were suggesting thats what it was all about.

Not having met Cullen does not do anything to my character. Not having any desire to meet Cullen however probably means I have a certain amount of taste.
Felix 128

9 November 2008 at 11:26 pm

What name were you trolling under before the election Julian?
NeillR 129

9 November 2008 at 11:34 pm

but it is when things start going wrong that a person’s real character is revealed.

Oh, the irony. You’re entirely right of course – like as the polls turned against Labour they spent all their time in Melbourne on a fishing expedition.

As for “not a landslide” – dood, Labour lost 20% of it’s support this election. National has more seats than Labour/Greens combined. It was a rout and will take Labour a hell of a long time to rebuild from this for the following reason:

Voters have roundly rejected the Left bloc (in two elections now). If Labour elects Cunliffe it will show that they’ve learnt nothing from their defeat. If they elect Goff then the Left of the party will start to plot his downfall.

Labour is in a very precarious position – if National remains in the centre then Labour will be out in the cold for a very long time.
Clint Heine 130

10 November 2008 at 9:22 am

Makes me chuckle that you all get worried about Sir Roger, who is without question, our best ever finance minister and popular overseas. My Slovak friends love him for saving their economy and for giving them flat tax which took Slovakia ahead of us in growth and on the OECD tables. But if you like playing the evil baby eating fear thing then be my guest.

Labour got slaughtered – but I am sure you’ll dust yourselves off and be back. Whether or not you guys will do it nicely or in another nasty campaign is still to be seen.
lprent 131

10 November 2008 at 9:27 am

Didn’t exactly get slaughtered. The right (Nat+Act+UF) has a bare majority, and National will have to get a left party to vote with them if they want to keep it.
TimeWarp 132

10 November 2008 at 10:37 am

Clint, you’ve completely avoided my point. Regardless of the merits of Douglas, his philosophical position is poles apart from the National policy articulated during the election. Which is to massively increase spending, including investing in broadband, when Douglas very clearly believes in reduced government spending and not have a stake in infrastructure.

The only solid common ground between the two is the law-and-order get-tough verbage.
Clint Heine 133

10 November 2008 at 11:04 am

lprent – it was a bloodbath. Consider the fact that if the Maori Party get involved you’re looking at 70 MPs all on the same page. That is remarkable and not at all a “bare majority”.
exbrethren 134

10 November 2008 at 11:22 am

“My Slovak friends love him for saving their economy and for giving them flat tax which took Slovakia ahead of us in growth and on the OECD tables.”

So nothing to do with the EU money then?

Nice unemployment rate there as well.
rave 135

10 November 2008 at 11:49 am

Roger Douglas is a zombie. Those who suffered his shock horror 1980s will soon be chasing him with pitchforks.

The rich white folks of Epsom now run the country. Rodney is the new Winston.

National’s win was quite modest given the huge power concentrated in their backers.
The election was lost by Labour in the cities where their heartland stayed home or went to the beach in their thousands. The non turnout for Labour in Auckland was spectacular, averaging 7000 missing votes in each of the South Auckland electorates.

In every Labour or swing electorate in the cities for every new party vote that National got, 2, 3 or more former party votes for Labour didnt turn out.

That’s not rejection, but it is demoralisation, and the cause of it I would say is the right’s control of the media which sets the agenda and which shapes public discourse in the absence of any strong political labour organisation firmly rooted in the localities.

My hunch is that many Labour voters were simply inundated by the flood of rightwing crap laid down as authoritative by the media barons and the rightwing power brokers ‘time for a change’ and went with the current.

The lesson for Labour is to rebuild its roots in the working class neighbourhoods with local and union based memberships that can motivate, mobilise and moralise the heartland from below. Fortunately many of the uppity middle class that have tried to escape the working class will get unceremoniously dumped back into it.

They will find common cause and get plenty of opportunity to build solidarity as this rightwing government unloads shit upon their heads over the next three years.
northpaw 136

10 November 2008 at 3:13 pm

lprent, how come ‘author-change’ doesn’t figure..? jo had to leave, so I’m here – ‘northpaw’. This text to explain.

Election over. One winner, one loser. OR maybe many of either.

But the issue of governnace remains. Governance in a crisis. In need of cohesion. Did the folks who “spoke” Saturday deliver that! I doubt it.

So the crap-callers like Clint Heine – yeah sure a pov is okay, but leaning on it is irresponsible! – better get sorted. Themselves. Tubetime cometh.

Public responsibility movement anyone..? More on this later; suffice to say how the so-called western economic model of corporate responsibility is bust big time.. skills from that past experience amount to PM-lite. At best. At worst…
northpaw 137

10 November 2008 at 3:31 pm

Can anyone help with this question: how many voters in the total votes cast DID NOT party vote?

Tks to the guy above for where to look re govt.nz site, but I don’t see indicators of this kind of data.

Why do I want it..? To try separate out personaility factors from broader-based voting. As several folks have pointed out the Labour vote dipped some in a number of electorates.. and in the booth my friend attended. His wife saying how he wouldn’t vote, whereas last time in the city you couldn’t keep him out of the place!
Ben R 138

10 November 2008 at 3:38 pm

“The rich white folks of Epsom now run the country.”

Rave, are whites morally inferior to other groups? I take it that you don’t like the ‘rich’, does the fact that some of them are white add to your dislike of them? Why else would you feel the need to mention their ethnicity?
TimeWarp 139

10 November 2008 at 5:48 pm

exbrethren – seems your words are wasted on Craig. As I posit, the supposedly highly principled ACT supporters are not so when it comes to grabbing a share of power. He wants to avoid that point altogether. Others do not though:

“John Key is sometimes to the left of Helen Clark – and that worries me for the future of NZ” – Rodney Hide, Newstalk ZB today (may not be verbatim, but close)

Seems the theory that there will be some inevitable tensions in this coalition are not just “Roger eats children” fearmongering after all, but based on reality.

Craig – if you’re still with us – doesn’t it worry you that your party will be propping up a government supporting some extremely “socialist” (specifically anti-capitalist) policies?

All that furore over Labour’s intervention on the Canadian Pension Fund involvement in AIAL, and I haven’t seen a single negative comment on the much larger issues of the Key fibre plan effectively nationalising Telecom’s copper infrastructure (and that is not the greatest of that particular policy’s weaknesses).

captcha: extortions is…
rave 140

10 November 2008 at 6:22 pm

Ben R:

Why not? Rich white folks always ruled. Epsom is key because it allows National to rule with Wodney. Other wise they would have to rely on the MP which might prove a bit tough since they are not rich white folks.

Timewarp:
I wouldnt call bailing out the banks “socialist” except in the sense of “socialising” the losses of the bosses. Its certainly not “anti-capitalist” as its designed to save the system.
I think Key will live with the Telecom monopoly after all most of the big transnationals are monopolies or oligopolies. He could spin off some contracts for other players to spread the dough around his mates.
TimeWarp 141

10 November 2008 at 7:33 pm

rave: If you read my post clearly, I’m absolutely not referring to the banks. (Not that a guarantee scheme is bailing them out, it’s just stopping a run.)

My point re Telecom is that a government-funded scheme for fiber to every building makes Telecom’s copper redundant – which therefore makes it valueless (beyond resale value of the actual raw metal) – which in effect is nationalising it and removing the property rights of Telecom shareholders. The removal of AIAL shareholder rights to sell and the Queens Chain property rights issue, both that ACT supporters screamed blue murder on, are small change by comparison, but they are stunningly silent.

captcha: present going…. yes, it is

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Hi,Thanks for all your feedback to Hayden Donnell’s fantasy of communal living. “Camping in summer is really the only time I get to experience village life and I love it so much,” said Michelle. “You’ve infuriated me by writing the article that’s been in my head only much better than ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

4 days ago
Toxic positivity and toxicity in the kitchen

Long stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer:A study looking at psychological distress associated with climate change has stimulated discussion about the insistent demands for ‘hope’ ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s breakthrough free trade deal with the Gulf

New Zealand’s new free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council is a major win for both sides. Todd McClay, New Zealand’s trade minister, announced the long-awaited deal on Thursday with his counterparts in Doha, Qatar. It is a remarkable, yet also surprising sudden success: the genesis of the agreement ...

Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller

4 days ago
Todd McClay wins breakthrough for women in Saudi Arabia

In a major international breakthrough, New Zealand has negotiated a free trade agreement with Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Peninsula countries, which includes a provision requiring them to uphold the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Trade Minister Todd McClay signed the agreement in Doha overnight. The ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

4 days ago
Gordon Campbell on America’s fear of foreigners

Mike King’s latest comments about the relationship between alcohol and mental health – according to King, alcohol does more good than harm – raises red flags once again about this organisation, and the quality of the “counselling” it provides. Here’s what the scientific research says. The latest example of King’s ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

4 days ago
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #44 2024

Open access notables Communicating the most accurate and reliable science on climate change to society: A survey of editors from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Molina & Abadal Abadal, Geoscience Communication: This study focuses on the perspectives of scientists involved in the IPCC AR5 and AR6 synthesis reports, examining ...

Skeptical Science

4 days ago
Gumboot Friday’s Founder Says Drugs and Alcohol Is A “Solution”

This afternoon, I turned to the fellow sitting near me and called out:“Guess what? A guy who runs a charity for mental health just said alcohol is a solution!”And his eyes popped out…his mouth opened ajar.That gave me some satisfaction - only because this person has zero care when it ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

5 days ago
What can you do about bad journalism?

Day after day of David Seymour being accorded media time and attention like he’s doing this stuff in good faith and advancing these ideas in earnest. Come on. He’s a cosplaying libertarian who is really just a glove puppet for anti-democratic capitalist pigs. Read more ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

5 days ago
A collapse in police legitimacy

Last week, the government had a big wank about police raids in Ōpōtiki, crowing about "gangs" and "drugs" and "law and order". Unfortunately the police did exactly the same shit they did in the Urewera terror raids 17 years ago, dragging people off in front of their kids and terrorising ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

5 days ago
2024 Reading Summary: October (+ Writing Update)

No, I haven’t vanished from the Internet. Or died. Completed reads for October: The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole The Sidereal Messenger of Galileo Galilei, by Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler Jurgen, by James Branch Cabell A very quiet reading month, and a very quiet writing month ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

5 days ago
Suicide Rates Continue To Climb (Because We Are Not Treating Suicidal Patients)

Our suicide rates are skyrocketing again, and I’m going to spare you the faux-shock I could put on here, given that it would be frankly more surprising to me if our death toll had gone in the other direction. Preliminary data from 2023-24 shows that our annual suicide deaths have ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

5 days ago
Are We The Baddies?

Difficult Questions: Does denying human equality and rejecting the principles of colour-blind citizenship place you among the baddies? Yes, I’m afraid it does.THE DEMON OF UNREST documents the descent of the United States into civil war. The primary focus of its author, Erik Larson, is the period of roughly five months ...

Bowalley Road

5 days ago
Thursday 31 October 2024

Health and safety campaigner Sonya Rockhouse has come out in support of the joint open letter from the NZCTU, Business NZ and others. A new Xero Small Business Insights report shows that small businesses are cutting staff and keeping wages low, while the Salvation Army’s State of the Pacific Peoples ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

5 days ago
Today’s Political Roundup – From Health to Self-Certification Risks

The focus on budgets is "going to cripple the health system".1. Cardiac specialist quits, saying Dr Lester Levy, the Part Time Health Commissioner, is "living in La La Land" and has no idea what's happening on the groundDr Dean BoddingtonDr Boddington, an electrical cardiologist, was the only person who did ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

5 days ago
A deliberate and unnecessary crash landing

Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, October 31: US and European GDP growth figures overnight show the world’s largest economies, along with that of our nearest neighbour Australia, ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

5 days ago
Seymour: Swastikas OK

Race hatred cannot stop usThis one thing we knowYour poll tax and Donald TrumpGreed has got to go!You’re bound to loseYou fascists bound to lose.Original Lyrics: Woody GuthrieThere are a lot of things this government doesn’t like. Te Reo - got to go, they said, it’s too confusing for our ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

5 days ago
Sumbission: Have Your Say on Work Health and Safety

Health and safety is core union mahi. Unions recognise that health and safety is a fundamental aspect of good work, and that every worker has the right to work that is safe and healthy, and to have a voice on the operation of their work. In this submission on MBIE’s ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

5 days ago
The hidden health toll of hurricanes

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Neha Pathak Disasters can disrupt medical care both during and long after the event. (Photo credit: U.S. Air National Guard / Sgt. Jorge Intriago) Weeks after Hurricanes Milton and Helene tore paths of destruction across the Southeast, pictures of communities ...

Skeptical Science

5 days ago
First section of Te Ha Noa Opens

Something definitely worth celebrating is the opening of the first section of Te Hā Noa, the Victoria St Linear Park. As we highlighted eight years ago, this project is vital for helping move the thousands of people that will pour out of the Te Waihorotiu station once the CRL opens. ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

5 days ago
Boldness be my friend

When Nicola Willis gave the annual Finance Minister’s speech to the country’s top public servants last week, what she said must have landed like a bomb. “Now is the time for your best and boldest ideas,” she said at the Institute of Public Administration (IPANZ) event. Coming from a minister ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

5 days ago
Wednesday 30 October 2024

The NZCTU has joined with Business NZ and health and safety groups to call on the Government to drop its plans to reform health and safety law. The Postal Workers Union is opposing a plan to reduce rural postal deliveries from five to three days a week. The Government has ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

6 days ago
Yer doin it all wrong mate

Reader Jeff Howell is the best kind of social media friend to have. When there's outrage and denunciation needed he’s in there dishing it with verve; and when those storms pass you get happy Jeff, sharing his projects. His projects are awesome.Until a week or so ago it was a ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

6 days ago
Out Of Sympathy.

Unsympathetic Characters: Christopher Luxon should be grateful that his principal opponent, Chris Hipkins, is as out of sympathy with the temper of the times as he is.CHRIS HIPKINS had both a good week and a bad week. He and his team were able to press home Labour’s attack on the ...

Bowalley Road

6 days ago
Two States – But No Solutions.

My Enemy’s Enemy Is My Friend: Mohammad Amin al-Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, at the opening of the Islamic Central Institute in Berlin, December 19, 1942. The elimination of the Jewish state has been the unwavering ambition of successive generations of Palestinian leaders.AMIDST ALL THE HORROR of the Israel-Hamas War, ...

Bowalley Road

6 days ago
NZ For Sale: Chris Luxon Is Concierge To The Wealthy

Watching a Christopher Luxon press conference is a masterclass in gaslighting. You just know what he’s saying is disingenuous - if not outright deceptive and lies - but out he comes - with confidence and vigour - telling me black is white, and white is red.According to the Prime Minister, ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

6 days ago
Will banks & insurers back self-consented homes?

Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, October 30: The Government’s move to allow qualified builders, plumbers and drainlayers to self-consent their work faces potential hurdles from reluctant insurers and bankers wanting protection against ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

6 days ago
Ātahu from Moana Maniapoto

We are blessed in Aotearoa with certain people that you might call National Treasures—those with great talents and a strong affinity for this place they are the custodians of. It’s not an official list; the people you think of might differ from those I think of.What are the attributes of ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

6 days ago
Henderson Station Upgrade but will it Improve Customer Experience

Over the long weekend rail shutdown a new project got underway, an upgrade to Henderson station but the plans highlight that improving the customer experience by making it easier to use public transport is not a part of Auckland Transport’s agenda. ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

6 days ago
Climate Adam: Is climate change fuelling mega hurricanes?

This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). From hurricanes like Helene and Milton, to typhoons like Gaemi, vast storms are causing devastation: destroying cities and tearing up lives. ...

Skeptical Science

6 days ago
Get in the sea, old mate

For the State Highway One traveller, some sights remain dramatic no matter how many times you see them: Wellington harbour opening out at the bottom of Ngauranga Gorge; the first glimpse of Ruapehu; three quarters of the South Island. Also: the moment when you reach the top of the Brynderwyns and ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

7 days ago
Taking the piss again

Remember Casey Costello? The government's most ignorant Minister? First she was referred to the Chief Archivist after claiming that key advice on her cancer promotion policy had simply magically appeared on her desk one day, and that she had no idea where it came from. Then, when the Ministry of ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

7 days ago
Monthly Employment Data shows weakness in economy

Monthly employment data released today by Statistics New Zealand showed our continuing labour market weakness, and particularly challenging conditions for young working people, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “There are 21,000 fewer filled jobs than this time last year, and the fall has been led by those ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

7 days ago
Copy of Rwanda’s Kagame: from Saviour to Tyrant?

Is Rwanda turning into a country that seeks regional dominance and exterminates its rivals? This is a contention examined by Dr Michela Wrong, and Dr Maria Armoudian Dr Wrong is a journalist who has written best-selling books on Africa. Her latest, Do Not Disturb. The story of a political murder ...

Fabians

7 days ago
We’ve got issues

'Cause I got issues, but you got 'em tooSo give 'em all to me, and I'll give mine to youBask in the glory of all our problems'Cause we got the kind of love it takes to solve 'emYeah, I got issuesAnd one of them is how bad I need yaSongwriters: ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

7 days ago
‘Happy to watch your grandkids grow up in Australia via WhatsApp?’

Globally, NZ has the second-highest share of its population living overseas permanently, many of them now permanently in Australia. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, October 29: A ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

7 days ago
October-24 AT Board Meeting

Today the Auckland Transport board meet again as a whole for the first time in two months. AT note: Members of the public are welcome to join the meeting via Teams. Please note, due to technical difficulties, the video feed will be unavailable. However, attendees will still be able to view ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

7 days ago
The fourth article of the Treaty

While Parliament struggles with David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill, a Christian scholar and some heavyweight mainstream church leaders have developed a different perspective on the Treaty of Waitangi. Theologian Alistair Reese presented a petition to Parliament’s Petitions Committee on Thursday asking Parliament to legislate to recognise the oral agreement “4th ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

1 week ago
Gordon Campbell on why so many young males like Donald Trump

To foreigners, the fact that so many millions of Americans are buying the used and poisonous goods that Donald Trump is selling is an unfathomable mystery. However, some clues to the allure of Trumpism can be found in the gender gap of unprecedented size that has opened up between those ...

Gordon CampbellBy ScoopEditor

1 week ago
Building a Safer Future for Every Worker

Every New Zealander deserves a workplace that puts safety and wellbeing first. Too often, we’ve seen the real cost of a system that doesn’t fully protect workers. Lives are lost, families grieving, and communities bearing the burden of preventable tragedies. That’s why, alongside Business New Zealand, the New Zealand Institute ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

1 week ago
Not all authoritarians are fascists.

A few days ago I responded to a post about Trump being a fascist on one of my friend’s social media page, then made a few comments on the consultancy social media page by way of follow up. Given the … Continue reading → ...

KiwipoliticoBy Pablo

1 week ago
Keep the Vampires From Your Door

I'll protect you from the hooded clawKeep the vampires from your doorWhen the chips are down I'll be aroundWith my undying, death-defying love for youEnvy will hurt itselfLet yourself be beautifulSparkling love, flowersAnd pearls and pretty girlsLove is like an energyRushin' an' rushin' inside of me, ehSongwriters: Brian Philip Nash ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
The Odd Couple.

Strange Political Bedfellows: Matthew Hooton’s support for Winston Peters’ New Zealand Futures Fund reflects the Radical Right’s newfound reluctance to bet everything on the efficacy of market forces.AS IF HE WASN’T IN ENOUGH TROUBLE, Matthew Hooton has now come out for Winston Peters’ New Zealand Futures Fund (NZFF). Not only ...

Bowalley Road

1 week ago
Your Friends Should Be Close By

Hi,I’ll never forget the time the guy next to me on the plane got really angry because the Wi-Fi wasn’t working. Here we were, 40,000 feet in the air, and he couldn’t get Facebook. He was huffing, he was puffing. He was insufferable.I’m constantly amazed you can get the internet ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

1 week ago
2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #43

A listing of 30 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, October 20, 2024 thru Sat, October 26, 2024. Story of the week As an experiment, we asked Google's Gemini for help categorizing the articles we shared during the week. ...

Skeptical Science

1 week ago
Labour Weekend

Stand up all victims of oppressionFor the tyrants fear your mightDon't cling so hard to your possessionsFor you have nothing if you have no rightsLet racist ignorance be endedFor respect makes the empires fallFreedom is merely privilege extendedUnless enjoyed by one and allSongwriters: Eugene Edme Pottier / Petrus Christianus De ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
Fact brief – Do volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans?

Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do volcanoes emit ...

Skeptical Science

1 week ago
People of Courage & Decency. And Everyone In Between.

Today, news broke that Jeff Bezos, the American billionaire with a net worth of $206 B (NZ $344B), personally vetoed Washington Post’s Editorial Team from endorsing Kamala Harris.That stops the decades-old tradition of the Wapo for endorsing Presidential candidates. And editors have resigned - that includes Editor at large Robert ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

1 week ago
Let’s Talk About… Anything.

Can't we talk about anything else but love?Love that launched a thousand shipsPlease! Let's talk about anything else but loveLove that causes war and famineCan't we speak about real estate?Love of wifeWatergate?Love of children!Seasonal fluctuations in the prime interest rate?Love of chocolate, you must love chocolate, everybody loves chocolate, say ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
Can you hear me now?

Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on anything you may have missed.Share Read more ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

1 week ago

Release: Government’s disgrace for Christchurch homeowners

The Government is backtracking on existing commitments to do the right thing by homeowners let down by EQC (now the Natural Hazards Commission). ...

Labour Blog

17 hours ago
Release: National’s FamilyBoost a colossal flop

Nicola Willis continues to over promise and under deliver, with most families receiving only $30 a week from National’s flagship FamilyBoost flop. ...

Labour Blog

18 hours ago
Ngarewa-Packer Demands Support for Palestine Ceasefire from New Plymouth Mayor

Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader and MP for Te Tai Hauāuru, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is calling on the Mayor for New Plymouth, Neil Holdom, to do the right thing. “I am shocked at his decision to disregard the petition presented by Palestine Solidarity Taranaki calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire”, said ...

Māori Party

21 hours ago
Release: Trade deal with Gulf states welcomed

Labour welcomes the conclusion of a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that was restarted under a Labour government after languishing for many years. ...

Labour Blog

23 hours ago
Release: Labour welcomes OAG fast track inquiry

The Government should consider the outcome of an Auditor-General report into conflicts of interest before progressing the Fast track Approvals Bill through Parliament. ...

Labour Blog

23 hours ago
Greens reignite call for free dental

A new report detailing the enormous social and economic costs of our dental system has reignited the Greens' call for free dental care. ...

Greens

23 hours ago
Greens call for bottom trawling ban and call out Minister for lacklustre response

The Green Party is urgently calling on the Government to ban bottom trawling, following news a New Zealand bottom trawler caught 37kg of coral in international waters, prompting the suspension of all fishing in the area until 2026. ...

Greens

4 days ago
Mark Patterson: Farmers understand we have their backs

Spring is here which means the start of the A&P show season. Those treasured community days where town meets country. There's no rural-urban divide here, just a chance to meet up with family and old friends and celebrate all things that make rural New Zealand so special. I'm embarking on ...

NZ First Press Release

5 days ago
Release: Funding for Gumboot Friday should pause

The National Government should review its support for Gumboot Friday after unacceptable comments by its leader and champion Mike King. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Louise Upston cherry-picks data to punch down on the poor

The Government has very conveniently cherry-picked data from the latest MSD projections to justify its cruel agenda and punch-down policy when it comes to people living in poverty. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Luxon needs to address the cow in the room

The Green Party was appalled to hear Prime Minister Christopher Luxon claim we are “doing everything we can” on climate change, while his government does nothing to address emissions in our most polluting sector. ...

Greens

7 days ago
Govt Must Clean Up ‘Its Shit’ From Sunken HMNZS Manawanui

Te Pāti Māori is calling out the Government and New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) for their inaction and disgraceful downplaying of the impact caused by the sunken HMNZS Manawanui in Samoa. “We demand the Government move without further delay to clean up its shit from the sunken HMNZS Manawanui in Samoa,” said co-leader Debbie ...

Māori Party

1 week ago
Jamie Arbuckle: Inquiry into Banking Competition

This week was the start of the bank inquiry hearings into banking competition. The inquiry was confirmed in the NZ First/National Coalition agreement. 140 submissions were received on the inquiry, and we will hear from over 60 submitters including all the major banks. ANZ, New Zealand's largest bank, was first ...

NZ First Press Release

1 week ago
Tanya Unkovich: It’s time to start the debate on palliative care as a ‘right’

There is one topic that is the great human leveller, and that is of death and dying. One day, we will all have to face it, and I am of the belief that being able to pass away with grace and dignity is a vital, basic, human right. How we ...

NZ First Press Release

2 weeks ago
Release: Labour backs Christchurch City Council sanctions on Israel

Labour is backing Christchurch City Council’s decision not to do business with firms involved in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Release: Government driving away offshore wind industry

The Government has created a hostile environment for companies seeking to build offshore wind farms. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Another step towards Pasifika justice

The Green Party acknowledges the historical importance of MP Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill, passing its second reading in Parliament today. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Sanctions Soar, Jobs Vanish – National’s Cruelty Exposed

Te Pāti Māori is enraged at the National government’s ruthless punishment of beneficiaries, all while jobs are disappearing. MSD data shows a 133% increase in sanctions over the past year, with over 14,000 sanctions in just three months. The kicker? The jobs this government insists people should find are nowhere ...

Māori Party

2 weeks ago
Police Perpetuate Siege on Ōpōtiki

Te Pāti Māori MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi, says today’s police-sponsored terrorism in Ōpōtiki is a continuation of the State’s predatory behaviour towards the iwi of Te Whakatōhea. "Ōpōtiki is once again being intentionally targeted and is the direct byproduct of this Government’s 'tough on crime' legislative changes,” said MP ...

Māori Party

2 weeks ago
Release: Govt cuts school lunches even further

The Government has gone back on its word and cut the full school lunch programme in primary schools after saying it wouldn’t. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Time to shut down failed Youth Justice Residences

The Green Party is calling for Youth Justice Residences to close, following a protest in which a group of young people spent the night on the roof of an Oranga Tamariki justice facility. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Tell Luxon to Kill the Treaty Principles Bill

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Release: Appalling process on three strikes law

The Government is subverting parliamentary process on laws the evidence already shows don’t work. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Release: Labour calls for investigation into tobacco tax cut

The Government’s decision to award a $216 million tax break for Philip Morris’ heated tobacco products reeks of tobacco industry interference and needs to be thoroughly investigated. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Release: Delay to retirement village review won’t help residents

The National Government is treading water on a much-needed review of the Retirement Villages Act, kicking any amendments down the road till the next parliamentary term in 2027. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Release: Serious concerns ignored in Govt’s fast track bill

National’s fast track bill enables the most radical and unbalanced consenting regime in living memory. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
Fast-Track, off the rails: Submitters show strong opposition to Bill

Despite resounding public opposition, the fast-track legislation is being pushed through Parliament with provisions that could have real consequences for people and planet. ...

Greens

3 weeks ago
Release: Labour supports continuing fight for dairy access

Labour welcomes the National Government’s decision to further pursue our access to the Canadian dairy market under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
Release: Job losses devastating for Timaru

Confirmed news that the Smithfield meatworks will close is devastating for the hundreds of people who work there, Timaru and the wider region. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
New Zealand First Member’s Bill to Improve Access to Palliative Care

New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill which aims to improve access to palliative care for all New Zealanders, ensuring kiwis have better access to the compassionate palliative support they may need. The ‘Improving Access to Palliative Care Bill’ seeks to guarantee that every New Zealander has the right ...

NZ First Press Release

3 weeks ago
Release: Further uncertainty for Kiwirail as jobs set to go

KiwiRail offering voluntary redundancy to all its staff is hugely concerning given the future of New Zealand’s rail system is under threat. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
ASA Declares Hobson’s Pledge Advertising Misleading and Socially Irresponsible

Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer welcome today’s ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which found that a Hobson's Pledge advertisement regarding customary marine titles was misleading and socially irresponsible. The two-page wraparound ad, published in The New Zealand Herald, suggested that nearly the entire coastline ...

Māori Party

3 weeks ago
Release: Benefit numbers continue to soar under National

National’s all pain approach to beneficiaries has yielded no gain as benefit numbers continue to surge past projected figures. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
Casey Costello: What Once Was…

Entering politics is a privilege afforded to very few and, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Being an MP is a call to service. Whatever your politics you have a duty to show up. Whatever your party's policy, you have made a promise to those who ...

NZ First Press Release

3 weeks ago
Soaring benefit sanctions push more into poverty

Sanctions on beneficiaries have sky-rocketed since the Coalition Government came to power, pushing more families into poverty. ...

Greens

3 weeks ago
International Energy Agency issues wake-up call on climate action

Today’s report from the International Energy Agency highlights how far this Government’s actions are dragging us backwards in the fight against climate change. ...

Greens

3 weeks ago
Release: Lack of funding puts pressure on frontline Police

News that 173 roles are being cut at Police will only put more pressure on the frontline. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
Release: Bipartisan agreement on outdated marriage law

Changes to outdated relationships legislation has passed its third reading giving family violence survivors the power to quickly dissolve abusive marriages. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
Release: Cuts to Apprenticeship Boost will fail future NZ

The Government’s cuts to the Apprenticeship Boost programme will leave New Zealand without the workforce it needs to build homes, schools and hospitals. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago
Release: Sluggish economy means struggles ahead for Kiwis

While today’s inflation numbers are good news for Kiwis, there are still struggles ahead with rising rents, rates, insurance and high unemployment. ...

Labour Blog

3 weeks ago

Accelerating maths achievement for Kiwi kids

The Government is continuing to transform maths education, by trialling a targeted maths acceleration programme to give more Kiwi kids confidence in mathematics. “After discovering just 22 per cent of Year 8 students are at the expected standard for maths, we launched our Make it Count Action Plan to give our ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

14 hours ago
Government’s creative sector strategy released

The Government’s creative sector strategy is designed to increase Kiwis’ engagement with culture and creativity and to boost its economic contribution, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Amplify has been released for public consultation and I encourage people to read the strategy and to share their feedback. “There’s an opportunity to ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

20 hours ago
On-sold programme changes bring resolution to homeowners and taxpayers

Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has asked the Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) to make changes to how it delivers the On-sold support package to prevent a cost blowout while helping eligible homeowners repair their homes in a timely manner. The On-sold programme was set up by the Government in 2019 ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

21 hours ago
Todd McClay to lead large trade mission to China

Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay will lead a large trade delegation to the 7th annual China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai next week, followed by a visit to Guangzhou. This year, almost 70 New Zealand companies will participate in CIIE, to interact with over 3,400 exhibitors and 410,000 visitors. “This ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
New Charter to guarantee better access for hunting and fishing

Minister for Hunting and Fishing Todd McClay has today launched an Access Charter (the Charter) to ensure better access for recreational hunting and fishing on public conservation land (PCL) across New Zealand. “This Charter establishes guiding principles for the Department of Conservation (DOC) to provide clear and transparent decisions on ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Pou Whenua blessing honours Tongariro

A beautiful new Pou Whenua at the beginning of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing will introduce visitors to the sacred landscape they are entering, says Conservation Minister Tama Potaka. Mr Potaka attended a blessing for the specially carved Pou Whenua at Mangatepopo, at the start of the track on 1 November. ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New members appointed to the NZTA Board

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today announced two new appointments to the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) Board. Mary-Anne Macleod and Mike Rudge have both been appointed as members for three-year terms commencing 1 November 2024 and ending 31 October 2027. “Transport is a critical part of our Government’s plan ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Welcome relief from new oestradiol gel funding

Associate Health Minister David Seymour is welcoming Pharmac’s funding of oestradiol gel, following global shortages of oestradiol patches earlier this year. “I’m well aware of the stress caused by the global shortage earlier this year. At the time I said I was confident Pharmac was working hard to find a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Deputy Prime Minister visit to Australia

Foreign Minister and Racing Minister Winston Peters will visit Australia next week. “Australia is New Zealand’s closest partner, and we are pleased to make this second official visit there for 2024 following the first ever Foreign and Defence Ministers 2+2 Meeting between our two countries in Melbourne in January,” ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Applications now open for new training pathway

Applications have now opened for tertiary education organisations to seek Government funding to develop New Zealand’s first postgraduate diploma programme for associate psychologists, Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey announced today. “Investment in this new training pathway supports the Government’s target to grow our mental health and addiction workforce and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Increased medicines access continues following budget boost

Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see further increased availability of medicines for Kiwis following the Government’s increased investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the Government,” says Mr Seymour. “When this Government assumed office, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New Zealand concludes high quality trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

New Zealand and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have concluded negotiations on a trade agreement that will open up significant opportunities for New Zealand exporters in the Gulf region, Minister for Trade and Agriculture Todd McClay announced from Doha today. Today’s announcement follows significant reengagement with the GCC following meetings ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Government seeks views on remote court attendance

The Government is exploring how to modernise the law around people attending court remotely, to support access to justice and enhance court performance. Courts Minister Nicole McKee says the current law has not kept up with evolving court practices and public attitudes to the use of remote technology, nor been ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

5 days ago
Breast screening age extension begins in Nelson Marlborough

Free breast screening has been extended for 70 to 74-year-old women living in the Nelson Marlborough district, ahead of a national roll-out late next year, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “Breast cancer is the most common cancer in New Zealand with about 3,400 women diagnosed with the disease ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

5 days ago
Te Māori Manaaki Taonga Trust Board strengthened

He toi whakairo, he mana tangata. The reappointment of one trustee and the appointment of four new trustees to the Te Māori Manaaki Taonga Trust Board will enable the legacy of Te Māori to be carried forward into the future, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka and Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

5 days ago
Affordable housing project supporting home ownership

Up to 300 affordable, healthy, community-tailored homes helping to support home ownership are set to be built in eastern Porirua, supported by Government funding for Our Whare Our Fale through the Building Homes for Pacific in Porirua initiative, Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti and Associate Housing Minister Tama ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

5 days ago
Dire benefit forecasts show the need for Welfare that Works

A new report that forecasts young people on benefits will spend an average of 20 more years relying on welfare underscores the need for the Government’s reforms, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. MSD’s latest Benefit System Insights report, released today, which estimates how many future years different ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

5 days ago
Trade Minister travels to Doha for GCC trade discussions

Trade Minister Todd McClay will hold trade discussions with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) trade ministers in Doha this week. Minister McClay will meet with all six GCC Trade Ministers, as well as the GCC Secretary General. “This will be my seventh visit to the region this year including two Ministerial ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

6 days ago
Podiatry prescribers will boost patient care

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti and Associate Minister David Seymour say it’s great news that podiatrists will soon be able to prescribe medicines, meaning patients with painful foot and leg conditions don’t have to make a separate trip to the doctor. “This simple step means a big change for people ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

6 days ago
Historic redress inequities finally resolved for Lake Alice Unit survivors

The Government is addressing historic redress inequities for some survivors abused at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit. In 2001, the Crown reached a $6.5 million group settlement with 95 survivors subjected to abuse at the Lake Alice Unit. Law firm Grant Cameron & Associates (now GCA Lawyers) represented ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

6 days ago
ERO report shows Government’s truancy emphasis is vital

Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that the Education Review Office’s (ERO) timely report on chronic school absence released today is further evidence of a truancy crisis. “Chronic absence has doubled since 2015. This report reinforces that action is needed to ensure this generation reaches its full potential,” says Associate ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

6 days ago
Minister welcomes business view on AML

Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee welcomes BusinessNZ’s report which addresses reducing the compliance burden on small businesses. “The challenges outlined in the report released today echo many of the concerns I have heard from businesses, which have informed my Anti Money Laundering/Countering Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) priorities,” she says. “I have ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
Mangamuka Gorge opening in time for Christmas

State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge will be open for Christmas, with critical work currently underway to clear the large slips and dropouts that have caused significant disruption for Northlanders trying to get where they want to go quickly and safely, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Mangamuka Gorge ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
Trusted building professionals able to self-certify

The Government is proposing further significant action to reform the building and construction sector to support more affordable homes and a stronger economy, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “If we want to grow the economy, lift incomes, create jobs and build more affordable, quality homes we need a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
New appointments to the TEC board

Dr Alan Bollard CNZM and Mr Bharat Guha have been appointed to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) board, Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds says. “I would like to welcome the two new members joining the TEC board,” Ms Simmonds says. “Dr Alan Bollard CNZM is an experienced public ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
Move to fast-track overseas doctors welcomed

Fast tracking applications for registration by eligible specialist doctors wanting to practice in New Zealand is in line with the Government’s push to improve the health outcomes for New Zealanders, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. This fast-track pathway applies to specialists trained in anaesthesia, dermatology, emergency medicine, general practice, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
Address to Western Sydney University: Constitutional and Rule of Law challenges in current global en...

Tēnā koutou Nau mai haere mai ki tenei hui Thank you to Vice Chancellor Williams, and the University of Western Sydney, for inviting me to speak today. I speak to you today in my capacity as Attorney-General – the New Zealand Crown’s Senior Law Officer. In this capacity, I serve ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
Security advice for start-ups welcomed

Minister responsible for the security and intelligence agencies Judith Collins has welcomed new guidance that aims to protect New Zealand’s start-up and emerging technology sector from the threat of economic espionage. “We are a nation well-known for our ingenuity, and our willingness to openly collaborate in the spirit of enterprise ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

7 days ago
Funding support to strengthen frontline volunteer service organisations

The Government has approved $23.1 million for four critical frontline volunteer service organisations to replace storm-damaged assets and provide training and equipment to improve New Zealand’s response to future emergency events, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey says. $14.6 million for Surf Life Saving New ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 week ago
Jones heads to international mining conference

Resources Minister Shane Jones will speak at Australia's largest annual mining event in Sydney this week to mark New Zealand’s return to the international industry stage. Mr Jones will attend the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) where he will update the sector’s most influential players on the work the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 week ago
NZ investing in Pacific disaster preparedness & climate resilience

New Zealand will contribute $20 million to the Pacific Resilience Facility, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters have announced. “The Pacific Islands region faces severe challenges from natural disasters and climate change impacts and New Zealand is committed to doing its part to help meet them,” ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 week ago
Police to increase presence on Auckland public transport

Aucklanders will see a greater Police presence on public transport services to boost safety and reassure public transport workers and passengers, Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. “Minister Brown and I are working together, alongside Police and Auckland Transport in response to the horrific ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 week ago
Government funds helicopter replacements

The Government is investing in eight new emergency helicopters to replace some of New Zealand’s ageing air ambulance fleet, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello and ACC Minister Matt Doocey announced today. “Our air ambulance helicopters play a vital role in saving lives around New Zealand,” Casey Costello says. “This is ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago
China and New Zealand strengthen organic trade

An uplift to New Zealand’s organic product trade is expected through a new upgraded arrangement with China, Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard says.“The upgraded Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for organic products will deliver opportunities for our organic export sector.”The upgraded MRA was signed in Central Otago today by Andrew Hoggard ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago
Judicial appointments announced

Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced two Court of Appeal and two High Court appointments. The four appointments will take effect on 21 November 2024 and are: Justice Christine French Justice French, who has been appointed President of the Court of Appeal, graduated with an LLB (Honours) from the University of Otago ...

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2 weeks ago
Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track becomes New Zealand’s 11th Great Walk

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka joined tangata whenua from Ngāi Tahu and local community members today to celebrate the opening of New Zealand’s eleventh Great Walk – the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track. “The 60km upgraded track provides the opportunity to do one of New Zealand’s world-class multi-day walks, and will bring ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago
New Chief Criminal Cases Review Commissioner

The Honourable Denis Clifford has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. Hon Clifford brings a wealth of expertise and experience that will prove invaluable to the Commission. “He has served as a judge at both the Court of Appeal and High ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago
Changes to improve building fire safety

The Government is progressing changes to better protect Kiwis and their property from fires, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Following the tragic Loafer’s Lodge fire in 2023, 37 boardings houses across the country were assessed and I am pleased to say that all fire safety recommendations from the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago
Germany and New Zealand partner to support agriculture and tackle global emissions

New Zealand and Germany have announced the official start of a partnership aimed at supporting the agriculture sector and tackle global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “The partnership, called the Alliance for the Climate – Dialogue on Climate and Agriculture between New Zealand and Germany (Agri-DENZ project), ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago
New members appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka today confirmed the appointment of two new members to the Waitangi Tribunal, as well as the reappointment of Kevin Prime. The members appointed and reappointed are: Hon Richard Prebble (CBE). Mr Prebble is a former Cabinet Minister where he held a broad range of portfolios. ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 weeks ago

America heads to the polls, and into a great unknown

Opinion: Wednesday November 6, NZ time, sees the majority of voting in the 2024 US presidential election. While it is unlikely we will have a confirmed result until later (Thursday is best case, but the result could take weeks, depending on how close it is), the next week promises to ...

NewsroomBy Hayden Thorne

14 mins ago
Live: Minister accuses health officials of undermining smoking reforms

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will talk to Morning Report live. ...

Radio NZ – political

18 mins ago
The longest commute, day two: Joel says a sad goodbye to Invercargill

Joel MacManus attempts to travel from the bottom to the top of the country without a car or plane. Today: Invercargill to Dunedin and beyond. The mission: Get from Stewart Island to Cape Reinga as fast as possible using only public transport. Wherever I can, I’ll travel by train. In ...

The SpinoffBy Joel MacManus

19 mins ago
Scientists concerned about delays to critical report

Scientists are becoming increasingly worried about delays to a critical report that could see an overhaul of the country's science infrastructure and funding. ...

Radio NZ – political

33 mins ago
Blood cancer patients call on National to honour commitment

Patients want National to take note of a report on blood cancer medicines and remember its pre-election promise that they would not be forgotten. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 hour ago
When will we know the US presidential election results in New Zealand?

And everything else you need to know about timings, where and what to watch in our user’s guide to the Trump v Harris big day(s). One ancient candidate ejected after a catastrophic debate performance, another shot in the head in a horrific, failed assassination attempt. Racism, misogyny, plausible claims of ...

The SpinoffBy Toby Manhire

2 hours ago
Is it possible to travel without damaging the climate? Yes

Trains, bikes and sailboats already exist, and choosing to travel more slowly can be a pleasure, too. “I’ve seen more on my bike that I would have seen in my whole lifetime, if I’d been flying,” says Robbie Webb. He’s calling me from Ghent, where he’s staying with friends, nearly ...

The SpinoffBy Shanti Mathias

2 hours ago
Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 5 November

Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 5 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles

2 hours ago
Daily crossword, Tuesday 5 November

The post Daily crossword, Tuesday 5 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles

2 hours ago
Paul Goldsmith buys a book in Queenstown

Two days at a literary festival in Queenstown followed by two days at a literary festival in Akaroa – literature in two kinds of South Island paradise, one surrounded by snow and wealth, built on schist and the memory of gold, the other a pretty little harbour village with two ...

NewsroomBy Steve Braunias

2 hours ago
Corporates regain appetite for growth following OCR cuts

A change in direction from the central bank has corporates coming out of hibernation and gaining confidence to shift gears into expansion mode.With inflation inside its target band, earlier this month the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 4.75 percent.This larger than usual interest ...

NewsroomBy Andrew Bevin

2 hours ago
US election: Women will pick the winner

“They’re both wrong,” the 80-year-old Arizonan says.But Kamala Harris will probably win because she’s been strong on a woman’s right to access abortions, she says.The mother, who doesn’t want to be identified “because I’ll probably be too honest”, believes Harris is bad for the economy, for job creation, for businesses, ...

NewsroomBy Laura Walters

2 hours ago
Oil supply crisis could trigger a sovereignty crisis for NZ

If Middle East oil flows were seriously disrupted, it would hit NZ harder than most other OECD countries The post Oil supply crisis could trigger a sovereignty crisis for NZ appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Simon Terry

2 hours ago
‘Hold us to account’: Iwi defends its own fast-track project

Ngāti Manuhiri hopes to fast-track over 400 homes and an on-shore aquaculture facility, but is committed to meeting the ‘gold standard’ no matter what the fast-track allows The post ‘Hold us to account’: Iwi defends its own fast-track project appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Fox Meyer

2 hours ago
Tax competitiveness just isn’t cricket (Estonia win again)

Opinion: Importance of combining a flat GST with a progressive income tax The post Tax competitiveness just isn’t cricket (Estonia win again) appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Dr Eric Crampton

2 hours ago
Self-cert buildings could work with a random element

Analysis: A more comprehensive solution would involve spot checks by third-party inspectors The post Self-cert buildings could work with a random element appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Sarosh Mulla

2 hours ago
Mansfield painted as ‘bold, reckless’ colonial

Nelson artist Sally Burton, has always been intrigued by Katherine Mansfield and describes her as bold, brave ‘and sort of lonely.’ Her fascination with Mansfield began at Nelson Girls’ College, when she was a teenager. She read every Mansfield manuscript she could lay her hands on. She loves her ‘wicked observations of ...

NewsroomBy Anna Cottrell

2 hours ago
Unions seek international inquiry into charter schools policy

A formal complaint to the global workers’ rights watchdog follows official advice to ministers that the policy likely breaches international labour law The post Unions seek international inquiry into charter schools policy appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Marc Daalder

2 hours ago
Taxing people unfairly just isn’t cricket

Opinion: Importance of combining a flat GST with a progressive income tax The post Taxing people unfairly just isn’t cricket appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Dr Eric Crampton

2 hours ago
Concerns over new, streamlined building consent process

The building consent regime is about to be streamlined by the government, with self-certifications replacing some council inspections.It means councils will be partly removed from the building consent process, allowing qualified tradespeople – including plumbers and builders – to forego inspections for low-risk builds.Self-certifications will be open to those with ...

NewsroomBy Amanda Gillies

2 hours ago
Auckland’s risk of becoming becalmed

Opinion: New Zealand had the fastest boat on the water at the recent America’s Cup. But the country’s largest city Auckland does not have such comparable speed in the international cities’ race.The World Economic Forum says cities are critical for developing competitive, innovation-driven economies, particularly those with strong infrastructure, vibrant ...

NewsroomBy Mark Thomas

2 hours ago
Crossbenchers cancel their membership of airlines’ elite lounges

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Crossbench independents Allegra Spender, Helen Haines and Kate Chaney have declared they are pulling out of the elite lounges run by Qantas and Virgin, amid the ongoing spotlight on privileges politicians receive from the airlines. ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

11 hours ago
Jonathan Cook: Israel kills the journalists. Western media kills the truth of genocide in Gaza

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – Western publics are being subjected to a campaign of psychological warfare, where genocide is classed as ‘self-defence’ and opposition to it ‘terrorism’. Jonathan Cook reports as the world marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists at ...

Evening ReportBy David Robie

12 hours ago
New Zealand Loyal Political Party Is Under New Management

The AGM will allow its members, for the very first time, to democratically elect a Board to take the New Zealand Loyal Political Party through to the 2026 General Election. ...

Scoop politics

12 hours ago
31% of companies are not paying tax in Australia. How do they do it?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerrie Sadiq, Professor of Taxation, QUT Business School, and ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology Seb Zurcher/Unsplash Large companies paid the Australian government a record A$100 billion in tax in the last year, a 17% increase on the previous year. ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

13 hours ago
Authentically embracing tikanga Māori can help New Zealand in the growing Asian markets

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hafsa Ahmed, Senior lecturer, Department of Global Value Chains and Trade, Lincoln University, New Zealand The Asian markets have long been seen as a linchpin for New Zealand’s economic success. And the key to future growth could be the cultural similarities between ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

14 hours ago
Apart from Chris Martin’s fall, here are 10 other examples of onstage accidents. Can we keep perfo...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Analytics & Resilience, UNSW Sydney In recent months, Australian concertgoers have witnessed plenty of unexpected onstage drama. The latest example came from Coldplay’s sold-out Sunday show in Melbourne. Lead singer Chris Martin took a sudden ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

14 hours ago
Australia is axing a $7bn military satellite project, leaving defence comms potentially vulnerable

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University In a significant blow to Australia’s defence capabilities, the federal government is cancelling what would have been the nation’s largest-ever space project: a A$7 billion military satellite communications system. The ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

14 hours ago
Dams have taken half the water from Australia’s second biggest river – and climate change will m...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Kreibich, PhD Candidate, Centre for Ecosystem Science & Water Research Laboratory, UNSW Sydney Annette Ruzicka The largest wetland on Australia’s second longest river, the Murrumbidgee in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, is drying up. This is bad news for the plants, ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

14 hours ago
Watch live: Christopher Luxon faces questions after Cabinet meeting

The Prime Minister announced a targeted maths acceleration programme to give more students confidence in mathematics. ...

Radio NZ – political

14 hours ago
OIA Documents Reveal Minister Is Considering Changing Long-term Child Poverty Reduction Targets (CPA...

CPAG Chairperson Sally Ward also encourages the New Zealand public to call on all politicians in parliament to hold each other to account on this issue of national significance. ...

Scoop politics

14 hours ago
Govt announces $2m funding for trial of catch-up maths lessons

It will also spend $30m on resources and workbooks for every primary and intermediate school. ...

Radio NZ – political

15 hours ago
Will it be Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? Here’s what each needs to win the US election

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Wolpe, Non-resident Senior Fellow, United States Study Centre, University of Sydney On election eve in the United States, the presidential race is deadlocked. The polls are exceptionally close across the country and in all the swing states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

15 hours ago
Woman of the Hour: Anna Kendrick’s unflinching directorial debut reframes true crime for a post-#M...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Senior Lecturer — Writing, Editing, Publishing, University of Southern Queensland At first glance, Netflix’s Woman of the Hour is yet another true crime fictionalisation that plays to our preoccupation with American serial killers of decades past. Directed by ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

15 hours ago
Equity, Not Just Fairness, Required For Survivors Of Abuse In State Care

Cooper Legal’s Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper says that while the Government might say that paying Lake Alice survivors’ legal fees is the fair thing to do, the State is still not treating all survivors equitably. ...

Scoop politics

15 hours ago
US presidential election remains a toss-up, and a guide to US election day in Australia

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The United States presidential election will be held Tuesday, with results coming in from Wednesday morning AEDT. I have a guide to ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

16 hours ago
Institute of Environmental Science and Research proposes to cut 51 jobs

Cost cutting necessary to fit within a new 'funding envelope,' the Institute of Environmental Science and Research says. ...

Radio NZ – political

16 hours ago
Photo essay: MMT fans turn Penrose red ahead of Tonga’s thrilling win

On Saturday afternoon the roads heading to Go Media Stadium in Penrose were lined in red. Jin Fellet was there, to document Mate Ma’a Tonga (MMT) fans on their way to witness a historic win. Both Kiwis and MMT fans weren’t disappointed, with the game providing a rollercoaster of emotions ...

The SpinoffBy Jin Fellet

16 hours ago
An Indigenous person is 4 times more likely to die from diabetes. We need to better understand how e...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Kelly, PhD candidate, School of Medicine, The University of Melbourne Attila Csaszar/Getty It’s estimated almost 1.9 million Australians have diabetes, and numbers are growing. Between 2013 and 2023, the total number of people known to be living with diabetes across ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

17 hours ago
How the US election may affect Pacific Island nations

By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist As the US election unfolds, American territories such as the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, and Guam, along with the broader Pacific region, will be watching the developments. As the question hangs in the balance of whether the White House remains blue with Kamala ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

17 hours ago

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Damn close election. Now the coalition fun starts

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