I am finding it quite hilarious with the amount of hyperbole both Labour and National are engaging in with respect to NZ First, with Labour now raising the dire prospect of US style shutdowns if NZ First is in government.
I think the problem for Labour in engaging in this style of campaigning is that it is not giving a reason to vote Labour. If voters do take notice of all the over-the-top rhetoric, then the only likely beneficiary will be National.
That is, because, based on the polls, the simplest way to get a stable government is to vote NACT. So, the result of the combined scare campaign could be potential NZ First voters holding their noses and voting NACT to keep things simple.
The Electoral Commission confirmed if Bayly subsequently won the by-election his list spot will go to the next National candidate on the list. That would give National one more seat than it would have won in the election.
Oh it’s because either the EC are morons, or their rules are.
Common sense would indicate that given a National list MP is running in Port Waikato he would simply change status from list to electorate MP on winning – thus 120 MP's still – as per votes per party allocation.
I have been thinking about this, this is surely not the first time this has happened and yet I never remember having had a by-election before. Perhaps this was a change done when we switched to MMP and nobody noticed?
It seems so National that they rely on an electoral technicality to get an extra MP in the house, can't do it by honest (ha ha ha) campaigning.
Would certainly be an interesting situation should the NACTS get a majority of 1 or 2. Court challenges would be inevitable.
I don't recall there ever being another candidate who has died after voting has started, but before it finished (in that 10 day window). Certainly not since the longer voting period started – and I don't recall one in the FPP era either.
There seems to be no wriggle-room in the law as it's written – so no basis for a legal challenge.
The MSM seems to think that the death of the ACT MP will help the Nats win the election. This is wrong.
If the Left get 48% and the Right gets 47% (5% wasted) then the proportion of the seats will be decided by these percentages in exactly the same way as they would have been before the death, and Labour will form a government.
The by-election will come much later-National will win this and so they will have an extra seat then. This will only be an issue if the Left's government only has a majority of one.
I have always thought it rather silly that the parties who don't make it into parliament see their votes apportioned amongst the parties that do. It doesn't change the proportions within parliament so why not leave them out altogether. If nothing else it would save money on MPs' salaries.
If we can have overhangs why can we not have underhangs?
That's beside the point. The Votes received by the winning parties never add up to 100% of the total vote.. So why do all the seats have to be filled. Why do the have to have 120 MPs.
While % are used in the cheats quick method before the election , the actual result works via the total votes for each party thats passed the threshold/ electorate seat hoop.
Unfortunately theres amny that think the % is the final method and never realaise that each list MP has actual votes that get allocated
However, if some of the 120 seats were treated as "phantom" seats, would this not satisfy the Sante Lague requirements?
Being a ghost yourself I’m sure you would understand that.
Alternatively you could allocate all the seats, as if there was no threshold, and then cancel the seats allocated to members whose parties scored less than 5%.
Except the ACT vote is in decline because the little jerker for class landlord greed said he would make demands because the poll numbers gave him the mandate to do that.
And National is exposed as running a marketing scam (tax policy) that would have it up before the Commerce Commission for fraudulent misrepresentation – and they still cannot show how it all works either.
The observant can see they are unelectable grifters.
There is less and less likelihood the centre will countenance a NACT regime and the renters and workers need to get out and vote to protect MW becoming a LW and benefit from the FPA Industry Awards.
The Greens need to say they will insist on a 3% cap on rent increases and GR and DP should advise agreement (this should have been done at the start of the campaign). .
less and less likelihood the centre will countenance a NACT regime
That's the point and it's why Bishop is freaking out. There is so much in the NACT programme of systematic looting by the wealthiest among us, that even cynical, self-aggrandising old Winston will find it too objectionable.
But nobody on the left should vote for NZF, because for NZF to have this effect, it must take votes from NACT to keep NACT no higher than mid-40’s. . Left voters switching to NZF does not lower the NACT vote.
Luxon's tax relief for the rich needs to be exposed, too. His calculator says a double income family with no kids on $400,000 a year will get $80 more a fortnight. A double income family with no kids on $100,000 a year gets an extra $68 as fortnight. There'll be more telling examples.
"the ACT vote is in decline because the little jerker for class landlord greed said .."
Good catch. Have you noticed Seymour doesnt even appear on TV ads for ACT anymore .
Un precedented for the deputy leader to talk about ACT and why you should vote for them- although she is trying to spin their negativity of electing ACT into positives . She did after all work for Hooton for some time
ACT already costing the taxpayer c. $1.2 million for a by-election. I wonder what they will cut to offset this cost imposed by their candidate? Perhaps ACT should be made to pay for the by-election from their own campaign funds…
You have to admit it is ironic the first order of business for the party of austerity, disciplined spending, small government and zero regulation is to have us waste $1.2million on a by-election.
It makes $25k on a Pacific leaders business event seem like decent value for money…
ACT being the party of personal responsibility does bear responsibility for candidate selection. Yet they are happy to socialise the cost of that selection.
Are you expecting ACT candidate selection to use psychics? I really don't think that parties can be expected to foresee the sudden death of candidates.
ACT haven't asked for or required a by-election – it's required under the MMP legislation – perhaps you should address your outrage to the lawmakers – including the ones who have been in government for the last 5.5 years. Why didn't they predict this situation and pre-emptively act to address it? /sarc/
Andrew Geddis (from TS Feeds) has written a highly informative piece on this rare situation and says it is written in the Electoral Act 1993 and “really is a throwback to pre-MMP days”.
Thanks, an interesting post.
It's one of those rare situations that it's going to be impossible to get absolutely fair to all parties.
The death of a candidate while voting (and campaigning) is still going on – must have some impact on the vote in that electorate.
For that matter, it may well have an impact on the party vote for ACT in the electorate – not having a high-profile candidate actively canvassing (or, alternatively, increasing vote due to a sympathy vote)
In an electorate with a close race (i.e. not Port Waikato) – and if the situation affected one of the main contenders – it would seem that there must be a by-election.
The question of how this affects the proportionality of parliament seems to be a difficult one. At first glance, the most sensible solution seems to be to ignore the electorate seat, and go on the party vote – for allocating the seats within Parliament. This would potentially mean dropping a sitting list MP, once the by-election was held. (e.g. if the electorate was won by Labour, then the last-ranked Labour list MP would lose their seat – assuming that it's not an MP currently in parliament who is elected)
This has the merit of reflecting the will of the people – as expressed on election day. Though seems rather tough on the MP at-risk of being booted out.
However, that solution would treat a by-election during this very specific period, differently to a by-election at any other stage of the election cycle.
Exactly the same distortion of electoral proportionality happens when there is a by-election of a Government MP during the term of Parliament. This very frequently results in the loss of a seat to the Government – by-elections notoriously punish the party in power – changing the balance of Parliament as voted on during the previous election.
Unlike the death-during-voting scenario, this has happened with a reasonable degree of frequency during the MMP era – most recently with Sharma – when the Government did lose a seat (although arguable whether they lost it to Sharma becoming an independent, or to the by-election). And no one has been desperately unhappy with the parliamentary distortion which results.
I am surprised you, a relatively intelligent person, refuses to acknowledge the wider issue. ACT demands risk/reward be managed by the individual, not the collective or the state.
A health check of candidates might have been in order for such a party of individual responsibility. Perhaps the party itself might have considered insurance for candidates rather than shipping the fucking cost onto the taxpayers who they pretend to represent.
But no, we all pay because they didn't do their homework.
And we all paid for the by-election for Sharma – where Labour notoriously 'didn't do their homework' and anointed a flake to be swept in on the 2020 Labour tidal wave.
We all paid for the salary of Kerekere to sit in Parliament representing herself, rather than the GP voters who elected her. Where was their 'homework'?
We all paid when Horomia died in office (after notoriously bad health), triggering a by-election. Should he have been screened out by Labour because of ill-health?
If you want to ensure that individual parties/MPs carry that risk — then you have to accept that this cost would then be incurred by all parties/MPs. I seriously doubt that you'll gain much support for this radical view – nor would it be welcomed by the Left whom you claim to support.
I'm surprised that you, an apparently intelligent person, seem to confuse the personal with the collective. Do you think that all MPs only gain personal benefit from being elected? And there is no collective benefit to the country of having a representative democracy? If so, then indeed the cost should be personal. Though your opinion casts a rather jaundiced light upon those politicians you claim to support.
However, most people believe that an MP is a representative of the people who elected them – and therefore the benefit is to the electorate rather than to the individual MP.
One way of looking at it is that this kind of rule reflects how lucky we are in New Zealand to have a stable democracy and that the death of a candidate in such circumstances is so rare.
They can't hold an election in India without at least a dozen candidates murdered during the campaign.
Chris Trotter is a frustrating writer. Sometimes he is hopelessly old fashioned, living in the past, and he always hates the Greens. But at other times he is brilliant, as he is in this article below:
The reason he hates the Greens is because they pulled the plug on the Alliance which included his party New Labour. After that only Jim Anderton won a seat. The Greens have carried on. Going back in time Pam Corkery whistle blew Jim Andertons bullying with new MPs
Re this comment by Chris Trotter: "Lacking Peters’ restraining influence, the resulting National-Act government would have free-rein to impose the swingeing austerity programme required to pay for Luxon’s under-funded tax-cuts. That so many of us are willing to see so much pain inflicted upon our fellow citizens, strongly suggests that there is a fair amount of sadism mixed in with all that masochism. Hardly a pretty picture of our national character, and even less so of those NZ First voters bounced so easily into abandoning their nobler impulses by the prospect of a second election". https://democracyproject.nz/2023/10/09/chris-trotter-reckless-speculation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chris-trotter-reckless-speculation
Trotter's reference to sadism and masochism might explain the seemingly incomprehensible deep-seated resentment and vitriol many NZers' have towards Labour, and their support of National. This is despite repeated evidence that National's tax/fiscal plan doesn't add up and that the implementation of any such plan will cause considerable, compounding socio-economic damage to NZ, through cuts to public services and workers' rights, and by allowing foreign buyers to purchase properties. This policy will increase house prices, inflation and rental costs, and exclude many more NZers, other than investors, from the property market.
Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis have dismissed as incorrect, Goldman Sachs' analysis that National's tax plan is inflationary, as they have done with other critics of the tax plan.
"The new analysis from Goldman Sachs reported in the Herald today follows economist Cameron Bagrie when he said: “National tax plan is inflationary.” And economists Michael Reddell, Sam Warburton and Nick Goodall have said the policy to lift the foreign buyer ban for houses over $2m will cause greater house price inflation in New Zealand below the $2m mark as well".
National's repeated lying about their tax plan, and their constant deflection and projection when challenged about this, seems to be finally sinking into voters' awareness. Bishop's threats of the possibility of another election might be opening up people's minds to the chaos of National trying to form a government with ACT and/or NZ First.
Yes, Bishop forgets that the electoral system doesn't depends on what he thinks.
As I understand it, after election figures are confirmed (or before if the result is pretty obvious) the leader of the largest party meets with the Governor General and the GG asks the leader if he/she is able to form a government. If the answer is yes the GG consents to the leader doing so, if the answer is no, he/she asks the leader of the next biggest party the same question. If neither is able to form a government then legally the outgoing government has in effect caretaker executive powers until a new government is formed. The GG, not the Nats and especially NOT Chris Bishop, has the right to call for a new general election if he/she thinks it isn't possible to form a new majority government or coalition government on the election numbers.
That is, of course, a simplification of the process but I wonder just what kind of spin Luxon will put on the GG if he is put in that position.
Why would National’s Campaign Manager, whose party is currently attracting by far the largest share of voter support, suddenly start babbling about a second election? …What we do not expect is for the party with the largest number of votes to say: “No, we don’t like the hand you’ve dealt us – deal us another one.”
Not to mention having to pay for the damn thing! Threatening the voters is a novel political tactic from the Bish.
The question now, in the backwash of Bishop’s intervention, is how will the voters – especially those currently intending to vote for Winston Peters – respond to National’s threat?
Nah, fore-lock tuggers have been voting Labour since the 19th century! Analogues in the Nats just say bugger softly, before morphing into the right stance for survival.
Trotter then segues into masochism/sadism. The hung parliament I predicted some weeks ago gets a mention, then this:
Where the polls land in this, the last week of the election campaign, may produce a truly spectacular result.
Weds evening?? He's using (unaware) the Soros reflexivity principle of market forces. The electorate is the political market: voting rather than selling is the behavioural engine powering the voting portion of the populace. Trotter is correctly flagging the spectacular possibilities inherent in the collective reflex response to a poll this week…
Harold Wilson got away with it. When first elected he decided his majority was insufficient to govern effectively so, a couple of months later, he called a snap election and got himself a bigger majority.
However this was not anticipated prior to the first election.
I suspect his situation was simpler. Complex contingency planning is vulnerable to seemingly random field effects occurring in the tacit realm of the psyche, consequent of a deeper order within things.
Similarly Einstein's "spooky action at a distance" take pointed us to such invisible causal factors. If HW was typically human, he'd have intuition as reader of situations within, prompting him to take the gamble.
On the other hand it was probably true that HW was not able to govern effectively given the numbers. I might also be argued that a snap election was the most honest approach to take.
Wilson in 1970 was 17 seats short of majority, so was was well short . It wasnt a small majority like you think. Conservatives were only a few seats behind labour
Heath wanted a coalition with Liberals ( 14 seats) but couldnt/wouldnt agree
Wilson became a minority PM and the second election gave them a bare majority of 3
I really don't see what the outrage is on the Left at the prospect of another election – if neither National nor Labour are able to form a coalition government.
There has been considerable glee on TS over the apparent holes in the National financial plan – and conviction that the electorate are beginning to see through them; along with an evident belief that ACT have peaked and are beginning to drop.
If all that is true – surely the Left would welcome a new election – especially if they can blame NZF for it – and a second chance to gain a majority.
IMO I think Labour was premature in ruling out NZ First.
The reason being that the only path to victory now is a dramatic turn around in the polls. And even then, that is likely going to require a coalition including TPM which is likely to disincentivise a lot of voters.
At the time they made that decision, they may not have realised that they would be so low in the polls. But the problem now is that many voters likely think that a vote for Labour is a wasted vote. Hence, many Labour voters might think there isn't much point voting at all, compounding the problem for Labour.
Depends if handbrake theory influences their decision – it's on the right still, so a matter now of what could switch it back to the left. Hipkins coming on strong in his new style on MR was fluent enough to catch my attention. An impressive simulation, that performance, with enough apparent authenticity to make floaters wonder.
Inclusion of Winston in a coalition would not would not be harmful to National probably, as far as policies are concerned. They would not get their tax cuts enacted, but that would not matter since the tax cuts are only an election bribe anyway, and they can blame Winston for their non enactment. Winston may also be a foil to some ACT policies which National generally doesn't like but which some Nats are willing to support.
However some one would have to wonder what ACT's reaction to this would be.
tsmith-Winston may yet go with Hipkins after the election election, depending on the result.
For instance:
Lab 30 Gre 14 TPM 4 =48
Nats 35 ACT 8 =43
If NZF gets around 5.1% (4% wasted vote) it may feel the only way to form a government that is able to rule is to go with Lab/Gr/MP. The problem for Luxon has been the gradual collapse of the ACT vote.
“tsmith-Winston may yet go with Hipkins after the election election, depending on the result.”
That would require a major backtrack on the part of both Labour and NZ First.
I heard Hipkins on the radio again asserting that there was no way he or Labour as a party would do any deal with NZ First. If Labour were to do such a deal, I imagine that the credibility of both parties would take such a hit that it would be terminal for future election prospects.
Probably more of an issue for NZ First who would likely be better to sit on the cross-benches than do any such deal.
But who knows, you might be right. The allure of power makes people do some fairly contradictory things at times.
The other thing is, what would happen if Labour/Greens/TPM/NZ First had a lead of one seat, but there was the likely prospect of National picking up the extra seat at the bi-election later this year?
In that case, there could technically be a government formed, but an almost certain hung parliament within a couple of months.
There is certain to be at least one overhang seat in the next Parliament after the by-election in Port Waikato regardless of who wins. There may be others, probably for TPM, who would seem to be the only party that could more electorate seats than their share of the party vote would justify.
The next Parliament certainly have at least 121 MPs unless some party has foolishly put less people on their list than they might be allowed by the party vote.
Yep but I was replying to a comment about a one seat lead before the by-election, which would be impossible as there will be 120 seats until the by-election.
If it was a matter of keeping National/ACT out of power Hipkins may consider that he has a duty to the electorate to deal with Peters, no matter how distasteful he may find such a prospect. They say "that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds".
His statement that he will not work with Peters is not a binding promise; merely a statement of intent. He can change his mind.
It's not as if Hipkins and Peters have promised to resign rather than talk.
But someone did promise to resign – someone… or did she?
Under pressure to release the full costings behind the foreign buyer tax element of the overall plan, Willis refused to say whether or not she’d resign over whether that added up. “I haven’t even got the job yet,” she told O’Brien.
If that’s the solution, was there ever a crisis? [1 Oct 2023]
It will be fascinating to see if Willis and her team can persuade the fiscal ferrets to forecast anything like the revenue she expects to book from the foreign-buyers tax.
A pack of sugar-free gum says they won’t.
In that case, if National is true to its word and willy-nilly delivers its tax cuts (an undertaking by Willis on pain of resignation), then the cash will have to come from elsewhere.
In that case NZ 1st would perhaps not support either party, but sit on on the cross benches and vote on each issue that comes before the house, in accordance with their conscience. (If they have one.)
Under MMP there is more than one way to skin a cat. It is old media thinking that constantly frames Labour or National as the two main parties around which all others orbit.
For example, NZ1, Greens, and TPM have not said they would not work with each other. In fact, Shaw and Peters have praised each other.
I said this yesterday, but one possible scenario (and all seat numbers are best guess on current polling) is that NZ1 / Green and TPM form a minority coalition government with just 35 seats. Labour with its 32 seats could then offer C&S to Green and TPM, and say that it will support the budgets they put through. Labour and NZ1 would not have to agree to anything, so it meets the "no coalition or C&S rule". Each bill could then be supported by Labour as required. If Labour were genuine in their support for all NZers, they would have no problem supporting those progressive, pro-worker, pro-family, pro-student, pro-beneficiary, bills. Same goes for the bills that aim to limit the rapacious greed of some.
Under that scenario, which is entirely possible, NZ would have either, co-prime ministers Davidson and Shaw, or (and as a price for his support), Prime Minister Peters.
Now, wouldn't that be a legacy Winston would like. NZ's first Māori PM, and not just "acting PM who is Māori". He would also be the oldest elected PM …
Good thinking. Would require more big-picture adventurism than the folk involved seem capable of – but in principle anyone can transcend during, or in response to, catharsis.
Even negotiating it would be fraught. One would have to address co-governance via consensus politics & adept framing.
I'm inclined to agree, though such a coalition might find themselves a bit short of talent when it comes to filling cabinet posts. However Labour might still be offered the odd cabinet post if that were the case.
Tsm Labour will be happy for National to have NZ first as a coalition partner which will mean no tax cuts how long will National voters take that looking back 1998 didn't work to well for National.Given Nationals history of belittling Peter's, Peter's will exact revenge of undoing all of National and ACT'S policy. 3 yrs of hobbling good punishment for Nationals callus policies of rewarding those who have done well through covid while 70% have done it hard and are still doing it hard.Allowing tax deductability the lowering the Brightline capital gains tax will push the price of houses up with landlords coming back into the property market bidding up house sales getting a tax refund while home buyers pay tax and interest.
I think a lot of voters likely remember that as well, which is why they are likely not paying much attention to the hyperbole from both main parties at the moment.
They say that a week is a long time in politics but some people view the present as if it has been frozen for six long and challenging years, not to mention the ones who still blame Labour of today for what happened in 1984 or thereabouts. No wonder that Trotter still has a fan club of diehards because he’s not the only one firmly stuck in the past.
Incognito – Although Trotter is often insufferable and stuck in the past, in this case, as noted by Bearded Git@4 and vivie@4.3, Trotter makes salient points about possible reasons for voters voting against their own interests to stick it to Labour.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Biden on Sunday that Israel does not have any choice but to unleash a ground operation in Gaza. "We have to go in," the Israeli leader said, according to three Israeli and U.S. sources briefed on the call.
Israel warns: If Hezbollah joins the war alongside Hamas, Hassan Nasrallah will be forced to face the full force of the IDF, with the assistance of the American naval force that is making its way to the eastern Mediterranean
In messages delivered to Nasrallah from the Israeli side through senior officials in the French government, he was warned that his joining the campaign would result in Israel even considering, in the style of "the landlord has gone mad", to attack his important ally – Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Damascus would also be destroyed like Da'ahiah. In other words, in an attempt to deter Nasrallah, Israel is using American power and the threat to the Syrian regime, including Assad's personal security, to the point of eliminating him.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this today in response to Israel cutting off food, water and electricity from more than two million civilians in Gaza at the same time conducting a series of bombing attacks on Gaza:
"While I recognise Israel’s legitimate security concerns, I also remind Israel that military operations must be conducted in strict accordance with international humanitarian law. Civilians must be respected and protected at all times. Civilian infrastructure must never be a target.
The reality is that it grows out of a longstanding conflict with a 56-year-long occupation and no political end in sight. It’s time to end this vicious circle of bloodshed, hatred and polarisation."
ChatGPT, the generative AI that went viral at the start of the year, is a good example. Is it an entertaining gimmick, an apocalyptic portent for journalism and the arts, or something in between? It’s hard to say, although we do know one thing: recent improvements to ChatGPT have the potential to utterly destabilise politics as we know it. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/09-10-2023/chatgpt-could-transform-politics-and-not-for-the-better
Simulating the perfect left-wing politician via this tool ought to become a trendy performance art for leftist politicos then, eh?
ChatGPT has a bad habit of ‘hallucinating’ and providing incorrect answers with boundless confidence, but it is still an impressive tool – especially for a work in progress.
Is Nicola Willis, as Minister of Finance, a reboot of the Ruth Richardson years?
Back then those in state houses were facing market rents and benefits were slashed – and at the same time the estate tax on the wealthiest families was removed.
Today Nicola Willis said that the only way she knew how to help those who could not afford to own property (and never would under National policy) meet their cost of rent, was by making it the best time ever to be a landlord.
The brightline test down to 2 years, easy removal of tenants and changing other rules of rental property to suit landlords, slashing the capacity to inspect properties for regulatory compliance and of course restoring the mortgage cost against rent income.
She pretended to believe that this would mean a lower rate of rent increase – as if she did not believe there was a rental market based on supply and demand but a cost plus oligarchy, where landlords determined price based on how much money they were making.
She plays dumb on the impact of NACT's worker migration policy and intent to slow the activity of Kainga Ora, Kiwbuild and assistance to own on this housing market in which those who cannot afford to own rent.
Is Nicola Willis, as Minister of Finance, a reboot of the Ruth Richardson years?
Keeping interest non-deductibility may encourage some of the more highly leveraged landlords to exit the market in the longer term, once interest becomes fully non-deducible. This would be a welcome development as it would ease pressure on property prices.
Do we know the cause of death of the ACT Candidate? The Media haven't even used the old standbys, "after a long/short illness" "suddenly" "no suspicious circumstances" etc. Under the unusual situation of being so close to the Election I don't think it's too goulish to be interested to know.
It's a good point. If, God forbid, it were to be a "no suspicious circumstances", that would be pertinent to parties' stances on mental health funding. If long/short illness, stances on cancer funding.
“I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy said in remarks in Philadelphia… A Reuters/Ipsos poll of a hypothetical three-way race between Biden, Trump and Kennedy conducted last week among likely voters found 14% of voters supported Kennedy, with 40% supporting Trump and 38% supporting Biden.
Clowns to the left of him, jokers to the right of him, here he is stuck in the middle with the third of the US electorate that doesn't identify as left or right. Go the moonbat!
Why, I don’t know but I just watched a debate between Grant Robertson and the forever rude, bad mannered, ranting, screeching undisciplined Willis. It was terrible. Why oh why does she think that shouting and yelling without stopping for breath and not allowingEitherGrant or Simon a word in edgeways makes her an opponent to be feared. Screaming accusations about Grants management of our economy over the last6years just shows she is running scared an cannot let anybody speak in case Grant succinctly corrects all her wild ravings with the verifiable truth. She is out of her depth and her constant reciting Nacts catch phrases, slogans, sound bites etc just shows that she is floundering in deep water. That’s all the parrot knows.
I hope there is an antidote for her. Just about had a panic attack at the constant onslaught
But it does deflect from the fact that she is no finance expert.That she likes to keep hidden by sudden attacks of verbal diarrhoea. I thought Paula Bennett was bad news but this one just plain horrible and nasty.
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The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
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I am finding it quite hilarious with the amount of hyperbole both Labour and National are engaging in with respect to NZ First, with Labour now raising the dire prospect of US style shutdowns if NZ First is in government.
I think the problem for Labour in engaging in this style of campaigning is that it is not giving a reason to vote Labour. If voters do take notice of all the over-the-top rhetoric, then the only likely beneficiary will be National.
That is, because, based on the polls, the simplest way to get a stable government is to vote NACT. So, the result of the combined scare campaign could be potential NZ First voters holding their noses and voting NACT to keep things simple.
It may not matter anyway if National/ACT are on 60 seats on 3 November.
National will almost certainly pick up an extra MP in the Port Waikato by election and they will go to 61 with an overhang seat.
Yes that is a pretty tough twist of fate against any alternative government to National.
Why would the Port Waikato by election result in an overhang?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2023-national-will-almost-certainly-get-an-extra-mp-after-death-of-act-candidate-neil-christensen/D6FXTX4M25E5XBQPJLLETPWO74/
Oh it’s because either the EC are morons, or their rules are.
Common sense would indicate that given a National list MP is running in Port Waikato he would simply change status from list to electorate MP on winning – thus 120 MP's still – as per votes per party allocation.
I think it is a bloody stupid rule tbh. What is the bet that there will be a conspiracy theory come out that the Nats assassinated the Act guy lol.
The nats killed the Act guy so they didn't have to be in a coalition with NZF.
Yes. The party vote distribution is done for 120 seats – which MP it is is decided by party list and who wins an electorate
The Port Waikato seat is to be decided by a by election- even though the current Mp hasnt died so the distribution should be done for 119 seats
If its not done this way then the Sat vote should still occur to elect an MP who will be immediately subject to a by election.
Its ridiculous that the proportionality is destroyed by an event known before election day
I have been thinking about this, this is surely not the first time this has happened and yet I never remember having had a by-election before. Perhaps this was a change done when we switched to MMP and nobody noticed?
It seems so National that they rely on an electoral technicality to get an extra MP in the house, can't do it by honest (ha ha ha) campaigning.
Would certainly be an interesting situation should the NACTS get a majority of 1 or 2. Court challenges would be inevitable.
I don't recall there ever being another candidate who has died after voting has started, but before it finished (in that 10 day window). Certainly not since the longer voting period started – and I don't recall one in the FPP era either.
There seems to be no wriggle-room in the law as it's written – so no basis for a legal challenge.
The MSM seems to think that the death of the ACT MP will help the Nats win the election. This is wrong.
If the Left get 48% and the Right gets 47% (5% wasted) then the proportion of the seats will be decided by these percentages in exactly the same way as they would have been before the death, and Labour will form a government.
The by-election will come much later-National will win this and so they will have an extra seat then. This will only be an issue if the Left's government only has a majority of one.
I have always thought it rather silly that the parties who don't make it into parliament see their votes apportioned amongst the parties that do. It doesn't change the proportions within parliament so why not leave them out altogether. If nothing else it would save money on MPs' salaries.
If we can have overhangs why can we not have underhangs?
Misunderstanding on your part
There isnt more Mps because wasted vote isnt used to count the number of Mps
the number is fixed at 120 plus overhangs but thats comes from winning extra electorates than the party vote would account for
That's beside the point. The Votes received by the winning parties never add up to 100% of the total vote.. So why do all the seats have to be filled. Why do the have to have 120 MPs.
yes they do .
Theres two stages , those parties that dont win a seat and are under 5% are excluded from any party vote allocation.
The remaining partys votes will certainly add up to the total vote that is counted for party allocation purposes.
If you keep saying the number of seats doesnt have to be 120 or all seats shouldnt filled , theres something missing up top.
The seat allocation method -Sante Lague- requires the number of seats to be known at the very beginning . Its been 120 from the start of MMP
better explanation of Sainte Lague distribution
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/14-09-2017/mmp-maths-how-party-vote-percentages-become-seats-in-parliament
While % are used in the cheats quick method before the election , the actual result works via the total votes for each party thats passed the threshold/ electorate seat hoop.
Unfortunately theres amny that think the % is the final method and never realaise that each list MP has actual votes that get allocated
However, if some of the 120 seats were treated as "phantom" seats, would this not satisfy the Sante Lague requirements?
Being a ghost yourself I’m sure you would understand that.
Alternatively you could allocate all the seats, as if there was no threshold, and then cancel the seats allocated to members whose parties scored less than 5%.
Except the ACT vote is in decline because the little jerker for class landlord greed said he would make demands because the poll numbers gave him the mandate to do that.
And National is exposed as running a marketing scam (tax policy) that would have it up before the Commerce Commission for fraudulent misrepresentation – and they still cannot show how it all works either.
The observant can see they are unelectable grifters.
There is less and less likelihood the centre will countenance a NACT regime and the renters and workers need to get out and vote to protect MW becoming a LW and benefit from the FPA Industry Awards.
The Greens need to say they will insist on a 3% cap on rent increases and GR and DP should advise agreement (this should have been done at the start of the campaign). .
That's the point and it's why Bishop is freaking out. There is so much in the NACT programme of systematic looting by the wealthiest among us, that even cynical, self-aggrandising old Winston will find it too objectionable.
But nobody on the left should vote for NZF, because for NZF to have this effect, it must take votes from NACT to keep NACT no higher than mid-40’s. . Left voters switching to NZF does not lower the NACT vote.
Luxon's tax relief for the rich needs to be exposed, too. His calculator says a double income family with no kids on $400,000 a year will get $80 more a fortnight. A double income family with no kids on $100,000 a year gets an extra $68 as fortnight. There'll be more telling examples.
"the ACT vote is in decline because the little jerker for class landlord greed said .."
Good catch. Have you noticed Seymour doesnt even appear on TV ads for ACT anymore .
Un precedented for the deputy leader to talk about ACT and why you should vote for them- although she is trying to spin their negativity of electing ACT into positives . She did after all work for Hooton for some time
ACT already costing the taxpayer c. $1.2 million for a by-election. I wonder what they will cut to offset this cost imposed by their candidate? Perhaps ACT should be made to pay for the by-election from their own campaign funds…
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/10/election-2023-by-election-to-be-held-right-after-election-after-candidate-dies.html
The guy didn't die on purpose you know! In fact he would probably rather not have caused a by-election. It does seem a crazy rule.
You really are sick aren't you? Blaming ACT because a candidate died.
I'll bet you didn't complain about the cost of a by-election after Norm Kirk died.
To be fair, I think MuttonB is not aware yet of what the Electoral Act says. Bit much to call him "sick" imo.
User pays Alwyn , Have you never heard of it
You have to admit it is ironic the first order of business for the party of austerity, disciplined spending, small government and zero regulation is to have us waste $1.2million on a by-election.
It makes $25k on a Pacific leaders business event seem like decent value for money…
Dear me. Amazing how a by-election (which the Left have no prospect of winning) suddenly becomes a 'waste'.
One of the costs of having a democracy is that of holding elections.
It would be soooo much cheaper to just install a dictator /sarc/
ACT being the party of personal responsibility does bear responsibility for candidate selection. Yet they are happy to socialise the cost of that selection.
Are you expecting ACT candidate selection to use psychics? I really don't think that parties can be expected to foresee the sudden death of candidates.
ACT haven't asked for or required a by-election – it's required under the MMP legislation – perhaps you should address your outrage to the lawmakers – including the ones who have been in government for the last 5.5 years. Why didn't they predict this situation and pre-emptively act to address it? /sarc/
Andrew Geddis (from TS Feeds) has written a highly informative piece on this rare situation and says it is written in the Electoral Act 1993 and “really is a throwback to pre-MMP days”.
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/what-does-port-waikatos-plus-one-mean-for-our-election
Thanks, an interesting post.
It's one of those rare situations that it's going to be impossible to get absolutely fair to all parties.
The death of a candidate while voting (and campaigning) is still going on – must have some impact on the vote in that electorate.
For that matter, it may well have an impact on the party vote for ACT in the electorate – not having a high-profile candidate actively canvassing (or, alternatively, increasing vote due to a sympathy vote)
In an electorate with a close race (i.e. not Port Waikato) – and if the situation affected one of the main contenders – it would seem that there must be a by-election.
The question of how this affects the proportionality of parliament seems to be a difficult one. At first glance, the most sensible solution seems to be to ignore the electorate seat, and go on the party vote – for allocating the seats within Parliament. This would potentially mean dropping a sitting list MP, once the by-election was held. (e.g. if the electorate was won by Labour, then the last-ranked Labour list MP would lose their seat – assuming that it's not an MP currently in parliament who is elected)
This has the merit of reflecting the will of the people – as expressed on election day. Though seems rather tough on the MP at-risk of being booted out.
However, that solution would treat a by-election during this very specific period, differently to a by-election at any other stage of the election cycle.
Exactly the same distortion of electoral proportionality happens when there is a by-election of a Government MP during the term of Parliament. This very frequently results in the loss of a seat to the Government – by-elections notoriously punish the party in power – changing the balance of Parliament as voted on during the previous election.
Unlike the death-during-voting scenario, this has happened with a reasonable degree of frequency during the MMP era – most recently with Sharma – when the Government did lose a seat (although arguable whether they lost it to Sharma becoming an independent, or to the by-election). And no one has been desperately unhappy with the parliamentary distortion which results.
I am surprised you, a relatively intelligent person, refuses to acknowledge the wider issue. ACT demands risk/reward be managed by the individual, not the collective or the state.
A health check of candidates might have been in order for such a party of individual responsibility. Perhaps the party itself might have considered insurance for candidates rather than shipping the fucking cost onto the taxpayers who they pretend to represent.
But no, we all pay because they didn't do their homework.
And we all paid for the by-election for Sharma – where Labour notoriously 'didn't do their homework' and anointed a flake to be swept in on the 2020 Labour tidal wave.
We all paid for the salary of Kerekere to sit in Parliament representing herself, rather than the GP voters who elected her. Where was their 'homework'?
We all paid when Horomia died in office (after notoriously bad health), triggering a by-election. Should he have been screened out by Labour because of ill-health?
If you want to ensure that individual parties/MPs carry that risk — then you have to accept that this cost would then be incurred by all parties/MPs. I seriously doubt that you'll gain much support for this radical view – nor would it be welcomed by the Left whom you claim to support.
I'm surprised that you, an apparently intelligent person, seem to confuse the personal with the collective. Do you think that all MPs only gain personal benefit from being elected? And there is no collective benefit to the country of having a representative democracy? If so, then indeed the cost should be personal. Though your opinion casts a rather jaundiced light upon those politicians you claim to support.
However, most people believe that an MP is a representative of the people who elected them – and therefore the benefit is to the electorate rather than to the individual MP.
How convenient ACT demands risk management from constituents, but not from itself nor its candidates.
One way of looking at it is that this kind of rule reflects how lucky we are in New Zealand to have a stable democracy and that the death of a candidate in such circumstances is so rare.
They can't hold an election in India without at least a dozen candidates murdered during the campaign.
Looks like Winston & NZF are your best bet then.
Chris Trotter is a frustrating writer. Sometimes he is hopelessly old fashioned, living in the past, and he always hates the Greens. But at other times he is brilliant, as he is in this article below:
https://democracyproject.nz/2023/10/09/chris-trotter-reckless-speculation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chris-trotter-reckless-speculation
Conclusion: Chris Bishop may well have lost the election for the Right.
Indeed. While you were posting this I was writing a response to Trotter, see below.
Things got interestinger due to the Bishflap…![surprise surprise](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.png?x42494)
The reason he hates the Greens is because they pulled the plug on the Alliance which included his party New Labour. After that only Jim Anderton won a seat. The Greens have carried on. Going back in time Pam Corkery whistle blew Jim Andertons bullying with new MPs
New Labour had 2 Mps for a while , Anderton was the only one , before and after , who ever won a seat for Alliance
Tricle-thanks for that background; it explains a lot.
Re this comment by Chris Trotter: "Lacking Peters’ restraining influence, the resulting National-Act government would have free-rein to impose the swingeing austerity programme required to pay for Luxon’s under-funded tax-cuts. That so many of us are willing to see so much pain inflicted upon our fellow citizens, strongly suggests that there is a fair amount of sadism mixed in with all that masochism. Hardly a pretty picture of our national character, and even less so of those NZ First voters bounced so easily into abandoning their nobler impulses by the prospect of a second election". https://democracyproject.nz/2023/10/09/chris-trotter-reckless-speculation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chris-trotter-reckless-speculation
Trotter's reference to sadism and masochism might explain the seemingly incomprehensible deep-seated resentment and vitriol many NZers' have towards Labour, and their support of National. This is despite repeated evidence that National's tax/fiscal plan doesn't add up and that the implementation of any such plan will cause considerable, compounding socio-economic damage to NZ, through cuts to public services and workers' rights, and by allowing foreign buyers to purchase properties. This policy will increase house prices, inflation and rental costs, and exclude many more NZers, other than investors, from the property market.
Chris Bishop has claimed that Labour was playing "gutter politics", because Grant Robertson stated fact about National's tax plan and called it a scam. https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/05-10-2023/labour-calls-national-tax-plan-a-scam-after-claims-of-gutter-politics
Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis have dismissed as incorrect, Goldman Sachs' analysis that National's tax plan is inflationary, as they have done with other critics of the tax plan.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2310/S00025/nationals-tax-plan-likely-to-push-up-kiwis-mortgage-rates.htm
"The new analysis from Goldman Sachs reported in the Herald today follows economist Cameron Bagrie when he said: “National tax plan is inflationary.” And economists Michael Reddell, Sam Warburton and Nick Goodall have said the policy to lift the foreign buyer ban for houses over $2m will cause greater house price inflation in New Zealand below the $2m mark as well".
After repeated challenging of National's tax plan: https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/05-10-2023/nicola-willis-confirms-only-3000-households-will-get-full-250-a-fortnight-tax-cut
National's repeated lying about their tax plan, and their constant deflection and projection when challenged about this, seems to be finally sinking into voters' awareness. Bishop's threats of the possibility of another election might be opening up people's minds to the chaos of National trying to form a government with ACT and/or NZ First.
Yes, Bishop forgets that the electoral system doesn't depends on what he thinks.
As I understand it, after election figures are confirmed (or before if the result is pretty obvious) the leader of the largest party meets with the Governor General and the GG asks the leader if he/she is able to form a government. If the answer is yes the GG consents to the leader doing so, if the answer is no, he/she asks the leader of the next biggest party the same question. If neither is able to form a government then legally the outgoing government has in effect caretaker executive powers until a new government is formed. The GG, not the Nats and especially NOT Chris Bishop, has the right to call for a new general election if he/she thinks it isn't possible to form a new majority government or coalition government on the election numbers.
That is, of course, a simplification of the process but I wonder just what kind of spin Luxon will put on the GG if he is put in that position.
Remember the bleating of the Nats in 2017.
But we won the most seats!
How are we not the government.
Its an injustice, it is!
A corrupt system!
We didn't lose……we was robbed!………..
Trotter's hot to trot:
Not to mention having to pay for the damn thing! Threatening the voters is a novel political tactic from the Bish.
Head for the hills in all directions, I suspect.
Nah, fore-lock tuggers have been voting Labour since the 19th century! Analogues in the Nats just say bugger softly, before morphing into the right stance for survival.
Trotter then segues into masochism/sadism. The hung parliament I predicted some weeks ago gets a mention, then this:
Weds evening?? He's using (unaware) the Soros reflexivity principle of market forces. The electorate is the political market: voting rather than selling is the behavioural engine powering the voting portion of the populace. Trotter is correctly flagging the spectacular possibilities inherent in the collective reflex response to a poll this week…
Harold Wilson got away with it. When first elected he decided his majority was insufficient to govern effectively so, a couple of months later, he called a snap election and got himself a bigger majority.
However this was not anticipated prior to the first election.
I suspect his situation was simpler. Complex contingency planning is vulnerable to seemingly random field effects occurring in the tacit realm of the psyche, consequent of a deeper order within things.
Similarly Einstein's "spooky action at a distance" take pointed us to such invisible causal factors. If HW was typically human, he'd have intuition as reader of situations within, prompting him to take the gamble.
On the other hand it was probably true that HW was not able to govern effectively given the numbers. I might also be argued that a snap election was the most honest approach to take.
Wilson in 1970 was 17 seats short of majority, so was was well short . It wasnt a small majority like you think. Conservatives were only a few seats behind labour
Heath wanted a coalition with Liberals ( 14 seats) but couldnt/wouldnt agree
Wilson became a minority PM and the second election gave them a bare majority of 3
I really don't see what the outrage is on the Left at the prospect of another election – if neither National nor Labour are able to form a coalition government.
There has been considerable glee on TS over the apparent holes in the National financial plan – and conviction that the electorate are beginning to see through them; along with an evident belief that ACT have peaked and are beginning to drop.
If all that is true – surely the Left would welcome a new election – especially if they can blame NZF for it – and a second chance to gain a majority.
IMO I think Labour was premature in ruling out NZ First.
The reason being that the only path to victory now is a dramatic turn around in the polls. And even then, that is likely going to require a coalition including TPM which is likely to disincentivise a lot of voters.
At the time they made that decision, they may not have realised that they would be so low in the polls. But the problem now is that many voters likely think that a vote for Labour is a wasted vote. Hence, many Labour voters might think there isn't much point voting at all, compounding the problem for Labour.
Depends if handbrake theory influences their decision – it's on the right still, so a matter now of what could switch it back to the left. Hipkins coming on strong in his new style on MR was fluent enough to catch my attention. An impressive simulation, that performance, with enough apparent authenticity to make floaters wonder.
Inclusion of Winston in a coalition would not would not be harmful to National probably, as far as policies are concerned. They would not get their tax cuts enacted, but that would not matter since the tax cuts are only an election bribe anyway, and they can blame Winston for their non enactment. Winston may also be a foil to some ACT policies which National generally doesn't like but which some Nats are willing to support.
However some one would have to wonder what ACT's reaction to this would be.
tsmith-Winston may yet go with Hipkins after the election election, depending on the result.
For instance:
Lab 30 Gre 14 TPM 4 =48
Nats 35 ACT 8 =43
If NZF gets around 5.1% (4% wasted vote) it may feel the only way to form a government that is able to rule is to go with Lab/Gr/MP. The problem for Luxon has been the gradual collapse of the ACT vote.
“tsmith-Winston may yet go with Hipkins after the election election, depending on the result.”
That would require a major backtrack on the part of both Labour and NZ First.
I heard Hipkins on the radio again asserting that there was no way he or Labour as a party would do any deal with NZ First. If Labour were to do such a deal, I imagine that the credibility of both parties would take such a hit that it would be terminal for future election prospects.
Probably more of an issue for NZ First who would likely be better to sit on the cross-benches than do any such deal.
But who knows, you might be right. The allure of power makes people do some fairly contradictory things at times.
The other thing is, what would happen if Labour/Greens/TPM/NZ First had a lead of one seat, but there was the likely prospect of National picking up the extra seat at the bi-election later this year?
In that case, there could technically be a government formed, but an almost certain hung parliament within a couple of months.
"…what would happen if Labour/Greens/TPM/NZ First had a lead of one seat…"
No party or combination of parties could have a lead of 1 seat with an even number of seats available. (120)
Under this scenario there would be an extra seat though.
Yea but not until the by-election and you were talking about a lead of one seat before the by-election.
There is certain to be at least one overhang seat in the next Parliament after the by-election in Port Waikato regardless of who wins. There may be others, probably for TPM, who would seem to be the only party that could more electorate seats than their share of the party vote would justify.
The next Parliament certainly have at least 121 MPs unless some party has foolishly put less people on their list than they might be allowed by the party vote.
Yep but I was replying to a comment about a one seat lead before the by-election, which would be impossible as there will be 120 seats until the by-election.
If it was a matter of keeping National/ACT out of power Hipkins may consider that he has a duty to the electorate to deal with Peters, no matter how distasteful he may find such a prospect. They say "that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds".
His statement that he will not work with Peters is not a binding promise; merely a statement of intent. He can change his mind.
But someone did promise to resign – someone… or did she?
In that case NZ 1st would perhaps not support either party, but sit on on the cross benches and vote on each issue that comes before the house, in accordance with their conscience. (If they have one.)
He could enter into a C&S agreement with Labour. Labour couldn't prevent that even if they were unwilling to be associated with NZ1st.
Not really.
Under MMP there is more than one way to skin a cat. It is old media thinking that constantly frames Labour or National as the two main parties around which all others orbit.
For example, NZ1, Greens, and TPM have not said they would not work with each other. In fact, Shaw and Peters have praised each other.
I said this yesterday, but one possible scenario (and all seat numbers are best guess on current polling) is that NZ1 / Green and TPM form a minority coalition government with just 35 seats. Labour with its 32 seats could then offer C&S to Green and TPM, and say that it will support the budgets they put through. Labour and NZ1 would not have to agree to anything, so it meets the "no coalition or C&S rule". Each bill could then be supported by Labour as required. If Labour were genuine in their support for all NZers, they would have no problem supporting those progressive, pro-worker, pro-family, pro-student, pro-beneficiary, bills. Same goes for the bills that aim to limit the rapacious greed of some.
Under that scenario, which is entirely possible, NZ would have either, co-prime ministers Davidson and Shaw, or (and as a price for his support), Prime Minister Peters.
Now, wouldn't that be a legacy Winston would like. NZ's first Māori PM, and not just "acting PM who is Māori". He would also be the oldest elected PM …
Good thinking.
Would require more big-picture adventurism than the folk involved seem capable of – but in principle anyone can transcend during, or in response to, catharsis.
Even negotiating it would be fraught. One would have to address co-governance via consensus politics & adept framing.
I'm inclined to agree, though such a coalition might find themselves a bit short of talent when it comes to filling cabinet posts. However Labour might still be offered the odd cabinet post if that were the case.
Maybe the time is right for a Cross Party Coalition of NZF/Greens/TMP I think NZ has had enough of Pepsi & Coke.
Tsm Labour will be happy for National to have NZ first as a coalition partner which will mean no tax cuts how long will National voters take that looking back 1998 didn't work to well for National.Given Nationals history of belittling Peter's, Peter's will exact revenge of undoing all of National and ACT'S policy. 3 yrs of hobbling good punishment for Nationals callus policies of rewarding those who have done well through covid while 70% have done it hard and are still doing it hard.Allowing tax deductability the lowering the Brightline capital gains tax will push the price of houses up with landlords coming back into the property market bidding up house sales getting a tax refund while home buyers pay tax and interest.
I don't understand why NZF & Labour are at logger heads, I thought they were quite constructive in Coalition 2017.
I think a lot of voters likely remember that as well, which is why they are likely not paying much attention to the hyperbole from both main parties at the moment.
They say that a week is a long time in politics but some people view the present as if it has been frozen for six long and challenging years, not to mention the ones who still blame Labour of today for what happened in 1984 or thereabouts. No wonder that Trotter still has a fan club of diehards because he’s not the only one firmly stuck in the past.
Incognito – Although Trotter is often insufferable and stuck in the past, in this case, as noted by Bearded Git@4 and vivie@4.3, Trotter makes salient points about possible reasons for voters voting against their own interests to stick it to Labour.
"not to mention the ones who still blame Labour of today for what happened in 1984 or thereabouts."
Is there much that current Labour have undone of 1984 Labour (and National for that matter).
Awful times ahead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Biden on Sunday that Israel does not have any choice but to unleash a ground operation in Gaza. "We have to go in," the Israeli leader said, according to three Israeli and U.S. sources briefed on the call.
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/09/netanyahu-ground-invasion-gaza-israel-hamas-biden
Israel warns: If Hezbollah joins the war alongside Hamas, Hassan Nasrallah will be forced to face the full force of the IDF, with the assistance of the American naval force that is making its way to the eastern Mediterranean
In messages delivered to Nasrallah from the Israeli side through senior officials in the French government, he was warned that his joining the campaign would result in Israel even considering, in the style of "the landlord has gone mad", to attack his important ally – Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Damascus would also be destroyed like Da'ahiah. In other words, in an attempt to deter Nasrallah, Israel is using American power and the threat to the Syrian regime, including Assad's personal security, to the point of eliminating him.
https://www-ynet-co-il.translate.goog/news/article/sktkysb11a?_x_tr_sl=iw&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true
edit:
Steve Herman
@w7voa@journa.host
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Total of 300,000 reservists now mobilized, announces IDF LTC (Res.) Jonathan Conricus.
https://journa.host/@w7voa/111206343634532910
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this today in response to Israel cutting off food, water and electricity from more than two million civilians in Gaza at the same time conducting a series of bombing attacks on Gaza:
"While I recognise Israel’s legitimate security concerns, I also remind Israel that military operations must be conducted in strict accordance with international humanitarian law. Civilians must be respected and protected at all times. Civilian infrastructure must never be a target.
The reality is that it grows out of a longstanding conflict with a 56-year-long occupation and no political end in sight. It’s time to end this vicious circle of bloodshed, hatred and polarisation."
Factoring in the future:
Simulating the perfect left-wing politician via this tool ought to become a trendy performance art for leftist politicos then, eh?
See, I was right!!![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
Is Nicola Willis, as Minister of Finance, a reboot of the Ruth Richardson years?
Back then those in state houses were facing market rents and benefits were slashed – and at the same time the estate tax on the wealthiest families was removed.
Today Nicola Willis said that the only way she knew how to help those who could not afford to own property (and never would under National policy) meet their cost of rent, was by making it the best time ever to be a landlord.
The brightline test down to 2 years, easy removal of tenants and changing other rules of rental property to suit landlords, slashing the capacity to inspect properties for regulatory compliance and of course restoring the mortgage cost against rent income.
She pretended to believe that this would mean a lower rate of rent increase – as if she did not believe there was a rental market based on supply and demand but a cost plus oligarchy, where landlords determined price based on how much money they were making.
She plays dumb on the impact of NACT's worker migration policy and intent to slow the activity of Kainga Ora, Kiwbuild and assistance to own on this housing market in which those who cannot afford to own rent.
Is Nicola Willis, as Minister of Finance, a reboot of the Ruth Richardson years?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-08-at-3.55.25-PM-768×711.png
Keeping interest non-deductibility may encourage some of the more highly leveraged landlords to exit the market in the longer term, once interest becomes fully non-deducible. This would be a welcome development as it would ease pressure on property prices.
Sure, and the point was to encourage a re-direction of investment to new builds – for which there was an allowance to deduct mortgage as a cost.
Do we know the cause of death of the ACT Candidate? The Media haven't even used the old standbys, "after a long/short illness" "suddenly" "no suspicious circumstances" etc. Under the unusual situation of being so close to the Election I don't think it's too goulish to be interested to know.
It's a good point. If, God forbid, it were to be a "no suspicious circumstances", that would be pertinent to parties' stances on mental health funding. If long/short illness, stances on cancer funding.
Environmentalist flies solo:
Clowns to the left of him, jokers to the right of him, here he is stuck in the middle with the third of the US electorate that doesn't identify as left or right. Go the moonbat!
Why, I don’t know but I just watched a debate between Grant Robertson and the forever rude, bad mannered, ranting, screeching undisciplined Willis. It was terrible. Why oh why does she think that shouting and yelling without stopping for breath and not allowingEitherGrant or Simon a word in edgeways makes her an opponent to be feared. Screaming accusations about Grants management of our economy over the last6years just shows she is running scared an cannot let anybody speak in case Grant succinctly corrects all her wild ravings with the verifiable truth. She is out of her depth and her constant reciting Nacts catch phrases, slogans, sound bites etc just shows that she is floundering in deep water. That’s all the parrot knows.
I hope there is an antidote for her. Just about had a panic attack at the constant onslaught
But it does deflect from the fact that she is no finance expert.That she likes to keep hidden by sudden attacks of verbal diarrhoea. I thought Paula Bennett was bad news but this one just plain horrible and nasty.
WOW doesn't sound good for our potential new Deputy PM.