It annoys me when the “Labour – broad church” argument is raised. Sure, a party that is going to lead a FPTP election needs to get around the 50% level, and so to an extent is all things to everybody. But we are now in MMP territory.
Often this broad church stance is often accompanied by another attempt by Labour to dominate or burn off possible coalition partners. National and Labour display a huge amount conceit that they are the natural parties of government. CVs position about Labour being lost in the past and sadly not going get to be government resonates with me.
Being a centrist left right left centre party just paves the way for repeat failure and becoming and increasingly fractured party full of cognitive dissonance: where mutually contradictory positions are held.
Whilst the Mana Party Internet party was a strange beast, Hone should have been not have been opposed by Labour. There appears to be no long term gain to the LP by squashing Mana. Labour cannot be broad enough to accommodate a Minto alongside a Shearer. Having a scorched earth approach is counter productive. Act survives on the margin and attracts lightening bolts away from National. National can withdraw from dogmatic Neo liberal posturing and let Act fill that territory. All the time knowing that it has Acts support on most things.
IMO shedding the desire to be all things to everybody is part of Labour’s healing. Signs of a Labour that has a future include:
1. Being able to articulate what it is and what it is not.
2. Being able to leave space for other political parties.
3. Being excited/passionate about what it is.
The Labour Party needs to be reconceptualised so it thrives when working with (and not necessarily lead) multiple parties to form a government. The broad church is no longer internal to the party but external to it. Potential partners need to be allowed space to live.
Labour needs to accept that 50% voter support is not achievable for them under MMP, and it could take the negative connotations of polling lower than national if they worked out away to sell the fact that unlike national they don’t destroy their partners support,
It is a certain type of voter that needs to understand that Labour does not need 50% as it can form a coalition government with other parties on the left/centre left stage.
And i do believe that the opposition parties have a good chance at beating National. Not one of them by themselves but together. And this is what i am advocating for.
National as a party – only needs to deliver the appearance of a good economy and stoke the fires under the meme that all success is individual. They have a fairly simple task to speak to and coerce the voting public that all is well under their watch (because they don’t care about the environment, the vulnerable, the long-term effects of their policies, global responsibilities).
Progressive voters on the left – however – are passionate about a myriad of issues. Workers rights, global accountability, climate change, environmental degradation, economic reform to benefit all – and that is where the choice of different parties leading to a coalition can work for voters on the left.
However, as you say, this is not occurring. But the strongest message that Labour could perhaps take from the movements that have happened in the UK and the US with the rise of Corbyn and Sanders, is perhaps to stop listening to the PR and political strategies that have not delivered on the last three elections, and consider a clarity of purpose around policy, and a team approach to the next election.
“is perhaps to stop listening to the PR and political strategies that have not delivered on the last three elections”
Or sack the ones they’ve got , get some good ones , get a simple message and don’t waiver .
I don’t agree – 50% is quite achievable for Labour – but it has more to do with the false reputation for economic competence ascribed to National than anything else. These buffoons are only able to forestall a collapse by unprecedented levels of borrowing – none of their policies are sustainable. Once the public understand that, 80% of National’s support is gone.
The idea that the middle in NZ has shifted right is where Labour was misled – as Corbyn & Sanders prove yet again, socioeconomic class is determined economically, so that the further a country goes right, the larger the groundswell on the left. NZ Labour is working this out, but as the Blairites in England find, it is not a welcome truth for long-serving MPs.
National with only a very small party on the right (Act) which doesn’t suck up many votes, with NZs most popular leader since…well John Keys rewriting the record books on popularity and an ineffectual opposition (lets face it if Labour were a patient the life support cord would have been pulled long ago) even with all that National can’t quite break 50%
Yet you think Labour, with the Greens constantly scoring 10%, can somehow hit 50%
Every time I think I’ve read the most delusional post on here someone always manages to top it
“NZs most popular leader since … well John Keys rewriting the record books on popularity.”
Really, Puckers ???
(1) In the Colmar Brunton and Reid Research Preferred PM Polls, Key’s fallen to his lowest average (39%) since becoming PM. That’s 10-14 points down on his First Term ratings.
(2) His Favourability ratings are down to a net positive of just + 2 – that’s his lowest rating ever. Key may be well ahead of Little in the Preferred PM rankings (arguably, a somewhat blunt instrument given the traditional incumbency advantage) but he’s been trailing the Labour Leader on the Favourability measure for most of the last year:
Notice, incidentally, how far Key has fallen since 2015 – a net positive favourability rating of + 22 in the first quarter of 2015 and now, in the immediate wake of the Flag referendum fiasco, a plunge to just + 2. Back in 2009, Key was on + 58. !!!
(3) Over the last year, Key has been only slightly more popular on the Preferred PM measure than Clark was at the same point in her Third Term.
(4) Clark was enjoying higher Favourability and Performance ratings in 2006-2007 (same point in Third Term) than Key is now.
You’ve been reading Farrar and the MSM rather than exploring the actual Poll data.
My comment was about the spin your lot are spinning. I mean apart from the data being old, and I had difficulty find the source – If the spin being done, had been by the left – you’d have been having kittens. It was really in the bubble stuff The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell. Have a read, even you have to admit – a lot of naval gazing going on. Something I’d expect from the liberal branch of the labour party.
Plus it was about the comment section over there at kiwiblog – which is still in the gutter, mistruths, misinformation and out right lies. Do I need to mention it is as low brow as ever. No wonder you come on the standard.
So where did I have a go at Key? That one on you bro. Personal couldn’t care less for the man, he just another Muppet in a long line of Muppets. It’s the national party and a evil economic system it up holds, – I want gone by Friday 😉
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell …
Yep, in the 2014New Zealand Election Study Key had a net positive Favourability rating of + 32 (as Farrar shows), in UMR Research polling, his 2014Favourability average was very similar: + 27.
By 2015, it had fallen to + 22 in the first quarter, plunged further down to + 10 by the third quarter, recovered slightly to + 16 by the final quarter and has now, as I’ve pointed out, sunk to an unprecedentedly low + 2.
Massive fall from 2014
I’ll get around to Farrar’s amusing Houston we may have a problem spin when I have time.
For the time being, let’s just point out that:
– Farrar’s little graph is a textbook example of how to abuse the Y-axis.
– Fails to mention that leaders always receive their Highest ratings during Election Year (hence Goff’s late rise. Little is actually doing far better than Goff did during his first 16 months as Leader)
– No appreciable difference between the Preferred PM figures for Little and his two immediate predecessors (all within very similar parameters at a demonstrably higher level than Goff). I’ll need to take a close look at Farrar’s stats, but it looks to me like he’s restricting things solely to the Colmar Bruntons. Whereas, I’ve based my figures on all of the main public Pollsters.
Understand that in an MPP environment Labour will never have to reach a 50%. All Labour needs to do is to work cohesively with the other Parties to form a Coalition Government.
So frankly all that pearl clutching, passing of the smelling salts to prevent fainting, its for nought. Labour does not need 50%.
What was National polling when Bill English led it? 27%?
Their economic performance is not a whit better – so of course Labour can get 50% – probably 60, without touching Green or NZFirst votes.
Chances are they’d only get 40 odd though, as both of those parties are solidifying at present, as we see in Northland.
Key’s ‘popularity’ is a balloon full of hot air – he’s done nothing good for New Zealand – and soon he’ll be gone with nary a trace except for a farting sound.
What was National polling when Bill English led it? 27%?
– To be honest the only time I see Labour beating National is when you compare Labout to National under Bill English although the esteemed Mr Little seems to be wanting to do worse
“There appears to be no long term gain to the LP by squashing Mana”
Not so sure about that. Polls (including the just-released 2014 edition of the New Zealand Election Study) suggest Internet Mana was a pretty toxic brand for most voters. They had very low favourability ratings (7% Mana / 4% Internet Party) and very high unfavourability numbers (64% Mana / 75% Internet Party).
(NZES – Respondents were asked to express how much they favoured each Party on a scale of 1-10. Unfavourable = 0-4 / Favourable = 6-10. So, the only caveat is that we don’t know the strength of feeling. How much of the IP’s 75% unfavourability, for instance, involved a mildly negative score of 3 or 4 and how much a truly dismal 0-1 ? But, regardless, you’d have to say that in broad terms a large-to-overwhelming majority of voters didn’t much care for the hybrid party of the Left)
True, ACT, UF and the Conservatives were also far from popular (and you could argue that this didn’t prevent people voting National, despite knowing that Key might have to rely on these smaller parties of the Right). But their Unfavourability ratings weren’t quite on the same scale (mid-40s to mid-50s).
So you could mount a reasonable argument that, by effectively throwing Internet-Mana under a bus, Labour made several long-term gains:
– National prevented from scaremongering over potential Internet-Mana influence on a future Labour-led Govt (as with UK Tories tactics vis-à-vis Labour and SNP). So, less able to scare off ‘swing voters’. (means: the Nats are reduced to scaremongering about the Greens – which just doesn’t have the same resonance)
– Four Parliamentary Opposition parties (rather than the current three) would have been a gift to National’s Dangerous, incompetent, unwieldly Labour-led Coalition, all rowing in different directions meme.
– Four Opposition parties = harder for Peters to head Labour’s way if NZF holds balance of power.
– Polling suggests perhaps half of IMP supporters have been absorbed into the Labour/Green support base (so not much wasted Left vote at next election)
Not saying I’d necessarily agree with all facets of the above argument, mind thee, just that you could make a reasonable case along those lines if you were taking an unsentimental strategic approach. (Big fan of Laila Harre, incidentally. Party-Voted Alliance 1999-2002, so I’m not arguing here from some kind of conservative Labour Establishment perspective. And I do agree, in general, with the argument against Labour heading down the scorched earth route).
The other thing I’d say – It’s generally pretty well accepted that Labour need to be polling above 35% to be seen as serious contenders. That’s gonna be a pretty bloody difficult task in itself, so I really don’t think anyone’s even remotely envisaging a 50% + scenario.
Seems to me that the rise of Bill Shorten In Aussie is going somewhat unheralded here. He was in a hopeless position a few months back given the initial popularity of Turnbull. However he and Chris Bowen have set about articulating some clear differentiated policies and have been gaining traction, even leading in some polls. Helped no doubt by a hapless showing by Turnbull, who is all over the show. Surely they are the template for Little and Labour to follow?
So you could mount a reasonable argument that, by effectively throwing Internet-Mana under a bus, Labour made several long-term gains:
– National prevented from scaremongering over potential Internet-Mana influence on a future Labour-led Govt (as with UK Tories tactics vis-à-vis Labour and SNP). So, less able to scare off ‘swing voters’. (means: the Nats are reduced to scaremongering about the Greens – which just doesn’t have the same resonance)
National are always going to scaremonger about any small left leaning third party which may align with Labour.
Does your argument suggest that Labour will continue to “throw under the bus” such small political parties?
Also note how Left wing UK Labour supporters were not put off by Tory scaremongering over the SNP. In fact, Scottish Labour voters seemed to take Tory scaremongering about the SNP as confirmation that they should vote SNP.
I was playing Devil’s Advocate here, of course, … just throwing around a few ideas. Always useful, I think, to force yourself out of your comfort zone assumptions, look at things from a new perspective (in this case, a cold, clinical, unsentimental one). Personally, I’d love to see Harre and a true Left Party in Parliament – and I’d quite possibly give them my Party Vote. But that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the potential pitfuls from a wider strategic perspective. Like I say, though, I’m not necessarily convinced by the points I made or the assumptions on which they were based, really just tossing about a few musings to mull over.
On the SNP, true – but most post-Election analyses (there are one or two exceptions) suggest a crucial section of English swing voters were indeed influenced by Tory SNP-scaremongering. Probably not quite as important as concerns over Labour’s “economic credibility” or the deep disquiet over Miliband’s suitability as a potential PM, but the scaremongering over the SNP does seem to have been an important secondary factor in Labour’s abject failure to win so many of the key marginals throughout England.
I don’t think that Hone would ever have been the loyal lickspittle that Rimmer is, devotedly running distractions whenever bad news for key comes up.
Although I see that this time they had to use Brash to go racist, so maybe even seymour told them to get stuffed this time.
Too Big to Jail
The firms employing the services of Mossack Fonseca include a rogues’ gallery of brand name corporations with a track record of breaking financial regulations with virtual impunity. Remember back in 2013 when HSBC was slapped with a $1.9 billion fine by the U.S. Justice Department for laundering drug cartel money? Its fine amounted to less than one tenth of its annual profits. And remember when UBS was caught in 2012 spreading false information to manipulate banking exchange rates? It was fined $1.5 billion, which sounds like a lot, until you learn UBS’ revenues are almost $40 billion a year. Both banks are clients of Mossack Fonseca.
The reason banks and financial institutions are ignoring regulations comes down to simple economics. The organized criminal economy is over $2 trillion a year, and someone has to launder it, says journalist Drew Sullivan, co-founder and editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and a 2014 Institute for the Future (IFTF) Fellow. “You can either be a bank that takes that money or a bank that doesn’t take that money. Because nobody is penalizing you seriously for this, and nobody holds it against you, you don’t get a reputation of being a bad bank, and you can keep doing this.”
These slap-on-the-wrist fines are simply the cost of doing business, says Sullivan, who compares the bank’s criminal behavior to the Koch Brothers’ modus operandi: violate sanctions and fight the fines in court for as long as possible. “It’s a risk minimization plan, rather than honorable business,” he says.
Our financial systems are corrupt and it’s time we started doing something about them but, as the article makes clear and as we’ve seen:
We can’t expect governments alone to solve the problem, especially when government leaders are often entrenched players in the crooked game.
We need to know that our public servants aren’t also the criminals. At the moment we can’t be certain of that. In fact, considering John Key’s profession, we can be almost certainly assured that at least one of them is. “But it’s legal” is no longer good enough.
Auckland average house price now over $800,000 and rising again and creating a “halo” effect all around New Zealand as other regions rise in response. This is a property market going into la la land.
Andrew Little was hammered politically and by the Press for suggesting that employment vacancies could be filled locally before importing people from overseas.
Woodhouse has announced a policy to make it compulsory for employers to prove the need before importing people from overseas.
Have I misunderstood something here?
Employers were already supposed to prove that they had attempted to fill the vacancies locally by providing evidence that they had advertised the position. The issue was that they did not have to engage with Work and Income for lower-skilled positions, whereas now they explicitly are required to do so prior to an application for a work visa being made.
Radionz on cannabis growing in the USA by NZr. Now. Most interesting.
John Lord, legal cannabis dealer
Former Waikato dairy farmer John Lord is at the helm of the Colorado cannabis dispensary chain LivWell which employs 500 people. LivWell is a medicinal and recreational marijuana business. Its success makes John Lord one of the largest legal drug dealers in the US .The firm is seen as a pioneer in the development of the legalised marijuana industry in the state of Colorado. Livwell not only has stores selling cannabis products, but also employs scientists, inventors, and farmers. The cannabis is cultivated at a secret and highly secure location in Denver.
One of my readers asked: Is John Key A Serial Fraudster Who Participates In organized Crime? I thought my response (By means of what some authorities have to say on the subject) might be of interest to the Standardistas and their readers!
Ministry Of Health states “Breastfeeding helps lay the foundations of a healthy life for a baby and also makes a positive contribution to the health and wider wellbeing of mothers and whānau/families. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended until babies are around 6 months”
In NZ only 17% of mothers exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. (I wonder why, when you see the bizarre reactions of some….. sarc).
” why do people seem to get so vitriolic about breastfeeding? ”
Man see booby, man like booby, baby attached to booby, man feel guilty ,
Easier to blame booby owner for making him feel guilty.
Herald on damage control…. notice they do not mention how rich non residents pay 0% tax on NZ trusts or how Facebook pays a pittance and so forth….
From Granny H
“The average single worker in New Zealand pays the second lowest amount of tax in a comparison against similarly wealthy countries.
Single workers in New Zealand face taxes of 17.6 per cent in 2015, compared with the OECD average of 35.9 per cent.
The publication on income tax in OECD countries calculates a “tax wedge” – the amount of tax on wages including social security contributions to the Government, including family benefits and tax provisions.
Some Western European countries happily pay much higher taxes and enjoy better Health, Education, Security and better welfare.
In NZ we spend much less on the above and suffer accordingly.
How come taxing and re-distributing has become dirty words?
Will go back to it later as there were some very interesting comments
relating to economic progress ,or the lack of, and shortage of skilled
labour to boost exports.
Not all the beer & skittles that we are being sold.
Is it just me or is this policy pinching by the party with the better PR machine (or more money to throw at PR)?
I know Labour says some dumb things about race, but they say some things, that when they are not viewed through an ethnicity lense, rather, an economic lense, actually make sense and people agree with.
This is what Labour was trying to elucidate about a month ago. Why did it come out so wrong? When somebody says they should limit immigration and focus on employing, educating, and upskilling the local population why do they get labelled racist? When we don’t have the infrastructure to support more immigration, and you point this out, are you somehow now a keen New Zealand First supporter?
What wound me up the most is when Woodhouse was asked on Morning Report this morning why employers were going to the international labour market he made up some cock and bull story that was obvious spin-doctoring rather than stating the obvious, the point Labour was trying to make: cheaper wages. Flood low-wage local jobs with immigrants who expect less, or see New Zealand wages as more attractive than other countries’, and boom! Our lowest wages stagnate, and locals suffer as a consequence.
Why was this not communicated by Labour, and why did it turn into a farce about chicken chop suey? It was an embarrassment for all concerned.
Hard to get your point across when you constantly have your foot in the mouth or it could be that Mr Little engages his mouth before his brain, possibly a hang over from his union days
Well he was full steam on twin cylinders the last I heard him this afternoon on Parliament TV – an amazing rark up of the Government telling it how it is – methinks Puckish Rogue you protest too much in support of your leader. The best I’ve heard him and by crikey was he giving it to the PM about his lies, corruption you name it. Where there is smoke there is fire and there is lots more to this disgusting state of affairs and eventually it will be revealed. There’s only so much dithering, sarcasm and lying that the PM can deliver before he gets tripped up and makes a complete ass of himself. He is a liability to National and they will roll him soon as look at him if he is lying about his investments.
Today in the house the PM was his usual useless self, not once did he answer a question like any competent leader would. A psychologist would have a field day with him with his body language, he is the ultimate liar personified – its cringe worthy watching it, we deserve a better leader than this, National will be seeing this soon enough., if they haven’t already done so.
Times have been hard for unions PR, it’s not a sector in which worthless sacks of shit like Gerry Brownlee or Nick Smith would be subsidised.
Key is counting on the reverse racism angle to mute criticism of his disasterous anti-NZ policies. Migrants in sufficient numbers are never welcome anywhere, and a large population like China or India can overwhelm NZ’s capacity without even realising it.
Traditionally responsible governments have regulated migration – but as Woodhouse’s backpedalling on National Radio this morning showed, they’ve been letting in anyone without even bothering. Small countries cannot do that and prosper. And we’re not prospering.
It’d make sense – you can’t have two utterly worthless major parties.
National needs Labour to rebuild the economy – and Christchurch, and Auckland housing, and the labour market, and our credit rating. And our international reputation and our standing as a country with the rule of law.
They are simply incapable of governing. So of course they’d support Little.
But a righty like you should be into cutting out the middle man – why retain this useless non-performing National party that can’t balance its books without massive borrowing and whose only trick is shouting in parliament? These fuckwits represent you PR? You must be even stupider than I think.
It seems you can’t just state the obvious in NZ anymore – in particular about migration. Nobody is trying to put migrants down when questioning what’s going on. But if NZ has no jobs, no houses and not enough money for health, education, superannuation, social welfare etc for local people why are we increasing our population approx 1.5% per year with more people! People who have more money in most cases to buy up property and assets. In 35 years we are going to have all these migrants on superannuation with the unemployed millennials to support them and the rest of the population. Does not sound like it will end well. In addition actively encouraging tax evaders with NZ as a tax haven as JK’s economic dream for NZ and creating an underclass of unemployed, homeless Kiwis, bankrupt farmers, and struggling middle class, with a new super rich class financiers who have all their tax affairs set up using off shore trusts so they pay nothing, or lose money in NZ and get tax credits while buying up the country cheap! It’s unreal.
Labour’s mistake was to mention ethnic chefs (although Little made a good point there, it got drowned out by cries of “racism!”), rather than point it directly at the lower-skilled occupations.
Today’s announcement from Michael Woodhouse has been in the works for some time – collaboration between two large government departments (Immigration NZ and MSD) isn’t something that happens literally overnight, and was trialled voluntarily in Queenstown first before being rolled out nationwide.
The main point here is not that employers could bring people in willy-nilly, it was that they were not required to engage with Work and Income before offering the job to a migrant worker, whereas now they are required to do so for lower-skilled occupations (defined as occupations which are skill levels 4 and 5 on the ANZSCO).
Bill put up a post over the weekend, titled Simplicity, about a new French movement, Nuit debout, which had it’s origins in resisting planned labour law changes in France but has spread into more encompassing social issues, such as inequality. The night time mass outdoor meetings have spread from Paris to three other cities. The Guardian link is from Bill’s post:
In the meantime, across the Atlantic Americans are getting fed up with corporate money controlling their democracy and calling for “an end the corruption of big money in our politics” They are expressing their opposition to the status quo with mass sit ins and a 10 day march from Philadelphia to Washington DC, and aim to be the biggest civil disobedience America has seen in a generation.
Last night Al Jazeera stated 400 people had been arrested at the Washington demonstration, but I can’t seem to find that news clip on line, although the link above does state that.
Now surely, in our little corrupt seedy corner of the South Pacific surely we can stand up too? We had a burst of energy in February with the very effective anti TPPA rally which gridlocked the Akld CDB for hours, Joyce took a dildo the face, Brownlee took some matter to his suit, and Key, was loudly booed in a variety of settings.
In Iceland, the PM had to resign over his wife’s shares in Wintris, where as our PM enabled the law change to turn our country into a tax haven and has a deposit with a company that provides tax avoidance advice and he’s still freaking here!
Now is not the time to hibernate! Where’s the action?
Why many of us never reported our abuse, about the harrowing ‘justice’ process in NZ. http://publicaddress.net/speaker/three-times-over-and-never-again/ (I was too young to know, wasn’t until I was in my 20s that it all came back to me). Trigger warning & all that.
Thanks for putting this up, GS. Awful reading, horrific experiences for this young woman …. and it is so unfair, and keeps on happening. We have a lousy justice system for rape and sexual assault victims.
One thing tho – the prominent NZer whose name and details have been suppressed by the Court – he might have a cushy job given to him by rich playmates at a classy golf club, but everyone in the north knows who he is and his name is mud ! It won’t be easy for him to walk down any street in the north any more.
We have a critical system failure on this issue. Right across the system, it is just not capable of bringing justice to anyone.
The basics of a combative justice system, don’t help.
But the thing that makes me mad, it is exactly the same things I wrote after roast busters exploded, then I wrote again after it got swept under the carpet.
It may take time to appreciate it, but these young girls will find they come out the other end so much stronger for what they did. And in the process they did the rest of us a favour. The man was forced to resign from his powerful position and with it… any future control over other citizens.
Never reported my abuse/rape, but the day my mother passed “my” abuser said something so outlandish, so utterly devoid of any decency – and mind this is now several decades after the initial abuse and rapes, that in that instance everyone in the room knew what until then had been hush hush. A lot of people that day made excuses as to why they did not believe me, or did not interfere and help me. Cause it just did not look like it, and he was a man of such good standing and so on and so on..
The one thing i hope for these girls is that by going to court that they have put the fear of heaven and hell in his heart and that he will now stay away from them,
but I am not holding my breath. They way he spoke about them really does seem to me that in his eyes he did nothing wrong.
He might have been not found guilty due to lack of witnesses/evidence, but he was not found innocent either.
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Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
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The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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It annoys me when the “Labour – broad church” argument is raised. Sure, a party that is going to lead a FPTP election needs to get around the 50% level, and so to an extent is all things to everybody. But we are now in MMP territory.
Often this broad church stance is often accompanied by another attempt by Labour to dominate or burn off possible coalition partners. National and Labour display a huge amount conceit that they are the natural parties of government. CVs position about Labour being lost in the past and sadly not going get to be government resonates with me.
Being a centrist left right left centre party just paves the way for repeat failure and becoming and increasingly fractured party full of cognitive dissonance: where mutually contradictory positions are held.
Whilst the Mana Party Internet party was a strange beast, Hone should have been not have been opposed by Labour. There appears to be no long term gain to the LP by squashing Mana. Labour cannot be broad enough to accommodate a Minto alongside a Shearer. Having a scorched earth approach is counter productive. Act survives on the margin and attracts lightening bolts away from National. National can withdraw from dogmatic Neo liberal posturing and let Act fill that territory. All the time knowing that it has Acts support on most things.
IMO shedding the desire to be all things to everybody is part of Labour’s healing. Signs of a Labour that has a future include:
1. Being able to articulate what it is and what it is not.
2. Being able to leave space for other political parties.
3. Being excited/passionate about what it is.
The Labour Party needs to be reconceptualised so it thrives when working with (and not necessarily lead) multiple parties to form a government. The broad church is no longer internal to the party but external to it. Potential partners need to be allowed space to live.
Labour needs to accept that 50% voter support is not achievable for them under MMP, and it could take the negative connotations of polling lower than national if they worked out away to sell the fact that unlike national they don’t destroy their partners support,
.
It is a certain type of voter that needs to understand that Labour does not need 50% as it can form a coalition government with other parties on the left/centre left stage.
And i do believe that the opposition parties have a good chance at beating National. Not one of them by themselves but together. And this is what i am advocating for.
+1 Sabine
National as a party – only needs to deliver the appearance of a good economy and stoke the fires under the meme that all success is individual. They have a fairly simple task to speak to and coerce the voting public that all is well under their watch (because they don’t care about the environment, the vulnerable, the long-term effects of their policies, global responsibilities).
Progressive voters on the left – however – are passionate about a myriad of issues. Workers rights, global accountability, climate change, environmental degradation, economic reform to benefit all – and that is where the choice of different parties leading to a coalition can work for voters on the left.
However, as you say, this is not occurring. But the strongest message that Labour could perhaps take from the movements that have happened in the UK and the US with the rise of Corbyn and Sanders, is perhaps to stop listening to the PR and political strategies that have not delivered on the last three elections, and consider a clarity of purpose around policy, and a team approach to the next election.
“is perhaps to stop listening to the PR and political strategies that have not delivered on the last three elections”
Or sack the ones they’ve got , get some good ones , get a simple message and don’t waiver .
I don’t agree – 50% is quite achievable for Labour – but it has more to do with the false reputation for economic competence ascribed to National than anything else. These buffoons are only able to forestall a collapse by unprecedented levels of borrowing – none of their policies are sustainable. Once the public understand that, 80% of National’s support is gone.
The idea that the middle in NZ has shifted right is where Labour was misled – as Corbyn & Sanders prove yet again, socioeconomic class is determined economically, so that the further a country goes right, the larger the groundswell on the left. NZ Labour is working this out, but as the Blairites in England find, it is not a welcome truth for long-serving MPs.
Really? 50% seriously?
National with only a very small party on the right (Act) which doesn’t suck up many votes, with NZs most popular leader since…well John Keys rewriting the record books on popularity and an ineffectual opposition (lets face it if Labour were a patient the life support cord would have been pulled long ago) even with all that National can’t quite break 50%
Yet you think Labour, with the Greens constantly scoring 10%, can somehow hit 50%
Every time I think I’ve read the most delusional post on here someone always manages to top it
Well done Stuart
“NZs most popular leader since … well John Keys rewriting the record books on popularity.”
Really, Puckers ???
(1) In the Colmar Brunton and Reid Research Preferred PM Polls, Key’s fallen to his lowest average (39%) since becoming PM. That’s 10-14 points down on his First Term ratings.
(2) His Favourability ratings are down to a net positive of just + 2 – that’s his lowest rating ever. Key may be well ahead of Little in the Preferred PM rankings (arguably, a somewhat blunt instrument given the traditional incumbency advantage) but he’s been trailing the Labour Leader on the Favourability measure for most of the last year:
2015 Quarterly Net Ratings
……………..1/4…………2/4………..3/4…………4/4
Key………+ 22………..+ 15………..+ 10………..+ 16
Little…….+ 24………..+ 25………..+ 16………..+ 15
Notice, incidentally, how far Key has fallen since 2015 – a net positive favourability rating of + 22 in the first quarter of 2015 and now, in the immediate wake of the Flag referendum fiasco, a plunge to just + 2. Back in 2009, Key was on + 58. !!!
(3) Over the last year, Key has been only slightly more popular on the Preferred PM measure than Clark was at the same point in her Third Term.
(4) Clark was enjoying higher Favourability and Performance ratings in 2006-2007 (same point in Third Term) than Key is now.
You’ve been reading Farrar and the MSM rather than exploring the actual Poll data.
But you have no other issues with my reasoning as to why Labour will never get near 50%
But speaking of popularity and kiwiblog:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/04/2014_election_study_on_leaders.html
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/04/houston_we_may_have_a_problem.html
I see the merchants of hate, have fallen out of your little bubble, into the Petri dish, telling each other the same lies.
It’s like any lie will do, as long as it can be a diversion form your utter lack of virtue. And utter lack of moral fortitude.
8 years into John Key’s term and the Left sticks with their line since the beginning: Key losing his mojo!
29 October 2007:
http://thestandard.org.nz/key-losing-his-mojo/#comment-2424
Wow dude, you need to get down to spec savers.
My comment was about the spin your lot are spinning. I mean apart from the data being old, and I had difficulty find the source – If the spin being done, had been by the left – you’d have been having kittens. It was really in the bubble stuff The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell. Have a read, even you have to admit – a lot of naval gazing going on. Something I’d expect from the liberal branch of the labour party.
Plus it was about the comment section over there at kiwiblog – which is still in the gutter, mistruths, misinformation and out right lies. Do I need to mention it is as low brow as ever. No wonder you come on the standard.
So where did I have a go at Key? That one on you bro. Personal couldn’t care less for the man, he just another Muppet in a long line of Muppets. It’s the national party and a evil economic system it up holds, – I want gone by Friday 😉
Sorry, I was talking to swordfish. Apologies for not making this clearer.
@ Young Master Puckers
Yep, in the 2014 New Zealand Election Study Key had a net positive Favourability rating of + 32 (as Farrar shows), in UMR Research polling, his 2014 Favourability average was very similar: + 27.
By 2015, it had fallen to + 22 in the first quarter, plunged further down to + 10 by the third quarter, recovered slightly to + 16 by the final quarter and has now, as I’ve pointed out, sunk to an unprecedentedly low + 2.
Massive fall from 2014
I’ll get around to Farrar’s amusing Houston we may have a problem spin when I have time.
For the time being, let’s just point out that:
– Farrar’s little graph is a textbook example of how to abuse the Y-axis.
– Fails to mention that leaders always receive their Highest ratings during Election Year (hence Goff’s late rise. Little is actually doing far better than Goff did during his first 16 months as Leader)
– No appreciable difference between the Preferred PM figures for Little and his two immediate predecessors (all within very similar parameters at a demonstrably higher level than Goff). I’ll need to take a close look at Farrar’s stats, but it looks to me like he’s restricting things solely to the Colmar Bruntons. Whereas, I’ve based my figures on all of the main public Pollsters.
Labour does not need to get over 50%.
Understand that in an MPP environment Labour will never have to reach a 50%. All Labour needs to do is to work cohesively with the other Parties to form a Coalition Government.
So frankly all that pearl clutching, passing of the smelling salts to prevent fainting, its for nought. Labour does not need 50%.
Unusually stupid even for you PR –
What was National polling when Bill English led it? 27%?
Their economic performance is not a whit better – so of course Labour can get 50% – probably 60, without touching Green or NZFirst votes.
Chances are they’d only get 40 odd though, as both of those parties are solidifying at present, as we see in Northland.
Key’s ‘popularity’ is a balloon full of hot air – he’s done nothing good for New Zealand – and soon he’ll be gone with nary a trace except for a farting sound.
What was National polling when Bill English led it? 27%?
– To be honest the only time I see Labour beating National is when you compare Labout to National under Bill English although the esteemed Mr Little seems to be wanting to do worse
+1 Gristle – Mana were never a threat to Labour, however Labour’s knee jerk reaction was shocking.
Don’t forget many further left voters on party votes, also vote Labour too for electorate to keep Natz out.
“There appears to be no long term gain to the LP by squashing Mana”
Not so sure about that. Polls (including the just-released 2014 edition of the New Zealand Election Study) suggest Internet Mana was a pretty toxic brand for most voters. They had very low favourability ratings (7% Mana / 4% Internet Party) and very high unfavourability numbers (64% Mana / 75% Internet Party).
(NZES – Respondents were asked to express how much they favoured each Party on a scale of 1-10. Unfavourable = 0-4 / Favourable = 6-10. So, the only caveat is that we don’t know the strength of feeling. How much of the IP’s 75% unfavourability, for instance, involved a mildly negative score of 3 or 4 and how much a truly dismal 0-1 ? But, regardless, you’d have to say that in broad terms a large-to-overwhelming majority of voters didn’t much care for the hybrid party of the Left)
True, ACT, UF and the Conservatives were also far from popular (and you could argue that this didn’t prevent people voting National, despite knowing that Key might have to rely on these smaller parties of the Right). But their Unfavourability ratings weren’t quite on the same scale (mid-40s to mid-50s).
So you could mount a reasonable argument that, by effectively throwing Internet-Mana under a bus, Labour made several long-term gains:
– National prevented from scaremongering over potential Internet-Mana influence on a future Labour-led Govt (as with UK Tories tactics vis-à-vis Labour and SNP). So, less able to scare off ‘swing voters’. (means: the Nats are reduced to scaremongering about the Greens – which just doesn’t have the same resonance)
– Four Parliamentary Opposition parties (rather than the current three) would have been a gift to National’s Dangerous, incompetent, unwieldly Labour-led Coalition, all rowing in different directions meme.
– Four Opposition parties = harder for Peters to head Labour’s way if NZF holds balance of power.
– Polling suggests perhaps half of IMP supporters have been absorbed into the Labour/Green support base (so not much wasted Left vote at next election)
Not saying I’d necessarily agree with all facets of the above argument, mind thee, just that you could make a reasonable case along those lines if you were taking an unsentimental strategic approach. (Big fan of Laila Harre, incidentally. Party-Voted Alliance 1999-2002, so I’m not arguing here from some kind of conservative Labour Establishment perspective. And I do agree, in general, with the argument against Labour heading down the scorched earth route).
The other thing I’d say – It’s generally pretty well accepted that Labour need to be polling above 35% to be seen as serious contenders. That’s gonna be a pretty bloody difficult task in itself, so I really don’t think anyone’s even remotely envisaging a 50% + scenario.
Thanks Swordfish, that’s excellent analysis.
Seems to me that the rise of Bill Shorten In Aussie is going somewhat unheralded here. He was in a hopeless position a few months back given the initial popularity of Turnbull. However he and Chris Bowen have set about articulating some clear differentiated policies and have been gaining traction, even leading in some polls. Helped no doubt by a hapless showing by Turnbull, who is all over the show. Surely they are the template for Little and Labour to follow?
National are always going to scaremonger about any small left leaning third party which may align with Labour.
Does your argument suggest that Labour will continue to “throw under the bus” such small political parties?
Also note how Left wing UK Labour supporters were not put off by Tory scaremongering over the SNP. In fact, Scottish Labour voters seemed to take Tory scaremongering about the SNP as confirmation that they should vote SNP.
Some interesting points, CV.
I was playing Devil’s Advocate here, of course, … just throwing around a few ideas. Always useful, I think, to force yourself out of your comfort zone assumptions, look at things from a new perspective (in this case, a cold, clinical, unsentimental one). Personally, I’d love to see Harre and a true Left Party in Parliament – and I’d quite possibly give them my Party Vote. But that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the potential pitfuls from a wider strategic perspective. Like I say, though, I’m not necessarily convinced by the points I made or the assumptions on which they were based, really just tossing about a few musings to mull over.
On the SNP, true – but most post-Election analyses (there are one or two exceptions) suggest a crucial section of English swing voters were indeed influenced by Tory SNP-scaremongering. Probably not quite as important as concerns over Labour’s “economic credibility” or the deep disquiet over Miliband’s suitability as a potential PM, but the scaremongering over the SNP does seem to have been an important secondary factor in Labour’s abject failure to win so many of the key marginals throughout England.
Nice work Swordfish.
It really gets to me the way the whole of the media climbed all over that 28% poll without mentioning Key’s plummeting 39% rating.
If the Nats drop to 45% they are gone.
I don’t think that Hone would ever have been the loyal lickspittle that Rimmer is, devotedly running distractions whenever bad news for key comes up.
Although I see that this time they had to use Brash to go racist, so maybe even seymour told them to get stuffed this time.
Politics really is a popularity contest.
Yup – and look how fast Natalia Kills & Hubbie’s popularity vanished. Overnight. Could happen to Key. Tonight.
Heres something that might help you with that:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/41/5e/f0/415ef01ce833decc902d0bf78701707e.jpg
Panama Papers an the international Art Market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/arts/design/what-the-panama-papers-reveal-about-the-art-market.html?ref=arts&_r=1
It’s the criminal economy, stupid!
Our financial systems are corrupt and it’s time we started doing something about them but, as the article makes clear and as we’ve seen:
We need to know that our public servants aren’t also the criminals. At the moment we can’t be certain of that. In fact, considering John Key’s profession, we can be almost certainly assured that at least one of them is. “But it’s legal” is no longer good enough.
Auckland average house price now over $800,000 and rising again and creating a “halo” effect all around New Zealand as other regions rise in response. This is a property market going into la la land.
You want la la land? The median house price in Queenstown is now $782k.
This in a local economy where the main employer, the tourist industry, pays $15.25-$19 an hour.
See the little pixies….
Andrew Little was hammered politically and by the Press for suggesting that employment vacancies could be filled locally before importing people from overseas.
Woodhouse has announced a policy to make it compulsory for employers to prove the need before importing people from overseas.
Have I misunderstood something here?
+1 Ianmac
Employers were already supposed to prove that they had attempted to fill the vacancies locally by providing evidence that they had advertised the position. The issue was that they did not have to engage with Work and Income for lower-skilled positions, whereas now they explicitly are required to do so prior to an application for a work visa being made.
Where is Guyon? There on Monday I think, had a good interview, then gone again.
Radionz on cannabis growing in the USA by NZr. Now. Most interesting.
John Lord, legal cannabis dealer
Former Waikato dairy farmer John Lord is at the helm of the Colorado cannabis dispensary chain LivWell which employs 500 people. LivWell is a medicinal and recreational marijuana business. Its success makes John Lord one of the largest legal drug dealers in the US .The firm is seen as a pioneer in the development of the legalised marijuana industry in the state of Colorado. Livwell not only has stores selling cannabis products, but also employs scientists, inventors, and farmers. The cannabis is cultivated at a secret and highly secure location in Denver.
link: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201796878/dairy-farmer-to-legal-cannabis-dealer
One of my readers asked: Is John Key A Serial Fraudster Who Participates In organized Crime? I thought my response (By means of what some authorities have to say on the subject) might be of interest to the Standardistas and their readers!
the IMF were in town in the last few weeks and rumours of a stand-off between them and Key over our debt situation.
Stand off? More like John Key is giving them the heads up on how to loot what’s left!
IMF = International Mafia Federation
On a different topic here, why do people seem to get so vitriolic about breastfeeding? A Sydney cafe offered a free cuppa to breastfeeding mums…. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11621600
Ministry Of Health states “Breastfeeding helps lay the foundations of a healthy life for a baby and also makes a positive contribution to the health and wider wellbeing of mothers and whānau/families. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended until babies are around 6 months”
In NZ only 17% of mothers exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. (I wonder why, when you see the bizarre reactions of some….. sarc).
” why do people seem to get so vitriolic about breastfeeding? ”
Man see booby, man like booby, baby attached to booby, man feel guilty ,
Easier to blame booby owner for making him feel guilty.
claps
hear hear
Herald on damage control…. notice they do not mention how rich non residents pay 0% tax on NZ trusts or how Facebook pays a pittance and so forth….
From Granny H
“The average single worker in New Zealand pays the second lowest amount of tax in a comparison against similarly wealthy countries.
Single workers in New Zealand face taxes of 17.6 per cent in 2015, compared with the OECD average of 35.9 per cent.
The publication on income tax in OECD countries calculates a “tax wedge” – the amount of tax on wages including social security contributions to the Government, including family benefits and tax provisions.
It does not include indirect taxes such as GST.”
Some Western European countries happily pay much higher taxes and enjoy better Health, Education, Security and better welfare.
In NZ we spend much less on the above and suffer accordingly.
How come taxing and re-distributing has become dirty words?
ON the other hand at least in British media, they can have a laugh… (this is funny).
“Politicians don’t know the price of milk – but they do know how to set up a shell company”
by Frankie Boyle
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/12/frankie-boyle-tax-havens-panama-papers
” I sometimes wonder if austerity might be less of an ideology and more of a pathology.”
Keeping the laughs coming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usgOsNhkKVE
No doubt Eddie could be explosive in the wrong hands Adam. Why Eddie could be a suicide bomber. So Samantha stick to innocent guns!
Got love the Bee, if you go on YouTube she has more gun porn.
Heard this on Nine to Noon as I was driving this morning .
http://tinyurl.com/jee7r93 for the audio file.
Will go back to it later as there were some very interesting comments
relating to economic progress ,or the lack of, and shortage of skilled
labour to boost exports.
Not all the beer & skittles that we are being sold.
Great insight into the way the TPPA roadshow and submissions is being run.
National MP Mark Mitchell and his breath-taking display of arrogance
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/04/13/national-mp-mark-mitchell-and-his-breath-taking-display-of-arrogance-2/#comment-332913
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/78860578/why-has-government-proposed-dhbs-decide-on-water-fluoridation-and-what-is-fluoride-anyway
Well its a step in the right direction anyway
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/301350/hire-new-zealanders-first,-govt-says
Is it just me or is this policy pinching by the party with the better PR machine (or more money to throw at PR)?
I know Labour says some dumb things about race, but they say some things, that when they are not viewed through an ethnicity lense, rather, an economic lense, actually make sense and people agree with.
This is what Labour was trying to elucidate about a month ago. Why did it come out so wrong? When somebody says they should limit immigration and focus on employing, educating, and upskilling the local population why do they get labelled racist? When we don’t have the infrastructure to support more immigration, and you point this out, are you somehow now a keen New Zealand First supporter?
What wound me up the most is when Woodhouse was asked on Morning Report this morning why employers were going to the international labour market he made up some cock and bull story that was obvious spin-doctoring rather than stating the obvious, the point Labour was trying to make: cheaper wages. Flood low-wage local jobs with immigrants who expect less, or see New Zealand wages as more attractive than other countries’, and boom! Our lowest wages stagnate, and locals suffer as a consequence.
Why was this not communicated by Labour, and why did it turn into a farce about chicken chop suey? It was an embarrassment for all concerned.
Because Labour are working to the script, the Chinese are taking over NZ and it’s all John Keys fault.
I see you are also sticking slavishly to your own script
NZ is being ruined and BM-the-fuckwit thinks the PM is not responsible. Of course.
Hard to get your point across when you constantly have your foot in the mouth or it could be that Mr Little engages his mouth before his brain, possibly a hang over from his union days
Well he was full steam on twin cylinders the last I heard him this afternoon on Parliament TV – an amazing rark up of the Government telling it how it is – methinks Puckish Rogue you protest too much in support of your leader. The best I’ve heard him and by crikey was he giving it to the PM about his lies, corruption you name it. Where there is smoke there is fire and there is lots more to this disgusting state of affairs and eventually it will be revealed. There’s only so much dithering, sarcasm and lying that the PM can deliver before he gets tripped up and makes a complete ass of himself. He is a liability to National and they will roll him soon as look at him if he is lying about his investments.
Today in the house the PM was his usual useless self, not once did he answer a question like any competent leader would. A psychologist would have a field day with him with his body language, he is the ultimate liar personified – its cringe worthy watching it, we deserve a better leader than this, National will be seeing this soon enough., if they haven’t already done so.
Times have been hard for unions PR, it’s not a sector in which worthless sacks of shit like Gerry Brownlee or Nick Smith would be subsidised.
Key is counting on the reverse racism angle to mute criticism of his disasterous anti-NZ policies. Migrants in sufficient numbers are never welcome anywhere, and a large population like China or India can overwhelm NZ’s capacity without even realising it.
Traditionally responsible governments have regulated migration – but as Woodhouse’s backpedalling on National Radio this morning showed, they’ve been letting in anyone without even bothering. Small countries cannot do that and prosper. And we’re not prospering.
“Times have been hard for unions PR, it’s not a sector in which worthless sacks of shit like Gerry Brownlee or Nick Smith would be subsidised. ”
– Damn strait union leaders are worth every thing they get paid 🙂 especially when they promote numpties like Little in the leadership position
If I seriously believed conspiracies I’d think Little was a National plant
It’d make sense – you can’t have two utterly worthless major parties.
National needs Labour to rebuild the economy – and Christchurch, and Auckland housing, and the labour market, and our credit rating. And our international reputation and our standing as a country with the rule of law.
They are simply incapable of governing. So of course they’d support Little.
But a righty like you should be into cutting out the middle man – why retain this useless non-performing National party that can’t balance its books without massive borrowing and whose only trick is shouting in parliament? These fuckwits represent you PR? You must be even stupider than I think.
+1 Brendon
It seems you can’t just state the obvious in NZ anymore – in particular about migration. Nobody is trying to put migrants down when questioning what’s going on. But if NZ has no jobs, no houses and not enough money for health, education, superannuation, social welfare etc for local people why are we increasing our population approx 1.5% per year with more people! People who have more money in most cases to buy up property and assets. In 35 years we are going to have all these migrants on superannuation with the unemployed millennials to support them and the rest of the population. Does not sound like it will end well. In addition actively encouraging tax evaders with NZ as a tax haven as JK’s economic dream for NZ and creating an underclass of unemployed, homeless Kiwis, bankrupt farmers, and struggling middle class, with a new super rich class financiers who have all their tax affairs set up using off shore trusts so they pay nothing, or lose money in NZ and get tax credits while buying up the country cheap! It’s unreal.
National’s very own social engineering project.
Labour’s mistake was to mention ethnic chefs (although Little made a good point there, it got drowned out by cries of “racism!”), rather than point it directly at the lower-skilled occupations.
Today’s announcement from Michael Woodhouse has been in the works for some time – collaboration between two large government departments (Immigration NZ and MSD) isn’t something that happens literally overnight, and was trialled voluntarily in Queenstown first before being rolled out nationwide.
The main point here is not that employers could bring people in willy-nilly, it was that they were not required to engage with Work and Income before offering the job to a migrant worker, whereas now they are required to do so for lower-skilled occupations (defined as occupations which are skill levels 4 and 5 on the ANZSCO).
Bring on the resistance!
Bill put up a post over the weekend, titled Simplicity, about a new French movement, Nuit debout, which had it’s origins in resisting planned labour law changes in France but has spread into more encompassing social issues, such as inequality. The night time mass outdoor meetings have spread from Paris to three other cities. The Guardian link is from Bill’s post:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/08/nuit-debout-protesters-occupy-french-cities-in-a-revolutionary-call-for-change.
In the meantime, across the Atlantic Americans are getting fed up with corporate money controlling their democracy and calling for “an end the corruption of big money in our politics” They are expressing their opposition to the status quo with mass sit ins and a 10 day march from Philadelphia to Washington DC, and aim to be the biggest civil disobedience America has seen in a generation.
http://www.democracyspring.org/
Last night Al Jazeera stated 400 people had been arrested at the Washington demonstration, but I can’t seem to find that news clip on line, although the link above does state that.
Now surely, in our little corrupt seedy corner of the South Pacific surely we can stand up too? We had a burst of energy in February with the very effective anti TPPA rally which gridlocked the Akld CDB for hours, Joyce took a dildo the face, Brownlee took some matter to his suit, and Key, was loudly booed in a variety of settings.
In Iceland, the PM had to resign over his wife’s shares in Wintris, where as our PM enabled the law change to turn our country into a tax haven and has a deposit with a company that provides tax avoidance advice and he’s still freaking here!
Now is not the time to hibernate! Where’s the action?
I love it, keep up these kind of posts 🙂
Rosie,
The Young Turks youTube channel has a lot on it. RT and Al Jazeera are covering it, so is PBS.
here TyT link
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks
And here is a nice piece on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8UZ6s4PTPk
Why many of us never reported our abuse, about the harrowing ‘justice’ process in NZ. http://publicaddress.net/speaker/three-times-over-and-never-again/ (I was too young to know, wasn’t until I was in my 20s that it all came back to me). Trigger warning & all that.
Thanks for putting this up, GS. Awful reading, horrific experiences for this young woman …. and it is so unfair, and keeps on happening. We have a lousy justice system for rape and sexual assault victims.
One thing tho – the prominent NZer whose name and details have been suppressed by the Court – he might have a cushy job given to him by rich playmates at a classy golf club, but everyone in the north knows who he is and his name is mud ! It won’t be easy for him to walk down any street in the north any more.
I agree Jenny Kirk.
We have a critical system failure on this issue. Right across the system, it is just not capable of bringing justice to anyone.
The basics of a combative justice system, don’t help.
But the thing that makes me mad, it is exactly the same things I wrote after roast busters exploded, then I wrote again after it got swept under the carpet.
It may take time to appreciate it, but these young girls will find they come out the other end so much stronger for what they did. And in the process they did the rest of us a favour. The man was forced to resign from his powerful position and with it… any future control over other citizens.
Never reported my abuse/rape, but the day my mother passed “my” abuser said something so outlandish, so utterly devoid of any decency – and mind this is now several decades after the initial abuse and rapes, that in that instance everyone in the room knew what until then had been hush hush. A lot of people that day made excuses as to why they did not believe me, or did not interfere and help me. Cause it just did not look like it, and he was a man of such good standing and so on and so on..
The one thing i hope for these girls is that by going to court that they have put the fear of heaven and hell in his heart and that he will now stay away from them,
but I am not holding my breath. They way he spoke about them really does seem to me that in his eyes he did nothing wrong.
He might have been not found guilty due to lack of witnesses/evidence, but he was not found innocent either.
Too true…Stay strong sabine.