Open mike 17/11/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 17th, 2011 - 89 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

89 comments on “Open mike 17/11/2011 ”

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  1. freedom 1
    17 November 2011 at 7:15 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5981284/MPs-get-pay-rise-package-of-7000
    If one of the Parties had a social conscience they would be smart and pool all their members ‘pay raises’ and donate it to charity or simply return it to the people of NZ. A token yes, but one with value.

    It is long accepted by many that the pay rates for MPs has gotten well out of hand and i am sorry but $400,000 to have the honour of being your country’s Prime Minister is more than sufficient.

    If you want to earn big bucks go work in the private sector.
    If you want to serve your country why should it matter what the private sector are paying?

    p.s. you will also notice comments are not turned on for this article.

    • Ben 1.1
      17 November 2011 at 8:12 am

      I also notice they’re not turned on for this bit of National propaganda from Stuff:
      http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5982733/Labours-new-ad-short-on-facts-Joyce

      So let me get this straight: Instead of actually looking at the information presented in Labour’s ad, determining the depth of truth and then putting questions to the National Party, Danya Levy asked “Do you agree?” to which the predictable response is “No” from Steven Joyce. (Then they wrap Joyce’s response as the headline – I notice the headline as written on the main page is “Labour’s new ad ‘short on facts'” without quoting the source of that comment. Interesting.)

      Surely if there was an ounce of journalism in this, they would have at least investigated whether Labour’s claims were fact and presented them to Joyce in a robust way, rather than just phoning him up and saying “hey give us something to write to make you look good.”

      The media in this country let us down something remarkable – especially FairFax.

      If anyone wants to see how to do proper political journalism, watch practically any interview done by Stephen Sackur of the BBC. The John Key HardTalk interview is a good start.

      • mickysavage 1.1.1
        17 November 2011 at 8:19 am

        Fairfax has also shown bias in its handling of recent Labour advertising in Auckland.  At some expense Labour has purchased the footer on the front page of all of the Fairfax owned Suburban Newspapers.  In at least three of these papers the same piece of “editorial” by John Key about Surf Lifesaving is placed immediately above the Labour ad on the front page.  There is no promoter statement and stating Key’s support for surf lifesaving is the sort of copy money normally cannot buy. It reads like something his PR department wrote.

        I have blogged about it here. 

        I cannot believe how appallingly bad this is.  I hope Labour demands its money back. 

    • freedom 1.2
      17 November 2011 at 8:35 am

      addendum: Stuff have now switched comments on

    • Draco T Bastard 1.3
      17 November 2011 at 11:27 am

      It is long accepted by many that the pay rates for MPs has gotten well out of hand and i am sorry but $400,000 to have the honour of being your country’s Prime Minister is more than sufficient.

      I agree with the Alliance. All MPs should get the same rate and that rate should be the same as what teachers get paid.

    • freedom 1.4
      17 November 2011 at 3:01 pm

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5981284/MPs-get-pay-rise-package-of-7000

      richard # 10 threw in a very interesting bunch of questions
      “Richard #10 08:44 am Nov 17 2011
      ‘Opposition Leader’ is an interesting concept these days. Do all opposition party leaders get that, or just the leader of the biggest one? Does signing a coalition agreement cost you the bonus? A memorandum of understanding? And what if the opposition party has co-leaders – do they all get it, or have to split the difference from the backbencher salary?”

      can any of the experts out there offer any clarity for the befuddled masses?

  2. Pete George 2
    17 November 2011 at 7:27 am

    National circus versus good old fashioned election meetings going strong in Dunedin.

  3. travellerev 3
    17 November 2011 at 8:00 am

    Yesterday I was on the Vinny Eastwood show and had the chance to ask one of my heroes some questions about the international finance world and John Key.

    Gordon Duff is the senior editor of Veterans today, an online publication which dwarfs many conventional media outlets and has millions of followers and which addresses many controversial issues such as international finance and banking corruption (Gordon Duff has been in the banking business and is a whistleblower) 911 and the ongoing criminal wars. Here is what he had to say and about 20 minutes in hear what he has to say about John Key. the total interview is about 1:25.

    Added to that here is a copy of an email exchange I had with Gordon Duff after the show:

    Hi Gordon,

    I was on Vinnies show with you and that more or less cancels out the previous email I send you.

    I am left with one question with regards to our National debt. When John Key took power we were in the plus. No huge debt. Now three years later we are $ 40 billion (only four million people here) in debt. Does this mean that John Key just made a fortune for his former bosses?
    His answer:

    yes
     
    but also…there will be “off the books” debt which will be migrated into the public sector…
     
    this would be his “tasking”
     
    g

    The “off the books debt” he is referring to is the tactic of keeping risky financial investments out of the normal day to day bookkeeping such as this example but when they collapse into no value at all try to get them reinbursed dollar for dollar from the taxpayer.

     

  4. vto 4
    17 November 2011 at 8:31 am

    All you politicians out there bank the yearly pay rise, while workers lose jobs and get told to take 25% pay cuts at Marton meatworks.

    Fletchers, the largest construction outfit in the country and responsible for Chch rebuild, fires loads of workers due to the downturn, while Fletchers directors pocket increased pay packets of $500,000.

    National govt cuts funding to DOC and increases funding to the Mining dept.

    National govt sells the people’s power stations and gives the money to farmers for irrigation.

    National govt increases taxes on the poor and gives tax breaks to the rich.
    .
    .
    .
    can anyone see a pattern here? A pattern so heavy that if it continues at this rate for another three years all those gated communities and houses may find their gates on the street. Bullshit arseholes.

    • s y d 4.1
      17 November 2011 at 9:11 am

      and the biggest shareholder in Fletchers is……

      Total Number of Shares: 680739504 Extensive Shareholding:Yes
      Allocation 1: 296215920 shares

      NEW ZEALAND CENTRAL SECURITIES DEPOSITORY LIMITED

      2 The Terrace, Wellington ,

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    17 November 2011 at 8:34 am

    National must really be losing control, if they are even losing control of Armstrong

    National’s safety-first election campaign has been thrown seriously out of kilter as John Key stumbles from one tactical blunder to the next.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10766622

    • Tigger 5.1
      17 November 2011 at 8:41 am

      This worried me though “The puzzle is why someone who handled the Pike River mine disaster and the Christchurch earthquakes with aplomb is tripping up on something trivial in comparison.”. It’s obvious what the problem is, this is about Key and, egomaniacal sociopath that he is, can’t cope with criticism or looking bad,

      • Lanthanide 5.1.1
        17 November 2011 at 9:55 am

        I saw a big long interview with Key in the paper sometime during the world cup, didn’t read it but glanced at a little of it. In it he said that he came very close to resigning as PM after the Feb 22nd quake, when on that night or the next day he said something like 90 people were dead, when there was no actual evidence for it at the time. Subsequent events eclipsed his statement so he was ok, but he said that if it turned out he was wrong, that he would have resigned.

        That doesn’t seem like he “handled [it] with aplomb” to me. He was making shit up as he went along and managed to get away with it.

        See also: “money is no object”, and yet the bodies are still down there.

  6. Colonial Viper 6
    17 November 2011 at 8:46 am

    NZ Herald says John Key has 98% approval rating

    Welcome to the socialist society of big business CEOs.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10766423

  7. Carol 7
    17 November 2011 at 9:14 am

    Little getting favourable coverage:
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/campaign-trail/5981888/Labours-Little-in-poll-jolt

    New Plymouth’s history as a litmus test on election day looks set to continue.

    In a surprise result after last night’s Taranaki Daily News candidate debate, an exit poll of those attending gave Labour’s Andrew Little a resounding thumbs-up for his performance.

  8. Jackal 8
    17 November 2011 at 9:33 am

    Steven Joyce pipes up

    After largely remaining silent during the election campaign, Steven Joyce has finally piped up and made a press release on National’s website today…

  9. Deuto 9
    17 November 2011 at 9:42 am

    Yet another odd twist to the ACT saga today with Boscawen indicating an about-face to his retirement.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/election-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503012&objectid=10766591

  10. RobM 10
    17 November 2011 at 9:55 am

    Reading this the theme tune to Prisoner kept popping into my head (swapping inside for outside):

    http://www.listener.co.nz/nz-election-2011-live/thursday-17-november-what-really-matters/

    TV3′s political editor, Duncan Garner, has been on Firstline describing how the prime minister he knew has changed. It’s like I don’t even know him any more, he almost says. Will they air the tapes? “Where we stand is this: we are reviewing our decisions daily. We understand the law, and this stage we have decided not to run the tapes. But of course there’s today and tomrorow and Saturday and Sunday, so we will just see. I mean the level of public interest has really become quite immense … There are some legitimate questions here … Yes, John Key is trying to create a wedge between the public and the media, so people don’t like the media, but I think there’s enough public interest in these tapes now to come out.”

    And on Banks? “I believe John Banks is now misleading the New Zealand public.”

    • mik e 10.1
      17 November 2011 at 10:09 am

      The fickleness of fame
      Has left Liar Key very lame
      While he ducks now for cover
      Its the Media which once loved him is to blame
      A lot of pain for a man so vain

      • RobM 10.1.1
        17 November 2011 at 12:12 pm

        He used to buy me rosé,
        I wish he would again.
        But I was on the inside,
        And things were different then

    • Colonial Viper 10.2
      17 November 2011 at 10:27 am

      http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-Duncan-Garner-on-the-teapot-tapes/tabid/370/articleID/233018/Default.aspx

      This is clip with Garner. He also says that an invitation for Key to appear on the Nation to talk about the big issues stands – but that Key will no doubt be a no show.

      Wow.

      • Jim Nald 10.2.1
        17 November 2011 at 10:30 am

        Nice for a change to see Key now screwing the media.

        Maybe the media might now develop a tinge of empathy for Key and Warner Bros?
        /sarc

        • Campbell Larsen 10.2.1.1
          17 November 2011 at 11:33 am

          The media are looking out for themselves as they always do.
          While I welcome the newfound criticism of Shonkeys duck and dive, I cannot purge my mind of the weeks and weeks of duplicity from some members of the press and branches of the MSM. What is certain is that in the eyes of many this debacle ‘proves’ that the MSM is not biased – well I am not convinced. Instead I will be taking a different realization from these recent events – I believe that the MSM and it’s owners are actually quite sensitive to accusations of complicity. The Herald for example had been doing a rather poor job of countering accusations of bias, relying on ‘letters’ to the editor to argue their innocence.
          One only has to contemplate the ramifications of a controlled and contrived MSM and the implications on democracy to realize that if a case is made against one then the evidence damns both. The media has chosen to sacrifice the credibility of Shonkey rather than loose their own. Should they be applauded for that?
          A much larger game is being played here – the publics perception of a free press is necessary prerequisite for the MSM to have any influence.
          My guess is that this recent fiasco was intended to reassure people that the Media did not exhibit favoritism towards the Nats but unintentionally has gone too far, actually damaging brand Shonkey.
          The meaningless sound bites uttered by our so called PM are becoming so weird sounding an repetitive that i’m sure that a parrot could inject more human emotion into the words – but still the MSM records and rebroadcasts them with nary a mention or a challenge in regard to this peculiar affectation – people don’t speak like that. It needs to be challenged.

          • Deuto 10.2.1.1.1
            17 November 2011 at 11:41 am

            Some intersting points there worth thinking about, Campbell. Think we will get a better idea as things play out.

            And, having five parrots, I agree re your comments about them!

      • RobM 10.2.2
        17 November 2011 at 12:32 pm

        Garner seems genuinely surprised. From the above clip just prior to the invitation:

        ” . . . I’ve never seen him like this to be honest, when we’ve asked questions in the past
        the access has always been good, he’s always been pretty upfront, in my view, started to lose it a bit a few weeks ago ’round Standard and Poors and the credit downgrade and since then I think we’re starting to see the changing face of the Prime Minister and that’s what you see with stress.”

  11. Jackal 11
    17 November 2011 at 10:49 am

    LOL

    Politicians as spammers

    You’re not talking to a human being; you’re talking to a pre-programmed spambot wearing a meat-puppet.

  12. marty mars 12
    17 November 2011 at 10:50 am

    the debate last night highlighted some interesting aspects

    Hone is a rangatira, a leader and what’s more he stays on message and that message is all about the poor and disadvantaged in our society. Sure some will still not like him but others will be realising the spin that they have accepted about hone is just not the reality. Anyone serious about advancing social justice and equality issues must surely now be considering a Mana Party vote and if so – do it!

    I can understand the affection still between tariana and hone – I feel it too – when I watch tariana I feel like I’m watching a auntie, a relly, kin. I am hopeful that the two parties can sort it out after the vote – they will, but the tuākana/taina relationship may not be as expected.

  13. The Voice of Reason 13
    17 November 2011 at 11:21 am

    Key’s strategy of pissing off the media takes a new turn with the Police demanding 4 news organisations dob in their sources for the tea tape stories.

  14. joe90 14
    17 November 2011 at 11:21 am

    The SPLC winter edition with articles about the hate groups gathering in Montana, the American Family Association’s hate and the resurgence of the neo-confederates.

  15. The Voice of Reason 15
    17 November 2011 at 11:26 am

    And now Labour release the Letterman Top Ten list Key didn’t read out on the show:
     
    LABOUR’S LATEST TOP TEN – NATIONAL’S BROKEN PROMISES
    1. GST was increased to 15 per cent.
    2. The wage gap with Australia has increased by $32 a week.
    3. 100,000 New Zealanders have left for Australia.
    4. Budget 2011 cut over $400 million from Working for Families by reducing payments through changing abatement rates and thresholds.
    5. National is already spending the money from their partial asset sales policy and Treasury has already hired an Australian investment banking firm as an adviser on the asset sales.
    6. The underclass has grown with 32,000 more children living in benefit dependent households over the past three years.
    7. National passed legislation that halved the KiwiSaver member tax credit in year starting 1 July 2011.
    8. Only a fraction of the jobs promised from the national cycleway have materialised.
    9. Early Childhood Education subsidies were changed.
    10. The 2010 ”tax switch” has not been fiscally neutral, as promised.

    • Enough is Enough 15.1
      17 November 2011 at 11:40 am

      Brilliant List

      However this should have been on boards and on tv for the past month. These kind of facts haven’t been presented to the public in a n effective way and I fear there is now not enough time for them to sink in.

      Memorise this list people and remind your mates of theses facts before they vote next week.

  16. Bored 16
    17 November 2011 at 11:33 am

    Election issues….dictatorship in Canterbury. Remember Key and crew taking over ECAN with a commissioner????? All powerful and ready to go and gift whatever to the vested interests?

    Talking to a buddy today he told me that the Conservation Order on the Rakaia was in Madam Bazleys (the Commisioner) hands and that submissions close tomorrow. He basically reckoned (and I dont doubt he is going to be proven correct) that the existing Conservation order would be overturned and water extraction below current minimum flows would be allowed 20 days per year. This is all in favour of providing dairy farmers water on dry country.

    The powers given Bazley cannot be challenged, it is a dictatorship. That is the real nature of Nacts approach to the environment.

    For the record the downstream effects: higher groundwater pollution in the Selwyn catchment, and the further endangering of a very rare bird that lives on the Rakaia river bed (wrybill plover), stuffing up the river as a fishery. Its a great example of power and money driving environmental destruction and species extinction. All for a few more cows.

    • vto 16.1
      17 November 2011 at 11:55 am

      I have given up on the Canterbury Plains. This is now a highly developed and barren wasteland industrial zone. Quite why farmers think how lovely it is working in the natural environment I do not know. Go into the mid-Plains and there aint a single drop of nature – it is all foreign grasses, no native bush, polluted groundwater (Dunsandel water supply now requires treatment courtesy of Hubbard’s cows next door), metallic irrigation machinery, roads, houses and hedges of gorse and gum tree.

      It is a wasteland. As is, in fact, most of NZ’s countryside courtesy of our farming sector who have had to totally wreck the natural environment in order for them to make more and more money.

      It is the great shame.

      And yep, the Ecan dicactorship is pure evil. Sent in to do a job. The job is being done. The Canterbury Plains are all over. It’s fucked.

      • Bored 16.1.1
        17 November 2011 at 12:15 pm

        Actually I laughed like crazy at people who were describing the Rena oil spills in the BoP as NZs biggest environmental disaster, and all the media focus it got. I told them to go to Lake Ellesmere and have a good hard look. I should have said Canterbury, or Manawatu etc etc. You are so right, its fucked.

        • McFlock 16.1.1.1
          17 November 2011 at 12:42 pm

          while I agree re: water quality etc, I’ve never understood the fixation on “native” vs “exotic” plants. Yes, native species needs to be preserved and NZ is the best/only place to preserve them, but gorse and oak and pine etc are just as nice (it’s just a pity some types have a tendency to crowd out everything else).
           
           

          • Draco T Bastard 16.1.1.1.1
            17 November 2011 at 4:03 pm

            (it’s just a pity some types have a tendency to crowd out everything else).

            Which is why they’re a problem – that crowding out destroys the native plants.

            • McFlock 16.1.1.1.1.1
              18 November 2011 at 1:38 pm

              My issue is more that in a garden or a field apparently native species are “good”, but imported species are “bad” (regardless of noxious status in the area). I just don’t get it. Oak is just as nice a pohutakawa

              • vto …
                18 November 2011 at 2:09 pm

                Mr McFlock my point was about the wholesale destruction of the NZ biosphere so more and more money can be made from farming (which we all bear responsibility for given its 100 year timeframe). One-off trees, sure, oaks and willows are lovely jubbly but they don’t even come close to thousands of square kilometres of NZ goodness.

                Good luck in trying to replace the entire flora and fauna using oak trees and cuckoos …..

                My point is perhaps assisted by explanation. I sometimes head out to bays and beaches on Banks Peninsula (lordy I give away so much personal info someone’s going to spring me one day) and they are generally completely devastated. Nearly all surface area is bare foreign grassland. Now, imagine if these bays were still resplendent in the full regalia of untouched aotearoan wilderness. And then multiply that across the country. Much of NZ’s biospehere has been wiped out in order to support a few uneconomic sheep. May have seemed the right thing to do at the time but in hindsight no way.

                And this entire outlook imo applies, or rather should apply, to the current continuing biospherical destruction of the Canterbury Plains and its rivers for what will, after the boom, be uneconomic moo cows. We are just eating it up for no genuine benefit. The Canterbury Plains is the country’s largest industrial zone. Check it out. Drive down the roads. Try walking across the paddocks. You will get no sense of nature but you will get a sense of industrial food production and an environment laid to waste.

                That’s why I say it’s fucked.

                • McFlock …
                  18 November 2011 at 2:22 pm

                  what is wrong with grassland or tussock?
                  You’ll get no argument about the quality of the waterways, or the use of fossil hydrocarbons to make fertilizers. But green fields are just as nice as a bit of bush.

                  • Draco T Bastard …
                    18 November 2011 at 2:28 pm

                    But green fields are just as nice as a bit of bush.

                    No, they aren’t. Bush has far more boo-diversity in it and is thus much nicer. Then there’s the fact that bush is the natural filter that keeps the streams and rivers clean.

                  • vto …
                    18 November 2011 at 2:30 pm

                    Excuse me for disagreeing but there aint no comparison between large scale grass from the northern hemisphere and large scale full blown virgin NZ bush. In both quantity and quality terms. When the first peoples (white and brown) made it to these shores the dawn chorus of birdsong each and every morning was apparently deafening. You know, so loud that you had to yell to hear yourself speak. So imagine the birdlife, for one part, that would abound in, say a 500ha patch of dirt. Now, walk into a 500ha grass paddock. See the difference? And that is even before starting on the giant kauir, matai, rimu, etc and on it goes and goes and goes…

                    I would hazard a guess that the bio life in a grass paddock would be less than 1% of the bio life in a wilderness bush.

                    I am not addressing the obvious follow question – namely, what would NZ have done if it had not farmed, but I’m sure the people would not have starved. I am merely painting a picture of background to provide some context for the destruction being wrought on the Canterbury Plains.

                  • McFlock …
                    18 November 2011 at 2:36 pm

                    well what about the high country tussock lands, e.g. central otago?

                    Although I will say that part of keeping the rivers clean with farming going on is planting tree and wetlands along the edges – and willows seem to do quite nicely for that.

        • Draco T Bastard 16.1.1.2
          17 November 2011 at 4:01 pm

          Actually I laughed like crazy at people who were describing the Rena oil spills in the BoP as NZs biggest environmental disaster, and all the media focus it got.

          Well, I didn’t laugh at the assertion but I did question it. Our biggest environmental disaster is farming.

        • kriswgtn 16.1.1.3
          17 November 2011 at 7:36 pm

          Ohau river not much better m8

  17. kriswgtn 17
    17 November 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Police are executing search warrants on News Media re any evidence to do with the tea party fiasco

    Wonder if after this the MSM will be up Keys ass like they are @ the moment or go after the bastard

    Mammoth fail DonKey

  18. Jim Nald 18
    17 November 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Fantastic to see the 1% love Key and want votes to go his way!

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10766423

    The 99% know what to do next.

  20. vto 20
    17 November 2011 at 1:08 pm

    The Great Earth Monster lurking under Christchurch just shat its pants again seemingly right under our house. Aint had a good rattle like that for a while. What a drainer this ongoing shaking is ……….

    If Key really wants to declare war on something then how about this mega-sized monster?

  21. randal 21
    17 November 2011 at 1:13 pm

    so after key called the cops did they discover if there were any clues?
    to anything.

  22. Jackal 22
    17 November 2011 at 2:04 pm

    As you might be aware, the Jackal has been running a weekly asshole award. Recipients of this prestigious award are automatically nominated for something you’ve all been waiting for…

    …without further adiue, here is the coveted Asshole of the Year Award prize giving ceremony.

    Hurray!

  23. Fortran 23
    17 November 2011 at 2:06 pm

    As of fact John Key’s Parliamentary salary goes to Charity (and always has done).

  24. Lyall 24
    17 November 2011 at 2:16 pm

    Enjoy that Tui Beer Fortran.

  25. William Joyce 25
    17 November 2011 at 2:35 pm

    Winston to reveal teapot tape contents at 2pm meeting in Invercargill but as David slack tweets “A reminder to listeners: Peters recited most of War and Peace before his Nats coalition announcement. Make yourselves comfortable.”

  26. joe90 26
    17 November 2011 at 3:10 pm

    Fact du jour, fossil fuel subsidies: Six Times More Than Renewable Energy

    Fossil-fuel consumers worldwide received about six times more government subsidies than were given to the renewable-energy industry, according to the chief adviser to oil-importing nations.

  27. Draco T Bastard 27
    17 November 2011 at 4:19 pm

    Jon Johansson: Key cannot have it both ways

    I was staggered to hear on TV3, John Key say that while he was ‘not entirely unhappy’ with MMP he intended to vote for change because while he likes proportionality he ‘slightly prefers the characteristics of Supplementary Member’ (SM).

    Those last two statements are mutually exclusive, of course, because SM is not classed as a proportional representation electoral system. Key cannot have it both ways.

    So, Jonkey has finally admitted that he wants to go back to the same failed system that we got rid of 20 years ago.

  28. Morrissey 28
    17 November 2011 at 5:55 pm

    NewstalkZB’s ridiculous “Huddle” goes from dismal to rock-bottom
    Thursday 17 November 2011

    Larry Williams’ abysmal Drivetime programme is notorious for its extreme views and its lack of intelligent debate. Tonight, though, it’s sunk lower than it ever has before. Joining Williams tonight is not only Bill Ralston, but Leighton “ummmm, Errrr, Ahhhhh” Smith.

    NewstalkZB has obviously dispensed with the idea of intelligent debate.

    With the appointment of Smith to the Huddle, the NewstalkZB “Fair and Balanced” slogan (stolen from the equally ludicrous Fox News) looks more absurd than it ever did.

  29. BLiP 29
    17 November 2011 at 7:09 pm

    Labour hits ten year low in latest poll

    WTF!!! There’s me out delivering Labour pamphlets (as a favour to a mate since I’m voting Green) all chuffed about John Key making a twat of himself, turn on the news and . . . this!! Tell me its a blip!

    • r0b 29.1
      17 November 2011 at 7:21 pm

      Both major parties are falling as support goes to minor. In the 3 News poll the Nats are at their lowest since they were elected. It’s usual and expected for major parties to fall and minors to rise at this stage – don’t panic!

      Also – Herald Digipol tomorrow may be better.

      • interesting 29.1.1
        17 November 2011 at 7:50 pm

        Herald Poll was out of kilter with all other major reliable polls last time…so it will be interesting. when it was showing 49% for nats, the ROy Morgan, 3News Poll, One news poll and the Fairfacpoll all had Nats at 53-54% They did however have Labs trending Down like all other polls.

    • mickysavage 29.2
      17 November 2011 at 7:22 pm

      Its a blip …

      ; ) 

      • BLiP 29.2.1
        17 November 2011 at 7:36 pm

        Whew! Thanks fellas.

      • Olwyn 29.2.2
        17 November 2011 at 8:01 pm

        I hope you are right, as I am utterly downcast and conflicted after seeing this last round of polls. Conflicted because Labour candidates appear to be doing well in particular places – Andrew Little for instance, and Jacinda Adern, while the polls remain roughly the same. Where are the teachers, the sacked and threatened-with-the-boot public servants,etc? Downcast because I do not think I can stand another three years of this duplicitous circus.

        Perhaps the election will deliver a different result from what the polls are telling us, as happened with Len Brown. But given our large private debt, perhaps a lot of New Zealanders feel OK about feeding the poor to the minotaur so long as they themselves are left alone and their property retains its value.

  30. kriswgtn 30
    17 November 2011 at 7:34 pm

    tvone – Guyonasslicker– said Labour on 26%

    tv3-Garner– 27.5%

    err whose lying here??

    was great to see Key basically ignored by the workers in Whangerei hahahahahah

    • interesting 30.1
      17 November 2011 at 7:46 pm

      no one is “lying”….clearly you dont keep up with the polls…they are never 100% agreeable. what they BOTH show is the trend for Labour is DOWN…not Up as you might expect by this timeof the election cycle.

  31. interesting 31
    17 November 2011 at 7:41 pm

    Oh….what a shame…no bump for Labour in the polls

    http://tvnz.co.nz/election-2011/labour-hits-ten-year-low-in-latest-poll-4548044

    and

    http://www.3news.co.nz/NZ-First-climb-polls-on-back-of-teapot-tapes/tabid/370/articleID/233104/Default.aspx

    Sad really…. NOT.

    I can genuinely say i am happy for the greens to be going up. Good on them. They have worked hard to gain in the polls.

    At this rate Nats will govern alone.

    My prediciton for election:

    Nats will govern alone.
    Act will just scrape in.
    Greens will gainmany MPs.
    Labs will be desemated.
    Winne the pooh WONT get back in.

    Dirty tricks, gutter politics and gutter journalism DONT work:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/polls/5988186/National-maintains-lead-despite-tape-saga

    Soon people will get over their Key-derangement syndrome….but at the rate Labour are going they will learn too late that people hate nasty petty gutter politics.

    I believe that is why the greens are up so much…they focus on policy and dont turn nasty like the Labs have (do).

    • Willie Maley 31.1
      17 November 2011 at 9:06 pm

      Interesting, National will not govern alone. Voters do not like their asset sales policy, this coupled with Key’s meltdown will ensure this.
      Also Labour will not be decimated.

    • Draco T Bastard 31.2
      17 November 2011 at 9:23 pm

      Dirty tricks, gutter politics and gutter journalism DONT work:

      So why do you think NAct are using them then?

  32. Draco T Bastard 32
    17 November 2011 at 9:26 pm

    Private Prisons, An awesome profit making Opportunity:-

    Prisoners held in this remote facility depend on the prison’s phones to communicate with their lawyers and loved ones. Exploiting inmates’ need, CCA charges detainees here $5 per minute to make phone calls. Yet the prison only pays inmates who work at the facility $1 a day. At that rate, it would take five days to pay for just one minute.

    So, why is NAct so interested in putting them in place in NZ when they’ve already been proven to be more expensive government run prisons?

    • Vicky32 32.1
      20 November 2011 at 12:26 am

      So, why is NAct so interested in putting them in place in NZ when they’ve already been proven to be more expensive government run prisons?

      Cronyism?

  33. jaymam 33
    18 November 2011 at 1:42 am

    Pictures from Epsom candidates’ meeting on 17 Nov.

    John Banks (what a fine head of hair!)
    http://i39.tinypic.com/2eo8ms2.jpg

    Paul Goldsmith (Vote for me!)
    http://i44.tinypic.com/kdjszc.jpg