Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
Interesting new poll: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9332786/Poll-a-major-blow-to-Labour
Personally, I struggle to believe National could get more than the 47.3% it won in 2011. Governments tend to lose votes over time. Having said that, National won only 44.9% in 2008 so John Key has already broken the rule once.
National at 49% – but in the election they got 45%! 4% of their vote just disappeared
Basically the Fairfax poll has always massively overstated the National potential to win votes. I guess that is why you cling to it like a child wrapping themselves around their comfort blankie…
Well, exactly. The polls always seem to overstate National’s support. Although you are not comparing apples with apples. This poll was by Ipsos, the 2011 one was by Research International and the 2005 one by Nielson.
But you have just successfully made the case for ignoring Fairfax polls.
That three different companies have consistently managed to follow practices that massively overstate Nationals support tends to indicate that there may be a systematic bias from that source? It is a small sample but it certainly does indicate that to me…
It’s not just Fairfax though. All the main polls (Herald, Fairfax, TVNZ, TV3) have tended to overstate National’s support. It’s as if their sampling has some sort of inbuilt bias against the smaller parties. One thing’s for sure though the latest Roy Morgan with Nats on 41.5% (and no chance of forming a majority) and this Fairfax poll with Nats on 50% can’t both be right.
Something to keep in mind when making that comparison, is that pre-election poll was carried out by a different polling company. Ipsos started polling for Fairfax after the election.
I know. But if you look back in the record for fairfax polls you’ll find at least one other company doing their polls that I’m aware of. It never seems to make much difference to the overall outcome that the “Fairfax poll” gets. They massively overstate the right to suspicious extent. I suspect that the polling companies that Fairfax uses all operate by the maxim that the customer is always right(ish).
That plus their sporadic schedule means that they are essentially useless when divining the tea leaves for election results. Probably why Matthew dribbles on about them.
I prefer the much more frequent polling by Roy Morgan that isn’t done for any organisation with a hidden agenda. Despite the usual statistical variation and sampling biases, it is possible to see actual trends in that rather than the need for interesting headlines.
I don’t think though that any polling company would let a client influence the results in any way, shape, or form. The interpretation maybe, but not the results themselves. If polling company did, they could be thrown out of the MRSNZ.
Given the expectation for how well Labour/Greens are doing at the moment, I suspect the people at Fairfax were a surprised by the result as people here are.
I suspect the people at Fairfax were a surprised by the result as people here are.
That is the daft thing. I wasn’t surprised. If you think of this thing narratively rather than statistically, then a completely different poll result that can spun as a reversal is one of those twists that makes for a good story.
I don’t think though that any polling company would let a client influence the results in any way, shape, or form. The interpretation maybe, but not the results themselves. If polling company did, they could be thrown out of the MRSNZ.
All that has to be done is to pick a technique that may follow statistical practices, but does not accurately reflect the voting population.
For instance my favourite example is the way that using listed land line polling systematically overstates the right. Parts of Auckland have been down at or lower than 50% listed-land-lines per household against the electoral roll for nearly a decade. Whereas in other parts of the country are closer to 90% listed-land-line. Moreover apart from the urban/provincials split, in every region the poorer voters and the younger voters with a landline are distinctly more likely to not have a accessible land-line.
So guess what is the sampling technique that Fairfax pays for?
I’m pretty sure none of the main polling companies survey only listed landlines. They use RDD, so every landline is given a chance of selection, including the unlisted ones.
Sampling from the electoral roll would be a silly idea for a phone survey, coz you would have to match with only listed numbers. That’s pretty daft for a political poll, as lists are biased in favour of home and vehicle owners.
Ah no. RDD is a bit of a myth. Even if you had the switch ranges, the number system gaps between exchanges mean that it is unlikely to be random. Without them in a 8 digit system covering less than 2 million households, your probabilities are low to even find a open number.
But more basically, try and find a person with unlisted numbers who has been called.
The electoral roll is the population that is attempted to be sampled in a political poll.
I think you should look into RDD a bit more. You simply ping them to test if they are connected.
As I said, matching the electoral roll with published phone listings results in a bias toward home and vehicle owners, and an extremely small response rate if you factor in all the people you can’t match.
RDD ain’t no myth. I use it myself, and we update it to cover all known number ranges.
I hope no offence is taken by this, but I’m afraid you misunderstand the process of generating RDD sample.
Random numbers are generated within known number ranges. It’s not hard to work out the known number ranges from published listings. The random numbers are then pinged to find the connected numbers. There is a whole lot more to the process too, like selecting in proportion to the size of each area while factoring in the connection rate.
I use RDD for surveys I design, so I know exactly how it’s done, and how it shown be done properly. For my surveys we call people with unlisted numbers all the time.
Using the electoral roll for telephone samples requires tele-matching against published listings. These listings are biased in favour of home and vehicle owners, and they exclude unlisted numbers. Also, once you factor in all the people you can’t match, either because they have no landline, they have moved, or their number is unlisted, then the response rate for this type of survey is *extremely* low.
I can guarantee you that RDD sampling isn’t a myth. Just send me an email if you’d like to know more about it.
So RDD based sampling for political polls captures persons not on the electoral roll as well?
If RDD sampling is reasonably systematically unbiased, how else can you explain National’s support being fairly consistently over-estimated by the polls?
A case in point was John Armstrong in a column a month or so ago,(sorry i havn’t got a link for it), openly admitted that He ‘thought’ the Reid-poll skewed it’s results by asking respondents a series of leading questions designed specifically to have respondents favor one party over another…
If it’s true that Armstrong said that, then I believe he’s wrong.
The polling code, which is soon to be ratified by the MRSNZ, requires the principal voting question to be asked early in the interview. The person who runs the Reid poll was involved in putting the code together. I know him, and I don’t believe he would do this.
Andrew, i like naive people, you know the person involved in putting the Reid-poll together, explains your explanations then doesn’t it, care to explain what connection you have to these polling organizations…
Both your assertions are to say the least questionable without the addition of the magic stuff that makes the pie taste sweet, ‘Proof’,
By ‘research’ are you alluding to the particular branch of alchemy which produces political polls???,
i do not know whether the question you ask is directed at me personally as i have no say what-so-ever in who comments here at the Standard, but, as an indicative signpost i usually distrust those who’s writing tends to portray them in a light of a somewhat different hue than the musings of your average Labour Party supporter,
In other words suit yourself an examination of a continued commentary from you would in effect show us all where your true political allegiances should or do lie….
Ghostrider, for a negative comment directed at me it contains not enough information to give you a full reply so i will just resort to yes dickhead i do…
Maybe the answer is a lot simpler – bully tactics, long practiced at school level and beyond. If you can convince a many of the validity of a few you can win the argument. Publish that party xy is the top dog and bob is your uncle. All you need is some gullible folk and unveiled threat of doom.
Participation in the political process would demand some interest in the community and nation at large. Look around you and be honest. My experience is that if I just make an innocent comment in my work canteen such as:” it will be difficult for west coasters to find a job”, blank stares is all I get. I don’t bother with conversation about the social/political life really, there is no vigorous thought process out there and I don’t want to provoke some banjo playing. Best to stick to the weather, family, sport and hmmmm…. food perhaps is another one.
This is why such pols become self fulfilling prophecies.
I don’t have any trouble believing that the poll has National able or nearly able to form a government. There are an awful lot of people who honestly think the opinions expressed on Whaleoil and Kiwiblog are rational.
There are an awful lot of people who honestly think the opinions expressed on Whaleoil and Kiwiblog are rational.
That is what makes National the largest party. They have been consolidating the nuts over the last decade as the other conservative parties die from voter starvation. But even with the 800k non-vote, they have pretty well hit the limits of how much the right accretion in the upcoming election.
That lack of accretion is the underlying reason for the SOE asset sales. They were hoping to widen the base of shareholding voters to increase their pool of voters.
Just have a look at what gets posted as “Pete”, and pay particular attention to the regular features. Draw your own conclusions.
Of course it’s possible that Slater actually does have a staff of several different people posting on his site under various names, but you’d have to ask why they keep sharing their logins with each other.
Keep clutching at them straws Hooten, i thought even you wouldn’t be so stupid as to keep trying to flog the ‘Governing alone’ ghost back to life,
It’s good to see such desperation across the whole written media spectrum with the Herald writers now producing only advertorials extolling the National Government this should give them a little more oxygen…
a clear marker of the widespread panic in the right..
..(aside from the corporate-media editors desperately searching for little shards of rightwing-light..anywhere they can..funny to watch..that one..eh..?..)
..is that they are viewing (E.T.-impersonator/christian-fundamentalist in neo-con-drag) colin craig..
It’s easy tho to see why clutching at the very thin straws other’s have plucked from the bale is more to Hootens liking than the political prediction site which He now claims,(since it started producing results He don’t like), to not have anything to do with,
From ipredict this morning,
Prime Minister after 2014 election, Cunliffe 53.3%, Slippery(Key) 48%,
Finance Minister after 2014 election, Parker 50%, English 37.8%,
Party Vote 2014 election, National 40.1%, Governing alone, nah laughably Governing non-one…
Mind you the ‘Loons’ over at ipredict don’t get into trying to ‘lead’ the voters round by the nose with the simpletons ‘National can Govern alone polls’ of the boring old mass media,
The ‘Loons’ over at the other place like to plumb the depths of their affliction by producing suggestive ‘predictions’ of a National/NZFirst/Conservative grand coalition,
NZ First and the Conservatives with 4.7% of the Party vote each, come in ‘spinner’…
As bad12 alludes to, I no longer do the PR for iPredict, but I still think it provides far better indications of future events, including elections, than polls. As bad12 points out, it says Labour is favoured and that its probability of leading the next govt has increased since the change of leader.
”Come in spinner” and lo and behold He does, spinning ever faster Hooten now flips the coin and speaks from the other side of His mouth,
The Fairfax poll gives the next election to National and the ipredict gives the next election to Labour/Green and you believe the both of them Hooten???,
Things must get really interesting inside your head…
And that’s why Labour should can any ideas about converting “centre” votes from National. There are far more votes to be had winning the disengaged, and you don’t have to be a sellout to do it.
In her opinion piece, Tracy Watkins says “That is the shifting ground beneath undecided voters. Among the 12.5 per cent of voters we questioned, 29.7 per cent lean toward Labour, while 22.2 per cent lean to National.”
So assuming that 12.5% = the undecided voters, that still leaves 9.4% of people not intending to vote. 9% is still a lot, but I think that would be a better turnout than last election which is something (assuming all undecided voters vote).
It’s adorable how you say “Interesting new poll” as though you’re not pushing a very specific narrative by posting it. No no, this is just Matthew Hooton, naive, unbiased commenter, linking to something he thinks will be of interest to his fellow Standard commenters, honest, pay no attention to the rightwing spin behind the curtain. 🙄
More of Hootens Horseshit. He spouts it here, he spouts it there, he spouts it everywhere, FFS Hooten. The only ones that believe this crap, are you, BB, and the Knuckle dragger. The rest of us are waiting or the REAL poll. From Morgans.
[lprent:I see you haven’t lost your ability to be outright stupid is still intacft. The question is if I want to have the pointless abuse it generates between here and next years election? ]
And yet when people who review and produce music for a living rate artists and albums across decades and genres Lou features twice (berlin and transformer) and the velevet underground 3 times.
So between them and the punters he appears universally overated, I guess we cant all have your refined tastes BB.
I prefer to pay attention to Brian Eno rather than BB – and not just on music:
The band’s influence on rock, art rock and punk was memorably summed up by Brian Eno’s observation that although the first Velvet Underground album may have sold only 30,000 copies in its first few years, “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band”.
We are at that point where alot of the ground breaking artists of the 60-80’s are passing on. Bowie is heading toward 70 and a decade or so of cocaine abuse will probably catch him also.
Just watched sorcese’s excellent doco on George harrison, well worth a look.
eno is a legend with an intellect most artists would kill for.
Big Bruv writes – ‘As for Lou Reed, highly over rated.’
By who? You? Who are you to state such a vacuous thing on the day he died? Fuck Off The Planet you Dick.
Hard to believe poll really. The fact of the matter is that polls and politics are full of professional liars and manipulators so the voter has little chance to make genuine choices anymore and the fact of the matter is they havent since the rise and dominance of polls and professional liars over the last few years.
I find all polls distasteful and unnecessary. Deliberately operating to tell people what to think.
lets trial having no polls for 3 years. The fact of the matter is that Life wont decline for anyone but the professional liars and pollsters.
I propose that everytime the professional liars come up with a new bullshit word strategy that all parties and people start using it liberally to neutralise it.
If Nationals internal polling was indicating that Key was really going to beat his 2011 result… Hooten wouldn’t be working early on Labour Day.
The problem for Key is that despite the media bullshit, Key only won the last election by 45,000 votes. Maybe less. He has no margin of safety to lose.
Nonetheless, the point is made: Labour and the Greens have to play a sharp game over the next 12 months, National is going to Fight back hard. They’re not just going to walk away in 2014.
Xox
Firstly. Polls are unnecessary, distracting and manipulative.
Second. No surprise there, they are right leaning and publicise a right wing view.
Third. This tactic was successful for the Right wing at the last election, as evidenced by the low voter turnout, which clearly indicated disengagement from the democratic process.
Russell Brand has a valid point. Voting for the corporate backed
current democratic process is failing. USA, GB, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland etc etc. Why don’t we try something new called Democracy. Cf corporate crazy.. Dumocrupcy!
Forest and Bird,
Any truth in the rumour that forest and bird are buying shares in Bathurst Resources to try to regain some of the money they have thrown away on frivolous court challenges ???
[lprent: seems unlikely. Changed an unlinked attempt to create a rumour to an appropriate color. Next time you try it, you disappear for a while. ]
In the new poll, 1/5th of voters hadn’t made up their minds yet, and most of those undecided voters were leaning towards Labour. Shows how much Labour needs to increase voter turnout.
Is another Roy Morgan poll coming out soon? Seems we are due for one.
And I agree with some of the above sentiment about opinion polls. They should be banned during campaign season. They just encourage people to either vote for the winner (bandwagon effect), or vote for the loser (underdog effect). People should be voting on their preference. Also waste time on the news when they could be reporting about actual issues.
I’d advocate for a ban on polling activity and poll reporting for the 72 hours before election day, to force people and the press to focus on debating the issues, not the polls.
DTB
I think that the polling etc keeps the election before the public. It wouldn’t be good to have it pushed onto the backburner in people’s minds. Maybe stop polls etc for two weeks before, not longer. People who are particularly susceptible to poll reports will be making their minds up in the last two, even one, week.
I picked a 3 day poll blackout period in order to balance concerns around freedom of press. If there was widespread support for a longer period say 7 or 14 days then yes, it should be implemented.
If we add those voters in and assume they vote for who they lean towards, National lose a seat, but still have 62 seats in a 124 seat House (assuming all electorate seats are held). This might be some consolation to any of you who are worried about a National government that can govern on its own.
An also interesting fact is that this poll is the third most viewed item according to stuff. I don’t know if that bodes well for Labour or not, but it is interesting given that I assumed the average voter didn’t give a crap about polls this far from an election.
People-smugglers in Indonesia are promoting a passage to New Zealand in
shipping containers for up to $17,000 a person and are describing it to
would-be customers as “the cruise ship option”, an Australian news
investigation has found.
Exactly bad – a made up story with the only real interest being why now, what are they afraid of, what don’t they want people talking about – hmmm hollowhooton gives a clue, I also notice some righties still trying to beat up brown – spring is definitely here – lots of blowhards and some spittle.
LOLZ, i can well imagine that particular ship steaming toward Wellington Harbor with A container full of refugees sitting on the deck,(nothing to see here officer)…
Tony Abbott elected on promises of stopping the “boat people”, doesn’t believe in climate change … Fairfax newspapers 14% owned by mining magnate Gina Rinehart start spinning the idea that the “boat people” won’t be coming to Australia. Convenient.
According to the video at the bottom of the link above 52% of fast food families use public assistance benefits to survive (time stamp 1:35- 1:42 but watch until the end it’s only a few seconds and it makes a valid point)
What percentage of NZ families that work in similar jobs are reliant on the state for assistance just to pay basic living costs? If welfare is known to be dangerous to your health, why is the burden not shifted back onto the employer instead of the state?
Big business and big money rules US politics now. Has done for about 40 years. Extremely bad in the last 10 years. Their ability to maintain their Union will come into real question one day.
Well, duh, then the employer wouldn’t make as much profit and they would only have one income stream rather than two. The second being all the money that they’re loaning the government to pay for the costs induced by their low wages.
McD’s USA
These comments are at the bottom of the item at No.9 on low pay. It seems that all of us brought up under the western free market propaganda model respond to complaints by finding fault with the complainer. Being able to coolly look at the situation in its context is not a skill learned at school or home.
fidel 27.10.2013 19:15 – reply to
Ed Walton 25.10.2013 01:58
She’s worked at an entry level job for ten years; yet has no skills to move up. McDonalds isn’t the problem.
Reply – Hey Ed, I’ve worked in this type of environment years ago and it hasn’t changed. As soon as you get the smarts on doing your job and show any initiative, they lay you off. They have a wage ceiling and as soon as you arrive at it, the next step is the door. A lot cheaper to hire 15+ year olds and pay them squat
fidel 27.10.2013 19:05 – reply to
Jp 27.10.2013 06:19
This is smoke screen… Mcdonald that’s for young adults, just to learn how to work… That was my first job 32 years ago! Why are they still working there?
Reply – Th ere aren’t any other jobs you idiot, or do you ever get out or read a newspaper? The real unemployment rate in the good ole USA is almost 10%!
Ya know, you cant pick and choose the polls you like and dont like, you can talk of trends, over and under polling, but when a majority of polls are pointing to one thing, then that thing is probably going to happen. The only thing that is a certainly is that the greens always poll way higher than the numbers they actually get on election day.
Third term for national for sure, but then Labour will get in the next time, because they will stop this communist stance that they’re promoting to make all the unionists and pta members hard.
“Ya know, you cant pick and choose the polls you like and dont like”
Why not, as long as you pick and chose on the basis of faulty method or demonstrated bias. Picking and choosing on the basis of the results would be stupid.
So I take it you support a Final Solution for trade unionists.
Given that you supported the anti union thug, Peter Jackson, who would rather take production of his crappy overlong movie offshore than deal with a trade union and give his workers sick leave and ACC, that pretty much makes you anti union. And who cares if banning unions would guarantee a sweatshop economy, like in China.
Peter Jackson should be in court for his anti democratic thuggish behavior, and the systematic black listing of unionists in the movie industry is something that needs a Royal Commission to look into, and others to be procecuted. Even if every producer, director and film boss in the country was hauled before the ERA and every dollar squeezed out of them in fines.
BEING IN A UNION IS A DEMOCRATIC RIGHT.
Had PJ made the Hobbit in China, all he had to do was ring up the local PLA barracks, and AE members would be sent to the nearest labour camp, or worse.
“Ya know, you cant pick and choose the polls you like and dont like, you can talk of trends, over and under polling, but when a majority of polls are pointing to one thing, then that thing is probably going to happen.”
And the majority of polls point to a change of Government. So what was your, er, point, again?
You mean the three polls after the labour leader election, that pointed to the labour/greens victory and not the 75 polls that pointed to a national victory?
75-3, now Im no good will hunting, but ya dont need to be, with those numbers.
Yeah, ’cause political opinions don’t change over time, and a poll that is 3+ years out from an election is going to be more accurate than one taken 1 year out from an election.
It must be a very confusing place inside that little brain of yours, Brett.
Of the last 14 Roy Morgan polls, the left bloc have come out ahead in 10 of them, and the last 5 in a row. So there’s that.
According to Brett’s logic, National did not actually form a government in 2008, because the majority of polls conducted over 1999-2008 showed Labour would be able to form a government.
His mental dysfunction goes even deeper than that: clearly we only need to conduct a single political poll, because nothing ever changes. That’s why Brett was so surprised to see *another poll* conducted, because what would be the point of that?
No Brett, Key was the firm fave in about 20 out of the 144 polls conducted over the 1999-2008 period, so therefore Labour was obviously going to win 2008, based on the exact same logic you’ve displayed in this thread.
Im always running, but im always running behind.
Never stop to smell the roses the roses, you can always
smell them when your running with them in your hand.
Brett, just about every recent poll, including the historically inaccurate ones like this, show National’s slow slide to the opposition benches. Like it or not, this is MMP and there is no poll saying that National is going win more votes than they did at the last election and without UF, ACT and the MP to prop them up, that’s what they have to do to win.
Donkeyote is beginning to look more and more like the “MUMMY” on teevee last night.
When the magic formula is read he will disappear like a puff of dust.
“simultaneous to this increase in election poll incidence and coverage has been a worldwide decline in issue based political reporting.[3] The increased focus on election poll results and coalition possibilities is said to have “squeezed” out more relevant types of political information.[4] Factual reporting on parties’ and candidates’ policy positions, track records and capabilities is in sharp decline.[5] This holds true in regard to the 2008 New Zealand election campaign: of the top five most covered topics in the media (accounting for 50% of all election campaign coverage), only one topic, the economy, involved discussion of policy, track records and capabilities.[6] While media coverage of election poll results and coalition possibilities is increasing, reporting of political issues is becoming increasingly superficial and trivial.[7]””
Iprent, you seem to forget how Labour did over the same period. If you look at the average of polls you will see in 12 months before the 2011 election National dropped 4% but Labour dropped nearly twice that at 7.5%.
I know its hard to bare but when the cold light of argument shines on Labours policies and record they dont seem to do so well. Cunliffes honeymoon only lasted a month, JKs seems to be going on forever. Remember all that rubbish in 2009 when all were saying JKs honeymoon is over!
A link to the proof of your assertions will go a long way toward making the debate more meaningful or did you just read the comments in the post and think to apply Nationals 2011 pre-election polling from the same organization being presently discussed to the Labour Party instead…
Did you forget that once the books were made public Cullen said”the cupboard is bare” a great achievement after 9 years when the economies of every country in the OECD boomed. After 5 years of National Government when the World has been in recession, we have Growth in NZ,the envy of most OECD countiies. Under the last 6 months of Labour Negative Growth,of as Labours finance minister said” a technical recession”
Did you forget that you wingnuts spent nine years complaining that Cullen was running a surplus and paying down debt?
When you say “the cupboard is bare”, you do recall some tax cuts eh? You see, government raises revenue (that means money) by levying “taxes” (like tennis club fees) and then uses them to provide services as approved by Parliament – things like roads and schools and hospitals and remedial education and support teachers, and all the other things you are a beneficiary of.
So when a government voluntarily slashes its own income who emptied the cupboard?
Please try and keep up.
what a blinkered opinion, Cullen said the cupboard was bare before National had a budget and lowered taxes,did you forget they also put up GST to compensate for the loss of income or is your memory just a bit selective. Remember also that increasing taxes isnt the only answer, it was labours only answer but try growth. You know that thing thats happening under a National Government. More growth =more income = more taxerevenue. Just trying to Tax Rich pricks is a failed Labour policy. If you want a succesful economy it has to grow pushing up wages without growth and taxes without increasing income just leaves you and your policies on the opposition benches,funny that isnt it!
If you dont believe me check Greece and cyprus and most of Europe,especialy the bits with a leftwing Government.
What a strange answer. Have wages realoy gone down over the last30 years , thefacts say different.
evidence for “despite national” In recession National has done as well as Labour in the boom years. You explain why we were 2 places lower inOECD rankings after Labour got in and since National got in WE have gained 2 places! ! to 2 billion ,which, its quite a big difference. Are you saying we are better off because National reduced our total tax gift to the Government and yet improved policing ,health and the economy. More of that please!
Sorry mate, you are dreaming. Most people reading this blog understand that prices have gone up while wages and hours have struggled and fallen behind.
Shame you are so out of touch, you almost had prospects (well, not really).
Must be all those facts that you’re not used to seeing.
In recession National has done as well as Labour in the boom years.
Citation needed and, no, linking to National Party website, Kiwiblog or WhaleOil will not be regarded as reliable source.
You explain why we were 2 places lower inOECD rankings after Labour got in and since National got in WE have gained 2 places!
Oh, that’s easy. We were, and still are, following neo-liberal policies, i.e, the free-market. This resulted in our economy turning to custard over the last thirty years. The reason why we’re relatively up now is because a few other countries, following the same delusional economic prescriptions, have suddenly become worse off (really, this is only a surprise to the neo-liberals and RWNJs).
Are you saying we are better off because National reduced our total tax gift to the Government and yet improved policing ,health and the economy.
Nope, I’m saying we’re worse off because of those things. More poverty, more money going to the non-productive rich and debt sky-rocketing.
You spelled ‘Want’ wrong, and should have finished with a question mark not a comma.
Cullen lowered taxes you nonce, hence the ‘cupboard being bare’ comment.
As for National’s growth, if you factor out record dairy prices, you start to get what they can take credit for. Building roads that don’t make the grade in terms of the Ministry’s own method for determining good value spending, rebuilding ChCh which has to happen but falls under ‘broken windows’, and a housing boom that English spent the first few years telling us was what his ‘rebalancing’ of the economy was supposed to move us away from.
Well you must be looking at a socialist version. When Labour came to goverment the last time we were rated 20th on our economy in the OECD. Clarks plan was to increase our ranking. In 2004 we had dropped to21st, 2007 to 22nd were we remained until National took over. We are now back to 20th under National. Its taken 5 years to undo the damage Labour did last time.
For the bulk of the Clark govt, NZ averaged a quarter of a percent above the OECD quarterly growth figure, with about a quarter of the data points being lower than the OECD average..
For Key’s government, that’s not less than a tenth above the OECD figure on average, with a ratio of 7:11 under:over the OECD average.
We’re only at 20 in the OECD list because the other countries in the list dropped farther after the GFC than we did.
I don’t think this is to any particular credit to National, because they basically did nothing in response to the GFC – not really difficult. I think it’s more a reflection of our economy: we’re a primary producer of agricultural products with very little in the way of value-add. This makes it difficult for us to rise up the OECD rankings, but conversely also means we won’t fall as far when troubled economic times hit, because we simply don’t have a very complex or dynamic economy.
Reality Draco. Labour in the wildest dreams cant expect to come near 50% in the election. National are going to be bloody close! Labour see it as a great success to get above 30% in the polls and see it as a failure if National get less than 50%. What a strange World to live in.
National need 50% in order to be able to form a government.
It’s an ideal example of why neoliberalism fails: by refusing cooperation and basic social interaction with anyone of a different creed, National now need to provide pretty much all their electoral support for themselves. If they fail to achieve an outstanding victory, they will sit on the opposition benches until they learn to play with others. The left, on the other hand, can work together, respecting, accepting, and accommodating different policy objectives. Each party might not achieve dominance and the power to ram through their particular policy fetish, but by working together, they have a much better chance of sitting on the government benches. While scrooge mcfuck yells “humbug” from the other side, while getting his woodlice to sniff underwear in the search for scandal.
I am not so sure how the next election will go to be honest. Mr Cunliffe is as silent as Shearer was. The general public needs to know what Labour stands for as many have forgotten. One needs to remember that the ordinary folks out there are scared to loose the job, being able to raise their kids, pay the doctor, go onto retirement etc… once people are in that predicament its very difficult to get them changing their opinion and vote, if they vote at all.
What do you mean with Huh??? – Maybe academic and political circles talk a lot about him, but Joe blogs does not hear much. I know he is traveling the provinces but what are the policies re employment, growth, sustainability, debt and taxes etc…try to ask people in the street and you will quickly realize that not many can give any answers.
Yes, but isn’t that his job? He was sitting a long time on the backbench able to put some coherent ideas together. Or is this just a case of not revealing to much too soon?
Aint going to work as he hasnt done well. Do you realy think trying to rig the poll will help Labour. See colmar Brunton. Labour 34% and only a third of them think hes a good performer. Do I see another Labour leader before election day.
Ok you’ll need to explain why that comment was creepy because apart from what I’m guessing is your inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy I’m not sure how something that was complimentary could be taken as creepy
But I’m sure you’ll have some totally plausible explanation
When the economy is fucked, the unemployment is on the rise and the living standard keeps dropping, let’s keep the masses distracted with scaremongering about boatloads of asylum seekers heading for our shores:
Economy F8888d not according to every economic indicator.A world reccession and National are dragging NZ up the OECD scale, unlike Labour were we dropped.
And your comment shows very much what manipulation is being applied. Of cause the US is in a very bad state due to the money press running since quite a while. What will happen when it stops? The contraction in the world markets will certainly be felt. Japan, another one that is in a similar situation and China’s economy is coming off the boil. Of cause NZ looks good against this backdrop, even Bangladesh would. To compare this to a NZ when all 3 major trading partners had not yet seen the banking crush of 2008 is simply deceit. None of the NZ parties will or have ever been able to influence any of this. To sell this to the NZ public as an achievement is almost treachery.
This might appeal to all those upright ethical tory lads suddenly so concerned about leadership ethics and morality……
From NRT: John Key [p 13] spent $110 on very expensive skin-care products, tagged as “NZ skin care for protocol officer”. Was it a gift? Because if it wasn’t, it seems extravagant. Not to mention odd
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
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Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
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The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
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Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
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Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...
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In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased 29 percent, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year. ...
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says his party will pull its support for the new anti-terrorism legislation if the minister doesn't meet with them next week and start negotiating in good faith. ...
For the latest episode of On the Rag, notorious prude Alex Casey enlisted the help of sex toy expert and pleasure therapist Teddy Curle. It sounds a bit like ingredients for an avant-garde stir-fry recipe. Cauliflower. Kūmara. A jar of Vegemite. But what it actually is, sex toy expert Teddy Curle ...
It is deeply concerning that the state of our marine environment has not improved in the last three years. Resilient coasts and oceans are essential to New Zealanders' health and wealth, so urgent action is needed to address the decline. ...
Something’s crowning this Christmas, and it isn’t King Richard of Aldovia in his favourite tiara. Tara Ward looks at what Netflix’s new movie A Christmas Prince: A Royal Baby could mean for us all. Yesterday Netflix announced they’re about to give birth to the third instalment in the legendary series A Christmas ...
In a new initiative, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence is celebrating and recognising the careers of three Māori leaders and visionaries, who have a long history of bringing about major social change ...
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The Government has today released its discussion paper ‘ Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System ’ providing detail of what proposed law for Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) could include. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Associate Professor in Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab, University of Melbourne The polls were wrong in the last US and Australian federal elections. Hillary Clinton was favoured to win at a margin of 85% to Donald Trump’s 15%. ...
Today is World Ecolabel Day and to mark the occasion New Zealand’s premier ecolabel has released a study showing the powerful environmental effect of ecolabelled products. ...
Family First's continued fight against attempts by the government's Charities Registration Board to deregister them is set to continue in the Court of Appeal in Wellington next week (Tues & Wed 22-23 Oct). In a significant development, the Charity Law ...
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Farmers for Positive Change (F4PC) congratulates environmental, recreation and public health groups for coming to a united position on the Government’s freshwater reform and finds significant areas of agreement with the Healthy Water, Healthy Future joint ...
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Right to Life asks, why the Special Abortion Legislation Bill Committee is continuing to discriminate by refusing to hear the 2,740 submitters who have requested the right to make a ten minute oral submission on the highly contentious abortion Bill conceived ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Byron, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Wollongong I am in year 11 and I like to listen to music when I am studying, but my dad says that my brain is spending only half of its time studying and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith University Good planning needs integrity, and public participation should play a role in that. But a row over a high-rise development proposed for suburban Brisbane shows what happens when the public feels left out ...
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The commentary around local election turnout is littered with misunderstanding. Yes, there’s a problem, but we should regard any suggestion of a single, simple solution with deep suspicion, writes local elections expert Julienne MolineauxThe Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming ...
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Open mike 28/10/2013 
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
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Interesting new poll: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9332786/Poll-a-major-blow-to-Labour
Personally, I struggle to believe National could get more than the 47.3% it won in 2011. Governments tend to lose votes over time. Having said that, National won only 44.9% in 2008 so John Key has already broken the rule once.
Umm, so what was the polling from Fairfax just before the 2011 election?
http://curiablog.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/fairfax-research-international-poll-23-november-2011/
Oh yeah Fairfax had National at 54%. They got 47%. So they had about a 7% drop in how many days? Fluke?
So lets look at 2008?
http://curiablog.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/fairfax-poll-november-2008/
National at 49% – but in the election they got 45%! 4% of their vote just disappeared
Basically the Fairfax poll has always massively overstated the National potential to win votes. I guess that is why you cling to it like a child wrapping themselves around their comfort blankie…
BBQ season in Wellington Central me thinks…
Well, exactly. The polls always seem to overstate National’s support. Although you are not comparing apples with apples. This poll was by Ipsos, the 2011 one was by Research International and the 2005 one by Nielson.
See my reply to Andrew
But you have just successfully made the case for ignoring Fairfax polls.
That three different companies have consistently managed to follow practices that massively overstate Nationals support tends to indicate that there may be a systematic bias from that source? It is a small sample but it certainly does indicate that to me…
It’s not just Fairfax though. All the main polls (Herald, Fairfax, TVNZ, TV3) have tended to overstate National’s support. It’s as if their sampling has some sort of inbuilt bias against the smaller parties. One thing’s for sure though the latest Roy Morgan with Nats on 41.5% (and no chance of forming a majority) and this Fairfax poll with Nats on 50% can’t both be right.
Something to keep in mind when making that comparison, is that pre-election poll was carried out by a different polling company. Ipsos started polling for Fairfax after the election.
I know. But if you look back in the record for fairfax polls you’ll find at least one other company doing their polls that I’m aware of. It never seems to make much difference to the overall outcome that the “Fairfax poll” gets. They massively overstate the right to suspicious extent. I suspect that the polling companies that Fairfax uses all operate by the maxim that the customer is always right(ish).
That plus their sporadic schedule means that they are essentially useless when divining the tea leaves for election results. Probably why Matthew dribbles on about them.
I prefer the much more frequent polling by Roy Morgan that isn’t done for any organisation with a hidden agenda. Despite the usual statistical variation and sampling biases, it is possible to see actual trends in that rather than the need for interesting headlines.
Good point about poll frequency.
I don’t think though that any polling company would let a client influence the results in any way, shape, or form. The interpretation maybe, but not the results themselves. If polling company did, they could be thrown out of the MRSNZ.
Given the expectation for how well Labour/Greens are doing at the moment, I suspect the people at Fairfax were a surprised by the result as people here are.
Excuse my typos. I’m not wearing my glasses and I’m using my iPad. A bad combination.
That is the daft thing. I wasn’t surprised. If you think of this thing narratively rather than statistically, then a completely different poll result that can spun as a reversal is one of those twists that makes for a good story.
All that has to be done is to pick a technique that may follow statistical practices, but does not accurately reflect the voting population.
For instance my favourite example is the way that using listed land line polling systematically overstates the right. Parts of Auckland have been down at or lower than 50% listed-land-lines per household against the electoral roll for nearly a decade. Whereas in other parts of the country are closer to 90% listed-land-line. Moreover apart from the urban/provincials split, in every region the poorer voters and the younger voters with a landline are distinctly more likely to not have a accessible land-line.
So guess what is the sampling technique that Fairfax pays for?
That’s some interesting data you cite there. Do you have a source?
I’m pretty sure none of the main polling companies survey only listed landlines. They use RDD, so every landline is given a chance of selection, including the unlisted ones.
Sampling from the electoral roll would be a silly idea for a phone survey, coz you would have to match with only listed numbers. That’s pretty daft for a political poll, as lists are biased in favour of home and vehicle owners.
Ah no. RDD is a bit of a myth. Even if you had the switch ranges, the number system gaps between exchanges mean that it is unlikely to be random. Without them in a 8 digit system covering less than 2 million households, your probabilities are low to even find a open number.
But more basically, try and find a person with unlisted numbers who has been called.
The electoral roll is the population that is attempted to be sampled in a political poll.
I think you should look into RDD a bit more. You simply ping them to test if they are connected.
As I said, matching the electoral roll with published phone listings results in a bias toward home and vehicle owners, and an extremely small response rate if you factor in all the people you can’t match.
RDD ain’t no myth. I use it myself, and we update it to cover all known number ranges.
Ha! I wrote this on my cell, but it didn’t show up initially, which is why there is a similar and better expressed post below. Apologies 🙂
This unlisted number has never been called.
I’d be extremely pissed off if I did get a call, with the caller likely to be called every bastard under the sun.
The whole point of having an unlisted number is to be selective in who you want to give your number to.
I have an unlisted number, and I have been called.
Did you ask how they got your number?
I hope no offence is taken by this, but I’m afraid you misunderstand the process of generating RDD sample.
Random numbers are generated within known number ranges. It’s not hard to work out the known number ranges from published listings. The random numbers are then pinged to find the connected numbers. There is a whole lot more to the process too, like selecting in proportion to the size of each area while factoring in the connection rate.
I use RDD for surveys I design, so I know exactly how it’s done, and how it shown be done properly. For my surveys we call people with unlisted numbers all the time.
Using the electoral roll for telephone samples requires tele-matching against published listings. These listings are biased in favour of home and vehicle owners, and they exclude unlisted numbers. Also, once you factor in all the people you can’t match, either because they have no landline, they have moved, or their number is unlisted, then the response rate for this type of survey is *extremely* low.
I can guarantee you that RDD sampling isn’t a myth. Just send me an email if you’d like to know more about it.
So RDD based sampling for political polls captures persons not on the electoral roll as well?
If RDD sampling is reasonably systematically unbiased, how else can you explain National’s support being fairly consistently over-estimated by the polls?
Well there are many potential sources of polling error, other than sampling error.
The polls mostly screen for eligible voters, as far as I’m aware.
I explain what I mean about polling error on my blog Tat Loo.
http://grumpollie.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/error-in-polls-and-surveys-2/
Cheers.
you can f*ck off
A case in point was John Armstrong in a column a month or so ago,(sorry i havn’t got a link for it), openly admitted that He ‘thought’ the Reid-poll skewed it’s results by asking respondents a series of leading questions designed specifically to have respondents favor one party over another…
If it’s true that Armstrong said that, then I believe he’s wrong.
The polling code, which is soon to be ratified by the MRSNZ, requires the principal voting question to be asked early in the interview. The person who runs the Reid poll was involved in putting the code together. I know him, and I don’t believe he would do this.
Andrew, i like naive people, you know the person involved in putting the Reid-poll together, explains your explanations then doesn’t it, care to explain what connection you have to these polling organizations…
Well I’ve worked in the research industry for ten years. I’m also a Labour Party supporter – is it still okay that I post here?
Both your assertions are to say the least questionable without the addition of the magic stuff that makes the pie taste sweet, ‘Proof’,
By ‘research’ are you alluding to the particular branch of alchemy which produces political polls???,
i do not know whether the question you ask is directed at me personally as i have no say what-so-ever in who comments here at the Standard, but, as an indicative signpost i usually distrust those who’s writing tends to portray them in a light of a somewhat different hue than the musings of your average Labour Party supporter,
In other words suit yourself an examination of a continued commentary from you would in effect show us all where your true political allegiances should or do lie….
really bad 12 ? (do you contemplate before you press ‘enter.?)
the answer to “Andrew” – try harder
Ghostrider, for a negative comment directed at me it contains not enough information to give you a full reply so i will just resort to yes dickhead i do…
my bad 12
Maybe the answer is a lot simpler – bully tactics, long practiced at school level and beyond. If you can convince a many of the validity of a few you can win the argument. Publish that party xy is the top dog and bob is your uncle. All you need is some gullible folk and unveiled threat of doom.
Participation in the political process would demand some interest in the community and nation at large. Look around you and be honest. My experience is that if I just make an innocent comment in my work canteen such as:” it will be difficult for west coasters to find a job”, blank stares is all I get. I don’t bother with conversation about the social/political life really, there is no vigorous thought process out there and I don’t want to provoke some banjo playing. Best to stick to the weather, family, sport and hmmmm…. food perhaps is another one.
This is why such pols become self fulfilling prophecies.
some MOFO truth to that!
Dreaming
Seems to me they could have headlined that article “Labour up 2 percent since leadership change”.
I don’t have any trouble believing that the poll has National able or nearly able to form a government. There are an awful lot of people who honestly think the opinions expressed on Whaleoil and Kiwiblog are rational.
That is what makes National the largest party. They have been consolidating the nuts over the last decade as the other conservative parties die from voter starvation. But even with the 800k non-vote, they have pretty well hit the limits of how much the right accretion in the upcoming election.
That lack of accretion is the underlying reason for the SOE asset sales. They were hoping to widen the base of shareholding voters to increase their pool of voters.
well, they are fooked now.
So Matthew what do you think National should do about Slater? Looks like his promised expose on Brown has not occurred …
I feel like even Len can’t move on. He’s cancelled events. I think he still has to be worried.”
Is this shorthand from her, she knows more then she is letting on?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9332912/Chuang-feels-much-better-now
Fuckin Bunny Boiler
you may retire gracefully now
It was “Pete” on Whaleoil who said there would be new information over the long weekend, not Cameron Slater. See http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/10/friday-general-debate-8/#axzz2ix3dMo6J
I don’t know who Pete is.
Pete is Cameron Slater.
Probably a waste of time but I’ll bite: Got any proof or just making it up again?
speaking of “wastes of time”…
Just have a look at what gets posted as “Pete”, and pay particular attention to the regular features. Draw your own conclusions.
Of course it’s possible that Slater actually does have a staff of several different people posting on his site under various names, but you’d have to ask why they keep sharing their logins with each other.
matthew hooten..how can it be..?
..that you claim..
..to have never eaten..
.. a frozen pea..?
..we’ve heard you’ve said:..’they’re not for the likes of me!..
..it’s my delicate palate..you see..’
..(and should we call you..
.. ‘new zealands’ marie’..?..)
..and what a great campaign/election slogan (in epsom) that would be..
“frozen peas..they’re not for the likes of you and me..!
..vote hooten/act..!..”
phillip ure..
phillip ure …..lol +1
What are you talking about. I had frozen peas for dinner last night. And paid GST on them.
@ hooten..
..from yrslf..
..on nat-rad..
..(no memory of it..?..)
..and w.t.f. has ‘paying gst’ got to do with anything..?
..is it part of yr ‘tax is theft’/fuck-the-poor!/rand-ite worldview..?
..a great election slogan tho’..
..eh..?
..you’d be ‘talking to yr people’..eh..?
..they would understand..eh..?
..and my search of whoar under ‘frozen peas’..
..threw this one up..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/tandem-lies-hooton-and-farrar-sing-a-song-of-simple-men/
..enjoy..!
..phillip ure..
interesting when one has one’s own site
Keep clutching at them straws Hooten, i thought even you wouldn’t be so stupid as to keep trying to flog the ‘Governing alone’ ghost back to life,
It’s good to see such desperation across the whole written media spectrum with the Herald writers now producing only advertorials extolling the National Government this should give them a little more oxygen…
a clear marker of the widespread panic in the right..
..(aside from the corporate-media editors desperately searching for little shards of rightwing-light..anywhere they can..funny to watch..that one..eh..?..)
..is that they are viewing (E.T.-impersonator/christian-fundamentalist in neo-con-drag) colin craig..
as some kinda ‘solution’..
..whoar..!
..eh..?
..have they even read his policies/beliefs..?
..’woof!-woof!’..
..desperate times..indeed..!
..phillip ure..
It’s easy tho to see why clutching at the very thin straws other’s have plucked from the bale is more to Hootens liking than the political prediction site which He now claims,(since it started producing results He don’t like), to not have anything to do with,
From ipredict this morning,
Prime Minister after 2014 election, Cunliffe 53.3%, Slippery(Key) 48%,
Finance Minister after 2014 election, Parker 50%, English 37.8%,
Party Vote 2014 election, National 40.1%, Governing alone, nah laughably Governing non-one…
Mind you the ‘Loons’ over at ipredict don’t get into trying to ‘lead’ the voters round by the nose with the simpletons ‘National can Govern alone polls’ of the boring old mass media,
The ‘Loons’ over at the other place like to plumb the depths of their affliction by producing suggestive ‘predictions’ of a National/NZFirst/Conservative grand coalition,
NZ First and the Conservatives with 4.7% of the Party vote each, come in ‘spinner’…
As bad12 alludes to, I no longer do the PR for iPredict, but I still think it provides far better indications of future events, including elections, than polls. As bad12 points out, it says Labour is favoured and that its probability of leading the next govt has increased since the change of leader.
“Look at me! I’m relevant! I’m a serious political commentator that people take seriously!”
Christ Hoots, could you be any less obvious?
Very Good, carry on.
”Come in spinner” and lo and behold He does, spinning ever faster Hooten now flips the coin and speaks from the other side of His mouth,
The Fairfax poll gives the next election to National and the ipredict gives the next election to Labour/Green and you believe the both of them Hooten???,
Things must get really interesting inside your head…
😎
Quick, look over there…
If it aint beneficiaries, its asylum seekers (today) to use as a distraction. Because John Banks ‘has nothing to fear and nothing to hide’.
Good Work Audrey, nothing like keeping the embers of stupidity warm.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11147302
Hoots should be fitted with a tachometer.
a flow-meter
Bejeezus: 21.9% of those polled “don’t know or don’t intend to vote”
One fifth!
Great they actually published the “Dont Know” number, for once.
And that’s why Labour should can any ideas about converting “centre” votes from National. There are far more votes to be had winning the disengaged, and you don’t have to be a sellout to do it.
+111
That applies to all the left parties. Leave the centre to UF and NZ1st with National out on the far right.
+ 1 True but I doubt they will take that advice.
Love, and Rockets Esperanza
In her opinion piece, Tracy Watkins says “That is the shifting ground beneath undecided voters. Among the 12.5 per cent of voters we questioned, 29.7 per cent lean toward Labour, while 22.2 per cent lean to National.”
So assuming that 12.5% = the undecided voters, that still leaves 9.4% of people not intending to vote. 9% is still a lot, but I think that would be a better turnout than last election which is something (assuming all undecided voters vote).
It’s adorable how you say “Interesting new poll” as though you’re not pushing a very specific narrative by posting it. No no, this is just Matthew Hooton, naive, unbiased commenter, linking to something he thinks will be of interest to his fellow Standard commenters, honest, pay no attention to the rightwing spin behind the curtain. 🙄
More of Hootens Horseshit. He spouts it here, he spouts it there, he spouts it everywhere, FFS Hooten. The only ones that believe this crap, are you, BB, and the Knuckle dragger. The rest of us are waiting or the REAL poll. From Morgans.
lou reed has died..
(..shit..!..)
..and vale..!
phillip ure..
My last comment went into moderation.
Will try again:
Ahhh time to remember some great music.
a knee before you doc.
RIP Lou
well, if one can ‘master’ H, and ‘master’ ‘A’, then one is on the Way. slowly, slowly, makes progress.
[deleted]
[lprent:I see you haven’t lost your ability to be outright stupid is still intacft. The question is if I want to have the pointless abuse it generates between here and next years election? ]
You are all class BB. Phillip marks the passing of one of the most important musicians of the last 50 years and you abuse him …
Just asked a fair question Micky.
By the way, not good poll ratings for your man is it. The ABC sect will be very encouraged.
As for Lou Reed, highly over rated.
Yeah, the squares were always frightened by Lou. I think it was the honesty; he lived his own life and never tried to live someone else’s.
Not only did Lou frighten the squares but he also went over the heads of the morans.
bruv misses out on both counts.
Bruv’s just another Jim Jim, felix. And we know Lou really didn’t care about them, eh?
😀
Hey, ease off the Irish. There’s nothing wrong with Morans.
yeah..i thought felix was a bit harsh on the morans there..too..
..interesting story about the morans..
..the ones that came to nz..
..dropped the ‘ns’ from their name..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Not only did Lou frighten the squares but he also went over the heads of the morans.
I take it the Morans were a particularly stupid family?
http://tucsoncitizen.com/baja-democrats/files/2012/08/moran-1.jpg
And yet when people who review and produce music for a living rate artists and albums across decades and genres Lou features twice (berlin and transformer) and the velevet underground 3 times.
So between them and the punters he appears universally overated, I guess we cant all have your refined tastes BB.
I prefer to pay attention to Brian Eno rather than BB – and not just on music:
Yep you can trace punk music to the stuff he was doing 10 years before …
We are at that point where alot of the ground breaking artists of the 60-80’s are passing on. Bowie is heading toward 70 and a decade or so of cocaine abuse will probably catch him also.
Just watched sorcese’s excellent doco on George harrison, well worth a look.
eno is a legend with an intellect most artists would kill for.
“..and a decade or so of cocaine abuse will probably catch him also..”
um..!..a bit of a fact-check here..a decade of heavy abuse of alcohol..
..will permanently fuck you more than a decade of coke..
..and funnily enough..
..i found cocaine one of the easiest drugs to kick..
..i just decided to stop..that i had had enough to know all i needed to know..
..and that was it..
..no major physical/mental withdrawals etc as you get from alcohol/heroin/cigs/barbiturates etc..
..and he might get struck by lightening..
..but i can’t see his past coke-habit directly contributing to his eventual dropping off of the twig..
…eh..?
..phillip ure..
Who can say for sure but stressing up your system isnt good in any form over a long period and Bowie has already had heart issues.
ongoing poverty ‘stresses’ more than cocaine use..
..that i can say ‘for sure’..
..and of course..the poor die younger..
..phillip ure..
or, die for…
Big Bruv writes – ‘As for Lou Reed, highly over rated.’
By who? You? Who are you to state such a vacuous thing on the day he died? Fuck Off The Planet you Dick.
No, and Yes
Gutted. Whenever I pick up a guitar, the first song I play is inevitably one of Lou’s.
+1 🙁
R.I.P. Lou Reed.
.
imitations
Time to mourn the passing of one of the best muso’s of the late 20th Century. May he rest in Peace.
A-Men
Hard to believe poll really. The fact of the matter is that polls and politics are full of professional liars and manipulators so the voter has little chance to make genuine choices anymore and the fact of the matter is they havent since the rise and dominance of polls and professional liars over the last few years.
I find all polls distasteful and unnecessary. Deliberately operating to tell people what to think.
lets trial having no polls for 3 years. The fact of the matter is that Life wont decline for anyone but the professional liars and pollsters.
I propose that everytime the professional liars come up with a new bullshit word strategy that all parties and people start using it liberally to neutralise it.
One poll with a shift within margin of error, is not much of an indicator on its own.
If Nationals internal polling was indicating that Key was really going to beat his 2011 result… Hooten wouldn’t be working early on Labour Day.
The problem for Key is that despite the media bullshit, Key only won the last election by 45,000 votes. Maybe less. He has no margin of safety to lose.
Nonetheless, the point is made: Labour and the Greens have to play a sharp game over the next 12 months, National is going to Fight back hard. They’re not just going to walk away in 2014.
One poll and you perform like a seal.
SHIT, would be that word Tracey
Xox
Firstly. Polls are unnecessary, distracting and manipulative.
Second. No surprise there, they are right leaning and publicise a right wing view.
Third. This tactic was successful for the Right wing at the last election, as evidenced by the low voter turnout, which clearly indicated disengagement from the democratic process.
Russell Brand has a valid point. Voting for the corporate backed
current democratic process is failing. USA, GB, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland etc etc. Why don’t we try something new called Democracy. Cf corporate crazy.. Dumocrupcy!
“Why don’t” you find another political blog to share your acumen with!
Agres phil. Shooten up is here trumpetting it cos he knows polls work like other advertising.
funny how any crusade to ban polls gets no support from most pollies or media. Polling us a form of pimping
Forest and Bird,
Any truth in the rumour that forest and bird are buying shares in Bathurst Resources to try to regain some of the money they have thrown away on frivolous court challenges ???
[lprent: seems unlikely. Changed an unlinked attempt to create a rumour to an appropriate color. Next time you try it, you disappear for a while. ]
wotta dick!
In the new poll, 1/5th of voters hadn’t made up their minds yet, and most of those undecided voters were leaning towards Labour. Shows how much Labour needs to increase voter turnout.
Is another Roy Morgan poll coming out soon? Seems we are due for one.
And I agree with some of the above sentiment about opinion polls. They should be banned during campaign season. They just encourage people to either vote for the winner (bandwagon effect), or vote for the loser (underdog effect). People should be voting on their preference. Also waste time on the news when they could be reporting about actual issues.
I’d advocate for a ban on polling activity and poll reporting for the 72 hours before election day, to force people and the press to focus on debating the issues, not the polls.
Why 72 hours? Why not a week?
Or 6 weeks? 😈
I think that’s not enough time before the election day to be considering issues. If you’re interested, Bryce Edwards did a series of interesting blog posts based on someone’s Honours thesis about how opinion polls influence the way individuals vote (Link: http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2011/11/do-opinion-polls-influence-voters-1-introduction.html)
Thx…
Needs to be over the entire electioneering period which also needs to be longer than the present 6 weeks.
DTB
I think that the polling etc keeps the election before the public. It wouldn’t be good to have it pushed onto the backburner in people’s minds. Maybe stop polls etc for two weeks before, not longer. People who are particularly susceptible to poll reports will be making their minds up in the last two, even one, week.
There are better ways to to keep the election before the public such as informing them of the parties policies.
I picked a 3 day poll blackout period in order to balance concerns around freedom of press. If there was widespread support for a longer period say 7 or 14 days then yes, it should be implemented.
Tracy Watkins has said that “That is the shifting ground beneath undecided voters. Among the 12.5 per cent of voters we questioned, 29.7 per cent lean toward Labour, while 22.2 per cent lean to National.” (Link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9332783/National-sailing-on-unchecked)
If we add those voters in and assume they vote for who they lean towards, National lose a seat, but still have 62 seats in a 124 seat House (assuming all electorate seats are held). This might be some consolation to any of you who are worried about a National government that can govern on its own.
An also interesting fact is that this poll is the third most viewed item according to stuff. I don’t know if that bodes well for Labour or not, but it is interesting given that I assumed the average voter didn’t give a crap about polls this far from an election.
Your time is up!
Asylum ‘cruises’ to NZ touted
People-smugglers in Indonesia are promoting a passage to New Zealand in
shipping containers for up to $17,000 a person and are describing it to
would-be customers as “the cruise ship option”, an Australian news
investigation has found.
I thought Labour said this was impossible.
Link please, or you made it up.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11147302
And the part where Labour said it was “impossible” is where?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/9332917/New-Zealand-easy-route-for-people-smugglers
There was a more dramatic headlined article describing a “cruise” to NZ but can’t find it. EDIT Doug found it ^^^
Yawn Doug, and where exactly do you think these ‘people smugglers’ are going to get a container ship from,
Only ‘wing-nuts’ would have an iota of belief in a ‘third-hand’ story produced without a shred of proof in the National Party NZ Herald…
Exactly bad – a made up story with the only real interest being why now, what are they afraid of, what don’t they want people talking about – hmmm hollowhooton gives a clue, I also notice some righties still trying to beat up brown – spring is definitely here – lots of blowhards and some spittle.
Oh, I’m sure there’s some around for cheap hire.
/sarc
LOLZ, i can well imagine that particular ship steaming toward Wellington Harbor with A container full of refugees sitting on the deck,(nothing to see here officer)…
tidal
Tony Abbott elected on promises of stopping the “boat people”, doesn’t believe in climate change … Fairfax newspapers 14% owned by mining magnate Gina Rinehart start spinning the idea that the “boat people” won’t be coming to Australia. Convenient.
It’s a long way from PNG to NZ. Odds are not good for the intrepid asylum seekers.
And the Tasman is a hell of a sea to cross in vessels that are likely to be less than sea worthy.
McD’s USA
http://rt.com/usa/mcdonalds-help-broke-food-stamps-649/
According to the video at the bottom of the link above 52% of fast food families use public assistance benefits to survive (time stamp 1:35- 1:42 but watch until the end it’s only a few seconds and it makes a valid point)
What percentage of NZ families that work in similar jobs are reliant on the state for assistance just to pay basic living costs? If welfare is known to be dangerous to your health, why is the burden not shifted back onto the employer instead of the state?
[lprent: too much shouting ]
Big business and big money rules US politics now. Has done for about 40 years. Extremely bad in the last 10 years. Their ability to maintain their Union will come into real question one day.
Same seems to be true in NZ as well although not to the same extent as in the US – pretty sure we’re getting there though.
Well, duh, then the employer wouldn’t make as much profit and they would only have one income stream rather than two. The second being all the money that they’re loaning the government to pay for the costs induced by their low wages.
McD’s USA
These comments are at the bottom of the item at No.9 on low pay. It seems that all of us brought up under the western free market propaganda model respond to complaints by finding fault with the complainer. Being able to coolly look at the situation in its context is not a skill learned at school or home.
fidel 27.10.2013 19:15 – reply to
Ed Walton 25.10.2013 01:58
She’s worked at an entry level job for ten years; yet has no skills to move up. McDonalds isn’t the problem.
Reply – Hey Ed, I’ve worked in this type of environment years ago and it hasn’t changed. As soon as you get the smarts on doing your job and show any initiative, they lay you off. They have a wage ceiling and as soon as you arrive at it, the next step is the door. A lot cheaper to hire 15+ year olds and pay them squat
fidel 27.10.2013 19:05 – reply to
Jp 27.10.2013 06:19
This is smoke screen… Mcdonald that’s for young adults, just to learn how to work… That was my first job 32 years ago! Why are they still working there?
Reply – Th ere aren’t any other jobs you idiot, or do you ever get out or read a newspaper? The real unemployment rate in the good ole USA is almost 10%!
Peas in a pod.
http://www.ilsr.org/chains-walmart-foods-free-ride-taxpayers-expense-responsible-small-businesses/
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/think-walmart-is-an-evil-empire-wait-until-you-read-this/
Ya know, you cant pick and choose the polls you like and dont like, you can talk of trends, over and under polling, but when a majority of polls are pointing to one thing, then that thing is probably going to happen. The only thing that is a certainly is that the greens always poll way higher than the numbers they actually get on election day.
Third term for national for sure, but then Labour will get in the next time, because they will stop this communist stance that they’re promoting to make all the unionists and pta members hard.
“The only thing that is a certainly is that the greens always poll way higher than the numbers they actually get on election day.”
Lolwut?
Counterpoint for you, Brett:
The only thing that is certain (sic) is that National always poll way higher than the numbers they actually get on election day.
time for you to find a blog where U are appreciated Brett Dale (cos it may not be here).
just saying.
ghostrider.
Just saying is the worst catchphrase ever used.
just saying.
“Ya know, you cant pick and choose the polls you like and dont like”
Why not, as long as you pick and chose on the basis of faulty method or demonstrated bias. Picking and choosing on the basis of the results would be stupid.
Brett:
So I take it you support a Final Solution for trade unionists.
Given that you supported the anti union thug, Peter Jackson, who would rather take production of his crappy overlong movie offshore than deal with a trade union and give his workers sick leave and ACC, that pretty much makes you anti union. And who cares if banning unions would guarantee a sweatshop economy, like in China.
Peter Jackson should be in court for his anti democratic thuggish behavior, and the systematic black listing of unionists in the movie industry is something that needs a Royal Commission to look into, and others to be procecuted. Even if every producer, director and film boss in the country was hauled before the ERA and every dollar squeezed out of them in fines.
BEING IN A UNION IS A DEMOCRATIC RIGHT.
Had PJ made the Hobbit in China, all he had to do was ring up the local PLA barracks, and AE members would be sent to the nearest labour camp, or worse.
Millys:
Everybody should have the right to join a union and everybody should have a right not to
join a union.
Millys: Everybody should have the right to join a union, and everybody should have the
right not to join a union.
“Ya know, you cant pick and choose the polls you like and dont like, you can talk of trends, over and under polling, but when a majority of polls are pointing to one thing, then that thing is probably going to happen.”
And the majority of polls point to a change of Government. So what was your, er, point, again?
Te reo Putake:
You mean the three polls after the labour leader election, that pointed to the labour/greens victory and not the 75 polls that pointed to a national victory?
75-3, now Im no good will hunting, but ya dont need to be, with those numbers.
Opps, make that 76-3 now.
Yeah, ’cause political opinions don’t change over time, and a poll that is 3+ years out from an election is going to be more accurate than one taken 1 year out from an election.
It must be a very confusing place inside that little brain of yours, Brett.
Of the last 14 Roy Morgan polls, the left bloc have come out ahead in 10 of them, and the last 5 in a row. So there’s that.
According to Brett’s logic, National did not actually form a government in 2008, because the majority of polls conducted over 1999-2008 showed Labour would be able to form a government.
Hallelujah!
His mental dysfunction goes even deeper than that: clearly we only need to conduct a single political poll, because nothing ever changes. That’s why Brett was so surprised to see *another poll* conducted, because what would be the point of that?
QOT:
Actually they didnt QOT. Key was the firm fav, headed into 2008.
🙄
No Brett, Key was the firm fave in about 20 out of the 144 polls conducted over the 1999-2008 period, so therefore Labour was obviously going to win 2008, based on the exact same logic you’ve displayed in this thread.
Lanthanide:
Im talking about the 2008 election.
Yes, Bretty. So are we. One day you’ll catch up, but sadly we will have moved on, so you’ll just have to keep running.
Wow, he’s even slower than I thought. It does all start to make sense, though.
QoT:
Im always running, but im always running behind.
Never stop to smell the roses the roses, you can always
smell them when your running with them in your hand.
Brett, just about every recent poll, including the historically inaccurate ones like this, show National’s slow slide to the opposition benches. Like it or not, this is MMP and there is no poll saying that National is going win more votes than they did at the last election and without UF, ACT and the MP to prop them up, that’s what they have to do to win.
Donkeyote is beginning to look more and more like the “MUMMY” on teevee last night.
When the magic formula is read he will disappear like a puff of dust.
If polls are no more than advertsing using covert and overt methods to shift opinion ghere is no place for them.
If you advocate 72 hours you are fundamentally agreeing they undermine something so cannot logically rely on freedom of press argument.
Why is the press interested in them??
Gaaaagh. Don’t try and make me think complicatedly on a holiday! 😛
😉
About sums it up really:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/352704/lefts-central-delusion-thomas-sowell
Wow – it’s like he’s completely erased the GFC from his memory. Not to mention all that economic darwinism crap.
You sir, are a selective idiot , yet, carry on.
From matthews link to research above
“simultaneous to this increase in election poll incidence and coverage has been a worldwide decline in issue based political reporting.[3] The increased focus on election poll results and coalition possibilities is said to have “squeezed” out more relevant types of political information.[4] Factual reporting on parties’ and candidates’ policy positions, track records and capabilities is in sharp decline.[5] This holds true in regard to the 2008 New Zealand election campaign: of the top five most covered topics in the media (accounting for 50% of all election campaign coverage), only one topic, the economy, involved discussion of policy, track records and capabilities.[6] While media coverage of election poll results and coalition possibilities is increasing, reporting of political issues is becoming increasingly superficial and trivial.[7]””
Awesome time lapse
don’t hold ya’ breath Draco
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9295689/Labour-and-Greens-see-support-grow
See nothing to get your knickers in a twist about lefties…
BUT plenty for the right to be worried bout
Any comments Hooten?
NY Federal Reserve Examiner Fired After Submitting Critical Report of Goldman Sachs
It’s a video.
Iprent, you seem to forget how Labour did over the same period. If you look at the average of polls you will see in 12 months before the 2011 election National dropped 4% but Labour dropped nearly twice that at 7.5%.
I know its hard to bare but when the cold light of argument shines on Labours policies and record they dont seem to do so well. Cunliffes honeymoon only lasted a month, JKs seems to be going on forever. Remember all that rubbish in 2009 when all were saying JKs honeymoon is over!
A link to the proof of your assertions will go a long way toward making the debate more meaningful or did you just read the comments in the post and think to apply Nationals 2011 pre-election polling from the same organization being presently discussed to the Labour Party instead…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/opinion-polling-for-the-New-Zealand-general-election-2011 , hope that helps.
That’s not proof of your assertion.
“Cold light of argument” 😆
You mean screaming blue murder about “Socialism” and making throat-slitting gestures? Argument, you haven’t got one.
As for Labour’s record, do we have to remind you who said they left the economy in good shape in 2008? It was Bill English. Oh, and John Key.
Did you forget that once the books were made public Cullen said”the cupboard is bare” a great achievement after 9 years when the economies of every country in the OECD boomed. After 5 years of National Government when the World has been in recession, we have Growth in NZ,the envy of most OECD countiies. Under the last 6 months of Labour Negative Growth,of as Labours finance minister said” a technical recession”
Did you forget that you wingnuts spent nine years complaining that Cullen was running a surplus and paying down debt?
When you say “the cupboard is bare”, you do recall some tax cuts eh? You see, government raises revenue (that means money) by levying “taxes” (like tennis club fees) and then uses them to provide services as approved by Parliament – things like roads and schools and hospitals and remedial education and support teachers, and all the other things you are a beneficiary of.
So when a government voluntarily slashes its own income who emptied the cupboard?
Please try and keep up.
what a blinkered opinion, Cullen said the cupboard was bare before National had a budget and lowered taxes,did you forget they also put up GST to compensate for the loss of income or is your memory just a bit selective. Remember also that increasing taxes isnt the only answer, it was labours only answer but try growth. You know that thing thats happening under a National Government. More growth =more income = more taxerevenue. Just trying to Tax Rich pricks is a failed Labour policy. If you want a succesful economy it has to grow pushing up wages without growth and taxes without increasing income just leaves you and your policies on the opposition benches,funny that isnt it!
If you dont believe me check Greece and cyprus and most of Europe,especialy the bits with a leftwing Government.
Yeah, slashing income when the “cupboard is bare” is such a rational thing to do.
And that putting even more taxes onto the poor didn’t work either as the total change left the government around $1b to $2b dollars a year worse off.
As history shows growth is something that happens despite National and not because of them
History shows that taxing the rich causes more growth and now even the IMF is suggesting that we tax the rich more.
We’ve had growth over the last 30 years, overall, wages have gone down while profits have gone up.
All you’ve really shown here is your complete disconnection from reality. Everything you’ve said is wrong.
What a strange answer. Have wages realoy gone down over the last30 years , thefacts say different.
evidence for “despite national” In recession National has done as well as Labour in the boom years. You explain why we were 2 places lower inOECD rankings after Labour got in and since National got in WE have gained 2 places! ! to 2 billion ,which, its quite a big difference. Are you saying we are better off because National reduced our total tax gift to the Government and yet improved policing ,health and the economy. More of that please!
Sorry mate, you are dreaming. Most people reading this blog understand that prices have gone up while wages and hours have struggled and fallen behind.
Shame you are so out of touch, you almost had prospects (well, not really).
He gave it a fair crack and was found wanting. We need better wingnuts.
Must be all those facts that you’re not used to seeing.
Citation needed and, no, linking to National Party website, Kiwiblog or WhaleOil will not be regarded as reliable source.
Oh, that’s easy. We were, and still are, following neo-liberal policies, i.e, the free-market. This resulted in our economy turning to custard over the last thirty years. The reason why we’re relatively up now is because a few other countries, following the same delusional economic prescriptions, have suddenly become worse off (really, this is only a surprise to the neo-liberals and RWNJs).
Nope, I’m saying we’re worse off because of those things. More poverty, more money going to the non-productive rich and debt sky-rocketing.
I think my reply there disappeared into spam.
what a blinkered opinion
You spelled ‘Want’ wrong, and should have finished with a question mark not a comma.
Cullen lowered taxes you nonce, hence the ‘cupboard being bare’ comment.
As for National’s growth, if you factor out record dairy prices, you start to get what they can take credit for. Building roads that don’t make the grade in terms of the Ministry’s own method for determining good value spending, rebuilding ChCh which has to happen but falls under ‘broken windows’, and a housing boom that English spent the first few years telling us was what his ‘rebalancing’ of the economy was supposed to move us away from.
And who said we should be ‘more like Ireland’?
Rockape — how many hospitals were closed under National between 1990 and 1999? And how many were closed under Labour between 1999 and 2008?
rockape, why are you quoting OECD stats as if they’re not online (www.oecd.org)?
I really don’t mind you making shit up, but when it’s so easily seen to be bullshit, that’s just an insult.
Well you must be looking at a socialist version. When Labour came to goverment the last time we were rated 20th on our economy in the OECD. Clarks plan was to increase our ranking. In 2004 we had dropped to21st, 2007 to 22nd were we remained until National took over. We are now back to 20th under National. Its taken 5 years to undo the damage Labour did last time.
For the bulk of the Clark govt, NZ averaged a quarter of a percent above the OECD quarterly growth figure, with about a quarter of the data points being lower than the OECD average..
For Key’s government, that’s not less than a tenth above the OECD figure on average, with a ratio of 7:11 under:over the OECD average.
“Brighter future” my arse.
We’re only at 20 in the OECD list because the other countries in the list dropped farther after the GFC than we did.
I don’t think this is to any particular credit to National, because they basically did nothing in response to the GFC – not really difficult. I think it’s more a reflection of our economy: we’re a primary producer of agricultural products with very little in the way of value-add. This makes it difficult for us to rise up the OECD rankings, but conversely also means we won’t fall as far when troubled economic times hit, because we simply don’t have a very complex or dynamic economy.
And when the warmth of sunlight and reality hits them they do quite well. It’s only on Planet Key that they don’t do so well.
Reality Draco. Labour in the wildest dreams cant expect to come near 50% in the election. National are going to be bloody close! Labour see it as a great success to get above 30% in the polls and see it as a failure if National get less than 50%. What a strange World to live in.
A world with MMP in it? Yes, what a fanciful dream.
National need 50% in order to be able to form a government.
It’s an ideal example of why neoliberalism fails: by refusing cooperation and basic social interaction with anyone of a different creed, National now need to provide pretty much all their electoral support for themselves. If they fail to achieve an outstanding victory, they will sit on the opposition benches until they learn to play with others. The left, on the other hand, can work together, respecting, accepting, and accommodating different policy objectives. Each party might not achieve dominance and the power to ram through their particular policy fetish, but by working together, they have a much better chance of sitting on the government benches. While scrooge mcfuck yells “humbug” from the other side, while getting his woodlice to sniff underwear in the search for scandal.
Fortunately, Labour has a coalition partner in the Greens who sit over 10% themselves. Who does National have at the moment?
I am not so sure how the next election will go to be honest. Mr Cunliffe is as silent as Shearer was. The general public needs to know what Labour stands for as many have forgotten. One needs to remember that the ordinary folks out there are scared to loose the job, being able to raise their kids, pay the doctor, go onto retirement etc… once people are in that predicament its very difficult to get them changing their opinion and vote, if they vote at all.
Huh???
What do you mean with Huh??? – Maybe academic and political circles talk a lot about him, but Joe blogs does not hear much. I know he is traveling the provinces but what are the policies re employment, growth, sustainability, debt and taxes etc…try to ask people in the street and you will quickly realize that not many can give any answers.
Step by step mate, the man is busy.
lol
how much time should we start giving labour party leaders, now?
Oh, just the usual, another 6 months or so.
lol
Yes, but isn’t that his job? He was sitting a long time on the backbench able to put some coherent ideas together. Or is this just a case of not revealing to much too soon?
Colon Craig
Cunliffe poll on Stuff.co.nz
Scroll down, make your opinion count, let’s push the man up a couple of notches.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9332786/Poll-a-major-blow-to-Labour
Aint going to work as he hasnt done well. Do you realy think trying to rig the poll will help Labour. See colmar Brunton. Labour 34% and only a third of them think hes a good performer. Do I see another Labour leader before election day.
Hey rockape. Do I see John Key lying politically comatose on the ground with Judith Collins standing gleefully over him? Why, yes I do.
I could think of worse things…
All together now
:-D, nice tune-up NAS
Bunch of right-wing monkeys don’t like Cunliffe?
I’m ok with that.
felix:
Seems only 12% of people like cunliffe.
Yep I would be worried like hell if they liked him.
His wife seems pretty sharp, hopefully she’ll be advising him
Oh look, creepy right wingers getting creepy about people’s families again.
Creep.
Ok you’ll need to explain why that comment was creepy because apart from what I’m guessing is your inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy I’m not sure how something that was complimentary could be taken as creepy
But I’m sure you’ll have some totally plausible explanation
Oh look, creepy right wingers creeping backwards away from their creepy behaviour.
Again.
Lets see, I asked you to explain why what I said was creepy and instead of telling me why you instead try to continue on by saying its creepy
You might want to consider that just because you think somethings creepy doesn’t ackshully make it creepy
Bringing the family members of your opponents into the discussion is creepy, creep.
Kinda weird that you think that needs explanation.
When the economy is fucked, the unemployment is on the rise and the living standard keeps dropping, let’s keep the masses distracted with scaremongering about boatloads of asylum seekers heading for our shores:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11147302
Economy F8888d not according to every economic indicator.A world reccession and National are dragging NZ up the OECD scale, unlike Labour were we dropped.
See my reply at 20.2.1.2.1.2.
DNFTT
And your comment shows very much what manipulation is being applied. Of cause the US is in a very bad state due to the money press running since quite a while. What will happen when it stops? The contraction in the world markets will certainly be felt. Japan, another one that is in a similar situation and China’s economy is coming off the boil. Of cause NZ looks good against this backdrop, even Bangladesh would. To compare this to a NZ when all 3 major trading partners had not yet seen the banking crush of 2008 is simply deceit. None of the NZ parties will or have ever been able to influence any of this. To sell this to the NZ public as an achievement is almost treachery.
Just like Sister Ray Says Have a Good Night have a good night, have a good night…have good night…
Just Like Sister Ray “Says”
(eat my dust).
This might appeal to all those upright ethical tory lads suddenly so concerned about leadership ethics and morality……
From NRT: John Key [p 13] spent $110 on very expensive skin-care products, tagged as “NZ skin care for protocol officer”. Was it a gift? Because if it wasn’t, it seems extravagant. Not to mention odd
Indeed. Odd…..
Perhaps he wanted to feel pretty?
Children’s Commissioner funds study into child poverty from outside non-cooperative government
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11147721