There is a reasonable chance on one more term for Slippery (I say this mainly because of the TV debates), but I suspect that Key will want to slit his own wrists before putting up with the pain of a 4th lame duck term in office.
However the polls are right – Labour are in with a chance but I believe that chance relies entirely on either Winston, or on the Greens hitting no less than 14% to 15%. One question which no done has answered for me: will Labour be brave enough to include Hone in the next coalition, in Cabinet. Or will they try and hold the radical extreme left maori guy that the middle class thinks is fringe and dangerous, out at arms length.
Shearer is going to need a lot of training if he is to succeed in the debates.
Also if the economy doesn’t tank or if power prices remain static then Key will have a ‘told you so’ angle so yeah, a third term is highly possible.
My general feeling is the public generally want to change after 9 years, no matter who is in charge which is why I couldn’t see a 4th term IMO.
Dumping Shearer now is the only sane course of action. The Labour caucus is divided and broken. The sooner the broken parts are swept aside, the better. One of the worst things that I can see happening would be for the present front bench to run the country, which they’d do in much the same way Key is. That would be the death knell of the parliamentary left for a generation. Mana and the Greens are not yet in a position to fully take over and, even though parliament is largely a sideshow, it is a highly visible one.
They have some inspiring people. Give them a chance. If Cunliffe is on top of a bus talking, at least workers are in the street listening. When Shearer mumbles and makes excuses, who can be bothered listening? What do Mallard and Hipkins stand for except themselves? What do they have to say about the invasion of the Urewera that happened on their watch? Pffft. Let them go. Make them go.
You and all the other righties backed Shearer over Cunliffe from the start of Labour’s leadership campaign. You did this because you were afraid of Cunliffe and you knew the right’s best chance of success was to have Shearer in charge.
Now when you think it is too late to change you are dumping on Shearer.
Little bit skeptical Mr Hooton.
I think you always knew he’d be:
a) hopeless
b) in favour of the neo-liberal project your puppet masters benefit from.
Isn’t that why you encouraged him to go for the job at that bbq?
Labour are in a mess because they have a poor leader.
Isn’t this what you always wanted?
Everyone is amazed – I’m sure even hoots is amazed how the circumstances have changed so much that he had to completely reverse a weeks-old assessment.
Or maybe things have merely altered in their own, gradual way, passing no major threshold or “tipping point” one way or the other, and hoot’s reversal is simply the result of his natural spin cycle. In which case I reckon it does not cause amazement for anyone 🙂
It’s not so long ago you and every other National Party operative in the country was praising Shearer, and lobbying for his appointment as Labour leader as enthusiastically as anybody in his official team.
There’s a football analogy for this nasty manipulation of the unwitting. Back in 1966 the All Blacks pulled off a similar coup over the management of the touring British Lions. Whenever journalists asked anyone in the All Blacks who impressed them the most in the tourists, they always said “the captain, Campbell-Lamerton”. They made sure to praise Campbell-Lamerton with special fervour and generosity after every test, when the Lions were disconsolately licking their wounds. Of course, anyone with any nous knew that Campbell-Lamerton was not up to the task of playing test football. The All Blacks wanted the Lions to keep selecting him in the test team, where he was repeatedly outclassed, indeed destroyed, by the Meads brothers, Waka Nathan, Kel Tremain and the rest of the formidable NZ pack, as the Lions lost all four tests.
Maybe someone should appoint you to a football team somewhere, Mr Hooton. After all, you couldn’t possibly be as controversial a choice as the war criminal that came down here in 2005 as the “manager” of the British & Irish Lions.
Rob/Felix/SP/Paul/Morrissey/Saarbo: It wasn’t like that at all. I had no preference of Shearer over Cunliffe until, yes, Shearer turned up to my post-election party and Cunliffe didn’t, after both were invited by – small country we live in – Martyn Bradbury. And Shearer impressed all the politicos there that day – from memory, as well as Martyn and some of his crowd like Phoebe Fletcher, there was Willie & JT, Matt McCarten, Sean Plunket, Fran O’Sullivan, John Pagani, Andrew Campbell from the Greens, Chris Trotter …. So it really wasn’t a right-wing conspiracy (in fact, Slater and Farrar refused to show up in protest that Martyn was invited) . What happened is that we all just thought Shearer would do a good job – “50 million lives vs 50 million dollars” etc – and wrote columns and did radio and TV stuff accordingly.
There is probably a lesson here – parties should listen to their own members rather than the media talking heads. It would be interesting to look back to 2003, and I think most of the talking heads thought Brash was too dangerous for National and supported the moderate Bill English. In that case, the party membership, especially in the North Island, demanded Brash and the caucus followed (just). And, for all Brash’s awkwardness and ultimate failure, he certainly turned the polls around more than English ever could have (until now it seems thanks to his economic management).
Compared with Brash, English was the moderate candidate in 2003.
It shows how far National has shifted left under Key that English is now seen as the bold reformer within the government.
Well, its a line made famous in the Hollow Men. There was a speech written for Brash to give to the caucus that referenced the line and much was made of that, but it was never given by Brash. “No Brash No Cash” was a theme but it was as much about ordinary party members deciding whether or not to go to $40 party fundraisers as the bigger donations.
It was all just a big coincidence and $40 donations that made National flush and caused ACT to have to go selling itself to climate denial loons and the SST mob.
Come on Hooton you were engaging in sabotage of Cunliffe well before election day. This was calculated on your part and on the part of Farrar et al. I bet you even had a media strategy behind it.
There is a lesson here. The left should never, ever follow your advice. In fact the left should most of the time do the exact opposite.
But don’t think that you have succeeded. This Government is that appalling that there is this grim determination on the part of the left to get rid of it. And this will happen whoever the leader of the Labour Party is, be it Shearer, Cunliffe, Robertson or anyone else.
“The left should never, ever follow your advice. In fact the left should most of the time do the exact opposite.”
No mickey. the left should take no regard. Frankly I wouldn’t even let him comment here. What good can it possibly serve to invite a vampire into your house?
I was talking about here Hooton, but in the nation in general.
And I’m not saying you should be silenced, I’m saying people would be wise to discount your views to zero. You add nothing of value to anyone’s understanding because you are a bullshit artist.
You are an unreliable narrator in the novel of life, as it were.
He may or may not agree that the discourse here would be improved without alternative views.
We (as in the site) like people who can express their own clear opinions with intelligence, articulation, and support when they rely on specific facts.
We tend to restrict the mindlessly repetitive, those who can’t express a clear opinion or assert facts without support, and those who are needlessly argumentative. That is because they tend to add nothing to the debate apart from boring the crap out of me us.
Both you and Pascal’s Bookie do it pretty well in all of the important criteria. Of course none of those things mean that we have to be particularly polite to each other. I never try for that lofty standard myself, I usually just go for the mutually exclusive (with politeness) objective of clarity.
“Frankly I wouldn’t even let him comment here. What good can it possibly serve to invite a vampire into your house?”
Got to disagree with you there Felix. I like to see him here, spouting his lying bullshit This way it can get dissected and revealed for what it is, and answered. Otherwise he will regurgitate (throw up, spew) his right wing crap on radio where he does his utmost to talk down any opposition, or write in the pathetic excuses we have as newspapers, We need good opposing arguments to his crap, otherwise he and his mates from the right will start to believe the crap he expounds that this is how the real world should work.
I laugh that you guys think Farrar, Slater, Hooten etc have such a huge impact on who ended up leader of labour – and your your own members cannot make the same impact.
Don’t understand what you are trying to say?? Are you really saying there was a right-wing conspiracy, led by or at least involving me and also people like Chris Trotter, to impose Shearer as Labour leader because he was known to be hopeless??? I wish the NZ right was that good!
No, I backed him (and many others did) because I thought he would make a great leader and prime minister. Now I have learned he is a lemon and I (and many others) were totally wrong. This is embarrassing and Mickey is right – don’t take my advice on Labour’s leader ever again! I am not close enough to the individuals to make a good assessment (although I did get to work with Cunliffe over the carpark tax issue and found he was much better to deal with and switched on than I had thought).
Amusing, and, at the same time, annoying, isn’t it? Watching Hooten’s lies spill out so easily is the fun part, but the Aaron Gilmore level of arrogance in thinking he will get away with is, oh, I dunno, just aggravating.
Ladies and germs, one of New Zealand’s elite rightwing spin geniuses political commentators, Matthew “No Spin Here” Hooten.
Why don’t you just accept that your credibility here is zero? No one swallowed your weak concern tr0ll shit before, why do you think we’ll suddenly give you the benefit of the doubt?
I recommend a story for you call ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ it’s a good one. It’s about a boy who thinks it’s funny to fool people, until nobody believes anything he says. Usually it’s to help small children grasp this point, but you’re a big boy who can’t figure it out.
Maybe try logging in under a different name so you can commence bagging Shearer more freely? How about ‘Mud’?
Felix, I mentioned Cunliffe because those are the two Labour MPs Martyn invited to my party because they had appeared on the iPredict TV show in the week or so before the election. That’s why Tim Groser was invited too – I think he did the iPredict show the Friday before the election. This really was just a party, hosted by me and Busted Blonde, to drink the Veuve Clicquot she had won from the NBR (which reminds me, Ellen Read from the NBR, now Fairfax, was also there, which led to Shearer getting good coverage in the NBR over the following week or so – not that that would have mattered much. Also, while Farrar and Slater boycotted the party on political grounds, Cactus Kate showed up for reasons discussed in the previous sentence). You would do better understanding political developments if you look Freud’s advice – sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Nup. Blatant and deliberate racist hatemongering did that: aided, abetted, planned and delivered by the very same clique that delivered and now fetes this latest poll.
A poll of 863 by landline with an undisclosed several thousand who refused to participate.
Well if you are right Matthew, and the Labour leader was chosen mainly because he was endorsed by a number of commentators at a piss up, it pretty much explains why the decision has turned out to be a major fuck up for Labour.
If this is the way politics and by extension public policy gets done in this country, then I spit on the lot of you. Political operators are a pack of contemptible lizard brained psychopaths.
The interesting thing about psychopaths is that they have the ability to choose to believe their own lies. That’s what makes them such good liars. They also genuinely believe they are doing nothing wrong.
No mention of a margin of error, wow what a surprise.
No mention of the methods of polling, wow what a surprise.
And of course, no mention of the actual questions asked.
How can you defend the publication of fraudulent statistics?
Yes we know, it just makes us all want to not vote for Labour or the Green Party’s in 2014,
Snigger, the Slippery slope National are now on is known to the present Government best illustrated by the Slippery Prime Minister brushing crumbs off of the Tory table of over abundance in the direction of kiwi kids that do not have the income directed at them so as to guarantee their nutritional needs…
Rational??? who me ??? around these parts i am known as anything but rational, cult doesn’t quite ascribe a correct descriptive either,
But enough about ‘i’, the fact that you base your view of the electoral cycle on polling data that has continually in the face of reality loudly proclaimed to all and sundry that National have the numbers to ‘govern alone’ makes yours the voice of the rational does it ???,
Any Government that bounces up and down 4 whole % points between polls barely a month apart is in my opinion on the Slippery slope, Slippery the PM of course also knows this and He is operating with the added bonus of a damned sight better data source than little old ‘i’ can manage, (which of course is why the Shyster has managed to swallow such a large dead rat and pretend to unveil a comprehensive ‘food in schools program’,
i do of course except you critique of the one eyed nature of my political view which extends as far as holding a belief that the National Government’s suffered by this country are usually made up of well practiced liars and in some cases outright scum,
Perhaps you would care to post a comment, any comment, which would tend to offer a re-education to me changing my overall view of the present National Government, at the least you will be providing the readers with a much needed dose of mirth at the effort…
Polls have a margin of error, Y or N ?
Has this margin of error been reported, Y or N ?
Polls have a methodology of data collection Y or N ?
Has this methodology been reported Y or N ?
are you a pavlovian reactionary with the comprehension skills of an innebriated mollusc
Y or N ?
p.s. I made no such accusation of conspiracy against the polling companies as they are not the vehicle with which the information was made public. I merely stated that the basics of poll data reporting i.e: margin of error and method are no longer reported to the public. I am convinced both of those items would have been supplied to the publishers and it is the news services themselves that decided to publish the polls sans that particular information.
I also noticed that Mike Williams (on nine to noon on Monday) was rather negative on Shearer, up to now he has been one of his strong supporters. I expect to see more of Shearers supporters squirming away from him as his poll rating and performance continues to languish. The unfortunate thing is it is probably too late to change leaders now, whoever takes over will be accepting a hospital pass.
If Labour don’t win in 2014 there needs to be a serious cleanout of deadwood. And you don’t have to be a politics graduate to realise that Labour has a very low chance of winning with Shearer as Leader.
What a crappy but predictable situation Labour has found itself in!
It is not too late provided that a change of leader also means a genuine change of tactics, but it is far too late for another round of “let’s put in x and urge everyone to love x,” especially when the people doing the urging have diminished credibility. However, the longer they fail to rattle National from the opposition benches, the more confident National becomes and the more ground they lose.
I’ve had a quick look up the page, and I haven’t seen anyone else question this.
In the highly unlikely event of the leadership challenge against Shearer, does the membership get a vote?
I only ask because the Labour caucus does tend to feverishly enslave itself to the will of the MSM, and the MSM does seem to be actively on the hunt for a new scalp….. and Shearer does seem to be the one they ‘prepared earlier’, so to (cooking show) speak…..
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the only reason that the Labour Leadership would be willing to buck the msm was that doing so might allow the rest of the membership to participate democratically.
Well, if Tracey Watkins and Matthew Hooton are now questioning Shearer’s leadership, so much for pandering to the media. I am not sure about the rules of voting in the case of a leadership challenge. With the vote of confidence, Shearer needed at least 40% support and did manage to get it, arguably helped by Hipkins being included among the vote-counters. If he had not got that level of support the vote would have gone to the members. Given that, in the absence of a resignation, it would take over 50% against him to end his leadership, you would think that the members would get to vote, but I am not sure that is so.
[lprent: charts – still not happy with the GCR.
Amidst all of the random spiking and slumping, Labour has a slight trend upwards. National has a stronger long-term trend downwards. At present with the usual fortune shifts towards the election, I suspect that Winston would be the decider. I wonder how Key will like the replaying of those 2008 statements about Winston? Of course the National caucus could just dump Key and put in someone without that baggage…
BTW: National should sack Brownlee as I suspect that his mishandling of Christchurch is not helping them. Of course I personally hope that they do not. He is so useful at educating Christchurch residents on National party attitudes.. ]
* * * * Coming soon: Look for our Matthew Hooton feature! * * * *
See also….
No. 14: Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21052013/#comment-635850 No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
Yes please make your series more contemporary.
Focusing on Messrs Hooton, Farrar and Slater would be a more relevant area today.
Fair point, Paul. I was going to put up a choice lie from Hooton—there are so many to choose from—but I had to put in the Rumsfeld thing to reinforce yesterday’s Colin Powell obscenity. The Powell-Rumsfeld lies were always a twofer, and work most effectively when they are put together like that. They’re funnier (in a black kind of way) when they’re back to back.
Hooton will keep, as will Michelle Boag and Bill English….
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, who came up with the original idea, has criticised the Government’s scheme because it involves the private sector. He claims that while corporates may be prepared to bankroll the programme now, they could walk away if times got tough.
First, big ups to Harawira for essentially railroading the Government into adopting his idea. It’s an unfortunate political reality that governments of all hues pinch the best ideas opposition parties come up with. It would have been a nice gesture if Key could have used Harawira in the programme in some way (and who knows, the pair may yet need each other).
But Harawira can rest assured that Fonterra and Sanitarium are not going to walk away from this scheme for all the milk powder in China. You can’t buy better publicity for your brand than umpteen thousand grateful children chowing down on the sponsor’s product each morning.
And even if they did pull the pin, the Government would simply cast around for a new sponsor, which isn’t going to be hard to find given the nature of the cause.
In my opinion Espiner is wrong in thinking;“It’s an unfortunate political reality that governments of all hues pinch the best ideas opposition parties come up with.”
Harawira actively lobbied all parties to take up his idea.
(Though not as comprehensive as what he sought he has achieved a hell of a lot for a party pretty much isolated with only one MP. And he can count this as a success, and hungry children who would not be fed will now will be.)
When political parties refuse to forward good solutions to pressing problems facing their constituents and the country, because they fear their opponents will take them, then you know that they are being run by sectarian careerists who put their narrow sectarian interests before helping solve society’s most pressing problems.
I hope I never again hear such an argument put forward for keeping a political party’s policies under wraps.
You may say that there are other reasons why politicians, oft time argue not announce their party’s policies to the last minute. But what are they? Is it because they have none? Is it because they have none that are different to their erstwhile opponents? Is it because they have policies that are so close to their opponent’s policies, that they need to ambush their members and supporters at the last minute?
The other reason of course is to limit democratic discussion within a political party to just a few at the top, asking their membership to take them on trust.
When a political party says that they are holding off their policy announcements until closer to the election then you know that they have seriously lost their way.
Hone Harawira just on RNZ actually sounding like a real opposition when talking about this governments priorities on spending. Maybe Shearer and the Labour Party could listen to that interview.
It’s called standing up for the people.
Olwyn+1 and his swearing was appropriate if there was any. Certainly the message was most memorable and had the punch of an unwavering and sincere politician committed to NZ people, and particularly Maori and the low-income.
Must suck to be a Labour supporter right now (not as bad for the Greens) but don’t worry about the polls I’m sure they’re not indicitive of the massive groundswell of support building for Labour under the astute stewardship of David Shearer…at this rate Labour will be back in power by 2020 🙂
Interesting poll, that Reid one. Of course, the sample is too small to justify your confidence but did you see that most National Ltd™ voters were in favour of the NZ Power solution to being rorted by the corporates? There’s a skerrick of hope for youse yet. Psychologically, I mean.
You actually put your reasoning on one poll a year out from election day? National doesn’t have that great a lead, and all these polls always write off NZ First and Mana, even though they have a strong following in their own way. I doubt even National’s inner circle believe you can know who will most likely win, till the months or weeks before election day.
Snigger, we really really believe it when we are told constantly by the polls that National have enough support to govern alone,
We all know this has to be true because for the past two election cycles the polls have been telling us this,
There is of course only one small problem with that which in abbreviated terminology says, ”they didn’t and they still haven’t”
Minus 1 or 2% in November 2014 and it’s haere ra National and who cares who the leader of the Labour Party is if He or She supports the stopping of the electricity rort with things like NZPower and intends to support a guaranteed living wage for ALL workers…
Minus 1 or 2% in November 2014 and it’s haere ra National and who cares who the leader of the Labour Party is if He or She supports the stopping of the electricity rort with things like NZPower and intends to support a guaranteed living wage for ALL workers…
Well most of Europe right now has weak coalition governments (especially Germany – where NZ took it’s MMP system from), Australia really is no different, and the US is very much divided. It is doubtful that even if National wins again, it would have anything but a weak coalition, it can’t break international trends. 😉
So good to know that NZ tax payers money went to a good cause. Also, how about sparing an extra pittance or three so that NZ workers can have union protection just like the actors you hire from Australia and USA? Or in fact, just like you have yourself?
Because he is a manipulative arsehole. What was your point?
We aren’t politicians. We have sufficient rejects from real life for that task (you look quite good as a potential National candidate BTW). What happens here is that we express our opinions. And occasionally in my moderator role I’ll squash some cretinous fuckwit like yourself (see that is an opinion) who wants to insinuate that the site or the commentators are a political organisation.
I insinuated nothing, I said “keep attacking Sir Peter Jackson because its worked so well in the past” because this blog has had numerous attempts at smearing Sir Peter Jackson…as a rich prick, anti-union, lackey of Warner Bros etc etc
Nothing to do with this site or the commentators being a political organisation or otherwise
Yeah, this winston has a problem with individualism. Seems like one of those conformist totalitarian dickheads to me… Obviously every author and commentator is “The Standard” – including himself.
After all he reads like just about every other right wing troll to me. Dispose of one and another duplicate pops up like a head at a fair’s shooting gallery with the same lame assertions about computer programs having opinions.
At least this one tries to reply and even attempts the difficult art of arguing rather than doing crapping an assertion and then immediately leave (like an incontinent poodle moving down a street).
So, basically, he read the book and thought it was all about communism, so figured he would use the name as a pseudonym in his valiant, solitary struggle against the left.
Yeah. Of course as with many of the Orwellian novels it is often hard to figure out which brand of totalitarian conformist nutters he was parodying. He was after all a democratic socialist* with a distinct dislike of all brands of conformist totalitarianism.
But it is clear that if that was where he got his name from and why he took it, then he clearly hasn’t read to the end of the book. After the rat room the fictional Winston Smith become just another blob staring adoringly at the image of his leader with an inability to think. Just like this one I suspect…..
* A stream of political thought that encourages individualism – far more so than the daft conformity of the libertarians with their obsessive theology of toy collection. Or for that matter or almost any other political philosophy I have seen. Even the anarchists have this strange obsession at having to all agree (conformity) or they’ll dissolve into complete societies of one. The democratic socialist acceptance and even promotion of eccentricity amongst groups has always been a wonder to behold. And most importantly it fosters agreeing to disagree….
Indeed he did. But you know what’s more depressing? !!!!
It’s when someone (with a history of someone struggling in the industry, and having sampled the lowliest of the low – including serious jailtime as a result of Sth American totalitarian juntas) becomes so SO immune to the plight of ‘the film-maker’s community’ (i.e. his peers). That Petey isn’t such a bad bloke after all – AYE?.
I’m not exactly sure what the Paekak dak delivers – but it’s obviously pretty potent.
Nope. If I was to even use the title “sir” (not going to happen because I’m not a brown noser like yourself) to someone it would be to someone I respect. I don’t respect liars.
Peters asks Dunne (during an unrelated committee meeting) if it was him what leaked the Kitteridge report. Cue arguments about whether the question is in order or whatever nevermind Dunne ends up confirming that he’s been spoken to as part of the investigation into who leaked ouch. *laughs*
With a few exceptions most forget ( or don’t want to acknowledge ) that poll proportions are a % of those who didn’t say fuck off( not of the general population. Therefore 45% may well be only 45% of 18-20% of those with a landline. That should leave at least 70% to be influenced by good policy and if that policy is telegraphed too early pale imitations or window-dressed versions of it will be stolen, and thats why we have a ( albeit better than nothing ) half-arsed ” Breakfast in Schools” programme.
On Shearer/ Cuniliffe, be careful not to buy in and feed the MSM’s castigation of DS, if DC was leader the arseholes would be in paroxysms of red-baiting and thunderous editorials of communist takeovers and I’m sure that that buck-toothed idiot Gower would even come in his pants on a live cross to the Beehive over some concocted Stalinist bullshit.
Remember Hooten et al are just doing what they are paid for.
Level the playing field for solar power in New Zealand!
As an investor in a NZ solar company, I was shocked to discover that a careless change in the rules – requiring solar companies to use a particular inverter technology that hasn’t even been invented yet – could come into force any day now and stop our solar industry dead in its tracks. If this were the fossil fuel lobby, would we ever have to worry about something like this?
Solar panels are not just a green technology, they’re also a great financial investment for New Zealand homes and businesses and a potentially huge source of economic growth. We should be pulling out all the stops to help the solar industry develop, not putting one obstacle after another in its path. Even John Key called for reducing “the Pacific region’s reliance on expensive fossil fuels for electricity” a few weeks ago.
New Zealand has almost unlimited potential to generate clean energy from the sun. That’s why I’m calling on regulators — who have been asleep at the wheel — to roll up their sleeves and level the playing field for solar energy by creating a clear, nationally-enforced standard; reducing the soft costs for installing solar; and creating a nationwide financing scheme and easy way for people to sell back their extra solar power production with a net-metering law. These measures would give so many more people access to this smart, environmentally beneficial investment! Please add your name and tell all your friends, and I’ll make sure the law-drafters get our message loud and clear.
Join us! Click below to sign the petition and forward to everyone:
If people think that the (from the earth) fuel companies, will take solar heating lying down, I would be very surprised.
The oil/banking cartel own the politicians, and are not going anywhere, as long as they can drill it from the earth!
The other problem to deal with for the solar energy proponents, is that of global dimming, and the impact of geo-engineering on the amount of suns rays reaching the planets surface!
Former National MP Jackie Blue formally submitted her interest in a top government job more than a month after the closing date, documents show.
The documents also show that in a briefing dated November 1, the Justice Ministry identified eight candidates. The paper recommended Collins indicate which candidates she wanted to have interviewed. Collins did not sign the paper.
So, firstly the applicant didn’t apply in time and then the minister didn’t accept the candidates until she had the one she wanted in the list.
GRANT ROBERTSON to the Minister of Justice: How many expressions of interest or nominations for the position of Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner were received by the Ministry of Justice after the advertised deadline of 13 October 2012?
S.S. thugs still getting free air time on public radio
Will Kyle Chapman be next?
Nine to Noon, Radio NZ National, Wednesday 29 May 2013
Host: Lynn Freeman
First item up on Nine to Noon this morning was an interesting and learned discussion about the insane “Three Strikes” legislation. The guests were Hastings barrister Eric Forster and Victoria University criminology professor John Pratt. In contrast to many of the blowhards, maniacs and hypocrites who usually get air time on this issue, both of these men are learned and serious scholars of the law; both of them condemned the Three Strikes legislation as “insane”, and the consequence of a small number of ignorant politicians who believed in “magical thinking” being given a totally disproportionate amount of power. This discussion ended about 9:40 a.m.
Just over two hours later, host Lynn Freeman felt compelled to read out a long and belligerent email in favour of Three Strikes. This email was written by the disgraced, discredited convicted grave-robber, doctor-assaulter, serial sexual harasser, former ACT MP, and S.S. man David Garrett. Poor old Lynn Freeman, who I know detests and despises David Garrett and his evil organization, read the email in a tone of obvious distress, as well as distaste.
Then, incredibly, a few minutes later, just before the end of the programme, she read ANOTHER urgent email from the bowels of Hell. This time it was from the Grand Wizard of the S.S. himself, Garth “The Knife” McVicar. In contrast to the rabid David Garrett, the Grand Wizard’s email was written in a tone of wounded disappointment; the two experts, he whined, were “well known opponents of the legislation”. The entirely false display of emotion by this creep rendered that email even more offensive and insulting than Garrett’s.
Surely, if any organization has thoroughly discredited itself and should not be indulged in any way, it is this vicious and hypocritical bunch of gangsters. I know that there is not one person at Radio New Zealand who feels anything other than loathing for the S.S. Trust and for David Garrett and Garth “The Knife” McVicar. Yet here we were, this morning, forced to listen to the thoroughly unedifying phenomenon of a fine broadcaster being forced to read out crass emails from not just one, but TWO personae non grata.
I have no doubt that the receptionsists at Radio NZ National suffered a deluge of coordinated abuse, through telephone calls and emails, for the two hours before those two emails were read out.
I wonder who made the decision to cave in to their hectoring; I know that it was not the journalists.
Everytime I think of the SS Trust, I think of a bunch of hooded people standing round a lynched brown person.
Entirely understandable, millsy, but in reality it’s a bunch of intolerant people sitting in a radio studio (NewstalkZB) pouring scorn and abuse on a lynched brown person in South Auckland, and ridiculing his family. That’s what they did, day in, day out, session after session, hour after hour in 2008 and 2009, and still occasionally do whenever somebody mentions the word “tagger”.
Something called “Dv” tried, unwisely, to be clever….
Wait until a two strikes offender kills a victum because he cant [sic] get his skateboard.
What possible precedent do you have to suggest such a scenario?
What a fuss that will cause.
Nonsense. Your dull fantasy lacks even the slightest plausibility.
I thought the most compelling argument was that those on 2 strikes dont really have the moral judgemnt needed to ‘obey’ the law.
Nor, as recent events have reinforced, do the people in the top echelons of the New Zealand police. And, as shown by their failures in Afghanistan, neither do the top brass in the New Zealand Defence Force.
No doubt you will be calling for these people to be sent to jail for fifteen to twenty years. Or do you get ALL your opinions directly from talk radio?
Am I correct in believing that a third guest (aside from Eric Forster and John Pratt) was invited to participate, but declined?
The ‘trickle down’ effect does work! – at least at RNZ.
The DEFENDANT – ‘dodgy’ John Banks is back in the Auckland District Court, (Albert St) Thursday 30 May 2013.
As I understand it – this case will be stood down until 11.45am, because Private Prosecutor Graham McCready will not be able to attend before that time.
It is my intention to have banners up outside the Court from 11am.
Do come along if you are able! 🙂
Being FINALLY held accountable in a Court of Law – has been a VERY long time coming for the DEFENDANT John Banks.
The BIG question is – how come Prime Minister John Key has not yet stood down as Minister, the DEFENDANT, Minister of Regulatory Reform, Minister of Small Business, Associate Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Commerce – ACT MP for Epsom – the arguably ‘Not-So-Honorable’ John Banks?
Former National MP Aaron Gilmore, was effectively forced to leave Parliament, yet he never faced charges in Court, unlike the DEFENDANT John Banks!
If National causes yet another by-election to be held in Tauranga, not only will it cost the taxpayers another unnecessary $1m for the taxpayers after Simon Bridges called it quits earlier in the year, but National will also pay a big price in terms of its reputation and integrity. A ...
Representing Pakeha Racism: The important thing to remember about Rob Muldoon, and the racist policies with which his name is associated, is that he drew his power from the hundreds-of-thousands of anxious, angry, and yes – racist – Pakeha who voted for him, and that his most effective campaign slogan was: “New Zealand the ...
I remember feeling anxious before making the phone call, although not at anxious I might have expected. But what sticks most in my mind is how the phone call ended. It was the late 1990s. I was deputy editor of the NZ Listener and I had to ring a guy ...
National is dripping “blue blood” again. The revelations over Sam Uffindell’s violent assault indicate that the National Party under Christopher Luxon hasn’t quite shed the toxicity and internal damage of the last few years. The crises besetting the party have recently been well documented in journalist Andrea Vance’s new book ...
Most of us believe in redemption and atonement… But the timing, the nature and the semantics of Sam Uffindell‘s apology for his role in a gang that beat a younger kid (reportedly) with wooden bed legs, has left much to be desired. The victim seems pretty clear about the motivation ...
Yesterday the news broke that newly elected National MP Sam Uffindell was asked to leave private Auckland school King’s College at the end of his fifth form year after being part of a group that viciously beat a younger student one night. There are many elements to this latest political ...
You’ve got to wonder why the National Party knowingly hid information from the public about their newest MP, Sam Uffindell. Surely they must’ve realised that their secret would eventually leak into the public domain. New Zealand is far too small for cover-ups of this kind to be effective.Despite his violent ...
Back in the 1990s, Tony Blair rebranded The British Labour Party as “New Labour”, to try and draw a line under past failures. It’s as if Christopher Luxon is attempting to follow suit, and launch “New National” at the moment – a party that’s fresh-looking, has made some big breaks ...
Back in June Sam Uffindell was elected to parliament in the Tauranga by-election. Turns out he's a bully who beat a kid with a bed-leg at school: The National Party’s newest MP, Sam Uffindell, was asked to leave his exclusive boarding school after viciously beating a younger student late ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Electoral Amendment Bill. Submissions are due by Wednesday, 31 August 2022, and can be made at the link above. The bill improves disclosure of party finances, lowering the declaration threshold to $5,000 and requiring parties to disclose their annual financial statements. ...
Laughing With The Poor Folks - Or At Them? Christopher Luxon took rapper LunchMoney Lewis’s lyrics at their face value. “Bills”, as heard by Luxon, is a cri-de-cœur from a hard-working man determined to pull himself and his family up by their own bootstraps. It simply wouldn’t occur to him ...
On the rare occasions when it ever gets asked, the public keeps rejecting tax cuts as such, as a policy priority. It keeps saying it wants tax levels to either stay the same or be increased, so that public services can be maintained, or even (perish the thought) improved. In ...
Europe has been baking in a heatwave, of course. Not so much this part of the world, which benefits by still being in Winter (though let’s just say I am not looking forward to January 2023). Not that it’s been a particularly cold Winter – we haven’t had one ...
The Wagner Group is a private military company – effectively mercenaries. It has been used for the military activity of the Russian Federation in various parts of the world. Currently, it is operating in Ukraine and apparently has a reputation as a very brave and effective force in the ...
I have said this in other forums, but here is the deal: PRC military exercises after Pelosi’s visit are akin to male gorillas who run around thrashing branches and beating their chests when annoyed, disturbed or seeking to show dominance. They are certainly dangerous and not to be ignored, but ...
From July 7 to 26 we tried something new on our Facebook page by sharing one Cranky Uncle cartoon each day for 20 days in a row. There were two reasons for doing this: firstly, we wanted to ensure that at least one post would get published each day while I was ...
Too many commentators on current price pressures have not understood that this time it is very different from the 1970s. Their prescriptions may accelerate inflation.The New Zealand economy is experiencing an external price shock arising from the Covid pandemic and the Ukrainian invasion compounded by related supply chain difficulties. It ...
During the years of the Key government one hardy perennial of political journalism was that whenever the Labour Opposition would suggest a policy alternative to the status quo, the hard bitten response from the Gallery realists would be “But how’re you gonna pay for it?” National in Opposition has been ...
In The Wizard’s Garden: George Dunlop Leslie, 1904IT ALL SEEMS so long ago now, and, to be fair, in human terms, 48 years is a long time. New Zealand was a different country in 1974. Someone unafraid of courting controversy might say it had achieved “Peak Pakeha”. Although the Labour Government of ...
Proximate Cause: Tellingly, it was Helen Clark who was seated close by when, earlier this week, Jacinda Ardern delivered a speech carefully crafted to keep New Zealand’s dairy exports heading China’s way. Photo by PolitikPURISTS WOULD ARGUE that New Zealand’s foreign policy should not be determined by who its Prime Minister ...
We have a new clip out of The Rings of Power. It sees Galadriel and the affectionately nicknamed Gigwit* venturing into dark places in search of evil. At fifty-odd seconds, it also constitutes the longest single piece of show dialogue we have seen thus far. *An acronym. “Galadriel Is ...
Rising To The Challenge: Te Pāti Māori is reassuring the angry and the alienated that in 2023 voting will make a difference. Aotearoa is changing. Pakeha – especially young Pakeha – are changing. The racism is still there, of course, heightened, it would seem, by the prospect of Labour, the ...
"CAGW." A thing? With its provocative title and remarks grounded in respected published research, the perspective Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios just published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has caused a few ripples reaching into popular media. "Endgame" and "catastrophic" lean hard in the direction of "pay ...
In the past there's been a few interesting data points about the New Zealand Intelligence Community's desire to covertly manipulate public opinion through media and academic mouthpieces. In 2015 the Council for Civil Liberties revealed the existence of an NZIC "Strategic Communications Group" tasked with persuading the public that spying ...
Inflation is through the roof, and "coincidentally" so is oil company profiteering. UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls it what it is: grotesque: The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has described the record profits of oil and gas companies as immoral and urged governments to introduce a windfall tax, using ...
What on earth is going on with the main opposition parties at the moment? Both National and ACT have been making numerous flip-flops and miscommunications, clearly indicating that they aren’t a viable alternative to the current Labour led Government.Of particular note is the duplicitous reasoning given for why they support ...
A ballot for two member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Housing Infrastructure (GST-sharing) Bill (Brooke van Velden) Prohibition on Seabed Mining Legislation Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) Ngarewa-Packer's bill looks likely to start a shitfight with Labour, and not just because the ...
As you might have noticed, I have an on-going interest in working my way through old and intellectually influential reading material. Occasionally I even share my thoughts on it, which allows me to take a break from my generally-dominant Tolkien analysis. Well, today I thought I would take a ...
Golriz Ghahraman's Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill will probably face its first reading today. And three months after it was introduced - pissing on the "as soon as practicable" requirement of Standing Order 269 - it has received a section 7 report from Attorney-General David Parker stating that its proposed ...
There's an interesting select committee report out today, from the Petitions Committee on the Petition of Conrad Petersen: The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). The petitioner raises some concerns about the slowness of the IPCA process and its lack of oversight, and suggests some solutions. The committee doesn't seem keen ...
Today is a Member's Day, but likely to be a boring one. There's no general debate today, and instead the House will move right into the third reading of the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill, which will add unelected, inherently conflicted Ngai Tahu representatives to ECan. Then there's ...
That gormlessly glum picture of Christopher Luxon in Samoa graphically tells us what kind of image New Zealand would be projecting abroad if there’s a change of government next year. The glumness is understandable. For months, National and ACT had been dog whistling to the bigots who oppose the creation ...
There is no corruption in New Zealand. At least that’s what authorities want the public to believe. For decades now our system of political finance regulation has been portrayed as highly rigorous, ensuring our politicians cannot be bought. Unfortunately, that’s just not true. Although politicians and officials have claimed tight ...
Pundits have come out of the woodwork to defend the Greens co-leader, after he was stripped of his leadership last week by unhappy party members. The defences have all stuck to basically the same script: Shaw is a successful leader and minister who’s handed the party big victories in politics ...
Meghan Murphy talks with Batya Ungar-Sargon the author of Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy. The book charts the trajectory of journalism in the US as it shifted from being a blue collar occupation producing the penny press for the masses, to a profession for Ivy League university ...
Co-Leaders? The uncomfortable truth is: not the Army, not the Police, not the Spooks, and not even a combination of all three, could defeat the scale and violence of White Supremacist and Māori Nationalist resistance which the imposition of radical decolonisation – or its racism-inspired defeat – would unleash upon ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson and Jeff Masters Torrents of rain that began before dawn on Tuesday, July 26, gave St. Louis, Missouri, its highest calendar-day total since records began in 1873. And the deadly event is just the latest example of a well-established trend ...
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A couple of weeks ago the High Court exposed a loophole in our electoral donations law, enabling corrupt parties to take in unlimited amounts of secret money and explicitly sell policy to the rich. Pretty obviously, this is unacceptable in a country which wants to call itself a democracy, and ...
This morning, National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis managed to get top of the bulletin news coverage by pointing out that some Kiwis living abroad might receive the government’s cost of living payment. Quelle horreur. What is the problem here? Inflation is a global problem, and Kiwis living abroad may be ...
Beyond Fixing? The critical question confronting New Zealanders is whether we any longer have the resources to repair our physical and human infrastructure?WHO WILL MAKE the New Zealand of the next 50 years? We had better hope that, whoever they are, they make a better job of it than those ...
Today’s speech by Jacinda Ardern to the China Business Summit in Auckland was full of soothing words for Beijing. The headline-grabber was Ardern’s comment that ‘a few plans are afoot’ for New Zealand ministers to return to China – and that the Prime Minister herself hopes to return to the ...
Rule-Breaker? It is easy to see why poor James Shaw found himself brutally deposed as the Greens’ co-leader. By seeking the responsibilities of leadership – and exercising them – he violated the first rule of Green Party governance. Then, by accepting the limitations of the Green Party’s electoral mandate (7.8 ...
After the incredibly sad story about the deaths of over 50 Ukrainian POWs in a Ukrainian missile attack on the prison they were housed in (see Over 50 POWs killed. A military accident or a cynical war crime?)I came across the heartwarming story about another Ukrainian POW. It’s about a ...
British mercenary Aiden Aslin, now a prisoner in the Donetsk People’s Republic, expressed real concern that he may die from the Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk. He has experienced many missile attacks that came close to the prison.Is he still alive? Understandably, we are always shocked about the losses ...
Politics is largely reported as theatre: tragedy and comedy, thriller and farce. Andrea Vance captures it all very successfully in Blue Blood. But it is the politics of personality, not of policy – of the impact of government on the people’s wellbeing. Even so, we can see from the book ...
This year the government finally got its clean car feebate scheme into place. But there's a problem: it's been too successful: Transport Minister Michael Wood will shortly review the cost of the fees and rebates in the Government's "feebate" scheme after the runaway success of the policy has meant ...
Given how the pandemic has disrupted the sporting calendar, no-one would begrudge our elite athletes their chance to compete at international level. What with the war in Ukraine and the cost of living, there are also not many ‘good news” stories out there. So… I suppose the strenuous efforts the ...
Everybody Having A Say: Democracy commands us to look outward; it demands our trust; it tells us what is expected of our humanity; it elevates the collective above the self; it celebrates the things we have in common; it defines our morals and values; it calculates what we owe one ...
Even right-wing commentators have, over recent days, and jusrifiably enough, been taking the National leader, Christopher Luxon, to task. They have lambasted him over his soft-shoe shuffle over abortion, for bad-mouthing New Zealand business while he was overseas, and for pretending to be in Te Puke while he was actually ...
So, now we know for sure. The “protesters” who defiled the grounds of parliament and who (according to their own account) intended to create in three of our major cities “maximum disruption and inconvenience” to other citizens, are not interested in democracy – indeed, quite the contrary. Their objective, quite ...
The issue with Christopher Luxon’s social media post talking about his day in Te Puke when he was in Hawaii is it’s fake news. He has since apologised for the mistake. But this doesn’t negate its impact. This mistake, misstep, gaffe or whatever you like to call it, is about ...
Over the last couple of years there has been a disturbing trend of new legislation containing secrecy clauses, which effectively make it illegal for affected government bodies to disclose information under the Official Information Act. Some of these are re-enacting old legislation from the pre- or early-OIA era (in which ...
Allegations of political corruption are once again at the heart of a new High Court trial this week. The trial follows straight on from the “not guilty” verdict for those running the New Zealand First Foundation. And this latest trial is once again about whether wealthy businesspeople and political parties ...
Ukrainian operation to steal Russian military aircraft exposed [English edit] Representatives of the Ukrainian special services offered up to $2 million for hijacking Russian military aircraft, as well as European passports for the pilots and their families. In order to gain trust, Ukrainians shared information they were not allowed ...
Struck Down: As James Shaw saved the pure Greens from themselves in 2017, they resented him. As he secured the Climate Change portfolio for his party, they suspected him. As he achieved cross-party support for crucial climate change legislation, they condemned him. And, as he was white, and male, and ...
If nothing else, some of the media treatment of the Luxon lu’au has reeked of a double standard. If Jacinda Ardern – or any of her Cabinet Ministers – had been holidaying in Hawaii while their social media imagery was depicting them working hard on the public’s behalf in Te ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme is broken. Stuffed with free allocations and rigged with a "cost containment reserve" which floods the market any time prices get "too high" (for a definition of "too high" set in a different world), its basicly served as a machanism to subsidise the production of the ...
Think Big: A democratic-socialist government could remove GST from basic food items. It could re-nationalise and centralise the generation and distribution of electric power, and then retail it to citizens at an affordable price. A democratic-socialist government could nationalise the public transportation system and make it free for everyone. A democratic-socialist government ...
Pure Poison: It is when the fetid atmosphere created by the Right’s toxic accusations and denunciations is at its thickest, that comparisons with the Woke Left spring most easily to mind. If the level of emotion on display, and the strength of the invective used, is inversely related to the ...
New Zealand companies are using their oligopolistic market power to gouge mega profits, driving up inflation. Overseas, such actions have resulted in windfall taxes, which have been used both to drive down inflation, and ameliorate its impacts (while driving down emissions). With New Zealand petrol companies pocketing record margins and ...
Poll Axed: What happened to James Shaw on Saturday, 23 July 2022 exposed the Greens’ minoritarian political culture for all to see. Once voters grasp the enormity of 30 percent of Green delegates to the Green AGM being constitutionally empowered to overrule the wishes of the 70 percent of delegates ...
The Green Party once again calls on the Government to ban bottom trawling on all seamounts following the release of an industry white paper on so-called ‘sustainable’ trawling. ...
Urgent reform is essential to ensure disabled people have equal access to the care and support they need, the Green Party says in response to a new report that challenges politicians to fix the current system. ...
COVID-19 is here to stay and so the Government needs to put in place long-term protection measures, including mandatory ventilation standards, the Green Party says. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to overhaul the Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme in the wake of revelations of shocking human rights violations. ...
The Green Party is calling for a cross-party commitment to guaranteeing at least a living wage and safe working conditions to people seeking employment, instead of continuing benefit sanctions. ...
The Green Party is once again calling on the Government to announce its support for a moratorium on deep sea mining, and to support a member’s bill going to select committee. ...
The Government must take steps to ensure that the way we build our homes is helping to meet New Zealand’s climate change targets, the Green Party said. ...
The Government’s employment initiatives led by the Ministry of Social Development must guarantee liveable incomes and fair working conditions, the Green Party says. ...
New Zealanders deserve a health system that works for everyone, no matter who you are or where you live. Our Government has a plan to make this a reality, and we’re taking the next steps. We now have thousands more health professionals, such as doctors and nurses, working in New ...
During her time as Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has navigated New Zealand through unprecedented times. Through it all, she’s become known as someone who leads with kindness, compassion and strength, while keeping the wellbeing of Kiwis at the heart of her approach. To celebrate five years of Jacinda leading the ...
Since taking office in 2017, our Government has worked hard to lift wages and make life more affordable for New Zealanders, as we move forward with our plan to grow a secure economy for all. ...
The Government must use the opportunity of the Electoral Amendment Bill in Parliament to close the loophole in the political donations regime, the Green Party says. ...
Thanks to political pressure from the Green Party and the more than 900 personal stories of birth injury and trauma delivered to Minister Sepuloni, more injuries have been added to the ACC birth injuries bill. ...
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Delegates at the AGM of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand have voted to retain Marama Davidson as Green Party co-leader and to re-open nominations for the other co-leader position. ...
The Tourism Industry Transformation Plan outlines key actions to improve the sector This includes a Tourism and Hospitality Accord to set employment standards Developing cultural competency within the workforce Improving the education and training system for tourism Equipping business owners and operators with better tools and enabling better work ...
Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications Dr David Clark welcomes Google Cloud’s decision to make New Zealand a cloud region. “This is another major vote of confidence for New Zealand’s growing digital sector, and our economic recovery from COVID 19,” David Clark said. “Becoming a cloud region will mean ...
A package of changes to NCEA and University Entrance announced today recognise the impact COVID-19 has had on senior secondary students’ assessment towards NCEA in 2022, says Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti. “We have heard from schools how significant absences of students and teachers, as a result of COVID-19, ...
Te Reo Māori tauparapara… Tapatapa tū ki te Rangi! Ki te Whei-ao! Ki te Ao-mārama Tihei mauri ora! Stand at the edge of the universe! of the spiritual world! of the physical world! It is the breath of creation Formal acknowledgments… [Your Highness Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II and Masiofo] ...
The Government’s commitment to combatting firearms violence has reached another significant milestone today with the passage of the Firearms Prohibition Order Legislation Bill, Police Minister Chris Hipkins says. The new law helps to reduce firearm-related crime by targeting possession, use, or carriage of firearms by people whose actions and behaviours ...
Minister for Veterans, Hon Meka Whaitiri sends her condolences to the last Battle for Crete veteran. “I am saddened today to learn of the passing of Cyril Henry Robinson known as Brant Robinson, who is believed to be the last surviving New Zealand veteran of the Battle for Crete, Meka ...
Legislation to repeal the ‘Three Strikes’ law has passed its third reading in Parliament. “The Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Bill ends an anomaly in New Zealand’s justice system that dictates what sentence judges must hand down irrespective of relevant factors,” Justice Minister Kiri Allan said. “The three strikes law was ...
Work is under way on preliminary steps to improve the Government’s support for survivors of abuse in care while a new, independent redress system is designed, Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins says. These steps – recommended by the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry – include rapid payments for ...
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki Online Forum 77 years ago today, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Three days earlier, on the 6th of August 1945, the same fate had befallen the people of Hiroshima. Tens of thousands died instantly. In the years that followed 340,000 ...
An agreement signed today between the New Zealand and United States governments will provide new opportunities for our space sector and closer collaboration with NASA, Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said. Stuart Nash signed the Framework Agreement with United States Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman. The signing ...
An agreement signed today between New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will strengthen global emergency management capability, says Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty. “The Government is committed to continually strengthening our emergency management system, and this Memorandum of Cooperation ...
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Streets will soon be able to be transformed from unsafe and inaccessible corridors to vibrant places for all transport modes thanks to new legislation proposed today, announced Transport Minister Michael Wood. “We need to make it safe, quicker and more attractive for people to walk, ride and take public transport ...
More young minds eyeing food and fibre careers is the aim of new Government support for agricultural and horticultural science teachers in secondary schools, Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. The Government is committing $1.6 million over five years to the initiative through the Ministry for Primary ...
Kākāpō numbers have increased from 197 to 252 in the 2022 breeding season, and there are now more of the endangered parrots than there have been for almost 50 years, Conservation Minister Poto Williams announced today. The flightless, nocturnal parrot is a taonga of Ngāi Tahu and a species unique ...
The relationship between Aotearoa New Zealand and Malaysia is to be elevated to the status of a Strategic Partnership, to open up opportunities for greater co-operation and connections in areas like regional security and economic development. Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta met her Malaysian counterpart Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah today during a ...
With additional trains operating across the network, powered by the Government’s investment in rail, there is need for a renewed focus on rail safety, Transport Minister Michael Wood emphasised at the launch of Rail Safety Week 2022. “Over the last five years the Government has invested significantly to improve level ...
The Foreign Minister has wrapped up a series of meetings with Indo-Pacific partners in Cambodia which reinforced the need for the region to work collectively to deal with security and economic challenges. Nanaia Mahuta travelled to Phnom Penh for a bilateral meeting between ASEAN foreign ministers and Aotearoa New Zealand, ...
Extension of Aotearoa Touring Programme supporting domestic musicians The Programme has supported more than 1,700 shows and over 250 artists New Zealand Music Commission estimates that around 200,000 Kiwis have been able to attend shows as a result of the programme The Government is hitting a high note, with ...
Minister of Defence Peeni Henare will depart tomorrow for Solomon Islands to attend events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal. While in Solomon Islands, Minister Henare will also meet with Solomon Islands Minister of National Security, Correctional Services and Police Anthony Veke to continue cooperation on security ...
The Government is partnering with Ngāi Tahu Farming Limited and Ngāi Tūāhuriri on a whole-farm scale study in North Canterbury to validate the science of regenerative farming, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. The programme aims to scientifically evaluate the financial, social and environmental differences between regenerative and conventional practices. ...
52.5% of people on public boards are women Greatest ever percentage of women Improved collection of ethnicity data “Women’s representation on public sector boards and committees is now 52.5 percent, the highest ever level. The facts prove that diverse boards bring a wider range of knowledge, expertise and skill. ...
I am honoured to support the 2022 Women in Governance Awards, celebrating governance leaders, directors, change-makers, and rising stars in the community, said Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. For the second consecutive year, MPP is proudly sponsoring the Pacific Governance Leader category, recognising Pacific women in governance and presented to ...
Today Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash turned the sod for the new Whakatāne Commercial Boat Harbour, cut the ribbon for the revitalised Whakatāne Wharf, and inspected work underway to develop the old Whakatāne Army Hall into a visitor centre, all of which are part of the $36.8 million ...
New Zealanders are not getting a fair deal on some key residential building supplies and while the Government has already driven improvements in the sector, a Commerce Commission review finds that changes are needed to make it more competitive. “New Zealand is facing the same global cost of living and ...
Mana in Mahi reaches a milestone surpassing 5,000 participants 75 per cent of participants who had been on a benefit for two or more years haven’t gone back onto a benefit 89 per cent who have a training pathway are working towards a qualification at NZQA level 3 or ...
The Government has invested $7.7 million in a research innovation hub which was officially opened today by Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Dr Ayesha Verrall. The new facility named Te Pā Harakeke Flexible Labs comprises 560 square metres of new laboratory space for research staff and is based at ...
Unemployment has remained near record lows thanks to the Government’s economic plan to support households and businesses through the challenging global environment, resulting in more people in work and wages rising. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent in the June quarter, with 96,000 people classed out ...
Action to address the risks identified in the 2020 climate change risk assessment, protecting lives, livelihoods, homes, businesses and infrastructure A joined up approach that will support community-based adaptation with national policies and legislation Providing all New Zealanders with information about local climate risks via a new online data ...
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Tracy Watkins asks……How long before Labour asks whether David Shearer is the solution or the problem?http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8728086/Shearers-invisible-cloak-thinning
Some on the site have been asking this for a while.
Yes, surely he must go now. The detailed poll results are at http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/8728030/National-leaving-Labour-in-its-wake
Right wingers bash left wing leader. Should I be surprised?
Hooton on Shearer:
Yep, I was wrong. But how was anyone to know he would be this hopeless?
No, you were lying. Just like we all said you were.
No. No-one lies all the time. Shearer is hopeless.
But by dumping him now the Labour caucus would be hopelessly divided and broken. Just in time for the next election.
I’m resigned to Key being Prime Minister for two or three more elections.
Maybe one more, but I doubt two.
There is a reasonable chance on one more term for Slippery (I say this mainly because of the TV debates), but I suspect that Key will want to slit his own wrists before putting up with the pain of a 4th lame duck term in office.
However the polls are right – Labour are in with a chance but I believe that chance relies entirely on either Winston, or on the Greens hitting no less than 14% to 15%. One question which no done has answered for me: will Labour be brave enough to include Hone in the next coalition, in Cabinet. Or will they try and hold the radical extreme left maori guy that the middle class thinks is fringe and dangerous, out at arms length.
Shearer is going to need a lot of training if he is to succeed in the debates.
Also if the economy doesn’t tank or if power prices remain static then Key will have a ‘told you so’ angle so yeah, a third term is highly possible.
My general feeling is the public generally want to change after 9 years, no matter who is in charge which is why I couldn’t see a 4th term IMO.
Sometimes, no amount of training can make up for an innate skill deficit.
CV
Surely the only answer in a democracy is. “We must and will, work with whoever the people vote for..Hone, Winston,……… (gulp).. Banks.
Actually, in a democracy, the answer is to let the people decide and not dictate from on high. What we have in our parliamentary system is the latter.
Dumping Shearer now is the only sane course of action. The Labour caucus is divided and broken. The sooner the broken parts are swept aside, the better. One of the worst things that I can see happening would be for the present front bench to run the country, which they’d do in much the same way Key is. That would be the death knell of the parliamentary left for a generation. Mana and the Greens are not yet in a position to fully take over and, even though parliament is largely a sideshow, it is a highly visible one.
They have some inspiring people. Give them a chance. If Cunliffe is on top of a bus talking, at least workers are in the street listening. When Shearer mumbles and makes excuses, who can be bothered listening? What do Mallard and Hipkins stand for except themselves? What do they have to say about the invasion of the Urewera that happened on their watch? Pffft. Let them go. Make them go.
I disagree with pretty much every assessment, comparison and solution you offered in that comment.
As I would have expected.
A Fairfax poll? Would that be the same Fairfax that in September 2011 gave the National Party 54%?
He should rename that trash he calls an article in the NBR to Hootens Horseshit, All the lies that are current!!
You and all the other righties backed Shearer over Cunliffe from the start of Labour’s leadership campaign. You did this because you were afraid of Cunliffe and you knew the right’s best chance of success was to have Shearer in charge.
Now when you think it is too late to change you are dumping on Shearer.
You are so predictable Hooton.
Little bit skeptical Mr Hooton.
I think you always knew he’d be:
a) hopeless
b) in favour of the neo-liberal project your puppet masters benefit from.
Isn’t that why you encouraged him to go for the job at that bbq?
Labour are in a mess because they have a poor leader.
Isn’t this what you always wanted?
Yep, I was wrong. But how was anyone to know he would be this hopeless?
You were lying, and everyone knows it.
Not at all – it’s amazing how the situation has completely turned on its head in only three months.
“Its amazing”
You mean “I’m amazed” right McFlock?
Everyone is amazed – I’m sure even hoots is amazed how the circumstances have changed so much that he had to completely reverse a weeks-old assessment.
Or maybe things have merely altered in their own, gradual way, passing no major threshold or “tipping point” one way or the other, and hoot’s reversal is simply the result of his natural spin cycle. In which case I reckon it does not cause amazement for anyone 🙂
Ah so you were being sarcastic about Hooten’s sudden ‘abandon the Shearer ship’ call after months of talking him up on this blog. Fair enough.
A contemptibly cynical stirrer writes….
Yes, surely he must go now.
It’s not so long ago you and every other National Party operative in the country was praising Shearer, and lobbying for his appointment as Labour leader as enthusiastically as anybody in his official team.
There’s a football analogy for this nasty manipulation of the unwitting. Back in 1966 the All Blacks pulled off a similar coup over the management of the touring British Lions. Whenever journalists asked anyone in the All Blacks who impressed them the most in the tourists, they always said “the captain, Campbell-Lamerton”. They made sure to praise Campbell-Lamerton with special fervour and generosity after every test, when the Lions were disconsolately licking their wounds. Of course, anyone with any nous knew that Campbell-Lamerton was not up to the task of playing test football. The All Blacks wanted the Lions to keep selecting him in the test team, where he was repeatedly outclassed, indeed destroyed, by the Meads brothers, Waka Nathan, Kel Tremain and the rest of the formidable NZ pack, as the Lions lost all four tests.
Maybe someone should appoint you to a football team somewhere, Mr Hooton. After all, you couldn’t possibly be as controversial a choice as the war criminal that came down here in 2005 as the “manager” of the British & Irish Lions.
Interesting. Its a very simple strategy and worked well then, has worked well again for National and the right.
Rob/Felix/SP/Paul/Morrissey/Saarbo: It wasn’t like that at all. I had no preference of Shearer over Cunliffe until, yes, Shearer turned up to my post-election party and Cunliffe didn’t, after both were invited by – small country we live in – Martyn Bradbury. And Shearer impressed all the politicos there that day – from memory, as well as Martyn and some of his crowd like Phoebe Fletcher, there was Willie & JT, Matt McCarten, Sean Plunket, Fran O’Sullivan, John Pagani, Andrew Campbell from the Greens, Chris Trotter …. So it really wasn’t a right-wing conspiracy (in fact, Slater and Farrar refused to show up in protest that Martyn was invited) . What happened is that we all just thought Shearer would do a good job – “50 million lives vs 50 million dollars” etc – and wrote columns and did radio and TV stuff accordingly.
There is probably a lesson here – parties should listen to their own members rather than the media talking heads. It would be interesting to look back to 2003, and I think most of the talking heads thought Brash was too dangerous for National and supported the moderate Bill English. In that case, the party membership, especially in the North Island, demanded Brash and the caucus followed (just). And, for all Brash’s awkwardness and ultimate failure, he certainly turned the polls around more than English ever could have (until now it seems thanks to his economic management).
“the moderate Bill English”
?!!!?????!!???
Compared with Brash, English was the moderate candidate in 2003.
It shows how far National has shifted left under Key that English is now seen as the bold reformer within the government.
Four words missing from your memory there :
no no brash cash
It’s no secret why Brash got the nod from caucus.
The “no brash no cash” speech was never given.
Who said anything about a speech? oops.
Well, its a line made famous in the Hollow Men. There was a speech written for Brash to give to the caucus that referenced the line and much was made of that, but it was never given by Brash. “No Brash No Cash” was a theme but it was as much about ordinary party members deciding whether or not to go to $40 party fundraisers as the bigger donations.
Again, who said it was a speech?
Laugh.
It was all just a big coincidence and $40 donations that made National flush and caused ACT to have to go selling itself to climate denial loons and the SST mob.
Key ….left wing ….you must try to stop those porkies Mr Hooton.
“Compared with Brash, English was the moderate candidate”
Compared with nuclear weapons, cluster bombs aren’t so terrible.
Come on Hooton you were engaging in sabotage of Cunliffe well before election day. This was calculated on your part and on the part of Farrar et al. I bet you even had a media strategy behind it.
There is a lesson here. The left should never, ever follow your advice. In fact the left should most of the time do the exact opposite.
But don’t think that you have succeeded. This Government is that appalling that there is this grim determination on the part of the left to get rid of it. And this will happen whoever the leader of the Labour Party is, be it Shearer, Cunliffe, Robertson or anyone else.
+1
“The left should never, ever follow your advice. In fact the left should most of the time do the exact opposite.”
No mickey. the left should take no regard. Frankly I wouldn’t even let him comment here. What good can it possibly serve to invite a vampire into your house?
+1. The man is a worthless blight on the discourse. Active poison to the demos, etc.
You should raise this matter with lprent. He may or may not agree that the discourse here would be improved without alternative views.
I was talking about here Hooton, but in the nation in general.
And I’m not saying you should be silenced, I’m saying people would be wise to discount your views to zero. You add nothing of value to anyone’s understanding because you are a bullshit artist.
You are an unreliable narrator in the novel of life, as it were.
The way I understand it alternative views are welcome here, but tr0lls get banned.
We (as in the site) like people who can express their own clear opinions with intelligence, articulation, and support when they rely on specific facts.
We tend to restrict the mindlessly repetitive, those who can’t express a clear opinion or assert facts without support, and those who are needlessly argumentative. That is because they tend to add nothing to the debate apart from boring the crap out of
meus.Both you and Pascal’s Bookie do it pretty well in all of the important criteria. Of course none of those things mean that we have to be particularly polite to each other. I never try for that lofty standard myself, I usually just go for the mutually exclusive (with politeness) objective of clarity.
“Frankly I wouldn’t even let him comment here. What good can it possibly serve to invite a vampire into your house?”
Got to disagree with you there Felix. I like to see him here, spouting his lying bullshit This way it can get dissected and revealed for what it is, and answered. Otherwise he will regurgitate (throw up, spew) his right wing crap on radio where he does his utmost to talk down any opposition, or write in the pathetic excuses we have as newspapers, We need good opposing arguments to his crap, otherwise he and his mates from the right will start to believe the crap he expounds that this is how the real world should work.
I laugh that you guys think Farrar, Slater, Hooten etc have such a huge impact on who ended up leader of labour – and your your own members cannot make the same impact.
cracks me up.
Who said anything about Cunliffe, Matthew? Gave the game away with that comment mate.
No, the truth is you backed Shearer because he was a mug, knowing that later you could attack him for being a mug.
It was obvious then, it’s obvious now, we all said all along that this is exactly what you would do, and you fooled no-one.
(Except the Labour hierarchy and front bench of course, but hey…)
Mickey/Felix/One Anon: No, that’s not the truth. That is your constructed view of reality.
And now you are taking the piss Matthew.
Can I urge everyone to take steps to prevent Hooton’s lot from remaining in power because the future of your country depends on it.
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Don’t understand what you are trying to say?? Are you really saying there was a right-wing conspiracy, led by or at least involving me and also people like Chris Trotter, to impose Shearer as Labour leader because he was known to be hopeless??? I wish the NZ right was that good!
Why are you trying to make out that conspiracies are required?
You backed Shearer because he’s a lemon. And now you’re attacking him because he’s a lemon.
Where’s the conspiracy?
No, I backed him (and many others did) because I thought he would make a great leader and prime minister. Now I have learned he is a lemon and I (and many others) were totally wrong. This is embarrassing and Mickey is right – don’t take my advice on Labour’s leader ever again! I am not close enough to the individuals to make a good assessment (although I did get to work with Cunliffe over the carpark tax issue and found he was much better to deal with and switched on than I had thought).
The more you say it the more ridiculous it sounds.
Keep talking.
‘
Amusing, and, at the same time, annoying, isn’t it? Watching Hooten’s lies spill out so easily is the fun part, but the Aaron Gilmore level of arrogance in thinking he will get away with is, oh, I dunno, just aggravating.
Yeah, he’s just smart enough to be devious but still dumb enough to let his ego get the better of him and tell everyone what he’s up to.
Ladies and germs, one of New Zealand’s elite
rightwing spin geniusespolitical commentators, Matthew “No Spin Here” Hooten.Why don’t you just accept that your credibility here is zero? No one swallowed your weak concern tr0ll shit before, why do you think we’ll suddenly give you the benefit of the doubt?
I recommend a story for you call ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ it’s a good one. It’s about a boy who thinks it’s funny to fool people, until nobody believes anything he says. Usually it’s to help small children grasp this point, but you’re a big boy who can’t figure it out.
Maybe try logging in under a different name so you can commence bagging Shearer more freely? How about ‘Mud’?
Whatever Matthew. Our amateur view of reality is nothing compared to the one you’ve been paid to construct.
That’s the point. Hooton is a paid puppet.
Like you give a flying fuck about the truth Hoots.
Felix, I mentioned Cunliffe because those are the two Labour MPs Martyn invited to my party because they had appeared on the iPredict TV show in the week or so before the election. That’s why Tim Groser was invited too – I think he did the iPredict show the Friday before the election. This really was just a party, hosted by me and Busted Blonde, to drink the Veuve Clicquot she had won from the NBR (which reminds me, Ellen Read from the NBR, now Fairfax, was also there, which led to Shearer getting good coverage in the NBR over the following week or so – not that that would have mattered much. Also, while Farrar and Slater boycotted the party on political grounds, Cactus Kate showed up for reasons discussed in the previous sentence). You would do better understanding political developments if you look Freud’s advice – sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
don’t you righties know as/call shearer ‘the insurance-policy’..?
phillip ure..
Matthew you protest too much.
No-one cares about your party or your mates. You’ve done exactly what everyone said you would do, more or less to the day.
A cigar is just a cigar indeed.
Whereas Hoots proves that a dick is indeed a dick.
Brash…. he certainly turned the polls around
Nup. Blatant and deliberate racist hatemongering did that: aided, abetted, planned and delivered by the very same clique that delivered and now fetes this latest poll.
A poll of 863 by landline with an undisclosed several thousand who refused to participate.
Lets panic. Until the next Roy Morgan. Yawn.
Next Roy Morgan will be released in 24 hours or so. You won’t have long to wait. Big bounce back up for Labour to 35% or 36% you reckon?
Well if you are right Matthew, and the Labour leader was chosen mainly because he was endorsed by a number of commentators at a piss up, it pretty much explains why the decision has turned out to be a major fuck up for Labour.
😀
yes, that is my theory
If this is the way politics and by extension public policy gets done in this country, then I spit on the lot of you. Political operators are a pack of contemptible lizard brained psychopaths.
The interesting thing about psychopaths is that they have the ability to choose to believe their own lies. That’s what makes them such good liars. They also genuinely believe they are doing nothing wrong.
just like Shonkey ??
we call him donkey jonkey at our place.
I’ve started referring to him as ol’ brain fade.
Hmmmm at the rate we are going you might have to specify which political leader you are referring to
No mention of a margin of error, wow what a surprise.
No mention of the methods of polling, wow what a surprise.
And of course, no mention of the actual questions asked.
How can you defend the publication of fraudulent statistics?
oh that’s right, you are paid to.
and the other two polls this week that also showed labour looking poorly ????
rouges as well?
Yes we know, it just makes us all want to not vote for Labour or the Green Party’s in 2014,
Snigger, the Slippery slope National are now on is known to the present Government best illustrated by the Slippery Prime Minister brushing crumbs off of the Tory table of over abundance in the direction of kiwi kids that do not have the income directed at them so as to guarantee their nutritional needs…
Shows just how one-eyed and blind you are. The poll results hardly point to a slipery slope for national and to think it does just beggars belief.
Makes you sound more like a cult than a rational person.
Rational??? who me ??? around these parts i am known as anything but rational, cult doesn’t quite ascribe a correct descriptive either,
But enough about ‘i’, the fact that you base your view of the electoral cycle on polling data that has continually in the face of reality loudly proclaimed to all and sundry that National have the numbers to ‘govern alone’ makes yours the voice of the rational does it ???,
Any Government that bounces up and down 4 whole % points between polls barely a month apart is in my opinion on the Slippery slope, Slippery the PM of course also knows this and He is operating with the added bonus of a damned sight better data source than little old ‘i’ can manage, (which of course is why the Shyster has managed to swallow such a large dead rat and pretend to unveil a comprehensive ‘food in schools program’,
i do of course except you critique of the one eyed nature of my political view which extends as far as holding a belief that the National Government’s suffered by this country are usually made up of well practiced liars and in some cases outright scum,
Perhaps you would care to post a comment, any comment, which would tend to offer a re-education to me changing my overall view of the present National Government, at the least you will be providing the readers with a much needed dose of mirth at the effort…
James, who mentioned rogues?
All I stated are simple facts. The polls are fraudulently represented statistics and have repeatedly been published as such for about two years now.
Not including the statement of methodology and the margin of error are deliberate exclusions that skew any data they purport to represent.
“All I stated are simple facts. The polls are fraudulently represented statistics and have repeatedly been published as such for about two years now.”
says it all really. Everyone is against us. Its a conspiracy of all the polling companies.
Not simply facts – more the rantings of somebody who has lost the plot.
Polls have a margin of error, Y or N ?
Has this margin of error been reported, Y or N ?
Polls have a methodology of data collection Y or N ?
Has this methodology been reported Y or N ?
are you a pavlovian reactionary with the comprehension skills of an innebriated mollusc
Y or N ?
p.s. I made no such accusation of conspiracy against the polling companies as they are not the vehicle with which the information was made public. I merely stated that the basics of poll data reporting i.e: margin of error and method are no longer reported to the public. I am convinced both of those items would have been supplied to the publishers and it is the news services themselves that decided to publish the polls sans that particular information.
jeez, james – even hoots thinks the polls are biased…
Is Hooten not yanking on the collective Open Mike chain today?
Gee i thought you meant the other anking word beginning with the letter W…
I also noticed that Mike Williams (on nine to noon on Monday) was rather negative on Shearer, up to now he has been one of his strong supporters. I expect to see more of Shearers supporters squirming away from him as his poll rating and performance continues to languish. The unfortunate thing is it is probably too late to change leaders now, whoever takes over will be accepting a hospital pass.
If Labour don’t win in 2014 there needs to be a serious cleanout of deadwood. And you don’t have to be a politics graduate to realise that Labour has a very low chance of winning with Shearer as Leader.
What a crappy but predictable situation Labour has found itself in!
It is not too late provided that a change of leader also means a genuine change of tactics, but it is far too late for another round of “let’s put in x and urge everyone to love x,” especially when the people doing the urging have diminished credibility. However, the longer they fail to rattle National from the opposition benches, the more confident National becomes and the more ground they lose.
I’ve had a quick look up the page, and I haven’t seen anyone else question this.
In the highly unlikely event of the leadership challenge against Shearer, does the membership get a vote?
I only ask because the Labour caucus does tend to feverishly enslave itself to the will of the MSM, and the MSM does seem to be actively on the hunt for a new scalp….. and Shearer does seem to be the one they ‘prepared earlier’, so to (cooking show) speak…..
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the only reason that the Labour Leadership would be willing to buck the msm was that doing so might allow the rest of the membership to participate democratically.
Well, if Tracey Watkins and Matthew Hooton are now questioning Shearer’s leadership, so much for pandering to the media. I am not sure about the rules of voting in the case of a leadership challenge. With the vote of confidence, Shearer needed at least 40% support and did manage to get it, arguably helped by Hipkins being included among the vote-counters. If he had not got that level of support the vote would have gone to the members. Given that, in the absence of a resignation, it would take over 50% against him to end his leadership, you would think that the members would get to vote, but I am not sure that is so.
+1
Shearer will be breathing a big sigh of relief at the latest Roy Morgan. National down to 41%, Labour up to 35% and the Greens on 12% …
Of course what the reality is is something that we can only speculate on.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/new-zealand-voting-intention-may29-201305290604
[lprent: charts – still not happy with the GCR.
Amidst all of the random spiking and slumping, Labour has a slight trend upwards. National has a stronger long-term trend downwards. At present with the usual fortune shifts towards the election, I suspect that Winston would be the decider. I wonder how Key will like the replaying of those 2008 statements about Winston? Of course the National caucus could just dump Key and put in someone without that baggage…
BTW: National should sack Brownlee as I suspect that his mishandling of Christchurch is not helping them. Of course I personally hope that they do not. He is so useful at educating Christchurch residents on National party attitudes.. ]
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 15: Donald Rumsfeld
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking in Atlanta, Friday May 5, 2006.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1FTmuhynaw
* * * * Coming soon: Look for our Matthew Hooton feature! * * * *
See also….
No. 14: Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21052013/#comment-635850 No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
Yes please make your series more contemporary.
Focusing on Messrs Hooton, Farrar and Slater would be a more relevant area today.
Yes please make your series more contemporary.
Focusing on Messrs Hooton, Farrar and Slater would be a more relevant area today.
Fair point, Paul. I was going to put up a choice lie from Hooton—there are so many to choose from—but I had to put in the Rumsfeld thing to reinforce yesterday’s Colin Powell obscenity. The Powell-Rumsfeld lies were always a twofer, and work most effectively when they are put together like that. They’re funnier (in a black kind of way) when they’re back to back.
Hooton will keep, as will Michelle Boag and Bill English….
Fair call Morrissey
Colin Espiner on ‘Feed The Kids’
In my opinion Espiner is wrong in thinking;“It’s an unfortunate political reality that governments of all hues pinch the best ideas opposition parties come up with.”
Harawira actively lobbied all parties to take up his idea.
(Though not as comprehensive as what he sought he has achieved a hell of a lot for a party pretty much isolated with only one MP. And he can count this as a success, and hungry children who would not be fed will now will be.)
When political parties refuse to forward good solutions to pressing problems facing their constituents and the country, because they fear their opponents will take them, then you know that they are being run by sectarian careerists who put their narrow sectarian interests before helping solve society’s most pressing problems.
I hope I never again hear such an argument put forward for keeping a political party’s policies under wraps.
You may say that there are other reasons why politicians, oft time argue not announce their party’s policies to the last minute. But what are they? Is it because they have none? Is it because they have none that are different to their erstwhile opponents? Is it because they have policies that are so close to their opponent’s policies, that they need to ambush their members and supporters at the last minute?
The other reason of course is to limit democratic discussion within a political party to just a few at the top, asking their membership to take them on trust.
When a political party says that they are holding off their policy announcements until closer to the election then you know that they have seriously lost their way.
Exactly. Parties are policy delivery devices, no more.
When a party that is normally useless to you, is ‘stealing’ policies from a party that usually delivers what you want, it’s a win.
Hone Harawira just on RNZ actually sounding like a real opposition when talking about this governments priorities on spending. Maybe Shearer and the Labour Party could listen to that interview.
It’s called standing up for the people.
harawira was also good on tv3 this morn..
..well worth the watch..
..phillip ure..
I agree, he was clear, forthright and did not pull his punches.
Olwyn+1 and his swearing was appropriate if there was any. Certainly the message was most memorable and had the punch of an unwavering and sincere politician committed to NZ people, and particularly Maori and the low-income.
you most probably won’t get this from the mainstream media..
..but colorado has just become the first place in the world to sign into law a legalised/regulated/taxed pot-regime for adults..
..so there is our blueprint of how to do it..eh..?
..apparantly they are so onto it..the regulators are able to track from seed to end-product..
..phillip ure
Lolz, learn how to clone and free the weed…
Must suck to be a Labour supporter right now (not as bad for the Greens) but don’t worry about the polls I’m sure they’re not indicitive of the massive groundswell of support building for Labour under the astute stewardship of David Shearer…at this rate Labour will be back in power by 2020 🙂
‘
Interesting poll, that Reid one. Of course, the sample is too small to justify your confidence but did you see that most National Ltd™ voters were in favour of the NZ Power solution to being rorted by the corporates? There’s a skerrick of hope for youse yet. Psychologically, I mean.
You actually put your reasoning on one poll a year out from election day? National doesn’t have that great a lead, and all these polls always write off NZ First and Mana, even though they have a strong following in their own way. I doubt even National’s inner circle believe you can know who will most likely win, till the months or weeks before election day.
Snigger, we really really believe it when we are told constantly by the polls that National have enough support to govern alone,
We all know this has to be true because for the past two election cycles the polls have been telling us this,
There is of course only one small problem with that which in abbreviated terminology says, ”they didn’t and they still haven’t”
Minus 1 or 2% in November 2014 and it’s haere ra National and who cares who the leader of the Labour Party is if He or She supports the stopping of the electricity rort with things like NZPower and intends to support a guaranteed living wage for ALL workers…
Well most of Europe right now has weak coalition governments (especially Germany – where NZ took it’s MMP system from), Australia really is no different, and the US is very much divided. It is doubtful that even if National wins again, it would have anything but a weak coalition, it can’t break international trends. 😉
Have you got anything better to do than trolling for comments?
Constructive debate and discussion, maybe…
Peter Jackson takes to skies in $80M style
So good to know that NZ tax payers money went to a good cause. Also, how about sparing an extra pittance or three so that NZ workers can have union protection just like the actors you hire from Australia and USA? Or in fact, just like you have yourself?
The very definition of “rich prick”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/8728148/Jackson-takes-to-skies-in-80m-style
Well well. There’s a lesson for us all in that possums – something we can all ASPIRE to aye? (not)
An economy for the elite that we can all expire to
Yes keep on attacking Sir Peter Jackson because its worked so well in the past.
Because he is a manipulative arsehole. What was your point?
We aren’t politicians. We have sufficient rejects from real life for that task (you look quite good as a potential National candidate BTW). What happens here is that we express our opinions. And occasionally in my moderator role I’ll squash some cretinous fuckwit like yourself (see that is an opinion) who wants to insinuate that the site or the commentators are a political organisation.
This is a “gentle” warning..
I insinuated nothing, I said “keep attacking Sir Peter Jackson because its worked so well in the past” because this blog has had numerous attempts at smearing Sir Peter Jackson…as a rich prick, anti-union, lackey of Warner Bros etc etc
Nothing to do with this site or the commentators being a political organisation or otherwise
Bit touchy at the moment…
“…this blog has…”
Sigh, and 😆
Yeah, this winston has a problem with individualism. Seems like one of those conformist totalitarian dickheads to me… Obviously every author and commentator is “The Standard” – including himself.
After all he reads like just about every other right wing troll to me. Dispose of one and another duplicate pops up like a head at a fair’s shooting gallery with the same lame assertions about computer programs having opinions.
At least this one tries to reply and even attempts the difficult art of arguing rather than doing crapping an assertion and then immediately leave (like an incontinent poodle moving down a street).
So, basically, he read the book and thought it was all about communism, so figured he would use the name as a pseudonym in his valiant, solitary struggle against the left.
Yeah. Of course as with many of the Orwellian novels it is often hard to figure out which brand of totalitarian conformist nutters he was parodying. He was after all a democratic socialist* with a distinct dislike of all brands of conformist totalitarianism.
But it is clear that if that was where he got his name from and why he took it, then he clearly hasn’t read to the end of the book. After the rat room the fictional Winston Smith become just another blob staring adoringly at the image of his leader with an inability to think. Just like this one I suspect…..
* A stream of political thought that encourages individualism – far more so than the daft conformity of the libertarians with their obsessive theology of toy collection. Or for that matter or almost any other political philosophy I have seen. Even the anarchists have this strange obsession at having to all agree (conformity) or they’ll dissolve into complete societies of one. The democratic socialist acceptance and even promotion of eccentricity amongst groups has always been a wonder to behold. And most importantly it fosters agreeing to disagree….
Yes you got something right, the anti union antics of the Warner Bros lackey have been well documented here and elsewhere…
Arsehole Peter Jackson smeared himself with his lies. All that happened on this blog was that those lies were pointed out.
Indeed he did. But you know what’s more depressing? !!!!
It’s when someone (with a history of someone struggling in the industry, and having sampled the lowliest of the low – including serious jailtime as a result of Sth American totalitarian juntas) becomes so SO immune to the plight of ‘the film-maker’s community’ (i.e. his peers). That Petey isn’t such a bad bloke after all – AYE?.
I’m not exactly sure what the Paekak dak delivers – but it’s obviously pretty potent.
Thats Sir Peter Jackson to the likes of you
Fucktard McSellout, more likely. Not everyone immediately cums at the thought of someone who bought a tin-plate title off a used currency salesman.
Nope. If I was to even use the title “sir” (not going to happen because I’m not a brown noser like yourself) to someone it would be to someone I respect. I don’t respect liars.
“Sir” Graham Henry is another notorious liar.
Watch for him in my series Liars of Our Time….
Jackson is yesterday’s news.
Game of Thrones is a much better watch than his dragged out travelogues.
Season 3 was more anticipated in this household than the Hobbit was, and it will be the same for season 4.
Movies are dead. High end TV series with a guaranteed pay TV audience are the future.
lol.
Peters asks Dunne (during an unrelated committee meeting) if it was him what leaked the Kitteridge report. Cue arguments about whether the question is in order or whatever nevermind Dunne ends up confirming that he’s been spoken to as part of the investigation into who leaked ouch. *laughs*
With a few exceptions most forget ( or don’t want to acknowledge ) that poll proportions are a % of those who didn’t say fuck off( not of the general population. Therefore 45% may well be only 45% of 18-20% of those with a landline. That should leave at least 70% to be influenced by good policy and if that policy is telegraphed too early pale imitations or window-dressed versions of it will be stolen, and thats why we have a ( albeit better than nothing ) half-arsed ” Breakfast in Schools” programme.
On Shearer/ Cuniliffe, be careful not to buy in and feed the MSM’s castigation of DS, if DC was leader the arseholes would be in paroxysms of red-baiting and thunderous editorials of communist takeovers and I’m sure that that buck-toothed idiot Gower would even come in his pants on a live cross to the Beehive over some concocted Stalinist bullshit.
Remember Hooten et al are just doing what they are paid for.
Level the playing field for solar power in New Zealand!
As an investor in a NZ solar company, I was shocked to discover that a careless change in the rules – requiring solar companies to use a particular inverter technology that hasn’t even been invented yet – could come into force any day now and stop our solar industry dead in its tracks. If this were the fossil fuel lobby, would we ever have to worry about something like this?
Solar panels are not just a green technology, they’re also a great financial investment for New Zealand homes and businesses and a potentially huge source of economic growth. We should be pulling out all the stops to help the solar industry develop, not putting one obstacle after another in its path. Even John Key called for reducing “the Pacific region’s reliance on expensive fossil fuels for electricity” a few weeks ago.
New Zealand has almost unlimited potential to generate clean energy from the sun. That’s why I’m calling on regulators — who have been asleep at the wheel — to roll up their sleeves and level the playing field for solar energy by creating a clear, nationally-enforced standard; reducing the soft costs for installing solar; and creating a nationwide financing scheme and easy way for people to sell back their extra solar power production with a net-metering law. These measures would give so many more people access to this smart, environmentally beneficial investment! Please add your name and tell all your friends, and I’ll make sure the law-drafters get our message loud and clear.
Join us! Click below to sign the petition and forward to everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_New_Zealands_solar_industry_from_accidental_death/?bhNKcdb&v=25172
With hope,
Iain, Michelle, Scott and the whole Avaaz team
PS: This petition was started by an Avaaz member on our Community Petitions site. It’s quick and easy to start a petition on any issue you care about, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?bgMYedb&v=25121
If people think that the (from the earth) fuel companies, will take solar heating lying down, I would be very surprised.
The oil/banking cartel own the politicians, and are not going anywhere, as long as they can drill it from the earth!
The other problem to deal with for the solar energy proponents, is that of global dimming, and the impact of geo-engineering on the amount of suns rays reaching the planets surface!
More cronyism from National:
So, firstly the applicant didn’t apply in time and then the minister didn’t accept the candidates until she had the one she wanted in the list.
This was raised yesterday in Question Time by Robertson.
Robertson has a further question on it scheduled for today’s QT:
The database server (and therefore the site) will be offline for a period late tonight.
I need to adjust some of the settings and that will require it to be offline for up to 20 minutes.
unexpected earthquake observation # 432
The Great Earth Monster shivers in the snow…
S.S. thugs still getting free air time on public radio
Will Kyle Chapman be next?
Nine to Noon, Radio NZ National, Wednesday 29 May 2013
Host: Lynn Freeman
First item up on Nine to Noon this morning was an interesting and learned discussion about the insane “Three Strikes” legislation. The guests were Hastings barrister Eric Forster and Victoria University criminology professor John Pratt. In contrast to many of the blowhards, maniacs and hypocrites who usually get air time on this issue, both of these men are learned and serious scholars of the law; both of them condemned the Three Strikes legislation as “insane”, and the consequence of a small number of ignorant politicians who believed in “magical thinking” being given a totally disproportionate amount of power. This discussion ended about 9:40 a.m.
Just over two hours later, host Lynn Freeman felt compelled to read out a long and belligerent email in favour of Three Strikes. This email was written by the disgraced, discredited convicted grave-robber, doctor-assaulter, serial sexual harasser, former ACT MP, and S.S. man David Garrett. Poor old Lynn Freeman, who I know detests and despises David Garrett and his evil organization, read the email in a tone of obvious distress, as well as distaste.
Then, incredibly, a few minutes later, just before the end of the programme, she read ANOTHER urgent email from the bowels of Hell. This time it was from the Grand Wizard of the S.S. himself, Garth “The Knife” McVicar. In contrast to the rabid David Garrett, the Grand Wizard’s email was written in a tone of wounded disappointment; the two experts, he whined, were “well known opponents of the legislation”. The entirely false display of emotion by this creep rendered that email even more offensive and insulting than Garrett’s.
Surely, if any organization has thoroughly discredited itself and should not be indulged in any way, it is this vicious and hypocritical bunch of gangsters. I know that there is not one person at Radio New Zealand who feels anything other than loathing for the S.S. Trust and for David Garrett and Garth “The Knife” McVicar. Yet here we were, this morning, forced to listen to the thoroughly unedifying phenomenon of a fine broadcaster being forced to read out crass emails from not just one, but TWO personae non grata.
I have no doubt that the receptionsists at Radio NZ National suffered a deluge of coordinated abuse, through telephone calls and emails, for the two hours before those two emails were read out.
I wonder who made the decision to cave in to their hectoring; I know that it was not the journalists.
Sometimes, sunshine, I worry about you……..
Sometimes, sunshine, I worry about you……..
Thanks, buddy! I’m feeling the love.
Where are the ‘three strikes’ against ‘white collar’ crime and ‘white collar’ criminals?
Penny Bright
Where are the ‘three strikes’ against ‘white collar’ crime and ‘white collar’ criminals?
For them, it’s three chances.
Or, to use corporate-speak, three OPPORTUNITIES.
Or more, if they need them.
Everytime I think of the SS Trust, I think of a bunch of hooded people standing round a lynched brown person.
Everytime I think of the SS Trust, I think of a bunch of hooded people standing round a lynched brown person.
Entirely understandable, millsy, but in reality it’s a bunch of intolerant people sitting in a radio studio (NewstalkZB) pouring scorn and abuse on a lynched brown person in South Auckland, and ridiculing his family. That’s what they did, day in, day out, session after session, hour after hour in 2008 and 2009, and still occasionally do whenever somebody mentions the word “tagger”.
Wait until a two strikes offender kills a victum because he cant get his skateboard. What a fuss that will cause.
I thought the most compelling argument was that those on 2 strikes dont really have the moral judgemnt needed to ‘obey’ the law.
Something called “Dv” tried, unwisely, to be clever….
Wait until a two strikes offender kills a victum because he cant [sic] get his skateboard.
What possible precedent do you have to suggest such a scenario?
What a fuss that will cause.
Nonsense. Your dull fantasy lacks even the slightest plausibility.
I thought the most compelling argument was that those on 2 strikes dont really have the moral judgemnt needed to ‘obey’ the law.
Nor, as recent events have reinforced, do the people in the top echelons of the New Zealand police. And, as shown by their failures in Afghanistan, neither do the top brass in the New Zealand Defence Force.
No doubt you will be calling for these people to be sent to jail for fifteen to twenty years. Or do you get ALL your opinions directly from talk radio?
Am I correct in believing that a third guest (aside from Eric Forster and John Pratt) was invited to participate, but declined?
The ‘trickle down’ effect does work! – at least at RNZ.
Am I correct in believing that a third guest (aside from Eric Forster and John Pratt) was invited to participate, but declined?
Possibly that awful Ruth Money, who I see has become the main spokesghoul for the S.S. Trust.
The ‘trickle down’ effect does work! – at least at RNZ.
This comment has me intrigued. Could you explain what you mean?
Martian thingamajig?
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd112/breadmaker99/corregated1_zpsc5e1f7c7.jpg
Hoaxed. It’s part of the Rover.
http://marswatch.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/images/Sol3137B_Matijevic_Pan_L257atc.jpg
Better images here
http://earth-chronicles.ru/news/2013-04-09-42015
The DEFENDANT – ‘dodgy’ John Banks is back in the Auckland District Court, (Albert St) Thursday 30 May 2013.
As I understand it – this case will be stood down until 11.45am, because Private Prosecutor Graham McCready will not be able to attend before that time.
It is my intention to have banners up outside the Court from 11am.
Do come along if you are able! 🙂
Being FINALLY held accountable in a Court of Law – has been a VERY long time coming for the DEFENDANT John Banks.
The BIG question is – how come Prime Minister John Key has not yet stood down as Minister, the DEFENDANT, Minister of Regulatory Reform, Minister of Small Business, Associate Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Commerce – ACT MP for Epsom – the arguably ‘Not-So-Honorable’ John Banks?
Former National MP Aaron Gilmore, was effectively forced to leave Parliament, yet he never faced charges in Court, unlike the DEFENDANT John Banks!
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate