Wow. That's a decisive victory. National will not be pleased. Interesting to note that turnout decreased from 28,524 in 2011 to 13,318. That's a decrease of over 15,000. A lot of people have left!
I would also vote regardless of how certain the outcome is. However, you and I are not representative of the general population. A quarter of kiwis didn't vote in 2011. In both 2011 and 2002 we saw one party polling above 50% shortly before the election. ...
Voters don't like the idea of one party governing alone. That's why we adopted MMP. If a poll puts one party over 50%, it scares voters off. Supporters may just not vote because they think victory is inevitable and they would rather the outcome be narrower...
All the polls had National above 49% in the weeks leading up to the 2011 election. Fairfax's poll was the worst performer at 54%. But that was performed by Research International; Fairfax have changed to Ipsos, whose record is unclear. I think voters just ...
I doubt Banks will be convicted, as that would require fairly strong evidence, which I haven't seen. The fact that the judge didn't summarily dismiss it, doesn't mean much. Banks has done the honourable thing by resigning until the trial is over. I suspect...
Police almost never even try to enforce electoral law.
ACT is entitled to one proportional seat, as it won 1.1% of party votes. Ergo ACT is not the cause of the overhang. The Maori party is the cause of the overhang, as they won 3 electorates but only enough party votes for two seats. If Banks resigns and a ...
The regional decline is more akin to regional stability. Gisborne's population decline of a mere 800 people over 7 years - just over 100 people per year - is not comparable to Auckland's growth of well over 100,000 people. As you rightly said "there has ...
BM - I feel sad when I read your words. It sounds to me that you're angry and perhaps even a little bitter. I hope that you find a way to discover and reveal happiness in your life and to see the good that exists in others. I believe that John Campbell and...
Thanks, I'm almost considering a switch for this one as I believe the upcoming vote could make a big difference in regards to the future of our country. If the Nats win a third term due to a decimated Labour, it could cement the neo-liberal ideology in the...
Hi, I may be an idiot - but can an individual be a member of 2 political parties at the same time? [that's usually against the parties' rules. It's certainly against Labour's rules. Eddie]
"New Zealand is a big country – at 268,000 square Kms we are bigger than the United Kingdom; we are 67% the size of Germany..." Size is not as important as habitability. He's not comparing apples with apples. At 266,000 square Kms Western Sahara is ...
I keep having a bad dream that beautiful Aotearoa is being whored off by a bunch of rich and filthy pimps. The lower end of Te Wai Pounamu is taking it bad at the moment, what with the Routeburn Tunnel, the Monorail madness, the Cascade Gondola trying to ...
"Make sure that there is enough land left for growing food" I thought that was one of the aims of increasing the density of cities? Reducing/Limiting sprawl saves productive farmland from being transformed into ashphalt, mown grass and ticky-tac. I would ...
This is clearly an unequal conflict as you point out, yet even if it was an equal conflict it would not be justifiable from either side. I too condemn the violent acts of both sides. What is unequal is the distribution of wealth, resources and freedom ...
+1
"A moderate level of population growth in developed countries (around 1%) is generally good for growth" Please explain then why the unemployment rate in Auckland has risen 1.8 percentage points to 8.6% yet population growth in Auckland is well over 1% (1.5...
Thanks, but please note the term "necessarily". I was also referring to per-capita growth (which I did not make clear). However, a proportional increase in services and resource use is only possible when resources are unlimited...as we are discovering they...
"When NZ has higher overall population growth our economy does better". You are confusing cause and effect. When our economy grows faster the effect is an increase in population growth. Population growth in itself does not necessarily result in economic ...
"Immigration doesn’t increase demand on the world’s resources, it just redistributes it." This statement is not necessarily true. Migrants who relocate from low income nations with low per-capita ecological footprints to high income, high per-capita ...
Overcrowded is a very subjective term as is underpopulated. At our current level of consumption/standard of living NZ could likely double it's population and stay within our nation's carrying capacity (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/...
"All Tolley can manage to say is that she has “no doubts that OFCANZ are doing their best to fulfill their duties”." Brutal!
"Housing land prices are driven by overseas buyers"? In some cases yes, in some cases no, but in general Mark Twain was correct in saying "buy land, they aren't making anymore of it". One thing "we" are "making" is more and more people who inadvertently ...
How about aim for a stable population and then sprawl will also end. In 2001 NZ's population was projected to stabilise at about 4.8 million around 2046. That's only 400,000 more than currently in NZ. However the latest projections show a population 5.5 ...
@ ochocinco A voice of truth and honesty here. Although I agree the question remains; If an individual puts his/her advancement over the good of the planet, do we want them to stay?
I doubt anyone will remember the current asset sales in 10 years. Selling a minority stake in a few energy companies just isn't a big deal in the long run. For all the current moaning, asset sales will be a footnote by 2014. Key hasn't done much of note so...
"Treachery", "an enemy of the people", "a traitor to this country", "disgusting sell-out", "There is no coming back from this.", "spit in your face" Good grief. This "article" is too full of anger, bile, and just plain nasty for me to read past the first ...
How do you RWNJs feel about the chief executive earning $750k a year? If the CEO went on strike whining about pay and conditions, then the right would give him just as much vitriol as the striking overpaid wharfies are getting. He isn't, so we ain't.
If you were just commenting on Cameron Slater or Facebook I don't think it was necessary to keep describing the actions of Deborah and Kerre as being "so damned stupid". The thing is that in this case Cameron hasn't found any "dirt". You're buying into his...
What's wrong with the content of those updates? Both of them are mildly amusing comments. Lprent's scolding of them for publicly admitting to being human (something I've doubted about DC in the past) just makes her seem like a prude. Net result of this ...
Economic liberalisation is also responsible for the crap weather we're having.
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