Search Results

1. 

   Strategic voting is a bad thing unless you live in Epsom

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:42 am, July 30th, 2020 -  49 comments
   Categories: election 2020, electoral commission, electoral systems, national, nick smith, same old national
   Tags:

   Nick Smith has publicly opposed a change to the electoral system that would allow strategic manipulation of the electoral system.  But only by Māori.

2. Trade Unionism: Does it have a future

   Written By:  nickkelly -  Date published: 10:36 pm, July 27th, 2020 -  19 comments
   Categories: health and safety, Living Wage, minimum wage, Unions, workers' rights
   Tags: awards, CTU, employment, Graeme Clarke, helen kelly, nick kelly, zero hour contracts

   There is no blueprint for building a stronger more effective trade union movement. There are many, who each and every day wake up and do exactly that.

3. 

   The Greens are thinking ahead

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:30 am, July 26th, 2020 -  126 comments
   Categories: climate change, election 2020, Environment, greens, infrastructure, labour, political parties, science, uncategorized, Unions, workers' rights
   Tags:

   The Greens have released a detailed policy document that sets out what they want to achieve if they are part of the next Government and their Labour Relations policies could be considered to be more pro union than Labour’s policies.

4. 

   Green Party rocks their new Guaranteed Minimum Income policy

   Written By:  weka -  Date published: 7:05 am, June 29th, 2020 -  263 comments
   Categories: ACC, benefits, disability, greens, welfare
   Tags: GMI, Guaranteed Minimum Income, Poverty Action Plan, ubi, weag, wealth tax

   The Greens’ audacious new social security policy, the Poverty Action Plan, places manaakitangi and compassion at the centre. It includes guaranteed income across the board for those in need, reorientating ACC to include illness and prioritise care, support for children and single and double parented families, and it pays for it all by taxing some of the assets and income of the wealthy.

5. 

   Things that will live

   Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 10:58 am, June 19th, 2020 -  14 comments
   Categories: Economy, Globalisation, jobs, labour, treasury, uncategorized
   Tags:

   Despite downbeat economic predictions and an imminent global recession, the New Zealand recovery offers opportunities for entrepreneurial success that exceed anything we’ve seen for decades.

6. 

   National has a discipline problem

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:03 pm, June 13th, 2020 -  28 comments
   Categories: Maori Issues, maori party, national, racism, racism, same old national, uncategorized
   Tags: chris penk, COVID 19, covid-19, Covid19, simeon brown

   Yesterday saw two back bench National MPs unintentionally set National’s position on the Government response to Covid 19 and on Hamilton City’s decision to take down a statute that was repugnant to Waikato Tainui.  What has happened to their messaging discipline?

7. 

   Strike Force Raptor is no more

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:20 pm, June 11th, 2020 -  10 comments
   Categories: australian politics, crime, national, police, same old national, todd muller, uncategorized
   Tags:

   National has backed away from its policy of creating Strike Force Raptor Police Unit, a unit based on an Australian force dedicated to terrorising possible gang members.

8. 

   Black lives matter Aotearoa version

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:35 am, June 10th, 2020 -  53 comments
   Categories: child discipline, child welfare, Donald Trump, police, racism, Social issues, uncategorized, us politics
   Tags:

   The Black Lives Matter movement is causing many countries to reflect on their history and practices.  And the decision of the police to discontinue the Armed Response Teams Trial and the Childrens Commissioner’s scathing report on Oranga Tamariki’s practices in the uplifting of young children, mostly Maori, from their mothers are examples of the change that is happening.

9. 

   NZ Police abandon Armed Response Teams

   Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 7:05 am, June 10th, 2020 -  9 comments
   Categories: activism, community democracy, Disarmament, greens, police
   Tags: arms down NZ, firearms, no right turn

   We have a model of policing by consent and that means we need the vast majority of people to see as legitimate the style in which we’re policing and it’s been clear to me that there has not been acceptance of this as an appropriate style of policing in New Zealand. – Police Commissioner Andrew Coster
   

10. 

    National Has Found a Moral Compass

    Written By:  Incognito -  Date published: 3:46 pm, June 6th, 2020 -  34 comments
    Categories: election 2020, honeymoon, leadership, Nikki Kaye, Politics, polls, same old national, Satire, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, todd muller
    Tags: diversity, front bench, moral compass, moral duty, talent pool

    National has embarked on a moral crusade to not lose the Election.

11. 

    Is National Just Inconsistent or Incompetent?

    Written By:  Incognito -  Date published: 7:00 am, June 1st, 2020 -  65 comments
    Categories: business, Economy, employment, jobs, minimum wage, national, Politics, todd muller, unemployment, wages, welfare, workers' rights
    Tags: 90-day trial, corporate welfare, dan bidois, JobStart

    National’s new job-creation scheme appears to be inconsistent with their desire to fully re-instate the 90-day trial period.

12. 

    Is there something wrong with Judith being white?

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:17 am, May 28th, 2020 -  134 comments
    Categories: Dr Deborah Russell, Judith Collins, paula bennett, racism, racism, todd muller, uncategorized
    Tags:

    Judith Collins has responded to criticisms that National’s front bench has no diversity by asking if there was something wrong being white and then saying she was sick of being demonised for her ethnicity.

13. 

    Ko Paora Goldsmith tenei

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:11 pm, May 26th, 2020 -  33 comments
    Categories: national, paul goldsmith, same old national, uncategorized, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    National’s new brains trust has not had a great day today.  They responded to claims that their front bench looked awfully white and had no Tangata Whenua by claiming that Paora Goldsmith was from Ngāti Porou.  The only trouble was that he wasn’t.  

14. 

    Todd Muller is Simon Bridges with less personality

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 1:33 pm, May 26th, 2020 -  68 comments
    Categories: climate change, jacinda ardern, national, nz first, same old national, Simon Bridges, superannuation, todd muller
    Tags:

    Todd Muller has announced a front bench that resembles a National Party front bench from 30 years ago.  And his first live interview on national television did not go as well as he hoped.

15. 

    Israel’s proposed annexation of Jordan Valley

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 8:53 am, May 10th, 2020 -  18 comments
    Categories: Donald Trump, israel, uncategorized, us politics
    Tags:

    With Benjamin Netanyahu now reinstated as Prime Minister of Israel, the big annexation of the Jordan Valley is gathering momentum.

16. 

    New electorate boundaries

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 9:05 am, April 20th, 2020 -  37 comments
    Categories: act, election 2020, national, paul goldsmith, political parties, Politics, uncategorized
    Tags: Electoral Commission, electorates

    I missed it, but we got the new electorate boundaries on Friday. Now electorate boundaries simply don’t matter as much as they used to because of MMP. These days mostly the only people who notice them are electorate MPs, political parties that are too close to the 5% list party boundary, and of course sock-puppet parties like Act and their National party hand. Plus of course political blog sites.

17. 

    New Zealand Tourism after 2020

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 7:30 am, March 30th, 2020 -  48 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, economy, tourism, uncategorized
    Tags:

    Post Covid-2019 what is going to happen to New Zealand’s tourism market?

18. 

    This is not the revolution

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 6:50 am, March 21st, 2020 -  61 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, health, health and safety, jacinda ardern, uncategorized, workers' rights
    Tags:

    The Corvid-19 virus is turning us all into cautious conservatives.

19. 

    On Mike the Moron and handling infectious diseases

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 11:40 am, March 20th, 2020 -  14 comments
    Categories: health, Social issues, uncategorized
    Tags: covid-19, mike hosking, pandemic

    Five days ago Mike Hosking was representing his paymasters with his reflection of their basic ignorance of history.  Then demanding caution in dealing with covid-19. Yesterday he panicked for immediate action to close the borders which government did anyway later that day. It is just dangerous to give a public platform to a dithering moron who be at home in 1918. Perhaps he should read the pandemic plan? 

20. 

    What the Government has done for beneficiaries

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:22 am, March 7th, 2020 -  43 comments
    Categories: benefits, Carmel Sepuloni, labour, minimum wage, political parties, poverty, uncategorized, wages, welfare
    Tags:

    In Parliament this week Carmel Sepuloni outlined action being taken by the Government to implement the recommendations of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group designed to improve the plight of beneficiaries.

21. 

    National is going low on law and order issues

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:48 am, February 27th, 2020 -  10 comments
    Categories: Andrew Little, crime, electoral systems, law, law and "order", national, prisons, same old national, Simon Bridges, uncategorized
    Tags: lauranorda

    Over the past week National has shown a willingness to take really base aggressive positions on law and order issues for political advantages no matter what principles are at stake.  And at the same time show a complete lack of understanding of the issues that are involved.

22. 

    Sustainable NZ not so sustainable after all

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 2:42 pm, February 21st, 2020 -  23 comments
    Categories: election 2020, electoral systems, Environment, MMP, national, sustainability
    Tags:

    It appears that National’s dream of an alternative Green party that would drive the real Green Party below the threshold is in tatters with news that Sustainable NZ is on the skids.

23. 

    No mates Simon

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 10:48 am, February 7th, 2020 -  86 comments
    Categories: jacinda ardern, Maori Issues, maori party, Maori seats, national, Politics, racism, racism, same old national, Simon Bridges
    Tags:

    The repercussions from Simon Bridges’ disastrous Waitangi performance continue to reverberate.  His suggestions that Māori seats and the Waitangi Tribunal should be done away with have resulted in the Māori Party indicating it is more likely to support Labour after the election.

24. 

    The MPs go to Waitangi

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:04 am, February 5th, 2020 -  93 comments
    Categories: Andrew Little, greens, jacinda ardern, james shaw, labour, national, nz first, Politics, same old national, treaty settlements, uncategorized, winston peters
    Tags: te tiriti o waitangi, Treaty of waitangi, waitangi day, waitangi tribunal

    Yesterday the political parties were welcomed onto the upper Marae at Waitangi.  Jacinda Ardern took the occasion to give a stock take of what the Government was doing to address Iwi concerns, Andrew Little gave his speech totally in te reo, and Simon Bridges chose to use the opportunity to politic.

25. 

    Guest Post – What is wrong with the left?

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 8:24 am, January 10th, 2020 -  168 comments
    Categories: education, health, Left, Media, Unions, workers' rights
    Tags: Golriz Ghahraman, Mark Richardson

    Guest post from old maaaaate cans about recent Stuff guest columns attacking the left for not civilised enough and wondering if it is because of right wing insecurity.

     
26. 

    MMP Mark II*

    Written By:  Incognito -  Date published: 11:57 pm, December 25th, 2019 -  24 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, elections, electoral commission, electoral systems, Maori seats, MMP, Parliament, political alternatives, political parties, Politics, uncategorized
    Tags: closed-list, Denmark, election threshold, germany, open-list, proportional voting systems, the netherlands

    What beats MMP? Open-list proportional representation with a low threshold would be a good option.

27. 

    The future of Capitalism

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 9:00 am, December 23rd, 2019 -  128 comments
    Categories: books, capitalism, Deep stuff, Economy, uncategorized
    Tags: capitalism

    2019 has been a remarkable year for those wanting social, economic, and environmental renewal. The level of protest remains high, the idealism as strong as ever, but the ferment is not generating progressive wins, is weakening democratic reflexiveness to challenge, and is weakening pan-national institutions. It’s not that easy to get on the shelves here, […]

28. 

    Listening to left wing dissent

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 7:10 am, December 16th, 2019 -  178 comments
    Categories: Brexit, community democracy, democratic participation, Left, uk politics
    Tags: dissent, UK election, UK election 2019

    What stands out for me are the voices of the people who are saying actually, there were solid reasons for abandoning Labour, this is why I did. There’s something important here about really listening to dissent and being willing to engage with views that don’t make sense in the context of our own personal ideologies.

29. 

    Disarming New Zealand

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 12:26 pm, December 7th, 2019 -  39 comments
    Categories: crime, gender, police, violence against women
    Tags: gun buyback, gun control, gun lobby, misogyny, trumpian politics

    what are the connections between armed police patrols, gendered violence, and a gun lobby protest outside a school?

30. 

    Protecting democracy

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 7:10 am, December 4th, 2019 -  40 comments
    Categories: democratic participation, Dirty Politics, Media, political education, uk politics
    Tags: social media, stephanie rodgers

    We need to normalise a political culture based on real relationships, where people can work through their beliefs and thinking about how they want society to be without being constantly bombarded with information and processes that are deeply anti-human.

31. 

    Submissions to upgrade Ihumātao Ōtuataua Stonefields heritage listing

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 7:10 am, November 28th, 2019 -  18 comments
    Categories: heritage, Maori Issues
    Tags: Ihumātao, Protect Ihumātao

    Pania Newton and the Protect Ihumātao Team are asking New Zealanders to submit to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga using this process. Submissions close 4pm Friday.