Search Results

  1. Polity: Herald poll mirrors Poll-of-Polls

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 11:33 am, December 20th, 2013 -  63 comments
    Categories: polls
    Tags: ,

    These days even the polls that have traditionally biased towards the right are moving left. Rob Salmond at Polity has a look at the latest NZ Herald poll. It is no wonder that National’s PR people including Audrey Young are spinning randomly like tops on a rough surface… National is up less than a point over Labour + Greens

  2. The spirit of ’81: Key’s hypocrisy!

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 3:17 pm, December 19th, 2013 -  141 comments
    Categories: accountability, benefits, child welfare, cost of living, election 2014, hone harawira, john key, mana-party, Maori Issues, Mining, national/act government, poverty, sustainability, uncategorized
    Tags:

    John Key’s attacks on Hone Harawira for his trip to South Africa were hypocritical: an attempt to smear a significant political opponent, and divert from the governments failings & its gradual falling out of favour with many (potential) voters.

  3. How has the year been for you?

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 9:42 am, December 18th, 2013 -  145 comments
    Categories: class war, cost of living, poverty, same old national, welfare, workers' rights
    Tags:

    The government &  many of its cheerleaders are joining in a re-vitalised chorus of a brighter future right around the corner of “Christmas cheer”. Many Kiwis are struggling with the realities of poverty.  How was your year on the inequality scale?

  4. Polity: Turnout in the referendum

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 3:57 pm, December 16th, 2013 -  72 comments
    Categories: democratic participation, Maori Issues, Maori seats, pasifika, referendum
    Tags:

    Rob Salmond at Polity has had a look at the effectiveness of National’s deliberate strategy to discriminate against Maori and Pasifika in the asset sales referendum. National chose a postal ballot for the referendum knowing it would disproportionately disenfranchise Maori and Pasifika communities. I hope they’re proud of themselves. Here is a chart of turnout […]

  5. The Good and the Bad: NZ screen industry

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 12:45 pm, December 16th, 2013 -  77 comments
    Categories: colonialism, employment, film, national, overseas investment, tourism, trade, tv, workers' rights
    Tags:

    The NZ government changes to NZ’s screen industry incentives is a mixed bag. Some (not fully developed) support for a sustainable NZ industry. Selling out NZ workers; bowing to Hollywood corporate, neo-colonial values.

  6. The party I will vote for ….

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 10:39 am, December 13th, 2013 -  157 comments
    Categories: benefits, child welfare, class war, cost of living, democratic participation, economy, education, employment, greens, infrastructure, local government, poverty, quality of life, sustainability, workers' rights
    Tags:

    … will be one that has effective policies to make a more equal, inclusive and democratic society, will seriously address the concerns of those least well-off, and not just pander to the concerns of people on (comfortable) middle incomes.Values in need of a slogan?

  7. What chance is there of a bipartisan approach to child poverty?

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:19 am, December 9th, 2013 -  354 comments
    Categories: benefits, child welfare, class war, paula bennett, poverty, welfare
    Tags:

    The findings of the child poverty monitoring report are being released today.  One in four or 265,000 children live in poverty and one in ten live in severe poverty.  Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills has called for a bipartisan political approach to the issue but Paula Bennett has replied by saying that she is incredibly proud of the Government’s record.  How can you be incredibly proud of allowing one in four children to live in poverty?

  8. Census 2013: glossing over the divides

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 12:21 pm, December 3rd, 2013 -  18 comments
    Categories: cost of living, education, employment, housing, Maori Issues, newspapers, spin, wages
    Tags:

    The 2013 census data is being revealed.  The initial information is presented in Stats NZ’s package, with some curious slants/biases: e.g. on income, occupations and housing.  What else do the stats reveal? [Update: Stats NZ on income]

  9. Axe the Copper Tax wins

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 6:49 pm, November 28th, 2013 -  32 comments
    Categories: act, cycleway, greens, labour, mana, maori party, national
    Tags:

    Every other political party has said an emphatic no to National’s proposal to override the Commerce Commission’s reduction in broadband charges.  I suspect that  Cabinet and Chorus’s board are not having a very good day …

  10. Battle weary & marginalised: state housing

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 9:37 am, November 28th, 2013 -  61 comments
    Categories: activism, class war, democracy under attack, greens, housing, labour, Left, mana, national, poverty, Privatisation, spin, sustainability
    Tags: ,

    The National government is destroying NZ’s state housing system.  Right of tenure removed,  a shift towards private provision of “social housing”,  housing campaigners marginalised, & Tracy Watkins crowing about the shift from the “welfare state”. Greens & Mana are for more state houses.  And Labour? [Update] Picket of (Nat) Party for the Rich Dec 8 Akl. NZH article.

  11. Just what do the Conservatives & National agree on?

    Written By:  Michael Valley -  Date published: 7:12 am, November 28th, 2013 -  108 comments
    Categories: conservative party, election 2014, national
    Tags:

    Everybody is talking up the Conservatives as a partner for National after 2014 to save Key from being the least successful National PM ever. But there’s one problem: they don’t agree on anything. The Conservatives are reactionaries, the Nats are neo-libs. Here’s a list of things that Colin ‘Crazy’ Craig believes in and his policies compared to the Nats’.

  12. The democracy challenge

    Written By:  Jenny Michie -  Date published: 2:20 pm, November 24th, 2013 -  101 comments
    Categories: david cunliffe, election 2014, greens, labour, national, nz first, political parties, Politics, russel norman
    Tags:

    I’ve been thinking about what next years’ election is going to be like. Not like 2011 that’s for sure. Labour was in the doldrums and ran a largely negative campaign. Let’s assume that Labour has learnt its lesson about running an effective campaign and ticks all the boxes. The secret weapon that Labour and the Greens have eschewed for as many elections as I can remember is actually working together.

  13. Coat-tail of Many Colours

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 1:19 pm, November 22nd, 2013 -  72 comments
    Categories: act, conservative party, Economy, election 2014, electoral systems, greens, hone harawira, john key, mana, maori party, MMP, national, nz first, paula bennett, united future
    Tags: , , ,

    Te Reo Putake speculates on exactly what plan that National and John Key have to distort the MMP review and Iain Lee Galloway’s private members bill so that it allows them to stay in power. Most probably by gifting Crazy Colin and the Conservatives with several chances to get several partners into parliament while discarding the husks of their former coalition partners.

  14. Poverty, women & rape culture

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 12:32 pm, November 19th, 2013 -  132 comments
    Categories: child welfare, class, community democracy, feminism, patriarchy, paula bennett, political alternatives, poverty, sexism, unemployment
    Tags: ,

    In our highly gendered socio-economic system that has institutionalised poverty, gendered violence, sexual violence and rape culture, low income women are multiply disadvantaged.  Trigger warning: This post addresses some difficult and sensitive issues about poverty, women and rape culture. Subsequent comments will be tightly moderated.

  15. ‘Locked Up Warriors’: 101 East

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 8:20 pm, November 9th, 2013 -  95 comments
    Categories: class war, crime, health, Maori Issues, poverty, prisons, unemployment, wages, welfare
    Tags:

    On 101 East on Al Jazeera. Too many people in NZ prisons, especially Maori: too many in poverty; too much money spent on prisons; not enough for low income communities; some very good community initiatives. Is this a fair representation?

  16. David Cunliffe Speech to 2013 Labour Party Conference – Building a future for all

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 2:57 pm, November 2nd, 2013 -  142 comments
    Categories: david cunliffe, labour
    Tags:

    David Cunliffe’s speech notes for his speech to today’s Labour Party Conference

  17. Labour conference 2013 – day one

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 9:24 am, November 1st, 2013 -  54 comments
    Categories: labour, political parties, Politics
    Tags:

    Well I made it down to Christchurch to cover the Labour party conference for The Standard. While I’ll probably run out a few posts while I’m here, I figure that I’ll write a post per day for the more general discussion and impressions. Plus do that actual “blogging” of my experiences.

  18. Delegates: vote down the NZ Super age increase

    Written By:  Colonial Viper -  Date published: 8:28 am, October 30th, 2013 -  160 comments
    Categories: labour, superannuation
    Tags:

    Raising the super age is not only unnecessary, it further entrenches intergenerational inequity, reduces community incomes and makes Māori and Pasifika pay too high a price. Conference delegates: make Labour think outside the orthodox economic box and vote it down.

  19. NZ’s struggling screen industry

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 9:51 am, October 24th, 2013 -  117 comments
    Categories: broadcasting, film, infrastructure, jobs, john key, overseas investment, telecommunications, tourism, trade, tv
    Tags: , ,

    The NZ screen industry is in a precarious state, unable to compete with incentives in other countries to attract the crums from Hollywood productions, impacted by the currency high dollar rate.  Innovative ideas needed for an independent NZ industry, linked with public broadcasting TV & online viewing. [Updated: Maori TV & Barry Barclay]

  20. Tat Loo: Viper Pilot

    Written By:  Colonial Viper -  Date published: 12:40 pm, October 20th, 2013 -  333 comments
    Categories: labour
    Tags:

    You can get buried in the minutiae of policy detail, House speeches and daily news cycles, thinking that success there will win an election. Outside the Thorndon Bubble however, nothing is further from the truth. A reconnected Labour Party presenting gutsy alternatives using a narrative quite different to the old neoliberal consensus is starting to get serious voter attention. Now is the time to press ‘turbo boost’.

  21. The fish rots from the head

    Written By:  Mike Smith -  Date published: 8:12 pm, October 16th, 2013 -  91 comments
    Categories: accountability, brand key, election 2014, election funding, john banks, john key, same old national
    Tags:

    Today’s decision that John Banks will stand trial for signing a false donations return signals the beginning of the end of the Key government. Increasingly it resembles the last days of the Shipley government only worse, as corruption replaces shambles. The decision also puts the famous tea party conversation between Key and Banks, where they stitched up the deal to provide the present Government’s majority, into new perspective.

  22. Freeview, SkyTV & IT

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 11:41 am, October 9th, 2013 -  88 comments
    Categories: broadcasting, capitalism, democratic participation, internet, labour, telecommunications
    Tags:

    NZ’s broadcasting and digital communications policies, provisions and regulations do not provide the capability for widespread democratic engagement. Cunliffe has twigged that broadcasting and digital communications policies need to be inter-linked in the 21st century context.  NZ’s policies, provisions & regulations on both need major restructuring.

  23. Labour’s reshuffle

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 3:31 pm, September 23rd, 2013 -  83 comments
    Categories: Annette King, david cunliffe, david parker, david shearer, grant robertson, labour
    Tags:

    Details of the Labour Caucus changes are now appearing in the media.  The update is Parker, Robertson and Jones will be the core of the economic team, King retains Health, Shearer gains Foreign Affairs and Cosgrove and Hipkins retain their current responsibilities.  Mahuta and Moroney are elevated to the front bench and this will help gender balance.

    Updated with full list.

  24. Cunliffe’s team

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 9:58 am, September 17th, 2013 -  197 comments
    Categories: david cunliffe, david parker, labour
    Tags:

    Cunliffe has asked David Parker to be his is Cunliffe’s deputy. Moroney & Lee-Galloway Whips, Robertson Employment, Jones Economic Development. Audrey Young at the NZ Herald. Parker to retain finance, Robertson leader of House. Will there be a strong female presence in the front bench?  Tracy Watkins on Stuff: [Updates]

  25. TV3 needs to be fact checked

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:43 am, September 13th, 2013 -  75 comments
    Categories: david cunliffe, grant robertson, Media, Shane Jones, tv, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    alternative-vs-mainstream-media-450x250TV3’s analysis of the Labour Leadership contest is leaving a lot to be desired.  Rather than reporting on what has happened they are trivialising the leadership campaign and getting important details wrong.

  26. Axe the Copper Tax

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:38 pm, September 12th, 2013 -  39 comments
    Categories: same old national, telecommunications
    Tags: ,

    social welfare not corporate welfareA coalition of organisations as diverse as InternetNZ, TUANZ, a number of corporates, Unite Union and even Kiwiblog are starting a campaign to oppose Government plans to stop the cost of copper broadband connections to retail users being reduced to the fair price determined by the Commerce Commission so that Chorus can recover unbudgeted costs on the fibre rollout.

  27. Labour Leadership Contest – the final meeting will be streamed

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 3:44 pm, September 10th, 2013 -  24 comments
    Categories: david cunliffe, grant robertson, labour, Shane Jones
    Tags:

    own our future labourThe final leadership meeting is scheduled for Christchurch this evening.  The tour has been an outstanding success for the party and in the interests of the party what has been achieved needs to be consolidated and built on.  And tune in to www.3news.co.nz at 7:45 pm for live streaming of the speeches.

  28. It’s about jobs … and social security?

    Written By:  karol -  Date published: 9:34 am, September 6th, 2013 -  168 comments
    Categories: accountability, activism, benefits, class war, david cunliffe, democratic participation, grant robertson, jobs, labour, unemployment, Unions, workers' rights
    Tags: , ,

    Cunliffe & Robertson stress the need to improve employment laws, jobs, wages, the economy, workers’ rights. Cunliffe invokes Savage-like social security & the need to end the Nats beneficiary bashing.  Wider community pressure is needed for there to be real political change away from the destructive neoliberal scam.

  29. National’s asset sales cost $124m + $2.3m per week

    Written By:  James Henderson -  Date published: 7:26 am, September 4th, 2013 -  32 comments
    Categories: privatisation
    Tags:

    National says that $9m is too expensive for you to have your democratic say on asset sales (that’s less than the budget for Pike River re-entry, which everyone supports even though it’s unlikely to recover bodies). What National doesn’t want to you now is that they’ve spent at least $124m on the asset sales so far, and the foregone net profits from Mighty River is running at $2.3m a week.

  30. Solidarity forever …

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:27 am, August 25th, 2013 -  36 comments
    Categories: labour, Politics
    Tags:

    Micky Savage crowdLabour activists want a united Labour Caucus that focusses on the issues that matter.  For the sake of the party we need to have a good humored leadership contest and then unity.

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