Search Results

  1. Turei new greens leader

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 4:15 pm, May 30th, 2009 -  40 comments
    Categories: greens
    Tags:

    Metiria Turei has been elected at the Green Party National conference to replace Jeanette Fitzsimons are female co-leader. Her election is no real surprise. Turei brings youth and a lack of baggage. Youth is important for a party whose MPs’ average age is 55, apparently the oldest average (apart from Jim Anderton). Sue Bradford, who […]

  2. Select committee charade

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 1:39 pm, May 24th, 2009 -  1 comment
    Categories: auckland supercity
    Tags:

    John Armstrong seems to be shaking off his Key honeymoon, and has written a detailed and interesting piece on Carter’s role chairing the select committee on Auckland: The Labour Party is absolutely correct. With the connivance of Act, the National minority Government is riding roughshod over parliamentary convention by dictating that a junior minister with […]

  3. Last night’s Super City meeting

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 12:00 pm, May 21st, 2009 -  22 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, national/act government
    Tags: , ,

    I attended the Paula Bennett-John Carter Supercity meeting yesterday evening in Kelston. This was one of the hastily arranged series of meetings arranged in the Auckland area to persuade ordinary jafas and westies that this Government is really listening and living up to its election promise to consult on the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance’s […]

  4. The real apology

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 9:44 am, May 15th, 2009 -  34 comments
    Categories: humour, law and "order", racism
    Tags:

    The PM’s office Melissa Lee has released an apology for her ‘crims on the motorway’ comments. Well, not a genuine apology – ‘it was a heated debate’ is the line, which TUMEKE! exposes as a lie and not an excuse anyway. On Red Alert, Trevor Mallard (who is taking to blogging like, um, a duck to […]

  5. Have your say, make them listen

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 5:03 am, May 12th, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, democratic participation
    Tags:

    The government has announced its legislative plan for the supercity in a press release from John Carter, rather than Rodney Hide whose arrogant mishandling of the issue is privately blamed by National for the growing unrest in Auckland. The press release says: Now that the Government has announced our position on the Royal Commission’s Report into […]

  6. Backlash building on supercity

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 11:30 am, May 5th, 2009 -  25 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, referendum
    Tags: ,

    The unseemly haste with which the National/Act Government is pursuing its undemocratic supercity is causing more and more people to wake up to the con job they are pulling. A Reid poll (ignored by the Herald but run by the community newspapers) shows where just weeks ago the public was split evenly on the proposed […]

  7. Greens join call for referendum

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 4:44 pm, April 24th, 2009 -  65 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, greens, mt albert
    Tags:

    The Greens have joined Labour and an array of groups calling for Aucklanders to get a referendum on the supercity. Great stuff. Sue Kedgley points out that much of the Government’s proposed structure was not recommended by the Royal Commission and Aucklanders have not been consulted on them. ‘Rodney Hide effectively threw the Royal Commission’s […]

  8. Dom hits rock bottom, starts digging

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 2:31 pm, April 22nd, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: Media, racism, scoundrels
    Tags:

    Ray White, the renowned philosopher from Greytown, had a letter published by the Dominion Post on Monday wherein he says “I think it is great that Auckland Maori are to raise a hikoi in protest at not getting free representation on the new Auckland City Council. They could do with the exercise.” Good grief. I know […]

  9. Has National changed its policy on the super-city?

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 3:30 pm, April 21st, 2009 -  23 comments
    Categories: act, auckland supercity, democracy under attack, democratic participation, maori party, national
    Tags:

    Yesterday I pointed out that the Local Government Act requires referenda on boundary changes such as are envisaged for Auckland. To not do so would be to use the parliamentary rights to amend legislation to remove a required consultation with the citizens of Auckland. It appears likely (from Graeme) that NACT will put forward a […]

  10. Some cold day in hell

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 1:10 pm, March 5th, 2009 -  30 comments
    Categories: act, maori party, national
    Tags: , , ,

    Observant msm spectators may have noticed this gem from TV1 news last night: ‘A radical shake-up of the controversial Seabed and Foreshore Act is on the cards it could result in new powers for Maori to test their rights in court, but John Key is vowing no New Zealander will lose their access to the […]

  11. The Atlases shrug, ‘I dunno’

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 9:28 am, March 4th, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: economy, employment, spin
    Tags: ,

    In the Dom yesterday, Hollow man star Richard Long was full of praise for the Key’s PR team, who managed the Jobs Summit. He was right to praise them, the media lapped it up –  ‘cycleway!’, ‘packed lunches, and no cream for the apple pie, how thrifty!’ (since when did you get get cream, or […]

  12. Beneath the headlines – complete sentences

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 8:00 pm, March 3rd, 2009 -  34 comments
    Categories: articles, law and "order"
    Tags:

    The issue of parole has long been controversial. We’ve also seen one of the core underpinings of our justice system become a manipulated by its political opponents, regardless of what the policy arguments are. In this article from the Listener at the begining of the year we gain some insight into parole – and why […]

  13. Love’s Labour’s lost

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 4:24 pm, February 14th, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: articles, labour
    Tags:

    There were few Valentine’s Day sentiments for Labour in John Armstrong’s column today: It is difficult to put a finger on it, but something does not feel quite right about Labour’s approach to being in Opposition…Labour is exhibiting a self-righteousness which grates when placed against the backdrop of its rejection by voters…. We have yet […]

  14. Culpae poenae par esto

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 1:45 pm, February 14th, 2009 -  49 comments
    Categories: law and "order"
    Tags:

    I just want to second Tane’s comments regarding the sentence for the killer of Pihema Cameron. A 12 year old Maori child acts as look out for some older kids in a robbery that goes wrong. That kid, Bailey Kurariki, despite not having even hurt, let alone killed, anyone is sentenced to seven years and labelled our […]

  15. Institutional racism

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 4:20 pm, February 13th, 2009 -  110 comments
    Categories: crime, racism
    Tags: , , ,

    Bruce Emery’s sentence of just four years and three months on a reduced charge of manslaughter for chasing 15 year old Pihema Cameron 300 metres down the street and stabbing him to death with a knife is a stark reminder of the institutional racism that still exists in this country. Let’s not pretend for a […]

  16. The praiseworthy and the pitiful

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 12:33 pm, February 13th, 2009 -  14 comments
    Categories: the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags:

    Lockwood Smith managing of Question Time. B. Lockwood has made a commendable effort to get ministers to answer questions and cut down on some of the other bollocks that ruins Question Time. National MPs clearly expect that after years of complaining of ministers skirting questions it’s now their turn to do it, and Lockwood has […]

  17. The Standard wager

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 5:41 am, February 2nd, 2009 -  34 comments
    Categories: national/act government, wages, workers' rights
    Tags:

    Today, Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson will be presenting a paper to her Cabinet colleagues regarding the minimum wage. The Department of Labour recommended a fifty cent an hour increase. Word is, Kate Wilkinson will be recommending no change. But John Key was forced to commit to unspecified increases on the campaign trail, so most expect […]

  18. Identity Politics

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 1:15 pm, January 31st, 2009 -  10 comments
    Categories: john key, maori party, national
    Tags:

    In 2007 Te Ata Tino Toa applied to Tranzit New Zealand to have the Maori Sovereignty flag flown on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day. Tranzit declined permission on the grounds that it wasn’t a UN recognized national flag, despite having previously flown the Team New Zealand flag, which would have failed the same […]

  19. The praiseworthy and the pitiful

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 1:58 pm, January 30th, 2009 -  21 comments
    Categories: the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags:

    Last year, we had The Standard Week as a regular feature on a Friday. We might resurrect that if there is popular demand but, first, I’ve been talking with some of the others and we want to try out a new Friday feature . Every week there are little comments from politicians, media, bloggers, and commenters […]

  20. Thank God somebody’s awake at Granny Herald

    Written By:  John A -  Date published: 11:12 am, January 29th, 2009 -  32 comments
    Categories: articles, maori party, national/act government
    Tags: , ,

    Surprise, surprise, it’s Garth George. “The economic situation is without a doubt the most urgent of predicaments to be dealt with, but so far this year all John Key and Co have offered is a talkfest scheduled for next month. Now we all know that the one thing that one does these days when one […]

  21. Impressions of the House

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 8:48 pm, December 16th, 2008 -  12 comments
    Categories: Parliament
    Tags:

    First question time – the teams square off. Let the games commence. So what was the vibe? Well both sides kept getting their language muddled up (Minister/ member etc) as they tried to remember that they had shuffled around in their roles. So what of the performance? I start by making it clear this is […]

  22. Garth McVicar – racist

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 12:57 pm, December 16th, 2008 -  59 comments
    Categories: crime
    Tags: ,

    Here’s a quiz. Can you name the one killing that has seen Sensible Sentencing’s barking mad Garth McVicar support the killer and argue, in direct contrast to his normal practice, that the sentence ought to have been more lenient? And can you point to the unusual socio-economic conditions around this killing? Yup. The only, only, killing […]

  23. The Standard Week: 5-12 December

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 11:24 am, December 12th, 2008 -  5 comments
    Categories: standard week
    Tags:

    National/ACT won the election, fair enough. They won the right to govern and attempt to pass their laws. What they did not win is the right to behave like an elected dictatorship – keeping their laws secret until the last minute then passing them in the dead of night without any chance for the public […]

  24. Tough law for tough times

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 5:18 pm, December 10th, 2008 -  2 comments
    Categories: workers' rights
    Tags:

    Against the backdrop of tough new employment laws there’re predictions that “35,000 jobs could be lost in the construction sector.” No wonder that there are reports that Kiwis are worried about losing their jobs! A quarter of workers are afraid of losing their jobs, while more than half the workforce is not expecting a pay rise […]

  25. Will Hone keep his oath?

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 10:25 am, December 10th, 2008 -  22 comments
    Categories: maori party
    Tags:

    Yesterday, the MPs were sworn in. After the section ‘pledge true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth the Second, her heirs and successors, according to law’, some of the Maori Party MPs (reading the oath in Maori) inserted, ‘and the Treaty’. They were asked to repeat the allegiance without the reference to the Treaty. Hone Harawira went […]

  26. Courting the ethnic vote

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 5:58 pm, December 9th, 2008 -  31 comments
    Categories: national
    Tags:

    I’ve just watched the first part of the Address in Reply debate which included maiden speeches by two new National Party MPs – Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and Melissa Lee. They were impressive. This in itself should provide some cause for concern for Labour but more ominous should be the signal that while this year’s election […]

  27. Kia kaha

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 1:55 pm, December 9th, 2008 -  34 comments
    Categories: maori party, national, workers' rights
    Tags: , ,

    The Greens have joined in opposing National’s “Fire at Will” Bill which they say puts “jobs and democracy at stake”. They’re calling on the Maori Party to stand strong in its previous opposition to the bill. Only two years ago Hone Harawira said when voting against it: [O]ur journey with this bill has not been an […]

  28. Labour’s lessons

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 6:27 pm, November 23rd, 2008 -  55 comments
    Categories: election 2008, labour
    Tags:

    54,982 votes, 2.3% of the total. That was difference in the election. If Labour had lost 55,000 fewer votes to National (it lost 142.966 in total, while voter numbers grew 69,000) then a Labour (47), Green (9), Progressive (1), Maori (5) government would have been possible, a more natural and stable government than one that […]

  29. Goff announces shadow cabinet

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 12:22 pm, November 20th, 2008 -  44 comments
    Categories: labour
    Tags:

    Labour leader Phil Goff has announced his shadow cabinet. As announced already Cunliffe takes finance, Clark takes foreign affairs, Hughes and Chadwick are whips. Annette King takes on social development in addition to the deputy leadership – a smart move, she’ll make mincemeat out of Paula Bennett. Ruth Dyson takes health, Chris Carter holds education […]

  30. Cabinet announced

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 3:35 pm, November 17th, 2008 -  112 comments
    Categories: national/act government
    Tags:

    National’s cabinet has been announced. No major surprises, though Maurice Williamson has been dumped outside cabinet and unpopular newcomer Steven Joyce has taken Transport. Lockwood Smith is speaker. More detail and analysis later, but for now the full list is over the break. THE CABINET Portfolios Other responsibilities 1 John Key Prime Minister Minister of […]

  31. Gordon Campbell: new Labour leadership

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 7:34 pm, November 12th, 2008 -  42 comments
    Categories: articles, labour, maori party
    Tags:

    As we’ve come to expect, a thought provoking piece from Gordon Campbell, who says …the public may one day come to rue the change they sought on Saturday. But if and when they do, there is no guarantee that a paternalistic Labour would be the only, or best source of relief. The Greens, now that […]

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.