Posts Tagged ‘labour’

A photo finish

Written By: - Date published: 4:50 pm, December 21st, 2007 - 45 comments

I have glimpsed the future. I know how Election 08 will play out. It will be a thriller, going down to the wire. The election home straight, like that at Flemington in Melbourne, is a test of champions. In the end it is about class and staying ability. Helen Clark starts the year well off […]

Mallard pleads guilty to fighting charge

Written By: - Date published: 4:47 pm, December 18th, 2007 - 6 comments

The Dom reports that: Cabinet minister Trevor Mallard has escaped an assault charge over his altercation with National MP Tau Henare by pleading guilty to the lesser charge of fighting in a public place. Appearing in Wellington District Court this afternoon, the Environment Minister was convicted and agreed to pay $500 to a Salvation Army […]

Renewal, renewal, renewal in Palmy

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 pm, December 16th, 2007 - 22 comments

Today the hotly contested four horse race to become the candidate for Palmerston North (the position being left vacant by the tenth hottest man in NZ – Steve Maharey – can’t remember who ran that poll, a late night TV show no doubt) was won by Iain Lees-Galloway, the Campaigns and Media Advisor for the […]

Two new faces for Labour line up

Written By: - Date published: 3:47 pm, December 15th, 2007 - 9 comments

Yesterday two more bright young things were confirmed as Labour candidates for the 2008 general election: Kate Sutton in Epsom and Hamish McDouall in Whanganui. Twenty six year old Kate Sutton is already a proven political player – she’s a two term Tamaki Community Board Chair, she’s on the University of Auckland’s ruling council and […]

Dole figures at 28-year low

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, December 11th, 2007 - 32 comments

From the Beehive site: Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson said that in December 1999, when Labour came to power, there were 161,000 people receiving an unemployment benefit. “Over 141,000 have come off this benefit since then, with just over 20,000 people receiving it now,” she said. “These numbers haven’t been this low since 1979. In […]

KiwiSaver enrolments pass 300,000

Written By: - Date published: 4:46 pm, December 10th, 2007 - 23 comments

I wonder if the Nats still want to bin it? Remember it was only last May that John Key told Morning Report “Oh, no. No guarantees over KiwiSaver Mark II.” Here’s the press release.

2007 Trans-Tasman MP rankings

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, December 10th, 2007 - 76 comments

So DPF’s given his predictable take on this year’s Trans-Tasman MP rankings (PDF – 150K). Now averages are one thing but more interesting is a trend that DPF conveniently ignores – While many of National’s high profile MPs are static or slipping in the rankings, Labour’s heavy-hitters seem to be lifting their game. LABOUR Clark […]

Weekend selection meetings

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 pm, December 9th, 2007 - 40 comments

Two more electorates have confirmed Labour candidates. Rimutaka was on Saturday – Chris Hipkins was selected. Christchurch Central was today – Brendon Burns was selected. I’ll post some biographical details tomorrow. UPDATE: Here’s a story from The Press on Brendon Burns. Here’s Chris Hipkins’ blog with selection speech and some personal details.

Speech: Labour is the Party of Ideas

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, November 14th, 2007 - 10 comments

The other day we published an extract from Evan Thornley’s speech to the Labour Party conference. We’ve finally managed to get hold of a digital copy, so here it is in full. It’s quite long, but well worth a read: LABOUR IS THE PARTY OF IDEAS NZLP National Conference Keynote Speech – Auckland 4 Nov., […]

Robertson to win Wellington Central candidacy

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 pm, November 11th, 2007 - 74 comments

Charles Chauvel has withdrawn his nomination for Wellington Central. This leaves Grant Robertson the uncontested Labour candidate, likely to be confirmed on November 17th. Chauvel will instead seek to re-enter Parliament by means of the Party list.

Benson-Pope won’t run as an independent

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, November 11th, 2007 - 3 comments

The Herald reports that “Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope says he will not stand as an independent if he is not selected as the Labour Party’s candidate in the seat.” There was speculation following the nominations of Clare Curran, Olivier Lequeux, Don Pryde, and Keith McFadyen that if B-P failed to gain the candidacy he […]

Quoting out of context

Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, November 10th, 2007 - 19 comments

DPF and the National Party have made much of a Helen Clark quote unearthed from her conference speech in 2000 on tax cuts. I’ve just read it on Kiwiblog and was puzzled by the elipsis in the middle. DPF writes: “Tax cuts are a path to inequality… They are the promises of visionless and intellectually […]

Record low unemployment: 3.5%

Written By: - Date published: 3:09 am, November 10th, 2007 - 3 comments

From Ruth Dyson’s press release: The latest Household Labour Force Survey quarterly results from Statistics NZ confirm the Labour-led government’s employment policies and responsible economic management, says Social Development and Employment Minister Ruth Dyson. “The record low level of unemployment of 3.5 per cent is the lowest rate since the Survey began.”

Why’d you do it Chris?

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, November 8th, 2007 - 19 comments

Chris Knox had a good piece in the Dom Post today explaining why he wrote Labour’s new campaign song. Here’s an extract: Good grief! I’ve gone and written a campaign song for a mainstream political party! Could I possibly be the same Chris Knox who has consistently railed against all forms of conformity, intellectual blandness […]

Running like a well oiled machine

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, November 8th, 2007 - 1 comment

Watching party conference made me think of this old ad – when it all lines up great things can happen. Fortunately for Honda they didn’t have to contend with Len Richards on the set…

Labour’s earworm

Written By: - Date published: 3:59 pm, November 5th, 2007 - 35 comments

powered by ODEO Written by Chris Knox, the song should come with a warning. Having heard it once, you’re unlikely to be able to forget it. Download it here (MP3 – 2Mb). Lyrics below. It’s a Better Way with Labour Chris Knox We’re a part of the Pacific Independent, proud and free And no power […]

Twins?

Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, November 5th, 2007 - 2 comments

A mate just sent through this pic from the Labour Party conference. That’s EPMU president Don Pryde on the left and fellow Dunedinite Chris Trotter on the right, apparently caught as they were heading for the bar. The resemblance is uncanny.

Another challenger for Dunedin South

Written By: - Date published: 4:48 pm, November 1st, 2007 - 14 comments

Newstalk ZB reports that failed Dunedin Mayoral candidate Olivier Lequeux has put his name forward to challenge the Labour selection in Dunedin South. According to ZB: Mr Lequeux says Labour approached him to put his name forward. He is now in Auckland meeting with party officials. This strikes me as highly unlikely. My sources tell […]

Barnett not standing in Chch Central

Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, October 31st, 2007 - 2 comments

Latest reports suggest that Tim Barnett will not be standing for Christchurch Central in next year’s election but may still stand on Labour’s list.

Reshuffle

Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, October 31st, 2007 - 28 comments

Three new cabinet ministers (Maharey’s retiring, Burton’s returned to the backbench, and Benson-Pope’s old place was still open): Steve Chadwick becomes Minister of Conservation, Women’s Affairs, and Associate Health Maryan Street becomes Minister of Housing, Minister for ACC, along with Associate Minister for Economic Development and Associate Tertiary Education Shane Jones becomes Minister for Building […]

Pryde of the South

Written By: - Date published: 2:33 pm, October 30th, 2007 - 22 comments

Interesting to see EPMU President Don Pryde has thrown his hat in the ring for the Dunedin South seat and has the full backing of his union. Having met Don at a conference a few years ago I’ve got to say I was taken by his level-headedness and the way he’d think before passing comment […]

Key losing his mojo

Written By: - Date published: 4:25 pm, October 29th, 2007 - 51 comments

Pol science lecturer and commentator Jon Johansson has given a lucid and scholarly account of the inexorable decline of John Key and National’s prospects. In a speech to the NZ First conference at the weekend. Johansson told delegates that after a promising beginning, Key has started to “unevenly walk the new generation walk…” An excerpt: […]

Debate allegedly turns physical

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, October 25th, 2007 - 31 comments

The Press reports that Trevor Mallard allegedly slapped or hit Tau Henare after the National MP made references to Mallard’s personal life in the Debating Chamber. Henare yesterday wouldn’t say whether he had been struck or not. The PM was reportedly unimpressed and commented “both men should look in the mirror”. Apparently an apology was […]

Social report

Written By: - Date published: 5:18 pm, October 19th, 2007 - 3 comments

The Ministry of Social Development’s Annual Social Report is worth a read. It shows good progress across a range of social indicators, but also that there’s still more to do. If memory serves me correctly, the importance of an Annual Social Report was a cause championed by Steve Maharey back in 2001 – it’s now […]

Relief?

Written By: - Date published: 3:23 pm, October 18th, 2007 - 31 comments

Look Mike, I know you know about the polls and I know you’re probably thinking about what you can do to turn things around. Well, I’ve got one little idea. Stop using their language. It’s pretty simple really – I mean it’s not gonna win the game or anything but it’d be a damn good […]

All Black is New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 3:32 pm, September 22nd, 2007 - 5 comments

Symbolism should never be underestimated in life, as it can’t be in sport and politics. Take the Rugby World Cup where the symbolism of the All Blacks has prompted many New Zealanders to scornfully view the French team’s sudden change of playing strip to dark blue. Sacrebleu, what’s going on? This means that, if the […]

TradeMe talk turns political

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, September 19th, 2007 - 1 comment

A reader has just alerted us that there’s a political discussion raging on a thread over at the TradeMe message boards. Looks like users there aren’t so keen to trade Helen and Labour for John and the Nats.

130,000 people have enrolled with Kiwisaver

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, September 6th, 2007 - Comments Off on 130,000 people have enrolled with Kiwisaver

Here’s the press release with a bit more detail.

Mo(o)re on “personal attacks”

Written By: - Date published: 3:13 pm, August 31st, 2007 - Comments Off on Mo(o)re on “personal attacks”

Item on Stuff yesterday interviewing Barry Gustafson, the author of His Way, a biography of Robert Muldoon (Auckland University Press, 2000): Professor of politics Barry Gustafson said Miss Clark seldom indulged in personal politics and the attack was a bit unfair. “If anyone has been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty rumours and […]

Tempo’s Choice

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 pm, August 15th, 2007 - Comments Off on Tempo’s Choice

Ian Templeton, doyen of the parliamentary press gallery, was on Close-up this evening talking about the extraordinary 50 years that he’s been getting up close and personal with politicians. Interesting that he named Helen Clark as the best of the bunch of the dozen or so prime ministers that he’s reported on. And remember the […]