Posts Tagged ‘michael woodhouse’

TheY aRe onlY aSKing qUestiOns

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, August 13th, 2020 - 112 comments

Yesterday National suggested a wide based and interesting conspiracy theory involving the Government and the Ministry of Health and all of the Health Boards suppressing news of community spread of Covid 19 for political advantage while at the same time complaining that the Government should be consulting with them on decisions.

Did any National MP not receive confidential information from Michelle Boag?

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, July 10th, 2020 - 128 comments

Michael Woodhouse has admitted that he received confidential information from Michelle Boag a couple of weeks before he said that it was “unconscionable and unacceptable” that the leaks were happening.

The dirty politics of beating up on Karel Sroubek

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 14th, 2018 - 272 comments

You will be shocked to learn that the National Party has been less than honest about where it is getting its information regarding Karel Sroubek.

ILG, a Rock, and a Hard Place

Written By: - Date published: 6:40 pm, November 8th, 2018 - 91 comments

The Sroubek beat up is still with us. Why won’t National tell us what they knew and what they agreed to?

CTU President: All the way for equal pay

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, August 12th, 2017 - 29 comments

CTU President Richard Wagstaff writes on today’s actions about his opposition to the government attempt to dismember the historic decision in the Court of Appeal for pay equity by Kristine Bartlett and E tū. National has distorted the recommendations of the Joint Working Group to restrict or even eliminate equal pay for equal work.

Racist Nats Attack Chinese Grannies Shock!

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, October 12th, 2016 - 67 comments

National have slammed the door shut on the parents of already settled migrants who wish to move to NZ to complete the family unit. Minister Michael Woodhouse accuses elderly Asians of bludging off the NZ taxpayer. You won’t believe the howls of outrage from the right!

Jarrod Gilbert 1 – Windmills 0

Written By: - Date published: 7:09 am, November 29th, 2015 - 22 comments

About time the Police got around to becoming a “very evidence based” service. Building great relationships with academia is a sensible way to start.

OIA on Zero Hours reveals just what an attack on workers it is.

Written By: - Date published: 11:39 am, September 24th, 2015 - 53 comments

We have the documents leading up to the what can only be described as a dreadful piece of law legalising employment agreements which tie workers to an employer without any of the reciprocity of guaranteed hours of work.  At a time like now – where work in this country is so badly paid, with so little protection – we get this.

Forget worm farms the Health and Safety Reform Bill proposes secret trials

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, August 26th, 2015 - 23 comments

The Government has snuck into the Health and Safety Reform Bill a provision that allows for withholding from the parties to court proceedings of classified security information and for decisions affecting their rights to be made on the basis of information they have no access to.  This was not in the original bill and you have to wonder why such a contentious provision has been introduced so late.

Government braces for expected worm farm mini golf fatality onslaught

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, August 21st, 2015 - 50 comments

Apparently worm farms and mini golf ranges are dangerous places.  And worm farmers playing mini golf are in grave peril.

Not the “end to zero hour contracts” you were looking for

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 12th, 2015 - 30 comments

Who would have suspected that Michael Woodhouse would be completely ineffectual in cracking down on zero-hour contracts?

Iain Lees-Galloway: how many meathooks to the head will it take?

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, June 19th, 2015 - 22 comments

Some strong stuff from Labour’s spokesperson for Labour, Iain Lees-Galloway, in Question Time yesterday.

Michael Woodhouse: a fool or a liar?

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, April 14th, 2015 - 88 comments

When the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety doesn’t know the first thing about his portfolio, there’s only one option left: he’s lying.

Woodhouse: tough on bad employers?

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, March 26th, 2015 - 22 comments

Michael Woodhouse is talking tough on bad employers … but what does it really mean, coming from this government?

Dita de Boni on zero-hour contracts

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, March 6th, 2015 - 7 comments

When Michael Woodhouse and the bosses’ lobby are talking about “workplace flexibility”, you know who’s flexing their muscles.

What has Michael Woodhouse actually got right about employment relations?

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, March 5th, 2015 - 17 comments

For someone responsible for managing employment relations in New Zealand, Michael Woodhouse doesn’t seem to understand what “employment relations” means.

Expect more zero-hours crisis cases

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, March 5th, 2015 - 8 comments

Today is not a good day for workers. Employment law changes that take effect today weaken workers’ rights and will result in more cases of zero-hour contract “excesses”. Labour’s Iain Lees-Galloway has been doing good work on this issue (sign the petition). In contrast National’s position now appears confused, with Workplace Relations & Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse acknowledging problems even as today’s changes make matters worse.

Nats getting squeamish on zero hour contracts

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, March 4th, 2015 - 61 comments

Zero hour contracts are the logical end point of National’s agenda for employment legislation. But last night Workplace Relations & Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse promised legislation to “prohibit the worst excesses”. “Excesses” in the free market – who would have thought?

Tory “charity”

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, February 18th, 2015 - 42 comments

The Government is planning to make charities pay for police background checks. You can’t make this stuff up!

Irascible: The Herald and Key duck, scuttle and run as Donghua Liu story loses credibility

Written By: - Date published: 2:19 pm, June 28th, 2014 - 35 comments

John Key - spy vs lie

It looks like the powers that be on the Herald’s editorial board are starting to realise that being a paid shill for the Key owned National Party is not as wise a move as they thought. Particularly as the realisation that the allegations fed from John Key and those around Donghua Liu are proving to be a quicksand that is sucking the already doubtful credibility of the paper as a crusading, principled record of fact away from it.

Polity: The game is the game

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, June 20th, 2014 - 24 comments

Rob Salmond offers some advice to the National smear team. When you screw up and start contradicting each other’s stories, you look like a pack of low-rent numpties. And it reveals your tactics for all to see, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place. Bill English and John Key should really communicate so they don’t trample over each others stories. And the  spectacle of Michael Woodhouse changing his mind within hours about when he first saw the letter, and what he did with it? Pure comedy

The anatomy of a smear campaign

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, June 20th, 2014 - 322 comments

David Cunliffe does not recall signing a letter 11 years ago which did not advocate for Donghua Liu’s application for residence yet gets pilloried by the media for stating that he did not advocate for Mr Liu.  Michael Woodhouse denies telling John Key about the letter, then says officials from his office briefed Mr Key’s office on the letters and then his office admits that he told Key’s office about the letter yet there is no media criticism of what clearly is an attempt to hide a smear campaign.  Is this yet more evidence of media bias?

OU Vote Chat programme goes sour

Written By: - Date published: 6:33 pm, June 13th, 2014 - 17 comments

So it appears the intended non-partisan deeper engagement with politicians that is the Otago University Vote Chat has been taken over by the National Party.

The Woodhouse Family

Written By: - Date published: 3:35 pm, May 21st, 2014 - 32 comments

Veterans Affairs Minister Michael Woodhouse dropped a clanger deciding he was related to a Gallipoli hero, and offending the Trooper’s real relatives. Twitter is as Twitter does, so they’ve dug up a few more family relatives…

The politics of private dinners

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, May 9th, 2014 - 225 comments

Whether it’s Judith Collins, Michael Woodhouse or the Cabinet Club/s, National Party fundraisers, target the wealthy base they represent.  In the process, boundaries are blurred between mainstream politics, exclusive private spaces & personal relationships.

Classy

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, April 30th, 2012 - 37 comments

What your ruling party got up to at its South Island Regional Conference. Michael Woddhouse, list MP and failed candidate for Dunedin South, speaking at a podium behind a toilet seat with Dunedin South MP Clare Curran’s face attached. It’s witty, too. That’s what I like about it.

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