Written By: - Date published: 11:39 am, October 6th, 2013 - 26 comments
The Ruataniwha Dam issue raises a number of issues, from a Board of Inquiry without scientific expertise being selected, a DOC submission inviting the Board to get more information and seek a peer review being dumped, submitters not being able to access the site, a model which NIWA is refusing to allow to be analysed, and a GNS Science contract being terminated because the scientists wanted a disclaimer inserted into their report. There is something fishy going on here.
Written By: - Date published: 10:56 pm, September 25th, 2013 - 52 comments
Two very good speeches in the General Debate in the House from opposition leaders. They highlight Nick Smith’s dodgy record, & why he should be stood down as a Minister in Key’s “Dark, dirty & heartless” government. [Update: Key – on (dis)honesty]
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, September 25th, 2013 - 35 comments
Cunliffe’s moderate, centre left Labour is on the rise; MSM-supported, NAct smears & negative spin is in over-drive. John Key and the NZ Herald editorial spin from the radical “neoliberal” right. Slippery Nick Smith, a NAct weak point, is under concerted pressure. [Updated]
Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 25th, 2013 - 11 comments
Just to be clear: Nick Smith did not order the Big Brunch Fry-up, no matter what he might have said.
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, September 20th, 2013 - 18 comments
The spinners in parliament and government are rather predictable. They dump their embarrassments late on a friday, preferably on a long holiday weekend or with a sporting event. I’m picking that today we will see some material dropping off the rear of DOC related to what Nick Smith saw and can no longer remember….
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, September 20th, 2013 - 11 comments
Yesterday in Question Time Nick Smith continued to pretend that he had not forced DoC to shitcan its submission on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme. He even went so far as to claim that he had no idea that the submission even existed until this week. But it was just more lies
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, September 19th, 2013 - 37 comments
Nick Smith says he did not even know a document existed even though he was given a full briefing on it. And after he gets involved a submission critical of the environmental effect the proposed Ruataniwha Dam will have on the Tukituki River is drastically altered. There is something distinctly smelly about this.
Written By: - Date published: 3:53 pm, July 17th, 2013 - 40 comments
Nice to be able to congratulate the Nats on an environmental decision for a change!
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, June 15th, 2013 - 38 comments
Water is becoming a precious resource, under threat from pollution, over use, population growth, & commercial profiteering. The Green & Labour Parties are very critical of Key’s government weakening the RMA in favour of commercial gains, while over-riding local government plans.
Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, June 6th, 2013 - 28 comments
Housing Minister Nick Smith had ominous words for Auckland. Hands up all you Aucklanders who are keen to sacrifice quality housing?
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 31st, 2013 - 34 comments
Yesterday in Question Time, Green MP Holly Walker challenged to government’s anti-democratic rush to enable the government to over-ride local councils on housing. Today Russel Norman challenges the Key government’s anti-democratic processes. This weekend there is a democratic Green Party conference.
Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, May 24th, 2013 - 31 comments
Nick Smith has a long history of slippery dealings. He apologises but accepts no blame, then is resurrected: contempt of court, a defamation case, the Pullar-ACC “conflict of interest”, bad faith negotiations with Auckland Council, the Denniston Plateau deal. Yesterday on RNZ, Smith exposed the government’s agenda on mining conservation land.
Written By: - Date published: 11:37 am, May 23rd, 2013 - 82 comments
It looks like Nick Smith will today grant access to West Coast conservation land for mining. This looks like a cynical attempt to enforce the government’s anti-conservation agenda by avoiding the legal and democratic requirement for public consultation. When will the NZ Herald headline: “Democracy Under Attack!”? [updated]
Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, May 17th, 2013 - 130 comments
Yesterday’s budget is a sop to affordable housing & aims to privatise state housing. Penny Hulse says the government’s related “housing accord” Bill is at odds with the agreement her council has not yet ratified. It overrides local democracy & endangers the AKL “agreement”. [Update] Waitakere News analysis
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, May 12th, 2013 - 242 comments
Rob Stock at the Sunday Star Times reports that National plans to dump state housing on NGOs and flog land to developers.
National are governing for their rich mates again.
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 pm, March 28th, 2013 - 56 comments
National ministers – Nick Smith, Steven Joyce, John Key – come up with their stories, but reality keeps on not fitting to their stories. I call bullshit.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, March 28th, 2013 - 32 comments
Cuts to DOC, the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill [3rd reading today], permits allowing the exploration for minerals on Schedule 4 land: here is the stealthy NAct MO in action, to undermine the strong public protests against Schedule 4 mining. [Update: the Bill is #6 on today’s Final Order Paper]
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, March 17th, 2013 - 39 comments
The Draft Auckland Unitary Plan has much to commend it. It focuses on resource management, responds to the reality of climate change & aims for a more dense but ‘liveable’ city. It has weaknesses, embraces destructive “growth” and raises questions: e.g. about affordable housing & environmental management.
Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, March 14th, 2013 - 49 comments
Phil Twyford is the Labour MP for Te Atatu, and Labour’s spokesperson on Housing and Auckland Issues. He is also asking the same questions that many Aucklanders keep asking as they watch a succession of government ministers trying to valiantly advance backwards into Auckland’s past with no obvious purpose.
Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, March 7th, 2013 - 53 comments
Nick Smith, of the forked tongue, is challenging Auckland council’s plan for affordable compact housing. It will do nothing for housing affordability, transport, the environment. It is undemocratic, over-rides the council, and will enrich developers.
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, January 22nd, 2013 - 39 comments
So Nick Smith is to be returned to cabinet after spending nearly a year on the bench for his ethical flaws. Presumably 10 months on the back benches heals all those desires to abuse your powers to try to help your friends get money.
Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, November 8th, 2012 - 44 comments
NActUF use a lot of finely-honed, diversionary and distorting spin. However, when debating 2 Private Members’ Bills yesterday, government MPs couldn’t even be bothered trying too hard; the hypocrisy was glaring and the spin clumsy – showing clearly the differences between left & right wing principles.
Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, July 23rd, 2012 - 11 comments
Another example of cronyism from disgraced former minister Nick Smith has emerged. He overrode officials at the Ministry for the Environment, who had declined an application for $200,000 for meetings to resolve disputes between farmers and environmentalists in the Mackenzie Basin and Waitaki Valley, so a former Nat candidate could pocket the cash.
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, June 25th, 2012 - 42 comments
National’s record on local government is horrific: the lack of consultation as they rammed through the Supercity, the canning of ECAN, and continued suspension of democracy in Canterbury, the pushing of asset sales on an unwilling Christchurch.
And their latest attack – the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill – will do significant damage to local democracy.
Written By: - Date published: 2:18 pm, June 12th, 2012 - 38 comments
NRT on the situation in Canterbury, and the Nats’ contempt for elected democracies.
Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, March 31st, 2012 - 77 comments
The ever-growing list of letters, emails, and leaks in the National Party Civil War, that started off as an apparently apolitical privacy breach by ACC, is getting hard to follow. Here’s a summary of the various documents and their ramifications – so far.
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, March 26th, 2012 - 58 comments
It’s strange watching National’s factions fight it out in the media- the Herald on Sunday running the Collins/Slater faction stuff and the Dompost running material from Boag/Pullar. Both sides are scum. Pullar received (somehow) the largest leak in ACC and passed to the media. Collins has imitated her fellow ministers by leaking Pullar’s private details in revenge.
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, March 23rd, 2012 - 78 comments
Nick Smith’s handpicked chair of ACC, John Judge, denies that ACC leaked Bronwyn Pullar’s name to the media after she made public the biggest leak of private data in history from the organisation. So, who did? Given the government’s track-record – Bennett vs the solo mums, Brownlee publicising Dalziel’s redzone offer – I’m betting it was Judith Collins.
Written By: - Date published: 3:54 pm, March 22nd, 2012 - 4 comments
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.
The demise of Nick Smith has been spectacular, but it is not an end to the ACC privacy story, and the story continues to develop by the hour.
Written By: - Date published: 8:29 pm, March 21st, 2012 - 83 comments
Why did Key express confidence in Smith after reading the 2nd letter that is the supposed reason for him going? Why did he really resign, what are they trying to distract us from? How did it happen that the woman who Smith resigned over also is the person who got the largest ACC leak in history? What deal did Smith get to stay in Parliament avoiding a risky by-election?
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, March 21st, 2012 - 15 comments
It’s a shame Nick Smith is all over the political news at the moment for his ACC botch up because he should really be all over the news for his Better Local Government proposals. Saying “Rates are too high. They keep rising. It’s outrageous” isn’t enough. Kneecapping local governments’ autonomy, and slowly bleeding them of the ability to invest money in anything cannot be unchallenged.
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