Posts Tagged ‘polity’

National’s flawed RMA ripoff still failing

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, March 15th, 2017 - 13 comments

Maori Party Co-Leader, Marama Fox, is playing hardball over Nick Smith latest attempts to weasel out of commitments on the deeply flawed RMA changes that National has spent the last few years trying to find any support for in Parliament. The bill is crap. The Maori party should just drop it regardless how many baubles they think they will get from it.

Polity: Reductio…

Written By: - Date published: 2:56 pm, June 22nd, 2015 - 29 comments

Rob Salmond at Polity: DPF and Chris Bishop have conspired to come up with a new canard-of-distraction de jour. Today’s trope: “Labour are the conversatives, National the progressives, and Labour is the party of No.”

Polity on Housing

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, May 20th, 2015 - 39 comments

Rob had a couple of great posts on National & Housing yesterday, as they are all over the place on it. Still trying to point the finger at Helen Clark because average house prices in Auckland rose $219,000 in the 9 years of the last Labour government; but it’s no longer crisis after a further $313,000 rise in 7 years of National.

Polity: Hide / Farrar / Hooton: “Hey, look over there!

Written By: - Date published: 3:25 pm, May 4th, 2015 - 51 comments

“The shrillness of the “hey look over there!” narrative coming from the right-hand-side shows just how deep the embarrassment within National is at the Northland campaign and result.”

Polity: Electoral roll data

Written By: - Date published: 2:12 pm, April 16th, 2015 - 4 comments

The electoral commission’s roll solution does two good things, and one regrettable thing. It would rule out misuse of the rolls for debt collection / product marketing purposes. Good – that isn’t what the electoral roll is for. It protects party/candidates access to electronic copies. But it continues to privilege them above other political advocates – bad!

Burn the Cabinet Manual

Written By: - Date published: 7:27 am, April 15th, 2015 - 54 comments

Key won’t take any action over Simon Bridges’ clear breach (excellent work by Rob Salmond at Polity) of the Cabinet Manual. So, might as well burn the thing, at least for the remainder of this government’s term. Key has no intention of being held to account, or holding his ministers to account, by or for anything at all.

Polity: Pork bridges

Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, March 9th, 2015 - 40 comments

A sudden enthusiasm for local infrastructure projects on the eve of a tight by-election. What a remarkable coincidence! I wonder whether the cost/benefit ratios on these bridges are up to scratch? Last year National bribed people in the general election. OIA time

On Northland

Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, March 4th, 2015 - 117 comments

I’ve been getting tired of the fantasy elections that some political commentators seem to enjoy playing. Currently the fantasises is in Northland, with the same old tiresome lines. It is a pity that most of those playing this game don’t ever seem to think about the behaviours of real voters, real candidates, and real parties.

Polity: Excluded middle

Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, February 25th, 2015 - 24 comments

National counterattack line on Iraq is now out and about, courtesy of National’s tester and parrot of lines – National pollster David Farrar at Kiwiblog. It consists of two contradictory lines about Labour. Also neither line is true. But they are just there for the ‘journalists’ to mindlessly repeat in the evening news.

Polity: Key deluded on housing progress

Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, January 28th, 2015 - 28 comments

Rob Salmond at Polity on Key – “Is he deluded, or is he being deliberately misleading?”…

Polity: Crampton on online GST

Written By: - Date published: 2:49 pm, January 27th, 2015 - 33 comments

Rob Salmond has a bite at Eric Campton’s rather ideologically naive ideas about balancing up the GST playing ground between local and overseas retailers. Rather than not doing anything about it as Eric suggests and leaving local retailers flailing. Why not just make it simple as local collection of GST?

Polity: New Labour lineup: 8/10

Written By: - Date published: 12:53 pm, November 24th, 2014 - 21 comments

Rob Salmond has a look at the new Labour lineup. “…a consistent display of clarity and unity and being on New Zealanders’ side is what is needed from Labour right now”. Gives it an 8 out of 10

Polity: Income mobility

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, November 21st, 2014 - 17 comments

David Farrar seldom seems to actually read the reports fully before he starts inventing meaningless canards. A theoretical equality of opportunity is irrelevant when your parent’s lack of disposable income is the major determinant of your own education and opportunities. We waste the opportunities from peoples abilities because of income inequalities.

Polity: Bonza

Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, November 17th, 2014 - 39 comments

Poor old Tony Abbott. Thrust into the limelight of hosting the world’s biggest economic meeting, and his true colours come out for everyone to see. Not a happy weekend for Tony Abbott and, by extension, for Australia. Perhaps “bumpkin” would be a better title

Polity: Newsflash: Houses are assets

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 pm, November 3rd, 2014 - 34 comments

Prime Minister John Key, in his capacity as Prime Minister, promised no asset sales this term in the run up to the last election. But now they are selling assets – state houses.

Psephology-o-rama: Hangover nerdery edition

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, September 21st, 2014 - 23 comments

Now that the battle for election night ratings is over for another three years, here is a table for your entrail-reading pleasure showing the three biggest parties’ vote shares in a few different geographic / demographic segments.

Polity: Shameful, innumerate reporting of Herald poll

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, September 19th, 2014 - 32 comments

If a politics editor at a major National newspaper doesn’t know basic statistics, then you’d have to ask how she retains her job? Having a jonolist apparently deliberately distort the meaning of a poll that is taken, and whose results was not linked to in the article, is a complete travesty.

Polity: Key waves hands, insipidly

Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, September 9th, 2014 - 34 comments

Nationals hypothetical tax cut package has not gone down well. People do not appear to like the fact that it is small, hypothetical, and irresponsible, all at once.This is what you get when you have a prime minister so weakly desperate for public approval that they make up policy by accident and then push that poor decision through their cabinet and caucus.

Polity: The big lie

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, September 5th, 2014 - 44 comments

Rob Salmond looks at the Big Lie technique coming from the right and being gormlessly swallowed by some pundits. That Labour and the left aren’t talking about policy. They have been brimming over with policy. The right have vague possible ideas. Pundits are too obsessed in dirty politics to look at the detail of actual policies.

Polity: Hooton on Key on SIS: Bullshit!

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, August 26th, 2014 - 118 comments

Rob says: Key was either complicit in the SIS document release to Whaleoil, or he has a gross dereliction of duty. Let’s hear what his answers are to that.

Polity: Smoke and mirrors on housing

Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, August 25th, 2014 - 14 comments

National’s own fine print takes us from “you can get up to $20,000!” to, at best, “11% of qualifying couples get up to $20,000.” Ouch…. Typical National. Long on glitz. Long on smoke. Long on mirrors. Short on actually helping people.

Polity: Proof

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, August 21st, 2014 - 100 comments

Here’s a tweet from Felix Marwick this morning that blows a big hole in John Key’s denials about not knowing about the strangely rapid OIS releases from the SIS to Cameron Slater. What is the bet that he is going to argue that he had a sloppy memory lapse – just like the one that he keeps accusing Phil Goff about? Updated: Phil Goff’s response.

Polity: Through the looking glass

Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, August 20th, 2014 - 16 comments

John Key has been running a pretty simple diversion strategy over the past week asserting that Labour knew about Hager’s book (they didn’t), that they aren’t interested in policy (our mailbox is full of their policies), and that the public will ignore the book (our stats are skyhigh). He is a loser.  Rob Salmond puts his view.

Polity: Dirty politics: My 2c

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, August 14th, 2014 - 104 comments

John Key - spy vs lie

The use of clandestine SIS files as a weapon of partisan politics is needs to be investigated. John Key or his office discovered classified SIS files that were embarrassing to Phil Goff, got them declassified, then immediately told a right-wing blogger to seek those same newly-declassified files under the OIA, all as a means of smearing a political opponent.

Polity: Mr Angry tries to reheat 2011 campaign

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, August 11th, 2014 - 13 comments

Steven Joyce is asking about how Labour can afford their policies. Half of the money is what National is planning to spend unwisely. The rest is from documented increases in revenue in a fiscal plan. Unlike National’s mythic surplus, these are solid values. They will produce a solid surplus to pay down National’s debt.

Polity: When general reporters cover political stories…

Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, August 10th, 2014 - 9 comments

You really have to ask what journalists are trained in. Clearly not learning about existing party policies. Some reporters managing to miss that Labour has been planning to extend Paid Parental Leave for 3 years.

Polity: Shifting ground?

Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, August 7th, 2014 - 19 comments

Rob Salmond looks at the recent shifts in media opinion pieces. Perhaps the National strategy of getting the house to rise too early has backfired. It appears to be giving opposition parties more room to showcase their policy, more room for National to showcase its arrogance, and more time for the polls to close.

Polity: In search of National’s ideas

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, August 5th, 2014 - 14 comments

Rob Salmond has noticed recently that National likes to talk a lot about everyone else’s ideas, but it prefers not to discuss its own.

Polity: Company tax cut-and-slash-and-burn!

Written By: - Date published: 4:38 pm, August 4th, 2014 - 24 comments

To say that ACT’s new company tax policy is complete and utter drivelling crap would be a bit of an understatement.

Polity: Herald on regional roads fiasco

Written By: - Date published: 12:52 pm, August 2nd, 2014 - 13 comments

The National Government’s $212 million plan has Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee explicitly admitting that it is a massive pork-barreling for government MPs with public funds, and explicitly tells people to piss off if they don’t like it.

Polity: Bye bye, Colin

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, July 28th, 2014 - 18 comments

National has all-but confirmed today that there no deal for Colin Craig in East Coast Bays, or for any other Conservative. This was the right thing for them to do, for one simple reason. This decision came down to simple maths. If Key thought the Conservatives could muster double the votes that a decision to back the Conservatives would cost National in the centre-ground, then he should do the deal. If not, he should not. All the stuff about Winston running was a bit of a late sideshow, as the decision had likely already been made.