Quite a quiet week after the excitement of the secret agenda tapes last week. The Tories are keeping up their hunt for the person who exposed their secret agenda (God knows what they expect to do if they catch them). National’s welfare policy was in a predictable vein – punitive and targeted at some of the most vulnerable women in our society. OK, so these aren’t the ‘eat the poor’ policies of last election, when Brash was Leader and Key was Finance spokesman, but they do show that National’s heart still lies in the same place. Two competing visions of our energy future were presented on Thursday – the Government’s renewable energy policy paper and National’s energy policy. One contained a vision of a New Zealand using new technology to reduce environmental damage while supplying dependable power, the other involved crossing our fingers and hoping the oil and natural gas don’t run out on us. And The Standard turned 1 today. Thanks to all the readers, commentators, and people who email us with info and ideas. We couldn’t do it without you. Here are our favourite posts of the week:
On Botox and pet grooming
Pansy Wong’s ‘expose’ was never about fixing a problem. It was only ever intended to undermine public confidence in ACC in order to soften the ground for privatisation…[more]
Nats bashing on solo mums
This is not about solutions; it’s just beneficiary bashing to grab a few votes…[more]
Should the sins of the father be visited upon the children
No child should be disadvantaged because one of their parents was violent, or left the other. No child should be disadvantaged by the breakdown of their parents’ relationship…[more]
Renewable energy policy
It looks like a pragmatic and feasible programme, and, as Trevor Mallard says, it ‘won’t require damming every river and putting wind turbines on every ridge line’. The elephant in the room, however, is transport energy….[more]
Petition: sign the Enforced Disappearance Convention
New Zealand supported the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance aimed at preventing and punishing ‘enforced disappearance’ – but didn’t sign it. You can help change this by joining No Right Turn‘s petition. Download the petition…[more]
Desperate Nats reduced to bounties and bribery
Key’s gone from being seen as the PM-in-waiting to being seen as a cheap con-man. They’re angry and they’re desperate, and they’ll use the one weapon they’ve got at their disposal, money, to try to find and hurt the person who exposed them for what they are…[more]
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