There is no recession in New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, September 21st, 2023 - 57 comments
Categories: election 2023, grant robertson, labour - Tags:

The growth figures are up and National operatives will be in despair.  Not only did the economy grow considerably faster than anticipated in the last quarter at 0.9% but the previous quarter’s figure has been resolved from -0.1% to 0%, a small but significant change.

From Liam Dann at the Herald:

The economy grew 0.9 per cent in the second quarter, keeping the country out of recession and exceeding expectations.

And GDP rose 3.2 per cent in the year ended June 2023.

Economists had forecast New Zealand would rebound back into growth in the second quarter of the year.

Estimates for June quarter GDP (gross domestic product) ranged from growth of 0.4 per cent to growth of 0.8 per cent.

But higher dairy, forestry, and meat exports helped drive the growth of 0.9 per cent in the second quarter.

“Business services was the biggest driver of economic growth this quarter, largely due to computer system design,” Stats NZ economic and environmental insights general manager Jason Attewell said.

Stats NZ today said manufacturing activity increased in the second quarter after five consecutive quarters of decline.

The rise reported today followed a flat (0 per cent) March 2023 quarter, revised up from -0.1 per cent, and a decline of 0.5 per cent in the December 2022 quarter (revised from -0.7 previously).

National is going to have to do an urgent review of its advertising.  And one of its major planks, the lack of growth has been cruelly ripped away by reality,

I suspect that Grant Robertson is grinning from ear to ear …

57 comments on “There is no recession in New Zealand ”

  1. Roy Cartland 1

    I just saw it on RNZ and that was my first thought too. The Nats will be spewing!

  2. SPC 2

    There was no recession.

  3. Corey 3

    Nz may not be in a recession but I wouldn't be shouting from the rooftops how great the economy is and how everything is fine because for most people it's not fine.

    For two years kiwis have felt their living standards slip, and Labour has been incredibly hands off from it's insanely timid supermarket reforms to it's refusal to even think about anyone but the private sector building homes.

    Times are incredibly tough. Tougher than they were in the GFC and Labour is offering next to nothing meaningful on a ground level to minimize the suffering.

    The last thing Labour needs to be doing is shouting from the rooftops everything is fine in a coat of living crisis, it'll just further turn off the voters Labour needs.

    At 27% Labour won't even be an effective opposition party, at 27% Labour can expect 2-3 terms in opposition and an internal civil war immediately after the election.

    it needs to be throwing everything including the kitchen sink at voters to at the very least get it's base excited but three weeks out from an election is continuing to drift rightward an offer nothing of substance.

    Shouting that the rich are doing well and the economy isn't in a technical recession under Labour is not going to win many millenials Gen z, poor, working class or struggling middle class voters.

    Gen z and millenials vote based off policy… Labour has nothing to offer in policy.

    Boomers and Gen x seem to vote based off personality… Labour again has nothing to offer in this regard.

    Labour genuinely deserves to lose this election not just for the wasted mmp majority and wasting almost every opportunity in the last three years to meaningfully reform nz and it's economy and commerce not just for the constant ministerial f*** ups,but right now for totally and utterly misreading the country. For two years the country has been screaming and crying for help and Labour go into the election ignoring those crys for help and offering *checks notes* $4 a week off fruit and veges.

    I hope Labour can cobble together a coalition but they are gonna get a historical thumping.

    Campaigning on "we're not as bad as the other lot" never works for the left. We always need excitement, passion and energy and chippy seems to be alergic to anything but bland third way centrism.

    • bwaghorn 3.1

      People borrowed like no tomorrow when interst rates where at record lows, did it not dawn on them that they would go up again?

      I have no mortgage life ain't to bad!

      • Tricledrown 3.1.1

        Good for you most young families can't put food on the table or pay all their bills rents/ housing electricity groceries all going up and all you can do is gloat.

        No wonder the left are not connecting with voter's! Tax cuts are an easy sell for the 70% who are doing it hard.But chippy can't breakthrough that narrative.Because he is not the finance minister he can't remember things like only 30% of families will be better off under National that is those families earning over $100,000 a year which doesn't include single parent families who won't get anything under National so only 20% of families will be better off. Labour haven't taken National to task on who is better off a Webb site should be set up with a.meter showing who gets what.ie a family on the median average income will only get $10 a week while those on $120,000 will get $60+ a week.So the bottom 70% of families will be worse off as minimum wages will be kept low wage bargaining gone,free prescriptions,cheap winter power,child care etc etc all gone with Seymour and Luxon having to cut more than what National claim!

    • SPC 3.2

      Boomers and Gen x seem to vote based off personality…

      No, the haves vote their privilege and they came from a time when home ownership was common. And their privileged descendants (no estate tax) inherit the land/earth.

    • Some facts Corey, unemployment was 6.6 after GFC.

      Current unemployment is 3.4 after the Pandemic, Terror attack, eruption, mico plasma bovis, war shortages oil price spikes interest rate hikes.

      It has been a difficult period, and it will get more difficult with climate change.

      The Left are not allowed to celebrate small but significant successes, there are too many bloody well enjoying self flagellation.

      This is a feature of the Left. The Right ignore their faults.

      Now Luxon has been pedalling another lie." NZ in Recession, going backwards Worst Minister of Finance ever"

      Will any honest member of Media call Luxon out.???

      His hyperbole is dreadful, and Luxon will take us backwards. imo.

    • James Simpson 3.4

      If Labour want to fight the election on the economy, they will lose big time. The economy is not their strength.

      The rich have done well in the past 3 years and are not effected by high inflation. The working poor are getting hammered.

      Trying to use these numbers as some kind of reason to vote for Labour, demonstrates a complete loss of reality.

      • James,
        Where is the social conscience of those rich "that have done well in the past 3 years"?

        Do they live outside our society?

        Queenstown is discovering what the rules are for, and what happens when you ignore them.surprise

        • Stephen D 3.4.1.1

          They live in their own bubble, Patricia. The rest of the world can burn, but as long as they’re ok. Who cares.

        • James Simpson 3.4.1.2

          I'm not sure where there social conscience is. But they will mostly be voting NACT.

      • Louis 3.4.2

        @ James. The topic of this article shows the economy is one of Labour's strengths.

        • James Simpson 3.4.2.1

          You clearly don't mix with the working poor if you think the economy is strong.

          Unemployment is predicted to increase to 5.4% in the next 18 months (PREFU), and interest rates are going to keep rising while inflation stays high.

          The right don't have the answers for those two problems, but if you are trying to suggest they are not problems then I'm not sure there is much point debating.

      • SPC 3.4.3

        One of those who still believes the myth about neo-liberal economic competence.

        1970's – opposed a super fund to enable local ownership of our economic assets. National.

        1980's-1990's – an international market economy with ownership of property available to those on higher incomes (end of estate tax) after the cut of the top rate of income tax from 66 to 33%, despite downward pressure on wages. Labour and National

        1990's – an economy based around low wage levels (ECA destruction of unions) and no investment in apprenticeships, or research and development. A low productivity disaster. National.

        2000-2023. a population growth driven economy. Major beneficiary banks lending on rising property value mortgages (most profit offshore and little tax revenue derived to government). National and Labour.

        2000-2023 an effort to Labour to revive unions ECR to FPA, rising MW, apprenticeships, R and D. Cullen Fund and later one to deal with climate change induced events. All opposed by National.

        2000-2023. WFF so the poor could still afford to have children, if not own homes as well. And KiwiSaver. Labour and to a degree also National.

        Every wrong policy – National. Some Labour also.

        Your reckons …

  4. bwaghorn 4

    I'd love a social scientist to do a paper on the toxic effect on a country's psyches of have a political party being constantly negative wet and whiny for 6 years when the country is battling a pandemic and inflation caused by outside influences.

    • Barfly 4.1

      I'd love to be rich so I could pay someone to do it and mercilessly beat the people over the head with it (metaphorically)

    • Tricledrown 4.2

      The right know this already and know how to divide opinion avoid the truth to keep the poor poor and the rich rich.They know how to Spin a complete lie and keep spinning it like Donald Trump until the Media stop holding them to Account.

  5. Reality 5

    The serious and draining effect of Covid on NZ over the last three years seems to have been forgotten, which is understandable in a way because people want to move on from that difficult time. But Covid must have affected the government being able to progress on many areas.

    Let us not forget the demands of National – "open the borders". They were not concerned in any way about how many more people may have died. At a time the country should have been united, all they and Act did was want to put business first, ahead of people's health. I will never forget their "open the borders" demands.

    Let us not forget also the businesses who claimed the wage subsidy even as they were making healthy profits.

    Whatever could or should have been done by the Government, they put people first.

    • observer 5.1

      Absolutely true.

      Who said this: "the Government did a very good job in following the health advice in 2020 … "

      Answer: Christopher Luxon, 2021. Citation:

      No need for Auckland borders: Christopher Luxon | Stuff.co.nz

      Nobody remembers this, because the media have moved on, but also (and this is unforgivable) because Hipkins and Labour are too bloody passive to fight back, even with National's own policies and statements.

      Every day National say "the past 6 years", as if nothing had happened and every day this false framing is reinforced in the public mind. That is why they are winning, and Labour's response is … to spend a TV debate agreeing with National. Useless.

    • mary_a 5.2

      100% agree Reality (5)👍

    • Belladonna 5.3

      Whatever could or should have been done by the Government, they put people first.

      Sounds like an epitaph.

      Every time the Left (especially Labour) references Covid, they lose.
      Psychologically, it's associating the Government with a time of anxiety and misery for Kiwis. They *want* to move on. They don't want to be reminded.

      Yes, Yes, YMMV – if you are a died-in-the-wool Leftie – my party, right or wrong – but the majority of Kiwis are not.

      • Drowsy M. Kram 5.3.1

        Many here, and around the world tragically lost their lives to COVID-19, but no epitaph for me (yet!) I credit our government's prioritisation of health during a pandemic for that, and won't be forgetting in a hurry.

        Just hope I've shuffled off before we face a pandemic with the Nats in charge.

        Coronavirus: Bridges urges shift to level 2, saying more COVID-19 cases possible at any alert level

        Coronavirus: Simon Bridges urges Government to lift lockdown next week, take Australian approach

        National leader Judith Collins question's Government's transparency over community transmission

        What would actually happen if Covid-19 restrictions were stopped?
        National Party leader Christopher Luxon is pressing the Government to ease up on the Covid-19 restrictions.

        • Descendant Of Smith 5.3.1.1

          One of my daughter's friends in the US lost 3 of her siblings to COVID – all under 16. None had pre-existing medical conditions. One early on and two in a later wave. She got mildly sick as did her parents. She is still distraught as are her parents.

          A school mate of hers who ended up in the states when his parents separated (his sister stayed in NZ with the dad) also died from/with COVID. On such simple and unrelated decisions did some sad outcomes depend.

          There was no rhyme or reason in so many cases as to who lived and who died.

          My daughter is ever so grateful for how we managed the pandemic and protected our population particularly as she has genetic health conditions.

          I get no sense NZ is as community connected as Sweden, has the less politically influenced public service (esp since CEO's were moved from the SSC nor had an opposition which would have supported the government in what ever decision they made, nor a business community that had taken any notice what-so-ever of the pandemic planning 10 years earlier.

          Sweden was in a much stronger position to do what they did.

          https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/sweden-during-pandemic#endnotes

      • observer 5.3.2

        So your measure of truth is opinion polls.

        It is not "my party right or wrong". It is a fact that spending was significantly increased to save lives and the opposition supported it. Were they wrong?

        If you believe the test is not "is it true" but "do people want to hear it right now" then you might as well advocate for every war from Vietnam to Iraq, or say nothing about climate change, etc, etc. So many issues have shifting public opinion, and if that is your moral compass, you are lost.

        "Perception" changes. Facts don't.

        • Belladonna 5.3.2.1

          Perception, however, is the reality which matters in a democracy.

          No doubt your conscious rectitude will comfort you in the wilderness of electoral defeat.

          • Drowsy M. Kram 5.3.2.1.1

            You're right – short-term perception-driven behaviours continue to knee-cap rational responses to the reality of self-made civilisation-ending threats.

            Spaceship Earth will continue to warm long after anyone alive today stops converting fuel and oxygen to CO2 – a reality future generations can bank on.

            Take comfort in your perceptions B. Best of luck getting ahead, and keep fighting your centrist corner.

            James Hansen speaks out about global climate change [2012 TED talk]
            This [energy] imbalance, if we want to stabilize climate, means that we must reduce CO2 from 391 ppm, parts per million, back to 350 ppm. That is the change needed to restore energy balance and prevent further warming.

            Big news in the close-knit and secretive climate change community!
            At Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii they just measured Atmospheric CO2 at its highest level in human history – 423.01 ppm!!!

            • Belladonna 5.3.2.1.1.1

              "You're right – short-term perception-driven behaviours continue to knee-cap rational responses to the reality of self-made civilisation-ending threats.

              Including the multiple TS members who have recently commented on their overseas holidays.

              CO2 doesn't care if you're a died-in-the-wool leftie – your aircraft emissions conttribute just as much as the ACT voter in the seat beside you.

              Not that this comment originally had anything to do with climate change – it was about the negative psychological response of voters to the association of Labour (and the podium of truth!) with Covid.
              Even for you – it’s a bit of a stretch to tie this into climate change.

              • Drowsy M. Kram

                "The podium of truth!" – oh dear. But OK, if that's your perception.

                Pleased that you perceive the threats from carbon emissions. Luxon is, in his own words, a "naturally humble and focused" person, who used to run a government-owned airline – I just wish NAct pollies could focus on the reality of emission threats like you do. Instead they continue to serve up 'repeal and delay' "back to the drawing board" policies – it's unreal !

                Future Act MP held ‘climate hysteria skeptics’ meetings at high school
                [13 October 2020]
                David Seymour is quoted as saying Baillie would bring common sense to parliament.

                Baillie is currently ACT’s education spokesperson.

                https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0309/S00040/images-farmers-fart-tax-protest-at-parliament.htmImages from the National Party media unit.

                Brownlee is currently the Nat's Emergency Management spokesperson.

                NAct pollies may be sufficiently forward-focused for centrists, but if NZ is operating at current levels of inequality when the shit really hits the fan, then imho pandemic-level 'inconvenience' will be the least of our worries.

                Once again, B, best of luck to you and yours – we’re all in this together.

                Opinion: Luxon must go back to the drawing board [6 May 2022]
                In reality we need several big-bang solutions but the National Party is either for maintaining the status quo or going backwards. Both are untenable choices. Fortunately, the next election is still a long way away and we can hope that by then Luxon will do some homework and bring some real policy ideas that address our current challenges beyond giving himself a tax cut.

    • Ad 5.4

      I'd suggest exactly the opposite on COVID affecting governmental progress.

      COVID showed that central government still had the capacity and will where necessary to intervene more deeply into the entire private sector of the economy than at any time since the Great Depression, and also still had the capacity and will to use coercive powers we haven't seen since the Polio outbreak of the 1950s to command-and-control the whole of society.

      This was a far more muscular show of what the state could do than anything Key did with the Christchurch Earthquake. Underscored by the daily briefings to us all by the Prime Minister for months and months until the necessity started to reside.

      What we were missing was coherent structural redesign to right us afterward as a country. Also missing a coherent economic plan for businesses to grasp. Also missing a social plan to make sense of massive recentralisation.

      Which is, electorally, why we are here now.

      • Louis 5.4.1

        Saving lives, saved the economy. It was about trying to save as many lives as possible, keeping businesses afloat, and keeping workers in jobs.

    • Louis 5.5

      Well said Reality.

  6. Tiger Mountain 6

    There is no depression in Noo Zee-ee-lan…there are no sheep on our farms etc.… Blam Blam Blam classic
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HVogejKx_c&list=RD2HVogejKx_c&index=1

    Baldrick will be loving this. Corey upthread is correct of course about the reality of “wot Labah dun to etsself” particularly since 2020, wealth tax, slap the oil industry and Supermarkets and they would have hosed in. But, but, “Cap’n’s Call”…

    When David Parker chucks his portfolio on the Caucus table, you know there is a serious problem with NZ Labour.

  7. Adrian 7

    Jeez.. I wish they would give me a go at writing Chppys speeches. He needs to get pissed off about the lies, he needs to tell Luxon the next time he uses the gangs are Labour bullshit that he, Chippy, is angry and well pissed off about the constant lying. Come on Chippy, grow some.

    • observer 7.1

      He's spent his working life in Parliament. The place where nobody is allowed to say "you're lying". That has been the whole problem since he became PM.

      Hipkins seems to think an election will be decided by a carefully considered Speaker's ruling on the facts. Luxon knows he can get away with bullshit, so he does.

    • Ad 7.2

      +100 nothing to lose now

  8. observer 8

    National know perfectly well that shamelessly repeating a fiction for months and months before an election is far more effective than being proved wrong 12 days before people start voting.

    And if a party in government thinks the best counter-strategy is meekly promising not to do things that differentiate them from the opposition, the liars win.

    • Roy Cartland 8.1

      Surely Chippy and the LAB know all this. They aren’t completely clueless. Is it too much of a stretch to wonder if Labour would rather a NAT government got in than have to share power with the Greens or TMP? NAT and LAB are both centrists after all.

    • AB 8.2

      Well said. And sadly Mickey is wrong to say that National operatives will be in despair. They'll just swap the "only country in Asia-Pac that's in recession" lie for a different one. It's done it's job anyway after being endlessly repeated for months.

  9. James Simpson 9

    This isn't good new for anyone with a mortgage

    • bwaghorn 9.1

      Yeah it is , try paying one without a job

      • James Simpson 9.1.1

        Paying one without a job is tough indeed.

        But the point I was making is the Reserve Bank's aggressive rate rises, was intended to manufacture a recession. The fact we have growth and high inflation means they will not be inclined to slow down on the rate rises. That means more pain for the mortgage belt.

        On the flip side unemployment is forecast to rise to 5.4% in the next 18 months (PREFU) so that may dampen things anyway.

  10. Ad 10

    If it couldn't name itself a recession, then it'll probably do 'till a real one comes round

  11. Ffloyd 11

    Could someone tell me what qualifications Willis has for being Finance spokesperson for National? Genuine question.

    • Ad 11.1

      Better than Robertson's.

      She was a category manager for Fonterra.

      She was a political consultant.

      She worked in John Key's Office.

      And that's enough these days apparently.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 11.2

      Snippets from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Willis_(politician)

      She graduated with a first-class honours degree in English literature from Victoria University of Wellington in 2003, and earned a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Canterbury in 2017.

      In 2012, Willis joined dairy co-operative Fonterra, taking on senior management roles, as well as serving on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand.

      Willis was a director of the New Zealand Initiative, a pro-free-market public-policy think tank, from May 2016 until February 2017.

      She is a member of the National Party's BlueGreen environmental caucus.

      In the 2020 New Zealand general election, Willis' unsuccessful campaign in the Wellington Central focussed heavily on increasing roading in the central city, with the slogan 'Four Lanes to the Planes'.

      Ah, BlueGreens and their 'Four Lanes to the Planes' – making sure the exit is clear wink

    • Belladonna 11.3

      I think you have to go back to English to find a Minister of Finance with any actual Treasury experience. And right back to Roger Douglas to find one with any finance qualifications (accountancy degree); and then Muldoon (also accountancy).
      Bill Rowling is the most recent one I’ve been able to find with an academic qualification in economics.

      Actual financial qualifications and hands-on experience seem, rarely, to have been a required qualification for the job.

      • lprent 11.3.1

        Formal qualifications aren’t the useful an indicator a lot of the time. What is actually useful is the training in how to think and how to learn.

        I have a couple of completed degrees. Neither of them have anything to do with the work I have been doing full time since 1990. Which is designing and writing code, mostly in c++ (the language that I prefer) and at almost every level from single processor chips to single board computers to the high speed and high capacity remote server systems that I currently work on.

        But my degrees are in earth sciences and management, and had little to do with computers. I just spent a lot of time playimh with computers all the way back to 1980. My profession is a hobby that took over my work. Which I learnt mostly on the job with a few mostly aborted courses crammed in other degrees or between projects.

        Before 1990, after the first degree I did tech sales mostly targeted at large Think Big sites, ran small factories, did computer support over a lot of the SI whilst waiting for ex to finish her degrees, and was the inventory manager for a significant local retailers.

        I actually did my masters purely because I was having communications issues with accountants who keep shutting down or selling factories which were making a reasonable profits. Turned out that accountancy was mostly about some pretty simple concepts done with some attention, and a shorthand language. I’ve written accounting systems and supported them in the field at various times. Easy work. Same with economics – language and concepts.

        Literally anyone can do them if they concentrate and have good learning skills.

        Programming is a bit different. Learning it is tricky but not hard. Suffering its learning curve ~20-25% pa and being able to figure out in your head how to build something complicated so others can work on it is way harder. Then being persistent enough to stay on the technology shift wheel is just exhilaration. But you really have to have some raw talent for the task to be very good and to stick with it. Many flake out after their learnt skills go obsolete and wind up as managers (or as I view them – my servants to do the boring bits)

        The only other professions that I am close to that have anything like the same need for unadulterated learning and cross-learning skills tend to be rare. IMO being a career politician is one of them – and I have been around a few over the years. Law gets close. Project engineering often is.

        Being a accountant, private sector manager, economist generally isn’t that useful inside of political spheres or governing. Private sector managers in particular have some real difficulty learning something like politics or governing. The only ones that seem to do it are the ones who weren’t managers – they were political rung climbers in the private sector – usually closely breathing the rear of someone else who actually had some talent.

        You’d actually be better off becoming a politician from teaching – way more of the skills cross over.

        • Belladonna 11.3.1.1

          So, based on that criteria – Willis with a Hons degree in English lit, and a post-grad journalism dip; followed by public policy hands-on experience with Bill English – before moving to the corporate sector; is about as qualified as Grant Robertson – Hons degree in politics, followed by MFAT and policy hands-on experience with Clark, before moving to the Otago Uni market research role.

          I guess, I was just surprised how sparse any actual actual economic training or experience was for so many Ministers of Finance.

          • Muttonbird 11.3.1.1.1

            It's only accounting and business studies, the very lowest of academic pursuits in secondary and tertiary education.

            As they say, those who can't do science do accounting.

          • lprent 11.3.1.1.2

            Yes and No.

            No because the depth and years of political and parliamentary experience (like previous ministerial roles) count for far far more in any given parliamentary role. Any experience gained before getting into parliament pales in comparison for political effectiveness in parliament and national government.

            Yes because it doesn’t matter that much what you did before parliament. It is your parliamentary experience that makes you an effective politician. You may get some background from previous local body experience. But really no that much.

            Prior experience is more about having skills to learn fast and deep, wanting to do it (which lets me out) and concentrating on doing it well over a long term – ie working on a 20-30 year timescale which requires a vast level of persistence.

            The best politician I have run across locally was Helen Clark. She got involved while at university worked as a lecturer in politics and had no private sector experience. She spent about than 50 years concentrating on being a competent, knowledgeable and effective politician inside her party, in government, and internationally. Basically because that was her passion and she wanted to push changes over time.

            At some point any education and even "real world" experience gets vastly outweighed by a simple concentration of learning the profession. Being educated at a tertiary level is usually about 3-5 years.

            Bill English was just as committed towards politics and from roughly the same political generation but you'd have to say that when you look over his political history of achievement – was remarkably ineffective at achieving almost anything that he advocated for.

            To become effective in parliament both in the house and in select committees takes around 5 years based on what I have observed. Working out how to deal with the public servants in their ministries and departments seems to take the same.

            Willis is apparently reasonably competent in parliament after 6 years (unlike Luxon who seems to be flummoxed by it). She may have some previous competence at the public service and corporate side. But it isn't apparent over the obvious unforced errors like her funding for tax cuts that rely on fantasy money from overseas house buyers and the idea of raiding the ETS fund away from its legislated purpose.

            And it is really really hard to see what she is in politics to achieve. Apart from the usual conservative position of trying to return the world to what it wasn't when she was born. While world keeps changing around her.

  12. observer 12

    Everything you need to know about Trumpy Luxon in one sentence.

    Luxon says New Zealanders "see and feel" that New Zealand is in recession.

    Live: Hipkins and Luxon trade blows on the campaign trail | Stuff.co.nz

    "See and feel". Yep.

    If you believe in the almighty god called "Perception" instead of silly old truth, then logically you must believe in Trump, the leader of the anti-truth tribe. And that has real world consequences.

    Jan 6 at the Capitol was not a matter of "perception". It happened on Planet Earth. Fuelled by worshipping "perception" ahead of truth.

  13. Ffloyd 13

    DMK…..Thank you for info on Willis. She hardly seems qualified to be running the zFinances of National. Who really is? I had read somewhere she is mentored by Bill English. She also is singing from the same hymn sheet as Luxon. “There might not be a recession but Kiwis are FEELING like there is one” They are HEARING this from the mythical man on the street the Key used to hear so often. They think we are all stupid. We all know they are just trying to turn the narrative around to suit their agenda.

    Very vacuous people. Quite scary to think they could be the one running NZ into the ground. No thoughts spared for the average population (bottom feeders)as Luxon would have us be. Luxon is just making a twat of himself. I am waiting to see him on the catwalk. Not really though.

    Chris Hipkins is being slammed for not getting outraged and shouty when pitched against Luxon but I liked the fact that he stayed out of the gotcha stuff and was statesmanlike and reasonable and mature enough to realise that all that shite gets him nowhere,especially over Luxons burbling. He is honest and principled and didn’t play to the gallery and is passionate about NewZealand/Aotearoa becomes and stays an egalitarian country. Fingers crossed that Labour gets back in.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 13.1

      'Vacuous' is apt (as is 'hollow'), but there is intent behind NAct's apparent mindlessness. Luxon's "bottom feeders" might be in for a bout of Ruthanasia, but will they vote?

      On National’s Tax Cuts [31 August 2023]
      Revealingly, National’s chart setting out the potential income gains has omitted everyone earning below $30,000 as if they don’t exist – and that’s an accurate reflection of how the “bottom feeders” simply don’t register on the centre-right’s voter radar. So much so that anyone earning below $45,000 a year would receive only $2 a week extra from National’s tax relief package, and nothing at all from its fiddling with the tax thresholds and from tweaks to the Independent Earner Tax Credit, to Working for Families and to childcare rebates.

      Christopher Luxon explains his 'bottom feeding' comments

      Today's classroom visitor is Mr Luxon from the National Party
      MR LUXON: If you were naughty you went to boot camp and got scared into being an ordinary hardworking New Zealander. Or you became a bottom-feeder. Don’t become bottom-feeders, boys and girls.

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    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 hours ago
  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    6 hours ago
  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 hours ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    15 hours ago
  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    20 hours ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    22 hours ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    22 hours ago
  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    22 hours ago
  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    23 hours ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    1 day ago
  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    1 day ago
  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 day ago
  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    2 days ago
  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    2 days ago
  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    3 days ago
  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    3 days ago
  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago
  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    3 days ago
  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    3 days ago
  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    4 days ago
  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    4 days ago
  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    4 days ago
  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    5 days ago
  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Cans of Worms.
    “And there’ll be no shortage of ‘events’ to test Luxon’s political skills. David Seymour wants a referendum on the Treaty. Winston wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Labour’s handling of the Covid crisis. Talk about cans of worms!”LAURIE AND LES were very fond of their local. It was nothing ...
    6 days ago
  • Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back
    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not ...
    6 days ago
  • Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is not even an entry in Wikipedia. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    7 days ago
  • The New Government: 2023 Edition
    So New Zealand has a brand-spanking new right-wing government. Not just any new government either. A formal majority coalition, of the sort last seen in 1996-1998 (our governmental arrangements for the past quarter of a century have been varying flavours of minority coalition or single-party minority, with great emphasis ...
    7 days ago
  • The unboxing
    And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the tree with its gold ribbon but can turn out to be nothing more than a big box holding a voucher for socks, so it ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • A cruel, vicious, nasty government
    So, after weeks of negotiations, we finally have a government, with a three-party cabinet and a time-sharing deputy PM arrangement. Newsroom's Marc Daalder has put the various coalition documents online, and I've been reading through them. A few things stand out: Luxon doesn't want to do any work, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • Hurrah – we have a new government (National, ACT and New Zealand First commit “to deliver for al...
    Buzz from the Beehive Sorry, there has been  no fresh news on the government’s official website since the caretaker trade minister’s press statement about the European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement. But the capital is abuzz with news – and media comment is quickly flowing – after ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • Christopher Luxon – NZ PM #42.
    Nothing says strong and stable like having your government announcement delayed by a day because one of your deputies wants to remind everyone, but mostly you, who wears the trousers. It was all a bit embarrassing yesterday with the parties descending on Wellington before pulling out of proceedings. There are ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Coalition Government details policies & ministers
    Winston Peters will be Deputy PM for the first half of the Coalition Government’s three-year term, with David Seymour being Deputy PM for the second half. Photo montage by Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: PM-Elect Christopher Luxon has announced the formation of a joint National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government with a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • “Old Coat” by Peter, Paul & Mary.
     THERE ARE SOME SONGS that seem to come from a place that is at once in and out of the world. Written by men and women who, for a brief moment, are granted access to that strange, collective compendium of human experience that comes from, and belongs to, all the ...
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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