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Campbell Live showed us pictures of the cheques by which Kim Dotcom's company Megastuff made donations to Team Banksie 2010. How can John Banks argue that the two donations of $25,000 from Kim Dotcom's company Megastuff Limited are anonymous when the company name is on…
accountability act corruption election funding leadership national privatisation you couldn't make this shit up
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David Cameron's defence of embattled Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been called a "firewall" that's failing to hold. As the stench of corruption around the Murdoch empire grows by the day, Cameron needs Hunt to stay or else Cameron is the next to go. It…
act election 2011 election funding Ethics john banks john key national privatisation uk politics
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. On Sunday morning I made it clear to Paul Holmes on TVNZ's Q&A current affairs show that I didn't come up the river on a cabbage…
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In Open Mike yesterday there was reference to this article: Claim cops are 'decriminalising dope by stealth' Police have been accused of "decriminalisation by stealth" after a study showed cannabis possession arrests have halved in the last 18 years. A Massey University research centre report…
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United Future are polling the public about their support for partial privatisations, here. .... the only reason for our existence is to represent the voice of the people in our parliament. We believe that any party that is not constantly in touch with the views…
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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…
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The indefatigable Idiot/Savant at NRT has been looking at the appointment of Isacc to head the Charter School Working Group. It seems to have been conducted with all the professionalism and integrity that we have come to expect of ACT. Catherine Isaac's crony appointment Last…
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The case for the Puhoi to Wellsford Holiday Highway just got even worse. Before, officials reckoned it would return net benefits worth ten cents for every dollar spent. Now, the cost will equal the benefits - if traffic volumes double in 15 years. Problem is,…
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David Cunliffe delivered a solid speech yesterday in New Lynn laying out some good thoughts on the state of New Zealand. In it he's been very clear on what's happened to New Zealand. in the last thirty years. You hear the National government talking about…
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Another secret taping, another political scandal. A recording of Pullar and Boag's meeting with ACC by Pullar appears to show that Pullar did not "blackmail" ACC as alleged. This raises serious questions about how Pullar's name got into the public arena. And why hasn't Collins…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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One interesting sidelight in the John Banks donations affair is his alleged request to split Kim Dotcom's $50,000 donation into two lots of $25,000 "so it could be declared anonymously." Banks apparently was not aware that the limit above which donations in local body elections…
accountability act election funding john banks john key national Privatisation privatisation
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Well all tend to see what we want to see, to confirm our biases, to select our facts to suit our purposes. Political right wingers seem to be particularly prone to constructing their own reality in this way. Take John Armstrong on the subject of…
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Key should go because of his dirty deal with SkyCity. Joyce too. Collins should go over the ACC leaks. Brownlee for sheer incompetence* in every portfolio he has. English for shit-eating grin every time he fails to meet his own growth forecasts and announces more…
bill english Gerry Brownlee john banks john key Judith Collins Steven Joyce
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Lots of people... get down to Britomart.. Mind you Britomart is filling up rapidly. They need a few more megaphones by the look of the crowd. Penny Bright sucks at chants. :twisted: Slowly moving off. This is mining protest levels... A lot of people... Seriously…
activism democratic participation petition privatisation referendum uncategorized
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It's understandable that the right wingers, feeling a bit punch drunk from the factional succession squabble going on in National, would try and distract attention by spreading some mischievous rumours. Hence we've had a week or so of speculation about chaos in David Shearer's office.…
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I think sometimes people forget that John Banks made his political bones under Muldoon, but lessons of the old tusker are on full display at the moment as he meets new allegations of dodgy campaign funding with the kind of aggressive black is white response…
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The wording for the citizens-initiated referendum has been approved. Now, we just need to get 300,000-odd signatures. The petition form is here but the Keep Our Assets Coalition needs more than your signature, you need to help get signatures too. The Greens and Labour are…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Stayed up last night to watch Robert Jay QC question Rupert Murdoch at the Leveson enquiry. It was riveting - you can see why top lawyers like Jay are called silks. Murdoch denied, deferred, demeaned, derided and defended but couldn't help himself - questioned about…
corruption leadership Media newspapers spin the praiseworthy and the pitiful tv uk politics you couldn't make this shit up
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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30 more had their say. 30 more said they didn't want it. 1400 submissions, almost all against it for many, many good reasons. "The new mixed ownership company will, over time, change from service, continuity, social responsibility and growth of generation capacity to one of…
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Didn't take much clairvoyance to see that National would fail to meet its promise of a Budget surplus by 2014/15. Once again, the forecasts have been downgraded. Once again, English could barely contain his grin as he said 'welp, we'll just have to cut some…
bill english budget2012 debt / deficit Economy john key tertiary education
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Remember when we elected that guy with all the financial experience because he would be able to guide us through the tough time better and close the gap with Australia? Oops. The cumulative difference in GDP growth in Labour's 36 quarters was 2.4%. The cumulative…
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Remember way back when the government were changing the law to take rights off film workers and increase tax breaks for Warners? It was all about keeping Kiwi jobs they said. Well it turns out that at the same time they were doing this they…
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John Banks has had a miraculous change of heart on pokies. He used to say gambling bosses were "wide boys" who "sucked" the people of this country dry. Now, he's rubbed up against John Key and become 'relaxed' about more pokies. Maybe the $15,000 undeclared…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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John Key and Bill English couldn't find $150million over four years for increased parental leave that would hugely benefit future children. Horrors - we would have to borrow! They could find $100million or more straight away to pay international investment bankers including Australian branch of…
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I have and still do deal with quite a lot with systems in my day-job. But this.... I'm aghast at the self-evident stupidity. A power outage has shut down almost all train services across the Auckland region. The fault at KiwiRail's National Train Control in…