The Standard

Author Archive

When publicity stunts go bad

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, December 17th, 2024 - 16 comments

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently posted a picture of him helping with a gift box initiative for the poor. But at the same time he is overseeing the cessation of funding for food banks.

Labour loses confidence in the Speaker

Written By: - Date published: 11:14 am, December 14th, 2024 - 14 comments

Gerry Brownlee has performed linguistic summersaults to conclude that private entities having their pet projects listed for preferential treatment in the Fast Track Approvals Bill do not constitute a private benefit.

Clusterfreak

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, December 12th, 2024 - 46 comments

Yesterday’s replacement ferry announcement by Nicola Willis suggests that very little progress has been made in securing replacement Cook Island ferries.

The unusual feature of Taxpayers Union’s latest Curia poll

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, December 11th, 2024 - 14 comments

Unlike two other recent polls the latest Taxpayer’s Union poll reports a surge to Act happening during the time the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced.

Unacceptable

Written By: - Date published: 10:28 am, December 7th, 2024 - 29 comments

It appears that the Government’s intent to politicise youth offending by making an elite few dress up in army uniforms and march around in an effort to solve a lifetime of neglect is not working out so well.

Creative accounting

Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, December 5th, 2024 - 26 comments

It has emerged that Health NZ attempted to include hundreds of millions of dollars in redundancies and holiday pay remediation chargeable this year in last year’s Health accounts and this would have made the current deficit smaller but last year’s deficit larger.

AT is to be gutted

Written By: - Date published: 6:35 pm, December 4th, 2024 - 3 comments

The Government announced reform of AT, effectively conceding that the behemouth National created in 2010 was the wrong structure.

Reti secretly wants to privatise Health

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, November 30th, 2024 - 23 comments

Shane Reti has said publicly that privatising health is not his overt policy. Which suggests strongly that it is his covert policy, especially given that he wants to increase the relationship with and outsourcing to private operators.

National’s dodgy health announcements

Written By: - Date published: 4:09 pm, November 27th, 2024 - 18 comments

National yesterday made great fanfare about an extra $30 million being spent on doctors and nurses. But news today of 1,500 health job cuts in the pipeline clearly shows how the extra funds are to be sourced.

If Seymour succeeds what happens to Ngāpuhi’s Treaty claim?

Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, November 27th, 2024 - 3 comments

If David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill is passed it may complicate Ngapuhi’s outstanding claim.

A guide to making a submission on the Treaty Principles Bill

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, November 23rd, 2024 - 10 comments

Want to make a submission opposing David Seymour’s dog whistle Treaty Principles Bill? Here’s how.

The great gaslighter

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, November 19th, 2024 - 44 comments

In the gaslight to end gaslights David Seymour is suggesting that anyone opposed to his Treaty Principles Bill is also opposed to fundamental human rights.

Blowout in costs of Roads of National Significance

Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, November 17th, 2024 - 33 comments

There has been a major blowout in the cost of the Roads of National Significance with the cost being potentially $10 billion more than National claimed during last year’s campaign.

Justified outrage

Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, November 15th, 2024 - 46 comments

There were some dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday with Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke leading a fiery haka during the count of Act’s Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill.

This Government’s day of shame

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, November 14th, 2024 - 63 comments

David Seymour thinks that opponents to his bill cannot explain what it is they are opposed to but ignores the clear advice of 40 Kings Counsel who have written to the Government telling it that the bill is itself a breach of the treaty.

Government bars Journalist for asking tough questions

Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, November 11th, 2024 - 28 comments

The Government has prevented journalist Aaron Smale from attending the Crown apology to victims of abuse in state care because his questions are too tough.

What happened?

Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, November 10th, 2024 - 120 comments

Why did America vote for the least suitable candidate imaginable? And what are the implications for New Zealand politics?

The Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill gets slammed

Written By: - Date published: 12:42 pm, November 8th, 2024 - 14 comments

The Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill has now been released and it appears that the provisions take away more rights from Māori than originally proposed.

The Government’s cynical manipulation of the Treaty Principles Bill

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, November 6th, 2024 - 20 comments

In a cynical manipulation of Parliamentary Processes the Government is changing the date of introduction of the Treaty Principles Bill. And the Waitangi Tribunal has said that the bill is a deliberate attempt to destroy the treaty relationship.

Who is undermining the Government’s approach to reducing smoking rates?

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, November 6th, 2024 - 11 comments

The Government’s offensive on public servants who express privately held strong views continues with Casey Costello attacking a public servant who alleged that her private research had come up with some papers that were “crap”.

The strange case of the I am Hope funding

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, November 3rd, 2024 - 11 comments

National is scrambling to justify designated funding to the I am Hope charity after Mike King claimed alcohol was good for mental health and preventing suicide.

When a right becomes a wrong

Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, October 31st, 2024 - 66 comments

The Free Speech Union is wanting an extremist right wing shock jock who the Christchurch Killer described as the person who most influenced him the privilege of visiting New Zealand to host a fundraising event.

Seven days and counting

Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, October 28th, 2024 - 80 comments

Please American voters do the right thing. Signed the rest of the world.
#VoteHarris

Act’s revenge on the Waitangi Tribunal

Written By: - Date published: 10:28 am, October 26th, 2024 - 16 comments

In what must be the most unsuitable appointment decision ever made Richard Prebble has been appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal.

Is the Epsom seat goneburger?

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, October 25th, 2024 - 23 comments

The North Island needs to lose an electorate seat. It appears that Epsom is the most logical seat to go.

Government succumbs to Sensible Sentencing Trust pressure and makes Three Strikes Bill worse

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, October 22nd, 2024 - 10 comments

The Goverment has bowed to pressure from the Sensible Sentencing Trust and made the Three Strikes Bill even more unworkable.

Who is the loser?

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, October 20th, 2024 - 22 comments

National Minister Andrew Bayley has apologised for his conduct after a complaint that he repeatedly called a worker “a loser” and swore at him while on a business visit.

Tana is waka jumped

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, October 18th, 2024 - 54 comments

The Green Party has chosen to write to the Speaker seeking that Darlene Tana’s position as a MP is terminated.

Ferry crisis what ferry crisis?

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, October 17th, 2024 - 21 comments

The Cook Strait Ferry issue is getting to a critical point. An announcement was expected in July. But it appears that NZ First is digging its heels in about the need tor the replacement ferries being rail capable.

Hauraki Gulf Marine reserves are being Jonesied*

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, October 15th, 2024 - 13 comments

* the process whereby a Marine Reserve is opened up to commercial fishing.

Twelve months of this Government

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, October 14th, 2024 - 49 comments

This Government was elected 12 months ago. And I don’t think any of us could have appreciated how bad it would have been.