NZ Election result
In parliamentary politics, there are no final victories. After losing the 2023 election, Labour must now immediately focus on winning in 2026.
That was not as good as was hoped for
Last night was not a good night for the Labour Party …
Down to the wire
Two new polls were released last night and they both confirm a tightening of the race with the right slumping and the left improving.
Labour surges in latest poll
A new poll has Labour surging into the 30s, Act continuing its decline and National going backward. This election is not over.
Winston Peters? I barely know him
National has over the past couple of weeks indicated that it will ring Winston if it needs his votes, then saying that if he negotiates too hard it will seek a further election. This is real coalition of chaos stuff.
The Big Mo
Recent polls suggest that National and Act is going backward while Labour has stabilised. A win for the left is possible but this last week will be all important.
Like two cats in a sack
The minor leader’s debate last night confirmed the fact that David Seymour and Winston Peters hate each other.
The weird and wacky 2023 election campaign
In a week of weird events National’s decision not to debate Labour in the Press’s leader’s debate has been a massive own goal because the country will be able to see how toxic David Seymour’s and Winston Peters’ relationship is.
Should you be more worried about co-governance or the top 1%?
To the those voting ACT or NZF or National this year because you are worried about co-governance. I have a secret for you. You have been co-governed by the richest 1% for decades.
Skyfall comes to Wellington
Skyfall was 10 years ago but it has a message for all public servants local or central as you choose your vote.
Hipkins goes on the offensive
Chris Hipkins has upped the ante in the election campaign by directly calling out the right’s use of dog whistle racism.
Winston adds to National’s tax cut credibility problem
National’s failure to adequately explain how its new revenue policies will work has seen its support sag. And its problem is that if it depends on Winston Peters for confidence and supply he has expressed major reservations about these policies and there is no guarantee he will support them. And a significant majority of New Zealanders understand this.
Seymour’s bad faith Treaty policy
ACT’s proposal to put the potential meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi up for popular vote in a referendum is absurd dog whistling of the worst sort.
Understanding the New Zealand General Election 2023: Historical trends and perspectives.
From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.
Cookers of the world unite
Ryan Hamilton, National’s Hamilton East candidate, has had social media released suggesting that he is against flouridation of water, opposed covid mandates and thinks that covid death numbers were inflated, is vehemently opposed to cycleways and thinks that poor people only drink Raro.
The silver lining of last night’s poll
The silver lining to last night’s Reid Research poll is that Act’s support is slumping and if there is a change in Government it may not be as extreme as it could have been.
Another Act candidate bites the dust
At this rate Act may not have enough candidates to fill its list of MPs in Parliament.
An ACT New Zealand
What will New Zealand look like if Act forms part of the next Government?
This Election we need to talk About China
Yes we could do the next five weeks on teeth and taxes, but actually China is pulling us down and our political parties need to make it an election issue.
Be afraid be very afraid – the next Government could be really strange
If there was a change of Government the next Government could potentially be full of fundamentalist Christians, anti vaxers and all sorts of people whose view of Aotearoa is not conventional or reality based.
Semour is more like Rimmer than Mandela
David Seymour reached more absurd levels of idiocy this week with a suggestion that if he was alive Nelson Mandela would be an Act supporter.
David Seymour should be ashamed
David Seymour yesterday hit a new low in race baiting when he said that “in my fantasy we’d send a guy called Guy Fawkes in [to the ministry of Pacific Peoples] and it’d be all over”.
What is at stake this election – housing
Since 2017 this Government has constructed 12,000 new Kainga Ora houses, overseen record numbers of new housing consents, moved to resolving the housing crisis and stabilised and reduced house prices. All this is at stake if there is a change of Government.
Is Simon Court a victim of dirty politics?
When the news about an Act MP being shot in the foot when he was 17 during a drug deal was released I did not think too much about it. But on reflection maybe there is a story here …
A letter to Chris Hipkins
My 2c on what I think Chris Hipkins needs to do to win this year’s election.
Roger Douglas thinks Act has lost its way
Roger Douglas, who as Finance Minister under the fourth Labour Government caused major harm and the founder of the Act Party, has publicly declared that he has lost faith in the Act party and is now a swing voter.
Act’s dishonest Youth offending policy
Act’s newly released policy that suggests all 17 year olds are dealt with in the Youth Court shows a concerning lack of understand how the Youth Justice system actually works.
National's Policy Machine is a thing to behold
National’s latest policy brainstorm is to print out and mail to every taxpayer information they could obtain by using Google and MyIRD.
Late Game Bench
Last minutes of this parliamentary term and all teams are subbing out.
National’s weird tenancy policy announcement
This week Chris Bishop announced National’s landlord policy and made the extraordinary claim that making evictions of tenants easier was a progressive pro tenant policy.
The great policy bonfire
Chris Hipkins continues with his shock and awe campaign and has torched a number of policies that National and Act were using to foment unrest.
Luxon slumps in latest Colmar Brunton poll
The latest One News Kantar Poll result has been released and it is a doozie.
How Activism Dies
If anything progressive is to come out of this current government other than disaster recovery, really focused protest must prevail. It isn’t.
Where is the Free Speech Union when you need it?
Rob Campbell is under some pressure from National and Act for calling out publicly the right’s dog whistle attacks on co governance. But so far self appointed protector of the right to freedom of speech, the Free Speech Union, has been very quiet. Why is this?
Climate change – do we mitigate or do we adapt?
The political debate about climate change is coming to an end as the North Island is battered by the third huge climate change induced storm in a month. The focus will not be on what to do? Do we still mitigate the effects by reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Or do we dig in and adapt?
Prime Ministerial
Chris Hipkins has so far not put a foot wrong. Since he became PM he has quickly and competently reformed the Cabinet and jettisoned policies that were for one reason or another causing problems. And he has quickly asserted control over two massive storms, the first which pummeled the country’s major city and the second which has caused massive floods to much of the East Coast of the North Island.