Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
We need to get the Labour government to focus on decreasing inequality and poverty in all its forms and effects. The new government needs to show that Labour has changed the country for good. Otherwise there’s no reason to vote for them in 2023.
Trump deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell, who is also a Kiwi, has announced his candidacy to be head of the OECD. The Greens have announced their opposition because he has been part of inhumane decisions and also decisions that undermine international institutions. The right back him because he is a kiwi. What should Labour do?
Enjoying your weekend? Thank a unionist!
As National reels from the disastrous 2020 election result could a policy based on high tech agriculture represent a way back?
Labour want to govern based in stability for all New Zealanders, but how does that work when your grand narrative has massive plot holes around ending poverty?
Jacinda Ardern aims to bet both ways on our future – transforming Aotearoa to rid us of inequality and poverty, and building consensus. She has won a mandate with her historic, landslide victory but can she do both? My question is whether Labour are willing to do that because of her desire to maintain consensus and not rock the waka.
The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.
Maria Hoyle of Socialist Aotearoa argues that from a socialist perspective the legalisation of the possession of cannabis should occur.
Here’s the thing about the Greens. They want change. They want change more than they want power. I think that they fully understand that we are out of time on climate, poverty, the environment and now is the time to act boldly.
* but I am not sure that all of his caucus colleagues would be happy with the proposal.
Leaked results of the latest UMR poll suggests that National is under 30% and that Judith Collins campaign techniques are not working. She responded by calling the Prime Minister a liar and fat shaming the population.
A Thames couple are showing how to make a living from small scale market gardening, and leading the way in regenerative horticulture.
There are some issues to be ironed out, but this is the only thing I am seeing that attempts to resolve poverty in New Zealand rather than tinkering around the edges.
The NZ Herald Mood of the Boardroom finance election debate should be for National what it is like attending a Living Wage campaign meeting for Labour. They should be at home and the participants should be solidly behind them. But not this year.
Why does Labour still not have a plan for unwell and disabled people living in poverty?
There’s been plenty of criticism about Labour’s policies not being effective enough to alleviate poverty. Time for a bit of perspective.
This is a backpocket election – and that’s where most of Labour’s effort is going as it rightly should.
This is exactly the kind of approach the Green Party would like to encourage – it’s strategic, it’s intergenerational and it recognises the interconnectedness of our people, the environment and local communities.
Paul Goldsmith has blighted National’s campaign launch by making a $4 billion dollar mistake in National’s budget costings.
Despite claiming that the PREFU figures were catastrophic and despite stating a month ago that it would not do this National has come out with a policy of temporary tax cuts favouring the rich. They must be desperate.
A brief look at steady state economics and the values of enough rather than more.
The Green Party welcome Labour’s commitment to extend the living wage to Government contractors, but will push for Fair Pay Agreements across industries in the next Government so more New Zealanders can earn a dignified income.
Much has rightly been made of the leadership quality of Prime Minister Ardern this year. But the PREFU results announced today shows that Minister of FInance Grant Robertson is by a long way the most effective Minister of Finance we have had since Dr Michael Cullen.
The Prefu is out! And it is not as scary as National would have wanted.
The Taxpayer’s Union, which claims to be opposed to Government waste, is wasting taxpayer’s resources by lodging a spurious complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Authority against Labour’s free apprenticeship policy.
“Wildfires are burning across the world and our rivers and lakes have been pushed to the brink. This is no time for half measures. Phasing out the use of PKE is exactly the kind of bold and transformational policy that is needed to deal with the climate and freshwater crises.”
Labour has announced that if elected they will significantly increase abatement levels for beneficiaries and reinstitute the Training Incentive Allowance Scheme, the policy that Paula Bennett famously had the benefit of but then cancelled once she was Minister.
Given the state of New Zealand land and water, changing how we do farming should be a strong political topic for the left this year. The Greens and Greenpeace are campaigning for a shift to regenerative agriculture, so it’s timely to look at what that is.
The Greens just boldly stepped up their election campaign.
National’s proposed Infrastructure Bank is an accounting trick, with very high risks that the entire power of our political order for anyone affected by these monster projects will weaken citizens’ rights.
Today’s Checkpoint descended into shroud-waving in the case of a New South Wales family not able to visit their dying father in Queensland because of the strict border closure. As our health officials note, “bereavement issues” are where most care is needed to prevent the virus spread.
Labour and the Greens have both recently announced taxation policies. Meanwhile there is no sign of any fiscal policy or alternative budget from National.
The Court of Appeal has ruled that Southern Response has engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and has potentially short changed thousands of Cantabrians hundreds of millions of dollars.
The NZ Property Investors Federation has proposed to its members they should hold off on making flats warmer and drier just in case there is a change of government.
As the covid crisis deepens Labour appear to be committed to entrenching the underclass and giving a helping hand to the middle class.
Our cities are the nation’s lungs; they recycle and accelerate external goods and transform them internally into faster circulation. Auckland and Christchurch have had tens of billions invested in them over successive local and central governments, but has this improved our strength or wealth as a country at all?
