The Standard

Politics

Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation

Categories under Politics

I could be completely wrong, but…

Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, April 18th, 2026 - 25 comments

My hunch is that Luxon stands down as Prime Minister, to be replaced by Mark Mitchell.

Trump v Pope Leo

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, April 18th, 2026 - No comments

Following threats against Canada, Greenland, Denmark and engaging in attacks on Iran, Venezuela, Latin America, Nigeria, Syria and Iraq Donald Trump has now attacked the Pope.

Is it Au Revoir, Prime Minister Luxon

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, April 17th, 2026 - 11 comments

Is this the final straw for Luxon? And what legacy has he left behind?

Changing government in 2026

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, April 17th, 2026 - 48 comments

We need to stop slagging off the people who have the only chance of forming a centre left government this year.

Tick tock …

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, April 17th, 2026 - 34 comments

National is leaking like a sieve. Either a coup is under way or a group of disgruntled MPs are busily attempting to destabilise Luxon’s leadership. Either way this is not good for National.

Divide and Prosper – the evil genius of the UAE

Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, April 16th, 2026 - 23 comments

Israel is the UAE’s close ally. They collaborate on the War on Iran and in heartless state-destruction campaigns for greater geopolitical weight in the region
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The Iranian Imbecile crisis

Written By: - Date published: 4:48 pm, April 11th, 2026 - 67 comments

The Cuban Missile crisis was solved by intelligent leadership acting in the best interests of their nations. The current Iranian crisis shows no sign of quality leadership.

National’s incredulous plan for challenging times

Written By: - Date published: 4:46 pm, April 11th, 2026 - 36 comments

An ideological reflex to an economic challenge has severe limitations by design.

Towards an independent Foreign Policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, April 8th, 2026 - 16 comments

Vanushi Walters has outlined a stark contrast between the Government’s appeasement of Donald Trump and Labour’s desire to have an independent principle based foreign policy.

Missing in action

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, April 6th, 2026 - 48 comments

As this Government’s inaction over the oil crisis becomes more pronounced more and more people are noticing that Christopher Luxon is missing in action.

Pawn takes Bishop

Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, April 5th, 2026 - 19 comments

Christopher Luxon this week showed strong leadership by demoting Chris Bishop for a coup against Luxon that was staged six months ago.

What If Trump Is Right?

Written By: - Date published: 4:35 pm, April 5th, 2026 - 38 comments

What if Donald Trump is right and the West should reopen the Strait of Hormuz?

In a crisis the left does better

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, April 2nd, 2026 - 31 comments

The Government’s complete reluctance to do anything about the approaching oil crisis is in stark contrast to the approach adopted by more progressive administrative governments overseas.

A change of government this close or this far away…

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, April 2nd, 2026 - 59 comments

reasons to feel hopeful but not complacent.

David Seymour wants to snuff out bottlenecks and barriers to our response to global fuel uncertainty

Written By: - Date published: 3:08 pm, March 29th, 2026 - 14 comments

David Seymour is supplying misleading ideas on how to boost our fuel resilience.

Shane Jones: Government isn’t Nostradamus

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 pm, March 27th, 2026 - 23 comments

Shane Jones appeals for understanding for the Coalition, but did he extend any to others?

Why did NZ First cancel country’s public diesel reserves?

Written By: - Date published: 6:41 pm, March 27th, 2026 - 24 comments

NZ First have been busy sowing disinformation. So why don’t they take responsibility for cancelling a decision to stock public diesel reserves and increase duration?

The Government wants to make workers more unsafe

Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, March 26th, 2026 - 7 comments

Stand with Pike representatives have submitted to the Government that its proposed changes to worker safety laws will make people less safe at work.

Is the Government’s $50 a week a vote winner?

Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, March 25th, 2026 - 31 comments

The Government’s targeted fuel support is pork-barrelling.

Cash for Access: $8000 for National Party Cabinet, $10000 for PM

Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, March 25th, 2026 - 5 comments

National is fundraising and for $10,000 you can buy access to sit with the PM

Ciao, Brooke Van Velden

Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, March 24th, 2026 - 30 comments

ACT Deputy Leader Brooke van Velden announced her resignation today. What did she achieve during her tenure? And how will history remember her?

Why does this Government hate poor people?

Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, March 24th, 2026 - 23 comments

The Government will today announce its response to increasing pressure on household budgets cause by the oil crisis. And it seems inevitable that poor people who are not working will be excluded from its effect.

Winston Peters signals willingness to send military assets to assist USA

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 pm, March 23rd, 2026 - 24 comments

Is NZ going to join the Iran war?

Nicola Willis signals higher pollutant fuel coming to New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 7:21 pm, March 22nd, 2026 - 3 comments

As fuel crisis continues, National continues to hesitate and “analyse”. Today Willis denied she was not taking it seriously but also said her first port of call was to increase the range of fuels available for import into the country

We owe a great debt to Grant Robertson

Written By: - Date published: 5:16 pm, March 22nd, 2026 - 9 comments

Today I learned, we owe a great debt to Grant Roberston and just wanted to say thanks

What We Can Do

Written By: - Date published: 6:50 pm, March 20th, 2026 - 30 comments

In absence of a concrete leadership plan from this government to address the impending oil supply crisis, this post is for us to simply note down what actions we are taking ourselves. 

Our Willingness To Earn US Approval, Via China-Bashing

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 pm, March 19th, 2026 - 7 comments

The Chinese Embassy is right. The recent joint statement by Australia and New Zealand condemning China’s actions in the South China Sea reads like a relic from a bygone colonial era.

The oil crisis: “We live in challenging times”

Written By: - Date published: 4:33 pm, March 19th, 2026 - 46 comments

The government has shifted position and is now directly talking about the need to plan and prepare for a potential crisis and doing so for the worst case scenario.

Why scrapping Labour’s climate change policies has made the oil crisis worse

Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, March 17th, 2026 - 10 comments

Driven by ideology, this Government has worsened the country’s prospects to reduce oil dependance by axing policies that would have cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

The oil crisis – What would Jacinda do?

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, March 14th, 2026 - 43 comments

Jacinda Ardern led the country through some of the most taxing international crises imaginable. How would she deal with the potential oil shock caused by the Iranian war and how does this compare to Christopher Luxon’s response?

Lies, damned lies and Shane Jones’ Oil Refinery take

Written By: - Date published: 1:31 pm, March 12th, 2026 - 29 comments

Shane Jones has been making a song and dance about how the previous Labour Government was responsible for the closure of the Marsden Point Refinery. But a perusal of the cabinet paper he cites in support shows that this clearly is not the case.