BHN: Leaders Special: Chris Hipkins, Labour
Chris Hipkins will be on BHN live tonight from 9pm.
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
National Government allocated 80% of all health spend increase to private healthcare
$2.4 billion of a total $3b was given by National to private organisations and doctors. Plus: The talk of the political town – a new model shows how National could win
Luxon couldn’t be more like Trump if he tried
Christopher Luxon, who changed the law to limit special votes, supposedly so the next government could be formed more quickly, has cast a special vote.
Day 1 of voter suppression: why is National preventing people from enrolling to vote?
Voter suppression in New Zealand is absolutely shameful.
Let’s talk about the Opportunity Party in New Zealand
Is Opportunity a Trojan Horse Party? And what scenarios are likely to play out with them in play in Election 2026?
“Government does things not for profit but to build a country”
In the Greens’ fiscal plan policy speech, Chloe Swarbrick lays out what good government is, and lays down a challenge to National’s Minister of Finance Nicola Willis.
Gangs are bad. Crime is not?
Let’s ask this question again – is crime bad and if so, when? Is association with criminals problematic, if so when?
Luxon lies about 54 nurses
Do Kiwis deserve better than obfuscation and deception when it comes to our kids and their health?
Twopenneth on MMP and Class
A contribution to the current discussion of MMP and the next election.
Let’s talk gangs
Sir Peter Gluckman was John Key’s Chief Science Advisor. He said some of the most important factors to prevent youth crime was alleviating poverty and keeping people out of incarceration.
If you want to change the Government …
It is crunch time. The next five days may determine who is the next Government.
A Faulty Handbrake Analogy
Pulling the handbrake in a moving car is not a smart way of preventing a breach of traffic rules and can cause chaos, confusion, and collision.
National wants to supress voter turnout
In recent news Christopher Luxon chose November 7 as election day even though he was told by the Electoral Commission that the date was challenging and that other dates were more feasible.
The Health Crisis and the Election
The quickly developing health crisis the country is facing is providing a major incentive for people to change the Government at this election.
How To Celebrate Getting Really Rich
Pleading for more protection for the super-rich during an election is not going to land well for National.
Voting for Opportunity could cement the right wing for another 3 years
Nearly 40% of Opportunity’s voters come from the left. Around 17% come from the right. Can we risk another 3 years of the current right wing Government?
The Opportunity National Courtship
National has softened some policy positions, bringing it closer to meeting some of Opportunity’s five bottom lines. Is Luxon preparing to pull off the post-election flip-flop to end all flip-flops?
Enrolment levels
From this morning’s PolitikToday, the enrolment figures are out. Currently sitting at 90.77% overall against the estimated electorate. As you’d expect the 18-24 age group, is the worst off, having about 62% enrolled. What is interesting is the age groups of 65-69 and 70+ show more than 100% enrolment. The 70+ group having a remarkable 103.25%. I can feel the conspiracy theorists stirring…
Lies Damned Lies and National Party Employment statistics
Chances are pretty high that you would have heard National party MPs claim that there will be an extra 220,000 jobs over the next few years. Turns out that the net figure is closer to 30,000 and relies on population growth.
Why is everybody talking about tax and fiscal holes?
The most important issue for New Zealanders is inflation and the cost-of-living yet National and its Dirty Workers want us to talk and think about tax all the time.
Chris Hipkins Is Right
Chris Hipkins is not Jacinda Ardern. His small bore policies may not even reward Labour in 2026 vote share. But 2026 is the right time for the Chris Hipkins school of politics.
Calculated cruelty
National has announced two populist cruel policies today of benefit cuts for beneficiaries on the Jobseeker benefit for over two years and random drug testing for beneficiaries.
The Leader’s debate
Some thoughts on the first Leader’s debate, essentially to agree with Thomas Coughlan that Luxon is leading National to a defeat and this debate did not help.
Who buys the election – follow the money
A site called followthemoney.nz is worth looking at. It is beta site that tracks since 2019, the visible money directed at political parties. It includes declared donations, the broadcasting allocations, some details on the donations over and under 15k and a interesting list of declared donors in 2026 up to the end of September.
The Diesel Powered Election
This is the diesel election and we need the fastest way possible out of it.
RNZ-Reid poll happy dance
This is good. It’s one poll, trends are better, but what it gives left wing parties and volunteers a big confidence boost twenty […]
Green Party policy: Reconnecting Aotearoa
The Greens’ transport policy introduces a quantum leap on climate and public good.
To overhang or not to overhang, that’s the question
National has a snowball’s chance in hell of creating an overhang for its nefarious need to lead Coalition Mark II.
The Race for Tamaki
Normally the seat of Tamaki is won by the right but given a potential vote split, a Teal type response to the right’s culture war campaigns and an outstanding campaign by Labour’s Max Harris anything is possible.
The Race for Mt Albert
A Spinoff poll suggests that the race for Mt Albert is a clear choice between Labour’s Helen White and National’s Melissa Lee.
How Could Labour Pay for Transport Without Raising Fuel Taxes?
Labour has promised it will not raise fuel taxes across the next Parliamentary term. That’s a basic cost-of-living politics move. But it’s going to hurt the transport system.
Opportunity’s five bottom lines
This is OP practicing what they preach: rebuilding trust in politics. It looks odd because we are so used to Peters’ centrist grandiosity, power-mongering and manipulating MMP while actively undermining other parties. OP are doing something completely different.
Nicola Willis high on a surplus of inflation and unemployment
The PREFU reveals an approaching Nicola Willis surplus based on inflation and fiscal drag. It has nothing to do with economic growth. Meanwhile our young adults are experiencing the joys of very high and sustained unemployment. The same kind of environment that stunted the generation in National’s recession of the 1990s. This time we have a rapidly ageing population. And Nicola Willis in fantasy land.
Watch Waitaki
Damien O’Connor has a unique chance to wrest the safe seat of Waitaki off National’s Miles Anderson.
The Latest One News Verian Poll
It’s only one poll, but it’s broadly in line with other recent polls.
Talking up the left
Do we want a change of government or not?