#MeToo
It’s been awesome to see feminist activists in New Zealand enable a new and fast liberation occur. It’s worth reflecting on the success of #MeToo and all its new forms.
Politics
accountability
James Shaw’s speech to the Green Summer Policy Conference
Alongside announcing the Greens’ new transparency measures, James Shaw talks about being in government and having the ability to influence, as well as staying true to the Green Party’s values.
Green Party announces new transparency measures
Green Party Co-leader James Shaw has today announced two important new transparency measures, which will apply to Green Party Ministers, MPs and staff, to help counter the influence of money in politics.
TPPA-11 update and actions
The TPPA-11 is set to be signed on March 8. There are still huge problems with the agreement for NZ. Jane Kelsey provides an update.
There is a hole left in the world
Ursula K Le Guin has died.
Auckland Council by election hypocrisy alert
The National candidate for the Maungakiekie Tamaki Auckland Council by election is complaining that if the Labour candidate wins it will trigger a costly by election. But he is ignoring the fact that the three current by elections have all been caused by National endorsed local government representatives resigning.
It’s time to embrace nanny state
Rather than apologise, it’s time the Left and the new government embraced “nanny state” as a positive, just as the gay community claimed the previously pejorative term “queer”. A nanny state is clearly economically and socially more efficient. We should celebrate our nanny state and not apologise for it.
Shock horror right wing think tank thinks NZ not very democratic
National’s cheerleaders are pushing an international report which suggests that New Zealand’s democratic system is only slightly better than average in world terms. But the organisation behind the report and the methodology used need some checking.
Can This Government Regain Power on Its Policies?
The sixth Labour led Government has made a good start to its term. But what policy results will New Zealand have to vote for and campaign on in 2020?
Up in Smoke.
US reverses Federal marijuana stance.
Shaking the Tree
When an apple tree is shaken, pips can fall to the ground and germinate. And then things grow back more or less as before.
National Standards causes decline in educational levels
The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study results suggests that National Standards has been a failure.
Making official Information flow again
“Ministers realised they had a device through which they could reduce the surprises they suffered. And, as it went on, the surprises ministers no longer wanted to experience became greater in number and smaller in significance.Increasingly, it placed on the public service a political imperative which it had never had to shoulder. “
The House’s Man
How is Trevor Mallard doing as speaker? Early signs are good.
The Missing Noun.
When they said they wanted to eradicate poverty, I didn’t suspect they simply meant to expunge the word.
Justice for Teina Pora
Andrew Little has announced that the Government will increase the payout to Teina Pora by adjusting for inflation and by paying costs on Pora’s successful judicial review of the previous Government’s decision.
Suck it up political sleazers.
Winston Peters has launched a legal fishing expedition to identify who exactly breached privacy on his superannuation over payments. A problem that he shares with about 50 thousand other pensioners. Unlike them, his problem wasn’t trying to find money to repay it. It was that the breach was deliberately timed to be a classic dirty politics ploy, almost certainly by National, in the leadup to the recent election. I wish him good fishing.
The days of National dick waving
The spin that National are running is that they are unhappy with the move to reduce the MPs in select committees. That their dick size opposition party is the largest make me see teenage boys being idiots. Because there is no substantive difference to parliament from when this was recommended and now.
Jian Yang and his residence application
Just before the election news broke that National MP Jian Yang had previously taught in a Chinese University training spies. A recent OIA release of his immigration application raises further issues.
National reverts to type
Bill English has claimed that it is not the role of National to make Parliament run properly.
The new government and the TPPA-11
An update from Professor Jane Kelsey on the TPPA-11, a look at the issues for the new Labour-led government, and reasons why we still need to be concerned.
The mess that the new government inherits
This post is too long to read. Its purpose is to serve as reference material, a “one stop” snapshot of where we are as a country. The mess that the new government inherits. The consequences of the nine long wasted years of National. The magnitude of the challenge ahead of us.
Kiwibloggers discuss assassination of “terrorist” Winston Peters
Right wing online forums are going to reach new levels of toxicity over the next 3 years. Someone really needs to monitor them.
Today is a win-win with Winston
It appears that Winston is about to announce the decision of the NZ First party about their coalition partner today. For those who seem to think that coalitions should be formed with rapidity, they simply shouldn’t. That is the path to making stupid decisions, and I am yet to hear a single good reason to do it.
Nats – lousy at government – “brilliant” at opposition
Peters has the opportunity to put an end to this useless government (and turn National into “the opposition from hell”). I think he’s going to ’96 us, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong
Another term of Nats bad news for democracy
It’s starting to feel a lot like 1996 all over again. Another term of the Nats would be bad news for the institutions of democracy. We’ve had recent warnings on the state of the justice system, press freedom, and the public service.
Nats’ secret tax plan
Newsroom (Shane Cowlishaw) reports that the Nats were considering significant hikes to fuel taxes, described in a document that was supposed to be released before the election – but somehow wasn’t.
Donkey Dick Duncan
Gross political incompetence, not immigration, is what lies behind and beneath New Zealand’s infra-structure problems. Only a excited donkey’s dick waving in a stiff breeze might point accusingly towards immigrants and immigration as the problem.
Labour won’t regain power until it wins the tax debate
Labour didn’t deserve to win on Saturday because, firstly, because it failed to bring a fully-fleshed tax policy to voters, and, secondly, it never attempted to win the ideological battle over tax. To succeed at the next election, Labour must begin work today to frame this debate.
National rules itself out of coalitions with cynical BillShit.
National do a last ditch dirty politics effort. A few hours before it becomes impossible for anyone to refute this, Tracey Watkins publishes an opinion piece which sounds like the usual National BillShit. Another cynical lie designed to stop the horses from thinking rationally when they vote. This time it is a lie about things that the Greens can’t do – not without going to members. Who aren’t going to go for it.
The missing story on Collins and the fuel pipe fiasco
The rumours have been going round for a while – but this is an interesting development…
Is NZ doomed to lying politics now?
Bill English and the Nats are now running firmly on a platform of lies – Gower calls them on this for a second time this week. Should the political left get down in the gutter too? Is NZ doomed to lying politics now?
Nats “discovered poverty last week” – and will forget it just as quickly
Ardern’s jab that English “discovered poverty last week” was the line of the debate. After the election National will forget it again just as quickly, if the record of the last nine years is anything to go by. Do you want to vote for that?
Gower – Nats the biggest liars
Sure would be good if some other media called the Nats out on this too.
Campbell: Ten Reasons For Not Voting National
Gordon Campbell sets out ten reasons not to vote National. Well referenced and compelling. Standardistas may wish to add their own entries to the list.
Our Nation’s Stolen Generation Moment
A guest post by @invisiphilia on the recent Mahinarangi Forbes interview on the Hui on the abuse of children in foster care and why the Government is wrong in refusing to have a proper independent inquiry into what went wrong.