Backlash building on supercity
The unseemly haste with which the National/Act Government is pursuing its undemocratic supercity is causing more and more people to wake up to […]
Politics
democratic participation
It’s good enough for Wanganui
Rodney Hide refuses to give Aucklanders their referendum on the supercity and one of the excuses he offers is the cost: “The difficulty […]
Right’s excuses fall flat
David Farrar, head of the Free Speech Coalition and renowned democracy fighter, has outlined the Right’s reasons for opposing letting the people of […]
Hide says no to referendum
Rodney Hide says Aucklanders shouldn’t have a vote on whether or not they want his supercity. He uses one of the weaker arguments the […]
Look Mum they stole my city …
After the success of the meetings about the super-city in Waitakere and Manakau yesterday, here are a few more of interest in date […]
Govt’s refusal to listen sparks protests
The government’s refusal to listen on its fast-tracked Supercity plans is already resulting in protests. The unrest that’s building should hardly come as […]
Aucklanders must have their referendum
In 1999, Napier and Hastings had a referendum over whether their councils should merge. They voted against it. In 2005, there was a […]
Has National changed its policy on the super-city?
Yesterday I pointed out that the Local Government Act requires referenda on boundary changes such as are envisaged for Auckland. To not do […]
Rob Thomas: Taking the Local out of Local Government
A long contribution from someone in centre of the local body issues in Auckland. Despite its blatant electioneering, it is interesting enough to […]
Worrying about the big stuff
In the age of the media politician, where catch-phrases are given more attention than laws and good politics is awarded more points by […]
Democracy and the BOFH, Jonkey, and S92A preparations
Reply is a feature that accidentally got turned on last week when I had a adware/malware outbreak through a security hole (those buggers […]
ETS submissions open
Submissions for the review of the Emissions Trading Scheme have opened but will close on the 13th of February. Given the time of […]
Vote smart: Winnie cleared but too late
New Zealand First has now been cleared by the Police or any illegal behaviour. That’s three from three but too late. I’ve never […]
Vote smart: The Maori seats
Each of the Maori seats presents an opportunity for tactical voting for a left-wing voter. If you favour the Maori Party candidate in […]
Vote smart: The micro parties
Last election, 7,000 people gave their votes to very small left-wing parties that never had any chance of winning a seat in Parliament. […]
Vote Smart: Wellington
In Wellington Central and Ohariu-Belmont, left-wing voters have the opportunity to use their candidate votes wisely to help good left-wing candidates to victory, […]
Vote smart: Epsom
I’ve come in for a bit of flak for this ‘Vote Smart‘ series of posts on how people can make the most of […]
Vote smart: Progressives and Wigram
Vote smart is a series of posts on tactical voting for people who support certain parties or live in certain electorates to help […]