In recent times Goldman Sax has warned National that its policies will hurt the economy. And S&P has praised Labour’s handling of the economy and expressed a high assessment of various factors relating to the country.
In a week of weird events National’s decision not to debate Labour in the Press’s leader’s debate has been a massive own goal because the country will be able to see how toxic David Seymour’s and Winston Peters’ relationship is.
Jack Tame vs Winston Peters.
Skyfall was 10 years ago but it has a message for all public servants local or central as you choose your vote.
Chris Hipkins has upped the ante in the election campaign by directly calling out the right’s use of dog whistle racism.
“If you triple your vote, we triple our power to protect people and planet”
Earlier this year Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesmen, that Britain’s problem was that it wanted Scandinavian levels of Public Services and North American levels of taxation. His view was that Britain was overdue for an honest debate about tax and public spending. In New Zealand, there is a similar challenge.
National’s failure to adequately explain how its new revenue policies will work has seen its support sag. And its problem is that if it depends on Winston Peters for confidence and supply he has expressed major reservations about these policies and there is no guarantee he will support them. And a significant majority of New Zealanders understand this.
Don’t share defeatist bollocks. It tells swing, undecided and habitual non-voters to not bother voting left. Instead, there are still actions that will make a difference over the next three weeks.
As the polls show a further slump in support for the right and as Winston Peters emerges as a kingmaker there is growing concern about the possibility of a real coalition of chaos being elected.
“The extreme weather events that Aotearoa has seen this year have been supercharged by climate change. How we go about building resilient and affordable communities that meet everyone’s needs despite the challenges of climate change will be a critical question for the next government. For the Greens, the answer is clear: we must slash our emissions, and take action to protect our homes and communities from extreme weather”
The growth figures are up and National operatives will be in despair. Not only did the economy grow considerably faster than anticipated in the last quarter at 0.9% but the previous quarter’s figure has been resolved from -0.1% to 0%.
A year ago this month, the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget destroyed once and for all the myth that the Tories are better at managing the economy. The New Zealand National Party could not even wait until they were in government to prove the same applies to them.
From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.
Who will win tonight’s debate? Will Christopher Luxon release his foreigner land purchase tax calculations spreadsheet? Will Chris Hipkins talk about sausage rolls?
Stay tuned …
Ryan Hamilton, National’s Hamilton East candidate, has had social media released suggesting that he is against flouridation of water, opposed covid mandates and thinks that covid death numbers were inflated, is vehemently opposed to cycleways and thinks that poor people only drink Raro.
“A re-elected Labour Government will continue its proud tradition of advancing women’s health, employment, and legal rights Spokesperson for Women Jan Tinetti said.”
Despite repeated analysis that its policies do not add up National is refusing to release the costings behind its policies.
Jack Tame hosts the debate between Labour’s Finance Minister and Finance Spokespersons from the Greens, NZ First, National and Act.
National has reached new levels of excessive hyperbole in response to the PREFU release which was better than expected.
“Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and regular screening saves lives, so it is critical cost isn’t a barrier to accessing early detection”
“The Green Party has a rescue plan for the ocean”
What happens if the Green Party gets 10% of the vote and the top 9 get in. And say they get to form a government. What would Greens in Cabinet look like?
At this rate Act may not have enough candidates to fill its list of MPs in Parliament.
With the nomination period closing within a week or so I wonder why NZ First has not published its list yet?
Video from Labour’s 2023 campaign launch in Auckland.
When the history of the 2023 New Zealand Aotearoa general election is written and if Labour gets up to win historians will point to the events of this week as the turning point in what has already been a dramatic year in politics. Because I cannot believe how bad National’s tax cut policy release has been researched and structured and how bad its release is going.
Now is not the time to give up, now is the time to work harder at winning.
Yesterday was a good day for Labour. Leader Chris Hipkins started talking about what the party stood for and what its values are while also ruling out a coalition with NZ First.
If there was a change of Government the next Government could potentially be full of fundamentalist Christians, anti vaxers and all sorts of people whose view of Aotearoa is not conventional or reality based.
The political courage of the Green Party is paying off.
The brains trust of Labour’s leadership have recently released a policy providing for the compulsory teaching of financial literacy in schools. Tacking to the centre and seeking votes from the pro business part of the electorate is an interesting approach to campaigning. Time will tell if it is the correct approach.
Stuart Nash has given a valedictory speech which could have been delivered by a retiring National MP.
Our descendants will curse us
Winston’s term with Ardern shows what high-delivery, low-foolishness government looked like. That’s why he’s rising again.
Some donors normally associated with the National Party have recently made significant donations to the NZ First Party.
