There is now growing recognition internationally that the right to a dignified death is a fundamental human right. Assisted dying is not about reducing health care costs or pressuring those who are frail, old or disabled to end their life prematurely. It is about allowing those with a terminal illness the choice to die rather than face a period of significant physical decline and suffering before the end of their life.
A group of more than 350 people have applied to the High Court to try and void the reeferendum result.
Ibrahim Omer, refugee, trade unionist, and living wage advocate gave his maiden speech today in Parliament. If you want to watch an outstanding speech and shed a tear or two watch this.
National wants to work out what went wrong during the last election.
Over in the US of A some amazing claims are being made with Trump’a lawyer claiming that in Georgia, which has perfected the art of disenfranchising Black American voters, there has been a deep seated conspiracy to lose the state for Trump. And Venezuela is involved.
National has heeded the calls for change and rejuvination by returning Peter Goodfellow as its president.
The reality is that the United States is a poor example of a functioning democracy in 2020.
Now the dust is settling on the US election result the one question I have is why was it even close?
The Electoral Commission has released the final results of the 2020 election and if election night was a shocker for National the final result is even worse.
Which way are the Greens going to jump?
The referendum seeking to decriminalise cannabis appears to have failed narrowly although special votes are still to be counted.
There has been a rather patronising meme running in recent weeks that voters who previously voted National did so because they wanted to make sure Labour didn’t want the Greens to be in government. Just complete bullshit. As far as I can see most voters and their MPs vote for our collective future like I do and expect the political mixing to provide good outcomes for us all.
Fox News has seized upon a four month old video of Jacinda Ardern to suggest that New Zealand has a terrifying new response to the disease and are throwing people into quarantine camps.
With the hand brake gone and the Government’s policy platform already complete what should the Labour Government set out to achieve this term?
As National reels from the disastrous 2020 election result could a policy based on high tech agriculture represent a way back?
What are the lessons to be learned from Chloe Swarbrick’s election night win of Auckland Central.
The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.
What kind of government might New Zealand have?
Shane Reti is in major strife in Whangarei and special votes may overturn his slim election night majority. And National may have further problems with its list entitlement and Maureen Pugh and Nick Smith are not safe.
On the preliminary results, we have our expected MPs. While Parliament may change a little, we now know its shape, and its likely members- with about three exceptions.
A post for election night discussion on the Standard (and links for where to watch).
This has been an incredible year for the National Party. Will it implode publicly tonight with a series of attacks on the leadership […]
Discussion for key electorates.
There are some rules around Election day material on a website like ours. These are mandated by the legislation. We will allow comments here during election day. But they will be limited and we expect you to comment lawfully, and moderation will be on our interpretation of the Act. Please read this post before commenting between midnight and 7pm on saturday.
We’ve had three recent pre-election polls. While we wait for results on election day, let’s have a look at where things might be headed.
A new Ministry for the Environment report on New Zealand and the climate crisis is sobering. If you haven’t voted, climate is still by far New Zealand’s biggest challenge, and it’s the Greens that have the plan for what to do.
With election day tomorrow those who have not voted already need to decide, do they want Jacinda Ardern or Judith Collins to be the next Prime Minister.
Labour is coming off strastopheric polling but the Greens are looking safer. And National is still on the decline.
Maria Hoyle of Socialist Aotearoa argues that from a socialist perspective the legalisation of the possession of cannabis should occur.
Here’s the thing about the Greens. They want change. They want change more than they want power. I think that they fully understand that we are out of time on climate, poverty, the environment and now is the time to act boldly.
* but I am not sure that all of his caucus colleagues would be happy with the proposal.
“The Green Party welcomes Labour’s commitment to reduce climate emissions in the next term of Government, but would go further and faster to address the true scale of the crisis.”
A recent series of advertisements placed by National MPs in Auckland seeking electorate votes and not seeking party votes show that central control of National’s campaign and discipline are completely lacking.
With six days to go to election day the campaigns have reached interesting stages although the underlying trends and events appear to be good for the left.
In an announcement that will probably gain them few extra votes but still warms the cockles, Labour have promised to put Kauri Dieback on the same scale of national disease response as Bovine Tuberculosis and Kiwifruit PSA.
National list MP Alfred Ngaro has shown that National’s message discipline has broken down completely by going negative and making some outlandish claims against Labour’s Phil Twyford.
