McJobs
John Key, 20 May 2007: My legacy will be a strong New Zealand economy with higher wages, lower taxes and greater competitiveness. My […]
Politics
national/act government
What, me worry?
Apparently, Minister for Unemployment Paula Bennett doesn’t like reading too much, She prefers to have things explained to her with whiteboards, charts, and […]
Protest for pay equity
Earlier this year the National/ACT government announced it would be closing the Department of Labour’s Pay and Employment Equity Unit, which was set […]
Pulling up the ladder behind her
Paula Bennett’s image as a Westie solo mum who’s been on the DPB has been an important part of National’s centrist branding. By […]
‘Crusher’ running scared
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Clayton Cosgrove, but he’s sure got ‘Crusher’ Collins running scared on her cuts to police vehicles. […]
Priorities
Noticed this comment in the Dom this morning [offline] about National’s decision to slash funding for night classes in the Budget: Finance Minister […]
Key’s female trouble
Key is obviously lying about having an unavoidable commitment in Taupo keeping him from Melissa Lee’s election night do. He would tell us […]
Perspective
National’s line is that they are doing ‘everything possible save jobs and keep people in employment’. Are they living up to the promise? […]
Nats slash education
Did anyone else notice that for all this supposed government waste that National was going to get rid of it made only $500 […]
Productive debate
There was nothing in the Budget for productivity. Education, the foundation of producitivty, was actually cut when you take into account inflation and […]
It’s called sovereignty, stupid!
The Minister of Agriculture David Carter really outdid himself in the house last week. First he completely dodged and didn’t address the question […]
Should Key have appointed Worth at all?
On Q+A this morning, Phil Goff was asked by Paul Holmes for more detail on why John Key wasn’t surprised when he took […]
Wait, didn’t he say ‘women’?
There’s still a lot of confusion on the Right, in particular, about the sequence of events in the Worth saga, so I’ve tried […]
Rhetoric & Reality 2: Jobs
Before the election National’s “Employment & Workplace Relations” policy set out the principle of “building opportunity for all”, and the need to “Expand […]
Caption Competition
Pigs
It’s good to see Green MP Sue Kedgley calling on John Key to personally fix the abuse of pigs in sow crates. The […]
Political management or policies at fault?
As the wheels have come off National’s political agenda in the past few weeks, their fanboys have wailed in anguish. Lee, Rankin, the […]
Key: Govt “on track”
Prime Minister John Key today announced that he was ecstatic with his government’s performance and was “on track” to making his the most […]
Last night’s Super City meeting
I attended the Paula Bennett-John Carter Supercity meeting yesterday evening in Kelston. This was one of the hastily arranged series of meetings arranged […]
Carter’s attack on SAFE a diversion
So, Agriculture Minister David Carter finally creaks into action on the brutal and inhumane treatment of factory farmed pigs, then spends most of […]
The ‘Rankin Effect’
Why is the National government delaying its announcement of the Supercity transitional agency? The Rankin Effect. That’s the flinch you get when your […]
Rodneytactics, Rogernomics and dog-whistle DonKey
The tactics used by Rodney Hide to ram through the Auckland SuperCity legislation without reference to a select committee or referendum should not […]
NACT prefer to have a filibuster
The ongoing filibuster is highlighting the intransigent nature of the NACT government. NACT ministers are getting annoyed by having to remain at the […]
The Maori Party’s commitment to democracy
In an epic last-ditch defence of Aucklanders’ right to be consulted on the removal of their democracy, Labour and the Greens are currently […]
Has anyone asked them what they think now?
Moana Mackey has been looking at old Hansards in a post on Red Alert. The topic was the Local Government Act changes in […]
Going Backwards II
A recent piece in the New York Times highlights the absurdity of going backwards with the apparent reorganisation of the Families Commission around […]
What would Key the Investor do?
Here’s a question for Mr Key but you can play along too. What if you could buy into an asset that performs well […]
NACT policy – like pistons in a Vespa
Jeanette Fitzsimmons has written a very good post from the Emissions Trading Scheme special select committee* about her views on the impact of […]
School support staff fighting for a fair deal
Cut public spending then we can have tax cuts! It’s such a nice, appealing slogan when you say it fast without engaging the […]
Suspending the Cullen Fund
Bill English seems set to suspend the government’s contributions to the Cullen Fund. Here’s a little-known fact, one that Bill English probably doesn’t […]
Quarterly Employment Survey
The Quarterly Employment Survey out today shows that 46,700 jobs disappeared between December and March. That’s 2.6% of jobs gone in a single […]
The republic can wait
No Right Turn highlights Thursday’s Herald editorial calling for our political leaders to step up and take some leadership in the republic debate. […]
Say goodbye to Nanny State
Stepfather State’s taken over. Our new parent likes to keep his distance…he usually comes home after work at the office…but only for a […]
The real hustle
National introduced legislation yesterday that will create a 10% bonus for voluntary repayments of student loans. Repay $1,000 above your compulsory repayments, get […]
Jarring
Today Phil Goff’s question to Key is: “Does he agree with the statements in the House by his Minister of Finance on 16 […]
The Backlash Begins
We’ve been warning that John Key faces a backlash in Auckland if he doesn’t rein in Rodney Hide and present a democratic supercity […]