Happiness? How much can you sell that for?
We’re told that every country in the OECD except New Zealand and Denmark has a probation period like National/ACT’s Fire at Will law. […]
Politics
national/act government
On mandates
The National/ACT line in defending pushing through legislation like the Fire at Will Bill under urgency, without any select committee process, without any […]
Arrogant and out of touch
The Manawatu Standard has a good op-ed piece today on how National has squandered its honeymoon with its arrogant and out-of-touch behaviour on […]
HRC calls for consultation on fire at will
This just in: the Human Rights Commission has called for the fire at will bill to be put to select committee: The Human […]
F*ck Democracy II
This from Lew in the comments section of my last post: Shortly after the House resumed at 0900, Darren Hughes requested that the […]
F*ck democracy
No Right Turn has an excellent post pointing out that National is misusing urgency in a manner unseen since the bad old days […]
Some questions for Kate
Kate Wikinson, John Key’s hapless Minister of Labour, has told NZPA the public shouldn’t get to have their say on the fire at […]
Oh dear
Rodney Hide on National and ACT’s select committee into the ETS: “I am especially pleased to see that the issue of the scientific […]
Spin-busting: Probationary periods
National has been working hard to push the idea that its fire at will policy introduces a ‘probationary period’ of employment. This is […]
Bringing it home
These ads made by the ACTU to oppose John Howard’s removal of unfair dismissal rights sure bring home what National’s fire at will […]
Ramming it through
I’ve just been informed that the National/ACT Government has put its 90 day fire at will bill on the Order Paper and could […]
No longer at the back of the class
Word is National’s David Bennett will be chairing the Transport & Industrial Relations select committee. After his unhinged performance over the youth minimum […]
Work rights? Gone by Xmas
Tracy Watkins reports that the National/Act government will be taking all work rights from anyone in a new job in a firm with […]
Kiwisaver changes
NZPA reports that the Government is looking at reviewing its changes to Kiwisaver so that workers who don’t earn enough to get the […]
Unambitious
National/ACT has cancelled the Buy New Zealand Made programme. So, this is that ambitious and positive vision for New Zealand we’ve been hearing so much […]
Taking responsibility, a trait of government
I was looking back at posts from last year to get some idea of traffic patterns over the December period. I found this […]
What to do with Treasury
It’s good to see Treasury’s extreme right-wing prescription for New Zealand has not been wholly embraced by the National Party – and it’s […]
Govt’s ACC spin working
We’ve covered the National/ACT government’s latest ACC beat-up extensively already. IB spelled out rather well here the techniques being used by the government […]
Treasury – Labour left us in good shape
Treasury’s briefing to Bill English as the new Minister of Finance must’ve pissed him off big time. Aside from the expected ideological burp […]
The moral high ground
Murray McCully has just used his recently acquired ministerial discretion to allow Fiji’s under-20 soccer team to enter New Zealand in transit on […]
Spinbusting: the anchor-story
There’s a lot of talk about the ACC budget deficit and National’s use of the issue to create an environment in which their […]
Laying the foundations
Let’s not fool ourselves that what we’ve seen from National over the last 24 hours on to the shortfall in the ACC non-earners […]
Nowhere to Hide
“Far too much irksome regulation is putting unnecessary burdens on households and businesses,” says Rodney Hide. Problem is, for all his rhetoric, Rodney […]
A smoke-screen for the privatisation brigade
Now that didn’t take long. Well rehearsed from the 1990s, National has already started using the privileged position of government to conjure up […]
Mythbusting: we can’t cut emissions from agriculture
This classic myth is used by National/ACT as an excuse to not do anything about climate change and, now, to attempt to undermine […]
CTU calls for fairer tax cuts
The Council of Trade Unions is calling on National to re-jig its tax package to give it more balance. And fair enough too […]
The housing question
Good housing is a foundation of a healthy society, and it is something that New Zealand has long lacked. Despite leading the world […]
Anatomy of a honeymoon piece
Most of our political journalists are more than capable of producing informative, insightful pieces. For instance, Claire Trevett wrote an excellent series of […]
Wailin’
Foreign Minister and Whaling Spokesperson Murray McCully has announced that New Zealand will be breaching international law by not undertaking search and rescue […]
Just wondering
“National’s honeymoon has to run its course. The public – not Labour or the media – will decide when that honeymoon is over” […]
Brownlee’s blow-out
National/ACT has only been in power a week, but the flip-flops keep coming. Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee will not confirm that that National/ACT will […]
‘Become a nation of savers’
That’s Finance Minister Bill English’s message to Kiwis. So, that would be why he is cutting our Kiwisaver nesteggs in half to pay […]
Small-target governing
Yesterday it was a $7bn rescue package. Today it’s preparing a contingency plan to bail out big business. But do we get details? […]
PPPs? No, please
I’ve never seen the sense in Public-Private Partnerships. How is it ever going to be cheaper to get a private profit-making company to […]
The departed
The UK has announced plans to increase departure tax from its airports for flights outside Europe to pay for offsetting their carbon emissions. […]
‘Cos I say so
Following Tony “cos I say so” Ryall’s media success with his plan to cut down waiting lists using the King Canute model of […]