Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
The People’s Mental Health Review report puts the deterioration of our mental health system firmly in the spotlight. Despite a 60 per cent increase in demand since 2007/08 National has been slashing funding. Lives are at risk.
Christchurch rebuilt must suffer the same central traffic madness as Auckland. Thus decrees Gerry Brownlee, as short-sighted, bullying, and ignorant as ever.
National is about to execute a flip flop on immigration, not for any constructive reason, but to try and head off Winston Peters’ big issue.
Though artificially boosted by high immigration and disaster rebuilds, the NZ economy is in the doldrums, and National are a failure even by their own goals and targets. I predict that National will soon abolish all targets, and that this will be “a sign of our success”.
There was (among the usual dross) some great stuff in the papers over the Easter break. Here’s David Slack with some observations on Fred Dagg, NZ, and Bill English.
This is a huge victory for health care workers, and for women. It is also a huge victory for “resurgent unions”. Will it alarm the private sector? I certainly hope so!
(Kristine Bartlett, photo Herald Mark Mitchell)
National is selecting some unusual candidates. One of them is Simeon Brown a devout chrisitian with very conservative views who is replacing liberal National MP Maurice Williamson.
Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
Activism and protest done well, here are the faces of the emerging climate justice movement in NZ.
Big turnouts for Labour meetings. Some commentators just can’t quite get to grips with how well the new leadership team is working.
A model for a sustainable economy. Something to ponder on a wet holiday weekend.
Guyon Espiner’s excellent RNZ series The 9th Floor, consists of interviews with five ex NZ PMs. Here’s Mike Moore.
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It is the last day of the Scoop fundraising project, and still some way to go to reach the goal. Help out if you can.
Andrew Little questioned the actions of this government, as he should, and has fronted up and taken personal responsibility for offense taken by other parties, as he should. He has endured a costly and draining leagal process with a result widely hailed as a victory for democracy. But apparently that isn’t enough, so here we go again.
The Government has granted Alpine Pure the right to construct a pipeline through a breeding area for a critically endangered Kiwi so that it can extract water from a Unesco World Heritage site for free.
How ironic that Parliament is to debate climate change today, as the latest in a torrent of warming-fueled extreme weather events bears down on the country, and as the government charges Russel Norman and the other heroes trying to end oil exploration in NZ waters.
If you’re determined to believe that western liberal democracy is essentially benign and only ever makes mistakes and honest mis-judgements, or is something that’s sometimes marred by an odd ‘bad apple’ or two, then this post on Syria probably isn’t the post for you.
Colin Craig has had a major success in court with Justice Katz ordering a retrial on the basis that the award of damages by the Jury was excessive.
United Airlines in America has in the past few days provided a text book example of how a large corporation should not behave.
That is the Nats’ advice to aspiring Auckland house buyers.
The defamation case against Andrew Little has been an unwelcome distraction while he should have been free to do his job as leader of the largest opposition party. The consensus is that the process delivered a qualified win for Little, and a clear win for democracy.
Thank you Greenpeace, and specifically thank you Russel Norman and the crew of the Taitu, for taking to the seas to fight this little battle in the most important struggle of our age.
Ordinary people are priced out of home ownership and increasingly out of renting, the state-housing safety net has been deliberately run down, and now the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff is full. National leaps into action – by asking the Salvation Army for ideas…
There has been some very confused reporting on the fate of Andrew Little in the Hagaman defamation trial.
A rescued portrait of Helen Clark is raising money for Women’s Refuge via TradeMe.
“Has the meaning of book Hit and Run been obscured by all the claims and counter-claims in the media?” – Yes of course it has, and that is a deliberate strategy on the part of people who are desperate to avoid an inquiry.
On RNZ Guyon Espiner is running what will be a fascinating series, The 9th Floor, consisting of interviews with five ex NZ PMs. First up on Friday was Sir Geoffrey Palmer, “reflecting on the revolutionary fourth Labour government and his year as one of its three Prime Ministers”.
National’s New Lynn candidate Paulo Garcia appears to be receiving campaigning assistance from the Philippine Ambassador for New Zealand. Is this appropriate?
Unlike the Australian and United Kingdom Governments’ response to the American attack has been muted and confused. Is this just the nature of anything that Bill English says or is it an attempt to assess public opinion before responding?
“We expect and deserve cooler heads than this from our global leaders.”
National’s plans for our privacy and access to social services are a perfect cocktail of over-reach and incompetence.
Nick Smith’s RMA reforms are close to being completed. Will his high homes for the reforms be met?
Labour’s new tactic of featuring a leadership team seems to be working well.
Vernon Small thinks the B Team is missing Key.
English can squirm and deny, but according to Stephenson there is more Hit and Run to come.
