Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Despite the Iranian war threatening supplies, the Methanex plant closure creating an LNG surplus for the foreseeable future, and enabling legislation still pending, National wants to rush through a construction contract for the LNG terminal before the next election.
With Opportunity Party consistently polling above the 5% threshold, the left should be looking at who OP is and what their policy is instead of just reacting against them.
Christopher Luxon’s announcement that if re-elected National would move to break up Foodstuffs has met resistence from within his caucus, from the Act Party and from some of the party’s strongest and best resourced supporters.
The NZ Initiative, who gave us neoliberalism, says we need to buy four to keep one at sea. Just Defence says there are a lot better uses for the money. I’m with them.
A review of its behaviour over time shows that National can’t be trusted with your Kiwisaver.
Why does our media allow potentially foreign funded polls that are out of kilter with other polling results to affect local political discourse?
We are witnessing a full-scale trade war between Canada and the United States and there’s every sign it will get much, much worse.
Plenty of politicians will seek credit when it opens, but none of them will have lifted a spade. The reason New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project exists is because over 1700 workers actually built it.
Under National the MSD thinks that food is not an essential need. And it pushed through under urgency a botched up law change which cut the benefits for tens of thousands of elderly kiwis.
“Labour is fully committed to the Paris Agreement and will put New Zealand on course to meet its targets…. Walking away from it, as National and its mates are planning to do, would be giving up on our kids’ future and impose huge costs on our economy.”
Last weekend saw a continuation of right wing parties coming out with inane policy announcements that make a media splash without any hard questions being asked.
“The Green Party has today announced a plan to break up the supermarket duopoly by creating a publicly owned supermarket chain called KiwiMart, as part of its Affordable Kai election policy”
This week the Government reluctantly reversed its intent to allow homeless teenagers to be prosecuted if they did not move to somewhere less safe when required to move on by police.
Anyone remember it was just a year ago that businesses and government politicians were crying about the loss of natural gas availability?
Christopher Luxon has asked Air New Zealand to explain what caused its recently announced significant loss. The answer appears to be a decision made by Air New Zealand while he was Chief Executive.
“Nurses who trained here should be able to work here. A good job. A future here at home. Better starts now.” – Chris Hipkins
After spending all term undermining the Country’s climate change response the Government now wants to improve the country’s ability to meet the Country’s Paris Accord obligations.
Kiwibank are proposing to buy TSB Bank, before Heartland get it.
The Opportunities Party wishes to enrich Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison by giving them tax breaks to establish data centres in Aotearoa.
Very sad recent news from yesterday. Three homeless people in Aotearoa, the land of plenty, have recently frozen to death.
There is now a 50-50 chance that the government will change in November 2026, and Labour must have the plan to fully shift power beyond Parliament. This is how you do it.
When voting this year vote Climate.
The debaters for the night are:
David Seymour (ACT)
Casey Costello (NZ First)
Willie Jackson (Labour)
Marama Davidson (Greens)
Also participating is:
Pat & Chewie (BHN)
Paul Barlow (The Collective)
Ripeka Lessels (NZEI)
Nathan Seiuli (Pillar NZ)
Christopher Luxon may have kept the National Party leadership yesterday but National’s chances in this year’s election just became much worse.
Christopher Luxon’s decision to call a National Caucus meeting this morning to vote on his leadership may result in him being forced to walk the plank.
Anti imperialism protest on this afternoon at 2 pm at Auckland.
Christopher Luxon completed a week from Hell by calling his coleaders Yahoo and Numpty and obliterating Media coverage of the announcement of the opening of Auckland’s City Rail Tunnel and of new industry designed school subjects.
In the week that the Prime Minister offended small business, unemployment rose to 170,000 and over 6% in the North Island, and the Reserve Bank continues to raise interest rates, Labour showed, again, why the public knows they are better for small business than any other party.
In a 2026 election beset already by bombast and hyperbole, is the big-policy-first approach of the left still working?
It has been disclosed that Christopher Luxon used an Air Force plane to fly him from a National Party fundraiser in Whanganui to his home in Auckland.
As we enter the home strait for the 2026 election National strategists must be thinking “what the f*(k do we do from here”? Because Christopher Luxon’s complete indifference to the difficulties businesses are facing and his inability to control Winston Peters are harming National’s reelection prospects big time.
The Opportunity Party has a hidden objective. They want to make huge cuts to the Public Service that even Act would look at and think “that is brave”. And they have been less than open about the cuts.
It may feel to NZ First cultists that Winston Peters is being picked on this site. But if he chooses to act like an geriatric, erratic, and foolish foolish dickhead in the pursuit of the unthinking bigot vote.. Well, then opinion writers will notice and opine. Here is another opinion from Local Bodies which focuses on a foreign minister who appears to be out of touch with current international affairs.
New Zealand First is peddling nonsense law changes straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. And engaging in obnoxious racist behaviour. And Christopher Luxon does not have the ability to stop them or control them.
After the 2005 election, the Chinese Embassy sent Zhang Wei to ask me if Winston Peters would follow Labour government policy. I said I didn’t know, but would ask.
The very worst crisis is the one from which you learn nothing. New Zealand has not had an economic stagnation and housing market price decline this bad since the 1970s.
