Kaupapa for sale
A few important passages from the special select committee report on the Emissions Trading Scheme: In the long term, price caps stand in […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Maori Party to help Nats kill carbon emissions cap
Nick Smith has just announced a deal with the Maori Party to replace the existing Emissions Trading Scheme with a do-nothing joke. The […]
The emerging consensus to keep MMP
Unexpectedly, a consensus is emerging to keep MMP. A search of the Herald, Stuff and other sites shows that most editorial pages and […]
Condoms and democracy
Have to disagree with Zet’s call for Labour to ‘just put it away‘ on the remit to conference calling for subsidised condoms in […]
Close the loopholes
I am heartened that Phil Goff is trying to work with the Government to address over-investment in residential property. However, I think a […]
Be bold on smoking
Very good piece by Anthony Hubbard in the Sunday Star Times: The Maori Party is pressuring the government to take tough new anti-smoking […]
Says it all
From the firefighters’ protest against John Key’s pay freeze: Really highlights the double standard in a government that tolerates Bill English’s rorts then […]
No good faith from Nats
Finance Minister Bill English has told doctors, teachers, and other public servants that they will not be getting pay-raises when their collective contracts […]
Just put it away
I know this free condoms idea is just a remit, not Labour Party policy, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that the […]
SIS? Or who’s spying now?
On Thursday Animal Rights Activists did a protest outside the Norwegian Embassy against the fur trade there. This was to support the campaign […]
Those pesky boundaries for Auckland
There are a couple of things that I hadn’t realised about the rather strange changes to the Auckland super-city boundaries. They are just […]
Labour needs to get back to its roots
Goff is using Labour’s national conference to swallow some dead rats, distancing himself and the party from the social reform agenda of the […]
Jim Anderton on organisation
The most interesting feature of the Labour conference so far has been from Jim Anderton. It looks like the Progressives are now able […]
Ninny state
Phil Goff is quoted today as saying “we made mistakes” with policies that were perceived as “nanny state”: Asked if he would apologise […]
Labour and the RMA
No Right Turn and Frogblog both have pieces up on Labour’s decision to vote in support of the Government’s moves to gut the […]
Brash and Banks try to profit off vulnerable
Former National Party leader Dr Don Brash and Auckland Mayor John Banks love making the big bucks. And what better way to do […]
Labour conference bits and pieces
The Labour party conference is on in Rotorua this weekend, so I’ll be heading there Friday morning. If the writers and readers want […]
Firestarter
r0b’s post on John Key’s ‘uprising’ comment (which was written last night) seems grimly ironic in light of this morning’s news. Someone has […]
How big is an uprising?
There was an odd little piece in The Herald on Tuesday: Uprising would force Super City changes: PM Prime Minister John Key says […]
Why Supplementary Member sucks
National and the business elite led by former Telecom chairman Peter Shirtcliffe (who led the pro-FPP campaign back in the 1990s) want to […]
Fran lets the plan slip
Fran O’Sullivan has rather given the game away on the MMP referendum. Frog has explained it so well, I can’t do better than […]
Wee gripes: speakering
John when you say ‘overtly’ you mean ‘overly’. Like on Monday when you told Paul Henry “I’m not overtly stressed..”. Sometimes, you say […]
Abuse of process
National put Parliament back into urgency yesterday. It is ramming through the extension to the retail deposit guarantee, the RMA amendments, changes to […]
Look what I found
Does anyone really believe a Treasury official just happened to accidentally drop a notebook full of secrets on The Terrace then one of […]
Key’s lies on housing rort exposed
As I alluded to yesterday, the claims from John Key that he has slashed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the cost of […]
Owning Auckland
Last Friday the report of the Select Committee on Auckland was tabled in Parliament. The lack of media attention is a measure of […]
Who is Kate Wilkinson taking aim at?
By John Ryall, SFWU National Secretary While The Standard readers know that the air traffic controllers were the excuse that Kate Wilkinson used […]
A rort is a rort is a rort
And by any other name it smells as bad. John Key has annouced a reform of the rules for ministerial accommodation allowance. A […]
Shock, Horror – Infratil managers strike for more pay!
Yesterday Infratil got their NZ Bus hand-puppets to announce that they will be going on strike. On Wednesday, if the bus-drivers refuse to […]
Tim O’Reilly on “Gov 2.0”
Five years ago Tim O’Reilly coined the phrase “Web 2.0”. Now, in this post at TechCrunch, he argues it’s time for “Gov 2.0”. […]
Angry sadsack still at it
Michael Laws: get on with your job and stop prancing around on the media stage. Laws has put out a second (yes, a […]
Let’s have a proper debate
Larry Baldock (organiser of the “smacking” referendum) has decided to launch a petition for another referendum on whether such referenda should be binding. […]
Sohole.
In Ponsonby there is a bloody great big hole which is all that remains of the unlamented DYC Vinegar factory. It has been […]
Climate change is racist
Climate change is racist. Not literally of course, but in the sense that how people are affected by climate change is going to […]
A return to elected dictatorship?
Back in the days of First Past the Post elections, we had what Geoffery Palmer termed ‘the fastest law in the West’ and […]
Diffusion of responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility means that the bigger the group the less chance that anyone in the group will take action. In a typical […]