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 […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
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 […]
Urgency
During this morning’s Nine to Noon politics segment Matthew Hooton was saying how he thought the Government’s 100-day action plan would only include […]
The Secret Diary of Prime Minister John Key aged 47 1/3
If someone sent me this to put up as a guest post on The Standard, I would probably reject it as too childish. […]
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 […]
Off the Agenda
Well, if that was the best they could manage for the final Agenda then we haven’t lost much. There was one decent question […]
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 […]
It’s 3am again
Armstrong’s a little more charitable in relation to National’s dithering on the evacuation of Kiwis from Bangkok than I would have been. Yes, […]
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 […]
Fiasco
John Key’s first test as Prime Minister in a crisis is turning into a bloody fiasco, with the leader of the opposition having […]
First days on the job disappoint
The journos don’t seem to have been very impressed by Key now that he has returned to take up the reins of government. […]
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 […]
More to worry about
John Key said yesterday that he expects growth in “the next financial year to be pretty close to zero”. That means he’s anticipating […]
ACT snaps up Hollow Men star
The Sunday Star Times reported yesterday that ACT had “snapped up” former Brash advisor Peter Keenan, one of the lead stars of Nicky […]
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 […]
Act lied and gets away with it
At the Media Law Journal, Wellington based media lawyer Steven Price has been looking at the recent decisions of the Advertising Standards Complaint […]
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” […]
Nats scrap citizens’ jury on electoral reform
Frogblog reports: The Green Party initiative to have electoral reform reviewed and managed by a citizens’ jury has been scrapped by the National […]
Basin Reserve flyover
Over the last few weeks I’ve heard the odd grumble in Wellington leftie circles about the proposed Basin Reserve flyover but until now […]
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 […]
A plea to National
Don’t let Key go abroad representing us again until he has had some diplomacy training. I can’t believe, I literally can’t believe, the […]
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? […]
Kids set back children’s franchise 100 years
The results are in from the NZ Post-sponsored Kids Voting project, and while it’s a worthy project it nonetheless shows why we don’t […]
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. […]