Last night a 4,761 word rant was published on Gaurav Sharma’s facebook page. In it he details information which on the face of it may have breached confidentiality requirements. And the overwhelming effect of the allegations is Meh.
The Labour Caucus will meet this afternoon to discuss what to do about Gaurav Sharma.
The Wellington occupation was supposed to be about ending the mandates, but a new Stuff Circuit documentary investigates those behind the protest and discovers they have far bigger and more dangerous goals.
The latest attempt to construct a sensible political donations regime will likely again prove to be full of holes. Going back to basics would be much better. The good news is that the basics were comprehensively assessed 36 years ago by the 1986 Royal Commission on Electoral Reform. It recommended state funding.
Earlier this week Louisa Wall announced that she is retiring as a Member of Parliament. History will confirm that she was one of our best Parliamentarians.
It is day 10 of the Anti vax protest on Parliament’s grounds. More cars are being parked illegally and despite considerable disruption to Wellington’s roading network so far not one car has been towed by the police.
A primer on the “right to protest”. Contrary to the views of some there is no right to protest. Instead there are rights of assembly, movement and a right to freedom of speech. And there is no absolute right to do these things at Parliament.
Climate, ecology, welfare, housing – we are now at the point for the Greens to go ‘fuck it, time to go back to our radical roots’.
The draft report into Nick Smith’s treatment of a young staff member that eventually saw him leave Parliament has made its way into the public realm, just in time to be lost in the pre Christmas media wash up.
Since the left are experts at internal knifing, National should learn from the left about how to recover. What National needsto do to recover.
As the damage caused by Judith Collins’ leadership of the National Party intensifies it is inevitable that there will be internal discussions about who should replace her, and soon. And I think the best candidate is clear.
Judith Collins’ insistence that Parliament be reconvened even at a time that the country was in lockdown level 4 has backfired spectacularly.
Judith Collins has insisted on travelling from Auckland to Wellington so she can stand and shout in an empty Parliament Chamber.
Last night it was revealed that National and Act had refused to agree to a proposed virtual Parliament sitting where questions could be asked, and instead wanted face to face meetings, even though this would mean a third of the country’s MPs travelling regularly to Wellington from a Covid delta hotspot.
This week National agreed to the bill allowing gender self identification to proceed to select committee which was a stark contrast to their position on the bill banning gay conversion therapy. I wonder what happened?
On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.
Last night the story about Nick Smith’s issues that caused his resignation finally broke, or did it?
There were dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday. Judith Collins chose to again attack Jacinda Ardern about the He Puapua report. And Māori Party Co leader Rawiri Waititi expressed his disgust at her race baiting in a uniquely New Zealand way.
David Seymour has got himself into a little bit of trouble. He filed a Parliamentary Pecuniary interests return that was not, ahem, correct.
Yesterday was a day where National focussed on dog whistle racism, supported religious extremists and moaned about workers receiving a modest increase in the minimum wage.
Chris Luxon’s maiden speech last week and another example of multiple leaks of details of a caucus meeting highlight how precarious Judith Collins’ tenure as National Party leader is. But does someone have the numbers to replace her?
Chris Bishop is claiming credit for Labour finishing a deal whereby the party rented premises to Parliamentary Services for the use of Gillian Anderson MP at a level well below market rates.
You can’t read legislation for very long without finding instances of weird edge cases. But is also why we have kids trying to walk or bike on gravel roads with no sidewalks to get to school. When modern cars travel these narrow lanes at up to 100km/hour. Parliament has no systematic way to review obsolete legislation.
Without a hint of embarrassment National associated entities yesterday criticised Trevor Mallard’s decision to loosen tie wearing requirements as a lowering of standards while at the same time circulating a heavily doctored video in an attack on Labour MP Anna Lorck.
One of the most personal and enjoyable celebrations of a maiden speech came from the Green’s Elizabeth Kerekere. It made me happy as a Kiwi to watch this. Sit back and enjoy.
Not wearing a tie in Parliament is a weird issue for the Maori Party to get ready to die in a ditch about. But the rules should be changed.
I’m sure one needs a particular depth of political nerdiness to give a flying fig about such things, but since I am one of those, these are my highlights from the speech from the throne to Parliament this week.
The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.
Sarah Dowie’s valedictory speech yesterday was extremely good and offered a fascinating insight into Parliamentary life and some notable recent events.
The Nation holds its breath as the dullest political leadership race in a generation snores to a close. Who will win by losing? Who will lose by winning? Who cares?
UPDATE: It’s Mullertime!
UPDATE: Bennett dumped!
Idiot/Savant writes: “While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in”
Gotta love parliament – James Shaw “there are no fiscal conservatives in a foxhole”.
Anyway, parliament in the chamber will be going dark for a few months. So will parliamentary TV (but you can still get that live).
Have a look at the archives from today- there are some politicians who are on form..
Heading into phase three, moving into phase four 48 hours later. Here is the video briefing and the quick analysis.
One of Simon Bridges’ caucus supporters has raised the possibility of a leadership coup. Let’s hope not, people!
Government has for the last decade been pushing for as many government services as possible to be primarily accessed digitally rather than face-to face. Funnily enough, the one public service they forgot to push to digital is themselves. Now’s the time Trevor.
