There was intense competition this week. Paula Bennett with her attack on Jacinda’s Spotify playlist almost won but Northcote candidate Dan Bidois succeeded for managing to talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and only confusing his tongue.
It is great that we have a Minister of Social Development who actually has empathy for poor New Zealanders, as shown by her treatment of dog whistle questions in Parliament today.
National MPs have without notice refused to turn up to the House Committee of Parliament. Should they have their pay docked?
Dan Bidois has formally launched his campaign by blaming Auckland Council for the last Government’s shortcomings, and opposing the regional fuel tax while at the same time insisting that if there is intensification then it needs to be paid for.
The election year donation returns have been released and show a surge of donations for Labour but National still well ahead.
Labour’s announcement of $100 million spending on homelessness has attracted praise from everyone, except National.
In further horror news about our health system the leaks of sewage into the walls of Middlemore Hospital has been confirmed and its discovery occurred in 2010. And in 2015 the chair of cash strapped Canterbury DHB signed a Ministry of Health drafted letter saying it did not need further funding despite an urgent need for further funds.
National has promised to overturn Auckland’s Regional Fuel Tax. But has no proposal for how the funding will be replaced.
National’s Blue Green conference on the weekend suggests that the party has moved on from outright denial that cliamte change exists to grudging acceptance that it is a phenomenon but “balance” requires that it is tolerated.
National has responded to Labour’s ATAP proposal by refusing to accept there is a problem, drumming up anti Auckland resentment in the rest of the country and claiming they would have done the same thing.
This week’s winner is a National MP who has perfected the ability of cutting and pasteing but has no idea about the dark art of social media.
A Guest Post from Luke C where he analyses National’s creation of working groups in the last Goverment and comes up with a surprising conclusion.
In a gross example of click bait journalism a senior political commentator at a major media outlet has claimed that Jacinda Ardern and Donald Trump are similar.
In this third edition of Pollwatch, we note Simon Bridges’ leap out of the gate to a hiss and fizzle, and with Roy Morgan still on an unexplained hiatus, our second poll of the year has arrived from Colmar Brunton, with the government’s support down very slightly, but its support partners both in a much more stable position.
Media pundits are claiming on the evidence offered by one poll that the Government’s political honeymoon is over. But the same claim was made four months ago.
Labour and National have both selected their candidates for the Northcote by election. Labour’s candidate is Shanan Halbert who cut significantly into Jonathan Coleman’s majority at the last election.
Jacinda Ardern has accepted the US, UK and French response to the Syrian crisis. Should she have instead condemned it?
National now seems to adopt the position that climate change is real and has to be addressed. But it is refusing to accept that to address the problem New Zealand is going to have to give up its reliance on oil and gas.
Remember how early on during his reign as National leader John Key talked about the underclass and how they were a blight on New Zealand society? Well over the past year WINZ has been giving grants to homeless families to live in tents.
Steven Joyce’s $11.7 billion fiscal hole is becoming more and more of a reality although it is in hidden infrastructure costs that National had suppressed in search of the elusive surplus.
Another easy decision. Gerry Brownlee wins for overseeing a $210 million blow out in EWC’s liability for Christchurch earthquake re-repair work and for being upset when Megan Woods called him on it.
or more accurately one. A failed vanity flag referendum.
Between the crisis facing Middlemore Hospital’s buildings and the farce surrounding the cost of repairs of repairs of the Canterbury rebuild, National’s claim that it is a party of strong economic management looks at least misguided.
Politik reports that some mayors from Northalnd are upset that they aren’t going to get a four lane boondoggle to feed more heavy trucks into traffic chaos that is the Auckland isthmus. They can stick their trucks up their body cavity of choice and learn to love rail. We don’t need more traffic in Auckland until we fix the disaster that National have left us.
The Government has released a draft Government Policy Statement on Transport for consultation. A radical shake up of the Transport system is being proposed.
It is predicted that today Parliament will pass a law allowing for the expunging of convictions of adults for engaging in homosexual behaviour.
In the second stage of a false flag attack, facts go out the window and the sole issue becomes “are you for us or against us.” Our media and National Party politicians are well into this stage in the Skripal affair. But as questions mount and skeptics proliferate from all sides, Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters may well be wiser than media advisers by not following blindly the western herd. 26 countries is not the whole world. Update: Porton Down unable to establish Novichok of Russian origin.
The past week has seen the Herald focus on issues concerning Clare Curran to the almost exclusion of anything else, including the perilous state of our Health system and Kim Dotcom’s successful appeal against the last Government’s breach of his rights of privacy.
Steven Joyce’s prediction of a $11.7 billion deficit in the Government’s finances may be true. But this is because the last Government has underfunded health and hidden problems.
The Human Rights Tribunal has found that the last Government and Chris Finlayson breached Kim Dotcom’s rights in not providing him with information requested by him. And awarded him $90,000 for the breach.
Dave Kennedy at Local Bodies looks at the tough task ahead for Labour, and where retired MPs are landing.
The first big Kiwibuild announcement, 3 to 4,000 houses in Mt Albert has been made. And National has responded that it was all their idea and they did not want to announce it because it would be seen as pork barrelling.
Jonathan Coleman has announced his resignation from Parliament.
Nick Smith has been caught out by Trevor Mallard telling a porkie in Parliament.
The Government is reconsidering the future of New Zealand’s block offer process which releases exploration permits to the oil industry for exploratory drilling.
Judith Collins thinks that no one cares that National oversaw the creation of a significant housing crisis.
