So English lied to Parliament too
Labour and Peters have both made complaints over English’s lie to Parliament. Peters is calling on English to step down. That’s going to make any post-election NZF/Nat coalition a bit tricky.
political parties
national
Follow the money
Bill English’s texted electorate chair Stuart Davie on 21st February 2016 saying Glenys Dickson was given an extra payout from the Leader’s fund “to avoid potential legal action.” It was the only source available for an extra payout for confidentiality. English said today no-one in February knew there was any issue of illegality. Then what legal action and why an extra payment?
Bill English is no John Key
During Dirty Politics John Key was able to stand in front of a group of reporters and with complete confidence make a series of statements the veracity of which was dubious. Bill English has shown this week that he does not have that ability.
Barclay/English cartooned
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
Barclay debacle recap
From twitter, Holy shit, someone in NZ did some journalism and all hell breaks loose.
National’s Todd Barclay problem
Newsroom has released details about how National handled the police investigation into Todd Barclay’s alleged illegal wiretapping suggesting that Bill English thought it had occurred and that the complaint was dealt with in part by a payment from John Key’s Prime Minister’s fund.
Lies, damn lies, and National’s housing affordability statistics
RNZ: The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment ignored advice from the Reserve Bank over its new housing affordability measure, and made houses appear to be more affordable than they actually were.
National release their Social Media Policy
How not to be a twit.
National’s view of disability
The Minister for Disability Issues would rather be sailing.
The Nation on housing
The Nation did good work on the housing crisis yesterday. This is the Brighter Future that Bill English warned of in 2010.
Bridges and flouting the OIA
Simon Bridges tried to block the release of a report on a Kiwirail proposal. The Ombudsman warns against flouting the Official Information Act. But it’s a well established pattern of behaviour with this government.
Health budget stuff up – incompetent
I guess English can’t be too angry at Coleman – just last year he stuffed up his own numbers to the tune of $160m per year when “explaining” why he was vetoing an extension to paid parental leave.
Our brilliant economy
We need new thinking on the economy – zero emissions, sustainable, a big redistribution from rich to poor. But the list of current economic woe shows that even on their own old conventional terms the Nats are useless economic managers.
UNICEF on our appalling child welfare record – but apparently we don’t care
UNICEF has another major report ranking the wellbeing of NZ kids 34th out of 41 developed countries. This is not new news, and apparently a lot of voters just don’t give a damn.
Debt to Income Loan Limits
The possible introduction of debt to income lending ratios will potentially have an enormous effect on New Zealand’s housing market.
New Zealand folds and apologises to Israel
New Zealand has completely backed down from its original position of opposing the illegal occupation by Israel of Palestinian land and apologised to Israel for damaging the relationship.
Immigration and economic growth
English’s scaremongering about Labour’s immigration policy does nothing but highlight the fundamental weakness of our economy. Just how anemic are we after 9 long years?
Brownlee lying to the UN over Operation Burnham
The UN called for an investigation into Operation Burnham. Very inconvenient for the Nats who would rather sweep any dead civilians under the carpet and forget them. So naturally Gerry Brownlee responds with a lie.
$2.3b Health funding shortfall
The Nats are under-funding the health sector to the tune of $2.3b. That’s a lot of real people not getting the care that they need.
Slum rentals in the brighter future
The Sunday Star Times had some gut wrenching coverage of the conditions in some of Auckland’s slum boarding houses. How can anyone vote for three more years of this?
Once upon a time
Once upon a time this country stood up to American and said no to nuclear weapons. Now we dare not say yes to saving the planet.
Postcards from the brighter future
Part of an occasional series. It all seems to be going according to plan.
Tax cuts and 1600 deaths per year
One of the nasty little fishhooks in the budget was the cutting of the home insulation scheme (Warm Up New Zealand). The scheme had a benefit-cost ratio of $6 for every $1 invested. Around 1,600 people die in NZ a year of cold-related factors. Hope the tax cuts are worth it eh?
National’s social media is starting to suck
National’s social media have chosen a picture that sums up its policies well.
English on our low wage growth
Bill English knows that our low wage economy is a ticking time-bomb for the government. He must be starting to get worried. The repeated promises of jam tomorrow are well worn out now.
National promise to “monitor the rental market” – so where do tenants send reports of rent gouging?
In the wake of the accommodation supplement fiasco Joyce has promised that the government will monitor the rental market.
Questions that the media may wish to ask Mr J – Where do tenants send reports of rent gouging? – Exactly what action will the government take when they receive these reports?
Government was advised the Accommodation Supplement increase will not work
Radio New Zealand has reported that the Government ignored two year old treasury advice to implement the increase in the accommodation supplement.
Family package that punishes families
Apparently the Nats can’t even run a lolly scramble.
NRT: A constitutional change
I/S at No Right Turn writes: “The Court has ruled that the High Court was right to declare that National’s 2010 prisoner voting restrictions (the ones which were so shabby and shoddily passed that they brought Parliament into disrepute) were inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act“
The three big fails in the budget
It was National’s best budget. Which means there are only three critical areas of failure.
Nat tactics Ngaro and third term arrogance
Ngaro has fronted up with another grudging apology. English should have fired him and it speaks volumes of third-term arrogance that he hasn’t.
Strong and Stable – guess National’s campaign slogan!
We’ve had the Brighter Future (it sucks). We’ve had The Cusp of Something Special (it wasn’t). What will National’s soundbite slogan be this time?
$14 billion to meet Paris Agreement targets
Why isn’t National taking active steps to curb our emissions? We committed to reduce to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, instead we are expected to increase. This is a massive failure of vision, commitment, and competence.
Pre budget positioning for a government that says it is “doing all it can”
National does the bare minimum that it thinks it can get away with for those in need. This positioning is just preparing the ground for a budget that does more the same not enough.
The possible privatisation of Ports of Auckland
The Government is attempting through coercion and cajoling to get Auckland Council to privatise Ports of Auckland.
Suicide, Mike King, and mental health services
On the issues of suicide and mental health, the choice is pretty clear. Bungling and abuse from National, a positive plan for action from Labour.