national

same old national

Polity: Budget 2014: Over-promise. Under-deliver.

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 40 comments

Earlier this week I predicted the Budget would be Labour-lite. I was right, but only in part. By far the biggest disappointment is in housing. The government signalled help for home buyers would be a highlight in the Budget. A few pathetic morsels isn’t a highlight. This will make next to no difference to the housing affordability crisis. First home buyers aren’t $3,500 short of a house. They are hundreds of thousands short, because there aren’t nearly enough homes.

How stupid can you get?

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 24 comments

Despite recent controversy about MPs employing their partners as staff Claudette Hauiti has employed her partner as an issues assistant and says that she did not know about the rule.  How likely is that?

Tax cuts for all!

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 227 comments

Despite having never presided over a budget surplus and despite the nearly tripling of core crown gross debt John Key is talking about the possibility of future tax cuts.

Polity: Key – “Meh. Maybe I lied to Parliament.”

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 39 comments

Misleading parliament is serious. If it happens, MPs are supposed to make a stand-alone statement to the House about what they said, why it was wrong, and what they should have said instead. Key didn’t do that at all. He just inserted a pathetic “meh” concession into an answer to a question. And the speaker diminished parliament by letting him get away with it.

Polity: Economic plans compared

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 9 comments

Labour looks at increasing jobs, wage growth, and having the government run surpluses. National looks at a 1% wage growth after inflation after years of falling real wages and no drop in real unemployment as being a sign of a healthy economy? Yeah right. Most of the growth in the economy is simply passing wage-earners by. It is going elsewhere. That is National’s legacy: strong growth for the fortunate few, lagging and insipid growth for everyone else

NRT: “A wish, a target, and a dream”

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 58 comments

No Right Turn shows that John Key has no real understanding of the economic and political history of this country. Probably because the last time another economic illiterate from National said that the prospect of reducing unemployment in NZ to below 6% was “a hoax”, John Key wasn’t here. He probably heard it from that illiterate, who once again is our minister of finance. Unemployment under Labour was as low as 3.3%

Sausagegate

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 76 comments

It just goes to show how National’s luck is running. John Key has arguably committed the offence of treating by handing out free sausages and has sabotaged the fundraising attempts of a couple of Queenstown kids. Now imagine if Cameron Slater had his hands on this story …

The selective empathy of Key’s callous government

Written By: karol
Date published: - 21 comments

John Key’s government is cutting back on state housing, uprooting families from their homes. Large numbers of state houses are empty, while many are left to move from caravan park to sleeping in cars or outdoors. Weasel words from Paula Bennett and Nick Smith.

The Herald is turning against the Government

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 92 comments

The Herald, normally a bastion of support for National, has this weekend printed a number of stories openly critical of the National Government. As John Armstrong asks, have the wheels fallen off the Government’s reelection campaign?

The politics of private dinners

Written By: karol
Date published: - 225 comments

Whether it’s Judith Collins, Michael Woodhouse or the Cabinet Club/s, National Party fundraisers, target the wealthy base they represent.  In the process, boundaries are blurred between mainstream politics, exclusive private spaces & personal relationships.

NRT: Still 42,000 out of work under National

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 41 comments

No Right Turn points out that depressing fact that “Still 42,000 (more) out of work under National”. Tories don’t really care until they have to pay taxes for the debt. But hey they voted themselves a tax cut in 2008 – so they’re still happy as the government debt levels keep blowing out to Muldoon levels. National economic management = stupid debt.

Handouts to make them go away

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 9 comments

The announcement from National that they’d bribe unemployed beneficiaries to go to Christchurch was “An empty grab for headlines”. Perhaps they should have used their strategy for party renewal? Pay more from party funds awash from selling the time of Ministers time seems to work well.

Cabinet Club

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 223 comments

It’s called “Cabinet Club” but National claims Ministers aren’t actually acting as Ministers when they use it to raise money.

Which is why they called it “Cabinet Club” and not something with Ministerial connotations like… um… “Cabinet Club”

 

Crushed Collins

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 163 comments

Judith Collins spectacular fall from grace continues. The latest news is that shortly after THAT dinner where business was NOT discussed Oravida received a quarantine clearance certificate from the Chinese Authorities and then coincidentally made a donation to the National Party.

Polity: Why Joyce is full of it on monetary policy

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 33 comments

Rob Salmond at Polity just saved me from having to write something like this post explaining economic basics to Steven Joyce. Joyce demonstrated again why his tenure at MoBIE has been a failure for the overall economy. He fixates on one thing like the business selling milk powder to the exclusion of the overall picture. In part that is why we have neither expanding innovation or employment in our economy at present. He is a good tactical politician. But he is a fool on strategy.

Collins is out of control

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 232 comments

Judith Collins’s startling attack on Katie Bradford on the weekend has created all sorts of problems for John Key. Relations with the Press Gallery must be at an all time low. Sacking her will cause all sorts of problems within National’s caucus, retaining her in Cabinet will risk further bad publicity. There is no upside.

Spin Slater Spin

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 94 comments

Cameron Slater is spinning that an informal question of a police minister about staff leave entitlements by an opposition MP is the same as a Minister effectively requiring the review of a police prosecution of a National Party donor.  There is a sense of desperation emanating from the right over the Oravida issue … Update – and John Key appears to be displeased that Collins has brought a TVOne reporter into the debate …

Corrosive, anti-democratic power of big money

Written By: karol
Date published: - 86 comments

Too many MPs in the NAct government, & some journalists, fail to understand that the negative impacts of the infiltration into politics of the worst ethos of big business & big money: croynism, networks of power & influence, self-serving, buddy-supporting actions, & deceptive manipulations of public relations.

Williamson now. How corrupt is the National cabinet?

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 199 comments

It never seems to end does it? A National Party Minister contacted a top ranking police officer after a wealthy businessman with close ties to him was arrested on domestic violence charges. The Prime Minister’s office is understood to be considering Maurice Williamson’s future as a Minister, following Herald inquiries into the phone call that he made and over his involvement with Donghua Liu’s criminal case.

Bunji: And he’s gone – resigned as a Minister

Williamson in trouble

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 23 comments

Maurice William’s career is in the balance as news of an inappropriate approach to the police on behalf of a National Party donor emerges.

National’s exports – how to lose value and jobs

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 77 comments

Manufacturing exports dropped by 3.3% over the last year. Manufacturing businesses and their jobs disappeared with them. Meanwhile the National MP’s with dairy farms and interests will today be proclaiming a buoyant economy based on them selling barely processed milk-powder to China. It is good for them but as they gut the manufacturing jobs few other kiwis will reap any benefits.

Remembering forestry workers

Written By: karol
Date published: - 15 comments

The deaths of forestry workers are outrageous & sad.  Helen Kelly has campaigned extremely well for change.  An international day of remembrance yesterday, a procession on parliament today – a belated govt Bill that is an improvement, but does not go far enough.

Judith Collins: fudging evidence

Written By: karol
Date published: - 32 comments

Judith Colllins & the PM are probably toasting Shane Jones (and Murray McCully) right now: the heat around the Oravida controversy has been pushed off the front pages.  Information and marginalised news don’t easily disappear off the web – or Wikipedia.  Collins quietly slipped out a press release on the delay of her decision on alcohol pricing – media shy suddenly?

Key Govt asset stripping state housing

Written By: karol
Date published: - 54 comments

Phil Twyford has exposed the government’s asset-stripping approach to running down state housing, while  favouring of private & overseas entities.  The Greens & Mana have strong policies for increasing the amount of state housing. Still waiting for a commitment from Labour.

It’s the little things …

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 36 comments

Another day and another hole in Judith Collins’ description of events surrounding the dinner that she had with senior Oravida figures and a Chinese Official who may or may not have been able to sort out importation problems for Oravida, a company who her husband is a Director of and who has made large donations to the National Party.

The drone strike killing of a Kiwi

Written By: redfed
Date published: - 282 comments

The Government is completely indifferent to the killing of innocent children and New Zealand citizens because it is part of the war against terrorism. But the extra judicial killing of innocent adults and children is by definition a terrorist act.

The housing bubble

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 176 comments

Another week and another report suggesting that New Zealand’s housing market is heading towards a potential crisis.  The Government’s primary response is to blame Labour.  The Greens and Labour have a collection of policies which would improve matters significantly.  But the politics are difficult because who would want to threaten the value of the family home?

LB: EDUCANZ, Professionalism and Politics

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 8 comments

We now have a Ministry of Education that is under the beck and call of the Minister, and where political ideology determines policy, and shortly we will have a new Teachers Council that will be governed only by political appointees. Under a National led Government, teachers will lose any professional independence and become classroom technicians that have to support politically prescribed programmes and data collection. Anyone want a career in teaching?

NRT: The PCE on the Environmental Reporting Bill

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 2 comments

No Right Turn on the Environmental Reporting Bill that has the watchdogs up in arms. Listening to Amy Adams last night going on about how transparent and open to public scrutiny regulations are made me wonder what bloody universe she lived in – bizarro world perhaps?. Submissions on the Environmental Reporting Bill are due on Thursday.

 

Collins under fire

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 115 comments

Judith Collins, once one of National’s most assured performers, is facing increasing pressure.  Her handling of the ACC privacy release form scandal is under scrutiny.  And the release of a letter from Oravida to the Government asking for help in handling reputational risk focusses even more attention on the “private dinner” and the identity of the mysterious Chinese Government Official.

Tau Henare and the baubles of retirement

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 16 comments

Tau Henare is leaving politics and is rumoured to be the next chair of Maori Television. Makes you wonder what offers were made to persuade the many other National MPs who are retiring to go so meekly.