Good news, National are afraid of David Cunliffe
The weak and transparent smear attempt from National says more about them than David Cunliffe.
Politics
political parties
Key on Iraq
John Key on Iraq in the Herald today:
“We are not a country out there looking for a fight.”
John Key in Iraq in 2003…
Do the Conservatives really want a cup of tea with National?
The Conservative Party appears to have this strategy of insulting National and yet expecting to go into coalition with it and being gifted an electorate seat. The advertisement for their latest meeting reads like something that I would write. What is going on?
Polity: Herald poll
Rob Salmond at Polity looks at the Herald poll published this morning and looks at what ground the left has to make up. Over recent polls the right vote appears to have been consolidating more and more strongly behind National over the course of this year. The formation of the Internet Mana Party doesn’t appear to have made much impact on their combined vote. Also the various poll of polls corrected for known biases and looking at probably seat allocations don’t look good either. Some work for the progressive parties to make up over the next 95 days.
Labour’s Kiwisaver announcement
Labour has released its Kiwisaver policy. Kiwisaver will now be universal for all workers except those earning less than a to be set level. Contributions will be gradually increased. The $1,000 Kick-start and government contribution of up to $521 a year will be retained and will apply to all new enrollments
Iraq and Syria
The situation in Syria and Iraq is becoming dire as two separate civil wars rage on. This raises as an issue National’s and John Key’s attitude to the war in Iraq which has clearly destabilised any hope of civilised rule. He is now claiming to be an internationalist and to only be interested in multilateral action. But has this always been the case?
Polity: Internet Party: “Ban coat-tailing.”
New Zealand’s democracy would better if we had a lower threshold and no coat-tailing shenanigans. Even without coat-tailing there remains the potential for blocs to make tiny gains by way of electorate deals, but it would ensure the end of manifest unfairnesses like the relative ACT / NZ First results in 2008. The reality is that National had the opportunity to do the right thing, and chose not to for venal self-interested reasons, and are now crying like spoiled brats because their opponents are using it too.
Poto Williams – Forestry Safety
A guest post from Poto Williams, Labour’s MP for Christchurch East concerning her recent attendance at the Independent Forestry Safety Review consultation and her thoughts on what is happening in relation to safety in the sector.
OU Vote Chat programme goes sour
So it appears the intended non-partisan deeper engagement with politicians that is the Otago University Vote Chat has been taken over by the National Party.
Polity: News from National Comms!
Rob Salmond at Polity on what has landed in his mail box paid for by your GST and also close to the wrong side the permissible limits of Parliamentary Services funds. Or perhaps this is something for “NZ Taxpayers Union” to moan about wasting taxpayers money with. They won’t of course because they seem to be good little front organisation for Act and Jordan Williams appears to have about as much independence as their beloved slaves. But if you received one, then a complaint seems in order.
TPP – the expensive vanity project of NZ diplomacy
Wayne Mapp is worried about the possibility of Labour backing away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If National and MFAT would like support from the free-trade advocates inside Labour, then I’d suggest that they get off their padded arses and provide some solid information not only to us, but also to the public. But all I have heard so far is some psuedo-religious Randian rants about free-trade that are about as convincing to business people as statements about the imminent arrival of the Rapture.
Imperator Fish: ACT’s new employment relations policy
The ACT Party today released its employment relations policy, which focuses on providing both employees and employers with flexibility in how they arrange their workplaces. “People may think they know how slavery works, but do they really? It’s an idea that has had some bad publicity over the years, but only because the right model hasn’t been tried. We believe we have developed the right model. A model that gives employees genuine choice about whether or not to become slaves.”
The National party are in bed with the insurance industry but it’s Christchurch residents that are getting shafted
The Insurance Council and National are desperately trying to pour cold water on Labour’s popular earthquake court policy.
NRT: Climate change: A carbon tax in action
The Greens promised to scrap the gutted and ineffective ETS and replace it with a carbon tax. National immediately claimed that the sky would fall if we stopped subsidising polluters and allowing them to rort us. But where it is used it has done exactly what it was designed to do: reduce emissions while lowering taxes on ordinary people. National just likes polluters?
Murders out west
Four alleged murders out west in the past month have caused a great deal of soul searching. What is going wrong? What can we do to prevent any further tragic loss of life?
Local Bodies: Teaching Profession Rejects Parata’s Plans
Classroom teachers, the New Zealand Educational Institute, the New Zealand Principal’s Federation and education academics have all strongly rejected the Government’s proposed $359 million Investment into Education Success (IES). All believe that this substantial amount of money will not produce the results that the Education Minister claims and would be better spent elsewhere.
Paula Bennett now believes in education for solo parents
Five years after making cuts to the training incentive allowance for solo parents wanting to educate themselves National is moving to provide some support and now realises that it makes long term sense to invest in education for solo parents. Could it be there is an election around the corner and National realises that it is vulnerable on issues relating to poverty and inequality?
Humourless Key pours scorn on Civilian
John Key has been making a joke of the electoral system in recent days with his support of criminal MPs and his veiled attempts to foist the crazy Conservatives on various electorates. But he was quick to pour scorn on a very popular micro-party who were less likely to become a pliant tool of the National party. Clearly he hasn’t realised who the Civilians are satirising and why so many taxpayers support them. Updated with Occasionally erudite’s analysis.
National’s mating dance with the Conservatives
National is clearly getting ready to throw one of its North Shore MPs under a bus in the hope that the Conservative Party can coat tail people with extreme views into Parliament.
Polity: A paucity of vision?
Hey, we won’t get in the way of a good stoush on the net about Labour’s policies, in fact we will encourage it. Here is Rob Salmond’s response to Idiot Savant’s post at No Right Turn. We’d also suggest that people look at Mike Smith’s post from this morning and last night (that probably has the nuttier conspiracy theorists going by now) for a third point of view.
Comments please…
Paul Goldsmith and the bag of flour
Yesterday TV3 on the Nation hosted a debate between the candidates for the Epsom seat. Unbelievably National’s Paul Goldsmith did not show up. Labour’s Michael Wood produced a bag of wholemeal flour and has promised to take this bag to every public event and to put it where Goldsmith should be every time he does not show up. I suspect we are going to see this particular bag of flour a lot …
NRT: Good riddance to John Banks
The government has been stripped of its legislative majority and its policy programme, especially employment relations “reform”, is now in tatters. Now that Banks has going, we are seeing an extensive rewriting of history by the National government. Kind of pathetic really.
Communication upgrade needed
David Cunliffe badly needs a new stump speech. On Thursday in Whanganui I heard him depress a large and sympathetic audience for ten minutes with tales of national woe, then promise a positive campaign but give no details. It is good to know that a positive campaign is proposed. Labour has promised an economic upgrade; it also needs a communications upgrade, and besides being positive it must be relevant. That could shift the polls.
John Banks announces his resignation
John Banks has announced his resignation from Parliament effective from this Friday …
ACE restored
I see that Labour announced the restoration and increase of the Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding that National slashed back in 2009 and largely killed the programme throughout much of the country. Damn good idea. This used to be a vital step up for people and their families to improve themselves and the subsequent generations as well. I have a personal history and interest in this. More than 4 decades ago the night schools that ACE now run caused a transformation in the opportunities for my extended family.
Dotcom 2 Banks 0
Justice Wyllie’s written decision in the John Banks case makes compelling and damning reading. Banks has been found guilty because he engineered a situation where a false return was produced and he signed it knowing of this defect. His continued presence in Parliament must be untenable.
Banks found guilty of Electoral Fraud
John Banks has been found guilty of filing a false expense return in the Auckland High Court today. Will update with details …
D Day for John Banks
D Day for John Banks is today. Is he guilty of making a false declaration of his electoral expenses? Will he be convicted? And what are the political repercussions?
Farrar, TV3, coat tails and MMP
David Farrar and then TV3 today get their analysis of Labour’s position on electoral law reform horribly wrong. Are we going to have to put up with this during election year?
Climate change – ETS or Carbon tax?
The media is trying to suggest that Labour is opposing the Green’s proposed Carbon Tax policy. This is a gross over dramatisation of the situation. Labour has in the past supported a Carbon Tax, has a policy formation process which prevents policy creation on the hoof, and prefers an ETS even though it is slightly more complex on the basis that it is slightly more effective in allocating costs and benefits across the board.
Imperator Fish: How to win an election
Scott Yorke at Imperator Fish opines on electorate seats and inter-party relations. On the way through he identifies some strikingly bad net behaviour. Labour MPs past and present who badly need to learn to control themselves on the net just as much as Bomber does.
Polity: Meanwhile, in Bomber-land
Last week’s developments around Internet MANA have caused much conversation on the left in New Zealand. Some of that conversation has been constructive, strategic, and forward-thinking. And then there is Bomber:…. Whose analysis is designed to split the left, not unify it; and the recommendations would help the left lose, not win. Top work.
The Green’s climate change policy
The Greens have released their climate change policy and are proposing that the ETS is scrapped and a carbon tax imposed in its place. This is a proposal that in the past Labour has supported. The ETS was only agreed to because New Zealand First would not agree to a carbon tax. Second time lucky?
Spying on the left: 20th century “dirt files”
Secret files have been released, that document the spying of Labour/left politicians in the early-to-mid 20th century: Savage, Fraser, Nash, Sutch, Sir Dove Meyer Robinson. The NZ establishment has a long history of treating the left as a threat. [Update: “Dunne over” by spy review]
Polity: Dotcom’s $3 million donation
Kim Dotcom has shaken up the election with a claim his new Internet Party will have a $3 million war chest. The big questions are: is this kind of donation good for democracy, and are left-leaning campaigners hypocrites for accepting it? The answers are respectively yes and no. A politician’s job is to campaign within the rules as they currently stand. They owe no duty to provide their opponents with advantage by pre-emptively limiting their own campaigns.
The Greens and the Emissions Trading Scheme
Russel Norman is tipped today to announce the proposed scrapping of the ETS. It is clear that it is not working. But what do we do instead?