Day six of the Labour leadership marathon and the parties are off to Hamilton. David Cunliffe and Grant Robertson have released campaign videos and a virtual meeting is being scheduled. And a day off tomorrow which I am sure the parties will be pleased about.
In accordance with our general rules about candidates posting, David Cunliffe has sent in a guest post. He will be available to answer some questions. The post will be fully moderated.
Other candidates for the historic Labour leadership primary are welcome to send similar posts with the same rules.
Day five of the leadership campaign and the contenders meet tonight in Tauranga.
The poor gallery journos. They’ve got to turnout copy each and every day on the Labour leadership race but, well, not that much actually happens. The contenders have laid out their pitches and, now, they’re going around repeating it to members. So, there’s a lot of story invention. The latest is the idea of Jones winning.
As part of the Labour Leadership Election there is to be a ‘virtual hustings’ – an online forum for Q&A organised by Labour. Scoop have agreed to facilitate, and are now harvesting the questions.
Day four of the Labour Leadership campaign and the parties are heading to the Hawkes Bay. The meetings so far have been positive, happy affairs and the candidates have been on their best behaviour. May this unity continue.
Day three of the Labour Leaders campaign tour of the country and tonight the contenders meet in Whangarei.
Today is day two of the travelling roadshow that is the Labour Leadership contest. Two meetings are planned in Auckland.
The first three Labour Leadership candidates meetings are being held this weekend. Details follow.
TV3’s Mind the Gap documentary (Bryan Bruce) is very important because it put before the general population the damaging impact of income inequality in a clear and and straightforward manner. The solutions? Ideas from academics, journalists, campaigners & opposition politicians/parties.
Fraser House has sent out a email with some of the details about the process for the NZLP’s leadership votes. Electronic option!
The list of the meetings is appended at the end.
John Key claims he doesn’t care who becomes the next parliamentary Labour leader, while trying to drive a wedge between candidates. As Cunliffe gains momentum, Key turns negative on Cunliffe & throws some stones in his glass house. Gordon Campbell puts things in perspective.
Dunne’s proposal for flexible superannuation is a U-Turn for Key, while he hides behind it being a Dunne and flexible initiative & good for low income people. Sue Bradford argues against Dunne’s initiative, saying it will benefit those on higher incomes. She prefers better and universal benefits.
The Right has been doing a massive amount of speculation on the Labour leadership race. The Right’s latest theory is that the unions will use their votes to choose the leader. That ignores a rather important fact. The unions’ votes will be decided by delegates and individual members. No-one is in a position to promise those votes to any contender.
As anticipated David Cunliffe has announced that he is entering into the race for Labour’s leadership. Let the contest begin!
[Update] Surrounded by women, especially Pasifika women, Cunliffe announced he is standing for Labour leader. Iain Lees Galloway and Nanaia Mahuta signed the nomination forms. Report from New Lynn: photos added – Cunliffe answers some questions.
There is a reason for candidates in single transferable vote elections to sing in harmony. It has to do with the effect of second preference votes.
This probably explains the remarkable singing in harmony of Grant Robertson and Shane Jones this morning.
Besides it provides a nice simple story for the rising jonolists in the media.
Shane Jones has announced his candidacy for the Labour leadership and has promised to take his campaign to the smoko rooms of the country.
For me, Grant Robertson’s move late on Sunday afternoon to declare that he will run for the Labour leadership shows that he has chops as an operator. Likewise, the swiftness with which he moved to hold a press conference after Shearer quit. But is being a good operator enough? Or does Labour need a leader that can communicate a real Labour vision?
Grant Robertson is the first Labour MP to announce that he is seeking the leadership of the Labour Party.
Labour activists want a united Labour Caucus that focusses on the issues that matter. For the sake of the party we need to have a good humored leadership contest and then unity.
Standard author and all around good leftie Jenny Michie will be appearing on the Nation this morning to discuss the Labour leadership.
Update: the interview’s not on the web until tomorrow but there are a couple of grabs from it in this story
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, Auckland’s beggar ban. What sort of country are we?
There’s a lot of speculation about whether a deal is being put together to find a single ticket for the Labour leadership, but I don’t think that’s likely at all.
Has your Labour Party membership lapsed because you forgot to pay your membership fee or were upset? Do not despair. You may still be able to rejoin and have a vote in the leadership election process if you meet the criteria.
There seems to be a desire from political correspondents for a Labour stitch-up. Vernon Small wonders whether this might cause a revolt from members – and fair enough too, we want our say!
I wasn’t going to express my opinion on the upcoming Labour leadership selection process. However, the usual right leaning MSM hacks seem to have been following the current Labour caucus leadership in naming Robertson as the frontrunner. This is my op ed testimony for my frontrunner, the MP for my electorate: Cunliffe.
I’m sure we’ll be doing comparisons between the candidates for the Labour leadership in the coming days. Any of the really contenders would at least be credible and a credible PM is the thing Labour has been lacking. What I would caution against is listening to Espiner/Garner/Gower fantasy candidate – Jones. Those same guys said ‘choose Shearer’ and Labour listened.
The word is that the NZ Council decided tonight when they will cut off the memberships which are current for voting in the membership vote on the leadership primaries.
The deadline is at midnight tonight.
We all knew David Shearer was a good guy and he’s just proved how good – and noble – a man he is […]
It is confirmed that David Shearer has announced that he will stand down as Labour’s leader after a new leader is selected. The leadership will now be decided under the Party’s constitution.
Rumour has it that David Bennett has decided to retire at the next election. It’s been made clear to him that he’ll never be allowed anywhere near a ministerial portfolio. Who will take on his role? Well, how about this guy – Mark Sabin – who yesterday told Parliament that, thanks to St Key, New Zealand has the highest growth rate on Earth, when it’s actually 117th?
Chris Finalyson’s contribution to the GCSB debate yesterday was a strong reminder that the job description for National MPs includes a requirement that they be rude and arrogant and a belief that they are somehow superior to the rest of us.
So the Key-Dunne spying Bill is now law. The privacy of your electronic communications now depends on the favour of an untrustworthy PM, and the best efforts of a legal system (much derided by said PM) in interpreting a confused mess of a law / Hansard record / letter to The Herald.
Shame shame shame on all those MPs who ignored the concerns of the people who elected them and passed this travesty.
Grant Robertson & David Cunliffe explain how the GCSB Bill is bad law (especially section 8 & related sections). It doesn’t provide adequate oversight or safeguards against the wholesale spying on New Zealanders. A clarifying statement from the PM is not good law. Andrea Vance demystifies the Bill.
Yesterday Scoop’s Alastair Thompson started to ask John Key a really difficult question essentially about the unprecedented powers that Key is giving to the GCSB. Key responded by walking out of the post cabinet press conference. So much for being on top of his game. And last night’s Auckland Town Hall was a stunner. The Bill is due to be debated again today. If only a Government MP or Peter Dunne would develop some principles …
