National’s roads of national significance programme looks to be no more with an early casualty being the East West Link in Auckland, which per kilometre was destined to be the most expensive transport project the world has ever seen.
The text of the Labour Green confidence and supply agreement has been reached.
Details of the Labour – NZ First coalition agreement have just been announced.
Details about how the next Cabinet may be made up are emerging. Winston Peters may regain the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as being Deputy Prime Minister.
This post is too long to read. Its purpose is to serve as reference material, a “one stop” snapshot of where we are as a country. The mess that the new government inherits. The consequences of the nine long wasted years of National. The magnitude of the challenge ahead of us.
Extra sweet this year.
Long time Unionist and Labour supporter Don Presland died last week. Family friend Ad writes about Don’s decades of standing up for workers’ rights and in celebration of the life of a really good man.
Where this government ranks in terms of proportion of the vote compared to the historical record. Useful analysis.
National CRUSH puny parties! Why National no mates?
This is the first Labour Government of the digital age. How progressives respond to social media attacks may be crucial to its success.
NZ First chose to be inside Cabinet in a full coalition. I’d rather expected that they would choose to be in a confidence and supply agreement as they did with Labour back in 2005. That they decided to take the risk despite their previous experience with National is a stunning level of trust. But they work well with Labour.
National need to apologise to the country for dirty politics and blatant lies. They need a huge clear out of dead wood, starting at the top. Then they need to try and figure out how MMP works.
If you missed it last night – Jacinda Ardern’s first speech as PM elect is everything that we could want and expect. But the take-home line of the drama belongs to Winston Peters.
While the Green Party delegates are debating a Confidence and Supply agreement in support of a Labour-led government, James Shaw made a speech to the press at parliament on Thurs night outlining the Greens’ response to the new Labour government and where the Greens might fit into that. UPDATE: the membership have endorsed the deal.
NZ First have chosen to support Labour to form the next government of NZ and have secured a coalition deal. The Greens are in the process of making a decision about a Confidence and Supply deal before they make an announcement. Matthew Whitehead writes about what the options are and how Confidence and Supply agreements can work.
Winston Peters has announced that he will be going into coalition with Labour and Jacinda Ardern will be the next Prime Minister. Let the attacks from the right about how unfair it is that a minority party did not ascend into Government and how MMP needs to be reformed begin. For the rest of us – this is a time of hope…
It appears that Winston is about to announce the decision of the NZ First party about their coalition partner today. For those who seem to think that coalitions should be formed with rapidity, they simply shouldn’t. That is the path to making stupid decisions, and I am yet to hear a single good reason to do it.
Breaking news from Parliament …
A post about the responsibility to advocate for change in a visible way.
Lloyd Burr at Newshub rounded up 23 of Peters’ most quotable attacks on the Nats and their failed government. Add them to the collection of issues that Peters will have to disown if he goes wrong and picks Right.
Just watched the “waiting for Winston Peters” live feed from Stuff. It sounds like the NZ First board know what they want and now there will be a bit more negotiation with both major parties to get closer to what the NZF board were after. They are heading back home leaving the politicians to finish up.
Updated: Winston in one-on-one talks with Bill and Jacinda last night. Looks like it is getting serious.
* but delays are possible.
Maybe Peters learned from history and is not doomed to repeat it. If we get a Labour led government, what should be its top priorities in the first 100 days?
Peters has the opportunity to put an end to this useless government (and turn National into “the opposition from hell”). I think he’s going to ’96 us, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it now favours higher taxes on the rich and has demolished the myth this might adversely affect […]
D day approaches. What will happen? Will we have a decaying toothless National Government moderated by coalition with New Zealand First or will we have something more exciting?
It’s the last day of coalition talks (probably). Peters has certainly created big expectations of “change”, but what they will mean in practice is still anyone’s guess.
If the Greens prioritise change over power, then the whole ‘they have no leverage’ rhetoric becomes less important than the fact that the Greens are necessary to form government but still have choices in how they participate in that.
A guest post by Swordfish on the implausibility of the claims by Dr Claire Robinson’s odd claim that the 2017 election result was a win for the status quo.
Newsroom (Shane Cowlishaw) reports that the Nats were considering significant hikes to fuel taxes, described in a document that was supposed to be released before the election – but somehow wasn’t.
ACT was a political party once, but it died a long time ago.
Policy is everything, Winston Peters said today. This should not be a surprise. Before every election, he has refused to give any hint of Party support preference until after the vote. But he will have thought a lot about what he might want, as it has long been clear that his Party would decide the outcome. So what are his policies?
Gross political incompetence, not immigration, is what lies behind and beneath New Zealand’s infra-structure problems. Only a excited donkey’s dick waving in a stiff breeze might point accusingly towards immigrants and immigration as the problem.
Incognito writes about the need for a new narrative in politics and how the Green movement is providing one that takes us beyond neoliberalism and unfettered capitalism.
The complete mess that National has made of our health system got plenty of airtime during the election campaign. While it received less coverage, the education system is a mess too.
The prospects of a Labour led Government have improved dramatically following the release of the final election results.
