Is Luxon on a roll?
Or about to be rolled? Word has it that Chris Bishop is waiting in the wings, as Luxon’s favourability rating drops below Hipkins.
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chris hipkins
Hipkins’ Conference speech
Text of Chris Hipkins’ speech to the 2024 Labour Party Conference.
A Heavy Day
This short excerpt represents a respite from the US election. Christopher Luxon apologises to Opposition leader Chris Hipkins and more. TPM ask Luxon about using force in boot camps. Plus a quick reminder on what we shouldn’t forget here in NZ either.
Where’s The Opposition?
Labour, Green Party and Te Pati Māori have been relatively quiet as the Coalition government move at breakneck speed to roll back laws and transfer wealth. Is it a matter of resources, media coverage, or will?
Latest poll result – National is being cleaned out by NZ First and Act
The latest Curia poll result suggests that National is tanking and NZ First and Act are eating into its support. And Luxon selling off his rental properties and saying that he does not care suggests he may be planning for an exit.
The New Zealand left are in the worst place in a century
New Zealand has the most right wing government it’s had since Governor George Grey determined to eradicate all Maori power by systematic war and then systematic legislative theft in 1863. But the left shows no sign of unifying.
C Listers and tag alongs
Christopher Luxon has accused senior business leaders who travelled with a trade delegation with Chris Hipkins of being “C listers and tag alongs”.
Speech time
In the past week Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins have both delivered future vision themed speeches. With some dramatic contrasts.
MPs pay increases
The Remuneration Authority has announced that MPs will be getting a 10% increase in their salaries during the course of this Parliament.
Chris Hipkins – Values Matter
Text of the speech delivered by Chris Hipkins delivered in Auckland today.
What does the Government have against Maori health?
National spent much of yesterday ramming through under urgency and without a select committee process two measures which will have detrimental effects on Māori health.
What’s Left?
From Election 2023’s result through to February 2024 there has been massive loss and damage to the Parliamentary capacity of Labour and Greens. Who still has the capacity to lead? What’s left?
About the One News Poll
The latest One News Verian poll suggests that there has been absolutely no honeymoon for the Government.
Christopher Luxon is no John Key
Yesterday in Parliament Christopher Luxon showed that he is struggling on the job.
NZ policy is consistent about Russian invasion
Unlike Mike Smith and other noisy members of the imperialist cohort, I applaud that NZ foreign policy has remained consistent in upholding UN and ICC policies against invasions and forced annexations. Ardern, Hipkins and now Luxon have all said the same thing.Supporting the UN charter has massively reduced war casualties over the last 70 years. Clearly the Russian Federation finds this constraining.
Political comeback – Getting the sequencing right
A notably different approach to sequencing political comeback was on show at the VUW post-election seminar last week. Luxon put rebuilding the party first, Hipkins put it last. On policy Luxon was bottom-up and early, Hipkins was top-down and late.
The politics of Palestine
Earlier this week the New Zealand Labour Party made a statement on Palestine and it was a good one.
Certainly much better than the positions adopted by its sister Labour parties overseas.
War crimes in Palestine
There is a growing recognition that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip constitute war crimes.
Hipkins endorsed
It was never going to be anything else, but two positive emerged. All policy options are back on the table, including tax, and there is a realisation that the main task ahead is to rebuild a strong and progressive party.
Has Labour become a cadre Party? Pt 1 Leadership
In 2021, I voted against Labour’s conference proposal for midstream leadership change to be determined by Caucus alone, saying that it risked Labour becoming a cadre party for elites. A series of posts will start with why the Caucus should not rush to a leadership vote.
About last night’s debate
It is very clear now why National did not agree to a further debate between the leaders. Last night’s debate between Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luzon was totally one sided.
Tax or quality public services – which is more important to NZ voters?
Earlier this year Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesmen, that Britain’s problem was that it wanted Scandinavian levels of Public Services and North American levels of taxation. His view was that Britain was overdue for an honest debate about tax and public spending. In New Zealand, there is a similar challenge.
TVNZ concludes that Luxon’s pants may have been on fire
Fact checking by TVNZ has determined that much of what Christopher Luxon said in the recent leader’s debate was not true.
Understanding the New Zealand General Election 2023: Historical trends and perspectives.
From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.
Unease Over New Zealand Overtures to US in Pacific
New security-state documents show Wellington aligning its military with the “rules-based international order” while preparing Kiwis for war with key trading partner China, writes Mick Hall.
National does a big sook
National, which perfected the art of dirty politics, and which has spent the past couple of years being relentlessly negative and which has had its sock puppets attack individual Labour MPs mercilessly is deeply, deeply, deeply upset that the CTU has pointed out to the public what a Christopher Luxon led Government would actually mean.
Labour should not cut spending on climate change
At a time when the effects of Climate Change are becoming pronounced now is not the time to cut spending on carbon reduction projects.
Hipkins rules out coalition with Peters
Yesterday was a good day for Labour. Leader Chris Hipkins started talking about what the party stood for and what its values are while also ruling out a coalition with NZ First.
Education policy and the compulsory teaching of subjects
The brains trust of Labour’s leadership have recently released a policy providing for the compulsory teaching of financial literacy in schools. Tacking to the centre and seeking votes from the pro business part of the electorate is an interesting approach to campaigning. Time will tell if it is the correct approach.
Labour’s GST and WFF policy announcement
As predicted Labour has announced a policy of taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and a significant adjustment to Working for Families In House Tax Credit levels and the Thresholds.
The difference between Blackrock and China
Some big news yesterday as the Government announced a deal with US Investment Firm Blackrock for a $2 billion fund for renewable electricity projects.
Helen Clark thinks the Government should review commitment to AUKUS
Last week the Government released a document titled the Defence Policy Strategy Statement. Helen Clark has expressed the concern that the strategy suggests that as a country New Zealand is abandoning its capacity to think for itself.
A letter to Chris Hipkins
My 2c on what I think Chris Hipkins needs to do to win this year’s election.
Should Labour take GST off fresh food?
National’s Nicola Willis has claimed that Labour will soon announce policy to take GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.
Laura norda rides again
This week Labour has announced toughening up of the law dealing with 12 and 13 year olds and National has been playing politics with the shooting incident after earlier saying it was not a day to play politics.
Why a change of Government would be a bad thing – school lunches
Act has declared its class prejudice by advocating for the cancellation of the free lunch in schools programme even though the benefits are clear and recognised and the programme helps poor kids’ nutrition and education.