Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, February 21st, 2010 - 28 comments
Prime Minister John Key is the worst enemy New Zealand’s conservation estate has had in decades. Not content with the destruction caused by mining our most precious conservation areas, Key is pushing to sell off access to the conservation estate to the highest bidders.
Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, February 20th, 2010 - 42 comments
So Key’s “party central” plan for Queen’s Wharf seems to be dead in the water, after Auckland Mayors labeled it a “monstrosity” and refused to fund it.
Are these the prudent decisions of leaders who don’t want the city saddled with expensive white elephants, or the timid decisions of leaders who are without vision and averse to risk?
Written By: - Date published: 3:01 pm, February 19th, 2010 - 41 comments
The letter warning school boards not to speak out over national standards is an outrage, but John Key and his National Party have a long and dishonourable record of trying to shut down those who speak out to oppose them.
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, February 19th, 2010 - 29 comments
I am flabbergasted that Labour has remained silent on Bill English’s repeated lie that the economy grew just 0.9% a year in Labour’s last term in government. This is your reputation and your legacy the little creep is lying about, guys. Stand up for yourselves.
Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, February 19th, 2010 - 15 comments
John Key’s recent stint at the Big Gay Out wasn’t all target marketing and niche political branding. He also had a run in with living-wage campaigners who took him to task for his government’s poor response to minimum wage earners and asked if he could live on the minimum wage.
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, February 19th, 2010 - 8 comments
Click through to see Phil Goff take John Key down a peg. Sloppy home insulation. Sloppy, broken cycleway promises. Sloppy, unfilfulled Youth Guarantee. Sloppy & uncaring on unemployment. Sloppy abuse of the people of McGehan Close. A sloppy, do nothing PM.
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, February 18th, 2010 - 35 comments
Have a listen to today’s interview of Helen Clark by RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan on the UNDP and aid strategies during times of international recession. Such a pleasure to hear a PM who’s clearly completely on top of their game, who speaks with credibility, a solid grasp of English and the diction of an educated adult.
Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, February 17th, 2010 - 13 comments
The Dompost has repeated English’s false claims on GDP growth. They trusted the Minister of Finance to get his maths right. But English’s numbers are completely wrong. He can’t do simple maths, no wonder there’s no government leadership on the economy.
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, February 17th, 2010 - 5 comments
Tongue in cheek, George notes: When asked in Parliament why he hadn’t paid closer attention to his share portfolio, Key replied: “small technical issue, I’ve been busy running the countryâ€. That statement must come close to misleading Parliament.
Written By: - Date published: 6:22 pm, February 16th, 2010 - 19 comments
John Key has tried to excuse himself from owning shares in a uranium company by saying he was “sloppy”. I’m afraid that’s not good enough for a Prime Minister worth millions, who likely pays top dollar for a lawyer to advise him on just these kind of problems.
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 pm, February 16th, 2010 - 20 comments
Bill English claimed in the House today that the economy only grew by 0.9% a year in Labour’s last three years in power. Unfortunately for him the problem was his maths, not Labour’s economic policy. English can’t get simple percentages right, can we trust him with the nation’s finances?
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, February 16th, 2010 - 53 comments
You know how the world has been through the worst financial crisis in decades? You know how countries like Ireland and Iceland who had made themselves into financial hubs via tax breaks for banks are now deep in the crap with burgeoning debt and unemployment? Why don’t we do what they did?
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 16th, 2010 - 57 comments
John Key says Jackson Mining was just a gold mining company when he bought them and that they didn’t get involved in uranium until later. In fact, Jackson mining was already involved in uranium when Key listed his interest in the company last year
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, February 15th, 2010 - 54 comments
Key has explicitly promised that no-one will be left worse off by these changes but he doesn’t have the money, can’t have to money, to do that if he persists in handing over buckets of money to the rich.
Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, February 14th, 2010 - 50 comments
Matt McCarten asks “are we still in love?” with John Key after a year of do-nothing government and a promised ‘step change’ that is really just favours for National’s rich mates. If the views of people on McGehan Close, Key’s famous ‘underclass’ street are anything to go by, the answer is increasingly ‘no’.
Written By: - Date published: 4:14 pm, February 13th, 2010 - 110 comments
Tracy Watkins awards the first week of Parliamentary politics this year to Phil Goff, and points out that it’s as much due to his and Labour’s much improved performance as it is to Key and National’s shambolic, over-promise, under-deliver governance. (more…)
Written By: - Date published: 1:05 pm, February 12th, 2010 - 5 comments
This is pretty classic. Found it on one of The Standard’s old posts. I think we’ll be seeing a bit more of this image around.
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, February 12th, 2010 - 15 comments
The other day I wrote: I reckon we probably will see a passing reference to the ‘underclass’ for appearance’s sake [in John Key’s statement to Parliament] but I’m just as sure that his government will continue to fail the most vulnerable members of our society. Well whatdaya know? There it is: I have said it […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, February 12th, 2010 - 12 comments
In chronological order: John Key: “[I never promised I wouldn’t raise GST]. I said I would not raise GST to cover deficits, and we are not doing so.” Guyon Espiner: “he would have been better of just saying ‘look, times have changed and GST is now back on the agenda’” Duncan Garner: “The Prime Minister […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, February 12th, 2010 - 35 comments
Paying a person doing the same work as another person less money because of their sex or religion or ethnicity or any other grounds prohibited under the Human Rights Act is illegal and abhorrent. Yet, the Right wants to do just that with a private member’s bill from Roger Douglas reintroducing a lower minimum wage for 16 and […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:29 pm, February 11th, 2010 - 38 comments
Over the last month or so National’s pollster David Farrar has been running a series of posts desperately trying to pin the spike in youth unemployment under National to Labour’s decision to abolish youth rates. I’d been wondering why the obsession with youth rates until I saw this exchange between Roger Douglas and Kate Wilkinson […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, February 11th, 2010 - 60 comments
My my, things are turning quickly for John Key. We now have the first sighting of the red flag term “the beleaguered PM” in the mainstream media. Recall that in 2008 Key promised not to increase GST, and now he is proposing to do exactly that. 3 News (Duncan Garner) summed up: So Mr Key […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, February 11th, 2010 - 3 comments
“An unscientific poll yesterday of 846 readers asking whether they would be happy to pay more GST if it meant they paid less income tax found 46.9 per cent in favour, 43.9 per cent opposed and about 8 per cent undecided.” – Stuff “Unscientific poll” I take to mean one of their online polls, and […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, February 10th, 2010 - 75 comments
Apparently promises made before the election don’t count. GST was different then anyway.
Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, February 10th, 2010 - 84 comments
John Key is hell bent on carving up our most pristine National Parks for mining. No matter what. The areas most at risk are Kahurangi and Coromandel (rumour has it that Aspiring is a decoy to soften the blow). Well, these are amazing areas that do not derserve to be destroyed at the whims of […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, February 10th, 2010 - 15 comments
Any questions?
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, February 10th, 2010 - 54 comments
Someone’s noticed that during her recent Tea Party speech Palin had “Energy”, “Tax,” and “Lift Americans Spirits” written on her hand – she used it to crib from when questioned about Republican priorities. A spy pic from the House yesterday suggests that Key’s taken a leaf out of Palin’s book. Any ideas what it says?
Written By: - Date published: 5:46 pm, February 9th, 2010 - 97 comments
Bernard Hickey: He had a chance to follow up all the talk of real reform to create a ‘step change’. He had all the experts under the sun from inside and outside of government telling him he needed to do something. He commissioned reports. He talked a good game. Today he did nothing. He did […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:19 pm, February 9th, 2010 - 28 comments
Good spotting by Jake Quinn: during the 2008 election, John Key ruled out raising GST, as the Herald reported back in October of that year: ‘National leader John Key said told (sic) a press conference this morning that if National is elected and does a ‘half decent job’ at growing the economy, then increasing GST […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, February 9th, 2010 - 79 comments
Even National Party pollster, David Farrar, could only give Key’s speech a B Goff says that it’s ‘Alan Bollard 1, John Key 0’. There’s talk of a step change but no actual plan that will close the gaps. ‘No bold plan, no plan at all’ ‘Big Tuesday? More like tip-toe Tuesday’ Rubbishs the notion that […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:34 pm, February 9th, 2010 - 59 comments
Very little specific so far. According to Stuff, National will increase GST to ‘up to’ 15% – which I take to mean 15%. He has ruled out a land tax, capital gains tax, or tax on risk-free rate of return. That leaves just closing the loopholes that allow landlords to offset losses on investment properties against […]
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