March for Nature
Be there, bring your whanau, bring friends. Make it noisy and passionate and make it count.
politicans
Shane Jones
What is that word that starts with “C” and ends with “orruption”?
The past fortnight has seen a number of breaking stories each of which raises concerns about the motivations and goals of this Government. It makes you wonder whether the pursuit of self interest is an embedded feature as opposed to a bug.
Is Shane Jones Right About Mining?
Maybe Shane Jones is at least partially right about mining.
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.
The Treaty of Waitangi and Oranga Tamariki
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has resisted attempts by the Waitangi Tribunal to get her to explain how removing requirements to improve outcomes for Māori children is not a breach of the Treaty.
This is fine
There is absolutely nothing to worry about if the Fast-track Approvals Bill gets passed into law and Shane Jones gets extraordinary powers to decide on consent applications which normally would be subject to enormous rigour and oversight.
What does this Government have against the environment
It is almost as if the environment was really cruel to senior members of the Government when they were kids. But whatever the reason this Government appears to be intent on wrecking the local environment with a degree of vengeance and stupidity not seen before.
The Liz Truss of the South Seas
Liz Truss’s short reign as UK Prime Minister foundered after her budget requiring borrowing to fund tax cuts was released. The budget tanked the UK economy and caused Truss’s resignation. This week amongst announcements of massive cuts it has emerged that the Government is also planning borrowing for tax cuts.
Towards Banana Republic Status
There is a bill before Parliament right now that has the potential of blowing a rather big hole in our reputation as an open and transparent democracy.
The week Luxon lost his moral mandate to lead
The last week has shown how Christopher Luxon has no understanding of New Zealand’s history and no appreciation about how dangerous Act’s proposed Treaty Principles Bill is.
Which side are you on?
The Act Party is seeking to undermine te Tiriti o Waitangi and ferment racial hatred and division while nominally seeking unity. And National clearly has no idea what to do about the situation.
NZ First does not want National to have good relations with Kiingi Tuuheitia
The day after Christopher Luxon made the pilgrimage to meet with Kiingi Tuuheitia and try and calm feelings ahead of the Weekend’s hui at Ngaruwahia to discuss the Government’s attacks on Te Tiriti and Te Reo Shane Jones went onto Morning Report and applied the blowtorch to Luxon’s attempt to keep matters calm.
The week of going backward
National has this week chosen to smash through under urgency legislation that will increase unemployment and interest rates, reduce workers wages and increase the country’s emissions of greenhouse gasses.
Shame Jones
In one speech Shane Jones has talked about the “hysteria surrounding climate change”, promised to disregard targets agreed to under the Paris Agreement, ordered the halting of work at the Ministry for the Environment, promised the lifting the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration at pace, and said that Mining on Department of Conservation (DoC) and Stewardship land is also in the pipeline.
Shane Jones’ weird premature budget take
Former Labour MP Shane Jones has criticised the 2021 budget even though he has no idea what is going to be in it.
Labour’s new Oceans Ministry
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to rename the Fisheries Ministery to “Oceans and Fisheries” and install David Parker instead of Stuart Nash shows a welcome desire to protect this most precious of resources.
NZ First is in trouble in Northland
More bad news for NZ First. It looks like their hope that Northland could provide a get out of jail free card is misplaced.
Pollwatch: Colmar Brunton poll released 2020-07-30
Poll analysis and modelling results: Is Colmar Brunton “the real rogue?” Who’s likely in and out for National, Labour, and the Greens on this poll result?
Pollwatch: Reid Research poll completed 2020-07-24
Labour has hit stratospheric highs in the new Reid Research poll at 60.9%, and still have a strong partner in the Greens at 5.7%. Who’s in and out on these numbers? How has Collins performed?
Matthew’s Magic Numbers
Matthew Hooton has tweeted a series of numbers. They add up to good news for the Government.
UPDATE: Curia Polling reckons it’s even better for Labour!
The trouble with MMP
The trouble with MMP is that sometimes members of minority parties court media attention by being overtly racist.
Someone should keep a Talley
Radio New Zealand has published details of Talley donations totalling $27,000 being made to the NZ First Foundation.
Pure clear water
It’s probably time to notice why Jones’ Provincial Growth Fund had to step in and provide several million of funding to patch up the water supply emergency in Northland.
Federated Farmers launches petition against its business model
Federated Farmers has started a petition against an educational resource that teaches about climate change and activism because it does not present their industry in a sufficiently positive way.
Slapdown
Jacinda Ardern has publicly slapped Shane Jones down for blatantly racist comments by requiring Immigration Officials to reverse a policy change that was adversely affecting Kiwis who have recently entered into arranged marriages.
Dunedin’s Hillside Rail Workshop
Good news for Dunedin and the Country as the Government has announced a $20 million upgrade of the Hillside Rail Workshop.
Fonterra failure and Government failure
Fonterra is dragging New Zealand down, faster and faster. What is this Government going to do?
The hard change of forestry
Forestry is forcing an important tilting point between mitigating climate change and land use, and it’s going to affect the viability of some North Island towns.
Westland Dairy sale
Westland Dairy has done a deal to sell out to Yili industrial Group of Mongolia. This company is the third largest dairy company in New Zealand.
The SPOTY’s 2018
Here’s your chance to vote in the Standard’s Politician of The Year awards. The SPOTY’s are recognised worldwide as the leading indicator of political success in NZ and have been awarded annually for over two hundred years.
Now it’s your turn to prick the Thorndon Bubble, dear reader. Who’s your Politician of the Year?
Our rail revival
Yesterday the government announced that it was reversing the previous government’s decision to kill off the electric trains. The decision is one of many recently made that suggests that the future of rail is bright.
Coalition Problems? Tell ’em they’re Dreaming!
Oh dear. The Winston Peters led governing coalition has completely collapsed and thank God Simon Bridges is there to pick up the pieces. I warned you this would happen! And look! Over there … the sky is falling. Falling, I tells ya!
Business NZ runs bogus poll
Business NZ has admitted that a poll that it ran was fundamentally flawed but has threatened to go to the ILO about Labour’s rather modest proposed changes to Industrial Relations law. And Radio New Zealand has reported on an industrial dispute involving Sistema plastics where union workers are working 60 hour working weeks without overtime pay on not much more than the minimum wage.
Memo from Crosby Textor – Simon Bridges limo expenses
The Standard has unearthed advice provided by Crosby Textor to the National Party concerning the leak of Simon Bridges’ travel information.
Jane Kelsey: Shane Jones’ AirNZ demands would breach the TPPA
“Article 17.4 says the government must ensure that SOEs like Air New Zealand act solely in accordance with commercial considerations, unless there is an explicit public service mandate for services that operate purely within the country. There is no such mandate for Air New Zealand.”
Where is our economic leadership?
This government has not yet developed an economic strategy.