Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, May 21st, 2014 - 99 comments
Jono at Occasionally Erudite has this advice to offer the strategy team at Labour. Make sure pushing of theme(s) this election doesn’t get snagged into the irrelevant that doesn’t have much to do with it. For instance “…are people currently earning minimum wage really likely to be even close to getting into the Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington housing markets?”
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, May 21st, 2014 - 11 comments
!!BREAKING NEWS!! John Key is locked in a fierce battle with….a previous government.
Written By: - Date published: 7:27 am, May 21st, 2014 - 7 comments
Rob Salmond at Polity looks at what our young have to look forward to in 2019 with National’s hands-off housing screwup. How an average family would fare under National’s do-nothing approach to the housing crisis then?
Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, May 21st, 2014 - 142 comments
John Key’s suggestion that he had no involvement in Ian Fletcher’s appointment as head of the GCSB apart from giving approval to the State Services Commission recommendation is appearing to be less and less likely as is his claim that he knew nothing about the Dotcom Mansion raid until shortly before it occurred.
Written By: - Date published: 1:18 pm, May 20th, 2014 - 24 comments
How an average family would fare under National’s do-nothing approach to the housing crisis? Not very well. Even at the Treasury forecasts in the budget (which seem highly optimistic), this median New Zealand family, is projected by Treasury to have their disposable income go backwards over the next five “rock star” years. That is a disgrace
Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, May 20th, 2014 - 43 comments
National’s pandering to foreign money is disturbing their supporters
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, May 19th, 2014 - 112 comments
There is no housing crisis. Everything is fine.
Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, May 18th, 2014 - 52 comments
Auckland Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse this week called for there to be a rational debate on whether organic cannabis should be decriminalised. Her reasoning is sound. The natural kind is better than the synthetic kind and prohibition is not working.
Written By: - Date published: 6:55 pm, May 17th, 2014 - 33 comments
News today that NZAS appeal against the EPMU’s claim for contract shift payments at Tiwai Point has failed is another well-deserved win for workers. True to form, the company is bleating that it might cost it $20million. That would be a drop in the bucket compared to what workers have lost there since Rio Tinto moved aggressively to de-unionise the site in 1990 after the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act.
Written By: - Date published: 10:11 am, May 17th, 2014 - 40 comments
Marama Davidson, is on the Green Party list & is a candidate for the Tāmaki Makaurau seat. Davidson is a really promising up-coming politician. She is committed to working for people, communities, the environment, democratic process, & strongly supports wahine, Māori & young people.
Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, May 17th, 2014 - 44 comments
In the pursuit of a balanced budget it appears that the Government has cut funding from a number of areas of Government activity, the Christchurch rebuild included. And Gerry Brownlee is refusing to accept that flooding has been exacerbated by the earthquakes and trying to undermine the suggestion that costs estimates are overly optimistic.
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, May 16th, 2014 - 90 comments
If New Zealanders needed any more proof of the National Government’s total failure on housing, this Budget has given them all they need to know. The Budget does nothing to address New Zealand’s acute housing crisis. There is nothing here for first home buyers. Nothing to build a single new home. Nothing to make rentals […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, May 16th, 2014 - 20 comments
Rob Salmond from Polity on how Budget 2014 figures show that the housing crisis will get much, much worse under National’s do-nothing approach.
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, May 16th, 2014 - 11 comments
New website “Briefing Papers” offers alternative briefing papers for incoming governments. The first is by Brian Easton, on the purpose of Budgets. Easton says that while all the debate is about economic growth, governments in fact can do little to influence it positively. What they can do is focus on quality of output, measures to combat inequality and provide employment, and invest in children. Worth a read.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 16th, 2014 - 174 comments
National must be worried about its prospects in this year’s election. Because its budget did not have the normal hard right policies that we have come to expect of it and it is trying to lessen the attraction of some of Labour’s announced policies.
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, May 16th, 2014 - 82 comments
You could tell it was coming.
When, about two days out from the Budget. English started trying to downplay expectations, you knew there wasn’t enough in it.
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 pm, May 15th, 2014 - 54 comments
Glenn Greenwald, interviewed on Democracy Now, outlines the extent of the NSA-led 5 Eyes surveillance systems. It is a leap from sci fi into our daily lives. Economic surveillance dominates. John Key & Ian Fletcher have some questions to answer – have they misled us? [Update: documents link]
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 pm, May 15th, 2014 - 37 comments
In the next few hours Peter Dunne could stand by his word and help Kiwi Families.
The question is, will he do it?
Update: No he didn’t. So much for his principles.
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, May 15th, 2014 - 14 comments
For Facebook users there will be a chance to ask David Cunliffe questions on the budget this evening.
Written By: - Date published: 3:18 pm, May 15th, 2014 - 40 comments
Earlier this week I predicted the Budget would be Labour-lite. I was right, but only in part. By far the biggest disappointment is in housing. The government signalled help for home buyers would be a highlight in the Budget. A few pathetic morsels isn’t a highlight. This will make next to no difference to the housing affordability crisis. First home buyers aren’t $3,500 short of a house. They are hundreds of thousands short, because there aren’t nearly enough homes.
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, May 15th, 2014 - 227 comments
Despite having never presided over a budget surplus and despite the nearly tripling of core crown gross debt John Key is talking about the possibility of future tax cuts.
Written By: - Date published: 6:51 pm, May 14th, 2014 - 77 comments
National Party pollster David Farrar must be seeing some numbers he really doesn’t like because he is claiming that David Cunliffe photoshopped himself into a rally that he was really at! Yeah right – a doyen of the local net governing body failed to use google before making a complete dick of himself on the net. I expect we will see a lot more of National’s paid for bloggers acting like fools heading into this election because National only being good at putting us heavily into debt (again!) rather limits the good news they can write.
Written By: - Date published: 2:41 pm, May 14th, 2014 - 86 comments
In Question Time today. John Key has rejected evidence such census statistics, as reported on RNZ, that the inequality gap in Auckland is growing. He crowed about his government’s record & launched diversionary attacks on the opposition. Update: Question One video; Transcript links – Transcripts & other links updated. #realbudgetnumbers
Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, May 14th, 2014 - 39 comments
Misleading parliament is serious. If it happens, MPs are supposed to make a stand-alone statement to the House about what they said, why it was wrong, and what they should have said instead. Key didn’t do that at all. He just inserted a pathetic “meh” concession into an answer to a question. And the speaker diminished parliament by letting him get away with it.
Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, May 13th, 2014 - 160 comments
The guest post from David Cunliffe outlining where he sees a Labour-led government heading.
What do you want to know about it.
David Cunliffe will be online after 5:30pm today to clarify any points people care to raise. The comments will be fully moderated. Check the rules about comments before making any.
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, May 13th, 2014 - 10 comments
The Green Party will do a pre-budget economic policy launch: livestream here 11am 11.30am-12.30pm.They are pretty adept at interacting with Kiwis via social media, and on TV. They are grounded in grassroots activities, that link to their policies aimed at making life better for low-to-middle income Kiwis. [Updated#1: got start time wrong: #2 policy here – Green Investment Bank; news reports]
Written By: - Date published: 6:47 pm, May 12th, 2014 - 58 comments
No Right Turn shows that John Key has no real understanding of the economic and political history of this country. Probably because the last time another economic illiterate from National said that the prospect of reducing unemployment in NZ to below 6% was “a hoax”, John Key wasn’t here. He probably heard it from that illiterate, who once again is our minister of finance. Unemployment under Labour was as low as 3.3%
Written By: - Date published: 4:24 pm, May 12th, 2014 - 45 comments
Update: Rescheduled for Tuesday 5:30.
David Cunliffe will taking some time to write a post and engage on comments about it tomorrow evening. The topic will be about David’s “vision for New Zealand and how we get there”. The post may be up earlier, but the earliest that David will be able to respond will be about 5:30pm and then only for a limited period of time. The post’s comments will be fully moderated, so read the rules in this post about what is acceptable.
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 12th, 2014 - 46 comments
Judith Collins has her back against the wall. Weeks of intense scrutiny finally took its toll which culminated in her crazy attack of journalists last week. And the very last thing John Key wants in the lead up to the election is a damaged relationship with the media. So was Judith’s media-attack an irrational outburst? […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, May 12th, 2014 - 21 comments
John Key’s government is cutting back on state housing, uprooting families from their homes. Large numbers of state houses are empty, while many are left to move from caravan park to sleeping in cars or outdoors. Weasel words from Paula Bennett and Nick Smith.
Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, May 11th, 2014 - 38 comments
The very impressive Ginny Andersen topped a strong group of candidates at yesterday’s Wellington list conference. She’s worked for the police for the past eight years in policy and community work, is married with four children, one very new. She is also Labour’s candidate for Ohariu, and her awareness of the pressures families are facing allied to her energy and experience will offer the voters of that electorate a very fresh alternative to the tired and lack-lustre Peter Dunne.
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