Written By: - Date published: 6:51 pm, March 20th, 2010 - 24 comments
Two list MPs and a popular local favourit son. It was always going to be a hard one to pick and it took the selection panel most of the afternoon to decide who would go head to head with Paula Bennet next year. Phil Twyford, Carmel, Hamish McCracken and Ann Pala were all up for […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:31 pm, March 20th, 2010 - 1 comment
There are a second set of seminars in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch over the next week on Choices and Consequences of the 2010 budget. Based on the Bold Choices seminar that I attended last weekend in Auckland (there are later ones in Wellington and Christchurch), they will be well worth attending. There are some materials on-line from that seminar.
Oh and David Farrar was shocked to find that Kiwiblog had been advertising the seminars 
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 14 comments
In Kaikoura, John Key said commercial whaling “might be acceptable if it was acceptable to others”. You gotta love the leadership there. But you’ve also got to question what kind of two-faced game the Nats are playing because in the House, Murray McCully said precisely the opposite – that the Government opposes commercial whaling.
Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, March 17th, 2010 - 26 comments
Suddenly John Key is all over the place complaining about “hysterical” media coverage of National’s plans to turn large chunks of our National Parks into smouldering slag. John seems to have forgotten what “hysterical” politics really looks like. Let’s take a trip down memory lane…
Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, March 15th, 2010 - 6 comments
Much of the power in the new Super City will be held by council controlled organisations. These organisations will be responsible for approximately 75% of Auckland services and their unelected directors will have free rein to make important city decisions. The organisations will have no obligation to consult and no responsibility to the public if things go wrong.
Written By: - Date published: 9:09 am, March 14th, 2010 - 29 comments
Deborah Coddington writes:
“In 1994, not long after Rodney Hide became leader of Act,…”
Umm, Hide became leader in 2004. To be fair, the rest of Coddington’s piece offers a pretty good examination of Act’s fundamental problems.
Written By: - Date published: 5:44 pm, March 13th, 2010 - 5 comments
On Monday this week the front page of the Auckland Herald’s print edition announced that the paper was going to run a campaign to fight what it called “the lockout of democracy” in the Super City. There was nothing on the Herald website all week, which seems odd if it was a real campaign. On […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, March 13th, 2010 - 46 comments
There’s a nickname for John Key that’s picking up currency from both Left and Right around the blogosphere: ‘smile and wave’. The one thing Key can be depended on is to turn up grinning in some cheesy photo op. All his promises fall by the wayside. Meanwhile, 276,000 Kiwis are jobless, the wage gap with Australia keeps widening, and so does Key’s credibility gap.
Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, March 12th, 2010 - 8 comments
Cuts to prisoner rehabilitation, night classes, and the Super Gold Card aren’t about saving money. The government is only too happy to sign blank cheques for stupid projects like Transmission Gully and the Holiday Highway on the vaguest cost estimates. No, these successful policies are having the financial life bled out of them because they contradict National’s ideology.
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, March 10th, 2010 - 2 comments
The first Drinking Liberally – Wellington of the year is being held in conjunction with the annual Roger Award. The Roger Award is presented each year to the worst transnational corporation operating in New Zealand, and the winner of the 2009 Roger Award will be announced at a ceremony in Wellington on Thursday March 11 […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, March 9th, 2010 - 45 comments
There are 276,000 jobless Kiwis. The seasonally-adjusted trend on dole numbers is still on the rise. Many other people fall through the gaps and are unable to get public assistance in their time of need.
What better time for the Minister for Social Development to bugger off for five weeks?
Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, March 9th, 2010 - 19 comments
In NZ, the average FTE wage rose 2.86% after inflation – $891 to $934 – over the past year. In Aussie, it was 3.6% above inflation – $1159 to $1226. When will John Key admit that he sold us a lie? When will the media call on him to resign if no progress is made on the one substantial promise of a ‘brighter future’ at he made?
Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, March 7th, 2010 - 14 comments
Michael Gove, Britain’s Conservative shadow Children’s Minister, has unveiled their version of National standards. Like Anne Tolley, he is sure he knows what parents want. The Times reports: ‘I’m an unashamed traditionalist when it comes to the curriculum,’ Mr Gove said. ‘Most parents would rather their children had a traditional education, with children sitting in […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, March 5th, 2010 - 3 comments
The first Drinking Liberally of the year in Wellington is next Thursday and it looks to be a good one. The Roger Award will be presented. Should be great fun. The Roger Award is presented each year by the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and Gatt Watchdog to the worst transnational corporation operating in […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, March 4th, 2010 - 99 comments
Colin Espiner reports that Rodney Hide has gone into his shell as outrage over David Garrett’s appalling sterilisation comments builds. Since Irish broke the story of Garrett’s comments yesterday, it has spread like wildfire through the blogosphere and the msm. And nowhere will you find a reaction from anyone in ACT or from their coalition partners.
Written By: - Date published: 12:52 pm, March 1st, 2010 - 7 comments
The select committee on Rodney Hides vision of the Auckland Super-City sits in Parnell tommorrow. The National MPs complicit in foisting this idiotic vision of Auckland on us will be there along with the architect – the head of the lunatic Act party.
Spend your lunchtime demonstrating what a crock this version of the super-city is. Do it in Rodney Hide’s Epsom electorate.
Written By: - Date published: 11:51 pm, February 28th, 2010 - 57 comments
Former ACT Deputy Leader Muriel Newman has launched into a racist tirade that amounts to ‘bloody bludging Maoris’. Incredibly, Rodney Hide agrees, saying that Maori have a culture of dependency. To ACT, poverty isn’t the result of an unequal and unfair economic system, it’s a lifestyle choice. They say Maori are morally deficient and to blame for their poverty.
Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, February 26th, 2010 - 4 comments
A burst of ‘popular’ culture to mull over the weekend, with the Guardian providing comment on the upcoming Alice in Wonderland. According to Xan Brooks : the films of Tim Burton are not so much released as laid on, staged and mounted like lavish masked balls. The interiors are opulent and the tables piled high […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:29 pm, February 25th, 2010 - 11 comments
The Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill would allow Simon Power to appoint a new Chief Electoral Officer and new Electoral Commissioners for the 2011 election. This is wrong. These officials must be completely independent, they must not be or be seen to be political appointees.
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 pm, February 25th, 2010 - 14 comments
I’m about to start sweeping the blogroll for dead or moribund sites over the next week. The general rule is that I mark sites private if the recent posts are inactive for more than 3 months (or I can’t read the site). If anyone wants to get their site added (or re-added) then use the […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, February 25th, 2010 - 111 comments
Has Phil Heatley really resigned his ministerial portfolios over a bottle of wine?
Or is there more to this story than meets the eye?
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, February 23rd, 2010 - 21 comments
Recent polls highlight how important turnout will be at this year’s local body election.
Sam Cash takes a look at recent history and how attitudes to the supercity and the themes of this election could increase participation.
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, February 20th, 2010 - 14 comments
Former National Party President Michelle Boag has been told to remove herself from the consultancy charged with selecting executive staff for the Auckland Supershity, because of her conflict of interest as an advisor to John Banks’ campaign
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: 6:05 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: 9:30 am, February 12th, 2010 - 21 comments
This is a fast way to get my blood boiling. Rodney Hide as minister of local government has removed protection from the Waitakere ranges. It is time to make the Act party extinct rather than merely being on the endangered species list. The Waitakere ranges are the only readily accessible tramping around Auckland. Virtually every […]
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: 10:30 am, February 10th, 2010 - 25 comments
John Key has indicated that the Government will lift the GST rate to 15% and remove depreciation from investment houses. According to the Tax Working Group, that’ll raise $3.6 billion. That revenue will then be spent on compensation and tax cuts. First, he has promised compensation for the GST increase to beneficiaries, people on working […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, February 8th, 2010 - 29 comments
I don’t recall the date or anything, but I remember the exact moment I decided to get politically active. Rob Muldoon was called by some brave journalist on the fact that National seemed to be ignoring all its election manifesto promises. Muldoon just grunted, and said that manifesto promises were dreamed up by advertisers, and […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, February 8th, 2010 - 36 comments
It’s obvious to anyone with a brain that a government that spends half its time on holiday and the rest on PR stunts is never going to get New Zealand to catch Australia by 2025 but having the Reserve Bank Governor say its impossible, that’s hugely embarrassing. Of course, Key is refusing to acknowledge the […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, February 5th, 2010 - 22 comments
Today’s editorial in the Herald is headlined “Class standards leaflet a misuse of public funds.” It says: In response to criticism from educationists and an opposition roadshow by the primary teachers’ union, National MPs will host public meetings around the country and information on the standards will be mailed out to households. Unfortunately, this material, […]
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