Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, August 6th, 2008 - 24 comments
Here’s the top 10 policy priorities that John Key bullet-pointed at the conference on Sunday. See if you can spot what’s missing: 1. Tax cuts. (for the rich) 2. Disciplined Government spending. (while borrowing huge amounts for unspecified government spending) 3. Stop growth of public service. (except Nats’ promises already require about 1000 more public […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 pm, August 5th, 2008 - 94 comments
It has been revealed that Bill English isn’t the only senior Nat who has been discussing a secret agenda behind closed doors. On TV3 tonight, a recording was played of Lockwood Smith saying: “There’s some bloody dead fish you have to swallow… to get into Government to do the kinds of things you want to […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:54 pm, August 5th, 2008 - 16 comments
So, the rumour is that Kiwisaver will be slashed to fund National’s tax cut policy. Currently, the Government spends up to the following on each Kiwisaver member: – $1000 on sign-up – Up to $1040 a year in matching contributions – Up to $1040 a year in tax credit to employers – 30% tax deduction […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, August 5th, 2008 - 27 comments
The ‘Key-English secret recording followed by denial followed by excuse followed by apology’ debacle is, well, an utter debacle. If these clowns ever win an election – which has to be questionable after this sort of political mismanagement – similar antics will make opposition rather more pleasant than it otherwise is for Labour. There are […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:40 pm, August 5th, 2008 - 20 comments
On National Radio’s Morning Report and Nine to Noon yesterday, Key ran the ‘not telling’ line once again and it was once too often. Asked a simple question: ‘What projects are you going to spend the extra money you plan to borrow on?’ Key refused to answer. You could hear the self-satisfaction in his voice […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, August 5th, 2008 - 9 comments
After a stunning attack on John Key last night, Bill English is now reverting to more standard National techniques for handling ‘accidental frankness’. Initially, deny. When played a recording, claim not to remember it. When that doesn’t kill the story, claim to have ‘mis-spoken’. Finally, attack the source. It’s the same pattern we saw with […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:36 pm, August 4th, 2008 - 90 comments
The English tape has exploded into a massive scandal. You’ll be familiar with the content of the recording: – English mocks voters as greedy simpletons taken in by a flashy con-man “they’re saying that nice Mr Key, he’s pretty smart, he will get me some more” – He claims Key doesn’t understand basic trade-offs in […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:55 am, August 4th, 2008 - 69 comments
The scandal over Bill English’s comments at the National Party conference has not only overshadowed Key’s purposely vague conference announcements, it has derailed National’s entire election strategy. The audio is damning. Clearly and unequivocally, we have National’s Deputy Leader saying National will ‘eventually’ (possibly within a first term) sell Kiwibank. English not only says National […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, August 3rd, 2008 - 71 comments
In a speech described by attendees as ‘more bullet points’, John Key announced to the National Party conference today that National would borrow $5 billion more over 6 years to finance infrastructure – specifically roads and the broadband ‘plan’. The money-man has dressed it up cleverly, of course. A fancy new class of ‘investment vehicle’ will be […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:56 pm, August 2nd, 2008 - 121 comments
At last an upfront acknowledgement of the Exclusive Brethren’s support for National during the 2005 election campaign. According to Colin Espiner: Day One of National’s annual conference is nearly over and so far the biggest clanger has been departing Tauranga MP Bob Clarkson’s thank-you to the Exclusive Brethren during his departing remarks to delegates. There was […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, August 1st, 2008 - 12 comments
It seems TV3 has decided to promote a marriage between John Key and Winston Peters this week. They appear to be paying for ads on Google that come up when you search for “John Key” or for “Winston Peters“, but not for other leaders like Helen Clark or Jeanette Fitzsimons. What’s more, when you […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, August 1st, 2008 - 22 comments
New Zealand stylist Stephanie Rumble – best known for her fallout with Addington race officials after claiming that a giant bottle of Lindaur was her “date” in an attempt to avoid a newly introduced ban on BYO alcohol at the event – says that Helen Clark is too inhibited, John Key needs some contrast, Gerry […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:12 pm, July 31st, 2008 - 62 comments
Some of our friends on the Right have been putting themselves through strange mental contortions over the recent series of posts we’ve had on the impact of National and the Left on wages. To recap: we’ve shown that National let the minimum wage stagnate while inflation ate its buying power, the Labour-led Governments have increased it, […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:12 am, July 31st, 2008 - 56 comments
I believe there are three core criteria on which a politician or party needs to be judged: (in no particular order) – policy, competency, trustworthiness – Do they have a good plan, are they capable of implementing such a plan, can we trust them to carry out the plan if we vote for them. National’s […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:29 pm, July 30th, 2008 - 9 comments
So the news went out! National DID have some policy said Colin James: …in behind the bland one-pagers lies quite a lot of study, consultation with outsiders and internal shadow cabinet debate. A 34-page paper backed the workplace relations one-pager. Law and order policy was well footnoted… But no, Colin James seems to have got […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:31 pm, July 29th, 2008 - 9 comments
Hint: it ain’t chocolate.
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 29th, 2008 - 54 comments
Here’s a well-reasoned article by Therese Arseneau in which she canvasses the reasons behind Labour thinking it can still win. She puts it down to: MMP, their ‘core vote’, voter mobilisation, National’s policies, Helen Clark herself and a bit of a mix of good management and good luck. Definitely worth a read.
Written By: - Date published: 3:25 pm, July 28th, 2008 - 18 comments
A reader noticed a difference between National’s workplace policy as quoted by us and as quoted elsewhere. We and some others have: “Continue to allow union access to workplaces with the employer’s consent.” taken from the PDF of the workplace policy. While others have: “Continue to allow union access to workplaces with an employer’s consent, […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, July 28th, 2008 - 30 comments
John Key has announced Working for Families would be kept unchanged by a National-led government. That’s the same Working for Families that National attacked endlessly. Key himself said “Working for Families is a real ‘Maharey special”. It started as a mess, it was completed as a mess, and it will remain a mess the whole […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, July 28th, 2008 - 83 comments
So, what have we learnt from the 18,000 words on John Key the Herald published with so much fanfare over the last two weekends? We’ve learnt that, even if you devote a good portion of three senior journalists’ time to study the matter for six months, it’s still bloody hard to get any clear idea […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, July 25th, 2008 - 22 comments
Some of our rightwing commentators are rejecting the argument that National’s ‘workplace policy’ strips workers of their rights. Problem is, every workers’ rights organisation thinks that it does and John Key does too. Think about it, if you think people will welcome your policy do you slip it out with as little fanfare as possible? […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, July 23rd, 2008 - 11 comments
WHAT: Regular event for Drinking Liberally’s Auckland City chapter WHEN: 7:30pm, Wed 23 July (TONIGHT) WHERE: London Bar, corner Queen and Wellesley Streets, Auckland City. WHO: You and any of your friends who may be interested THIS MONTH: Mix and mingle, a great chance to meet fab new people, have a beverage or two, and […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, July 22nd, 2008 - 94 comments
I’ve finally got through part 1 of the Herald’s deification of John Key and it’s surprising how boring and mediocre he comes across. Impressive contortions too. How three senior reporters with six months to write an article managed to avoid asking how Key could have both talked politics over the dinner table and not have […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:17 pm, July 21st, 2008 - 20 comments
If National wins the election, it will privatise the Work Account of ACC (and maybe other ‘profitable’ accounts). We know that this may have negative effects on coverage for workers but the problems go further taking out the Work Account may compromise the whole ACC system. Every year, ACC needs to run a surplus so […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:40 pm, July 21st, 2008 - 85 comments
There are four options open to National regarding the tax expectations it will deliver large tax cuts ($20+ per person a week = $3 billion+ a year) additional to Labour’s. a) fail to meet those expectations by offering small cuts. Who would vote for a one-trick pony that won’t do its trick? b) cut taxes […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:32 pm, July 20th, 2008 - 53 comments
Rod Oram can nearly always be relied upon for insightful analysis that takes debate a step further. In the SSTimes today he asks: “are we being realistic about the current state of the nation? Each person will have his or her own view. But if, as individuals and a society, we’re gloomier than the facts […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, July 18th, 2008 - 12 comments
A universal student allowance of $350 isn’t going to happen. It’s too expensive and would bar major new spending in any other area. But more relief from debt would be welcome. There’s an increasing recognition that student loans are locking young people out of the housing market, making them perpetual cash-cows for the property speculators […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, July 18th, 2008 - 31 comments
Part of the Crosby/Textor MO is to avoid any hard questioning or real investigative journalism from the media. Step one in this process is be matey with journos. They’re people too and they can fall for charm. When that fails and something embarrassing comes out, attack the journo. Key did this over the “we would love […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, July 18th, 2008 - 34 comments
Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar has found an amusing error made by the Herald online in its politics section which has listed several stories from 1999 as current. Good for a laugh I thought and so I had a look. Two stories in particular got me thinking. One of them was headed “Clark’s mission: clean […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:23 am, July 18th, 2008 - 13 comments
National’s ACC privatisation policy is another of its one page wonders (this time with three page backgrounder skimming the history of ACC and restating the policy in longer sentences with no more detail). In the policy documents and in the interviews by National and its allies, no evidence has been provided that privatised ACC will […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, July 17th, 2008 - 28 comments
John Key tries to reassure us that National’s policy to privatise ACC would keep the scheme’s principles intact. Here’s how he defined those principles on Radio Live: ‘no fault, 24 hour, no fault, blah, blah, blah.” Sorry, but that doesn’t fill me with confidence in our wannabe PM and his policies. [Update: gobsmacked points out […]
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