Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, July 24th, 2014 - 30 comments
John Key claims to not know how much money Claudette Hauiti has spent on her credit card and suggests that a list demotion has persuaded her to stand down. Surely he should ask. If he doesn’t then the media should ask why not. And was Hauiti persuaded or pushed into not standing again?
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, July 24th, 2014 - 21 comments
David Cunliffe has announced Labour’s ICT Connectivity policy. The digital revolution presents huge economic opportunities for New Zealand, but too many New Zealanders are being left behind. One in five Kiwis doesn’t have regular access to the internet. That’s not good enough for the 21st Century. The next Labour Government will put internet connectivity at the heart of its agenda.
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, July 24th, 2014 - 232 comments
For TVNZ to say that Mike Hosking is professional and would act in an unbiased fashion in leaders debates is daft. Mike Hosking has made his opinion of Labour quite apparent over the years. Hosking has a reputation around the left of being a ill-prepared moronic dickhead far more concerned about his car than the people of this country. Rob Salmond’s reaction in this post is going to be pretty typical. TVNZ obviously want to the debate to be about Hoskings rather than the debaters.
Written By: - Date published: 5:59 pm, July 23rd, 2014 - 12 comments
The Silveroaks v Westpac test case on mis-selling of interest rate swaps in 2008 is going under cover after a judge granted Westpac’s request to “prevent public access to the court file, attendance at hearings and any reporting of interlocutory decisions.” A senior legal source said that the blackout was unusual but part of “a trend where parties sought to move away from open justice.” One can imagine why Westpac doesn’t want any public discussion of the case – banks in England have already paid out L600million and are said to be possibly liable for billions.
Written By: - Date published: 5:44 pm, July 23rd, 2014 - 112 comments
There have been a number of allegations made against David Cunliffe recently and more can be expected. In an effort to short circuit things I have collected a number of potential claims made by facebook friends. Knock yourselves out and add to the list but in the interests of a positive campaign keep then funny and non defamatory.
Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, July 23rd, 2014 - 194 comments
Today’s DomPost carries a story showing Russian Air Force generals claiming that a Ukrainian fighter was close to Malaysian MF17 flying at 32,000ft. It was described as a “SU-25 fighter jet, which is typically equipped with air-to-air missiles.” They said it could reach 10,000 metres “for a short time”. It can’t; but its Wiki specification was recently edited from a Russian source to back up the story.
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 pm, July 22nd, 2014 - 24 comments
“The amazing occurrence is the sustained achievement of party unity, not just for a season or a year but for an entire parliamentary term.”
In Britain.
Written By: - Date published: 2:48 pm, July 22nd, 2014 - 42 comments
Bank-paid economists are predicting the Reserve Bank will again raise benchmark interest rates on Thursday. This may be good for the banks and the currency markets but it is bad news for New Zealand farming exporters and for high-end manufacturing jobs. Our interest rates are among the highest in a world awash with money after quantitative easing in Europe and the US. The CTU has called for a pause, and listed manufacturing jobs lost in the past couple of years because of the exchange rate.
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, July 22nd, 2014 - 35 comments
David Cunliffe has announced Labour’s Regional Development policy today. Labour will work in partnership with regions and put $200 million into a Regional Growth Fund fund to resource regional projects that will create jobs and drive local initiative. Labour’s policy is timely; it offers real hope to the regions, and in the best development tradition of building on local initiative. Update: LGNZ welcomes Labour policy
Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, July 22nd, 2014 - 104 comments
No Right Turn gets rightfully acerbic about the witless fool “senior” MP in Labour who was trying to sabotage Labour in the Sunday Star Times this weekend, and about the general self-mutilation of Labour by its caucus at present.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, July 22nd, 2014 - 30 comments
The overall strength of the status quo bloc at around 54%, and the strength of the change bloc a little under 46%. The picture ain’t pretty.
Written By: - Date published: 6:06 pm, July 21st, 2014 - 110 comments
The Herald is saying some weird things about David Cunliffe and Labour’s Clutha Southland candidate Liz Craig.
Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, July 21st, 2014 - 160 comments
Voter turnout has been falling steadily across the western world in recent decades, and not least in New Zealand. We have a proud record of high turnouts in general elections, but even here, we dipped below 80% in 2008 and fell further to a post-war low of 74.21% in 2011. The problem is even more […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, July 21st, 2014 - 37 comments
Every Sunday morning a group of Labour Activists attend the Avondale Market to hand out literature and talk to people. It is refreshing that ordinary people are not affected by beltway issues and are concerned at the basics such as housing, poverty and education.
Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, July 20th, 2014 - 172 comments
David Cunliffe is now being criticised for having a short holiday with his family. It is strange that it should be thought of as a bad thing for the leader of the party interested in improving ordinary people’s quality of life to try and get some work life balance.
Written By: - Date published: 6:34 pm, July 17th, 2014 - 26 comments
I was uplifted by seeing Team Carmel Sepuloni out campaigning in Henderson today. Marama Davidson has been out on the ground in Otara. The Internet-Mana Party have gone on a Road Trip. There’s been an on-going left campaign in Ohariu…. what are the tales from the left, campaigning on the ground?!
Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, July 17th, 2014 - 51 comments
If there is evidence that Key lied about when he first heard of Dotcom, then that strengthens Dotcom’s defence against extradition. He can then rightly say he has not had a fair go; that the parties trying to send him to the States to stand trial do not have clean hands. The potential personal gain for Kim Dotcom is obvious. The effect on the election may not be quite as positive.
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, July 17th, 2014 - 46 comments
I’m intrigued by Kim Dotcom’s announcement of earth-shattering revelations to be made on 15 September – just 5 days out from the last voting day of this general election.
Written By: - Date published: 11:43 am, July 17th, 2014 - 161 comments
The Roy Morgan and Fairfax/Ipsos polls out overnight are both bad news for the cause of positive change in New Zealand. Labour is below 25% in both polls, which is disaster territory if is solidifies. The potential coalitions of the left look just as bad. This doesn’t look like a change in the left-right split. The effects of the National / NZ Herald /Liu smear campaign feeding through fits the usual polling lag time period of about 4-6 weeks.
Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, July 16th, 2014 - 34 comments
Russel Norman has announced a business-friendly policy for a “smart, green” focus on innovation. A move towards a “Green New Deal”, working with the current system, and away from neoliberalism. It won’t dismantle capitalism, but exists within a framework for a fairer NZ.
Written By: - Date published: 11:37 am, July 15th, 2014 - 6 comments
The National government’s policy for economic growth has been simple: pump up dairy production, export more low-value milk powder, and keep low-value farmers as the “backbone of the economy”. To achieve this, they have dismantled the protections for and then defiled our fresh water on an industrial scale. The Greens want to reverse that and thereby ensure a long-term future for both our farming and peoples. Updated.
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, July 15th, 2014 - 202 comments
The Herald is reporting that direct political pressure was applied on Immigration NZ to grant Kim Dotcom and his family residence in New Zealand. And the SIS tried to block the application but dropped their objection after being told there was “political pressure”.
Updated with more links
Written By: - Date published: 11:11 am, July 14th, 2014 - 35 comments
I am really sorry to see the return of the Worm this election. It’s bad enough we have way more polling than we need, interfering with democratic process. Now we have even more of the same, with the way the Worm is to be implemented. [Updated]
Written By: - Date published: 1:56 pm, July 12th, 2014 - 107 comments
Today the Green Party launched the first of it’s election priorities in Hamilton at 11. 00 am. The focus is on building a cleaner, fairer, smarter New Zealand. The Internet Party is onboard with a new environment policy. There are differences between these 2 parties and Labour on oil and gas exploration. Equality continues to be a key priority for the Green Party. [Updated]
Written By: - Date published: 8:21 pm, July 11th, 2014 - 49 comments
If you ever wanted an entertaining, succinct, yet devastating critique of the media handling of Climate Change then John Oliver’s recent attempt from his Last Week Tonight show should be compulsory viewing.
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, July 11th, 2014 - 14 comments
Rob Salmond presents the David Farrar / Steven Joyce / John Key argument that 2011 non voters are a National-leaning bunch. Then he shows that a better look at their own data undermines their claim. This matters because it helps us understand which bloc has more to gain from voter mobilization efforts in 2014. This means the left has a lot more to gain than the right from mobilization in 2014.
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, July 10th, 2014 - 224 comments
It’s headline news again: Labour is trying to take away men’s rights and exile you all to a desert island. If you believe David Farrar, that is.
Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, July 10th, 2014 - 65 comments
Tania Billingsley’s public comments and her suggestion that Murray McCully should resign as Minister of Foreign Affairs are cogent and compelling. For his failure to look after New Zealand’s interests and for his inept handling of issues for Tania he should resign as Minister.
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 pm, July 8th, 2014 - 35 comments
Kiwi voters are going to be offered clear election choices across a wide range of policies that matter. This is clear from Labour’s mini-Manifesto, released at the weekend Congress. As promised Labour’s offerings are positive and forward-looking. Besides education, there are policies on work, economy, schools, children, jobs, homes, environment, democracy, health, living costs and budget – put the commitments together and it’s a recipe for positive change.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, July 8th, 2014 - 19 comments
The number of reported domestic violence incidents is increasing but amazingly the number of prosecutions is going down at the same time allowing the Government to claim that it is getting on top of crime. And the release of the latest statistics give added support to David Cunliffe’s and Labour’s proposals to treat the issue with urgency.
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, July 7th, 2014 - 58 comments
Education has become a major election issue. And after Labour’s announcements at this weekend’s congress there is a stark divide, between the enrichment of the few or the advancement of the many.
Recent Comments