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Answering the question you wish you were asked rather than the one you were is a common PR tactic (to a point) when speaking to the media. Watching a cabinet minister try the same trick in parliament really starts to unveil this government's contempt for…
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Very good editorial on ACC in The Independent today. The article's offline, but it's quite clear about why the Government is trying to manufacture a crisis over the financial position of ACC: ACC currently collects sufficient levies to meet each year's claims - it has…
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Over on g.blog, toad has noticed something: If you or I steal money, it is theft. We get taken to court, and get fined or go to prison. When MPs do it, it is an 'accounting error'. When Cabinet Ministers do it, it is 'not…
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Non-political staff Parliamentary Service are in industrial action. They want to keep their redundancy provisions that were bargained for years ago and get pay into the collective. Right now HR decides their wages. They're meant use this performance pay system but now they're saying there's…
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Republicanism is a funny issue. Politicians tend to agree that it is inevitable that "at some point" NZ will become a republic, but no one is prepared to take the job on. Well, fate has tilted the table. Yesterday Keith Locke's bill was drawn from…
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We're trying a daily "Open mike". This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and for any discussion following up on the comments. Over to you...
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Competent government's a bit like oil in your car's engine. It's easy to take it for granted - until it's not there. Look at the mess this bunch have made of a simple broadcasting rights deal. We're going to have the six major games live…
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Down in the comments long time contributor gobsmacked wrote: I have never seen a post on here saying 'The left parties want the voters who switched to National last time. They aren't idiots. But we lost them. Let's find out why.' That's step one. I…
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Up until a few hours ago Derek Fox was the Chief Press Sec for the Co-leaders of the Maori Party. He resigned from that position this morning, evidently deeply dissatisfied. Shortly after resigning he gave an interview on 9 to noon - scathing of the World…
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From October 27th, survivors of sexual violence will only be eligible for ACC funded counselling if they are first diagnosed with a mental illness. Firstly, you don't need to have a mental illness to need a few counselling sessions after going through a traumatic and…
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What a sad state the management workforce of this country is in. Just think about these recent stories: Open Country, locking out their workers, employing scab labour, creating an environmental mess and blaming it on the workers they locked out - all because the workers joined…
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Let's have a good turn out. Incidentally, with 1,700 workers at Justice joining 140 of their Parliamentary Service comrades in industrial action as they try to win a meager cost of living pay adjustment, and more departments soon to join them, Parliament's front lawn could…
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The Herald can be bad, but it's not yet a patch on Fox News. From The Guardian: "What a bunch of warmongers we have in the White House. America is fighting the war in Iraq, they're fighting in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Taliban.…
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Day 7 of the bus strike by Infratil The idiotic employers at NZ Bus owned by Infratil have dragged their lockout into a 7th day of disrupting Auckland's commuters. Yesterday they repackaged some of their old proposals and tried to make it look like something…
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A newly released government paper shows that by 2050 government debt will be $54-$73 billion higher than it otherwise would be due to National's subsidies for carbon polluters. According to the paper: Treasury has modelled these costs [the free allocations to polluters] and, while the…
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Farrar's published what he calls an 'internal union email' about the PSA and the SFWU's decision not to amalgamate. Considering it was sent out to 70,000 people more than a week ago I wouldn't get too excited. The amalgamation talks always struck me as an…
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They say pattern recognition is a vital part of healthy cognitive function. I wonder it Sharples sees this one: Every time an issue the Maori Party cares deeply about comes up, Key makes soothing noises. Promises they'll get what they want. Then when crunch time…
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We're trying a daily "Open mike". This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and for any discussion following up on the comments. Over to you...
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How do you get someone to change their mind about something they like? Simple, find one negative element to it (nothing is perfect) and blow it into a major issue. Nick Smith knows how to do this, he's built a career on it. Now, he's…
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The front page leads on Herald and Stuff report: NZ Bus will lift its lockout notice and resume services on Thursday morning "as a gesture of good will", if the unions stop strike action and agree to reach a settlement, the company says. I do despair…
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I was joking when I said all we need now is for Sharples to up the ante in the government vs government bidding war, but this government is truly beyond parody. "Just before heading into the House today Mr Sharples talked to reporters, and was…
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Day 6 of Infratil's strike Brian Rudman had a column yesterday that clearly articulated how Aucklanders view the bus strike by Infratil management at NZ Bus. Only a few days ago, my bus had to take an unscheduled stop outside the public toilets in Victoria…
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Labour's pathetic response to Treasury's flat tax proposal has come in for some well deserved criticism over at No Right Turn, and I have to agree it's a pretty basic failure on Labour's part. Faced with a reactionary and regressive proposal that amounts to a…
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One of the snippets announced while John Key was over performing for Letterman recently was a call for action on research into emissions: NZ pushes for Global Alliance on agricultural emissions Prime Minister John Key says the New Zealand Government is pushing for a Global…
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Predictably, the ideological vanguardists at Treasury are rolling out the flat tax argument again. For some unknown reason Radio NZ hasn't published the Treasury papers they obtained under the OIA but the idea this time seems to be to use the money raised from higher…
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So, let me get this straight. Pita Sharples, treating his ministry's budget like a personal slush fund, decided that TPK would give Maori TV $3 million to add to its bid for free-to-air TV rights for the Rugby World Cup. That extra $3 mil made…
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Following my post yesterday, toad on g.blog raises some questions about Nick Smith's expense claims: In the Dompost article, Nick Smith said "I had to spend $152,000 to make [his electoral office, which he owns] usable I don't dispute that. But who paid the $152,000? Was it Smith…
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Labour's David Parker has been a bit slow reacting to National's latest attack on ACC but now he's in play he has a killer point to make: if ACC cover is cut, the costs of what was paid for by ACC will still have to…
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You would have seen that Westpac was found to have undertaken the largest theft of tax money in New Zealand history. From 1998 to 2002, they hid $586 million in tax due to our government. Add about 6% interest a year and the total they…