The story about the Malaysian diplomat who relied on diplomatic immunity to avoid New Zealand's justice system grinds on. And the longer it grinds on the worse it gets for the Government. There seems to be a divergence of views between the New Zealand Government and the Malaysian Government…
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In its handling of the case of the Malaysian Diplomat accused of attempted rape in NZ, the government has marginalised the concerns and sensitivities of the victim. Their own arse covering was given a higher priority. Jan Logie argued that this indicated the government was reinforcing rape culture…
Reposted from Labour's website. Speech by Hon Phil Goff MP, Labour Trade Spokesperson, Victoria University, 2 July 2014 The Central Committee of China’s Communist Party’s decisions at a Plenary meeting would, two decades ago, have been of limited interest to New Zealand. The situation today…
Reposted from No Right Turn. Yesterday SSC released its Performance Improvement Framework Report for the New Zealand Intelligence Community (SIS, GCSB, NAB, and bits of DPMC). The short version? Our spies are completely dysfunctional: A dismal picture of New Zealand's intelligence services has been painted in an official…
When I was little, I went to a very well-to-do decile 10 public primary school. The kind of place situated in a neighbourhood full of private schools and a little bit insecure about it. So we did our best to fit it, with assemblies every Friday…
Reposted from Polity. When I first saw DPF quote some anonymous correspondent talking about voter turnout, I thought he was having everyone on. But over the weekend John Key was quoting this exact same research as a justification for why National need to Get Out The Vote…
Reposted from Polity. Here's your New Zealand Herald opining on policies that Labour should announce this weekend: The Labour Party holds its pre-election conference this weekend. It has every chance of producing a policy that might give its supporters a sense of direction. Labour already has announced…
Reposted from No Right Turn. The Office of the Ombudsman issued its Statement of Intent yesterday, setting out what they plan to do over the next five years. we've been hearing a lot recently about how the office is failing to deal with the deluge of complaints…
Last night the GlobalDairyTrade auction gave more prices drops. Stuff reports Dairy prices have resumed their slide, falling 4.9 per cent at the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight. The drop, the second-biggest of the year after an 8.9 per cent plunge at the April 1 auction, was…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
This morning in the Herald John Key claimed that New Zealand had demanded the waiving of diplomatic privilege for the Malaysian diplomat charged with breaking and entering and assault with intent to commit sexual violation. From the article: A diplomat who escaped prosecution for sexual assault in…
A guest post from Rachel Jones, who is number 25 of Labour's list as well as the Labour candidate for the Tauranga seat. Last Monday was a bit surreal. I was in a shop when I heard Duncan Garner asking on the radio “Who is…
Politics is a funny thing. The most earnest and well constructed of policies by an opposition party are often ignored. Then someone makes a joke or a gaffe or gets caught out in some sort of personal scandal and then main stream and social media…
Reposted from Polity. Here's Michael Fox at Stuff on the new Motu bridge in Gisborne: The Government has almost finished a $100,000 project to strengthen a bridge it will now tear down and replace as part of its new roading package. Prime Minister John Key unveiled…
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I'm always surprised at how short a memory many media have. For instance at Radio NZ on Morning Report I saw this dumb description.. Provincial mayors not happy despite extra money ( 3′ 11″ ) 06:39 Some provincial mayors are feeling hard done by, despite a National Party promise of an extra…
vto has been drawing attention to some comments made by Bill English, about how a third term Key government would majorly reform the government's budgeting and spending. English's comments on this does raise some serious concerns that deserve to be examined in depth. The way…
Reposted from Local Bodies. In the 1980s and early 90s the wisdom of the day dictated that our small (in a global sense) New Zealand owned banks were unsustainable. We lost the BNZ to the National Australia Bank group and our Trust Banks to Westpac. All…
Reposted from Polity. National's announcement yesterday of $212 million for 14 roading projects around regional New Zealand hits a lot of bad notes. I think it is a strategic mistake. First, New Zealanders value their environment, take climate change seriously, and worry that National are…
Last night the Sunday show screened an expose of a Christchurch pig farm using footage provided by Farmwatch New Zealand. I was part of the investigation which resulted in this show and thought I would provide a more personal perspective on this story. I will…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Firstly, it’s really good to be back at the Standard - in the last few weeks our opponents have made it clear that they're going to play a rough game this election. But we are strong enough to withstand dirty tricks and to focus on…
Reposted from Bryan Gould's website. Bryan Gould was a British MP, contender for the British Labour party leaders position, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato. This article was first offered to the NZ Herald as an opinion piece. For some reason they declined to…
National's conference is being held this weekend and some of the details of their campaign have been disclosed. Firstly it lives and dies on the personality cult that surrounds John Key. He is National's strength but also its weakness. I suspect that from now to the…
It seems to be the season of books and faux book covers movie posters. Mary-Ellen O'Connor has published a Nats' cook book. Proceeds of the sales will apparently be donated to the "centre left". Kim Knight reports on Stuff: Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges…
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For all of you John Key arselickers (like John Roughan) out there, go forth and help fight poverty. Here is your chance to bid up some second hand toilet paper. Text reads:- As new, unwanted gift from a smartarse. John Key Portrait of a Prime…