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Parata on The Nation: "what we've had is a five-fold increase in the number of teachers while we've only had a 2% increase in students". There are 52,500 teachers. Is Parata really saying there were only 10,500 a decade ago? The minister needs remedial maths,…
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News in that Talley's/AFFCO and the Meatworkers reached an agreement at 5am this morning. The workers will keep their wage and job security provisions and still be covered by a collective contract. These things are never a complete victory but Talley's appear to have won…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Wellington's electricity network was privatised 20 years ago. The water network wasn't. Tomorrow evening (Tuesday 22 May) researchers Peter Harris, Dick Werry and Jim Turner will present their outcome comparison to a Fabian seminar at St John's Church Hall in Wellington at 5:30pm. Water network…
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National have become a very adept PR machine. While not adept at running the country, they've become great at running statistics. John Key was pushing things a little too far with his lines that unemployment rising to 6.7% showed an improved economy and that Europe…
debt / deficit economy employment im/migration john key national unemployment
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. A guest post from the Finance Minister We live in tough economic times, but the New Zealand public can be assured that this government is leaving no…
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Tomorrow night in Auckland four University teams from Auckland, Victoria and Otago will present their visions and prescriptions for New Zealand's economic future in an event which is open to the public, and will be held from 5.30pm at the University of Auckland Business School.…
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The Greens launched their Budget alternative this morning. Titled "Smart Green Economics" it lived up to the billing, as did its Economic Policy launch before the Budget. Extra heft was provided by BERL economist Dr Ganesh Nana with a commissioned paper arguing that the Government's…
budget2012 Economy exports greens infrastructure Privatisation russel norman
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National is going to cut 125 police staff. They're not sworn officers but who's going to pick up the work they were doing? Sworn cops, of course. Course, tying up cops with paperwork will help the crime stats drop. And with the navy so underfunded…
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Last Budget, National promised 36,000 jobs in the year to March 2012. We got 20,000. They promised 1.8% growth. We got 1.1%. They promised a $9.8 billion deficit. Now, it's heading for over $12 billion. I can't wait to hear National's promises on Thursday. English…
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Remember 'ambitious for New Zealand'? Remember 'brighter future'? At what point did all that get replaced with 'surplus by 2014/15'? Key and National used to at least say they wanted to do something significant, even if they never had the policies to achieve it. Now,…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Well that didn't take long. Paul Henry, chucked off the telly here in NZ, left for a new TV presenting role in Australia in March. Predictably: Paul Henry slammed for asylum seeker comments Australian TV viewers and media critics have slammed Paul Henry for "sick"…
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Not content with selling your assets off, National has put aside $120,000,000 of your money to tell you that you should like it. And, just to add more salt to the wound, Bill English has described the cost as "low by market standards". That's right,…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Minister for Talking Big and Not Delivering, Steven Joyce, had his second opinion piece in the Herald of the year (the Herald doesn't usually run politicians' opinion pieces) and, naturally, it bore no relation to the 'vision' in the previous one, or any of the…
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Another poll to add to current mix. Not a big shift, but in the right direction, and getting the right kinds of headline: National support slips further - poll Support for John Key's National Party has fallen 2.5 per cent in the latest Roy Morgan…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. New Red Wiggle, Trevor Mallard Labour MP Trevor Mallard has confirmed rumours that he will be the new Red Wiggle from 2013. The legendary band announced…
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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Underneath the 'common-sense' exterior, and all that hair, Peter Dunne is an angry man. He lashed out that those who pointed out he's voting for asset sales he never told his electorate he would support. He screamed at losing TVNZ7 - Backbenches is his one…
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Highways and fiscal responsibility This week the government is pre-announcing the Budget, softening us up for higher prescription charges, fewer teachers, and a further assault on beneficiaries. Meanwhile, they're spending billions on "Roads of National Significance" that do not meet basic cost-benefit tests, to service…
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A good article in the Guardian yesterday - by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, authors of The Spirit Level. They argue that despite the UK government saying that tackling social mobility as its guiding purpose, the fact that "tackling the financial deficit is the coalition's most…
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You have to take your hat off to National's spin doctors, coming up with the plausible-sounding nonsense line that low interest rates mean affordable housing isn't needed. But it led to this on RNZ this morning (no links yet)- Phil Heatley: "we're pleased that we're…
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Across the country, the number of party votes National received fell in 2011, except for in Christchurch. Given turn-out fell 10%, the fact more people voted National was a sobering moment for critics of how the rebuild is being handled. Or perhaps not. Now, 87%…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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John Key is doing his best to keep poor people from coming to his electorate. Whilst it's not like he visits there often himself, he's still aiming to keep poor people committing the "economic vandalism" of living in a nice suburb - where apparently only…
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No Right Turn on the latest case of Banks failing to declare donations. Will Parliament hold its own to account? Parliament is less than six months old, and already we've had the first case of an MP falsifying their pecuniary interest declaration, with John Banks failing…
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Brilliant Emmerson cartoon in The Herald (if you're missing the reference, see this controversial Time front page):
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In a surprising pre-Budget u-turn, Prime Minister John Key has announced the Government will drop its policy of incrementally introducing performance pay for teachers and, instead, introduce it for ministers. "Listening to Hekia Parata fluff her way through her spin lines on the teacher cuts,…
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