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The saga of the Ruataniwha Dam raises a number of interesting issues. The Nick Smith appointed Board of Inquiry includes ex National MP Alec Neill who also served as the chair of Environmental Canterbury before the board was sacked by the Government. As said by Marty G…
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The Sunday programme this evening has Rob Gilchrist, police spy and provocateur, breaking his silence about the decade he spent amongst mostly peaceful activists. He was one amongst the very many sworn officers and informants that the police, spy agencies, and their civilian detective agencies…
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(Oops slept in) Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
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Old man Armstrong's out on the Herald's front lawn this morning, shaking his fist and telling those bloody kids in Labour to stop questioning whether the Reserve Bank is doing the right thing. They should sit quietly and accept whatever the Bank decides to do.…
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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 Policy). Step right up to the mike...
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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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There is just over a week to go to the end of the current local body elections and turnout is small. In Auckland as at yesterday the return of votes was running at 14.64% compared to 22.6% in 2010. Things are not much better in…
democratic participation local body elections local government
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That would be Steven Joyce describing university councils, but he could be describing any democratic governance - including parliament. Dictatorship is so much more efficient. That's why we praise the likes of Bainimarama. The getting rid of "large unwieldy representative bodies" is such a good aim.…
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Earlier this year, National attacked the Greens' Progressive Ownership housing policy, a 'rent-to-own' scheme that effectively gives first homebuyers access to the Crown's low cost of capital (like State Advances used to do). Nat fanboi John Armstrong said "It is a dog of a policy.…
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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 Policy). Step right up to the mike...
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In the wake of the astounding victory of the NZ team in San Diego, Scott at Imperator Fish offers these words of sage advice. He has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. The…
activism greens humour labour national Politics polls Satire
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There's a way of giving people bad news called in PR circles a shit sandwich - basically you give people something happy and fluffy, then the bad news, then something happy and fluffy so you can brush on past it. And we've been paying for…
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So getting your grass verge mowed is the biggest issue for some central city council candidates and (presumably) their potential voters? Life must be pretty cosy in those parts of central city Auckland. Out here in the West of Auckland, many people have bigger concerns:…
auckland supercity class war cost of living greens housing labour local body elections mana national nz first
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Simon Bridges has been keeping a low profile lately but he's in the news again today, and once again he's been caught being somewhat less than honest. It turns out he's been caught trying to bury a report showing a huge quarterly jump in electricity…
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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 Policy). Step right up to the mike...
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So John Key goes out into the world to represent our interests and what does he get? His good mate David Cameron tells him to get stuffed when he asks for better access to the UK for Kiwis. A meeting with the Queen that made…
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Well it is official. A further poll points to a surge in support for Labour since David Cunliffe became leader. The latest Roy Morgan poll has Labour on 37% up 4.5%, National on 42% and the Greens on 11% although down 3.5%. National is up…
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Banner ads for UnitedFuture's signature policy on flexible superannuation have been appearing on Kiwiblog for the last week or so. They've carried the Parliamentary logo, but have had no promoter statement. You could click through to a United Future Party page on the policy which…
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Paula Bennet apparently reckons that 2000 people having social welfare entitlements cancelled every week is a good thing. It brings down the projected future cost of welfare payments by $3 billion. Judith Collins apparently reckons that 207 000 work place accidents a year is a…
benefits capitalism class war cost of living Economy energy health and safety helen clark Judith Collins national paula bennett privatisation welfare
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No Right Turn blogs on the US federal government shutdown due to some crazed Republicians. It doesn't look too hopeful for when the US federal government runs directly into the next round of hitting the debt ceiling As I write this, the US Congress is…
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The Axe the Copper Tax campaign grinds on ominously for the Government. What is especially ominous is that on the pages of the New Zealand Herald and the National Business Review and amongst the ranks of some of the Government's most loyal supporters there is…
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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 Policy). Step right up to the mike...
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We all know that there is a massive home affordability problem, especially in Auckland. There are 150,000 fewer homeowning families today than there would have been at 1991's homeownership rate. So, here's National's plan: don't build any additional houses, just sell some state houses (despite…
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National are going to lose the next election. That presents a significant problem for Team Blue’s office holders and caucus. Do they hope against hope that John Key can pull off an Oracle style upset, or at least, like Rudd, keep the damage to a…
brand key john key Judith Collins national same old national Steven Joyce
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I've managed to miss a milestone on this site (again). As you can see, we've passed 13,000 published posts over the weekend. That really isn't bad for a voluntary coop over a 6 year period with no particular publishing schedule beyond "put something up if…
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Chris Tremain somewhat unexpectedly announced yesterday that he will not be standing at the next election. He has been the MP for Napier for the past eight years. He won the seat in 2005 with a 3,600 majority over labour's Russell Fairbrother, pushed it out…
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The celebrity video below is playing on TVNZ Breakfast and TV3 Firstline this morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K7gzBoVh1rI It calls for the government to release the TPPA text, and for you to sign the petition to John Key now. Tell our government they shouldn’t sign such far…
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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 Policy). Step right up to the mike...