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John Key's performance at this afternoon's 4pm Press Conference was impressive. I've never heard so many, 'don't knows', denials, 'I can't tell yous', prevarications and equivocations in a press conference before. You wonder why he bothered to even turn up, he could've just sent along…
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Stuff is reporting that cabinet has failed to approve the make up of the Auckland Supercity transition agency. In case you're out of the loop, that's the unlected oligarchy that will now effectively govern Auckland without any democratic accountability, running roughshod over the results of…
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The tactics used by Rodney Hide to ram through the Auckland SuperCity legislation without reference to a select committee or referendum should not surprise anyone. Rodney's just a puppet - the master is the man who sits behind him in Parliament and beside him in…
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Spotted on Labour's "Grassroots" supporters' site.
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This morning Radio NZ ran a report on the increasing grassroots opposition to the Government's supercity plans. In the interview that followed it Rodney Hide was asked why the Government won't let Aucklanders have the final say on the proposal through a referendum. His answer?…
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Protesters calling for the Government to abandon its plans to drive an above-ground motorway through the middle of Mt Albert disrupted the opening of an adjacent stretch of motorway by Transport Minister Steven Joyce on Friday. Socialist Aotearoa has the footage:
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Each year and every year, around 1600 New Zealanders die prematurely because we live in cold damp houses. This "excess winter death rate" is four times higher than the road toll. They die, most especially the young, unwell, disabled and elderly, of respiratory illnesses, strokes…
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A great initiative from the National Distribution Union: With the bank (Westpac) leaving Lane Walker Rudkin workers out in the cold without their redundancy pay and the Government failing to respond to calls for funds to establish a worker-led support centre we are running cake…
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Matt McCarten makes some very valid points about the lack of democracy within political parties in his Herald column today. Using the Lee fiasco as a stepping off point he talks about the dangers of candidate selection, and indeed all major party decisions, being made…
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On Q+A this morning, Justice Minister Simon Power flew a kite on some possible changes to the justice system. The first was raising the severity threshold at which defendants can elect trial by jury. Currently, if you are tried for a crime with a maximum…
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Whenever I spot one of the dual electric/petrol cars I always find myself a little fascinated and a little envious. But I have to admit the likelihood of my actually owning one seems remote. Maybe I need to be pushed along, as this article from…
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The ongoing filibuster is highlighting the intransigent nature of the NACT government. NACT ministers are getting annoyed by having to remain at the house to push through their legislation. However there is a perfectly reasonable offer on the table - but they'd prefer to have…
auckland supercity democracy under attack democratic participation national/act government
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There was an annoying outage in the site earlier for a few hours. The hosting site was investigating a performance issue on the server unrelated to The Standard, and took the Apache server offline for script generated HTML. Thanks to all those who txt'ed, e-mailed,…
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In an epic last-ditch defence of Aucklanders' right to be consulted on the removal of their democracy, Labour and the Greens are currently filibustering the government's enabling legislation in Parliament by forcing a vote on thousands of new amendments. Their objective is simple, they want…
auckland supercity democracy under attack greens labour maori party national/act government
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One of these things is not like the other One of these things is not quite the same. Can you guess which one is not like the other Can you tell me before I finish the game?
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In the absence of any numbers about transition costs from Rodney or NACT on the super-city, Phil Twyford over at Red Alert has gotten Dr Rhema Vaithianathan to crunch the available numbers. Ratepayers are going to get whacked with a bill for up to $750…
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No Right Turn wrote a post on an important point of governance that needs more discussion. Reproduced with Idiot/Savant's permission. Last week, we saw unprecedented scenes in Napier, as NZDF LAVs were deployed to assist police in dealing with an armed gunman. At the time,…
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The Greens have released their Green New Deal (PDF), which they hope the Government will pick up in part or in whole. It looks like a comprehensive plan to boost employment and the economy in the short-term and, just as importantly, build a green economy for…
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Moana Mackey has been looking at old Hansards in a post on Red Alert. The topic was the Local Government Act changes in 2002. It is a revealing look at the change of attitude by National MP's on the process of consultation for local government…
auckland supercity democracy under attack democratic participation labour local government national/act government Parliament
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The PM's office Melissa Lee has released an apology for her 'crims on the motorway' comments. Well, not a genuine apology - 'it was a heated debate' is the line, which TUMEKE! exposes as a lie and not an excuse anyway. On Red Alert, Trevor Mallard…
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Labour is filibustering in the house on the Auckland super-city enabling legislation. The would-be dictator of Auckland's future for the next year and a half, says Mr Hide says the amendments are a waste of time, as the Government has the numbers to defeat them.…
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Using Labour's Google Map of National's Waterview route and Google Street View, I had a look at the type of houses that National wants to bulldoze and the ones it has decided to save by having a tunnel under them. State houses and lower-income houses…
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I'm a little re-created - some mysteriousness with my profile means I am re-defined "similar but different" for the time being. But I haven't stopped reading and I thought these were an interesting series of observations on the current state of play: Colin Espiner: This…
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In his blog, Colin Espiner asked: "But my question is this: National has known for months it was going to torpedo the tunnels. It knew this decision would kill its chances of winning Mt Albert. So why did no one tell Lee? And why did…
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This, I swear, is a complete and unedited press release from Roger Douglas. A Recipe To Grow The Economic Cake -Hon Sir Roger Douglas Thursday, May 14 2009 Yield: An equitable serving for all Ingredients 2½ cup Productivity 1½ cup Fiscal Responsibility 1 cup Sound…
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Interesting comment on Melissa from Kiwiblog's Farrar: There is also the issue of the video produced by her before the election, placed on You Tube. I haven't covered that in detail yet because so far I can't see anywhere what Melissa has done wrong -…
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Did your company use NZ On Air money to produce a National Party promotional video? Look, I didn't keep records of who was working on what when and it doesn't work like that the only people who have a problem are disgruntled employees but they…
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John Key has overruled Bill English and got the money for his beloved cycleway (now a group of "Great Rides"), $50 million spread over three years. I won't waste too much time on the substance.The argument's the same as it always was. Cycle tracks are…
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A reader writes: This cracked me up. When I went to look at the press release about John Key's cycleway, this is what I got. Must be a not so subtle sign from Bill!
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Over at Public Address Keith Ng has a great post up on Labour and National's tax regimes. Pretty graphs, accessible analysis and a DPF slap-down - what more could you ask for?