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It's an innocuous looking bill but Rodney Hide's Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill packs a wallop when you unpick it. Not only does it open the door for the privatisation of our water services, it positively ushers it in, takes off its coat and says …
assets democracy under attack local government national/act government privatisation
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The Budget is turning into something of an embarrassment for the media. Even before it had been released, the journos in their lock-up had written pieces proclaiming it a hugely popular success. The evidence suggests that they got it wrong. The people think they'll be…
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It's normal convention that when a local group feel particularly strongly about an issue the local MP will introduce a Private Member's Bill to let them be heard in parliament; the MP does not even have to support it themselves. John Carter was willing to…
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Bill English in the House yesterday: "In the Budget the projected wage increases exceed projected inflation." From the Budget: change in real wages over March 2011 year, -1.4%. Change in real wages in year to March 2012, -0.6% Good on Lockwood Smith for demanding English…
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Feeling the heat in Highwater-gate, John Key resorted to a ridiculous 'may or may not' defence in the House under questioning from Pete Hodgson. But no-one's buying it. Colin Espiner writes "Everyone in the press gallery knows that Key has an interest in a vineyard.…
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As predicted, the world is still warming: It was the hottest April on record in the NASA dataset. More significantly, following fast on the heels of the hottest March and hottest Jan-Feb-March on record, it's also the hottest Jan-Feb-March-April on record. The record temperatures we're…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Congratulations Aucklanders, you are about to become the owners of a supercity. And it's cost you just $200 million... so far. The government embarked on a half-arsed, anti-democratic attempt to to reform Auckland in big business's interests. They didn't let Aucklanders have the referendum that…
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You've got to hand it to John Key. He's so good at distraction he could be a rodeo clown. Yesterday, a classic case in point. Asked about his government's cuts to early childhood education, Key talked about getting the cruelest cut instead. The journos were…
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According to John Armstrong in today's NZ Herald: Perhaps the only surprise in National shedding a hefty five percentage points in the latest opinion poll is that the drop in support for the governing party was not even greater. National's slide in the One News-Colmar…
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The neoliberal dinosaurs at Anti-dismal have presented their defence of National's privatisation agenda by responding to my post "Privatisation: the facts". Their responses offer an insight into the neoliberal mind: Actually no we don't [own the SOEs]. The government does. The government has the residual…
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Heavily-armed Israeli commandos have murdered at least 19 civilians in an unprovoked attack in international waters on a flotilla of ships trying to get aid to occupied Gaza. Reports indicate several times that many civilians are wounded. Details are sketchy because Israel has taken control…
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It's been a few days but I finally had a look at David Cunliffe on this weekend's edition of The Nation and what a pleasant surprise it was as he hit the mark while talking about the budget. I particularly liked the bit where he…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...