King Brownlee can do pretty much whatever the hell he likes in Christchurch. And what he wants to do, it seems, is fuck all. When I was in Christchurch recently, I was deeply disturbed by the lack of rebuild, and the vibe. People feel it.…
A survey of real estate agents has revealed that 9% of house sales result in the house going to an overseas buyer. Half say they plan to come and live here - that leaves 5% going to overseas investors. For some reason, the BNZ is…
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Phil Twyford is the Labour MP for Te Atatu, and Labour’s spokesperson on Housing and Auckland Issues. He is also asking the same questions that many Aucklanders keep asking as they watch a succession of government ministers trying to valiantly advance backwards into Auckland's past…
Some great work from Labour yesterday as they got the documents showing Bill English in 2009 being advised about Solid Energy's predicted lower profits from a lower coal price - and asking for a bigger dividend anyway. English seemed only concerned about getting debt off…
Congrats to Labour MPs Louisa Wall and David Clark as their private member's bills passed their respective second readings last night. Louisa's Marriage Equality Bill passed 77 to 44, as 4 National MPs (3 cabinet ministers: Gerry Brownlee, Jonathan Coleman and Murray McCully) felt the…
With the ACT Party dead and the Maori Party dying, National is running out of coalition partners to get it over the line next year. One of the nightmare scenarios for the Left is NZF topping the 5% threshold and going in to coalition with…
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Four hundred thousand people don't want asset sales. In fact they don't just not want asset sales they want every voter in New Zealand to have the chance to cast a vote for or against asset sales. And National wants to discredit them. In fact…
Shearer seems to be opening up to an asset buy-back at cost policy - that should be popular among quite a few Standardistas. It's more of a luke-warm, "negotiable with coalition partners" or "if we've enough space in the budget once we work out the…
Date: Friday 15 March 2013 Time: assemble at 12.30pm for 1pm Venue: 360 Queen Street (grass verge opposite Aotea Square), Auckland. March will be down Queen Street and ending at Queen Elizabeth Square Downtown Westfield Auckland (opposite Britomart). Speakers apparently include David Shearer.
Apparently quite a few teachers got tempted from the fold and voted for John Key in 2008... it's hard to imagine many of them wanting to do so after the Novopay debacle. But Novopay seem determined to make sure of it. Not content with failing…
Recently when interviewed by the Waikato Times, Forest Owners representative Sheldon Drummond suggested the union movement campaign around forestry safety was motivated by the “large un-unionised workforce” in forestry. In Sheldon’s mind this is clearly code for “bad motive”. Also in the article is a…
We're now experiencing the worst drought in the North Island in recorded history. It comes just five years after the previous severe drought and there was a lesser one in between. Let's not beat around the bush, it's climate change. Bill English came very close…
The extent to which we as a society just don't get the ongoing impact and the implications of climate change continues to boggle my mind. In his latest piece, for example, John Armstrong seems to be groping his way dimly towards the truth, but he…
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Well, cleared might be a slight exaggeration but he's not going to have the police turn up on his doorstep and right now that's good enough for a David Shearer who is worrying about the lack of brown faces in his top-team. We can only…
On Morning Report this morning there was a clip of John Key (in Brazil) saying that David Shearer had signed up to buy shares in Mighty River Power - and he was welcome at the front of the queue like all New Zealanders. Shortly after…
A nice win for Labour and an all too rare example of MMP working as it should. News today... Mondayising bill expected to pass into law Mondayising Anzac Day and Waitangi Day is all but a reality after Prime Minister John Key confirmed this morning…
So, John Key is heading back from yet another overly long 'trade mission' that seemed to involve little in the way of actual meetings and a lot in the way of trying on silly hats. While in Latin America, he somehow managed to snub our…
The Keep Our Assets petition will be submitted today at 12.30 at Parliament with approximately 400,000 signatures -get along if you can for the presentation. It is the largest petition in New Zealand history. The referendum that will follow will test National's mandate for asset…
Barring a miraculous outbreak of common sense the sale of at least some state owned assets is going ahead. Should the parties of the Left continue to oppose the process? Lew At Kiwipolitico (loudly cheered on by Bryce Edwards) doesn't think so. I think Lew…
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The NZ Herald states New Zealand banks face what's expected to be the biggest class suit the country's seen over $1 billion in default fees claimed by lenders over the past six years. Three of Australasia's biggest law firms will announce the class suit to…
Reading the Economist this morning and saw the pseudonymous Free Exchange blog post on the economics of internet - specifically "How to quantify the gains that the internet has brought to consumers". It was followed up by a post by Hal Varian, the chief economist at Google.…
OK "smarter" is the wrong word - the Brits are more politically engaged than us. That's just a personal opinion, having lived in both places, but it seems to be that the British are more interested and more critically engaged in their political process than…
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Climate change is rewriting the rules of the planet. Here in NZ we are being warned of "the end for farming as we know it". There have been any number of warnings and calls to action, most recently from "Wise Response", and Otago based initiative…
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring). This week: International Women's…
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...