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notices and features - Date published:
6:00 am, June 3rd, 2026 - 99 comments
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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 up to the mike …
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/597057/law-change-will-see-councils-lose-expert-advice-hastings-mayor-wendy-schollum-says
I wonder who will benefit from this change of no oversight in local politics?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/545146/act-looks-to-stand-candidates-in-local-elections-for-first-time
Behold, the power of white settler grievance politics. One ACT councillor in the far north via a party which 92% of New Zealanders didn't vote for can snap her fingers and get the law changed.
So if we can't raise the minimum wage to high or tax the wealthy because it'll kill of employment why are we allowing ai to kill jobs.?
We arent…NACT1 are the NZ drivers of this present World wide push. Its all capitalist ideology, and really… same as it ever was.
I do not think our NZ Renewable Energy should be an enabler for Data Centres. I cant get my head around the rationalising of this.
This article in the RNZ Business/Environment section caught my eye…(I also rolled same at the IMO try hard Green virtue signalling company name?!)
And, IMO soon enough, all is revealed. FFS.
And ok Mr Kakariki Renewables….however your sell does not work for me.
IMO our NZ Renewable Energy should be far better used for decarbonising Existing Industry,Transport (incl Public), Heating our cold homes…there are many more.
Further to this….IMO these companies really just want Green cred, and by using NZ renewable its all there…
Do we really need this? IMO…NO!
Our Renewable Energy. Decarbonise NZ !
Datacentres are a pretty good alternative to open cast mining.
If clean energy is what we do well and can sell, then we should do that. Southland has been doing that with aluminium for 55 years now.
The Makarewa datacentre will need about 50-75 jobs, which is little more than the remaining Nightcaps coalmine 3 kms up the road. And the coal can stay in the ground.
It's not a binary: either coal mine or data centre, though, is it and neither is the aluminium smelter at Bluff and example of acceptable use of hydroelectricity, imo.
These macro-industries stamp all over communities and landscapes. Micro-industries are what's needed o te motu.
Well…minds alike. : ) So many examples of same already in NZ.
better to build long term jobs that are centred on resilience and climate mitigation rather than jobs that fuck the environment and use more power than we have.
Thank you Mercurio 3.1.1 for salient? comments needed. The rigid, practical engineering way of viewing things, as I see it, gets us nowhere near to a good solution viewed rationally. A snake biting its own tail comes to mind and I find that is as below. and results from this – background.
When I looked up Gnosticism I felt I was onto something. It is having a link to something or somebody Divine and I'm picking More Money or One of the Giant Beings that capitalism has allowed to expand and control the world. Quite mythic when you think about it . Background:
Our problem is that we keep viewing and discussing everything as in past decades, and the past century. When one looks at happenings during that time, it is obvious that thinking was skewed and horrible, So why can't we get on to different skewing. Test each posit against – will it be good for us, now, in the near future, ever. And then who will benefit from this, a few, an in-group; who will suffer from it, a few, many, eventually all. Then is it necessary or just a vanity project? We need to ask questions not just look at the engineering possibilities and constraints.
I have seen a record of the discussion over the dropping of the USA atomic bombs over Japan. The major part of the two days spent looking at it was on technical issues, agreement as to its use was reached quite quickly. With AI there will be less human, humane-type thinking I'm picking.
Huh?So is growing grass. And very much more so(as I made point of in my comment) is Decarbonising NZ.
And re :
Yea, about that. Way past time Rio Tinto should be paying Market Price for Our Renewable Energy. But you knew that…or should. Its pure socialising the cost while privatising the profit.
This might be better than the data centre, and might have more chance of reality
https://southlandtribune.substack.com/p/proposed-southland-silicon-smelter
Small caveat, the silicon industry gets a run about every 5 years, and there always seems to be some great plan for Southland doing the rounds but they never go anywhere.
"small" caveat?
Pipe-dream. Pie-in-the-sky.
In any case, where's the silicon headed? The Valley? The Cloud? The Makarewa Data Centre?
Could be… a Silicone Pyramid….scheme.
I could also loool. Any number of money making schemes (now updated involving Renewable Energy) which are also Pyramid shaped.
At the top : the New Pharaohs, Oligarchic of course..just 21st Century Tech Bro stylin'….
But still standing… on the backs of slaves.
There's a sizeable silicon resource in western Southland, the idea is to refine it and then process it into solar panels. It looks to be just past the idea stage so sure if it's going to go anywhere, like all the grand plans that sprout in Southland.
I don't know if other provinces have the same phenomena but Southland has a genre of grand industrial plans that get promoted, some by reputable people, and then come to nothing. Lately we've had a potential hydrogen industry that's ended up feeling a couple of trucks (maybe), the data centre, which needs a trans Tasman cable (which needs a customer…) and now this silicon proposal. There's also been multiple dry oil / gas projects and many grad agricultural ideas that have gone nowhere. Is this just a Southland thing or do other provinces go through this as well?
"Is this just a Southland thing or do other provinces go through this as well?"
I've wondered that also, Graeme.
It could be that Southlanders are vulnerable, by dint of their Scottish heritage and landscape/climate forces, to predation by "wide-boys" from other regions. The oat milk project was taken from them, as was the porridge industry. Their oodles of hydroelectricity went overseas via Comalco, their rainwater has been funnelled-of, via grass and milk, to China and beyond. Is this a heel to their Achilles? I don't know but I'm as suspicious as a swede!
it was also Southlanders that stood up and stopped Manapouri being raised. The love runs deep, it's always suprised me how much they also let the damage be done (rivers that can't be swum in anymore, wtaf).
I'm thinking we should get the generation back into govt ownership, build more generation as quickly as possible and drive the cost of electricity into the ground. The cheap energy would see a re birth of manufacturing and other highly energy dependent industries. It would breath new life into our regions.
A good column with an unlikely protagonist.
It contained a message that is needed everywhere but particularly for the left.
“The hope that you can reach out and connect with people from the absolute opposite, and find a way through this together.”
As an example drop the cooker epithet, so often it applies to those that see themselves as lefties. One aspect of the left used to be that it was a broad church. We need to stop splintering into smaller denominations.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360985831/hi-verity-its-gerry-brownlee-voicemail-accidentally-restored-my-faith-democracy
Also by Verity Johnson: How on earth do you talk to an anti-vaxxer?
"But the problem with this is that they're uninterested in science because they don't trust it. Research has shown that people who believe in conspiracy theories tend to believe in in-group versus out-group theory (them v Big Pharma/brainwashed society), and that their group is under threat from the "out" group (Big Pharma poisoning their kids).
So if I snap angrily that of course you should vaccinate, it just reinforces their perception that society has been brainwashed into hating vaccine sceptics. In the same way that a doctor saying vaccines are safe is proof the doctor is in the pocket of Big Pharma."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/112409022/how-on-earth-do-you-talk-to-an-antivaxxer
I'll cut to the chase;
These conspiracy types are either as thick as two short planks or nutty as fruit cakes and they are dangerous. You can't reason with them because they are not capable of reasoned thinking and never will be. The best course of action is to ignore them. Since they only represent some 2 to 4% of the population, the media are wrong to report their rants because it only encourages them. If and when they choose to commit unlawful and/or violent acts – such as happened at the Parliament grounds – then leave it to the police to deal with them.
They pity you, Anne 🙂
Poor deluded souls
.
Just a few days ago I was updating a cousin on the health of a relative. I told him it's been 2 years now since they threw the blood clot that subsequently discovered their cancer and without missing a beat he asked (stated) if that was from the covid vaccine. I am fully aware that he is a down the rabbit hole anti vaxxer so I am very careful about topics, so after telling him I'm not going there, I had to enlighten him about cancer causing blood clots. I believe he was disappointed that he couldn't blame vaccinations for that particular symptom.
So you jump to the extreme end of the spectrum in citing hardcore anti-vaxxers. Recently here, the home school community were tarred with the cooker brush.
In the past it has been applied to those with a distrust of pharmaceutical companies, the vaccine hesitant (up to date with MMR and travel mandated jabs but reluctant to have the 'quick to market' and novel mRNA medication) and those that thought there was an overstepping of a mark with mandates.
The wider point remains. “The hope that you can reach out and connect with people from the absolute opposite, and find a way through this together.
"The wider point remains. “The hope that you can reach out and connect with people from the absolute opposite, and find a way through this together."
Yes, I'm tiring of the relentless calls from Jabcinda-ites to accept their new-found revelation that they got it wrong and their shamefaced apologies for their appalling behaviour toward her.
I give up.
what's the end game? When things collapse, how will you work with the people you are angry at?
Not saying the anger isn't ok or justified, but asking what the strategy is. Will you want them ostracised if we devolve to localism?
Gsays is correct, we need to figure out which people we can work with despite difference. Lots of people in my community who are down the rabbit hole, they are good people who bring a lot to community and I make an effort to get along with them. I don't talk to them about vaccination 😉
Or about Jacinda, or Chippy, or Labour, The Greens, GPs, the WHO, Pharmac, the MSM, the police te mea te mea…
Lovely people for sure but primed and ready to go in for the next round, when that presents.
Certainly we can work with those people and get along with them, but knowing how they managed those challenges then and being aware they'll likely take the same position again is important. The strategy you ask about, is to remember, stay alert, tailor your behaviour to suit and don't be lulled into a false sense of community with people who showed that they'll segregate themselves into their own sub-community very quickly, especially as they've largely maintained their connections to that insider-community along with the communication networks forged at the time. By all means build resilience networks with them and maintain friendships, but don't be lulled by the passing of time. Happy to hear though, any stories about folk who have discarded their chef's hat and pulled on a beanie or a bowler (sorry gsays, just teasing).
I don't talk to farmers about most of that either. Mostly I don't talk politics with people who have big differences from me, or at the least I express curiosity or adjust how I express my view. Because in my community I generally want connection not aggro.
I also don't see the people you seem to be referring to as an amorphous lump who all think the same thing and have no nuance. Gsays is talking about a broad group who hold a range of views and who get lumped into one.
The people I'm referring to are not anonymous members of an amorphous crew; home-schoolers, yoga practitioners, sound-bowl therapists, home-steaders etc. I'm talkin' bout cookers (didn't want to use the term, but you want me to be specific). Also, talking about the police, the WHO and the many other agencies that get the c****** is a froth, isn't political talk, it's … talk!
I too want connection, conviviality and so on in all of my communities and work to achieve that day in and day out but I keep a wary eye on those who broke under the pressure we were all subject to with Covid and know they're breakable, where all of the others may well not be. It just seems wise to learn from experience.
good to clarify. Gsays isn't talking about the hard core people down the rabbit hole, but instead pointing to lefties who get labelled cookers or anti-vaxxers.
Do you consider all people who don't vaccinate to be anti-vaxxers?
I largely agree with this. Probably the main difference is I see the people you name cookers as having important things to bring to community. And they're not the only people who break. The lefties who argued for forced vaccination are also on my radar to be cautious of.
"Do you consider all people who don't vaccinate to be anti-vaxxers?"
No. I realised last night that I should have added that, I'm not talking though, about those who held valid reasons for not immunising. I'm talking about a particular clique who fit the description, c*****, the details of which I'm going to assume we all know. One characteristic that does define that squad is unreasonable and unrelenting hatred for Jacinda Ardern et al. I have little sympathy and don't feel I need to try to accomodate that particular disease; I'm not a particular fan of Jacinda Ardern, but have no time at all for her besmirchers; that's just stupid, in my opinion.
Those folk may have "important things to bring to community" but so does dry-rot and you wouldn't invite that into your home for the sake of inclusiveness 🙂
Most Kiwis got and/or will get through – we don't know how lucky we are, and were.
When reaching out and connecting with people, approaches that prioritise finding common ground over debating extreme differences are more likely to build rapport and momentum by establishing a collaborative foundation. [thank-you AI]
Best to leave those 'absolute opposites' alone, or agree to disagree, if possible.
I loved this article. It matches my understanding of Brownlee. I disagree with him on most things, but this is a plus in his favour. As opposed to the proto-fascists.
Mostly I loved that Johnson came to understand the way the world is, that our political opponents are human too, can be interesting and engaging people, and that there is value in being able to get along with them. Good on her and great piece.
As much as it sticks in my craw, good on Brownlee too.
better to give righties credit where due I reckon
I'm not convinced. What was Brownlee's motivation for the invitation; just a bigcuddlybear, is he, chasing some random person to invite in for a snugglychat?
Most likely hoping to blunt her pen, I would suspect, using his honed skills as a politician. She does say of him,
"I don’t think he agreed with a single thing I said the whole time.",
so it doesn't seem as though he's especially progressive in his thinking, despite his extending the hand of … whatever it was. She went on to say,
"But I don’t think I’ve ever had someone listen so sincerely to what I was saying." and you've got to wonder, who's she been talking to for all her life??
"Nor engage so thoughtfully, and genuinely, in the points I’m trying to make.
And, above everything, care.", she also writes.
Well, seems to me, Gerry soft-soaped Verity very well and that's all well and good; he's doubtless a great diplomat, given his role as Speaker.
Heavens! Running an eye across the Speakers that I recall over the last few decades, there were many I would not regard as great diplomats!
Jonathan Hunt?
Ah, just dont ever call him a big fella.!
And, etc;…
And no Im not a Bruiser Brownlee fan…
Did you ever hear/watch his "Brokeback Mountain" monologue in the House? He's a gifted storyteller and comedian – great timing. But he's a Nat, so, meh.
I dodged that bullet…: )
But if anything like his
Humour is…as humour does. Or something.
And…his frontal assault on Finland ?! I remember linking Monty Pythons famous song in tribute. Also Michael Palin had visited same.
: )
We have a solemn duty to sustain this economy, one bar at a time.
Hospitality failures surge 49% as nearly 400 businesses close | Stuff
I bet homebrew kits are pumping
Getting together in a community atmosphere.yes. I often have a chat with someone new to me over a craft or ginger beer. I do agree it is good to get out and meet. But then I also include the supermarket too for a convivial effect.
Good to see 500 schools getting solar panels.
Solar panels coming to 500 schools in $30 million government initiative | Stuff
And now we can go through the full list of government energy resilience, and get to work on the buildings of the following:
– MSD
– Corrections
– Defence
– Parliament
– Hospitals and doctors
– Crown Research Agencies
I'm not sneering at the start they're making, but pointing out it's just a first step.
Agreed Ad-this is another gift from the Nats to Labour.
Labour's policy for the election should be $100 million for solar to be installed on a 1000 schools and other public buildings. Storage batteries should also be included in many cases. Battery storage has become much more affordable and efficient over the last few years.
(There are 2500 plus schools in NZ)
Marae also, given their proven role a safe-"houses" during civil emergencies.
Israel's far-right finance minister Smotrich should have been arrested when joining this Israel Parade on Sunday.
The ICC has an arrest warrant out for him.
“Smotrich has called for Israel to annex the West Bank and for Palestinian villages there to be ethnically cleansed, and for Gaza to be “destroyed”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/02/new-york-israel-day-parade-democrats-smotrich
FFS Bezalel bullet Smotrich : (
How was that able to happen!?
I also read where Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (IMO cosy enough with Republicans to not support Zohran Mamdani?!) …attended. Maybe he was ..unaware that also attending were…
Roy Morgan for May not very good for Hipkins/Labour-down 7.5%.
Time to start rolling out some policies NOW.
Lab 26.5 Gre 12.5 TPM 2.5 Opp 6.0=47.5
Nat 30.5 NZF 11.0 ACT 10.0=51.5
Opportunity would have to go with the Left with their policies, if they were king makers. But they may well wreck the election for the Left by getting 4.9% mostly from Leftish voters.
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/10241-nz-national-voting-intention-may-2026
No they don't. They can work with either side that's the point of being centrist neoliberals. It's why they are a danger, they open the door for National to gut welfare.
If you take a look at their policies Opprtunity lean well to the left.
But you are right-when it comes to forming a government Luxon might offer them a bribe they couldn't resist and so they would go with National.
So if they get 6% or 4.9% both are bad for the Left IMO.
As you posted below-it is just one poll. And Labour have been getting (usually unfair) stick from the MSM for not releasing policies., while the Nats have been in the limelight with the budget and the lead up to the budget.
A week is a long time in politics.
Their UBI policy doesn't seem very left wing as it stands, since it seems to freeze out beneficiaries:
The Citizen’s Income replaces most benefits, with top-up support available for superannuitants, parents and others. (from their website)
Replacing benefits with a UBI leaves them no better off, even with top ups, probably, while the rest of the population would be receiving a weekly handout of $400/week.
Generally, I favour the introduction of a UBI, but I think it should be paid on top of benefits rather than as a replacement for them. After all we are not asking
After all we are not asking wage earners to reduce their earnings when they start receiving UBI payments, so why should we expect beneficiaries to do so.
There are tax changes and increases to pay for the UBI – obviously the tax proposals will see differing outcomes depending on individual circumstances, but the proposed UBI will not be extra money with no offset anywhere.
I think TOP are touting the cancellation of benefits as one of the things which make the UBI affordable.
Geoff Simmonds as TOP leader in the 2020 election proposed that all income be taxed at a flat rate of 33%. The difference between that and previous tax rate would have helped pay for the UBI that he proposed introducing. I don’t think the current TOP leadership have said anything about tax rates.
I don't know what the leadership have said – but their policy on tax brackets from their website is (my bolding):
https://www.opportunity.org.nz/tax-reset
Do any of the policies do anything about the iniquitous 15% GST tax on all spending that is killing our economy? With prices high, the GST take must be a nice little earner for Revenue.
I have no idea. You could try trawling their website for answers to your question.
Greywarshark, I couldn't see a magnifying glass (Search) icon on TOP's website, but Google found an instance of TOP mentioning GST – might be old and/or current policy:
Perhaps someone else would like to do this. I wasn't suggesting you particularly Belladonna. Really thinking about commenters into economics who can provide a reasoned view. I will try for Keith Rankin when I have time.
But I need to spend more time on my own problems so won't do it myself. I am not a macro financial person, and trying hard on the micro level.
What did you have in mind? The policies don't look leftist to me at all, they look like neoliberal centrism. Not the conservative centrism of Dunne or Peters, it's def liberal, which I think people mistake for left.
But leftist policies would focus on looking after workers and the poor. I haven't seen anything about that.
The 1.75% Land Tax, the UBI.
how are those lw policies?
You must be kidding.
The vast majority of people who have put forward a Land Tax (and other taxes on capital) are from left wing parties, or support left wing parties. There are a few rightists that support it.
The UBI has also, in my experience, usually been proposed by Left or Green parties, though I accept that people on the far right have also championed this.
which left wing parties advocate a land tax?
I've not seen any UBI policy proposal that removes welfare that wouldn't make disabled poor more poor. The only policy I have seen that doesn't do that is the GP's, it's a UBI with welfare bolted on. Because the Greens understand welfare. TOP don't.
The Greens have a Wealth Tax which taxes all assets including land.
Show me a right wing party that has either a wealth tax or a land tax.
I will see if I can do a quick post on the differences between the two parties, because it's educational.
I haven't said TOP are right wing, I've said they're not left.
image source
https://x.com/RaevenNZ/status/2061979249939210468
RNZ coverage
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/589237/queenstown-based-tech-entrepreneur-brian-cartmell-donating-hundreds-of-thousands-to-political-parties
Land tax should probably be considered neutral. UBI could be left wing but TOP's version looks rather neoliberal.
I don't accept that mikesh. Show me where a right wing party has supported a Land Tax.
(excluding local council rates, which is effectively a land tax, but even rates are often attacked/reduced by the right)
Tiare, who runs the polling account @120Aoteraroa on twitter, had this to say about that poll,
Please stop treating individual polls as fact. They're snap shots of the people that were polled at specific period in time. When treated as real, they create false narratives about voter intention (and how parties are doing).
It's 1,000 people and polling is a science that takes a lot of variables into account, and doesn't always get it right. Look at the trend instead
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2026_New_Zealand_general_election
Tiare quote is here
https://x.com/Tiare_MP/status/2061701034830119291
Worth following and 120
Head. Buried. Sand.
you probably should take it out?
6%?
Nah. The whizz-bangs always get whacky numbers at this point in proceedings. They'll fall well below. Hopefully well below the dreaded 4.9 as well 🙂
Looking at it more closely, this one is probably in the 5% of outliers (the confidence interval is 95% i.e. 95% of polls will have a margin of error as stated).
Roy Morgan seem to have a history of polling TOP at the top (pun unintended) of the range. Their last three polls have them at 4%, while everyone else is around 2.5% (well, one at 3.3).
Absent supporting evidence (i.e. a trend supported in subsequent polling) – I'd regard this 6% as a rogue result. And question RM methodology which appears to favour them in polling. A quick glance over the rest of the year, seems to show a consistent pattern from RM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2026_New_Zealand_general_election
I find the substantial drop in Labour support in this poll (34 to 26.5 is huge)…. surprising…. and without any supporting straws in the wind of media coverage. The budget, while not a polling disaster for National, wasn't exactly a good news story, either. And I'd have expected Labour to do better of the back of this, rather than worse.
I'm a big fan of trends in polling, rather than celebrating or panicking off individual results. But this looks very much like a rogue poll to me.
So the issue of lobbying in the PMs office raises its ugly, undemocratic head again.
The narratives in both cases are similar: PM has themself at arms length/plausible deniability. Obviously this latest case is way more serious than a container return scheme but the fundamentals are still rotten
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486382/prime-minister-s-chief-of-staff-andrew-kirton-led-lobbying-firm-that-fought-against-reforms-now-binned-by-chris-hipkins
Let's be clear, despite recent narratives that say lobbying is acceptable and democratic I call b******* on that.
Firstly it undermines the main principle of democracy one person one vote.
Also lobbying is only available to rich individuals and businesses that can afford these slimy services.
It was a shame Hipkins and labour ran the 'nothing to see here' line last election season. If they had made meaningful change then, Luxon might be in deeper poo now.
"plausible deniability."
Luxon's denials aren't plausible.
They're bald-faced.
If you have any interest or concern around lobbying in this country this is compelling. Make sure you can get your blood pressure down afterwards.
Bernard Hickey talking to Tex Edwards with his Monopoly Watch hat on.
Monopoly Watch has called for the resignation of the Chair of the taxpayer funded Transparency International. They also want funding for it to be stopped as the TI is not achieving its stated aims. The Chair, Anne Tolley, is horribly compromised being a former cabinet minister.
10 attempts in10 years to implement lobbying legislation, in 2012 Anne Kedgley's attempt was lobbied out of parliament…
Edwards claims MPs diaries would show 80% of available time is taken with business and lobbyists.
If that is not enough, they move on to the impotence we demonstrate in regards to the supermarkets.
https://thekaka.substack.com/p/a-mini-hoon-with-tex-edwards-calling?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=102473&post_id=200405277&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=watch_now_gif&r=tn12x&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email&initial_medium=audio
Did you mean Sue Kedgley? I've never heard of and Anne K.
A(t)las, there's no mention of transparency, lobbying or corruption in the May 2026 Ipsos NZ 32nd Issues Monitor report. How do corporate lobbyists & bought pollies get away with it? Perhaps by ensuring voters have ‘other’ issues to worry about 🙁
Invest in ‘document shredders’ + ‘ethical training services’, and be very careful now RNZ!
Past time to "Get Lobbying into the Sunlight", imho. In other news, this morning a loud bang was heard in the vicinity of Christopher Luxon's Botany electorate office.
Otoh, maybe CEO Luxon doesn't understand what all the fuss is about – after all, it's just business as usual for him, and I'm sure he's being closely advised by former Fonterra lobbyist and Minister of Finance, lucky Lotto lady Nicola Willis.
Why is the NZLP going backwards ? We all know why.
The Labour Party that refuses to name austerity, let alone fight it.
NEW ZEALAND is heading toward yet another grim general election, and the mood of the country reflects it. After years of economic stagnation, rising hardship, and a political class that seems incapable of imagining anything beyond the narrow confines of the market, voters are once again being told that their only choice is between two parties who differ more in tone than in substance. The economic status quo has failed working people, yet Labour’s pitch is not to overturn it, challenge it, or even question it. Instead, Labour is offering to 'manage' the same failing system slightly better than National. That is the full extent of its ambition.
No talk of offering an economic alternative. No recognition that the neoliberal framework of the past four decades is the source of the crisis. No willingness to confront the structural failures that have produced soaring inequality, a cost-of-living crisis, and a generation locked out of secure housing. Instead, Hipkins is signalling that Labour’s priority is not to challenge National but to work with it. The message to voters is unmistakable: a vote for Labour is a vote for a Labour–National alliance in everything but name.
https://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2026/05/vote-labour-for-labour-national-alliance.html
Having been an active member in the NZLP for years and seen the policy proposals that make it through the process, and also given the lack of support for the Greens and TOP (both of which are proposing big changes), I think that the issue is not lack of knowledge inside the NZLP, it's lack of support of the voting public.
You have to give "the voting public", something to support.
Keeping quiet while your opponents are hanging themselves is fine for a time. But eventually you have to offer credible alternatives.
Not. A slightly kinder version of National.
And the lack of support for the Greens is, as much the self fulfilling expectation, of the major party in Government being either Labour or National.
Also when a Maori and a woman became leader the Greens at the top seemed to feel that their job was done, that's the impression I got. And they confirmed their lack of determination to tackle the lack of perching places for people, and lack of concern for people, by allowing themselves to be beaten down by a bureaucratic edict against Turei's extra boarder while she battled her way through motherhood as a single person working to get academic qualifications. She stepped down because it did her future in by being so attacked, and it spoiled her opportunity to advance the Green position. The Greens did not create a furore as they should have but then they're middle-class and as strong as a wet dishcloth. Good with fairy terns, but needy Kiwis can be overlooked like huia. Sorry for the unwelcome thoughts expressed but this is my conclusion after having been a Green for a while, and paid for passage back to Wellington of a failed candidate here giving it a go, some years back.
Perhaps you will put a freezing order on me as I referred to in an earlier comment. Or perhaps you will see how you can climb higher in the polls, and make Labour stop being a real sad dishcloth – their song goes 'Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again'. We have joined the world in devotion to neo-lib, have free markets, and found it doesn't provide a good life for the Labour constituency and rest of ordinaries. So get singing jointly. Nat King Cole projects like mad, why not try it too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZY23Ms76-Q
The Green policy suite has a collection of universal services and heavy redistribution funded by more and higher taxes e.g. guaranteed minimum income and wealth tax.
They have an intelligent, young, high-profile, articulate leader who generally puts forward party policies and positions strongly and directly.
Their most recently retired leader was well-respected nationally and in Parliament, and successfully navigated the passage of seminal legislation around climate change with unanimous support of Parliament.
It's easy to characterise them as ineffective or primarily focused on identity politics, but that's propaganda from the right, and not really borne out by their policies or record.
I didn't refer to the good that Greens accomplished that's true but felt disappointed as did Labour supporters, when both parties' time in parliament was lacklustre. They seemed drained of vital energy and keenness with poor performance of practicalities.
I think my other comment covers the Greens, but the main reason Labour won in 2017 is because Jacinda replaced Andrew, and I say that as a Labour member who liked both of them. There were no significant new policy announcements, just a change in leader.
I guess that's something to support, but it doesn't point to policy being important. My view is that the last policy that played an important part in winning an election was interest-free student loans in 2005, and debatably that election was also won by mobilising South Auckland.
Also, while it may not feel like fancy new policy, restoring pay equity and Fair Pay Agreements has the potential to significantly improve the incomes and hopefully lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders.
" The economic status quo has failed working people, yet Labour’s pitch is not to overturn it, challenge it, or even question it. Instead, Labour is offering to 'manage' the same failing system slightly better than National."
Well said Mat.
I posted an essay here a couple of days ago by Tadgh Stopford.
"And it is not adequately explained by the usual political arguments about “left versus right,” “wasteful spending,” or “market efficiency.”
The deeper issue is constitutional and structural.
New Zealand increasingly operates through institutional architectures that reward extraction more reliably than productive civilisation-building."
He uses the hemp industry as an example of this. "..the biologically and economically valuable pathways involving flowers, leaves, roots, extracts, and cannabinoids remain structurally concentrated inside narrow medical and compliance architecture.
That sequence reveals something profound about modern governance."
He finishes with asking what is an economy for?
"Asset inflation?
Or civilisation-building?
That is the real constitutional argument now emerging underneath the noise."
Even if Labour were to pivot away from this horrible neo-liberal experiment there would still be a lot of other work to be undone.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/guest-blog-tadhg-stopford-new-zealand-did-not-accidentally-become-a-fragile-country/
NZ desperately needs a Wealth Tax to redistribute wealth and help create a fairer society.
Its all Labour's fault……judging by the numerous comments on this article in Stuff today it would appear the repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat meme…..its all Labour's fault is falling on increasing skeptical ears….
‘We are concerned’ about hospitality failures, but can’t repeat Labour’s mistakes, PM says | Stuff
They've invested so much in that cry, taken expensive advice that it will win them the election, that they will not slow down bellowing about it at every opportunity. They believe it will work. No one yet has convinced me that it won't.