Rohan Lord this week pulled out from being a Labour candidate because he thought his prospects of being elected were remote because he was a white middle class male. His comments displayed a complete lack of understanding of how the Labour Party works and ignores the fact that having a truly representative caucus is a virtue.
The cigarette crime spree is a real problem for National. Their “law and order” credentials are in tatters.
Ban cigarettes, find a way to compensate dairy owners for a transitional period.
Campbell: “As I asked Joyce at the Budget lockup: ‘What is to stop landlords from treating this increase as a green light to hike up rents?’ … In reply, Joyce said that the government would be ‘keeping an eye’ on landlords, to ensure they did not abuse the situation.”
Drilling for oil we shouldn’t use, in a place that should remain untouched. Is this really what NZ wants?
The chronically erratic Roy Morgan poll is out again, with Nat vs Lab/Green in a dead heat.
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I/S at No Right Turn writes: “The Court has ruled that the High Court was right to declare that National’s 2010 prisoner voting restrictions (the ones which were so shabby and shoddily passed that they brought Parliament into disrepute) were inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act“
How (According to The Guardian) a neo-nazi turned Islamist flipped terror narratives upside down.
James Shaw on National as the masters of the shell game.
It was National’s best budget. Which means there are only three critical areas of failure.
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Andrew Little calls it the ‘The One Dollar Bill Budget’, a $1 tax cut for cleaner on minimum wage.
As usual it is the already well off who do the best out of National’s election year tax cut bribe.
From pre announced budget initiatives it is clear that today’s budget will provide National the opportunity to announce watered down insipid versions of current Labour Party policies.
A useful piece from Keith Ng on myths about tax. It’s an extract from The PSA’s “Progressive Thinking: Ten Perspectives on Tax” booklet.
Budget Day.
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Where to from here?
Ngaro has fronted up with another grudging apology. English should have fired him and it speaks volumes of third-term arrogance that he hasn’t.
I don’t know of a single piece written in support of Bennett’s proposal. She has been in the bubble too long, and lost touch with the values of NZ.
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Terrible news from Manchester where two explosions have killed at least 19 people and injured many more. This post will be updated as more news comes in.
Richard Harman at Politik: A “Families’ Income Package” is likely to be at the core of this week’s Budget. Sources close to the Government have “leaked” details of the Budget to POLITIK.
Stuff is running an online survey – Is New Zealand on the right track?
Geddis: “So either Bill English was lying to Susie Ferguson on the radio, or his advisors lied to him about what TPP11 will require, or the Crown’s lawyers are lying to the Waitangi Tribunal.”
We’ve had the Brighter Future (it sucks). We’ve had The Cusp of Something Special (it wasn’t). What will National’s soundbite slogan be this time?
Why isn’t National taking active steps to curb our emissions? We committed to reduce to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, instead we are expected to increase. This is a massive failure of vision, commitment, and competence.
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National does the bare minimum that it thinks it can get away with for those in need. This positioning is just preparing the ground for a budget that does more the same not enough.
The Herald has reported that ordinary New Zealanders are paying 500 times as much for water as corporations who export it.
Peter Ellis from Peter’s Stats Stuff
A Christchurch community group has come out with an outstanding solution for what to do with red zone land that is currently unusable.
