NZ troops to Iraq?
Key’s public position on sending troops to Iraq has (surprise!) changed since the election. His private position on the topic probably hasn’t changed since 2003.
Open mike 01/10/2014
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Parker as interim leader
According to early reports (Twitter) David Parker is interim leader of the Labour Party, with Annette King as deputy.
NRT: A model for unaccountability
The Act party, well known for rorts, dodgy deals, general corruption, and the poor calibre of their candidates, is doing it again. National gave their single novice MP an “under-secretary” position to allow Act to rort extra money from taxpayers. It also provides him with a position that is wholly unaccountable to parliament or the public via OIA.
Slater capitulates
Cameron Slater has capitulated and ended his case against various media organisations. He faces the prospect of a significant award of costs against him. There is now no restriction on the media using the Rawshark dumps the media have been apparently provided with. So far nothing has been published. Why the delay?
Grooming Bennett
Key is grooming Bennett for a finance role and eventual succession. No point in Nat members making a fuss, they don’t get a say in who leads them.
Open mike 30/09/2014
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Join now to elect a leader
Labour’s leadership rules state that if you want to have a vote in this leadership election you need to be a paid-up member by Wednesday 1 October, 11.59pm.
Point of Order
Trevor Mallard is known for frequent intervention with points of order in Parliament at Question Time. His latest intervention however notified to the Herald to refuse caucus discipline is out of order. The whip’s request to caucus members to refrain from expressing their personal views at this stage of the process is entirely reasonable. No doubt at some time they will all be let off the leash, but right now unity and solidarity is far more important.
The Monkeywrench
Some thoughts from a different angle on ‘what went wrong’, or maybe just saying stuff along the lines of what plenty of other people are thinking
Labour – a rock and a hard place
Labour is being criticised for leadership divisions. If the party had not examined its leadership it would be being criticised for ignoring the message of the voters. So never mind the media frenzy, concentrate on running (like last time) a positive and constructive selection process and review.
Open mike 29/09/2014
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RAW SHARK……THE CAFE, (a new t.v. pilot series) Episode One – “Shark Off”
After TV Two’s successful series of ‘allo, allo, allo, allo based at the Whale Oil Cafe, a pilot series “Raw Shark – the […]
Jackal: The truth will out
Cameron Slater is a complete arsehole. He gets paid to exercise these talents as was exposed in Dirty Politics. So the question is who is paying him to attack researchers in public health? Do we have a National Minister of Health yet? Or is it the junk food industry or the tobacco lobby? And does he declare his earnings to the IRD?
Hello National, bye bye breaks …
Our guest poster has a look at the Employment relations Amendment Bill that National will attempt to sneak through during Labour’s leadership primary. This bill is clearly targeted at those employees who are most vulnerable. It reinforces the Nat’s slow and steady but effective chipping away of employee’s rights and will really resonate with its core constituency
Pick up the ball
In the spirit of new badly needed Left Unity. The Left opposition needs to start setting the agenda. First “feed the kids” needs to be picked up. Second the corporate welfare for Solid Energy needs a lot of scrutiny. So does the the state funding of oil exploration.
Robertson announces that he is standing for leader
Grant Robertson is the second Labour MP to announce that he wishes to seek the party’s leadership.
David Clark on Dunedin North
MP for Dunedin North David Clark has been reflecting on the very successful result in the electorate.
Surveillance in Australia
Latest developments in Australia are relevant in the context of the recent focus on surveillance in NZ. What are the odds that the Nats will pass similar laws here during their current term?
Open mike 28/09/2014
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 …
Labour has a leadership contest
David Cunliffe has announced that he has resigned as leader of the Labour Party but will stand again to seek a mandate for change.
Cunliffe’s statement
Labour’s Council is currently meeting. David Cunliffe is expected to make a statement today at 2:30. It will be covered live by RNZ, 3 News and other outlets. Update: David Cunliffe has announced his resignation from the leader’s position but will contest the vacant leadership. Get ready for a leadership contest …
Boots Theory: Creepy behaviour from David Farrar
David Farrar continues the Dirty Politics strategy of trying to intimidate critics of the government into silence.
What will Kim Dotcom do next?
Nice to see one Journalist speaking up about National’s vicious personal attacks on Kim Dotcom. What will Dotcom do next? My guess is that he will stay out of NZ politics from now on.
National education
So National will continue their rorts by giving ministries to their tame poodles, Rimmer and the Hair. Despite each making the Aotearoa Legalise […]
Stop deep sea oil drilling hikoi
National wants to permit deep sea oil drilling. Last time there was huge opposition and the opposition is starting again. The hikoi is under way.
Local Bodies: Greens Immediately Become the Opposition.
bspout at Local Bodies was well up on the Greens list, but as the Greens only got 10%, he didn’t get into parliament. But as he says, with Labour navel gazing and NZ First lacking experience, the greens are currently the only effective opposition at present.
Open mike 27/09/2014
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I disagree
With Lynn, which according to the trolls should see me banned 😈
I think the Labour results show voters understand MMP, not that Labour doesn’t.
Labour obviously never worked out MMP
Perhaps it is time for activists to have two parties. The one that specialises in electorates and the one that focuses on party vote. Because it is becoming evident that Labour is unlikely to ever manage to make the transition to being a MMP party. Their MPs clearly don’t care for the party or the brand.
Key rorts system
There is a rort being negotiated in Parliament that will cost the thick edge of $1 million a year. Where is the Taxpayer’s union on this?
Dirty Kiwiblog
Dr Jarrod Gilbert was the victim of a typical dirty politics smear campaign via Kiwiblog. In the last couple of days he has done some interesting posts on the subject. Expect dirty politics, and personal attacks on critics of the government, to escalate even further over the next three years.
Open mike 26/09/2014
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The last five days
An accident… Then an odd thing starts to happen. Instead of helping the survivors and securing the scene, the rescue crew start fighting amongst themselves. How did the crash happen? Was it was the driver’s fault? What was the main cause of the accident?
Facebook censoring pages critical of John Key?
A facebook group called “John Key has let down New Zealand” has just been closed for violations of the user agreement. This group had 16.000 members and was one of the most active political facebook pages in NZ.
Health service funding
The Nats are steadily cutting funding (in real terms) to health (and other sectors). Today, yet another doctor broke. Welcome to the brighter future.