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Radio New Zealand apologises to David Cunliffe
Radio New Zealand has issued an apology to David Cunliffe following Matthew Hooton’s recent smearing of him. If only Cameron Slater would do the same because he is starting to get pretty obsessional about Cunliffe. This may not be a bad thing as he is rapidly turning the Collins faction of the National Party into New Zealand’s equivalent of the Tea Party -
“Predistribution”: From Miliband to Cunliffe
benefits, capitalism, david cunliffe, democratic participation, education, housing, infrastructure, labour, minimum wage, poverty, social democracy, wages, workers' rightsEd Miliband got the idea of pre-distribution from Jacob Hacker. Cunliffe has followed. Can “pre-distribution” underpin a new direction for the left in NZ: one relevant to the challenges of the 21st century, especially in countering the too wide inequality gap & re-instating social democracy?
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Wendy Brandon: DC’s chief of staff
Ok, I’m very pleasantly surprised. David Cunliffe has made a very interesting choice for chief of staff. Based on what I know about the task, she looks like a damn good fit for the role. In fact I’m just surprised that he managed to attract her at all for the thankless task.
I’ve always thought that the Chief of Staff role should be exercised by someone who was more managerial and staff orientated rather than being deeply embedded in the political game.
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Bryce Edwards needs to find a clue
Here’s a gem from his latest NZ Politics Daily.
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Axe the Copper Tax
A coalition of organisations as diverse as InternetNZ, TUANZ, a number of corporates, Unite Union and even Kiwiblog are starting a campaign to oppose Government plans to stop the cost of copper broadband connections to retail users being reduced to the fair price determined by the Commerce Commission so that Chorus can recover unbudgeted costs on the fibre rollout. -
Assessing the contenders’ campaigns
Robertson had to show some flare, show he’s more than an affable apparatchik, that he’s capable of wowing crowds and raising his profile: Not achieved
Jones had to show he had some real depth under the bravado and not start saying weird things under pressure: Not achieved
Cunliffe had to show he that he can meter his charismatic side to avoid gaffes and that he was genuinely something different from the B Team that’s led Labour since Clark: Achieved.
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When fear tactics backfire 2 – and GCSB roundup
John Key (the PM who has on multiple occasions overspent the budget on his own protection staff) really dug himself a hole when he accused opposition leaders of wanting to “run for the hills” in case of a terrorist attack. Not only did David Shearer get to remind him of the occasions that he has been under fire – and run to help – but now some other voices have chimed in too.
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Paula Bennett plans legislative witch hunt
Paula Bennett’s latest idea is to remove the rights of natural justice for state employees who do not take the proposed child abuser vetting test, even though the test has not even been designed. Even for Paula the stupidity of this idea is extreme … -
Submit to prevent SkyCity corruption
The SkyCity deal still needs some urgent attention from members of the public interested in getting a submission to the select committee. They close on Thursday 22 August next week. The politically corrupting influence of the gaming industry means that members of the public will have to push the politicians to stop them giving SkyCity these extraordinarily lucrative and destructive concessions for a economic pittance.
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The Failed Estate – An Australian Blog to follow
With Australian elections just around the corner quality Australian political blogs will be in demand. If you want to read a refreshingly progressive and sophisticated analysis of Australian Politics I recommend Jim Parker’s blog Failed Estate. He writes with precision on issues such as the state of Australia’s media, the undermining of Julia Gillard, and the festering sore that is the boat people issue. -
Chorus of opposition to Key-Dunne spying Bill continues
Yesterday Opposition parties filibustered, and successfully delayed the passage of the Key-Dunne spying Bill. This buys more time to protest, and to put pressure on MPs.
We have never before seen in New Zealand such a broad and ongoing chorus of opposition to government legislation as we are seeing with this Bill. Just yesterday alone…
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“The Big Issue”: councils & transport
activism, assets, auckland supercity, Conservation, cycleway, greens, infrastructure, labour, local body elections, local government, public transport, sustainabilityCampbell Live last Wednesday focused on transport: funding & Auckland versus the regions; public transport & roads; the revolutionary Congestion Free Network plan. City Vision (supported by Labour & the Green Party – with a major focus on transport) & 2 Future West candidates launch their Auckland council campaigns.
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Poverty Watch 42
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, the CPAG report on the links between poverty and child abuse, and why it shows that government policy is misguided. Green MP Holly Walker tries to get a straight answer out of Paula Bennett.
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John Key trashes the Constitution
John Key is getting into the habit of trashing important constitutional principles. The freedom of the press, the independence of Parliamentary Services and the principle that even the Prime Minister is subject to Parliament and the Privileges Committee have all been attacked recently. What next? -
Key throws Thorn to the wolves
In a desperate move to stop the spygate political scandal from reaching into National’s machine, Key has thrown Parliamentary Services head, Geoff Thorn, to the wolves (if you think he jumped I’ve got a bridge you may be interested in buying).
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ImperatorFish: A letter from a Kiwi terrorist
Scott has a letter from one of them thar Nu Zild terrists.
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This is Key’s scandal
Key’s loyal retainers are trying to keep him out of the Vance spying scandal. Major players are straight-out lying. Sadly for Key, the evidence of the timeline is clear. This is his scandal, start to finish.
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Reaction to housing policy
Labour will be pleased at the reaction to its Latest housing policy, from Vernon Small, John Armstrong and (knock me down with a feather) Colin Espiner. Opinion polling is also in favour.
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A king is born: Long Live Inequality!
accountability, class war, climate change, democracy under attack, john key, poverty, same old national, slippery, spin, Spying, uk politics, unemployment, welfare, workers' rightsUK children born on the same day as the new prince will get a silver penny: but their lives will be vastly different. Left foot Forward spells out the inequalities between these new born. John Key gushes over the new prince, while his government slashes, burns and fuels inequalities.
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New blog – Anton Oliver
Check out this post by former All Black Captain Anton Oliver on the blog over at New Zealand Story.
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Inequality: Fallow vs Rashbrooke
Yesterday The Herald ran two pieces on the latest Ministry of Social Development’s report on household income. They have very different conclusions – Brian Fallow’s Rising inequality largely a myth and Max Rashbrooke’s Rich get richer. The poor? Have a guess. So who’s right?
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No free speech at convention centre
National’s dirty deal with Sky City includes the right for the government to ban groups it doesn’t like from booking the convention centre.
Free speech. Use it or lose it.
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A problem of “masculine” values
benefits, class war, democratic participation, feminism, john key, labour, Left, news, poverty, sexism, spinThe MSM coverage of the Labour Party remit, led by right wing propagandists, is riddled with sexism and the same traditional masculinist values that marginalise the poor and those with least power. I repeat my post that critiques a speech on gender & politics at the 2012 Labour Party Conference.
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The flat patch
I’ve been having a look at the Roy Morgan trend. Oddly, I don’t see this Labour ‘flat patch’ that people are claiming is happening. What is happening is that the Greens are trending slightly down (as it usually does mid-term) and Labour isn’t rising fast enough to offset that. We’re still some way off the safe-zone for Labour+Greens, and the question is whether we’ll get there.
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John Key’s disdain for democracy
accountability, capitalism, copyright, greens, john key, national/act government, russel norman, slippery, Spying, telecommunications, us politicsNorman criticises John Key for showing complete disdain for democracy at yesterday’s public hearing on the GCSB Bill. Kim Dotcom is expected to provide a challenge today. Paul Buchanan is critical and argues for a full inquiry. Gordon Campbell proposes some questions. [update]: TV3 Livestream 3.30 pm [update] Dotcom -Key knew about him prior to GCSB spying on him TV3.
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ImperatorFish: An apology from the Law Society to John Key
Dear Prime Minister, It appears that we may have made a terrible mistake. We made a detailed submission outlining our concerns about your government’s plans to increase the powers of the GCSB. But it looks like we were wrong. You have told Parliament and the media that you disagree with us. You haven’t said why, but we now accept that you know better than us. What use is all our combined wisdom when arrayed against your everyman common-sense?
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OP: Fluoridation – it does reduce tooth decay
Ken Perrott at Open Parachute has been debunking some of the nonsense around fluoridated water by investigating claims (his background is in scientific research). It is refreshing after reading some of the recent misinterpreted drivel around about the science.
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Tory journalist of the year
And the winner is – Tracy Watkins.
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Frightened old men
Granny Herald pulled out the wedgie omnibus today with old man Armstrong and old man Roughan both taking their best shot at helping Key’s attempts to wedge the Greens and Labour.
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The shameless Nick Smith
ACC, accountability, auckland supercity, Conservation, greens, housing, john key, labour, Mining, same old national, slippery, sustainabilityNick Smith has a long history of slippery dealings. He apologises but accepts no blame, then is resurrected: contempt of court, a defamation case, the Pullar-ACC “conflict of interest”, bad faith negotiations with Auckland Council, the Denniston Plateau deal. Yesterday on RNZ, Smith exposed the government’s agenda on mining conservation land.
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Anatomy of another Key lie
John Key has been caught in yet another lie, over his claim that Solid Energy asked for a $1 billion injection of taxpayer’s money.
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Digital democracy: Fair Deal goes global
accountability, activism, capitalism, community democracy, International, internet, Spying, telecommunicationsNZ’s Fair Deal Coalition launched a new website, ourfairdeal.org, networking globally with others concerned about intellectual property & the TTPA. The FDC includes those supporting global “neoliberal” commerce, & others supporting community & public sector activities, democratic freedoms and privacy rights.
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Constitutional arrogance
The invaluable Andrew Geddis has yet another good post on Pundit, describing National’s latest outbreak of constitutional arrogance. Add to the long list. These are the actions of politicians who are drunk on power, and not being held to account for it.
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The budget’s flawed premise
The whole austerity driven focus of the budget and National’s economic policy is based on a premise which is in turn based on a spreadsheet error.
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John Key’s disaster capitalism
The latest Household Labour Force Employment statistics are out, and on the surface, look good for John and Bill. But this is driven by improved employment in Canterbury over the last quarter. Grant Robertson says, “Disaster recovery is not a plan for jobs”.
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Poverty Watch 29
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week we continue with the 2012 report from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. We also take a look at Mana’s Feed the Kids campaign, and the difference between the Nats’ glib promises in opposition and their actions in government.
