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Simeon Brown plays with Kiwi lives
Written By: - Date published: 5:55 pm, September 5th, 2025 - 2 comments
Perhaps the biggest news from a jam packed news week is how, under National’s Health Ministers Shane Reti & Simeon Brown, Health NZ illegally hid staffing data for over a year to conceal their systemic understaffing of our public health.
Guest Post – Planning By Firing Squad
Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, September 2nd, 2025 - 11 comments
The Planning by Firing Squad approach is characterised by being very rushed, lacking in detail, an almost total lack of public consultation, non-existent local knowledge and consistently paying little heed to environmental effects. It is a classic Wellington Ivory Tower approach.
National Government will have increased gross debt by over $100b – Who benefits ?
Written By: - Date published: 4:02 pm, August 19th, 2025 - 19 comments
The debt bogeyman has been unleashed in NZ, which we will examine – but even on face value, National Party debt is 25% more than Labour’s full debt contribution over 6 years – with no global pandemic
The $671 million dollar woman
Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, August 18th, 2025 - 23 comments
The Government is trying to spin that cancellation of the ferry contract will cost the country $144 million when the actual figure is at least $671 million.
Good, Democratic, Easy-To-Support Energy Policies
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, August 11th, 2025 - 16 comments
How to make fundamental changes to the country’s energy systems to ensure that future supply is sustainable and democratically controlled/
We Have a Human Right to Water, and to Democracy
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, July 1st, 2025 - 25 comments
National is rolling out comprehensive water corporatisation, across New Zealand. For those who don’t live in Auckland, Wellington, or other centres with commercialised water services already, this is coming to you fast. “Water Done Well” is the policy of this government to require all communities to decide on forming commercial water delivery entities, to run […]
Is NZ as Stable as Luxon Claims?
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 pm, March 15th, 2025 - 13 comments
By pursuing cuts, selling off assets to multinationals, enabling ACT’s attacks on the Treaty and cutting back on climate commitments, Luxon is guaranteeing that NZ will not be stable for long, writes Elliot Crossan.
Failed Conference
Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, March 14th, 2025 - 46 comments
Luxon’s team have delivered zero deals out of the multibillionaire conference on infrastructure. This is a fail.
Looks like rail enabled ferries may be back
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, March 1st, 2025 - 36 comments
You have to hand it to Winston and New Zealand First. On the issue of rail enabled ferries they have performed outstanding work. That good that what looked like a foregone conclusion, the dismantling of the Cook Strait Rail Link, may not happen after all.
Most kiwis blame Willis for Ferry Fiasco
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, January 30th, 2025 - 9 comments
Recent polling suggests that two thirds of kiwis disagree with Nicola Willis’s decision to cancel the replacement Inter Island ferries contract.
New Zealand’s worst leadership speech since 2008
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, January 24th, 2025 - 22 comments
The PM’s ‘State of the Nation’ speech about the New Zealand economy titled “economic growth the key to better days ahead” was a bag of words with no plan.
Reviewing the Cook Strait Ferry fiasco
Written By: - Date published: 1:07 pm, January 16th, 2025 - 35 comments
A review of the history of the Ferries issue suggests that this could be coalition ending and career ending.
Luxon & Willis Double Down on Ferries Debacle
Written By: - Date published: 6:46 am, December 13th, 2024 - 15 comments
Government sneakily shifts the numbers on the cancelled Kiwirail i-Rex project from $3b to $4b as Luxon and Willis defend their plan for a plan.
Nicola Willis Deflects As National Splurge On Roads
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, November 10th, 2024 - 10 comments
Nicola Willis deflects a question on why National are spending billions on roads without a business case – after cancelling the 2026 i-Rex – which had a strong business case and required $1.4bn more to complete seismic upgraded ports and next generation ferries.
Ferry ferry quite contrary
Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, September 26th, 2024 - 24 comments
There appears to be an impasse in the Coalition’s ranks with Act and National not wanting rail enabled replacement ferries but Winston Peters demanding that they be rail enabled.
Willis’s Bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander Cancellation
Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, September 4th, 2024 - 26 comments
Nicola Willis’s bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander project cancellation has so far cost Kiwis $1bn, but that’s not all. Today RNZ’s reporting reveals the government may have also undermined NZ’s relationship with South Korea.
Mountain Tui: When is an independent expert or advisory group “independent?”
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, July 12th, 2024 - 5 comments
As reports confirm that the Government intends to sell off Kiwirail ferries, the question has to be asked: “Why is the Government paying thousands of dollars to former National Party members for advice” and when is independent advice not reliable?
Mountain Tui: The Kiwirail Interislander saga continues
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, July 11th, 2024 - 40 comments
Nicola Willis’s decision to cancel the Kiwirail i-Rex contract without a back up plan is coming back to bite. As costs pile up for the taxpayer, we have already lost half a billion dollars, but that won’t be the final bill. And there are still no ferries.
Ferry sweary
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, June 27th, 2024 - 45 comments
The Government is in a rather precarious position relating to the contract to replace the ageing Cook Straight ferries, which clearly need replacing.
How Northland Became New Zealand’s Deepest Shame
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, June 25th, 2024 - 27 comments
Last week Northland had a power pylon simply fall down on a still day. 100,000 properties lost power. Quickly restored, it underscored how vulnerable the Far North is.
NZ Initiative – tax cuts are silly at present. I have to agree.
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, March 27th, 2024 - 41 comments
I don’t agree with people from New Zealand Initiative often. Mostly I just growl. But Oliver Hartwich who is the Initiative’s Executive Director wrote a article in The Australian “Christopher Luxon’s challenge for NZ economy: fiscal discipline or tax cuts”. Hard to find anyone aware of the current recession who could disagree outside of a small political minority in the National caucus.
National wants to hide huge potential rates rises caused by canning of Three Waters
Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, December 24th, 2023 - 20 comments
Someone should tell the Taxpayer’s Union. Some Local Councils are planning to put rates up by double digit figures. And the Government is planning on exempting them from discussing this with ratepayers.
Our heat battery in the oceans
Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, May 19th, 2023 - 28 comments
Almost all of the extra heat that humans have captured by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over the last few centuries has wound up warming the deep oceans. We’re now starting to feel the effects of that excess heat.
National’s three waters policy
Written By: - Date published: 1:21 pm, February 26th, 2023 - 44 comments
National has announced its alternative to the Three Waters Policy with the standout feature being greater central control of asset management and investment plans than offered by Three Waters and even greater loss of local control.
Kelvin Davis – if not now then when?
Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, November 7th, 2022 - 32 comments
The text of an excellent speech given by Kelvin Davis to the Labour Party conference on climate change.
Maintenance time
Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, January 2nd, 2022 - 15 comments
The Standard server is going down for a few hours later today for maintenance. Some of the drives in the archive array are getting old. The SSDs in The Standard array are showing wear. Needs a good vacuum – for which I mostly blame the cat….
The 2022 Economic Boom
Written By: - Date published: 11:18 am, December 12th, 2021 - 23 comments
New Zealand is seeing a strong, business-led recovery. But what will we do with this success?
Have we just thrown the fight, before the war has ended?
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, October 6th, 2021 - 53 comments
With all the unfortunate rhetoric around “giving up on the elimination strategy”.
Small businesspeople around me, who have quietly carried on with the program, and have been supportive of the Government strategy of elimination, even though, in many cases, it has been personally costly, are telling me,, “why did we bother”!
It doesn’t matter if it is the actual Government intention, or the media interpretation, the damage has now been done.
Vote Labour To Support Your Job
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, September 24th, 2020 - 100 comments
This is a backpocket election – and that’s where most of Labour’s effort is going as it rightly should.
“Reds under the Bed”.
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, September 4th, 2020 - 78 comments
Everyone has recently had an education on “Socialism” working in practice.
And a graphic illustration of the shortcomings, of under regulated “Free market” Capitalism, Globalism, tax cuts for the rich, and the mania for monetising everything in sight, and “running it like a business”.
The Greens are thinking ahead
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, July 26th, 2020 - 126 comments
The Greens have released a detailed policy document that sets out what they want to achieve if they are part of the next Government and their Labour Relations policies could be considered to be more pro union than Labour’s policies.
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