web analytics

Politics

Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation

Categories under Politics

Guns and gangs

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, February 28th, 2024 - 63 comments

The Government has announced yet another tough on gangs policy involving a severe restriction on the rights of freedom of expression at the same time that gun ownership laws will be liberalised.

What’s Left?

Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, February 25th, 2024 - 51 comments

From Election 2023’s result through to February 2024 there has been massive loss and damage to the Parliamentary capacity of Labour and Greens. Who still has the capacity to lead? What’s left?

About the promoters electoral returns

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, February 25th, 2024 - 8 comments

The Electoral Commission has released the major promoters’ electoral returns. These show significant amounts of money being spent on getting Labour unelected but give no detail about how the campaigns were funded.

The problem with corporate money in electorate campaigns

Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, February 24th, 2024 - 34 comments

Patrick Phelps campaign expense return

The 2023 candidate election returns have released and it has emerged that Bathurst Resources Ltd contributed $32,600 to Patrick Phelps, who ran a spoiler campaign against Damian O’Connor in West Coast Tasman.

Go well Grant Robertson

Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, February 21st, 2024 - 72 comments

Yesterday it was announced that Grant Robertson was leaving politics.

Bene bashing 6.0

Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, February 20th, 2024 - 102 comments

So what does National do when its minor support party tries to steal media attention with dog whistling racism? It reverts to some good old beneficiary bashing.

About the One News Poll

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 pm, February 19th, 2024 - 43 comments

The latest One News Verian poll suggests that there has been absolutely no honeymoon for the Government.

Get ready for your water to be privatised

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, February 17th, 2024 - 124 comments

The National Government’s repeal of the Three Waters Legislation and its pursuit of “new forms of infrastructure funding and financing” suggests that privatisation of water is on the drawing board.

A sad lament from the serial left

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 pm, February 13th, 2024 - 103 comments

Attacking leftists attempts to expose the Atlas Network of right-wing think tanks, Chris Trotter offers this gem “Morally speaking, is taking money from oil companies really all that distinguishable from giving money to oil companies every time we fill up our petrol tank?”

National and the Gutting of Local Democracy

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 pm, February 13th, 2024 - 16 comments

We have remarkably little democracy left in New Zealand. 

A Trump-led Withdrawal from NATO

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, February 13th, 2024 - 37 comments

Just as he did in 2017, Trump is clear in 2023 that the United States should withdraw from NATO.

Who are the four lobbyists with Parliamentary swipe cards?

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, February 12th, 2024 - 23 comments

National has trashed its comment last terms that lobbyists should not have special access rights by handing out four swipe cards to lobbyists and refusing to say who they are.

The apparatus behind the curtain – Part 2: The mainline

Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, February 11th, 2024 - 60 comments

In a guest post Seddonville Miner explores links between the Atlas Network and the Taxpayer’s Union.

Should America elect a well intentioned but hapless President or an evil and dangerous President?

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, February 11th, 2024 - 30 comments

Robert Hur, the Republican prosecutor investigating President Biden’s retention of classified documents has concluded he should not face trial because he was “well-intentioned, but sometimes hapless and forgetful”.

Alex Foulkes To Stand For Green Party Co-Leader

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, February 11th, 2024 - 147 comments

Faulkes describes himself as a staunch Eco-Socialist and trade unionist

Simeon Brown works to make transport system less sustainable

Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, February 10th, 2024 - 6 comments

This week we have seen National confirm it will cancel the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax and this will cause the cancellation or suspension of many projects designed to address congestion. And it has been confirmed that axing the clean car discount has seen sales of electric vehicles plummet. And that electric vehicles will shortly pay more to use the road than petrol vehicles.

Laura Norda strikes again

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, February 8th, 2024 - 78 comments

National has announced the cancellation of funding for Cultural Reports because of the cost and the abandonment of Labour’s plan to decrease the muster despite the cost.

Toitu te Tiriti

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, February 7th, 2024 - 68 comments

Recent events have shown overwhelming support for the treaty among Iwi, the willingness for David Seymour to create chaos for political advantage, and that Christopher Luxton is not in control of the Government.

Ratana and The Treaty of Waitangi

Written By: - Date published: 5:25 pm, February 6th, 2024 - 10 comments

“My understanding is a guy came out as a prophet of his own religious movement in the 1870s. And politicians feel a strange obligation to be there every year. I’ve never felt that.” David Seymour is shallow as a birdbath.

A modest proposal on Waitangi day

Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, February 5th, 2024 - 32 comments

While the Treaty of Waitangi continues to be battered back and forth, the clear reality is that Maori, after signing the infuriating Treaty, were systematically dispossessed of their land. Any reading of the history of colonial treaties shows that treaties were the primary method of dispossession and were designed to be broken. And invariably they were.

The “New Zealand model” for prostitution liberalisation doesn’t work

Written By: - Date published: 6:09 am, February 4th, 2024 - 57 comments

The Women’s Rights Party New Zealand and the Women’s Declaration International – New Zealand recently made a joint submission to Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls

The Apparatus behind the Curtain

Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, February 2nd, 2024 - 6 comments

The release from the Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa around tobacco industry interference was a glimpse behind the curtain into a troubling reality.

It has been a long week for Casey Costello

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, February 2nd, 2024 - 46 comments

Recent disclosure of the actions of associate Minister of Health Casey Costello raises the extraordinary possibility that British American Tobacco may be having an undue influence on the setting of the Government’s smoking policies.

ACT’s performative FedFoke virtual signalling

Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, February 1st, 2024 - 11 comments

Take your dirty boots off at the door ya numpties.

Christopher Luxon is no John Key

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, February 1st, 2024 - 48 comments

Yesterday in Parliament Christopher Luxon showed that he is struggling on the job.

Does the Western World really want to starve Palestine?

Written By: - Date published: 3:43 pm, January 30th, 2024 - 17 comments

Western Nations including New Zealand have suspended urgently needed aid for Palestine after revelations that a tiny minority of UNRHA workers may have been involved in Hamas raids and despite the UNHRA taking immediate action to address issues arising.

Shaw stands down as Greens co-leader

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, January 30th, 2024 - 77 comments

James Shaw has announced that he is standing down as co-leader of the Green Party and a leadership process will be triggered.  He will stay on in Parliament in the meantime.

The week Luxon lost his moral mandate to lead

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, January 29th, 2024 - 30 comments

The last week has shown how Christopher Luxon has no understanding of New Zealand’s history and no appreciation about how dangerous Act’s proposed Treaty Principles Bill is.

Economy improves dramatically thanks to Labour

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, January 27th, 2024 - 26 comments

This week there were two pieces of economic news showing a dramatic improvement credit for which should be given to the last Labour Government.

The Government is planning to cut tobacco excise duty

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, January 25th, 2024 - 78 comments

Hot on the heels of the Government’s walk back from the previous Government’s smoke free policies is the disclosure that the Government is considering halting increases to excise duties on tobacco. And the Government tried to hide this.

Are Road User Charges for every vehicle actually fair?

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, January 22nd, 2024 - 99 comments

New Zealand is one of the most car-reliant and petroleum-reliant countries on earth. So how we are taxed to travel on land has huge equity implications.