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Politics

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

Categories under Politics

Seymour’s bad faith Treaty policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 20th, 2023 - 67 comments

ACT’s proposal to put the potential meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi up for popular vote in a referendum is absurd dog whistling of the worst sort.

Understanding the New Zealand General Election 2023: Historical trends and perspectives.

Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, September 20th, 2023 - 15 comments

From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.

The great debate

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, September 19th, 2023 - 97 comments

Who will win tonight’s debate?  Will Christopher Luxon release his foreigner land purchase tax calculations spreadsheet?  Will Chris Hipkins talk about sausage rolls?

Stay tuned … 

Cookers of the world unite

Written By: - Date published: 3:35 pm, September 18th, 2023 - 26 comments

Ryan Hamilton, National’s Hamilton East candidate, has had social media released suggesting that he is against flouridation of water, opposed covid mandates and thinks that covid death numbers were inflated, is vehemently opposed to cycleways and thinks that poor people only drink Raro.

Labour’s Women’s Manifesto

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, September 18th, 2023 - 65 comments

“A re-elected Labour Government will continue its proud tradition of advancing women’s health, employment, and legal rights Spokesperson for Women Jan Tinetti said.”

My Way or the Huawei

Written By: - Date published: 5:06 am, September 17th, 2023 - 9 comments

I like my Huawei phone. I’m looking forward to the new Mate 60Pro. It’s launch means the US-led sanctions aiming to crush Huawei, with New Zealand as a fast follower, have completely failed to set back Chinese technology.

Green Party confirms plan for five weeks annual leave

Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, September 16th, 2023 - 19 comments

“Everyone should be able to spend quality time with their whānau and friends”

Where are National’s costings?

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, September 16th, 2023 - 19 comments

Despite repeated analysis that its policies do not add up National is refusing to release the costings behind its policies.

Last night’s ASB Finance Debate (updated)

Written By: - Date published: 6:46 pm, September 14th, 2023 - 70 comments

Jack Tame hosts the debate between Labour’s Finance Minister and Finance Spokespersons from the Greens, NZ First, National and Act.

National’s enormous tax hole problem

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, September 14th, 2023 - 115 comments

Independent economists have calculated that there is a half a billion dollar hole in National’s foreigner land purchase tax policy.

Predatory delay on climate action by Fonterra, Dairy NZ and Federated Farmers

Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, September 13th, 2023 - 2 comments

A damning report from Russel Norman on how the agricultural industry blocked climate action for the past two decades.

National is devastated as PREFU is better than expected

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, September 13th, 2023 - 26 comments

National has reached new levels of excessive hyperbole in response to the PREFU release which was better than expected.

The silver lining of last night’s poll

Written By: - Date published: 1:56 pm, September 12th, 2023 - 31 comments

The silver lining to last night’s Reid Research poll is that Act’s support is slumping and if there is a change in Government it may not be as extreme as it could have been.

Labour pledges free cervical screening 

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, September 12th, 2023 - 9 comments

“Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and regular screening saves lives, so it is critical cost isn’t a barrier to accessing early detection”

Greens will demand Minister for Oceans and Fisheries to lead ocean rescue plan

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 12th, 2023 - 14 comments

“The Green Party has a rescue plan for the ocean”

The Greens In Real Government in October 2023

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, September 11th, 2023 - 21 comments

What happens if the Green Party gets 10% of the vote and the top 9 get in. And say they get to form a government. What would Greens in Cabinet look like?

Another Act candidate bites the dust

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, September 11th, 2023 - 24 comments

At this rate Act may not have enough candidates to fill its list of MPs in Parliament.

Why does National not trust teachers to teach?

Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, September 10th, 2023 - 34 comments

National has proposed to direct teachers how and what they should teach to improve literacy standards.

An ACT New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, September 8th, 2023 - 38 comments

What will New Zealand look like if Act forms part of the next Government?

Where is NZ First’s list?

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 pm, September 7th, 2023 - 13 comments

With the nomination period closing within a week or so I wonder why NZ First has not published its list yet?

Can’t we have more charging stations AND the clean car discount?

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 7th, 2023 - 18 comments

National’s proposal to increase the number of electric car charging stations is something that should be considered but not at the expense of the extraordinarily successful clean car discount.

Unease Over New Zealand Overtures to US in Pacific

Written By: - Date published: 8:36 pm, September 6th, 2023 - 9 comments

New security-state documents show Wellington aligning its military with the “rules-based international order” while preparing Kiwis for war with key trading partner China, writes Mick Hall.

National does a big sook

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, September 5th, 2023 - 51 comments

National, which perfected the art of dirty politics, and which has spent the past couple of years being relentlessly negative and which has had its sock puppets attack individual Labour MPs mercilessly is deeply, deeply, deeply upset that the CTU has pointed out to the public what a Christopher Luxon led Government would actually mean.

This Election we need to talk About China

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, September 4th, 2023 - 70 comments

Yes we could do the next five weeks on teeth and taxes, but actually China is pulling us down and our political parties need to make it an election issue.

Jeremy Corbyn was not fit to be Prime Minister. But is Starmer?

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 am, September 4th, 2023 - 20 comments

It is said that there is a thin line between bravery and stupidity. Posting a link to my blog post which said that Jeremy Corbyn was not fit to be Prime Minister, to the ‘Labour London Left’ WhatsApp group. I will leave it to the reader to decide which one that was.

Labour’s 2023 campaign launch

Written By: - Date published: 2:35 pm, September 2nd, 2023 - 54 comments

Video from Labour’s 2023 campaign launch in Auckland.

National’s credibility is on the line

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, September 2nd, 2023 - 40 comments

When the history of the 2023 New Zealand Aotearoa general election is written and if Labour gets up to win historians will point to the events of this week as the turning point in what has already been a dramatic year in politics. Because I cannot believe how bad National’s tax cut policy release has been researched and structured and how bad its release is going.

Four new taxes and a climate funeral

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, September 1st, 2023 - 30 comments

National’s announcement of four new taxes to fund tax cuts rely on herculean assumptions that will never be met. And their proposal for climate change will undermine the slow but steady progress the country has been making to meeting its emission reduction goals.

The report of our death has been grossly exaggerated

Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, August 31st, 2023 - 44 comments

Now is not the time to give up, now is the time to work harder at winning.

Labour should not cut spending on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, August 30th, 2023 - 22 comments

At a time when the effects of Climate Change are becoming pronounced now is not the time to cut spending on carbon reduction projects.

New Zealand’s Greatest Economic Threat is Fonterra

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, August 29th, 2023 - 35 comments

Fonterra represents New Zealand’s largest internal economic threat. And promise.