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Politics

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

Categories under Politics

A week of sideshows

Written By: - Date published: 5:34 pm, August 21st, 2022 - 64 comments

But the past week has been a week of sideshows.  One international as elements of the right try to smear Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin for dancing.  And one local where rogue Labour MP Gaurav Sharma is running out of excuses for not backing up the extraordinary claims he has made about the Labour Party.

Not A Ripple of Difference

Written By: - Date published: 1:24 pm, August 19th, 2022 - 24 comments

The polls are out and the internal revolt last month to remove James Shaw as Greens co leader hasn’t made a ripple.

By Nature Unfair

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, August 18th, 2022 - 28 comments

You can be the most moral nation on earth and have no reward for it.

What to do with Gaurav Sharma

Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, August 16th, 2022 - 184 comments

The Labour Caucus will meet this afternoon to discuss what to do about Gaurav Sharma.

Greens: New public transport model must be backed with investment

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, August 16th, 2022 - 9 comments

“Along with public ownership and better wages and conditions for people working on public transport, if we can get the Government to focus nearly all transport investments on making it easier for people to walk, bike, or hop on a bus, train, or ferry we can create a world-class transport system that works for everyone. The best way to do that is to get more Green MPs into Parliament,” – Julie Anne Genter.

About Gaurav Sharma

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, August 15th, 2022 - 101 comments

Recent incidents involving Labour MP Gaurav Sharma are evidence of poor relationships with staff and not anything more sinister.

Stuff’s Fire and Fury major investigation into the occupation of Parliament grounds

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, August 14th, 2022 - 71 comments

The Wellington occupation was supposed to be about ending the mandates, but a new Stuff Circuit documentary investigates those behind the protest and discovers they have far bigger and more dangerous goals.

Molloy drops out of Mayoralty race

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, August 12th, 2022 - 35 comments

Self described tough man Leo Molloy has found the going too tough and has pulled out of the Auckland mayoralty race.

Bastards Versus Assholes

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, August 12th, 2022 - 47 comments

This post was written before Gaurav Sharma’s Herald article and should not be taken as validation of his comments.  There are necessary bastards in political life, and in developed democracies compared to everywhere else ours are gentle as lambs

Greens: Bill to ban mining on conservation land pulled from biscuit tin

Written By: - Date published: 2:37 pm, August 11th, 2022 - 18 comments

Eugenie Sage’s Members Bill has been drawn.

“We call on the Labour Government to back the Bill so it can finally fulfil its promise to ban new mining projects on public conservation land”

The Three Strikes abomination is no more

Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, August 11th, 2022 - 44 comments

The three strikes legislation, the brainchild of dead baby identity stealing former ACT MP David Garrett, is no more.

Uffindel’s new allegation

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, August 10th, 2022 - 231 comments

Radio New Zealand has published new allegations of bullying by National MP Sam Uffindell this time by a female flatmate who flatted with Uffindell while at University.

Was This The Change We Needed?

Written By: - Date published: 1:07 pm, August 9th, 2022 - 11 comments

Crises that profoundly test a small developed state like New Zealand have required huge growth in state strength and policy power. But was it the change we needed?

National’s culture problem

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 pm, August 8th, 2022 - 139 comments

National MP Sam Uffindell has today been engaged in a media wide mea culpa after allegations that he bullied a young student and was expelled from Kings College have been publicised.

National tries to blame Labour for National’s tax flip flop flip

Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, August 7th, 2022 - 13 comments

Chris Bishop has accused Labour of engaging in dirty politics for pointing out that this week National has changed its policy on income tax indexation twice.

Luxon’s latest gaffes

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, August 4th, 2022 - 57 comments

Hot on his confusion of Hawaii with Te Puke Christopher Luxon’s has dropped a couple of new clangers by admitting then denying that National will not increase health funding at least by the rate of inflation and then by displaying his class prejudice by saying people are not going to get rich on welfare.

National’s weird take on the Government’s Climate Adaption Plan

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, August 4th, 2022 - 7 comments

The Government’s release of the National Adaption Plan to deal with climate change has been met by National with an insistence that who should pay for potentially hundreds of billions of costs should have already been identified.

What New Zealanders are thinking about climate change

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, August 3rd, 2022 - 29 comments

A new Ipsos poll has some good news.

Chris Bishop supports AND opposes vaccine mandates

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 3rd, 2022 - 51 comments

Remember when National’s Chris Bishop thought that Labour was not being staunch enough of mandates?  He now thinks that Labour is being too staunch.

Why stick more fingers in the donations dyke?

Written By: - Date published: 9:50 pm, August 1st, 2022 - 13 comments

The latest attempt to construct a sensible political donations regime will likely again prove to be full of holes. Going back to basics would be much better. The good news is that the basics were comprehensively assessed 36 years ago by the 1986 Royal Commission on Electoral Reform. It recommended state funding.

Political donations law needs reform

Written By: - Date published: 2:44 pm, August 1st, 2022 - 7 comments

Judge Jagose’s decision to acquit two persons linked to New Zealand First charged with obtaining control over $750,000 has opened up rather large holes in the obligations of political parties to report donations.

Poverty is a political choice, why are Labour choosing it?

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, August 1st, 2022 - 54 comments

Labour announced earlier in the year that it would give a $350 cash transfer to all New Zealanders earning less than $70,000.

Except beneficiaries.

Why is the UK’s only youth gender identity clinic closing, and what does this mean for New Zealand?

Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, July 29th, 2022 - 76 comments

The NHS is shutting down its gender identity clinic for children after a damning review found that it failed vulnerable under-18s.

Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey Valedictory Lecture

Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, July 29th, 2022 - 12 comments

Academic activism and speaking truth to power.

Best yet in National Party splatter series in production

Written By: - Date published: 1:31 pm, July 28th, 2022 - 46 comments

The kicker in Andrea Vance’s Blue Blood, her insider’s view of the splatter-movie that has been the National Party since John Key stepped down, is that the best yet is in production. She chronicles treachery that has become the modus operandi of the vacuous vipers inhabiting the caucus. Details of the dirty work induce you to turn the page for more. It doesn’t look like Luxon is the redeemer.

Ardern’s Leadership Generates Pacific Results

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, July 28th, 2022 - 9 comments

New Zealand has been overdue to show strong results in the Pacific Islands. Not a moment too soon, this is what Prime Minister Ardern delivered.

Luxon goes to Te Puke Hawaii

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, July 27th, 2022 - 58 comments

The question of what has happened to Christopher Luxon was answered yesterday in a shambolic messy way that must have National operatives in despair.

Really bad takes on the Green’s leadership issue

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, July 26th, 2022 - 60 comments

There have been some spectacularly bad takes on Green Party leadership issues by voices on the right and academia which were all shown to be spectacularly wrong after Chloe Swarbrick announced that she was not seeking the Green Party leadership.

The inside story of National’s civil war

Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, July 25th, 2022 - 16 comments

Andrea Vance’s book Blood Bath provides an insider’s view of the carnage that erupted in the National Party from 2017 to 2021.  And while things have calmed down under Christopher Luxon’s his weaknesses, including his glossing over the importance of policy detail and his tendency to bag businesses has been noted.

James Shaw and the Green Party co-leadership

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, July 24th, 2022 - 189 comments

The tension in the Green Party is between pragmatism and the need for urgent system change.

For the public, there’s no need to panic. Dissent is valuable and healthy in politics. It sits alongside trusting that the Greens know how to manage their internal processes even if the public at large doesn’t understand them well.

 

Brian Tamaki really annoys Auckland by adding to traffic congestion

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, July 24th, 2022 - 53 comments

Brian Tamaki and Vision New Zealand supporters sought to improve levels of support by causing significant congestion in Auckland city yesterday.