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Shameful

Written By: Tane - Date published: 5:08 pm, December 15th, 2008 - 79 comments

And so the Maori Party’s sell-out of its own people continues. Hot on the heels of the party’s vote to take money out of the pockets of the poor to pay for tax cuts for the rich, this morning’s Dominion Post reports: Green Party MP Mitiria Turei has accused the Maori Party of disgraceful behaviour […]

Farmers workers protest today

Written By: Tane - Date published: 10:25 am, November 21st, 2008 - 33 comments

Workers from Farmers stores in the Auckland area will take part in a ‘Skinny Santa’ parade down Queen Street today to protest against their low rates of pay and for a $15 minimum wage. Most Farmers staff are only paid between $12 and $13.50 an hour and the company’s latest pay offer would give the […]

Undefeated

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 3:14 pm, November 17th, 2008 - 41 comments

Paul Holmes wrote yesterday: “While Labour moves to the Opposition benches, it does so weirdly unmolested by the election defeat, weirdly undefeated” Damn right, the Left seems undefeated, and so it should. The Right has only won power by masquerading as the Left; Key’s mandate is only to maintain the legacy of the Fifth Labour […]

The distances between parties

Written By: lprent - Date published: 12:53 pm, November 9th, 2008 - 5 comments

Just before the election They Work For You released some impressive work on the voting distances between parties based on:- There are 110 final bill reading votes included in the analysis. All the votes are from the 48th New Zealand Parliament which was in term between 7 November 2005 and 3 October 2008. The plot […]

Making the decision

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 3:00 pm, November 7th, 2008 - 56 comments

Have you still not decided who you’ll vote for? The final poll shows the race between a National/ACT/United Future or a Labour/Green/Progressive/Maori government is neck and neck, so your choice matters. Here is some advice and tools that may help: When choosing who to vote for there are three things you should consider: policy – […]

Greens’ closing broadcast

Written By: Tane - Date published: 12:23 pm, November 6th, 2008 - 4 comments

Via frogblog, the Greens’ closing campaign broadcast. I’d put Labour’s up too, but I can’t find it.

Whose record is better?

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:19 am, October 31st, 2008 - 6 comments

I found it weird that National’s attack ad is a series of newspaper headlines. Everyone knows newspaper headlines are sensationalist and everyone knows that things were much worse under National in the 1990s, as this new youtube vid illustrates: Meanwhile, the upbeat jokers at 08wire have a positive reponse to the Nat attack ad:

A clear choice on ACC

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 9:59 am, October 29th, 2008 - 48 comments

If you vote National, United Future, or ACT, you will be voting for the ACC system to be privatised. Consequences of this include: – $200 million in profits flowing offshore, according to John Key’s former employers Merril Lynch – higher levies on most workers, as private insurers cherry-pick the most profitable for themselves, leaving the […]

Here be dragons

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 10:02 pm, October 25th, 2008 - 20 comments

So, we can all make up dumb pictures and say ‘beware of many-headed monsters’. Let’s, instead, ask if National’s attack makes sense. First, any new government is going to need support from a number of parties. A Labour-led government is likely to be dependent on Labour, the Progressives, Greens, and the Maori Party (four parties). […]

Green laffs

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 8:46 am, October 23rd, 2008 - 7 comments

Russel Norman at Drinking Liberally – Auckland last night on Lockwood Smith: Lockwood may think all Asians have small hands but what we really learned today is that Lockwood’s feet are so small he can fit them in his mouth Classic.

Childish

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:09 am, October 18th, 2008 - 64 comments

We live on a finite planet. We can’t just keep adding 75 million people a year to the human population while also increasing the average resource consumption per person without collapsing the biological systems that support us. Current projections have the world population rising another 2-2.5 billion in the next 40 years to peak around […]

Labour chickens out on $15 minimum wage

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 2:54 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 23 comments

Labour, why do you do this to me? One day you’re announcing neo-Keynesian policies to help us through the coming recession, then you stand up for the principle that access to education shouldn’t be dependent on the wealth of ones parents, and, then, just when I’m starting to believe that you really are a true […]

Wrong time for short-term thinking

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 10:55 am, October 14th, 2008 - 90 comments

National’s Nick Smith has announced that they would cancel the $1 billion fund to insulate New Zealand houses, which the Greens won as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme. This massive programme would improve energy efficiency, create warmer, healthier homes and would provide useful employment during the downturn. A study, ironically carried out under National and mentioned to me […]

Green TV ads

Written By: Tane - Date published: 10:55 am, October 10th, 2008 - 22 comments

The Greens’ new TV ads are up on Youtube. Pretty sparse, but they get the message across clearly. [Hat tip: frogblog]

Greens set their standards for coalition partners

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:34 am, October 9th, 2008 - 43 comments

The Greens have announced that they will choose their preferred coalition partner based on their commitment to 12 criteria. I’ll just look at 5 (not that the others are less important, just space): reduce New Zealand’s oil dependence and climate change emissions; – senior Nats don’t even think climate change is happening and the Party […]

Will Labour back $15 minimum wage?

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 7th, 2008 - 45 comments

The unions want the minimum wage lifted to $15 an hour, two thirds of the average hourly rate, restoring the historic ratio. The Greens, New Zealand First, The Progressives (I think), the Maori Party* and, oddly, the Kiwi Party are also calling for $15 an hour. Will Labour join them? Labour has an excellent record on the […]

CTU on closing the wage gap

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 4:20 pm, October 3rd, 2008 - 4 comments

The Council of Trade Unions has done a lot of work on why wages are low for many workers in New Zealand and how they can be increased to close the wage gap with Australia. They offer six proposals: Increase the minimum wage to at least $15 per/hour We know from the painful experience of […]

The Kingmaker but only one potential King

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:59 am, September 30th, 2008 - 51 comments

Let’s get serious about the idea of the Maori Party working with National. Yes, they want to play up the possibility to enhance their bargaining position, just as the Greens were last month, but it’s not going to happen. National and the Maori Party voted together in only a third of votes in the last […]

Greens good for workers

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 8:20 am, September 18th, 2008 - 75 comments

Work rights should be a big issue this election. National is proposing to strip workers of their rights to undermine wage increases. The Greens’ work rights policy, on the other hand, rocks. – Lift the minimum wage from $12 an hour to $15 an hour immediately. That will restore the minimum wage relative to the […]

The Greens’ billboards, too good?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 4:50 pm, September 7th, 2008 - 86 comments

I’m impressed with the Green’s new billboard campaign and I’m pretty certain it’ll work as it is clean and effective marketing and reminds me of the best work that was coming out of Saatchi when they were at the peak of their powers. One thing about the billboards disquiets me however, and that is that […]

Russel Norman at Drinking Liberally Wgtn – tomorrow

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:40 am, September 2nd, 2008 - 6 comments

The Drinking Liberally – Wellington email: By popular demand this Wednesday Drinking Liberally Wellington presents: Russel Norman – Co-leader of the Green Party. Russel is a relatively recent addition to parliament and many of you expressed an interest in hearing more about him and his views. This is your chance! Come share a drink with […]

Herald poll shows Nats’ lead collapsing

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 10:50 am, August 28th, 2008 - 36 comments

Today’s Herald-Digi poll is the first to be released that was taken after the secret agenda tape scandal had fully emerged and had some time to sit in voters’ minds. Which makes it worrying reading for National. They have lost 5.4% support (54.4% to 50%) and Labour has benefited from that loss picking up 5.5% (30.8% […]

Greens win better ETS

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:23 am, August 27th, 2008 - 21 comments

The Greens have won some very good improvements to the ETS in exchange for their support. The most important is $1 billion over 15 years to insulate low-income homes and subsidise upgrades to insulation of higher income homes. That’s a really positive development; all New Zealand homes will finally have decent insulation (Labour has done well […]

Greens back emissions trading scheme

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 5:08 pm, August 26th, 2008 - 48 comments

The Greens have decided to back the government’s emissions trading scheme saying in a press release that it’s a start but there’s more to do: We reported on Thursday that we had achieved virtually nothing in two areas – agriculture, and protection of important biodiversity from pine plantings. We have now made some progress on […]

Adapting to the end of cheap oil

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:01 pm, August 24th, 2008 - 30 comments

On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows a welcome shift in thinking and an acknowledgment that the age of cheap oil is over. Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices Rise contains a model built on the consensus of a number of international […]

Greens call for public input on ETS

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:10 am, August 22nd, 2008 - 22 comments

One thing you can always say for the Greens, they’re democratic to their core. Currently, they find themselves facing a tough choice – whether or not to support Labour’s Emissions Trading Scheme – and, true to their democratic principles, they’re asking for advice from the public on their decision. Jeanette Fitzsimmons outlines the following pros […]

Hilarious

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:20 am, August 4th, 2008 - 56 comments

Greens on National’s plan to borrow to build more roads: “Lonely dinosaur seeks white elephant“

The same dream

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:17 am, July 16th, 2008 - 5 comments

Some people don’t seem to understand that being of the Left does not mean being soley allied to Labour or the Greens or the Progressives. It means fundamentally holding beliefs that are fundamentally also held by Labour, the Greens, and the Progressives, a common thread of principles that binds the Left. 08wire.org explains with the […]

On Freedom

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 6:51 am, July 5th, 2008 - 122 comments

It is time for the Left to take back the language of freedom. At its heart freedom, power for the ordinary person, is what the Left is about. – Freedom from unemployment, – Freedom from crappy wages that mean you have to work 60 hours a week to make ends meet, – Freedom from having to […]

Greens discover Nats full of hot air

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 2:12 pm, July 2nd, 2008 - 46 comments

A classic ‘cake and eat it’ from Crosby/Textor National has been their approach to climate change – stating they support tackling this issue but opposing every policy that has been developed. The latest example is their position on the ETS, which No Right Turn explains beautifully: Reading the National Party’s minority report [PDF] on the […]