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Stick a fork in them, they’re done

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, June 25th, 2021 - 84 comments

The details of a particularly brutal National Party caucus meeting that resulted in Todd Muller announced his pending retirement from Parliament have been leaked in detail to the Herald’s Claire Trevett.

Todd’s going … who is next?

Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, June 24th, 2021 - 67 comments

Yesterday National suffered further damage to its ranks when Harete Hipango was outed as the MP with Parliamentary Services resources issues and Todd Muller announced that he will stand down as an MP at the end of this term nominally so that he can eventually spend more time with his family.  

Will the last remaining National MP please turn all the lights off

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, June 23rd, 2021 - 38 comments

Oh dear.  There is yet another story about yet another National MP in trouble because of their born to rule impulses.  Update:  the Herald has reported that the MP is Harete Hipango.  These blue on blue attacks are getting out of hand.

Openness and transparency

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 8th, 2021 - 117 comments

On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.

National’s culture problem

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, June 4th, 2021 - 29 comments

National’s week from hell is further evidence of a culture problem that will not be easily solved.

The National Party Caucus knew nuffink about Nick Smith’s problems

Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, June 2nd, 2021 - 40 comments

Last night the story about Nick Smith’s issues that caused his resignation finally broke, or did it?

 

Later Nick

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, June 1st, 2021 - 48 comments

Nick Smith is leaving Parliament not only to spend more time with his family but also because details of an employment dispute started after he yelled at a junior staffer were leaked.

Chris Bishop is tilting at Covid windmills

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, May 26th, 2021 - 32 comments

Right now, in terms of our Covid response, New Zealand is in a unique position.  It has no community spread of Covid and its level of restrictions is the most permissive in the world.  But this does not stop Chris Bishop from trying to double guess the handling of the pandemic.

The end of Ruthenasia

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, May 21st, 2021 - 61 comments

National presented a particularly glum picture in Parliament yesterday.  And it was not only the realisation that Judith Collins is out of her depth. It was because this budget spells the end of Ruthenasia.

C’mon National!

Written By: - Date published: 1:27 pm, May 17th, 2021 - 20 comments

Forlorn for now though they may be, this is the advice National MPs need right now.

National’s use of the dog whistle and its hatred of UN conventions

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, May 10th, 2021 - 52 comments

Judith Collins has applied the dog whistle to the He Puapua report and suggested that it is evidence of the Government wanting to radically change New Zealand society.  But a check through history shows that the report is based on an International Treaty that National signed up to.

Onya Michael

Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, May 8th, 2021 - 34 comments

Yesterday Minister of Labour Michael Wood led the announcement of a policy that conceivably could do more to address the decline in workers wages and conditions over the past 40 years than anything else tried recently.

Collins’ really bad take on te Tiriti

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, May 4th, 2021 - 67 comments

Last weekend Judith Collins spoke to the Northern Regional Conference of the National Party and gave as crude an analysis of te Tiriti as you can imagine.

National’s election review leaked

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, April 29th, 2021 - 20 comments

It was only a matter of time.  Tova O’Brien at Newshub has been leaked a copy of the abridged version of the National Party election review.  

National’s very bad day

Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, April 22nd, 2021 - 86 comments

Yesterday was a day where National focussed on dog whistle racism, supported religious extremists and moaned about workers receiving a modest increase in the minimum wage.

Its official – Transmission Gully is a fiasco

Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, April 20th, 2021 - 19 comments

A damning report into National’s PPP contract for construction of Transmission Gully has concluded that the maximum price the government would pay was set too low, project bidders soon worked this out and that proposals were “value managed down” or made cheaper on designs and timelines that created risks that would eventually manifest themselves after procurement once construction commenced.

National’s housing policy

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, April 16th, 2021 - 30 comments

National has released its housing policy and the proposals are predictable.  Free up more land, loosen up the RMA, and require Councils in high growth areas to urgently review their district plans.

Bridges supports Judith at this time

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, April 14th, 2021 - 10 comments

Simon Bridges had added to rumours of a leadership challenge by pledging support for Judith Collins as leader “at this time”.

The politics of the Covid vaccination roll out

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, April 12th, 2021 - 91 comments

Poor National.  Faced with a Government response to Covid that has been superb it is reduced to criticising the Government for not rolling out the Covid vaccine quickly enough.

Bridges is back?

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, April 9th, 2021 - 16 comments

Judith Collins has more reasons to be worried.  There is a rumour of a SImon Bridges-Chris Luxon leadership ticket potentially having a run for the leadership of the National Party.

National’s leadership problem

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, March 30th, 2021 - 42 comments

Chris Luxon’s maiden speech last week and another example of multiple leaks of details of a caucus meeting highlight how precarious Judith Collins’ tenure as National Party leader is.  But does someone have the numbers to replace her?

Doocey is taking the piss

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, March 26th, 2021 - 12 comments

Private member’s bills are an important feature of Parliament.  They give all MPs the chance to change the law to address real or perceived issues and problems.  So what does National MP Matt Doocey think is the country’s most pressing problem?

Disunity, leaks, and poor behaviour

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, March 10th, 2021 - 27 comments

National’s review of its 2020 election performance has been completed.  And as an indication of the level of faith existing in the party MPs may not be given their own copy.

National is focused on the issues that matter to Kiwis

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, March 7th, 2021 - 39 comments

National MP Barbara Kuriger has seized on the decision of the owners of Dr Seuss’s copyright to discontinue the printing of six Dr Seuss books with questionable content as evidence of cancel culture and has misrepresented which books are being discontinued.

Who’s the wokester?

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, February 24th, 2021 - 41 comments

Simon Bridges has repeated claims that Police Commissioner Andy Coster is “wokester” and has underlined how weak National’s caucus discipline is.

Not wearing ties bad, denigrating MPs and breaching Standing Orders fine

Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, February 12th, 2021 - 24 comments

Without a hint of embarrassment National associated entities yesterday criticised Trevor Mallard’s decision to loosen tie wearing requirements as a lowering of  standards while at the same time circulating a heavily doctored video in an attack on Labour MP Anna Lorck.

Simon Bridges, Conversion Therapy and free speech

Written By: - Date published: 12:54 pm, February 6th, 2021 - 22 comments

Simon Bridges has shown he wants to continue to fight the culture wars on the conservative side by claiming that preventing christian extremists from engaging in conversion therapy is a breach of their freedom of expression.

National is obsessed with dirty politics

Written By: - Date published: 8:14 am, February 2nd, 2021 - 21 comments

National’s claim that news of a possible romantic engagement between a hotel worker and someone in quarantine was a political attempt to distract attention shows they are still obsessed with dirty politics.

Waikeria Prison

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, January 3rd, 2021 - 95 comments

The stand off at Waikeria Prison between inmates and Corrections staff has attracted two responses from opposition parties, one being constructive and helpful and the other being complete and utter grandstanding.

How low will Bridges go?

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, January 2nd, 2021 - 24 comments

Simon Bridges has spent the last week casting aspersions on people who have tragically died at Music Festivals in an attempt to score culture war inspired political points and undermine the Government’s new pill testing law.

Chris Bishop goes woof woof on variant ‘B.1.1.7’

Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, December 28th, 2020 - 43 comments

I realise that this would normally be our silly season, but it seems a bit macabre with the northern winter death toll. But nothing really excuses Chris Bishop for being a complete dickhead in barking for immediate offshore testing for travellers from the UK. It is pointless. The government are a bit more sensible. They’re instituting an extra test at our border.