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In memory of Norm Kirk

Written By: - Date published: 4:11 pm, August 31st, 2024 - 16 comments

Today marks the day 50 years ago when former Labour Prime Minister Norm Kirk died.

About David Parker’s and Labour’s debate about taxation

Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, August 31st, 2024 - 69 comments

Guest post by Nigel Haworth discussing recent publicity given to the Labour Party’s debate around tax reform.

What Happened in the House (Videos)

Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, August 30th, 2024 - 8 comments

NZ Parliament sitting where Labour’s Kieran McAnulty implores the Coalition government to stop deceiving Kiwis, and Winston Peters and Louise Upton both get fired up. Meanwhile, Casey Costello still doesn’t know who wrote her tobacco Ministerial papers.

National’s solution to the housing crisis

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, August 29th, 2024 - 14 comments

Dan Bidois has unwittingly exposed that National has a list of well honed talking points that are used and repeated ad mauseum. Normally within context, sometimes not.

Power and Speed

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, August 27th, 2024 - 17 comments

We are in a power crisis and the government has had to respond, but will their response make any difference?

Is Casey Costello Corrupt?

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, August 26th, 2024 - 27 comments

Casey Costello and the Coalition government have already halved tobacco excise at a cost of up to $216mn. Today RNZ reports there remain more questions on who wrote her Ministerial papers begging for tobacco industry benefits.

Where Does Labour Rebuild? 

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, August 26th, 2024 - 48 comments

It won’t come from the working class. But we know where it will come from.

Government contributes to developing homeless crisis

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, August 25th, 2024 - 3 comments

There is increasing concern that recently introduced policy changes by National have made housing for the most needy amongst us more tenuous.

Roger Douglas Has a Lesson for the Left

Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, August 25th, 2024 - 28 comments

Roger Douglas, the most revolutionary minister in the postwar history of Aotearoa, knew how to exert change in three years. Rogernomics transformed the economy with dizzying speed, from protectionist welfare state to a neoliberal free market. Elliot Crossan argues that the left needs to take the same approach to end the era of neoliberalism.

Culture wars are a diversion from addressing class struggles

Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, August 24th, 2024 - 25 comments

Ditch the NZ culture wars if we really want challenge status quo.

David Seymour’s Ministry of Regulation costs $80mn

Written By: - Date published: 12:38 pm, August 22nd, 2024 - 17 comments

David Seymour’s new Ministry has 91 staff, including 3 Deputy CEOs who earn up to $348K each – more than Ministers. Seymour wants to use it as a vehicle to change how NZ makes laws and invokes Ruth Richardson in his vision.

Is the Treaty Principles Bill dead or has it just suffered a flesh wound?

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, August 20th, 2024 - 21 comments

Even though National and NZ First have ruled out supporting Act’s Treaty Principles Bill beyond the first reading David Seymour thinks that the Bill has a chance of succeeding and wishes to proceed with introduction of the bill.

Lester Levy Asks Kiwis To Pray For Him – Again

Written By: - Date published: 6:52 pm, August 18th, 2024 - 33 comments

Lester Levy again asks Kiwis to pray for him. But who will pray for us, Dr Levy?

Is a Transformational Left-Wing Leadership of the NZ Labour Party Possible?

Written By: - Date published: 4:57 pm, August 17th, 2024 - 79 comments

It is a painful experience, to have fought long and hard for something you knew was inadequate and to have even that taken away. The Labour Party has long urged activists to be ‘realistic’. Elliot Crossan argues that it will not return to be a socialist party of the working class.

Waitangi Tribunal slams Treaty Principles Bill

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, August 17th, 2024 - 15 comments

The Waitangi Tribunal has in a scathing interim report slammed Act’s Treaty Principles Bill. And Christopher Luxon has underlined his weakness by refusing to halt the bill.

Chhour needs to go

Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, August 16th, 2024 - 24 comments

It is a shame that Ipredict is not still around. Otherwise I would be putting money on Chhour being the first to go.

What does this Government have against Te Ao Māori?

Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, August 11th, 2024 - 28 comments

Te Ao Māori forms an increasingly important part of our cultural identity. And most of us realise this and celebrate it. This Government’s stance is at odds with this increasingly strong consensus.

We should have kept the power company shares

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, August 9th, 2024 - 29 comments

Shane Jones, went onto radio yesterday and pledged a solution to high power prices. What are his chances and why are we in this mess?

Maritime Union v Willis

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, August 7th, 2024 - 49 comments

National’s decision to cancel the replacement Cook Strait ferry project is developing into a full blown political crisis for the Government with estimates that it could cost the Crown up to a billion dollars and with further costs to come.

Luxon is numerically illiterate

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, August 7th, 2024 - 5 comments

National has been caught out yet again using dubious analysis of data to justify policy.

David Seymour and his relationship to Atlas Network – Could this affect the fate of 7AA?

Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, August 6th, 2024 - 6 comments

Seymour was once called the “most dangerous man in Aotearoa right now.” But is he just misunderstood? Let’s revisit Section 7AA and Karen Chhour’s tears too.

Another Minister lauds their own incompetence

Written By: - Date published: 4:36 pm, August 5th, 2024 - 32 comments

Another minister is lauding themselves falsely. David Seymour bragged about school attendance at the start of term three, and claiming the credit for that happening. The problem is that it was worse than the attendance for the start of term two. It was a worse school attendance after he tried to improve attendance. Is he competent as a minister?

About Karen Chhour’s future

Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, August 3rd, 2024 - 27 comments

Act minister Karen Chhour has recently adopted the mantle of victimhood and claimed that she has been under attack and feels unsafe in Parliament. But the attacks are not personal and are motivated by the damage her party is causing to Oranga Tamariki as well as to the country’s race relations.

Luxon is accused of spreading “disinformation”

Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, August 1st, 2024 - 21 comments

The PM of NZ is accused of spreading intentional disinformation on Health NZ as the evidence piles up against the Coalition government. Here’s how it went down.

Act plays the race card and the victim card

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, August 1st, 2024 - 27 comments

Yesterday in Parliament was pretty weird. Act MPs staged a show down event and expressed increasing dissatisfaction with their Government’s speaker Gerry Brownlee.

Woefully misinformed or intentionally mangling the truth?

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, July 30th, 2024 - 26 comments

Senior medical figures have questioned the accuracy of what the Government is saying about the health crisis in Northland. And in an example of unbelievably bad timing it has been revealed that the Goverment put aside $216 million to fund a exise duty reduction for Phillip Morris.

They are going to privatise health, aren’t they

Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, July 28th, 2024 - 50 comments

This Government continues its trend to resembling something akin to Liz Truss’s rule of England. And Health is clearly among its targets.

A short history of National’s fascination with boot camps

Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, July 27th, 2024 - 24 comments

Just as with the Three Strikes Policy National has never seen an irrational itch it will not scratch for political advantage. Despite the reality.

National sneakily reduces child poverty targets

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, July 26th, 2024 - 19 comments

It has emerged that National has sneakily reduced child poverty targets.

The Abuse in Care report and the Government’s boot camp proposal

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, July 25th, 2024 - 24 comments

The Royal Commission’s recently released report into abuse in care has highlighted how unsuccessful and how damaging boot camps can be at the time the Government is celebrating the opening of its latest attempted version of a boot camp.

National’s carbon budget is a crock

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 pm, July 18th, 2024 - 16 comments

It is now clear why Simon Watts rushed out a three page brochure setting out what this Government’s response to climate change will be. It knew that the latest Climate Change Emissions Reduction Plan was coming out for consultation. And that it could not come up with a credible plan.