Latest Roy Morgan Poll shows the Labour funk

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Chris Trotter’s blog has caused howls from some of the more desperate parts of the left wing blogosphere that no one ever bothers to read, but the latest funk that seems to have enveloped Labour is being recorded in the latest Roy Morgan Poll…

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…National (48%) increases lead over Labour/ Greens (42%) – biggest lead for National since July 2013.

Cunliffe must force Labour’s hand on some policy initiatives or risk the ABCs self-sabotage to derail his attempt at winning. The current false sense of wealth being generated by housing property bubble will fade once interest rates start spiking, the trouble then is will Labour have the policy ready when people want to start listening.

48 COMMENTS

  1. For the middle classes, the gloss will start to wear of Key and his shabby government in March.

    That’s when the RBNZ will begin to raise interest rates.

    Subsequently, by the time mortgage rates reach 7-8%, the middle classes will squeal like stuck pigs.

    As the OCR rises, so will the Dollar, as currency speculators buy the Kiwi, pushing up it’s value in comparison to our trading partners.

    That’ll make exporting even less profitable; dairying reciepts will take a hit; and business will feel the pinch.

    Expect a “dead car bounce” in a rise in unemployment, as;

    1. businesses try to cut costs in rising interest-rates and dropping profits,

    2. Consumer spending takes a dive as people pay more on their mortgages/rents, thereby reducing discretionary spending.

    It may be a “recovery”, but it’ll be a two edged sword.

    Some will benefit. Others will take a hit.

    Mortgage holders are in for a very nasty shock later this year.

    Just in time for the election.

    The battle is not over – not by a long shot.

    • Interest rate rises have been telegraphed well in advance. Anyone who isn’t at least preparing for these now is a bit of a fool. Regardless rises in interest rates don’t tend to immediately impact on the economy so it may well be too late for Labour if they are relying on this to peg back support.

      • Gosman if Labour are ‘waiting’ for interest rate rises to make an impact on their poll rating, they are dead men walking. Ooops, that’s exactly what they are!

        • On interest rates, the middle classes who own the houses and vote national are all of the view that the labour greens government would mean much higher interest rate rises than under a national government.

          In addition those voting middle classes simply do not trust labour Greens to manage the economy anywhere as well as National has.

          Sort of makes life difficult for your lot.

          • “On interest rates, the middle classes who own the houses and vote national are all of the view that the labour greens government would mean much higher interest rate rises than under a national government. ”

            That’s utter rubbish, Peter. I can’t even begin to see how the middle classes would determine that interest rates would be higher under a Labour-led government.

            In fact, Standard and Poors said pretty much the same thing, when Key tried to bullshit Parliament with his anonymous “email”.

            “S&P contradicts Key downgrade claim”
            http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10757922

            Interest rates are determined by (a) overseas lenders and (b) the RBNZ’s OCR.

            In general, interest rates rise when economic activity is expanding, and fall, in times of recession. If you want low interest rates, you need a permanent recession to drive down demand for money.

            It’s either ignorance or willful bullshitting if you think that interest rates are controlled by the government. Personally, I think it’s the latter.

            It shows how panicked you rightwing nutjobs are if you have to resort to outright lies.

        • @ Gosman & IV:

          None of the crap you’ve both written contradicts any of the points I’ve made.

          The rise in interest rates have been sign-posted.

          But it won’t made a blind bit of difference to voters which the sh*t hits the fan. People vote with their hip pockets, and when they’re paying 7-8% interest, watch them scream.

          What will National do then, to force down interest rates? Precipitate a localised recession?

          *pffft!*

          Time for you righties to be worried.

  2. • Labour needs to send the ABCs (“anyone but Cunliffe”s) packing at candidate selection time via the LECs (local electorate committees).
    • There is good Labour policy but more needs to come out such as returning power to unions via restoring rights (e.g. bin 90 day fire at will, maybe industry wide agreements with no freeloading clauses etc. and a proper right to strike)
    • Ditch support for upping the super age for now, even if it has to be looked at later. Why do you think the Key gang are hanging on to this one?
    • Get a decent centralised head office happening and front foot all this stuff, some LECs are into “be a Labour Neighbour” street level activity and there is the online “I”m in” Labour supporters initiative, and some unions are going to run “mobile early voting stations in working class areas”–but put your hand up if you have ever heard about these…..
    • Labour will get public and left movement support if it goes on the attack, otherwise us Mana, Green and hard left people are likely to leave the LP to its backroom plotting and scheming.

    • I think maybe David Cunliffe is living proof of the “Peter principle” and has risen to the level of his incompetence. It looks like the ABC’s might have known what they were talking about and Shane Jones, if he can keep up the energy levels, is looking more like leadership material.
      We have been on the neo-liberal path for so long now, that it is the only thing many voters know, but unless the tide of big business is slowed it’s going to wash over every single one of us and drag us out to sea.
      So many things are being done that we will not be able to undo, TPPA is next in line.

      • Ridiculous. I’m glad Shane Jones is precipitating the commerce commission’s look into supermarkets – but that game is just begun. To make a difference he actually has to deliver cheaper prices to consumers and reduce the pressure of the Australian foot on the throats of NZ suppliers. That’s a long way down the road, quite likely post election.

        I guess you haven’t been paying attention but the inequality caused by neo-liberal enthusiasm has munted economies around the world. Countries that want to grow – and that’s normal growth, children getting educations, jobs, families and houses – need to review the failed presumptions of the 1980s economists in Treasury, and re-establish a core economy that works.

        Cunliffe is capable of thinking about these kinds of issues. Shane Jones has a bit work more to do. By why you think Jones would want to be a Trojan horse for the ABCs is hard to fathom: he has some ability, they seem to have outlived theirs decades ago.

    • Yes this is why the greens are ahead in the blog poll.

      It is the greens that are doing all the running.

      They quite honestly are cleaning up.

      Therte is a new broom coming and it is all green.

  3. Notice all the Cunliffe baggers are out in force this is a Tory ploy to unsettle Labour, if Labour start listening to all the wolf whistles and cries from the right they will be sucked up by John Keys spin doctors, after all he is New Zealand’s most preferred PM ever and is loved and adored by the NZ Press. He has dragged NZ from a financial disaster into clear air after Labour left National with large Structural Deficits when they first came to power and at the end of the day this National Government will have NZ back into Surplus next year.

    No wonder Key was dubbed the Wizard of Wall Street.

    • So why didn’t you mention he was also (and probably still is) known as the “Smiling Assassin”. For me, that one more clearly defines him

    • Since when was Key known as the “Wizard of Wall Street”? As far as I can find, that title belongs to Julian Robertson (who gifted some art to the Auckland Art Gallery, where John Key, admittedly, was in attendance to hear the announcement):

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10571094

      I did see a parody trailer featuring John Key in “The Queef of Queen Street”, so he’s got that going for him.

      Edit: Actually, I can’t tell if your post is satire or not, but I’m going to leave this here in case some gullible moron repeats it.

  4. It’s common knowledge the capabilities of the Wellington brigade (HQ) I would have replaced Coatsworth at the last AGM, actually while I was at it Tim Barrnet also.

    I notice today team Labour are finally waking up to the public support to deal to the food chain sector. So hurry the fuck up and get your heads together to draft a preliminary overhauled Policy and get it out there NOW! The Greens are now trying to get in on the act which is fine, however reward Jones by getting your fucking act together Labour.

    The last thing we need is Team National, first getting let off the hook and “the absolute straw that broke the camels back will be them coming out of this the hero’s!… by stealing the show with their own sector solutions”.

    • I have everything that I can cross, crossed, that this might be the start of a push back against the giant corporations who wield so much power over us. I hope it’s not too late

  5. The National Party and John Key in particular have struck a chord across NZ’s middle and lower income earners which the Left has not managed to dent, even slightly, in more then 5 years.
    The big question is why? Part of it, I think, has to do with the Left’s obsessive attempts to discredited John Key by focusing on personality politics. John Keys outstanding popularity as Prime Minister is an indication of jut how unsuccessful this approach has been.
    The other part of the problem is that National have stayed economically and politically closer to the centre then many current Labour MP’s making it almost impossible for the Labour party to distinguish itself. That was supposed to change with Cunliffe’s leadership but his un-inspiring policy launch so far this year has only confirmed an instinctive reluctance to look beyond economic parameters set by the National government.
    The Labour Party in NZ and, interestingly also in the UK, does not have anything to offer aside from tampering with the accepted neo-liberal economic model. An model which previously elected Labour governments have embraced fully.
    The Labour Party has no credibility – if you want to start real change – albeit in a small way – party vote Mana.
    They are the only party engaged in new wave left wing economic thinking – Financial Transaction Tax, Public Services – that are actually public services, community investment and effective constraints on the free market.

    • Agreed. It surprises me that Mana polls so low when they have the policies that people on the left want (and need).
      Voters from the left are quick to mock the centrists who vote for personalities and image, but then they do the exact same thing when they ignore Mana.

  6. This poll is a response to their latest policies. Have the policies from Cunliffe really been much better than Goff and Shearer?
    Labour’s insurance policy is aimed at the middle class and it doesn’t offer anything to different from what the market already offers.
    Best start shouldn’t be targeted, it should be given to everyone. And who thought it was a good idea to continue with targeted welfare?

    A minimum wage under Labour of less the $19 per hour should not even be considered. How can Labour even think about having a minimum wage below a livable wage? What does Labour stand for?

    Labour should have gone with a universal basic income, but its too late now, they’ve played their hand with a ‘best start’ policy which is just tinkering around the edges.
    So much for Cunliffe being different…

    • I fear that it’s because Goff, Shearer, and the like are still the ones forming much of the core economic policy…

  7. If all political reports from TV1 & 3 news were collated from July 2013 and assessed for negative and positive slants toward Labour/National and then these findings were graphed – it would be interesting to see if there was a correlation with that line and that of the Roy Morgan graph above.

      • You raise a good point Gosman,

        You could have someone from both the left and right deciding.

        It would be hard determining some of the slant – perhaps only those with obvious slants could be noted – the rest put as neutral.

        I don’t watch TV3 news much, but it sounds like they add some pretty unnecessary and negative slant – against Labour. Painting Cunliffe as a deliberate liar when it could have been reported what was contained in his State of the Nation speech would be an easy one to label – for both a left or right winger. ..comparing this with most comments I’ve read on TV3’s Key’s State of the Nation speech reports indicated they were very positive about that.

        I would be interested to see whether this has a correlation with the political polls – because from my impression it would be directly related and I could be quite wrong. I note the high poll ratings around the time of Labour’s Leadership campaign (starting from prior to the decision – not after) where the discussion was focussed on the differences between different Labour party members (although they managed to get a few snarkies in about the cost to taxpayer) and also the low ratings now which seem to reflect the idiotic personal slandering that National have been allowed to conduct via TV3.

        Seems a bit of a shame if the media get to choose the government, don’t you think?
        Or does it not matter to you?
        Or is it a case of ‘as long it is your political ideology that succeeds by these means’ it ‘dunt matta’?

        I believe in free speech and therefore would be much happier about this state of affairs if TV3 news came with a neon mental health warning plastered across the screen throughout the programme – that would make it seem more like fair play then 🙂

      • Give Paula Rebstock the job. She can, at the very least, guarantee a result that Shonkey will willingly pay for…

    • Blaming right wing bias in the Media is a lazy excuse. The left – especially the Labour Party – have failed to deliver a cohesive message or alternative to the current government. John Key has altered almost nothing set up by the previous Labour government and on actual policy delivery National is more left-wing then many current Labour MP’s.
      John Key has kept voters happy by sensibly con-straining his own party’s natural right wing instincts and, in the process, established an enormous challenge for the Left. He has done this through political skill and natural charisma and Labour, in particular, are floundering as a result.

      • @ Peter Bradley

        I have some agreement with you on the ‘media bias is a lazy excuse’ – Labour do need to fight hard – and yet my comment is based on the level of bias that has been going on recently – Labour can try as hard as they like, yet they are having to counteract negative perceptions being conjured up by what is appearing as an increasingly National friendly media as well as get their message out – which also is being twisted by the media – they then have to counteract that.

        Your comment is actually full of the type of bias that the media is creating; Ask yourself how non-extreme has Key’s policies been? rushed through and retrospective legislation, awarding contracts overseas when they could be used to keep jobs here, GCSB bill, privatising assets,..have all been very topical problems yet you appear to have forgotten these now.

        …likewise you also forgot ‘lies’ in your list of how Key has ‘kept voters happy’. By all accounts I’ve read and heard, from people who approve of Key’s tactics, lying is viewed as ‘good politics’ so I really don’t understand why you would miss such a pivotal method he uses.

        Sound democracy is well known to need a balanced media – good information sources – do I really need to justify this point with you? – it would be the equivalent to me having to prove that the wheel is useful.

        • Actually I don’t think John Key has lied any more then political expedience demands. And on a number of issues he has, in fact, been remarkably up front on many policies – the partial privatization was flagged well before the election. It was also a master stroke of political compromise in that the mixed ownership model probably angered as many on the right as it did on the left and consequently, despite being an unpopular policy, has not affected Nationals polling at all.
          Rushing through controversial legislation is not unique to the National party and most of it simply hasn’t registered as a major concern.
          Beneficiary bashing – most Kiwis love it – and in fact the previous Labour government’s WFF is a prime piece of divide and conquer – reward the working poor while denying the unemployed.
          I don’t disagree that there is a concerning number of right wing media personalities now dominating TV current affairs but it is our job – the Left – to formulate and take the fight to NZ voters regardless.
          Unfortunately, the Labour party doesn’t appear to be up to the job so alternatives are needed.
          Personally, I think those of us on the left should be giving much more consideration to the Mana Party.
          A raise in Mana’s polling would bring fresh economic thinking into the debate and raise consciousness of genuine left wing policies.

          • Well stated Peter. If only the left had more people like you it wouldn’t be seemingly consigned to taking another beating at the next election. Would you keep your views to yourself in future though as this outbreak of sensible views from the left is concerning for someone like me.

            • Gosman says:
              February 22, 2014 at 1:28 pm

              Well stated Peter. If only the left had more people like you it wouldn’t be seemingly consigned to taking another beating at the next election. Would you keep your views to yourself in future though as this outbreak of sensible views from the left is concerning for someone like me.

              Two things, Gosman.

              1. You’ve just agreed with Peter that it’s ok for John Key to lie.

              2. You’ve just indicated your support for the Mana Party.

              Forgot your meds again, didn’t you, sunshine?!

          • Actually I don’t think John Key has lied any more then political expedience demands.

            Define ‘political expediency’ please

            Your statement is a good one for sounding reasonable while placing no limit on the level of dishonesty from our politicians.

            Is accepting any level of dishonesty from our politicians reasonable?

            Who decides what is too much lying vs ‘political expediency’?

            Me? You? The government of the day?

            Why should we trust those who wish to lie on making that call?

            Politicians are required to be accountable to the facts, otherwise how does the voting public make an informed decision about who is best to represent our interests?

            ‘oh our economy is going along brilliantly – prices are getting higher, wages are static or going downhill, jobs are degenerating and disappearing, we appear to be losing privacy rights etc – but Mr Key/English are important people, they seem to think things are good, they must know better despite” – is the type of thinking that is not going to get us the greatest good for the greatest number of people in NZ.

            Lying to the public bypasses the democratic process – democracy is antagonistic toward the capitalist system and therefore is a very good counteraction to the weaknesses in the capitalistic system. Those advantaged most by the capitalist system work with narrow self-interest to weaken the democratic system so they get even more advantages. Why else did banking regulations go out the window?

            Those who are not the most advantaged by the system need to realise how important the democratic system is for the greatest number of peoples’ interests – value it – and ensure it isn’t degenerated into a mere formality or 3 year game of lip service. Accepting high levels of dishonesty toward the public by buying into beliefs such as ‘political expediency’ is a fast track to degenerating democracy.

            I acknowledge National’s approach toward partial privatisation was a coup – one created by severe dishonesty toward the public – had they listened to the majority of the public – the privatisation wouldn’t have occurred and we would have more income and options as a country. This is a very poor example to promote ‘dishonesty as political expediency’ because one only has to ask – whose interests did it serve? The very few who managed to buy shares. Who lost out? The rest of us – including the country’s account balance. So whose interests did that ‘political expediency’ serve? Very, very few people.

            Dishonesty toward the public bypasses the ‘wisdom of crowd’ – this is a very real phenomena. I don’t think it is enlightened thinking for any one person to think they know better than everyone else and start dictating to us what is best – this places far too much responsibility on one very infallible human, or a very small group of infallible humans

            Please provide evidence of how ‘rushing through legislation’ has not been conducted more severely under this government than others.

            “Most Nzers love beneficiary bashing” – Provide evidence please

            I continue to agree with your sentiments re the left must take the message to the people regardless of the obstacles – and also would like to see Mana more strongly supported – however I view your comment as being full of unfounded rightwing assumptions – perhaps you read the newspapers and watch too much 3news?

            • Everything you say is valid and in an ideal world that is what we would expect. But we don’t live in an ideal world and if we want to get into a debate about which NZ politicians have been the most deceitful and duplicitous at rushing through legislation to advance the corporate agenda it is hard to go past the 1984 Labour government. What about the previous Labour government’s betrayal of Maori with the Foreshore and Seabed act.
              My original point is really the fact that we spend all our time pointing fingers at John Key rather then attempting to challenge the economic thinking and culture which make it impossible for genuine left wing policies to be openly considered. Our collective failure to achieve this is even more remarkable post the 2008 GFC. I don’t have all the answers but I do know that spending all our energy inside NZ’s small political bubble saying mean things about John Key is not one of them.
              By the way if you want to see a scintillating take down of Western style democracy check out Russel Brand on NewsNight – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk

              • It does not have to be an ‘ideal world’ for some basic accountability and basic democratic principles to be adhered to.

                For example, neither of the two examples you supplied were responded by the NZ public by ‘ah well its o.k it’s ‘normal’ it is simply ‘political expediency’

                The first example you supplied – Labour’s duplicity in 1984 – was responded to by huge support in the NZ public for a complete change in the entire voting system.

                The second example you supplied led to the formation of The Maori Party – who have been in government every term apart from the first term they were created. Labour won the first election after this foreshore act, yet it was the election that Don Brash took a racist stance on Maori – i.e. Labour’s stance on the foreshore lost them a lot of support and could easily have lost them the election had National not taken such a radical stance.

                There were consequences – people didn’t accept the dishonesty as ‘political expediency’ Nor should they now with this government that displays similar/worse levels of duplicity on a regular basis. This dishonesty must not be normalised

                National have nothing to lose by the message of ‘all politicians are dishonest’ – in fact it appears that they are quite happy to cultivate this idea (Labour/Cunliffe/Greens/Mana are ‘tricky’ and ‘dishonest) – such an idea is likely to create a great deal of disenchantment and leave less conservative people feeling it is ‘pointless to vote’.

                The left block are not attacking Key – they have been releasing policies and a very clear general vision – National are conducting attacks on the Left-block (the jacket, ‘tricky’ and ‘dishonest’ accusations) Why do you perceive it as the other way around?

                National’s petty attack and framing is the one being picked up by the media and grabbing the headlines; perhaps that is why you are viewing things the way you are?

                I certainly agree that the left block are going to have to work at least four times as hard as the right to gain command of the narrative – every left wing person can help in this aim by questioning, not whole heartedly accepting the narratives we are being fed – do not assume what you are reading/hearing is factual – it is truly disturbing to me to read the comments of someone who states they support the left wing, yet whose comments are full of a totally unquestioned right-wing framing of the matters we speak of.

          • “Beneficiary bashing – most Kiwis love it – and in fact the previous Labour government’s WFF is a prime piece of divide and conquer – reward the working poor while denying the unemployed.”

            I know this was and still is a “hobby” of many, especially on Kiwiblog, but it has actually got a bit less over the last half year, as it seems to spread now, that not all is well with the way beneficiaries get treated. Especially the new policies to not just force sole parents to look for work, but even sick and disabled (although officially WINZ staff deny they do this).

            Putting pressures on people’s own doctors, and even having breached the law in many cases, to not issue medical certificates (now “fashionably” called “work capacity medical certificates”), that reaches a level of harassment that few will find acceptable.

            But that is what they are increasinly doing now, and people may start thinking, what if it will affect me one day?

            More to be found here:

            http://www.racp.org.nz/page/racp-faculties/australasian-faculty-of-occupational-and-environmental-medicine/realising-the-health-benefits-of-work/latest-news/

            And one senior “expert”, who was a senior member of the “Health and Disability Panel” that “advised” Paula Bennett and the government on welfare reforms, was Dr David Beaumont, a former ATOS employee from the UK, who has previously also made controversial “reports” and “assessment recommendations” for ACC. Strangely he has also managed to become the “President Elect” of the AFOEM (Australasian Faculty for Occupational and Environmental Medicine). It would be interesting, who helped him get into that job, I suppose. He has also a vested business interest, running ‘Pathways to Work’ and ‘Fit for Work’:
            http://www.pathwaystowork.co.nz/contact-us
            http://nz.linkedin.com/pub/david-beaumont/2a/780/943

            Here is another UK “expert” MSD and the government have used and listened to, in order to send people into work in open employment, who Professor Aylward and some of his peers claim, merely suffer from “illness belief”:

            http://www.racp.org.nz/page/racp-faculties/australasian-faculty-of-occupational-and-environmental-medicine/realising-the-health-benefits-of-work/may-2010-video-presentation-professor-sir-mansel-aylward

            Here is some revealing information on Prof. Aylward:
            http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/09/professor-mansel-aylward-my-what-a-very-tangled/

            Yet more revealing info on “wefare reforms” in NZ is found here:
            http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/15264-welfare-reform-the-health-and-disability-panel-msd-the-truth-behind-the-agenda/

            We are reaching new, dangerous territory with a kind of “work will set you free” approach that WINZ seem to have adopted now, based on questionable science that was prepared to suit the interests of insurers and governments, to save costs and none else:

            http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/15463-designated-doctors-%e2%80%93-used-by-work-and-income-some-also-used-by-acc/

            Kiwis better wake up and consult their conscience, if they have one (some do, I am told)!

            • re ‘beneficiary bashing’

              We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be defined by what the worst and most ignorant of us do.

              There are lots of us who see through the ‘political expediency’ of painting the jobless as ‘the enemy’
              There are lots of people who speak out for welfare recipients.
              I wonder how many people do voluntary work in this country to help the jobless out? (i.e the Sally Army, Food Banks, Welfare advocates)
              – I would guess this number to be vast.

              Why should all the good people in NZ be defined by a few ignorant munters who really ‘know not what they do'[/speak about]’ ?

              • Concern for underclass is there and there thousands of Kiwis fighting for and working for them. But we don’t want to know about it. The most startling and shocking – to me – proof of this was Cunliffes’s most recent Labour party conference speech. He spoke about the public service and how we Kiwis’ have to support our hard working – ‘Police, Teachers, Nurses …’ go on say it Cunliffe, it’s not a dirty word – ‘Social Workers’. He didn’t say it and I felt really let down. Think about it when does anyone – politician or journalist talk about social workers. And what about our Church communities? Many of these directly distribute food, shelter and health services to NZ’s poor and struggling. You wouldn’t know it though. Mm. Media bias or an electorate and politicians that in the main have no empathy?

                • PETER – You raise a valid point there. The bulk of society is made up of “battlers” and those otherwise also doing rather well, who are fit and healthy, and do not rely on the services of social workers, beneficiary advocates, budget advisors and drug and alcohol counselors and so forth. They sadly forget that there are others not coping well.

                  I notice also that the MSM (mainstream media) are increasingly focused on the “good news”, apart from the usual “bad news” like horrible crimes, and like to glorify the successful sports-people, the heroes who fought off a shark attack, survived accidents and so. It is all a bit the “battler and fighter idolisation” that dominates reporting. There is little time for the weak, meek, the ones suffering misfortunes, ill health and the likes.

                  It may hint that there are new, modern day “soft fascist” tendencies in many people’s minds, not wanting to see “the other side”. So those that struggle and the ones looking after them are simply not considered “strong” and “heroic” enough, like fire fighters, police officers, perhaps nurses and teachers are, and this is reflected in politicians’ talk, who want to appeal to the wider public.

                  The verbal slogans and spin we get from certain government politicians like Paula Bennett tie well into the “soft fascist” mindset that some sadly seem to flirt with.

          • Peter says:
            February 22, 2014 at 9:44 am

            Actually I don’t think John Key has lied any more then political expedience demands.

            Say, whut?!

            Did you just justify our elected representatives lying to us, Peter?!

  8. For the imbeciles within the Labour party who think they are bigger than the party itself or the country, (read self destruct), you are writing blank cheques for National to happily cash. Who in National need bother with an election campaign when Labour can harm itself all by itself.

    The state of the Nation by Labour was a fizzer because all the media picked up was inaccurate estimates regarding a spend up on babies. Why was this not foreseen, who releases policy and fails to do the math??

    The support of Auckland’s CRL was excellent but fell over as Brian Rudman this morning exposed, the support for mindless road spending mirrors National myopic out of date polices.

    We have a country that is currently run by illusion. We are a “Rock Star Economy” or so some idiot laughably suggested but it hasn’t filtered down, many are still under employed and a lot poorly paid. Unemployment stats are suspiciously low and yet the feel in the job market based on mindlessly picky job interview criteria suggest well and truly otherwise. Crime is similarly under reported and again the stats smell like a big dead rat especially as National have strangled the police budget.

    I have yet to see anything National have done over the past 5 + years that has enhanced NZ. Debt up all round, home affordability now a pipe dream for many, no real alternative to Fontera, cheap foreign debt (at the moment anyway) and Christchurch’s insurance money and what do we have?? There is so much material there!

    And add to the mix the sanitizing and choreography of political news items and National continue to rule unopposed.

    Good week this week with Shane Jones Countdown revelations and Jacinda Adern’s expose on redundancy costs for police employees (a lot to work with regarding that ministry) but otherwise Labour, please get your act together, the vacuum you are creating is inexcusable.

  9. The problem we have in NZ we do not hear anything about Labours Policies apart from gender inequality within the party, baby subsidies and the relentless internal squabbling that goes on within the party.

    Cunliffe needs to get control of the riff raff within the party and assert his control otherwise Key and the Tory Press will have a Field Day this year.

  10. Sadly as said before, Cunliffe and Labour have become a ‘National Light’.
    And in that scenario, National win every time.
    Labour need to be bold and do the radicle things that need to be done:
    e.g A Tobin tax,
    Ban foreign ownership-speculation in the NZ housing market,
    Print their own money (exactly in the same amount and way the USA, UK, Japan etc do) and NOT pay (via interest) these ‘banks’ for the privilege they’ve been ‘granted’.
    Remove and expose ALL tax breaks the wealthy and ‘business’ gets. Then lets see what a level playing field feels like for the poorer people of NZ.

    If Cunliffe continues as is, the Right wing biased media will guarantee JK a victory, and he’ll deserve it !! As if that’s what you like-desire, you may as well have the real JK rather than a ‘JK light’ version, or copy cat.

  11. I think Labour have to have a wee think about what it is they stand for. For my mind, if they truly put a stake in the ground on the side of the small guy, they would get my vote.
    I think the whole left/right thing needs kicking into touch, we live with bits of both in economic terms and so we should, the only thing we have to bitch about there is how much left or how much right, an infinitesimal number of us advocate outright one extreme or the other. We seem to have more heated argument over personal freedoms, e.g. gay marriage and that has nothing to do with left and right.
    I think we are pretty much in favour of people making their own way in the world, but there seems to be some argument as to whether this should be a world where laws exist to see to it that it is a fair(ish) world or whether the brakes get let off altogether and it’s dog eat dog, till the ultimate end game renders up the winner who then has total control. You see I think corporate control is just as bad as too much govt control, don’t see much difference in them, other than, so long as you have a democracy, you can vote the govt out, good luck with voting out the corporation – wait for the TPPA for a heads up on THAT one.
    Labour, find the true enemy, please, my suggestion is the true enemy is “big”.

  12. National support the wealthy and the corporation culture anyone else do not actually figure on the radar and are basically pawns in the economic game.

  13. “Cunliffe must force Labour’s hand on some policy initiatives or risk the ABCs self-sabotage to derail his attempt at winning”

    Enough said! It’s as blatantly bloody obvious as was the need for the latest Labour leadership change!

    David – if you’re reading this – please be one of the best PMs this country has ever seen, as I know you can be, rather than just another scapegoat sacrificial leader of the opposition. Otherwise Labour is dead and our best hope is Green.

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