Thieves, cheats, and crooks – and that’s just the government – Time to go!
By reducing the real value of Working for families payments since 2010 the National government has taken a cumulative $2 billion out of the homes of working class families.
Setting the Agenda
Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
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Lock them up
The government has started the election year with a tough on crime message. More police on the beat and more prisons. The government plans to spend $1 billion on a massive prison-building programme in a country that already imprisons a greater proportion of its people than all but a few OECD countries.
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In Defence Of Ron Mark’s Record
In all of my dealings with Ron over the last few years, and from my ongoing observation of the ‘second phase’ of his Parliamentary career, if I could pick but two phrases to sum him up they would unquestionably be “man of principle”, and “fighting for a just cause, to defend our country”.
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Fortune’s Favourite: The Rise and Rise of Jacinda Ardern
The last conspicuous veteran of the plague years of the 1980s has bowed to the irresistible logic of Jacinda Ardern’s by-election victory and announced her retirement. Part of that logic, undoubtedly, was the reaction of Annette King’s caucus colleagues to her spittle-flecked outburst to the NZ Herald’s deputy-political editor, Claire Trevett.
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Oh, to joyfully pee in Bill English’s cup!
Not content with checking the pee of beneficiaries, the leader of the Big Business Party has now complained about local workers, blaming their refusal to submit to pee tests for the National Party policy of encouraging record immigration, which others say is making housing unaffordable, depressing wages and driving locals out of work.
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Election ’17 Countdown: The Promise of Nirvana to come
The great mistake made by National is that, at the beginning when they dreamed up these feel-good gimmicks, they set target-goal dates too close to the present. For example, when John Key and Bill English published a document entitled “Better Public Services” in February 2014, issuing a whole raft of target-goals, they set the date for accomplishment at 2017 (for most, though not all).
That left National minister in office only three years later having to explain their failure to achieve their target-goals.
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You’d Have To Be High To Believe That Record Migration Is Due To Drug Use
It’s become a depressing pattern. Every time news of record migration numbers come out in the media, the National Party leap into action with another excuse for why they’re justified.
The most recent “alternative facts” laden argument for adding tens of thousands of people to the New Zealand labour market … is that apparently the workers already here can’t pass drug tests.
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My life – my experience
Twenty years later and I still get a little sense of unease when I wander into the women’s wear section of Farmers Lambton Quay, or spend fruitless hours looks for a non chintz print edition of a t-shirt dress in the Lyall Bay Warehouse. I still notice the glances I get when I’m going around with makeup on my face, that are absent when I’m being read as male.
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Too Long At The Top
The French have a saying: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they stay the same. To discover just how much things have stayed the same, try reading this short post – the bones of which I originally put together almost exactly ten years ago.
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Lessons for the Greens from the Mt Albert by-election
In my opinion it is important for the Greens to continue to challenge Labour’s orthodox economic model, where success is measured by GDP growth. This leads to bad Labour policies, including supporting deep sea oil drilling, excessive dairy farm intensification, and trade and investment treaties that serve corporate interests.