Bryce Edwards democracyproject.nz The chaos, disruption and suffering brought about by Covid is far from over, but there’s now a sense that, politically, the virus has finished. The pandemic has dominated the political agenda for two years, and with yesterday’s announcement of a significant loosening of restrictions,
Richard Prebble bassettbrashandhide.com Richard Prebble CBE is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 1996 to 2004. Labour is heading for a landslide
Lindsay Mitchell lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio, tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under
Karl Du Fresne karldufresne.blogspot.com I spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of downtown Wellington this week. What a dismal experience. Actually, it was worse than dismal. It was profoundly depressing. The city where I spent most of my working life looks as if it has lost
Rodney Hide bassettbrashandhide.com Rodney Hide is former ACT Party leader, and Minister in the National-ACT Government from 2008 to 2011 New Zealand has unravelled. The values and knowledge that underpin a free and prosperous society have been turned inside out, upside down and trashed. It has happened overnight without
Bryce Edwards democracyproject.nz The Government has delayed the introduction of its fraught hate speech law reforms, and there’s strong speculation they’ll remain on ice until after the next election. In fact, they may never see the light of day again. This is a win for those who
Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com The term “co-governance” trips off ministerial tongues with ease but it’s clear most people don’t know what it means. Nanaia Mahuta would have us believe it simply means that Maori would be guaranteed some sort of undefined say in decision-making. Fair-minded Kiwis think that’
Bryce Edwards Victoria University Of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka democracyproject.nz Bridges’ departure leaves National with plenty of problems. Losing any high-calibre frontbench politician is unfortunate, but particularly when the caucus is so lacking in experience. With a newbie like Luxon at the helm, it was highly advantageous to have
Bryce Edwards Victoria University Of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka democracyproject.nz Last week’s shock 1News opinion poll was the final indication, if Bridges needed it, that his chances of eventually taking back the leadership and becoming PM were slim to none. Any feeling that it was worth waiting around
Stuart Smith National MP Kaikoura As we get used to living with widespread Covid, microbiologiest Siouxsie Wiles is calling for a new way to track how much of the virus is in the community and what variants. She says in the UK they regularly test a representative sample of people,
Bryce Edwards Victoria University Of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka democracyproject.nz The Government’s Three Waters reform programme is still in crisis, despite the supposed fix coming in yesterday with the release of yet another report with recommendations for improvements. The Government seems determined to push through a deeply unpopular
Lindsay Mitchell lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio,tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under
Bryce Edwards Victoria University Of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka democracyproject.nz Labour went into the 2020 election promising to break up the supermarket duopoly and bring down the price of food. This policy is now essentially dead. The Commerce Commission’s final report into New Zealand’s uncompetitive supermarket sector
bassettbrashandhide.com The following survey was taken during January 2022, before the Wellington protests. 1,000 respondents provided a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. It was commissioned by Hobson’s Pledge and conducted by Curia Research. Thinking now about the state of New Zealand and our society, do
Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Don Brash was Reserve Bank Governor from 1988 to 2002, and National Party Leader from 2003 to 2006 In a great many ways, New Zealand is an enormously attractive country to live in. We have a temperate climate, largely free of extremes of either heat or
Lindsay Mitchell lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio, tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under
