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National, Labour and He Puapua

National, Labour and He Puapua

Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Political historian Michael Bassett CNZM is the author of 15 books, was a regular columnist for the Fairfax newspapers and a former Minister in the 1984-1990 governments At last some discussion about He Puapua. The document has been hatched in secret at the behest of the

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Little’s Health Reforms

Little’s Health Reforms

Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Forty years ago, when I first became Labour’s spokesman on health, I recall George Gair, the then Minister of Health, saying that if health spending continued to rise at the current rate there would come a time around 2030 where the entire national budget would

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Guest Post: The Calibre of Current Leadership

Guest Post: The Calibre of Current Leadership

Lindsay Mitchell bassettbrashandhide.com Child poverty stats are a joke. If adults get collectively poorer, children get richer. Never has this been better illustrated than by a just-announced Stats NZ cock-up. Treasury, “…identified several respondents incorrectly reporting the superannuation payments they received, resulting in double counting their income from superannuation,

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Sex Quotas and Gender
NZ

Sex Quotas and Gender

Rodney Hide bassettbrashandhide.com The Green Party’s Constitution has left the Party marooned in 2012. The Party is now dated. Section 9.2.1 specifies “two Leaders (one male, one female)”. Oh the horror! The Greens are discriminatory. And worse, boringly binary. Only the cis-gendered may lead. The Greens

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One More Attempt to ‘Fix’ the Healthcare System

One More Attempt to ‘Fix’ the Healthcare System

Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Later this week, the Minister of Health is going to announce one more reform of the healthcare system. He had an article in yesterday’s Sunday Star-Times which began with the confident statement that “It’s pretty clear what’s wrong with our health system – long

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The Plan

The Plan

Rodney Hide bassettbrashandhide.com It was the beginning of 2020. That’s when the Plan replaced the Law. The Plan has become everything. We all live in its shadow. The Plan establishes which businesses can open and which ones must shut. It decides which industries live and which must die.

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man carrying to girls on field of red petaled flower
NZ

What Happens to Children of Beneficiaries?

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

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brown wooden human face sculpture on green grass field
NZ

Maori Wards Again

Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Since the Labour Government rushed through a law change at the beginning of February denying ratepayers the right to call for a referendum before a local government created one or more Maori wards, there has been a sharp increase in the number of local governments intending

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Where and When Will It End?
NZ

Where and When Will It End?

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

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More on Housing
NZ

More on Housing

Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Two days after my recent piece highlighting the “Reddell solution” to cooling the ridiculously over-heated housing market, the Government came out with its housing policy announcement. It had three main features. First, it extended the “bright-line test” from five years to 10. Whatever the merits of

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Education and New Zealand’s Future

Education and New Zealand’s Future

Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Nothing matters more for the future of New Zealand than educating our children. As part of the globalised world we have contributed towards the common good and wasted opportunities in about equal measure. Unless we now retreat to the small, isolated South Sea islands that the

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man holding smartphone looking at productivity wall decor

The Paradox of Our Lousy Productivity Performance

Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com In 1950, New Zealand had one of the highest standards of living in the world. But over the ensuing seven decades, growth in per capita incomes in New Zealand has been slower than in virtually all other developed countries. As a result, and despite promises by

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Auckland’s Light Rail

Auckland’s Light Rail

Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com The story on Thursday’s front page of the Herald (our Nervous Chihuahua) about a revival of the project to build light rail from central Auckland to the airport encapsulates much that is wrong with this government. Yesterday, the two MPs for Mt Roskill, one former

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Holding the Government to Account

Holding the Government to Account

By Alia Bee Co-founder of Voices For Freedom voicesforfreedom.co.nz Lawyer Sue Grey was interviewed by Peter Williams on Magic Talk. The topic of discussion was her open letter addressed to our PM and other relevant ministers regarding the legislation used to approve the Pfizer vaccine for the entire

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COVID-19 Vaccine Injury in NZ: Jane’s Story

COVID-19 Vaccine Injury in NZ: Jane’s Story

Alia Bee Co-founder of Voices For Freedom voicesforfreedom.co.nz Listen to Jane’s interview with Peter Williams on Magic Talk below. Over the past month, NZ has witnessed the rollout of the new, experimental COVID-19 Comirnaty vaccine from Pfizer to border workers, frontline staff and their families. The government

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Labour Thinks Landlords Are Pernicious Cash Cows
NZ

Labour Thinks Landlords Are Pernicious Cash Cows

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

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