Susie Ferguson, in her regular weekly grilling of Chris Luxon, was determined to get her pound of flesh after Marie Dew’s independent investigation failed to uphold the accusation against Sam Uffindell, originally reported on Radio NZ. Although 14 people contributed to the investigation, the accuser, for whom the procedure
Information Opinion Having control of the radio waves is a powerful way to massage the message. When I heard a confident and (clearly) arrogant Marcus Lush state he would not give up his evening radio show on Newstalk ZB if he won the Invercargill mayoralty, I was shocked. He is
Luxon wears his religion loudly, according to Tim Roxborogh on the weekend collective. My first reaction was: Tim Roxborogh wears his bias loudly. I went to church and Sunday school as a child, but am not religious. I do not judge others for their religious beliefs. We can only surmise
Information Opinion Mike Hosking was on a roll last week. With Mallard exiting the House en route to Ireland, he put in a call to Christopher Luxon’s office asking if he would recall Mallard from Ireland when he becomes PM. My immediate thought, with a recent softening in the
Information Opinion Ever evasive, Ardern has denied Dr Sharma an investigation into his bullying claims, falsely declaring that there is no evidence. In doing so she has left MP Kieran McAnulty permanently under suspicion. With Dr Sharma’s fate now decided after his expulsion from the Labour Party, it is
Information Opinion New Zealanders were forced to read the tea leaves regarding Labour’s (hidden) 2020 election manifesto whilst, behind the scenes, the taxpayer-funded Mahuta family worked on the He Puapua policy. Recently Grant Robertson joined in the discussion around the US Supreme Court decision on abortion and did some
A headline in the Sydney Morning Herald on 27 June caught my eye: ‘Stats nerd’ Leigh in dream job on the eve of census. Newly minted Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh was excited to release their latest census information. What is truly amazing is that this comes a few
Information Opinion Once again Jacinda Ardern has proven she only practises diplomacy when it suits her and only with those whose ideology she shares. In her clumsy efforts to insult Scott Morrison and elevate the new Labour leader Albanese, her new bestie across the Tasman, she made a factual error,
Information Opinion Newly minted Justice Minister Kiri Allan has been quick out of the blocks with some rhetoric of her own, calling National’s ‘soft on crime’ line “abhorrent” and (the old faithful) decrying their “knee jerk reaction” to the current crime wave, which even Allan does not deny. Despite
Information Opinion At the weekend Christopher Luxon unveiled National’s anti-gang policies, including banning gang patches in public areas and on social media sites, stopping gangs gathering in public and associating with each other and prohibiting them from accessing guns. During his interview with their police spokesperson Mark Mitchell on
The preoccupied media largely ignored National’s conference in Hamilton at the weekend. Not to worry, Grant Robertson to the rescue, putting the spotlight firmly back on Luxon on the eve of Ardern’s White House visit, with his revealing attack ad on National. Robertson spent an inordinate amount of
The attached interview cleared up a few things for me. If you haven’t seen it, it may help make the National party’s position clear on co-governance. What is clear is that the media are set on muddying the waters and if Luxon gets one syllable out of synch
Information Opinion In recent times when PM Jacinda Ardern attempts to rationalise her co-governance model, based on the He Puapua report, she uses generalisations that are based on feelings, not reason: reverting to fanciful, emotive thinking. This at a time Labour’s Rotorua and Lakes Representation Bill, which seeks to
Judith’s Machiavellian stunt can be forgiven… the end did indeed justify the means. “This is not House of Cards“, said Luxon, in his first speech, giving the media notice that he will not be bullied and a warning not to go looking for drama and espionage (although Judith’s
In a backhanded kind of way, Labour MP Kiri Allan has endorsed Dr Reti to revive a National caucus on life support. From my own perspective, like Kiri Allan, I believe the answer to National’s leadership woes is right in front of them. Reti is their silver bullet, their
Helped by a fawning media keen to vilify National’s Judith Collins and glorify David Seymour, the Act leader, the ‘it’ boy of the moment, is the male version of Ardern with the addition of brain power and pragmatism, but sits at the other end of the spectrum, which may
