Chris Penk The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Non-essential (Parliamentary) business Emergency powers were invoked by the government, giving itself the ability to amend laws and take actions without the usual safeguards, as Newsroom’s Sam
Questions to Ministers MARK PATTERSON to the Minister for Infrastructure: What action is the Government taking to support the construction sector and progress shovel-ready infrastructure? TODD MULLER to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by the statement from the Speech from the Throne, “There will be a progressive tax
On September 19 New Zealanders will be voting in a referendum on whether or not to legalise cannabis. In the below podcast chief economist Dr Eric Crampton approaches the decision from an economic perspective. He says that even though there is not a lot of solid data available about how
This may be of interest to those of you who are aggrieved about the free use of our road system by those who own and drive Smugmobiles. Particularly since the petrol tax is going up yet again. Tena koe e [redacted] Thank you for your email of 10 June 2019
PM Jacinda Ardern’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week just keeps rolling on – in significant parts of the Australian media, at least. Australian journalists are also having to learn a whole bunch of foreign names. The only name that normally shines bright and clear on their dim consciousness
IINZ History israelinstitute.nz NZ falls in line with antisemitic bias at the UN It is widely acknowledged that the United Nations is a place where Jew-hatred flourishes and where an irrational fixation on demonising Israel persists. There are 193 member states of the United Nations. Of these, 125
Information Satire The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced today that the whole country is going to be put on a shovel ready footing. She said, “Now that the RMA is subject to the Carbon Zero Act, we are in a deep, dark, hole and my loyal team of 5 million
The RMA is a cumbersome and expensive piece of legislation that 30 years and 19 amendments, including the Greens’ latest contribution, have failed to make workable. It should be scrapped and rewritten. A recent example of the inefficient process is Watercare’s application to take more water from the Waikato
Barry Brill nzcpr.com Barry Brill, OBE, JP, LL.M(Hons), M.ComLaw, is the Chairman of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition. A former MP, Barry was a Minister of Energy, a Petrocorp director, and the Chairman of the Gas Council, Power NZ, ESANZ, and EMCO. On March 23
There has been intense speculation that Paula Bennett will have a strong career outside of parliament. She has claimed that she wishes to pursue a career in business. This seems a little counter-intuitive, especially when competent ministers like Joyce and English have found life in the real world tough.
Warning Extreme cringe. Not for the faint hearted. Was I too harsh dear readers? Was this just a bit of light hearted harmless fun? Let me know in the comments. Muller said today he’d seen the video – which ends with Bennett and Sainsbury dancing in colourful kimonos to Gloria
A recurring theme in this discussion forum is that of Local Authority rates: how high they are; how they are wasted; why they should be held at a zero increase or lowered; and so on and so forth. Are these criticisms fair? Rates are a sensitive topic because they hit
Chris Penk The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Self-isolation self-delusion We’ve already looked at self-isolation in the context of the practically non-existent border controls. This was another missing piece of New Zealand’
Questions to Ministers TODD MULLER to the Prime Minister: Does her Government have a strategy for ensuring appropriate standards are in place to detect, track, and trace new cases of COVID-19 so that New Zealand’s border can be progressively opened ahead of the development of an effective vaccine;
IINZ History israelinstitute.nz At the time of the 2017 election, New Zealand’s relationship with Israel was at an all time low, as a result of the actions of National’s Murray McCully who, in December 2016, put New Zealand forward as a co-sponsor of the anti-Israel
