Jacinda Ardern is certainly racking up the achievements on her trip to Australia. She has triumphed where few brave souls have ever succeeded: uniting Australia’s two major parties… Against her. In these days of hyper-partisanship especially, there are usually not many issues that bring Labor and the Liberals
Owen Jennings The ‘transformational’ government of the coalition has taken some heavy, self-inflicted hits including the inability to institute a capital gains tax, dropping the Kermadec Island sanctuary, walking back Kiwibuild housing numbers, ousting Curran and Whaitiri and loss of business confidence to name a few. The most consequential
Matthew Hooton nails it once again. For those still committed to reality-based politics, Ardern’s “year of delivery” is as credible as her earlier promise to be “transformational”. KiwiBuild, the Billion Trees programme and the Provincial Growth Fund handing out only 3 per cent of the money Shane Jones
Golriz Ghahraman often gets her next attention seeking tweet content from American politicians and activists like “The Squad” and Linda Sarsour. Squad member Ilhan Omar true to her anti-Semitic and anti-Israel roots has this week introduced a resolution to support the Palestinian led BDS. Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan
A teen was reduced to tears after her speech about a friend’s suicide during a Youth Parliament debate was interrupted by senior National MP Anne Tolley. Lily Dorrance, 17, was talking about mental health and describing her loss in Parliament’s debating chamber yesterday when Tolley, presiding as chair,
ACT party Kelvin Davis’s push for compulsory Maori in schools shows Labour is deeply committed to social engineering. The Minister responsible for Maori education has said he wants te reo to become compulsory in state schools as soon as possible. Too many children leave school without having acquired basic
Good afternoon Mr Bridges I am in my 70’s and for most of my voting life I’ve been an ardent National supporter, but that is no more. I’ve transferred my allegiance and support to ACT which is now the only party prepared to stand up for its
Winston Peters, our Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, travels to Washington again this week to try to secure a trade deal with the US, particularly over steel tariffs. Winston was talking up his chances of pulling off a deal, seeming confident that he will manage it this time.
By George This is the letter I sent to my MP. I will share their response with you. Hi … First of all, I would like to acknowledge your sterling representation of your electorate. You have served the community well, the following correspondence is not directed exclusively to you but to
Northland Regional Council has voted to top up the salaries of councillors by up to $6,000 if they have childcare expenses. The option for childcare was introduced by the Remuneration Authority after lobbying by Hurunui District Councillor and mother-of-three, Julia McLean. However, the new allowance is purely
by The Blonde Twenty-three years ago in 1996, a totally new voting system was introduced called Mixed-Member Proportional representation. It was like a smack on the head. People were reeling and gob-smacked trying to get their heads around the way this new system worked. I often wonder
National party Economic mismanagement and recklessness by the government has seen a decline in business confidence that is hurting manufacturers. Remember the so-called ‘Manufacturing Crisis’ that Labour cried about in Opposition? Back in 2013, confidence levels ranged between 17 and 44. Now manufacturing confidence levels are -57 and the
Media have reported that John Banks has hired a great team of political strategists as he decides whether to throw his hat again into the ring for the Auckland Mayoralty. The biggest bonus for Banksie is that Michelle Boag is not available as she is on John Tamihere’s team.
Today’s face of the day has apologised for her Tweet but has not retracted her lie that Jesus and Mary were Palestinian refugees. Her carefully worded apology, therefore, is nothing but weasel words. This is not the first time that she has upset the Jewish community. It is a
One has to wonder about the motivations of some people. Ardern and her neuron-free generational-moment ban on oil and gas exploration; Sage and her ban on jobs and regional development for Waihi; and iwi objecting to progress in Gisborne. Fortunately, the Minister for Provincial Largesse is having none
