We're supposed to be living in a democracy in Aotearoa. If the vast majority of submissions on a bill are opposed, and the government passes it anyway, and then two of 3 coalition partners distance themselves from it, there's an obvious thing the Opposition must do. They must promise to repeal it in their first 100 days. Unless there's a very, *very* good reason not to.
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Nobody needs to convince the majority of the public the NatACT First government is bad. I'm pretty sure most people already have at least one reason to be mad about it, if not several. But about half the public still remain unconvinced that a Labour-led government wouldn't be worse.
If the Opposition want to change that, the focus of their public communications needs to shift. Away from slamming the NatACTs and Winston, and towards what they'd do differently, and why it would work.
"Our MPs have stakes in a combined $379 million of property in New Zealand.
A Herald investigation has found that’s an average of $3.16 million across each of our 120 Members of Parliament."
In the current Parliament, NatACT MPs top the rankings for who has the most valuable property portfolio, by a large margin.
"After destroying the Māori Party by putting his ego in front of the waka and pursuing a needless leadership challenge inside te Pati Māori, Tākuta Ferris is now lecturing Labour on how to win the election?"
#BomberBradbury, 2025
Still running JT's propaganda line I see Bomber, just like you did for KDC and the Internet Party. How did that one work out for us?
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"The regional approach was found to best meet the needs of contributing primary schools in New Zealand. For example, many small primary schools serve remote communities. Having multiple suppliers means the programme can deliver to these schools, while saving the taxpayer an expected $145 million in 2026.”
#DavidSeymour, 2026
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-school-lunch-programme-serves-communities-and-taxpayers
What an embarrassing climb-down for Rimmer.
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"Now what happens to Winston Peters doesn't matter. But what happens to the people does."
#WinstonPeters, Juggernaut 2, ep 2, 2025
https://thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/juggernaut
It's hard to believe now given the smiling crocodile he's become. Political principles up for auction, doing whatever is best for Winston Peters and bugger anyone else. I think at the time he really meant this.
His corruption is perhaps the saddest political story of NZ corporatism.
"There's no god given right for a major party to stay a major party. You have to earn that."
#HelenClark, 2025
https://thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/juggernaut
You listening to your former leader Labour? If you don't step up next year - much more ambitiously than in 2020-23 - you've earned exactly what will follow.
"Now what happens to Winston Peters doesn't matter. But what happens to the people does."
#WinstonPeters, Juggernaut 2, ep 2, 2025
https://thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/juggernaut
It's hard to believe now given the smiling crocodile he's become. Political principles up for auction, doing whatever is best for Winston Peters and bugger anyone else. I think at the time he really meant this.
His corruption is perhaps the saddest political story of NZ corporatism.
"The Green Party has drawn a sharp line between itself and the government, pledging to revoke fast-track consents for certain mining projects if it forms part of the next government, reports RNZ’s Giles Dexter. Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the move put 'the seabed mining, hardrock gold mining and coal mining industries – and their investors – on notice'."
#CatherineMcGregor, 2025
Hey Labour, maybe the Greens can tell you where to get a spine?
I presume anyone who wants to understand NZ politics has listened to The Spinoff's Juggernaut podcast, about the 1984-90 Labour government. But did you catch up with the fact that the second season of Juggernaut is out, telling the story of the 1990s National government?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/juggernaut
The first 3 episodes are out now.
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"The Regulatory Standards Bill has passed with the backing of the coalition parties.
National and New Zealand First agreed to pass the bill into law as part of their coalition agreements with ACT.
The bill has faced fierce pushback from the public, with more than 98 percent of public submissions opposed."
#RussellPalmer, 2025
Parliamentary supremacy at its most antidemocratic. In 2026 I will vote for a party that makes scrapping it a bottom line.
NZ has a simple choice about the kind of social safety net we want to have. Either;
* we means-test superannuation so it doesn't bankrupt the government
OR
* we provide a Guaranteed Minimum Income for *everyone*, and lift taxes on excessive incomes and hoarded wealth, so those who don't need a living subsidy pay it back in tax
Universal social subsidies for the old, and austerity for everyone else, is neither sustainable nor fair.
"And yes, our current Minister of Finance is a woman. Funnily enough, our two worst ones have been. Which only proves the point: this isn’t about gender or personality. It’s about an ideology so deep in our political bloodstream that even good people end up preaching the same sermon. The uniform changes; the script doesn’t.
They call it responsibility. We call it what it is: looting."
#Respublica, 2025
https://thestandard.nz/the-cult-of-reasonableness/
Hear, hear.
"The marker dominance of the banking cartel and the supermarket duopoly have been left untouched. Far less attention though, has been given to what has been taken away. Routinely, all three coalition parties rail against Big Government. It is part of their political DNA. In reality however, the centralised power of the corporate state has vastly increased under this government."
#GordonCampbell, 2025
I think it could be a good thing for Te Pāti Māori that this factional dispute in is coming to a head now, a year out from the next election. If they can resolve it before the summer break, and restore their kotahitanga, they can go into the election year with knives out for the coalition of chaos, instead of each other;
"The leader of the party of consumers and taxpayers argued against a measure to increase competition and lower prices because it might upset incumbent capital. In that single statement, the party’s modern priority was laid bare: protecting established businesses now trumps the creation of competitive markets for consumers. The 'consumer' in the party’s name has been forgotten entirely."
#BryceEdwards, 2026
Can't wait for Nicky NoBoats to shut down this frigate purchase as "wasteful public spending" on "gold-plated" toys for the Navy, and tell them they have to buy a Corolla instead of a Ferrari.
Remember the total cost of iRex was $550 million, and I believe that *included* the port upgrades necessary to accommodate larger ships. That's around half the price of *one* of these frigates, which are totally overpowered for coastal defence.
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Oh no, I'm wrong. More like 12-14 iRex deals per frigate;
"With luck, the fully kitted out version will cost (not quite) double the basic construction cost, but a conservative estimate would still put the final tab for New Zealand’s two ships at between $6-8 billion dollars."
#GordonCampbell, 2025
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2510/S00070/on-our-looming-spending-spree-on-japanese-frigates.htm
This tells you everything you need to know about this govt's priorities. It's not cutting spending, and it's certainly not building critical infrastructure.
"Hipkins would also not be drawn on whether Labour would reinstate a ban on interest deductibility ..."
#GilesDexter, 2025
Are you kidding? This is a no-brainer. A big distinctive to use less well-off people to pay the mortgage on your investment, *and* billions in revenue to fund public services. This was one of Robertson's boldest and most effective policies.
Where's the downside FFS?
If the Greens are not in top 2, and they don't get substantial policy concessions from a prospective coalition leader, they need to be prepared for another 3 years of sitting outside government. If they enter a coalition without that, they're only there to greenwash it, and their own credibility will suffer.
If that's the best they're offered they're better to be in opposition. Where they're free to speak out and organise against the govt, in pursuit of their own policies.
In Erica Stanford's defence, she has no background in education whatsoever. Prior to being parachuted into a safe Nat seat, she'd worked in export sales and producing reality TV, then as a Nat staffer. So it's not really her fault she hasn't got a clue about 21st century education practice.
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As usual, Labour are offering crumbs;
The absolute minimum they could possibly do without repeating 2023's failures, of principle *and* strategy, and promising nothing. Like their GST-off-this-and-that plan this is a patch on a hemorrhage, dressed up as ambitious policy.
If this is typical of what Labour plan to offer for 2026, they deserve to lose. Even if the rest of us don't deserve 3 more years of CLuxon's clowns.
Another one from the 'oooh, that didn't age well' files;
"This year we are fortunate that New Zealand First will be the strongest has ever been and that will present a chance to change the system away from pure neo-liberal ideals which have let us down and collapsed most of provincial New Zealand."
Comment by "Jon R", 2017
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/02/26/hey-shamubeel-why-are-you-rewriting-our-history/
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