#Tag
"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.
(2/2)
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.
(1/2)
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/
(1/2)
About a week ago, #GordonCampbell threw cold water on the prospect of regime change in 2026;
"National can win with Luxon regardless. This country hasn’t had a genuine one term government since the Labour government of 1957-1960. (If Norman Kirk hadn’t died, his government would probably have been re-elected in 1975.)"
I'm not so sure. In 2019 there was equally good reason to think a one-party majority would never happen under MMP.
(1/?)
"To recap: tens of thousands of people working in construction and in the public service have lost their jobs. The retail economy has tanked - in Wellington in particular. GDP has shrunk. Although the services sector constitutes about 60% of the New Zealand economy, it has been in ongoing contraction for 19 months in a row. Consumer spending has dried up etc etc."
#GordonCampbell, 2025
Looks like NatACT First are backing down on some of their beneficiary bashing. From a September update I just found in my email;
"We’re making changes to the traffic light system from 20 October 2025. We’re introducing Report Job Search and Upskilling activities for some clients at red. This is instead of having your benefit reduced."
Also I thought they were canning the winter energy payment, but seems not;
"Winter Energy Payment will re-start on 1 May 2026."
How can we present a fair picture of what's changed, for better and for worse, since the 2023 election? Or, is that the wrong question? Maybe people can see for themselves that a lot of things are getting worse, but they'll take some convincing that a change of government would make any difference.
If so, it's on the opposition parties to present a vision for the long term, and a plan for starting to turn things around in the short term.
#NeoclassicalEconomics has become a cult. It's demonstrably false dogmas treated as gospel truth;
* corporatising and selling off public infrastructure cuts costs and improves services. False.
* cutting public spending boosts economic growth. False.
* Suppressing wages and benefits boosts employment. False.
* Deregulating markets increases competition, reducing prices. False.
How on earth do we get through to people who still believe this horseshit, despite decades of counter-evidence?
It's notable that the Minister of Finance in the current NZ government has a background in English literature and corporate lobbying. I guess they couldn't find anyone with an economics or finance background that would deliver the cargo cult budget approach they've been able to get Nicola Willis to front.
Any political cartoonists out there looking for a free idea?
Premise: Kids playing musical chairs, watched by NZ PM CLuxon. Who points at the crestfallen kids who just lost a round, and tells them if they stop playing PlayStation and look harder for an empty chair, they're bound to find one.
Forget all the silly candidates in this year's local body elections, at last there are some serious contenders;
One of the biggest problems with local government in Aotearoa is that central government have devolved a whole lot of responsibilities to them, without passing on sufficient funding to fulfill them. So they either need to hike rates, increase council debt, or both. Or cut services.
A lot of this is effectively creative accounting by govts. Moving public spending and debt onto someone else's balance sheet, so their own books look healthier come election time.
(1/?)
I'm mystified by Takuta Ferris doubling down on his attacks on non-Māori Labour members supporting their party's candidate. What could he possibly think he's going to achieve with this?
Ferris has numerous things to apologise for. Let's go through a few of them.
(1/?)
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
