The Breaking Views blog is administered by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research at NZCPR.com. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
For the last how long- Palestine has been regarded as the bullied and Israel as the bully. When was the last time anyone felt sorry for Israel?
But now, so many people will, because we’re seeing images of Israeli kids being held in chicken cages, young women just walking on the street being forced into cars and abducted and civilian grandmothers being murdered.
As the two hours slipped by, he seemed to get more relaxed, leaning back in his chair more and more, taking it easy. I wondered if the Coke Zero hadn’t kicked in, or maybe he was just tired, or maybe he’s just given up.
I mean don’t get me wrong, I thought he came across well, I think relaxed is good. But I was interested to hear what he backs about his government, and what he was less proud of. MIQ, the debt still owed to them over that and their handling of how to manage that, he thinks they could’ve done that better or differently.
Mental health, the $1.9 billion none of us know where it is. Light rail. Child poverty. Kiwibuild, a tangible disaster. Not taking the country with them when they had a majority, an unheard of opportunity to take us with them, and they blew it.
The MIQ shenanigans, the shutting of the borders for so long, the crime levels, the co-governance, three waters, they had so much promise, and they just dropped the ball on it all. Too many consultants, too many reviews, too many ministers with scandals and issues that saw them off one by one, just too much chaos.
When they first took over six years ago, Labour set a target of reducing the prison population by 30 percent in 15 years.
That target is now gone. Hipkins was asked about it today, and says there is no target for the next term.
As the week's progressed so have the porkies, coming from the self-proclaimed most kind, transparent Government we have ever experienced. Labour cares about wellbeing and it's become apparent that applies only to themselves in their desperation to retain the baubles of office.
They have four options going for public consultation next week, one of them stipulating that ‘bottom-trawling would be banned from 89 per cent of the Gulf. Currently, 27 per cent of the Gulf is closed to bottom trawling and Danish seining fishing methods.’
Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets over the seafloor to catch fish.
It wants to mandate reading writing and maths ‘core teaching requirements’ across all schools.
So, in essence, they want to get serious now on education.
And I reckon it’s gonna be low enough to hurt them.
They will keep falling from here, I think, for two reasons.
They’ll be relieved commentators like it- they’re clearly trying to change the subject from the GST off fruit and veges policy only two days ago, because it's gone very badly for them.
But I'll happily play the game and change the subject for a bit.
But surely no one believes Labour’s going to do this.
Not only because they can’t deliver jack- do I need to mention KiwiBuild or Light Rail or Let’s Get Wellington Moving- but mainly because no one rational believes Labour actually wants to build expensive roads for cars.
National's Nicola Willis says she’s got a source who told her Labour is planning to announce it’ll take the GST off fresh fruit and veges, which immediately got headlines because her sources have proved pretty solid.
Remember, she got the tip-off that Labour was working on a wealth tax-tax switch, and it turned out they were.
That wasn’t the mistake that he made. His mistake was that he didn’t fire her last month when he should've.
I'm not convinced mental pressure is the sole explanation for what happened on Sunday night.
One, does it also spell the end of the government as in, the final straw? They look too unstable as a party, they are losing too many ministers, they have no one else to take on serious portfolios and the management of our country now looks like a school project.
And two, was enough duty of care employed by the Labour leadership to look out for her?
She was perplexed as she was unsure of what to write about, after all this woman was on record not long before being anointed to become Prime Minister as saying she would never want to do the job. Pity she never made good on her musings.
Someone suggested to her she should write it about leadership and she liked the idea, and that's what we're going to get in the bookstores sometime in the future.
You’re listening to Radio FKUMSM, the country’s newest station.
Currently rocketing up the charts is a song which has really resonated with the NZ public and is getting a huge amount of airtime…..from independent radio stations, at least. It’s a contemporary political take on the David Bowie classic from 1972, Ziggy Stardust. Pulling no political punches, the song takes our PM to task over his abysmal record in office and the dire social and economic state of the country that will ultimately be his dreadful legacy. Described by one music critic as “there ain’t no Glam in this Rock” it captures the rapid decline of our once fair and successful nation which has definitely lost its mojo.
Another MP facing conflict of interest questions (looking at you Peeni Henare), another MP in meltdown and on leave, another Dairy owner attacked, the (entirely predictable) revelation that government debt was way higher than forecast, the disturbing news of half a billion dollars on almost expired RAT tests being stored in a warehouse exemplifying the very worst of this government’s wastage of our money, more youths on roofs being handed KFC for their troubles, and some more gaslighting by Ministers regards how we’re all feeling.
And if history is anything to go by, he's going to make the wrong call, because he’s already made this call twice before and got it wrong.
The first time with Stuart Nash, he backed him. Then more stuff came out and he had to get rid of him.
Of all the countries visiting Beijing at the moment, and there were quite a few, Barbados, Mongolia, and Vietnam- it was New Zealand that was singled out in the local press for special mention.
Cobalt is a vital component of Lithium-Ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The DRC produces around 70% of the world’s cobalt. Miners working in the mines face long term health problems due to the inhalation of the dust from the compounds in the mine. This leads to lung disease. Fatal accidents occur regularly due to mine collapse.
It really is from the sublime to the ridiculous. Who's left?
Who around that Cabinet table is capable enough to seriously manage all the portfolios of the other ministers who are dropping like flies? It’s a shambles.
