David Farrar: A huge One Nation swing

Voters in the Western Australian state electorate of Secret Harbour just delivered a huge swing. Here’s the results.

David Farrar: National does carrot and stick with student loans

Nicola Willis has announced some changes to the student loans scheme to reward those who stay in NZ and repay the loans, and targets those who go overseas and don’t. The changes are:

David Farrar: Green MP says Govt MPs are worse than Adolf Eichmann!!

A speech in Parliament by Green MP Steve Abel which is so deranged, that it should make him inadmissible for ministerial office. In response to the bill which simply states climate change policy is to be formulated by Parliament, not the courts, Steve Abel said:

David Farrar: Te Pati Maori’s bonkers tax plan

Te Pati Maori has announced the following as part of their tax policy:

• A top marginal tax rate of 48%
• GST of 15%
• A 2.5% tax on assets above a certain threshold
• An increase in the company tax rate by 5%

David Farrar: MBIE in contempt

Stuff reports:

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has expressed support for MBIE’s chief executive, hours after he was found to have deliberately misled a select committee.

David Farrar: TOP says do what I say, not what I do

The Opportunistic Party has said their policy is to restrict donations to a political party over an electoral cycle to $30,000.

So far this years they have banked the following donations:

David Farrar: Welcome to the dark side, Kiri

Radio NZ reports:

Former Labour cabinet minister Kiri Allan has come out swinging against the public service saying it is bloated, slow, and overpaid. …

Allan said there were “exceptional people” throughout the public service and her comments weren’t an attack on individuals, but on the system.

David Farrar: Te Pāti Māori tries to defeat the point of MMP

Radio NZ reports:

Te Pāti Māori have made their election strategy clear: give us your candidate vote to get more Māori in Parliament, and give your party vote to the left bloc.

This is the first time I can recall that a parliamentary party has not campaigned for the party vote. TPM are trying to use the Māori seats to deliberately create and overhang in Parliament, so that the four parties of the left can from Government even if they receive fewer party votes than the current Government.

David Farrar: The Attorney-General gets it in one

Attorney-General Chris Bishop had made a hugely important speech. He politely but firmly pushes back against the courts making law, rather than interpreting law. He notes:

David Farrar: How much land tax will you pay?

TOP has proposed a 1.75% tax on the value of urban land (except Maori communal land) and 0.5% on rural land. It is worth noting that land values have been declining for the last five years, so TOP’s policy is to tax you on an asset that is declining in value!

David Farrar: Labour denies a tax it had in the ballot!

Simeon brown points out:

After National alerted New Zealanders to the 11 new taxes on the table between Labour and its coalition partners, Chris Hipkins claimed that two of the taxes are not Labour Party policy.

Chris Hipkins and the Labour Party cannot be trusted on tax, and today they’ve again proven why, National’s Campaign Chair Simeon Brown says.

David Farrar: Two good schools, but not an argument against choice

The Herald reports:

A stoush has erupted between North Shore sister schools after a surprise bid by the junior high to cater for older students blindsided its senior counterpart, which says it is “disappointed” by the move.

The proposal could reshape the long-standing two-school model between Albany Senior High School and Albany Junior High School, with the Ministry of Education now considering an application.

David Farrar: Ruth calls it straight

Ruth Richardson writes:

As inflation rears its ugly head again, New Zealand First proposes stripping the Reserve Bank of its sole mission to fight inflation. In an exercise in virtue signalling, employment is bolted on as a second mission. Labour’s Barbara Edmonds wants the same.

This is sheer monetary policy vandalism, flying in the face of all the evidence that there is no trade-off between price stability and employment. That monetary policy can permanently deliver employment growth is nothing more than a cruel hoax.

David Farrar: Hipkins announces he has discovered gravity!

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out a governing deal with New Zealand First. …

Winston has responded:

David Farrar: Labour promised massive tax hike on businesses

The Herald reports:

Labour will scrap National’s Investment Boost if elected – under a new plan focused on small businesses.

Investment Boost was the centrepiece of Budget 2025 and was widely promoted by the Government as an important means of attracting new investment to New Zealand. It applies to domestic and foreign investors.

David Farrar: The student services fee scam must stop

Stuff reports:

The ACT Party is proposing to make university student services fees voluntary if re-elected in November.

These are compulsory fees charged by universities to fund services and facilities that support learners, but aren’t directly related to academic learning.

David Farrar: We may have a census after all

The Post reports:

A law change that would do away with the traditional five-year census in favour of cheaper annual surveys is unlikely to progress this side of the election, following opposition from the Labour Party.

The hiatus raises questions over how Stats NZ will be able to comply with the law, given it has indicated it would then be too late to conduct the census the normal way in 2028. …

David Farrar: SST lashes crazy TOP policy

Chris Lynch reports:

The Sensible Sentencing Trust has launched a blistering attack on The Opportunity Party’s policy to raise the age of Youth Court jurisdiction, describing it as one of the craziest ideas it has seen in years.

Opportunity’s “Smart on Crime” policy promised until recently to “raise the age of the youth court jurisdiction to 25, in line with developmental science”.

David Farrar: $500k just to create a 30 second ad

The Taxpayers’ Union released:

Health New Zealand spent $490,043.75 on a single advert featuring former Lotto presenter Russell Harrison, documents obtained by the Taxpayers’ Union reveal for the first time.

Harrison, who remained suspended from the Ministry of Justice on full pay for years, was paid $3,000 to appear in the 30-second advertisement.

Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman Tyler Groenewald said:

David Farrar: Money for kids doesn’t promote fertility

The Herald reports:

It comes as Peters unveils new election policy proposing to create a “Kiwi Kids Grant” for parents, one of whom must be a New Zealand citizen, for their first three children.

The grant would be worth $5000 per child for each of their first three years, meaning families could receive up to $45,000 in total. …