John Porter: A Half Truth is a Whole Lie!

As voters, we know and recognise that politicians all too often make bold promises during election campaigns. Promises that we know are obviously just too ambitious.

And don’t we justly feel we have the right to hold our elected officials accountable for the promises they make during campaigns? 

Clive Bibby: Why are we not surprised

A change of government in this country has resulted in the exposure of battle lines that until now had been deliberately disguised as only assumptions or delusions.

The first 100 days of the National led Coalition has witnessed, amongst other things - the opening of the books that show just how incompetent and wilfully disingenuous the last administration really was.

Brian Easton: The Bottom Of Policy Development

Did you think the incoming government promised to extend bowel screening to 50-59 year olds? The promise was more limited – and more feasible.

National’s Manifesto promised:

Bowel cancer is the second highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand, while we have one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world. More than 3,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year and over 1,200 will die from the disease. Screening is one of the most effective ways to find bowel cancer early before it spreads. The National Bowel Screening Programme is available for eligible men and women aged 60 to 74. National will immediately commission work on a business case for progressively lowering the bowel cancer screening age to 50.

Brian Easton: How Much Influence Do Governments Have?

The more informed an economist is, the more they keep their head down during elections.

Elections are not a time to talk about economics in a serious way. Sure, politicians talk about the economy and what they will do to it, with promises soon forgotten when they take power. Elections are timely reminders of how shallow and poor quality our public discussion on the economy is. (You won’t be able to infer how I voted from this column. Economic issues were not a major determinant.)

Christie: Should We Ignore Promises Made by Politicians?

David Seymour is currently on the radio telling listeners to ignore promises made by politicians. This is a strange thing for a politician to say, particularly as ACT has a considerable manifesto containing a large number of policies it will be hoping to get past National – and possibly New Zealand First. But he has a point. Many of the promises made during election campaigns never see the light of day. There is always an excuse – not enough money, not enough support – or in the case of minor parties, a (convenient) inability to persuade the major parties to go along.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 21/9/23

That new hospital which Labour is promising – is it the same one which Sepuloni mentioned in May (before she backed off)?

Our busy ministers – desperately busy trying to whip up voters’ support as their poll support sags, among other things – have added just one item of news to the government’s official website over the past 24 hours or so.