Bob Edlin: Labour perhaps supported the English Language Bill because it could not build a strong case for scuttling it

Stuff reports –

The bill to register English as an official language of New Zealand passed its first reading on Tuesday, and there was silence from the Opposition benches when it came to the vote.

It was initially assumed Labour and the rest of the Opposition parties were against the bill, and had just forgotten to vote in opposition – but Labour, on Wednesday, confirmed to Stuff that it supports the legislation.

JC: Labour Is a Spent Force?

My previous article was headlined Is Labour a Spent Force? The headline for this article asks a similar question with a different emphasis, implying it most probably is, based on its performance in opposition to date. Bryce Edwards, in a recent article on the Democracy Project, gives numerous examples of negative commentary from various political commentators. Comments concerning the party in general appear to focus on the fact it has abandoned its voter base and, in terms of the leadership, Hipkins still has time on his side. I say the clock is very much ticking.

Bob Jones: The next Labour leader

Long serving Audrey Young is justifiably one of our most respected political journalists.

In a recent New Zealand Herald article on who would lead Labour after the election, she staggered me with her suggestion it would be Kieran McAnulty, the current MP for Wairarapa.

Garrick Tremain: Racing Minister

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on racing to get the youth vote legislation  passed! 

Cam Slater: Sneaky Change to Voting Age Pushed Through

On Wednesday night the Government pushed through a change to the voting age in local body elections, lowering it to 16 years old.

It is a sneaky, furtive, surreptitious move by the ever-so-transparent Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty!

Last night, in a dazzling display of democracy at its finest, he oh-so-quietly slipped in a last-minute bill to “gasp” lower the voting age for local body elections from 18 to 16.

Graham Adams: Hipkins betrays Three Waters promise

A law change emphasises Labour’s contempt for non-Maori

Jack Tame related in the NZ Herald last week how he had recently driven around the Nelson area and found fewer billboards protesting against Three Waters than earlier in the year.

The Newstalk ZB host and anchor of TVNZ’s Q&A thought this tallied with his observation that “much of the anger around Three Waters has dissipated since Kieran McAnulty took over the [Local Government] portfolio and the government reset the plan”. He also reckoned optimistically that the project is “probably more popular and less contentious than some of the pushback would have us believe”.

Cam Slater: Hipkins Bonfire Put Out with Three Waters

Despite claims of a policy bonfire by Chris Hipkins, the Government is pushing ahead with its divisive race-based water policy. Auckland and Northland will be the first casualties, after new legislation was introduced to parliament this week.

Karl du Fresne: Hipkins goes the full sausage roll

Labour’s re-election strategy is now blindingly clear. Chippy Hipkins is going the full sausage roll.

Hipkins’ fondness for the humble pastry snack has already become entrenched in New Zealand political mythology. On his trip to Britain he was presented with sausage rolls not once but twice – first by King Charles and again at No 10 by Rishi Sunak. It would be no surprise if his benefactors had been tipped off in advance that this would be an appropriate gesture.

The media loved it, of course. “Chris Hipkins charms London with sausage-roll diplomacy”, read a headline in the Left-leaning Sydney Morning Herald.

Stuart Smith: We Must Fight to Retain Our Democracy

Democracy in New Zealand is being challenged from within.

And those who fought and died to protect our freedom would never have believed that the biggest threat to our democracy is not a foreign power, but our very own government.

The Three Waters rebranding is a strategy aimed at diverting attention from the true intent of the policy and reducing the intensity of the ongoing debate.

Graham Adams: What Hipkins doesn’t want to tell us about Three Waters

Unfortunately, there is little evidence so far that McAnulty will be any more forthcoming or helpful about Three Waters than Mahuta was.

The focus on co-governance obscures direct iwi control of water.

The clock is ticking. October’s election is just over six months away. But despite the Prime Minister’s assurances in early February that the public would be told in “another couple of weeks” of any changes to Three Waters, he has yet to tell us what his government intends.

Point of Order: McAnulty mentions the important role played by indigenous people in emergency response and recovery

Some ministers commemorated historical events in the latest press statements from the Beehive while others pointed to New Zealand’s role in the space age and to technological developments around the digital economy and data storage in the cloud.

Three statements were related to events in the past – a speech by the PM to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between New Zealand and Samoa, an expression of condolence after the death of the last-surviving Battle for Crete veteran, and the commemoration of the dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima 77 years ago.

Point of Order: Politicians nail down a plan for the construction sector

And there’s a role to be played by social engineers

Two of five press statements issued from the Beehive over the past 24 hours have a Treaty of Waitangi focus, two include the interests of Maori in their considerations, and the fifth mentions the presence of local iwi at a sod-turning ceremony.

The Associate Minister of Transport, Kieran McAnulty, was joined at the ceremony by the Mayors of Carterton and Masterton, local Iwi and members of the Wairarapa community to turn the first sod on a package of “crucial” safety improvements for State Highway 2 in Wairarapa.

John MacDonald: The Government is just like the All Blacks with its Three Waters reforms

What's the difference between the Government and the All Blacks? Nothing. Because they both tell us what we don't want to hear.

Are you going to sack Ian Foster? No. Are you going to scrap Three Waters? No.

And that message was coming through loud and clear today from the Associate Local Government Minister, Kieran McAnulty.

Point of Order: McAnulty mentions “democracy” as he braces to meet local authority leaders – and maybe he will dive into Three Waters issues

Amidst a raft of statements that crow about government achievements and/or bray about new initiatives, Point of Order found an oddity: a statement from the newly minted Associate Minister of Local Government who intends to meet local government leaders around the country to talk about this, that and …

Well, surely he will want to talk (if not listen) about Three Waters and explain the influence that will be wielded by the sister of his colleague, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta,

But the press statement only hinted that Three Waters would be on the agenda.

The crowing and braying statements, of course, were much less puzzling.