Richard Eldred: Thousands Shut Down London As Protesters Chant “Free Tommy”

Tommy Robinson supporters and Stand Up To Racism activists have staged rival protests in Central London. The Mail has the details.

The Met police have confirmed that six people have been arrested as Tommy Robinson supporters invade the Stand Up To Racism counter-demo area.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government aren't fixing our economic mess

We knew the Government books were going to be bad, but not this bad. 

No way we’re getting to the surplus we expected in 2028. That is now so far away it’s not even in Treasury’s forecast period anymore. 

It’s some time, who knows when, in the 2030's. 

Don Brash: Confiscation of water infrastructure should by itself get government thrown from office 2023

Rarely has a political party promised so much in an election campaign and achieved so little during its time in office.

Labour made extravagant promises to end child poverty, to build 100,000 houses over 10 years and make housing more affordable, to make a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gases, and to improve our education system. Instead child poverty has increased on most measures; the number of new houses built has been trivial and, while house prices are at last easing somewhat, they are still among the most expensive in the world; we’re still burning imported coal to keep the lights on; and more and more kids are coming out of the taxpayer-funded school system unable to read and write.

And to top it off, New Zealanders are now facing the highest inflation in more than 30 years.

Garrick Tremain: Changing expression

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on funeral expressions after 6 years of Labour government! 

Cam Slater: The Health System Is in Chaos

This Labour Government promoted itself as the most open and transparent government ever. It was, of course, a slogan, nothing more. The reality is that this Government is dishonest, dissembling, disingenuous, and duplicitous. This is particularly egregious regarding OIA responses, even landing minister Jan Tinetti before the powerful Privileges Committee of Parliament.

The latest shenanigans regarding OIA requests have shown that Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ are one of the worst offenders, so much so that they’ve been ticked off by the Ombudsman’s office:

Oliver Hartwich: Fact-checking government claims

They say truth is the first casualty of war. It is also the first casualty of election campaigns. 

I tuned in to Chris Hipkins’ address at the Labour Party conference last Sunday. My heart was pounding as the Prime Minister went through his government’s extensive list of achievements (though it’s possible that my exercise bike played a bigger role in that than Hipkins’ delivery.) 

In any case, I was glad to be in the gym as that allowed me to turn my frustration into a more vigorous workout. Because frustrating it was when the Prime Minister tried to make us believe he had presided over a spectacularly successful delivery machine.

Oliver Hartwich: Australia reaping the spoils of New Zealand’s decline

Sadly, the current government seems to be taking the opposite approach. Instead of fostering a competitive environment, it is openly considering new taxes on the most successful individuals in society.

It is sometimes a personal experience that brings abstract policy discussions to life. And so let me share with you a chat I had last Friday with an Uber driver in Auckland.

He was a Pakistan-born New Zealander who has called Auckland home for 21 years. On our way from the CBD to the airport, he shared his story of how he and his family are planning a move to Australia. The cost-of-living crisis, high crime rates, and better opportunities across the Tasman Sea influenced his decision, he explained. All his friends were thinking about the same move.

Cam Slater: Stuart Nash Calls It a Day

Stuart Nash has decided that his political career is over. He’s calling it quits at the election. This should surprise no one; this week promises to be even more dire for him as more details of his deliberate obfuscation in OIA requests and to the Ombudsman get aired.

Michael Bassett: Labour and its out-of-control bureaucracy

Remember after the 2017 election when Winston Peters, for no good reason, threw his support behind the smaller of the two main parties and brought Labour to office? That party had only slogans they called policy, and proceeded to establish more than 200 taxpayer-funded working groups to flesh out the detail. Then they set about employing more bureaucrats, 15,000 over the years, to assist with the implementation of the detail. Not content with that, Jacinda Ardern and now her successor, Chris Hipkins, hired consultants as well, paying them hundreds of thousands each day. The cash register was clinking furiously before anyone in government even started the implementation process. Hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, had gone out the door before there was anything tangible. Remember the hapless Phil Twyford and the 100,000 new Kiwi Build houses that weren’t built?

Karl du Fresne: Hipkins has no time to lose

Some commenters on this blog and elsewhere are saying we shouldn’t be deceived by the Labour government’s sharp tack toward the political centre under Chris Hipkins. He’s merely doing what he needs to do to get back into power in October, the reasoning goes.

In other words, it’s an audacious con job. Just wait, they warn; if Labour wins the election, we should expect the entire woke project to be revived and pursued with renewed zeal.

Cam Slater: Open and Transparent? Not So Much

Jacinda Ardern claimed that her Labour Government would be the most open and transparent government ever. That was the slogan; reality turned out to be nothing less than an orchestrated litany of lies, cover ups and flannel. They had zero commitment to openness and transparency, and total commitment to deceiving the public

The latest example is the cover-up and lies over Three Waters’ entrenchment. Remember they claimed at the time it was all just a horrible mistake and they were fixing it?

Bryce Edwards: Labour shifts focus from Grey Lynn to West Auckland

The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey Lynn and Wellington Central towards the working class politics of West Auckland and the Hutt Valley, where the two new leaders are based.

Hipkins and Sepuloni were elected yesterday and immediately started repositioning their Government away from what might be called the affluent “woking class” towards the “working class”. Gone is an emphasis on cultural politics, and in its place is a laser-like focus on the economy and delivery of better public services to ordinary citizens.

Chris Trotter: The Most Pertinent Question.

The Labour Government's wholesale retreat from its dangerously exposed positions on “Hate Speech” should be applauded. Had it remained committed to the hardline definitions it trailed before the public a year or so ago, Jacinda Ardern’s ministry would have been condemning itself to a battle it did not need to fight – and could not win. The truth of the matter is that Labour’s dangerous dalliance with the Woke variant of Hate Speech has served no one but the Act Party, whose staunch defence of Freedom of Expression accounts for much of its impressive increase in electoral support.

One of the most pertinent questions put to Kiritapu Allan, the Cabinet Minister in whose name the watered-down legislation will be introduced, came from Newshub Nation’s Rebecca Wright. What was it, she wanted to know, that prevented the Labour Government from implementing these measures when they were originally recommended by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque Shootings almost exactly two years ago?

Mike Hosking: Why won't the Govt get tough on those abusing the system?

I assume you saw the story of the poor old 80-year-old woman in New Plymouth who has been put into hotels by her family to give her a break from her Kainga Ora neighbours.

The claim is she has been terrorised.

These stories aren't new. Earlier this year we got the revelation that the agency had not evicted anyone despite behaviour no normal person would even come close to tolerating.

If this Government has one major issue next year in the election, beyond the policy specific issues they already face like lack of delivery, Three Waters, co-governance, and an economy in recession, it is their inexplicable acceptance, if not encouragement, of people who refuse to conform, behave, to be normal, or just be decent human beings.

Cam Slater: Making a Mockery of Kindness

The latest Mood of the Boardroom has been released by the NZ Herald, and that mood can only really be described as surly. Jacinda Ardern has plummeted in the rankings and one of those surveyed says the Government’s actions during Covid were making “a mockery of kindness”.

Denis Hall: A crime against our culture and language

It is in fact - a crime against humanity and culture to deliberately set out to use the instruments of government to modify a culture and its language against the will of the people - and forcibly introduce words of another language into it - and it is a crime against your children’s future for you to allow it.

It has always been expected - throughout our history as New Zealand - that when a government had enough seats to govern alone - that they would exercise restraint - and show at least a little consideration and respect for the views of those that lost this time - but would likely win next time.

Governments - both left and right - always tried to strike a balance.

Those days are gone.

Bryce Edwards: Labour’s motel housing shame

The Labour Government has now spent over $1.2bn on housing people in motels and emergency facilities. This is an indictment on a government that refuses to build enough state houses for vulnerable people who are the biggest victims of the housing crisis. But what’s more, the staggering $1m spent each day on emergency housing has also been a social disaster, the scale of which is becoming too apparent for the Government to ignore.

Don Brash: Confiscation of water infrastructure should by itself get government thrown from office 2023

Rarely has a political party promised so much in an election campaign and achieved so little during its time in office.

Labour made extravagant promises to end child poverty, to build 100,000 houses over 10 years and make housing more affordable, to make a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gases, and to improve our education system. Instead child poverty has increased on most measures; the number of new houses built has been trivial and, while house prices are at last easing somewhat, they are still among the most expensive in the world; we’re still burning imported coal to keep the lights on; and more and more kids are coming out of the taxpayer-funded school system unable to read and write.

And to top it off, New Zealanders are now facing the highest inflation in more than 30 years.

Some record!

Michael Bassett: Modern Labour sticks to that old time religion

One of the fascinating byways of history is the weird religious cults that people had followed over the years. In Oliver Cromwell’s time there were the Shakers who shook with the power of the Holy Spirit, and who went off to America, getting madder in transit. And there were the Levelers who held property in common. And the Fifth Monarchy Men who believed that four cycles of earthly power had come and gone, and ascended mountains at appointed moments hoping to welcome the fifth, the rule of their version of Christ. Come to think of it, my mother told me about a crowd who went up Mt Eden in their night attire in 1931 to welcome the return of Christ, got rained on, and were rather bedraggled on their descent.

Today there are still a few who have faith in Jacinda's Labour government despite the overwhelming evidence that it is an outmoded religion, lacking analytical and executive skills.

Mike Hosking: When will this Govt actually accept accountability?

Accountability is one of the most important attributes of leadership.

If you have a mandate to make decisions, then they must be defended and the decision maker must be held to account.

This Government doesn’t want to be held to account.

The Aged Care Association wrote to the Health Minister. Their warning was that the industry was on the verge of collapse.

The job gaps are so great it’s now dangerous.