Tim Dower: Time for Hipkins to show us what he's made of

Time now for Chris Hipkins to show us what he's made of.

He's done what was required of him and showed up in Auckland over the weekend, now his role is to butt out and leave the rest of the job to the people who know what they're doing.

What the Prime Minister has to get stuck into now is the more serious business of getting the country back on track.

Or as he'll see it, getting Labour back on track to give it a fighting chance at the election in October.

And how does he do that?

Derek Mackie: Sale of the Century

The Auction Room 

Ladies and gentlemen…and all others of a non-traditional gender identity.

Welcome to today’s auction. 

We have a dazzling array of publicly owned and paid for assets under the hammer today. But the jewel in the crown has to be lot 666 - local government water infrastructure assets. 

I trust we have no conspiracy theorists in our audience? Lot numbers are assigned purely at random and nothing sinister should be read into this one. 

 So, without further ado. Let battle commence. 

Mike Hosking: Media merger another example of failed ideology

Submissions continue today over the Government's plan to merge TVNZ with Radio NZ.

The process, like most submission processes is a scam. It’s a nod to some sort of democracy, but in reality, the Government of the day pretend they are listening and carry on anyway.

This Government is no better or worse than other governments. They all do it and they would be way better saving the time and money and avoiding the whole process.