Don Brash Archive

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  No place for TABOR in New Zealand - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The Government has introduced a TABOR Bill to Parliament.  TABOR is an acronym for “Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights”.  But rather than have anything to do with a real Bill of Rights, TABOR is actually a wacky libertarian measure designed to shrink the state and inhibit its ability to protect the vulnerable or respond adequately to [...] read more
  August 15, 2011 4:30 pm - 10 Comments
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  Right wrong on the youth minimum wage - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  There is a renewed push from the political right to reintroduce youth rates for the minimum wage.  ACT’s Roger Douglas is trying to blame the Green Party sponsored legislation that removed the ability of Government to set a lower rate of minimum wage for young people for today’s high youth unemployment.  ACT’s new Leader, Don [...] read more
  May 15, 2011 10:45 am - 30 Comments
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  NZ Herald: MMP deserves to survive referendum - by frog

  
  
  
  Today’s NZ Herald editorial reflects on the outcome of the UK referendum on Preferential Voting as an alternative to First Past the Post and saying how ‘lucky we are’ to have managed the reform of our 19th Century unfair First Past the Post (FPP) system. The arguments for electoral reform were familiar to New Zealanders. [...] read more
  May 11, 2011 1:09 pm - 9 Comments
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  The hypocrisy of Brash’s “one law for all” - by frog

  
  
  
  Failed National Party Leader Don Brash has been banging on a lot again about “one law for all” since his hostile takeover of the ACT Party last week. So I thought I’d take a look at Brash’s track record when he was an MP: 9 December 2004: Brash voted against the Civil Union Bill which [...] read more
  May 5, 2011 11:14 am - 19 Comments
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  Don Brash and SM - by frog

  
  
  
  To be clear this is isn’t a blog post about Don Brash’s sexual predilections. It is about Don Brash’s call for supplementary member electoral system (SM) to replace MMP. It looks like Don and his rich right wing business buddies have decided that reselling FPP is too hard. So they have gone for supplementary member voting system which is [...] read more
  May 5, 2011 10:30 am - 10 Comments
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  Space Oddity – the David Farrar version - by frog

  
  
  
  This is ground control to Major Don, you’ve really made the grade And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare If I was a member of the ACT Board, I would be asking why are all these National Party members trying to take [...] read more
  April 25, 2011 5:44 pm - 14 Comments
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  Don Brash on NZ Super – why won’t he just go away? - by frog

  
  
  
  Failed former National Party leader and 2025 Taskforce Chairperson Don Brash is in the news again – this time advocating giving people a “choice” as to when they begin to receive NZ Superannuation: …changes to the age of eligibility were inevitable as the number of retirees soared in comparison to the number of workers. “The [...] read more
  July 21, 2010 3:07 pm - 42 Comments
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  You can’t have your human rights because they cost too much - by frog

  
  
  
  The Government says it’s appealing against a ruling of the Human Rights Review Tribunal because the country cannot afford to pay people to look after their own severely disabled family members. What’s next, I wonder? Repeal the Equal Pay Act so employers can pay their women workers less and claim it is justified discrimination on the grounds that it would improve productivity? read more
  January 26, 2010 11:26 am - 69 Comments
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  The Ghost of Budgets Past - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Like someone watching a bad zombie movie, we have now been subjected to the unnerving sight of Don the Undead emerging from the darkness, rattling the chains of thoroughly discredited twenty-five year-old Treasury advice, and offering a prescription for putting the Government on a diet that would make a supermodel blush. I’m talking about the first [...] read more
  December 2, 2009 1:57 pm - 9 Comments
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  You can’t always get what you want - by frog

  
  
  
  One of the funnier moments in the Hollow Men was the bit where Don Brash decides to go all populist, Maori bashing and tough on crime etc, and then all his big business supporters start to get antsy, because although they want him elected they don’t want some middle-of-the-road National Party; they want Roger Douglas [...] read more
  October 8, 2008 9:22 am - 52 Comments
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  National’s Leaky Building Syndrome - by frog

  
  
  
  No, it’s not quite the 90′s again, where National’s slapdash deregulation caused the real leaky building syndrome, for which kiwi households, councils and businesses are still paying dearly. No, it’s not 2005 again, where National Leader Don Brash has is email archives leaked all across the political spectrum, humiliating him and revealing the not so [...] read more
  September 9, 2008 11:29 am - 11 Comments
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  Henry’s holiday - by frog

  
  
  
  You can imagine the disappointment around here at news that Breakfast TV’s Paul Henry won’t be on our morning airways for a few months. TVNZ isn’t naming who Henry’s fill in will be but sources suggest that, with no shortage of failed right wing politicians to choose from, Don Brash is a leading contender.  Roger Douglas [...] read more
  June 9, 2008 1:11 pm - 5 Comments
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  Is ANZ playing politics? - by frog

  
  
  
  The Press carries a story about a not yet released report from ANZ National Bank that is highly critical of government spending in the public service.  The Bank’s Chief Economist Cameron Bagrie says ANZ had done the research as a follow-on from work on productivity and regulation last year: “because a lot of government spending [...] read more
  May 22, 2008 11:58 am - 21 Comments