national party Archive

• 

  The Minister of Revenue walks again - by frog

  
  
  
  Like Rasputin Peter Dunne, the eternal Minister of Revenue, is back once again.  This time his pretence of sitting in the middle while actually belonging to the right of National is even more exposed now that he is actually in a cooperation agreement with National. In his agreement with National we can look forward to [...] read more
  November 17, 2008 2:40 pm - 21 Comments
• 

  The Climate Change Select Committee - by frog

  
  
  
  Looking at the Climate Change Select Committee Terms of Reference agreed by the Act and National parties it seems like we are going to need to go through a significant re-litigation process that will be costly in terms of time and missed opportunities. Among other things Act proposes that the Select Committee will: • hear [...] read more
  November 17, 2008 12:30 pm - 10 Comments
• 

  Act and National’s agreement - by frog

  
  
  
  Well I have to say I was somewhat surprised to read that one of the first headline topics to be addressed in the National-ACT Confidence and Supply Agreement is ‘Joint Aspirations’. It seems the two parties have come to an agreement about getting higher (productivity growth) and allowing more (economic) freedom. read more
  November 17, 2008 11:21 am - 7 Comments
• 

  Speed Hui - by frog

  
  
  
  From what I could tell from the radio yesterday evening and this morning the Maori Party are engaged in series of 40 ‘speed hui’, each about one hour long, where Maori electorate voters are get to hear the broad parameters of the deal that the Maori Party has struck with National, but not the specifics.  [...] read more
  November 13, 2008 9:31 am - 8 Comments
• 

  In times of war - by frog

  
  
  
  theyworkforyou.co.nz has a sobering post following the election results which notes: Two parties which New Zealand has just elected into power, National and Act, voted in favour of the New Zealand Government joining the USA-led war coalition. This coalition invaded Iraq on 20 March 2003. For those of you that missed my previous post here’s [...] read more
  November 12, 2008 9:35 am - 45 Comments
• 

  Why the Greens and National couldn’t do a deal - by frog

  
  
  
  There has been a bit of an after the fact debate raging among frogblog commenters as to whether the Green Party should have focussed strictly on environmental issues rather than social justice issues so that it could have been in a position to negotiate with National after election. Putting aside the issue that environmental well-being [...] read more
  November 11, 2008 11:44 am - 80 Comments
• 

  Negotiating with Act - by frog

  
  
  
  Act is entering its negotiations with National today talking about its campaign themes: “three strikes” law and order policy, cutting government spending and dumping the emissions trading scheme. All of which sends shivers down many Green spines.  Act does empty bluster and noise better than most parties so I guess we’ll have to wait and [...] read more
  November 10, 2008 1:56 pm - 87 Comments
• 

  When political attacks go bad - by frog

  
  
  
  As I suggested yesterday negative campaigning is all a matter of degree.  Every party and politician does it to some extent in order to differentiate themselves from others.  But that doesn’t mean that it should become a prevalent or widespread practice, and where possible it is better if negative campaigning can focus on specific policies [...] read more
  October 30, 2008 9:59 am - 7 Comments
• 

  Accountancy and accountability - by frog

  
  
  
  Did everyone enjoy the brief interlude in the election campaign where we got to talk about issues other than Winston Peters and his unusual accountancy systems?  (Maybe Jim Bolger was on to something when he made him treasurer, given his ability to run a party on no declared donations.) Interestingly Winston’s $80,000 donation from the [...] read more
  October 29, 2008 3:49 pm - 7 Comments
• 

  Attack ads - by frog

  
  
  
  The increasing emergence of US style attack campaigning in recent years (John and John, Taxathon etc) is disappointing. Mr Carson, who came up with Labour’s “Keep it Kiwi” and “This one’s about trust” campaigns, says the key to advertising a political party is to pit yourself against your opposition. In the commercial world, you want [...] read more
  October 29, 2008 11:54 am - 4 Comments
• 

  Less than 2 percent - by frog

  
  
  
  The Emissions Trading Scheme will only reduce emissions by 2 percent.  So a reader writes asking a query about the following John Key statement: I told the group that while we must play our part in the fight against climate change, we shouldn’t be the world leader, because that will come at the expense of [...] read more
  October 28, 2008 1:42 pm - 9 Comments
• 

  Dunne adds his head to the National monster - by frog

  
  
  
  United Future has followed the Greens in assessing the two old parties policy platforms and letting voters know before the election which one it will be supporting.  It’s a bit harder to tell from it’s media release exactly what policies it based  this decision on, but I guess we know from past practice one issue [...] read more
  October 27, 2008 9:17 am - 39 Comments
• 

  The comedy duo - by frog

  
  
  
  Sideswipe noticed this uncanny resemblance this morning: And that got us here at the Green parliamentary office worried that perhaps John Key was lacking team support. Until we realised: (And, to be fair, Maurice Williamson and Lockwood Smith also seem good for providing comic material.) read more
  October 23, 2008 2:58 pm - 2 Comments
• 

  Cutting public servant numbers - by frog

  
  
  
  It looks like the first part of the public service to feel the effects of the National Party’s post-election razor gang, should it get elected, will be its own front bench.  It seems  it is going to get a prune for failing to stay ‘on message’. John Key has told Lockwood Smith he must forfeit [...] read more
  October 23, 2008 9:51 am - 12 Comments
• 

  Maori voters have a choice - by frog

  
  
  
  The Manawatu Standard’s editorial yesterday states: Say what you like about the Greens, but you can’t question their integrity. The party diligently assessed Labour and National against 12 criteria before pronouncing it shared more common ground with Labour. And there’s no way they’ll go back on their word. And then draws an interesting contrast: The [...] read more
  October 22, 2008 11:55 am - 35 Comments
• 

  The Greens’ principled announcement - by frog

  
  
  
  While most of the analysis of the Greens’ announcement yesterday that we could not support a National government has focused on the power dynamics (‘what were the Greens thinking cutting down their options like that?’) very few have noted the principled position that underlay it – the right of voters to know beforehand.  Although the [...] read more
  October 21, 2008 1:02 pm - 19 Comments
• 

  Did National really want to be measured on how much it would grow by? - by frog

  
  
  
  Kiwiblog and National’s Nick Smith are both complaining that the Greens ‘criteria for choosing who we could or could not work with after the election were biased because they did not ask what each party was going to do to grow the economy or create wealth. This is the perfect opportunity to segue into another [...] read more
  October 20, 2008 4:33 pm - 46 Comments
• 

  Greens’ preference for post election talks - by frog

  
  
  
  From the Greens Press Conference this afternoon: Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says: “However our analysis showed us that on the whole National would take New Zealand in the wrong direction, in fact, many policies headed off down a dead end street. This means that we can not form a Government with National, or support them on [...] read more
  October 20, 2008 12:28 pm - 80 Comments
• 

  The donations scandal - by frog

  
  
  
  No I’m not talking about not Ian Wishart’s one. The fact the both major parties are currently so lacking in major donors seems a scandal. It’s now only three weeks to the election and yet, as of ten days ago, Labour hasn’t declared a single received donation over $20,000 this year to help fund its [...] read more
  October 18, 2008 11:05 pm - 19 Comments
• 

  National’s super investment plan - by frog

  
  
  
  You can see why National held back on announcing policy for so long.  Once you see it a lot of it is hardly the sort of thing they would want to be mentioning when they’re out there trying to win support and votes.  Even their tax policy, which was supposed to be the stead that [...] read more
  October 16, 2008 11:13 am - 29 Comments