winston peters Archive

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  What if? - by frog

  
  
  
  I wonder if the Prime Minister is looking back at the quiet issue-focused way the Greens have gone about getting their policy implemented over the last 3 years and is now ruing the choices she made putting together her governing arrangements back in 2005 with Winston Peters’ NZ First Party and Peter Dunne’s Untied Future [...] read more
  August 29, 2008 7:59 am - 34 Comments
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  Peters is our First Past the Post hangover - by frog

  
  
  
  There have been a few grumblings that the Winston Peters funding scandal is the fault of MMP. John Nichols argued in the Herald on Friday: Winston Peters’ value to both Labour and National has become abundantly clear. Both parties are pulling their punches over the donations allegations for fear of alienating him as an ally [...] read more
  August 4, 2008 3:30 pm - 5 Comments
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  Russel’s entry into US politics - by frog

  
  
  
  Occasionally you actually learn something at question time. Not often, but occasionally.  Today it was mostly farce (particularly this exchange between Rodney Hide and Winston Peters.) But we did learn today that While US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not have time to discuss with our Foreign Minister his views on Islam, New Zealanders’ [...] read more
  July 31, 2008 6:05 pm - 47 Comments
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  A nasal interpretation of a Bee Gee - by frog

  
  
  
  Always helpful, I’ve found a new defence for Winston from the media’s attacks.  He just needs to copy Peter Madsen who is threatening to sue a Manawatu journalist for saying his performance on Stars in Their Eyes was like ” rooster on nitrous oxide”.  Madsen’s argument is that ‘he is a professional impersonator and the [...] read more
  July 30, 2008 2:21 pm - 2 Comments
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  The BBC bee vs the National Geographic spider - by frog

  
  
  
  If you’re a fan of nature docos you’ll enjoy these video clips on The Ranger’s Blog, highlighting the cultural differences between America’s National Geographic and Britain’s BBC both discussing the same topic; a spider lying in wait to catch a bee for dinner. The “unashamedly anthropomorphic” National Geographic: The jumping spider packs a ton of [...] read more
  July 30, 2008 11:10 am - 9 Comments
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  Transparency should be king - by frog

  
  
  
  Once again, our papers are filled with speculations and allegations about who gave money to whom and when, as well as to what end. The self-declared King of Transparency has lost his crown. This is precisely the reason that the EFA was needed. We can debate all day about the efficacy (or not) of that [...] read more
  July 27, 2008 2:05 pm - 30 Comments
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  $5000 for the arrest of Rice - by frog

  
  
  
  Everyone seems to be talking about the $5000 reward being offered for the citizen’s arrest of United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to the country this weekend.  If I were Condi I’d be worried the arrest could be led by Winston Peters.  He’ll be one of the few to get close [...] read more
  July 25, 2008 8:10 am - 46 Comments
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  Parliamentary questions about Peters - by frog

  
  
  
  I thought it was funny, after all the outrage that circulated around the various Winston Peters donation scandals over the weekend, that in the end it was the Greens asking the toughest questions in Parliament today. Tim Selwyn at Tumeke! Described the half hour of questions this afternoon thus: Winston’s crew were up and down [...] read more
  July 23, 2008 8:16 pm - 11 Comments
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  The Minister of Racing - by frog

  
  
  
  The news this morning that Winston Peters, the Minister of Racing, has been taking $150,000 in donations from a player in the racing industry is even more troubling than the Owen Glenn donation.  At least in that instance it seems one side of the party thought he was making a standard political donation and was [...] read more
  July 22, 2008 10:54 am - 23 Comments
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  A wire from Washington - by frog

  
  
  
  08wire is back at it’s condescending best, now not only presuming to tell the Green Party why we should go into coalition with Labour (because Helen Clark likes to say the word’s ‘sustainability’ and ‘carbon neutral’ on a regular basis) but also presuming to tell us what portfolios we can have after the election (synopsis [...] read more
  July 21, 2008 10:25 am - 18 Comments
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  Funding democracy - by frog

  
  
  
  I like Matt McCarten’s suggestion this morning that businesses and wealthy donors that want to make political donations to ‘support democracy’ put that money towards encouraging people to enrol rather than making donations to political parties: Three months from election day, 300,000 New Zealanders who are mainly young and poor haven’t bothered to enrol. If [...] read more
  July 20, 2008 8:26 am - 11 Comments
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  I would’ve chosen the Cook Islands rather than Monaco - by frog

  
  
  
  I swallowed some pond water over the weekend and have been a bit off colour since then (which is tricky for a frog that is already green).  Meanwhile, the news has also been ugly.  Tony Veitch (I’d like to think this was as story about domestic abuse rather than celebrity, but I’m not sure it’s [...] read more
  July 15, 2008 11:35 am - 7 Comments
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  The Facebook campaign - by frog

  
  
  
  I’ve just been to have a look around Facebook this morning to see how the virtual campaign is going.  The NZ Politics application has the Greens in a close race (223 votes) leading National (219 votes) and Labour (215 votes).  Peter Dunne, who once referred to the Greens as luddites, and this month said we [...] read more
  June 16, 2008 8:58 am - 1 Comment
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  I never would have guessed… - by frog

  
  
  
  From the Herald: New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says his party could form a government with National or Labour after the next election. Do you know that feeling where you sit down to watch a video and suddenly remember, 10 minutes in, that you’ve already seen it before?  Unlike the Greens don’t expect him [...] read more
  June 15, 2008 8:29 pm - 2 Comments
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  Two approaches to World Environment Day - by frog

  
  
  
  Sometimes I think we over intellectualize things.  The Green parliamentary office spent a bit of time and brain power over recent weeks trying to work out how to ensure the government didn’t dominate New Zealand’s role as host of World Environment Day with its greenwash.  We came up with some quite clever ideas.  Meanwhile, Winston [...] read more
  June 6, 2008 8:25 am - 25 Comments
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  Winston turns Green - by frog

  
  
  
  Nice work by Winston adopting this longstanding Green policy from 2002 to remove all income tax on the first $5000 of income, for everyone: Mr Peters said the party also wanted the first $5200 of income tax-free. That would help the low paid and part-time workers, but also pensioners, who pay tax on their superannuation. [...] read more
  May 21, 2008 2:23 pm - 10 Comments
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  The Minister of Racing’s $9 million stake - by frog

  
  
  
  Today the Greens have oral question number 11 in the House and it will be coming from Sue Bradford to the Minister for Racing: Why is the Government putting 9 million dollars into high-stakes racing in this week’s budget, given that in 2006 the racing industry received a tax windfall worth approximately 32 million dollars [...] read more
  May 20, 2008 10:58 am - 15 Comments
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  Meridian’s secret Mokihinui report - by frog

  
  
  
  Minister Steve Chadwick said in response to Metiria’s question in Parliament this afternoon that the Department of Conservation will be making a submission in on Meridian Energy’s proposal to build a hydro dam on the Mokihinui River and it will be advocating for the protection of the river. Metiria then asked her about Meridian’s suppressed [...] read more
  April 15, 2008 5:49 pm - 1 Comment
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  Winston’s credibility - by frog

  
  
  
  Like people from most corners of the political spectrum, defending Winston Peters doesn’t come naturally to me. But in this case I think he probably does deserve some support. Kiwiblog, Whale Oil, the Hive and others are all calling for Peters to resign following his announcement that NZ First will not be supporting the Preferential [...] read more
  April 9, 2008 8:15 am - 21 Comments
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  Labour joins Winston in the gutter - by frog

  
  
  
  With the Minister of Foreign Affairs not in the house today to answers Keith’s question about the links between human rights and trade it was extraordinary to see the Deputy Prime Minister step not only into his shoes, but also his persona, by launching two ad hominem abusive attacks on Keith. Keith’s record on human [...] read more
  March 19, 2008 4:52 pm - 34 Comments