It’s Our Future: Now is the time for Labour to make good on its criticism of the TPPA

Over the last 6 years tens of thousands of New Zealanders have hit the streets in opposition to the TPPA. Hundreds of thousands have signed petitions, and polling has consistently shown that the public were against the agreement.

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Dollars and sense – Joyce’s hypocrisy

By Frank Macskasy

You’d think that after the humiliation of being dumped from government, that National’s ex-Ministers would keep a relatively low profile in the next few months.

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Mainstream media claim no Youth Quake (cough, cough – bullshit)

Remember all those msm political pundits who claimed there hadn’t been a Youth Quake and that the Left had failed to rouse them to the ballot boxes?

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What Jacinda Ardern is really doing with the TPPA

…I think that keeping their heads down and allowing the TPPA to implode all on its own to escape an open confrontation with the elite rich of NZ is a smarter move for a new Government than declaring war on the neoliberal establishment on day one.

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What NZ First Chief of Staff appointment really means

The truth is that this Government intends to be far more interventionist and radical than others before it and the corporate punditry are tactically in denial about that so that they can express faux outrage when the free market neoliberalism on steroids gets challenged.

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Police can arrest suicide survivors, steal babies, illegally search Nicky Hager & me – but can’t arrest a Tobacco lobbyist?

Let’s get this straight.

________________________________

Update on my case against the NZ Police with the Human Rights Review Tribunal

It has become obvious to me from the outset that this entire process to hold the NZ Police to account for breaching my privacy and civil rights is made to be as difficult and impossible as possible so that people complaining give up rather than hold them to account.

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Setting The Agenda View All →

Dollars and sense – Joyce’s hypocrisy

By Frank Macskasy 11 hours ago

You’d think that after the humiliation of being dumped from government, that National’s ex-Ministers would keep a relatively low profile in the next few months.

By Chris Trotter 1 day ago

But what, exactly, does that mean? Is Craig merely putting flesh on the bones of Grant’s, and the Labour Policy Council’s, ideas? Or, are Grant and Labour merely repeating ideas and policy positions fed to them by Craig? And, if it’s the latter, then what are the ideas and policies our new government is being asked to swallow?

By Curwen Ares Rolinson 3 days ago

You know, it is a peculiar thing to wake up to various people demanding the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat for remarks he made at a private gathering about the state of Israel. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong about this … but it was not Iran which boldly threatened a state of war with our country only a few months ago, now, was it.

By John Minto 3 days ago

There are some encouraging signs this Labour-led government will not be a “pledge-card” government. If it can develop and maintain programmes of change across housing, health, welfare, the environment, employment rights etc then while it will never be a revolutionary government, it could be a transformational government.

By Leslie Bravery 3 days ago

On 2 November 1917, at the height of the First World War, Britain’s imperial voice expressed itself in a statement of intent from its Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, to Lord Rothschild – for passing on to the Zionist Federation. The message is known as the Balfour Declaration. The 30-year-long British occupation of Palestine that followed […]

By Chris Trotter 4 days ago

ZACH CASTLES is sitting, gutted, in a café overlooking the Thames. The former “National ministerial adviser”, no longer having any National ministers to advise, has clearly relocated himself to a more promising political marketplace. Even so, our brave young capitalist has taken the time to share his thoughts with The Spinoff. (Who else!) And, oh, comrades, what thoughts they are!

By Frank Macskasy 5 days ago

On 25 October, incoming Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced that NZ First’s talented Tracey Martin would be appointed to the new Labour-NZF-Green cabinet as a full-ranking Minister;

By Mike Treen 6 days ago

It is a mistake to underestimate the importance of the decision to lift the minimum wage to $20 an hour by April 2021. This will involve a significant real increase in wages for hundreds of thousands of workers in this country.

Meanwhile – the planet is melting

By Martyn Bradbury 9 hours ago

…the current political template that us focused on quarterly profit margins simply can’t produce policy to protect us from this new reality.

By Martyn Bradbury 9 hours ago

…when the State can steal your baby with impunity, at what point do we demand massive reform inside these neoliberal welfare agencies who only serve to damage and punish the most vulnerable amongst us?

By Martyn Bradbury 10 hours ago

I have said it once, I’ll say it again – pundits still don’t understand how radical this Government intends to be.

By Martyn Bradbury 10 hours ago

Let’s get this straight.

By Martyn Bradbury 10 hours ago

…I think that keeping their heads down and allowing the TPPA to implode all on its own to escape an open confrontation with the elite rich of NZ is a smarter move for a new Government than declaring war on the neoliberal establishment on day one.

By Martyn Bradbury 11 hours ago

The truth is that this Government intends to be far more interventionist and radical than others before it and the corporate punditry are tactically in denial about that so that they can express faux outrage when the free market neoliberalism on steroids gets challenged.

By Martyn Bradbury 3 days ago

How the hell does arresting a suicide victim help that person? How cruel have we become under 9 years of National that arresting suicide victims is even considered a positive step forward?

By Martyn Bradbury 3 days ago

It takes far more money to heal human beings than punish them, but the results are far healthier for society as a whole.

Can the NZ Herald explain how this is breaking news?

By Martyn Bradbury 1 hour ago

Since when was Mike Hosking’s bullshit hot takes on any subject ‘Breaking News’.

By Martyn Bradbury 2 hours ago

Remember all those msm political pundits who claimed there hadn’t been a Youth Quake and that the Left had failed to rouse them to the ballot boxes?

By Martyn Bradbury 6 days ago

Look at the utter bullshit most mainstream media outlets have spread creating the insinuation that National won the election, unless a new Government is prepared to invest in a far more critical media, these rich white wing male broadcasters and the cultural and economic hegemony that they endorse will continue to manipulate the voters of NZ.

By Martyn Bradbury 6 days ago

Labour Day became a national holiday in New Zealand in 1899. It was to commemorate and celebrate the rise of worker powers and how the earliest Pakeha settlers coming to New Zealand fought to create a fair balance of power between the boss and the worker.

By Martyn Bradbury 1 week ago

So ‘pretty legal’ as a copyright defence by National didn’t quite have the same cut through they’d had hoped for then? I’m still laughing.

By Martyn Bradbury 1 week ago

Will she get blamed for curdled milk and crop failure as well?

By Frank Macskasy 2 weeks ago

The media role is reporting post-election politics has not been an edifying spectacle to watch. Put simply, the most exacerbating aspect of three weeks of coalition negotiation has not been the length of time – remarkably short by international standards – but the interminable, inane, media commentary we’ve had to endure.

By Martyn Bradbury 2 weeks ago

The Labour-NZ First-Green Government was a dream, an illusion with no fixed reality 10 weeks ago, yet here we are after MMP with a mandate for change and a functioning Parliamentary majority. This is indeed a time for us to rejoice and feel empowered by our democracy. But after we have celebrated, let’s remember those who could not endure National’s 9 years in office or who were crushed into apathy by their brutal policy decisions.

GUEST BLOG: Stephen Parry – It’s Our Future: Now is the time for Labour to make good on its criticism of the TPPA

By The Daily Blog 6 hours ago

Over the last 6 years tens of thousands of New Zealanders have hit the streets in opposition to the TPPA. Hundreds of thousands have signed petitions, and polling has consistently shown that the public were against the agreement.

By The Daily Blog 11 hours ago

Announcing that he was going with Labour, Winston Peters said that he was committed to making capitalism in New Zealand more human. One could write a book on possible meanings of ‘capitalism’ and libraries on the potential, or not, for improving it. We must be briefer.

By The Daily Blog 1 day ago

The working class of Catalonia is not overwhelmingly of Catalonian heritage. In the Franco years, Barcelona was flooded by ethnic Spanish workers seeking a better life. Generations on, Catalonia is as much Spanish as it is Catalan.

By The Daily Blog 4 days ago

I was really pleased to see the response from all the Maori Party supporters over the last couple of days with my comments about the Foreshore and Seabed.

By The Daily Blog 2 weeks ago

Not since the Rugby World Cup have I heard a cheer as loud in the unit as when the new Labour government was announced last night .

By The Daily Blog 2 weeks ago

Forest and Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said in July that documents released under the Official Information Act indicated that ‘the scope of law and regulation that the government is proposing to suspend, to facilitate these developments, is breath-taking’.

By The Daily Blog 2 weeks ago

The term sexual harassment is a bit distracting as the activity is more about power than sex. Sex does often come into it – but most of the time it is about men using their power to abuse women in any way they can.

By The Daily Blog 2 weeks ago

A Talley’s owned meat plant has given their workers an ultimatum; sign a new contract that includes an effective 85 cents per hour pay cut or be paid as a casual, with no sick days, no holidays, no production bonus and no rights of ongoing work. Oh, and no pay this Labour Day either.

The Liberal Agenda – AUCKLAND SHOW COMMEMORATES RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

By The Liberal Agenda 6 hours ago

Reds is written by Dean Parker (Came A Hot Friday) and will be at the Thirsty Dog on Karangahape Rd on Sunday November 5, Guy Fawkes’ Day, 2pm.

By Genevieve McClean 3 days ago

My companion and I attended the very final night of Matilda the Musical at the Civic in Auckland. And his response was similar to mine, – “Wow! That was Amazing!”

By The Daily Blog 6 days ago

You’ve seen Dickens at The Basement, you’ve seen JC himself, you’ve even seen a Real Housewife, but now it’s time for the big man himself: Santa Claus! He’s made his list. He’s checked it twice. He knows if you’ve been naughty or nice. And he’s coming through the chimney/trap door to the Basement stage to […]

By The Liberal Agenda 1 week ago

WHEN: 6.30pm Sunday 29th October
WHERE: Tapac

By The Liberal Agenda 1 week ago

Human rights and LGBTIQ+ people are under attack all over the world. In 2018, the Auckland Pride Festival and Parade will make space and march for peace, love and unity. “As last year’s 30th anniversary of homosexual law reform reminded us, human rights – and especially LGBTIQ+ rights – have been hard won, and often […]

By Martyn Bradbury 2 weeks ago

Basement Theatre maintains its crown as the best venue in Auckland for experimental theatre that really does manage to change perspective with The Winterreise Project.

By Martyn Bradbury 3 weeks ago

The moment that summed up such an exquisite exploration of the female was the raw cry of the audience who jumped to their feet and bellowed their support and appreciation of such art.

By Martyn Bradbury 3 weeks ago

For me the scene which most perfectly summed up the confusion of the manufactured reality of this hollowing out of the human experience is when an artificial intelligence program synchs over the image of a real life biological woman to have sex with a synthetic life form.

If there is a better metaphor for modern humanity, I’ve yet to see it.

Political Caption Competition

By The Daily Blog 11 hours ago

Bill English and Paula Bennett convinced new look will succeed in 2020.

By The Daily Blog 11 hours ago

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

By Malcolm Evans 1 day ago

Malcolm Evans – Sport & Politics

By The Daily Blog 1 day ago

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

By The Daily Blog 3 days ago

God wants us to have this rich car despite God spending most of his time reminding people not to be rich pricks

By The Daily Blog 3 days ago

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

By The Daily Blog 3 days ago

What the right think you will spend your minimum age increase on

By The Daily Blog 3 days ago

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Senior doctors commend Health Minister for seeking answers in dubious Waikato process – ASMS

By The Daily Blog 6 hours ago

“The new Health Minister is to be commended for seeking answers to Waikato District Health Board’s dubious decision to spend millions of dollars on a virtual health strategy,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). He was commenting on reports that Health Minister David Clark has expressed concern about […]

By The Daily Blog 8 hours ago

E tū has welcomed the Government’s decision to scrap the former National Government’s pay equity bill. E tū took the pay equity case, Bartlett v Terranova which ultimately led to the equal pay settlement for 55,000 care and support workers. The Employment (Pay Equity and Equal Pay) Bill passed its first reading in August by […]

By The Daily Blog 10 hours ago

A NZ Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC) response to Shalom Kiwi Press Release: UN Security Council Resolution 2334 Criticised The Israel Institute of New Zealand, in an article entitled Post Election outlook for New Zealand’s relationship with Israel, noted with pleasure that Winston Peters was now in the position of ‘king maker’. The article considered […]

By The Daily Blog 10 hours ago

Thousands sign open letter to PM Ardern on TPPA11. Jacinda responds. In just three days nearly 6,000 people have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urging her to put people and planet first in the upcoming TPPA negotiations in Vietnam. Today Jacinda responded, committing to do her ‘utmost to push against ISDS […]

By The Daily Blog 10 hours ago

The Environmental Defence Society has released a new research report aimed at exploring how habitat banking could contribute to the management of New Zealand’s biodiversity. Banking on Biodiversity: the feasibility of Biobanking in New Zealand is available free on the EDS website from today. “We are aware that offsetting the harm to nature in development […]

By The Daily Blog 11 hours ago

E tū is very disappointed to learn that some employers are trying to avoid the upcoming minimum wage increase by building workers’ allowances into their basic hourly pay. The allowances are typically paid for such things as service, travel time and in recognition of shift work. E tū’s Industry Coordinator Food Sector, Phil Knight says […]

By The Daily Blog 11 hours ago

Rebecca Occleston of Beneficiary Advisory Service states that she read another article recently on “Generous welfare benefits make people more likely to want to work, not less” and she agrees with this statement. “Research has consistently shown that when more jobs are available, more people are working and when there are fewer jobs, there are […]

By The Daily Blog 11 hours ago

Broadcasting Standards Authority confirms accuracy of Greenpeace criticism of fishing industry The BSA today confirmed the accuracy of criticism made by Greenpeace of the fishing industry and MPI over its awarding video monitoring systems to the industry-owned company, Trident Systems. Trident complained to the BSA about a Radio New Zealand story on video monitoring in […]

It’s Our Future: Now is the time for Labour to make good on its criticism of the TPPA

Over the last 6 years tens of thousands of New Zealanders have hit the streets in opposition to the TPPA. Hundreds of thousands have signed petitions, and polling has consistently shown that the public were against the agreement.

________________________________

Dollars and sense – Joyce’s hypocrisy

By Frank Macskasy

You’d think that after the humiliation of being dumped from government, that National’s ex-Ministers would keep a relatively low profile in the next few months.

________________________________

Mainstream media claim no Youth Quake (cough, cough – bullshit)

Remember all those msm political pundits who claimed there hadn’t been a Youth Quake and that the Left had failed to rouse them to the ballot boxes?

What Jacinda Ardern is really doing with the TPPA

…I think that keeping their heads down and allowing the TPPA to implode all on its own to escape an open confrontation with the elite rich of NZ is a smarter move for a new Government than declaring war on the neoliberal establishment on day one.

________________________________

What NZ First Chief of Staff appointment really means

The truth is that this Government intends to be far more interventionist and radical than others before it and the corporate punditry are tactically in denial about that so that they can express faux outrage when the free market neoliberalism on steroids gets challenged.

________________________________

Police can arrest suicide survivors, steal babies, illegally search Nicky Hager & me – but can’t arrest a Tobacco lobbyist?

Let’s get this straight.

________________________________

Update on my case against the NZ Police with the Human Rights Review Tribunal

It has become obvious to me from the outset that this entire process to hold the NZ Police to account for breaching my privacy and civil rights is made to be as difficult and impossible as possible so that people complaining give up rather than hold them to account.

________________________________

THE DAILY BLOG

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