Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #nzpolitics, aggregated by home.social.
If the Greens had a spine they would have made legalized cannabis sales for adults a bottom line if Labour wanted to be in government in 2017.
Either we would have got it without the referendum malarkey.
OR
We would have given English and the Nats the poison pill of governing with Winston First for 3 years (or less), and Labour a hard lesson in not taking the Greens for granted as a crutch. But I'm guessing Labour's greed for power would have been too strong for that.
@Kiwiana13C This is some seriously Mirror World stuff right here. If anyone's been running a concerted attack campaign it's Greens partisans against Opportunity, not vice versa. Despite your election strategy being all about building bridges not flaming the Evil Other;
https://strypey.dreamwidth.org/9581.html
A reminder to kiwis about the imminent General Election. A farcical aquatic ceremony, which gives this or that group of cynical, corporate-arse-licking clowns full Executive power over the NZ Parliament for the next 3 years. If you decide to participate (and I don't judge you for not bothering), please remember;
MMP gives you 2 votes. *2*. You don't have to give them to the same party!
In fact the whole point of MMP is to give you the option *not to*.
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A sensible NZ govt would distance themselves from Orange Stalin's régime as much as possible. But not by making ourselves a 'Switzerland of the South Pacific. The Swiss posture of 'neutrality' empowered the Nazis, so in effect that's who they sided with.
Instead, NZ diplomats should be instructed to find ways to legitimize and encourage pro-democracy movements, even in nominally 'democratic' countries like the US. In cooperation with their colleagues from around the world.
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"Proposing to loot the foreign aid biscuit tin without much prior warning or without any consideration of how this might impact on our aid partners – or on the international reputation of New Zealand as a reliable partner in development – is reckless, and irresponsible of National and ACT. [Winston] Peters has called it 'dangerous' and 'desperate'. On this occasion, he’s right."
#GordonCampbell, 2026
https://werewolf.co.nz/2026/10/gordon-campbell-on-the-centre-right-laying-traps-for-winston-peters/
I'm a died-in-the-wool political tragic, but I'm finding it really hard to pay attention to the election campaign. It's all so cynical and spoon-fed.
I'm normally like a kid at Christmas During election time. But for the first time ever, I just want it all to be over so we can go on with our lives.
@FusionPartyAus
> a dozen staff at Australia's sovereign wealth fund (the Future Fund) earn salaries above $1 million
Something for kiwis to keep in mind when considering NZ Labour's proposed Future Fund ...
This morning's edition of MediaWatch covers the Nicky Hager book launch, playing audio of CLuxon saying the words I quoted upthread;
Just wow. He tried to sound ironic and nonchalant, and he failed completely. I've never heard the man sounding more rattled!
He knows exactly who Hager is. He know the new book is his own party members exposing the extent of the lies and reputation laundering that won him the PM seat.
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"Alas, it would seem that Labour concluded long ago that it was going to lose this year’s election, and Chris Hipkins has proven to be the ideal man for the job."
#GordonCampbell, 2026
Just a reminder that if Chris Hipkins doesn't change his mind and reverse NatACT First's tax cut for landlords, it will continue to be affordable - maybe even profitable - to keep homes sitting empty during a housing crisis. As I said back in 2017, one cause of the ongoing housing crisis is;
"... rules that allow untenanted, empty properties to be written off as a tax loss, so there’s no incentive to make sure every property not being used by its owner is rented out."
"Chris Hipkins has decided that actually he wants to subsidise landlords after all."
@norightturnnz, 2026
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-landlord-party.html
Just when I think Hipkins couldn't possibility be any more disappointing, nature finds a way.
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"That is a criticism of incompleteness, not a rejection. The Greens are at least looking at the economy as a distributional system rather than a spreadsheet with a moral vocabulary pasted over it."
#MaurizioPiglia, 2026
https://keenlens.substack.com/p/the-elections-fiscal-test-is-not
This!
The average age of NZ MPs tends to be somewhere in the late 40s;
To a certain extent, Parliament skewing older is unavoidable. It takes at least a few years of post-student political work to get enough recognition to be accepted as a candidate for any party, let alone one likely to get to 5% or win electorate seats. Even longer to get high enough in the party list to get a seat, or enough local recognition to win an electorate.
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Another grilling for Quilae Wong and the Opportunity, this time from Mihingarangi Forbes;
A good interview for those who question whether Opportunity can really be described as "progressive".
#MihingarangiForbes #Mata #RNZ #podcasts #Opportunity #NZElection2026 #NZPolitics
"It matters because growth is where incomes, jobs and opportunity come from.”
#NickyNoBoats, 2026
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/25/nicola-willis-and-the-economy-that-didnt-roar/
It's really not. All sorts of things can create the perception of economic growth. Property prices being driven up by speculation. Rich people moving to NZ with their money. None of which, in themselves, do anything to create opportunities or jobs. What actually creates those things is the redistribution of money from hoarders to spenders.
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Polls consistently tell us that 2/3 of kiwis support reforming the tax system. To ensure the wealthy pay at least as much as everyone else, and to balance out the public spending necessary to safeguard our infrastructure and public services.
So ... why do the polls also consistently tell us that 2/3 of kiwis plan to vote for the NatACTs or Labour? All of whom want to keep our tax system unjust and insufficient.
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"There's still absolutely a need and a role for publicly provisioned services, healthcare systems, education systems, we don't want to see an erosion of that from the government, or what it provides. We want to see a strengthening of that, if anything.
But the Citizens Income still retains some of that flexibility and freedom for individuals to choose how that money is spent."
#QuilaeWong, 2026
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"Some on the Left are pissy with the woke identity politics of the Greens, but the reality is they are turning up at this election with the best policies for EVERYONE. They are actually looking at solutions and the Greens on their wokest day is preferable to racist cookers any month of the year."
#BomberBradbury, 2026
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/latest-polling-shows-labour-green-tpm-top-government/
On a few points I think TOP policy is more radical (eg UBI), but otherwise, no disagreements here.
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"As a leftist forced to coexist with other leftists, I have seen my share of absurd opinions, but 'Opportunity are ACT in disguise!' is about as nonsensical as Kiwi political opinions get, on a par with 'National will balance the books!' and 'Winston will keep them honest!' As a semi-professional ACT party despiser; please take it from me: Opportunity are nothing like ACT."
#JoshDrummond, 2026
https://www.emilywrites.co.nz/should-you-vote-for-the-opportunity-party/
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Another poll released, and once again, Opportunity is above 5%;
A week is a long time in politics, as they say, and there's still 2 months until Polling Day. There's always the possibility something could completely undermine Opportunity's support before then. But based on the consistent trend across all polling companies, going back to mid-June, they will be in the next Parliament.
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Lara Greaves points out that after the Nats' failed leadership coup, and the demotion of Chris Penk, Paul Goldsmith now holds 11 Ministerial portfolios;
This is an unprecedented number for a NZ Cabinet minister. As with the Nats' inability to choose a replacement for CLuxon, it points to a serious shortage of talent in their caucus.
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More NZ election guff. I just reposted a piece about the housing affordability crisis, posted on TheDailyBlog in 2017;
https://strypey.dreamwidth.org/8954.html
The political history stuff is still relevant, and sadly, not that much has changed in policy terms either. Grant Robertson and his allies in Labour came up with policy to address some of this, and pushed it through Ardern's Cabinet, but NatACT First mostly reversed it in their first 100 days.
"I'd pick Brooke van Velden as the leader of Act in the not so distant future. Seymour for all his work turns off too many., Her day will come."
Comment by "rastus", May, 2025
Well, that adds some context to van Velden's announcement a year later of her resignation from Parliament at the end of the current term.
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You know what? Let's have another referendum on MMP, but this time - like the first time - let's do it properly. 2 referenda; a Louis Vuitton cup of election systems, including FPP as an option, and then the final runoff between the winner of that, and MMP.
Bonus points for including a constitutional document that describes how the NZ works now, and one for each contender, documenting what would change.
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One thing NZ electoral politics hasn't really come to grips with under MMP is the fundamentally different roles of electorate MPs and list MPs.
Electorate MPs represent the people of their electorate in Parliament, while list MPs represent their *party*. Parliamentary rules, and debates about them, ought to reflect this key difference. But so often they don't.
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One to watch: New Zealand’s Opportunity Party
As New Zealand gears up to a general election this November, there's a new party on the scene that I suggest outsiders keep an eye on. Qiulae Wong, the new party's new leader and a businesswoman from Auckland. New Zealand is among the world's healthiest democracies. In 2017, when the far right were gaining support globally and social democrats were in the doldrums, New Zealand bucked the trend. That year saw the unexpected rise of Jacinda Ardern, a centre left prime minister whose political […]
I wonder if the PoliticalCompass.org folks are going to do a graph for this NZ election? I'm very curious as always to see if they think the established parties have moved since 2023, and particularly, where they place the Opportunity Party, and if they place any other new contenders.
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"Again, that’s because Winston Peters, 81, holds the power and looks set to be even more powerful after November 7, especially after this week’s events."
#BernardHickey, 2026
https://thekaka.substack.com/p/luxon-like-nz-is-bogged-down-with
Hickey seems to think NatACT First are going to win another election. But ... why?
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2 more polls released since the Roy Morgan I mentioned last week. The Curia poll for the Taxpayers' Union put the Opportunity party at a more modest 6.1%. But the Verian poll for One News put them at 8%, same as the RM result. The party's average result since the Budget is now 5.2%.
Intriguingly, being ruled out by CLuxon seems to have only boosted their support. Which suggests a lot of a pro-business people who voted for the NatACTs in 2023 want a change
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"Tomorrow might just be more nothing, another round of pointless National squabbling which results in nothing. And that would be the best outcome, because Luxon is such a loser that even Hipkins might be able to beat him (or rather, be carried to victory by his coalition partners)."
@norightturnnz , 2026
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2026/08/shaking-it-up.html
And as you will have seen by now, CLuxon is still PM the same way we both expect Hipkins will become PM (again); by default.
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Opportunity Party Tax Policy dropped - UBI _ move to property based tax to leave (checks notes) 70% better off, and only the top 10% of wealthy paying more.
Some very important points made here, validated by what I am concerned about watching the life of a GP relative. Exploiting them with work demands requiring hours far beyond the contracted number is widespread abuse of professionals trying to help the population.
- NZ GPs are doing about 46% of their work unpaid - often after hours and on weekends.
- Data shows that having a regular GP makes people 30 percent less likely to need to be admitted to a hospital.
- Data also shows that having a regular GP leads to a 30% reduction in all-cause mortality or death.
- New Zealand is about 2000 GPs short of what Australia has, and Kiwis deserve better. They do not deserve to be downgraded to higher risk by way of pharmacists or "physicians' assistants' acting as if they have training or overall perspective they don't have.
'Broken funding model' and 'anti-GP ideology' causing GPs to leave jobs, doctor says - RNZ News
#nz #nzpol #ActNZ #NZGPCrisis #NZHealthCrisis #NZHealthcare #nzhealth #nzpolitics #politics
National Party Support Dwindles, Left Bloc Gains Momentum
New Zealand's National Party support drops to 30% in April 2026 poll. Left bloc gains momentum ahead of the November 7, 2026 general election.
#NZPolitics, #NationalParty, #LabourParty, #Election2026, #NewZealand
https://newsletter.tf/nz-national-party-support-drops-april-2026/
The latest 1News Verian poll shows National Party support at 30%, a 4-point drop. This is lower than previous polls from early 2026.
#NZPolitics, #NationalParty, #LabourParty, #Election2026, #NewZealand
https://newsletter.tf/nz-national-party-support-drops-april-2026/
#BHN Tonight at 9pm
- Andrey Khrzhanovskiy LIVE from the West Bank
- Christopher Hipkins on NZ Herald talking TPM
- Building Act overhaul has concerns
#nzpol #nzpolitics
https://www.youtube.com/live/XhsoxK_ot1o?si=EXyT1X4ia4coH-3r
Nuclear-free and independent Pacific advocates are treating Aucklanders to a lively week-long exhibition dedicated to the struggle for nuclear justice in the region. https://asiapacificreport.nz/2025/07/12/nfip-activists-advocates-to-open-nuclear-free-pacific-exhibition/ #NZPolitics #environment #NoNukes
@miramarmike Interestingly, the Parliament website seems to be taking a hammering - been like this for 30 minutes.
It’s not polished and who knows whether it gets read with attention but I turn 44 tomorrow and this is the kind of nasty shit I used to think the grown-ups would take care of. I hope it helps, somehow, a little. #NZPolitics
#NZPolitics
“On a personal level I loathe the ideology described in this bill, which "knows the price of everything & the value of nothing". I am furious at the blatantly disingenuous wording, at the attempted power-grab by a fringe political minority, and at the waste of time, money, and our collective attention caused by recycling the same ideas again & again over the course of many years. My recommendation, my request, is that you reject this bill as decisively and permanently as possible.”
I made a submission on the no-good very bad Regulatory Standards Bill ( #NZPolitics). If you’re a kiwi you could too:
My bit doesn’t fit in 500-char lumps, but the headlines are:
1. Fringe ideology
2. Too broad powers granted to one Minister
3. Misleading and disingenuous
Great declaration by NZed academics at Otago University supporting #BDS and condemning the genocide of Palestinian people by criminal #Israel. https://asiapacificreport.nz/2025/05/12/otago-academics-plan-declaration-on-palestine-to-face-daily-horrors/ #NZPolitics #ICJ4Israel
Wellington released the new rateable values for houses.
Our house just lost 30%!! in 'value' within the last two years. That's mind blowing and reflects the deep economic problems our government put us in, especially given the job cuts in government, mostly in Wellington.
This usually wouldn't be a problem, unless one wants to move. Which we do, because of the job and economic situation. If we had multiple houses, again not a problem, but we only have our family home.
#NZPolitics
