Pleased to see at least one journalist asking tough questions of TOP. It is alarming that the party leader doers;t even know her own party’s rules, especially one as important as the board being able to over-rule the caucus. I guess this is what you get when a party leader is not a long-standing member,…
The all powerful TOP Board
The all powerful TOP Board
23 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
How much land tax will you pay?
20 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
TOP has proposed a 1.75% tax on the value of urban land (except Maori communal land) and 0.5% on rural land. It is worth noting that land values have been declining for the last five years, so TOP’s policy is to tax you on an asset that is declining in value! Urban Av land value…
How much land tax will you pay?
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
The Opportunity Party policy is or was that any criminal offender aged under 25 should be sent to the Youth Court for a family group conference, rather than go to an adult court. They say this is because 24 year old brains are not fully developed, so they should not be held fully accountable for…
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
SST lashes crazy TOP policy
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Chris Lynch reports: The Sensible Sentencing Trust has launched a blistering attack on The Opportunity Party’s policy to raise the age of Youth Court jurisdiction, describing it as one of the craziest ideas it has seen in years. Opportunity’s “Smart on Crime” policy promised until recently to “raise the age of the youth court jurisdiction…
SST lashes crazy TOP policy
A populist ACT
27 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
There is insufficient support for neoliberal economic policies so political parties of the hard right are adopting populist causes. To succeed the neoliberal revolution of Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson had to change the culture of New Zealanders from their belief that the government was usually the solution to a problem to a society which […]
A populist ACT
Hipkins hypocrisy
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Stuff reports: Labour leader Chris Hipkins wasn’t happy when new ACT Party candidate Paul Henry said he’d need to “shoot” Hipkins, during a game of “shoot, shag, marry”. His other options were Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and NZ First leader Winston Peters, who, given the options, he’d “shag”. Hipkins said Henry wasn’t a serious candidate. “New…
Hipkins hypocrisy
ACT’s High Hopes for Henry
16 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
One of the rapidly emerging features of the 2026 election is the announcement of candidates carrying a profile from another sphere of activity. New Zealand First started the trend in April with former All Black captain Taine Randell announced as the candidate for Tukituki. He won’t win the seat but will surely be in the […]
ACT’s High Hopes for Henry
Opportunity is no longer a wasted vote
03 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Something unusual has happened in the 2026 election campaign: a new party has started to matter. The Opportunity Party has moved from being a minor-party curiosity to being a possible parliamentary entrant. This does not mean Opportunity will definitely make it into Parliament. It might not. It could still collapse back to 2-3%, as small […]
Opportunity is no longer a wasted vote
Labour and Te Pati Maori
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Politik reports: But Labour may have got the jump on ACT with its leader announcing that it is highly unlikely to go into coalition with the Greens or Te Paati Maori, but instead will simply do confidence and supply agreements with the two parties. This will actually make any Government less stable, and actually make…
Labour and Te Pati Maori
Who gets in on Labour’s List?
08 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Labour have released their party list. People want to know who is likely to get in as a List MP. First how many overall seats will they get? On the average of the public polls it is 39. Then it is how many electorates will they win? Well purely on applying the current party vote…
Who gets in on Labour’s List?
The Free Palestine party shows that political advertising for parliamentary parties should not be taxpayer funded
05 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: 2026 general election, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left
A new political party “Palestine Free from the River to the Sea” are explicitly saying that “Our purpose in creating a party is not to seek power, but to raise awareness. If we can reach 500 members quickly we will qualify for government funding to be used in campaign advertising. Every cent will go towards…
The Free Palestine party shows that political advertising for parliamentary parties should not be taxpayer funded
How Te Pāti Māori and the Greens have put Labour in check on the election-year chess board
27 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
* Chris Trotter writes – Chess is war on 64 squares. War is politics by other means. Unsurprising, then, that the moves of chess players and the moves of politicians have much in common. Above all other objectives the political strategist seeks to position adversaries where they can do the least harm. Enemies only become dangerous […]
How Te Pāti Māori and the Greens have put Labour in check on the election-year chess board
How the Labour Party will campaign in 2026
24 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
This week Chris Hipkins gave us the clearest picture yet of how Labour plans to fight the 2026 election. His speech at the party’s caucus retreat in West Auckland, and then a rally-style address to party activists, revealed a strategy that combines class-based attack lines, relentless positivity, and a narrowed focus on kitchen-table concerns. But […]
How the Labour Party will campaign in 2026
If the election was scheduled for next week, Hipkins could win – but (luckily for Luxon) it’s next year
26 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: 2026 general election
Chris Trotter writes – “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”. Those words, taken from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, are often quoted in the context of politicians facing the hard choice between doing it now, or not doing it at all.
If the election was scheduled for next week, Hipkins could win – but (luckily for Luxon) it’s next year
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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