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Gordon Campbell - Latest News [Page 2]
On National Passing Bad Policies Under Urgency
Friday, 16 February 2024, 11:10 am | Gordon Campbell
If National really had faith in its welfare policies, it wouldn’t be ramming them through Parliament under urgency – a step that means the policies can’t be exposed to select committee debate, public submissions, expert commentary, media scrutiny ... More >>
On Five Of Luxon’s Gaza Absurdities
Wednesday, 14 February 2024, 11:43 am | Gordon Campbell
Earlier this week, PM Christopher Luxon met with 48 public service CEOs to make sure they were on board with his plans to cut spending on public services so that National can proceed to give the revenue away to those New Zealanders least in need. ... More >>
On National’s Misleading Policy Packaging
Monday, 12 February 2024, 12:27 pm | Gordon Campbell
Truth in packaging can be a political rarity, but the gap between what the Luxon administration says it is doing and what its policies will actually deliver is looking as wide as the Grand Canyon. Is it possible to run a government for three years purely ... More >>
On The Politics As A Morality Play
Thursday, 8 February 2024, 12:49 pm | Gordon Campbell
To a striking extent, the working class vote in Western societies has been going to right wing demagogues, not to left wing social democrats. Even the mainstream parties on the right of the political spectrum are running the risk of being rejected ... More >>
On Tomorrow, And The Spirit Of Moana Jackson
Monday, 5 February 2024, 10:34 am | Gordon Campbell
Since ACT is sponsoring the Treaty Principles Bill, it is understandable that David Seymour should be catching most of the flak being generated by the Bill. National, by contrast, is offering soothing reassurances that the Bill will be allowed to progress ... More >>
On ACT’s Flat Tax Fever
Thursday, 1 February 2024, 12:04 pm | Gordon Campbell
Party on, dudes. Repeatedly, the policy adventures of Christopher Luxon and David Seymour are taking New Zealand back in time to the most excellent year of 2017. According to Chris and Dave, that’s when government spending was being restrained most righteously ... More >>
On Wasting Money On Defence, And Melanie, RIP
Tuesday, 30 January 2024, 9:56 am | Gordon Campbell
On the weekend, the government signalled once again that “ bold” and “brave” decisions were looming on Defence. That’s political code for lavish spending on weapons systems while essential social services are being cut. The rationale for ... More >>
On How Christopher Luxon Is Turning NZ Into A US Proxy
Thursday, 25 January 2024, 11:18 am | Gordon Campbell
How many students can pack into a phone booth? Surely, nowhere near as many as the double standards the Luxon government is packing into its rationale for helping to bomb the Houthis. So outraged are we at the Houthi attacks on maritime trade that ... More >>
On Treaty Principles, And Nikki Haley’s False Dawn
Tuesday, 23 January 2024, 11:18 am | Gordon Campbell
So the government wants to “debate” the principles of Te Tiriti, even though its own Māori Development Minister has been simultaneously assuring us that these principles are non-negotiable. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appears to be delivering ... More >>
On Charter Schools, And The Ghahraman Blame Machine
Wednesday, 17 January 2024, 12:07 pm | Gordon Campbell
According to Act Party leader David Seymour, if we gave 16 year olds the vote and allowed teachers to teach civics classes in high school, the result would be… Well, let Seymour himself paint the picture: The final recommendations of the independent ... More >>
On The Gaza Genocide Hearings
Monday, 15 January 2024, 12:42 pm | Gordon Campbell
Don’t hold your breath for a final judgement from the International Court of Justice as to whether Israel is, or isn’t, committing genocide in Gaza. Since 2019, the ICJ has been mulling over whether Myanmar has committed genocide against its Rohingya ... More >>
On Biden V Trump, And The Taiwan Election
Thursday, 11 January 2024, 11:28 am | Gordon Campbell
If the allegations against Golriz Ghahraman are found to have substance – or even if they merely result in an official Police investigation – then resignation looks the only option. The Greens brand is based on its claims to hold itself to a higher ... More >>
On Immigration’s Role In The Gaza Carnage
Monday, 8 January 2024, 12:17 pm | Gordon Campbell
If the world was in any doubt about what Israel’s endgame in Gaza might be, this (Google translated) Christmas Day report in the Israeli media made it pretty clear: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed [today] at the Likud faction meeting ... More >>
On Nicola Willis’ Impersonation Of A Finance Minister
Thursday, 21 December 2023, 11:05 am | Gordon Campbell
“ I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support [the poorhouses].... They cost enough, and those who are badly off must go to them.” – Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas ... More >>
On The Government’s Politics Of Nostalgia
Monday, 18 December 2023, 11:46 am | Gordon Campbell
There’s a thin line between “conservative” and “reactionary.” The former strive to retain the best of current practice, while the latter want to pull everything down and revel in memories that have been marinated in nostalgia. Clearly, we’re ... More >>
On The Ferry Follies Of Nicola Willis
Friday, 15 December 2023, 10:59 am | Gordon Campbell
Cook Strait can be one of the roughest stretches of water in the world. Thanks to Finance Minister Nicola Willis, New Zealand is now going to have to rely for the next decade or more on a couple of car ferries leased or purchased on the second ... More >>
On How The State Aims To Dictate What The Unemployed Are Allowed To Buy
Tuesday, 12 December 2023, 11:43 am | Gordon Campbell
At first glance, ACT deputy leader Brooke Van Velden might seem an odd choice to oversee workplace relations. However, if the aim is to atomise workplace relations and reduce them to the level of individual firms and individual workers – just ... More >>
On The Skewed Media Coverage Of Gaza
Friday, 8 December 2023, 11:33 am | Gordon Campbell
Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. ... More >>
On The Government's Assault On Maori
Wednesday, 6 December 2023, 2:10 pm | Gordon Campbell
This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, ... More >>
On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle
Monday, 4 December 2023, 11:36 am | Gordon Campbell
The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out - for excuses that might sell this ... More >>
