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Peter Dunne - Latest News [Page 5]
Labour And National Both "Window Dressing" On Policing
Wednesday, 15 June 2022, 9:07 am | Peter Dunne
National has dismissed Chris Hipkins’ appointment as Minister of Police as “window dressing for the public.” According to its Police spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, National considers Hipkins’ appointment owes more to the fact he is the government’s ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: The Days Of The Independent Republic Of PHARMAC Are Far From Over
Thursday, 9 June 2022, 9:00 am | Peter Dunne
When he announced the government’s response to the recent independent review of PHARMAC Health Minister Andrew Little boldly declared that “the days of the independent republic of PHARMAC are over.” His words were warmly welcomed by many patient advocacy ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Smugness A Risk For Luxon
Wednesday, 1 June 2022, 10:05 am | Peter Dunne
Time may well prove Christopher Luxon right in his boast that National will form the next government because of Labour’s handling of the cost-of-living crisis. But it is far too premature, and borders on smugness, for him to make that claim ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Robertson's Budget Gamble On Treasury
Friday, 20 May 2022, 11:02 am | Peter Dunne
The popular test of the success or failure of Grant Robertson’s fifth Budget will be its impact on the soaring cost of living. In today’s climate little else matters. Because governments come and governments go – about every six to seven years on ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Words Matter, Prime Minister
Wednesday, 11 May 2022, 9:38 am | Peter Dunne
Words matter, especially when uttered by politicians. History is littered with examples of careless or injudicious words uttered by politicians coming back to haunt them, often at the most awkward of times. During the 1987 election campaign, when electoral ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: New Zealanders' Ongoing Quest For Security
Thursday, 5 May 2022, 10:07 am | Peter Dunne
In many ways, the essential story of New Zealand over the last hundred years or so has been our search for security. Whether it be security from want, or unemployment, homelessness, or cultural alienation, it has always been a constant theme which has ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Labour Relying On More Of The Same To Beat Recession
Thursday, 28 April 2022, 10:08 am | Peter Dunne
With inflation worsening, mortgage interest rates rising, and businesses facing increasing shortages of goods and raw materials, many will be looking to next month’s Budget for relief. Economists, business commentators and non-government political ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: It's Pass The Parcel Time On Inflation
Wednesday, 20 April 2022, 10:10 am | Peter Dunne
An elaborate but ultimately irrelevant game of pass the parcel is being played out at present about who is responsible for inflation rocketing to a 30-year high, with home mortgage rates and other lending costs set to do likewise. According to the ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Is Our Independent Foreign Policy Coming To An End?
Wednesday, 13 April 2022, 9:26 am | Peter Dunne
Recent events raise the question of whether New Zealand’s self-proclaimed independent foreign policy is slowly but surely being whittled away in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. First there was the so-called autonomous sanctions legislation ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Time To Look Again At Flexisuper
Thursday, 7 April 2022, 9:46 am | Peter Dunne
The call by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi to pay Māori a pension from the age of 57 should not be dismissed out of hand. He is right to draw attention to the fact that on average Māori die earlier, and therefore have less time to enjoy ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: $1.9 Billion Spend On Mental Health Produces No Results
Wednesday, 23 March 2022, 9:34 am | Peter Dunne
According to Mental Health and Wellness Commission statistics, one in ten New Zealanders made use of the website www.depression.org.nz in 2020/21. At the same time, just over 191,000 people (3.7% of the population) accessed mental health services directly ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: National's New Finance Spokesperson
Thursday, 17 March 2022, 9:04 am | Peter Dunne
In our system of government, the Prime Minister is often described as “primus inter pares”, the first among equals, or the chair of the board when it comes to leading Cabinet and the wider team of government MPs. The Minister of Finance, correspondingly, ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: The Right To Vote Is Absolute
Wednesday, 9 March 2022, 8:37 am | Peter Dunne
The most basic and cherished right in a free society is the right to vote. Wars have been fought over it, and people have given their lives and endured other indignities in defence of the right to cast a vote for whom they choose at election time. It ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Not With A Bang, But A Whimper
Thursday, 3 March 2022, 8:29 am | Peter Dunne
I was reminded recently of T.S. Eliot’s famous lines at the end of his classic poem, “The Waste Land”: “This is the way world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” The occasion was the government’s latest announcements bringing forward ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Time To Tone Down The Covid19 Rhetoric
Thursday, 24 February 2022, 9:10 am | Peter Dunne
The surreal occupation of Parliament's grounds and environs and the increasingly objectionable behaviour of at least some of the protesters is understandably dominating the news cycles at present. Whatever else it is doing, it is distracting attention ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: The Ever-so Earnest Commissioner Of Police
Wednesday, 16 February 2022, 10:36 am | Peter Dunne
In the early years of the twentieth century United States President Theodore Roosevelt described his approach to foreign policy as “speak softly and carry a big stick.” He stood, he said, for “the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Andrew Little's Refreshing Honesty
Thursday, 10 February 2022, 9:26 am | Peter Dunne
At first glance, Andrew Little’s admission that he does not know when the country will move to the orange traffic light system, or even what it will take to make such a move, seems utterly disingenuous. After all, he is the Minister of Health, and ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: So Far, So Good For Luxon
Thursday, 3 February 2022, 8:38 am | Peter Dunne
Christopher Luxon can feel well pleased with how things have gone since he picked up the previously poisoned chalice of leader of the National Party just over nine weeks ago. For the first time since going into Opposition more than four years ago ... More >>
Dunne Speaks: Changing The Process Of Government By Stealth
Friday, 28 January 2022, 9:47 am | Peter Dunne
In a column some months ago I drew attention to the way the role of the Director-General of Health has changed during the pandemic. I expressed concern that the position has been allowed to expand well beyond the traditional role of the chief executive ... More >>
Pass The Parcel On Transmission Gully
Thursday, 16 December 2021, 9:03 am | Peter Dunne
An elaborate game of pass the parcel is underway in Wellington about who is responsible for the failure to have the new Transmission Gully Motorway, originally intended for completion in April 2020, and then five projected dates after that, finally open ... More >>
