So, evidence was published earlier this year (see previous post) that charging people $5 to pick up their prescribed medicine costs the health system more (in increased hospitalisations) than it brings in. So it's a no-brainer to abolish user-pays prescriptions, as the current government just did.

No sensible political party would campaign on putting that $5 charge back in place, right?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132083751/budget-2023-national-vows-to-bring-back-5-prescription-fees-if-elected

Oh.

#Aotearoa #NZ #NZPolitics #Election2023 #PolicyNZ

Good one Michael 🤣

"What about Act? Who is the Prebble of 2023? There is no listed candidate for the [Wellington Central] electorate, and when the chair of the event, RNZ legend Bryan Crump, looked unsuccessfully around the room for someone from the party, Michael Appleby of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party piped up. 'They asked me to speak on their behalf', he lied. 'The Association of Cannabis and Toking'."

#TobyManhire

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-09-2023/spree-waters-political-bedlam-returns-to-aro-valley

#NZPolitics #Election2023

If you're under 30, please vote!

Even if it's a protest vote for a party that probably (or definitely) won't get 5%. Make sure the politicians who do get elected know what policy platforms you support.

Even if you're an anarchist and don't really support representative government at all (like me), vote anyway. In the short term, control of Parliament affects people's lives for better or worse.

Not voting helps capitalists buy the government they want.

#Aotearoa #NZ #NZPolitics #Election2023

Warning! Horserace commentary on #NZPolitics

The latest Talbot Mills poll has news for folks who called #Election2023 for the NatACTs based on the last couple of polls. Labour are now only 2% below the Nats, Greens have pulled ahead of ACT by 1%, and TPM are on 4%. On these numbers, the only way the NatACTs could get a majority is with Winston First, who ACT have ruled out working with, even if the Nats haven't.

Other than NZ First getting back in, this election is too close to call.

(1/2)

WANTED: a leftist/commie in ( #AotearoaNZ )
#aotearoa or #australia
( #leftist #commie )
That is interested in starting a
Podcast on either local NZ politics alone, or to talk about and compare what is happening between Australia and Aotearoa, and analyze the situation and try to refer back to unknown history as well (which I'll need help with if possible)
Potentially looking for a #team of trustworthy lefties to make this happen.

#Podcast #nzpol #nzpolpodcast #nzpolitics #nzpodcast #nzpodcasters

Please lmk or boost

On the other hand, you've got to admire her discipline in defending a policy she may not be very impressed by either.

Because what I was impressed by, later in the debate, was the detail Sarah Pallet was able to go into on justice issues, and housing. Both in a very short time. These are obviously policy areas she is passionate about, and knows well.

Given all the space opening up in the front bench, she's one to watch as Labour regroups post-election.

#NZpolitics #Labour #SarahPallett #Ilam

When I hear Sarah Pallett, the Labour candidate for Ilam, talk about how every little bit helps...

https://theworkinggroup.podbean.com/e/nz-taxpayers-union-and-working-group-election-debates-ilam-christchurch/

... I have to ask, does she honestly expect a standing ovation for a bunch of little bits? From a second term Labour government. After 3 years of having a clear majority to govern alone. They barely deserve a slow clap.

#NZpolitics #Labour #SarahPallett #Ilam

To understand the neoliberal tailspin that Aotearoa has been in since the 1980s, it's important to understand the true believers. Especially how totally immune they are to seeing the failure of their policies to achieve their stated goals.

It's easy to assume that Roger Douglas is lying when he says that the neoliberal policies of Rogernomics - named for him - are the best way to pursue equality. But I think he really believes it:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2063560

#podcasts #BothSidesNow #NZPolitics

This week's Midweek MediaWatch quoted comments made about political polls on the Newsable podcast. David Farrar of polling company Curia - which produces polls for the National party - admitted that poll results released close to an election can influence the election results:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018903888/midweek-mediawatch-polling-death-spiral-and-sandwich-slump

Surely it's unacceptable for any business activity funded by political parties and media organisations to distort election outcomes?

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#podcasts #RNZ #MediaWatch #Stuff #Newsable #NZPolitics

I've been toying with the idea of changing my mind to support a four year parliamentary term, instead of our current three.

With the hideous prospect of a right-wing guvmint looming, I've reconsidered. A two year term now looks even better.

#MakeItTwo

#NZPolitics

Anyone who's already calling the election for the NatACTs is pushing propaganda, whether they mean to or not. For one thing, the polls are swinging as wildly as a compass needle in the Bermuda Triangle.

In step with this, NewsHub nation mentioned that according a "NZ election study, 30-40% of people haven't made their mind up". Quoted last week on MediaWatch:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018902873/midweek-mediawatch-football-and-fruit-and-veg-frenzies

#podcasts #RNZ #Mediawatch #NZpolitics #Election2023

“... if we're going to put our people forward I think there's something that has to happen at the community level, at the whānau level; whānau, hapū, Iwi. That when we put these people forward we are prepared to wrap around them."

Professor #EllaHenry, 2023
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/mata-with-mihingarangi-forbes/story/2018899822/episode-14-july-25th-mata

#podcasts #RNZ #Mata #MihingarangiForbes #NZPolitics

Are you a citizen of Aotearoa? Want to vote for a party that's pro-business, but without being in the pocket of monopoly capitalists?

ACT talk a good game about kiwi battlers and our businesses. But they're funded by the 0.1% wealthy, squatting Smaug-like on their untaxed capital gains. The nuts and bolts of their policy are bad for small business.

Have a look at TOP. They hit 4% in the latest poll, giving them a realistic chance of getting over 5% by the time Oct rolls around.

#NZPolitics

One problem with NZ Labour - and liberal parties in general - is that they're caught in a vicious cycle. When their support goes down in the polls, like most of the news media, they interpret it as evidence that their policies are too "radical", and alienating the mythical "centre" where "middle NZ" live. So they cut transformative policies and dog whistle at people influenced by right-wing populism. So their support goes down in the polls. Rinse, repeat.

#NZPolitics #NZLabour #MythicalCentre

"There's also nothing to force supermarkets to pass on the savings, never mind the endless legal wrangling over what counts as 'fresh fruit and veg'."

#AnnekeSmith, 2023

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/focusonpolitics/audio/2018900327/labour-grapples-with-kiri-allan-s-resignation-leak-claims

#RNZ #FocusOnPolitics #NZPolitics #NZElection2023 #tax #GST #supermarkets #FoodPrices

Transport planners in Aotearoa have identified a whole lot of roading area where people often crash, and get seriously injured or die. So they've lowered the speed limit in those areas, which their research shows can help to prevent this.

You'd think that making public roads safer would get support across all political parties, right? Wrong.

#Aotearoa #NZ #NZPolitics #RoadSafety #LowerSpeedLimits

In the early 1990s, when NZ's MMP electoral system was being designed, our population was about 3.5 million. That's just short of 30,000 citizens per MP. It's now hitting 5 million (just over 40,000 per MP). Estimates suggest that within the lifetimes of most kiwis currently under 30, it could hit 7million (almost 60,000 per MP).

https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/national-population-projections-2022base2073/

(1/?)

#Aotearoa #NZ #NZPolitics

"Yet for all that, ACT has never rated higher in public support than it does today. As ACT leader David Seymour observes, it is obviously doing something right."

#PeterDunne, 2023

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2307/S00127/dunnes-weekly-time-for-a-closer-look-at-act.htm

More likely, the Nats are doing something wrong, and voters who fear another 3 years of Labour-led govt are fleeing to ACT as a protest vote. Just as soft Labour voters flocked to the Greens prior to Jacindamania luring them back.

#Aotearoa #NZ #NZPolitics

Hilarious to hear ACT tut-tutting about the supposed looseness of gun control laws, after being such a vocal defender of gun owner's freedoms in the wake of the mosque shootings:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/focusonpolitics/audio/2018899441/focus-on-politics-for-friday-21-july-2023

#Aotearoa #NZ #NZPolitics #GunControl

I wonder it is that all the political polling in this country seems to be a) overly focused on potential election outcomes, and b) mainly carried out by political parties and media companies. Why don't we see more polling from university politics departments - or other (hopefully) non-partisan researchers - focusing more on issues and policies?

#NZPolitics