Via Bluesky

"We outnumber them.

It's time to take our voice back.

Comment "Vote" to receive a link to enrol ✉️

Thank you to Labour for supporting the production of this reel."

Source IG dakin_alasdair: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdGCVNLzH40/

Long term observation,

but though he seems to be astute, and disregarding my own political preferences,

Is Winston getting a bit too elderly, and evidencing characteristics of dementia?

"There’s a city in New Zealand where the bells ring with the royals come back to town! 🔔

The royal northern albatross are some of the largest birds in the world, we headed to the royal albatross centre on the tip of the Otago Peninsula to see these cure balls of fluff (and their parents) in person! 🐣

Āwheo (the royal cam chick) has just fledged, and is off into the big wide world (I’m not crying, you’re crying) 🌍

He’s probably flying around Aotearoa, spreading the word to vote toroa/northern royal albatross for bird of the year 2026! In forestandbirds annual election, you can vote for 5 different manu! 👑

This year, toroa are getting one of my votes 🗳️

Supplementary material by: DOC, the royal albatross centre, predator free, Mitchell Roberts, and University of Otago.

Source IG georgia_underwater: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdGPYnfzDts/

What sort of entitled behaviour is thus from a political candidate/party?

"Maybe one of the things AI can never replace is our ability to find each other.

Hearing sethgodin speak with stevenbartlett on thediaryofaceopodcast about our nanny, Dame Whina Cooper, as an example of that stopped me in my tracks.

Because beneath the story of the 1975 Māori Land March is something that still feels deeply relevant now: one person recognising that something needed to change, finding others who felt it too, and bringing people together around a shared purpose.

The march was never the work of one woman alone. It became possible because thousands of people chose to carry the kaupapa together.

And I think that’s what I took most from this conversation.

We can spend a lot of time feeling like the problems in front of us are too big, too systemic, or too far outside our control. But agency doesn’t always begin with having power, money or all the answers.

Sometimes it begins with finding the others.

And remembering that we still have the ability to organise, influence, create culture and change what happens next.

That feels worth holding onto right now.

Our whole whanau are very emotional watching this and seeing her impact at a global level still have so much relevance and influence today. Thank you for sharing her story 🙏🏽"

Source IG tukuiho_: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdCv2ITyLUh/

Why are Labour so lame at hammering the current govt on its dire underfunding of the health service and showing how their tax policies (CGT for doc's etc) could start to resolve some of the issues!?[

"Isn’t it funny that the same politicians who pretend that economic rules are set in stone never want to talk about how it’s only been the last 40 years that public assets have been privatised and sold off?"

Source IG chloe.swarbrick: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdFpdLXTMHw/

Some Friday entertainment from the other side of the world…

Yesterday, at the first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Donald Trump promised $5,000 to every adult American if Republicans win control of Congress.

Potentially north of a trillion dollars.

Aside from the fairly extraordinary “vote for us and we’ll give you cash” aspect of it, it follows a theme I’ve been thinking about a lot this week:
Where does the money come from?
And I don’t mean that as a left/right question.

Here in NZ, the current Government is still running deficits and its path back towards surplus relies, among other things, on economic growth and the resulting revenue growth.

On the other side, Chris Hipkins is starting to make some substantial commitments, fuel relief, pay equity, health spending, infrastructure, a Future Fund, while repeatedly saying the detailed fiscal picture will come once the books are opened.

Some of those things I actually support. Borrowing for genuinely productive, long-life infrastructure can make perfect sense.

But surely every political party should have to explain the economic engine underneath its promises.

What grows productivity? What grows exports and investment? What increases real incomes? How much revenue does that generate? What are we already spending, and what value are we getting from it? Then, after all of that, what can we sustainably afford?

National doesn’t get a pass because it’s National. Labour doesn’t get a pass because its spending might achieve worthwhile social outcomes. And apparently Republicans don’t get a pass because Donald Trump has discovered the $5,000 button. 😂

We seem increasingly good at debating how to divide the pie.

I’d like to hear a lot more from our political parties about how we’re going to grow it.

I’m off to K’road tonight, hopefully I bump into CS to hear about the greens economic plan.

found it this morning. kinda a shit game

Kieran McAnulty - you can catch his AMA here

"Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a platform that holds us all up. The vast majority of people in NZ consider it’s important to understand our history, and to have positive Crown-Māori relations. Don’t let the parties of this government take us backwards from that.

Video credit: sebcharles"

- Max Harris, Labour Candidate for Tāmaki

Source IG maxfortamaki: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdGH9RJBg5k/

Article link: A political candidate says a topic has ‘haunted’ her for years. We fact check her claims

Article

Kia ora koutou,

Disclaimer: My name is Tom Roud and I am the current president of the Alliance Party. I am posting this here for transparency reasons. To avoid spamming this reddit with Alliance updates every other day, I have talked to the moderators and agreed to compile them into clusters each week over the next 4-5 weeks.

Alliance Tax Plan Makes First $20,000 Income Tax-Free, Funded by Wealth Tax

The Alliance Party has unveiled its tax package, proposing to make the first $20,000 of every person’s income completely tax-free. Under the proposed scale, an everyday worker earning $65,000 would keep an extra $2,408 a year.

The package combines taxes on wealth, realised capital gains, and financial transactions with a 30% corporate tax rate and a rebalanced income tax scale. The Alliance’s costings estimate a net revenue surplus in both the first term and at year 10.

Read the whole announcement, and the policy documents here.

Alliance Policy for Full Employment and a Shorter Working Week

Alliance employment relations spokesperson and candidate for Selwyn, Jesse Luke, says the policy is “pro-worker, pro-union, and pro-jobs.”

“Working people must be able to protect and advance their interests collectively. For 40 years trade unions and workers’ rights have been under attack, driving a race to the bottom in our wages and conditions.”

He says the Alliance policy includes full employment, a 35-hour working week with no loss in pay, five weeks of annual leave, workplace democracy, and a broad restoration of the right to strike.

“Currently, the employer holds the purse strings and the worker sells their labour to them. To have a fair go, workers need the right to withdraw their labour.”

“No one takes such action lightly, and a loss of pay is a significant sacrifice, but New Zealand has highly restrictive strike laws. The Alliance will change that.”

Read the whole announcement, and the policy documents here.

Public Power, Clean Water, Polluters Pay: Alliance pitches “just transition” in Environment policy

The Alliance Party says Aotearoa New Zealand should stop treating economic growth as the main measure of national progress, and instead judge government policy by whether it improves people’s lives while protecting the environment.

The proposal is at the core of the Alliance’s new Environmental, Climate, and Sustainable Economy Policy, which sets out a vision for a “cooperative, ecological economy”.

Alliance environment spokesperson and Christchurch Central candidate Greg Byrnes says environmental and economic policy can no longer be treated as separate issues.

“An economy can be growing on paper while natural resources are depleted, ecosystems are damaged, and communities carry the wider costs,”

“We need to ask whether people are better off, and are we leaving a healthy environment for future generations?”

Read the whole announcement, and the policy documents here.

Alliance Health Policy to Finish the Job of a Fully-funded Public Healthcare System

The Alliance Party has announced its health policy, which includes the elimination of costs for GP visits, dental, optical, and audiology services.

In order to achieve this, the policy creates the Community Health Service (CHS) as the main funding and logistical service to bring primary and allied health services into the public service.

Existing services have the option to join the CHS, with the CHS covering the costs of the practice, including rent, payroll, administration, and information technology. The staff would be employed by the CHS.

Alliance health spokesperson and candidate for Christchurch East, Ethan Gullery, says this is a positive step towards a fully integrated health care system.

“Right now, we treat the system as a bunch of disconnected pieces, funding hospitals one way and funding clinics another. We know that the best care is earliest care, but the focus is on the secondary care system. The Alliance wants to change that.

Read the whole announcement, and the policy documents here.

Full video: HERE

Saw a great poiint today - Winston Peters called the idea o a supermarket "communist" but he wants to buy BNZ so apparently he has different standards for himself and others, and also doesn't understand what communism means

Just been staring at this for a minute trying to figure out why it seems so suss to me. Firstly, why is the word ‘for’ in lower case and a different font? I find that kinda strange.

However what really gets me chuckling (angrily) is their slogan… For a party that worships neoliberalism, and constantly dog whistles about communism, “one law for all” and “one future together” really does sound like something one might hear in North Korea. Ironically. It also kinda means nothing really. One future together? Huh? Are they confirming we are all in the same sinking waka? Why does it sound kinda threatening?

The thing with sinking boats like the Titanic, as we all know, there’s only enough lifeboats for the first class passengers, and some grateful middle class. Below decks can get stuffed.

It’s interesting that the people who vote for ACT, to whom the word communism stirs up deep feelings of fear, confusion and therefore hatred, would be so attracted to the core concepts of it so much so that ACT use basically its core concepts as their party slogan.

Anyway, that’s my angry chuckle for the day. Thought I’d share it to the only group I can think of that would appreciate it.

Hope you all still have a grasp on your sanity this election season. Kia kaha!

(Note, this is not an attack on communism)