liberation

NZ Politics Daily - 28 June 2013: Threat of a Labour leadership coup

David Shearer may soon find himself a victim of the same poll-driven concerns that saw the Australian Labor Party replace Julia Gillard with her nemesis Kevin Rudd. That’s the suggestion from a number of columns published this week by key commentators who say that Shearer’s time might be almost up. Last night the two main television political editors both presented ominous reports for Labour’s leadership - see Patrick Gower’s Shearer put on notice by Labour MPs and Corin Dann’s Crucial two months for David Shearer. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 18 June 2013: Race, religion and gambling

Race and religion are entwined in the hot topic of Maori prayers being routinely used in some schools – reported in Lynley Bilby’s Teachers against karakia. In one primary school, students begin their lessons with a Maori prayer that translates as ‘Lord look after us, guide us with your work today, in your holy name’, and some teachers are unhappy about participating in such prayers. Bloggers on both the left and right have come out against such use of karakia in schools. On the left, No Right Turn has a strong argument that such prayers violate the Education Act, and that ‘pretending its a "cultural practice" doesn't change that’. He also calls for secondary schools to be made secular too – see: Against karakia in schools. On the right, David Farrar says that the union is right to fight for the secular rights of teachers – see: On NZEI’s side on this one. Pita Sharples – the Minister of Maori Affairs, and Associate Minister of Education – has come out in defence of the prayers, declaring them ‘consistent with the New Zealand Curriculum’ and arguing that the use of karakia improves the ‘cultural safety’ of the classroom – see Kate Shuttleworth’s Sharples – Karakia is part of our culture. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 17 June 2013: Today's links

The main issues in NZ politics today are state cyber surveillance, industrial relations reform, manufacturing and the economy, Peter Dunne and United Future, and Labour and SkyCity. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - State cyber spying

Is state cyber surveillance becoming a major political issue in New Zealand? Could it be an election issue in 2014? Next year’s general election could have parties of the left campaigning to take New Zealand out of the Western cyber spying alliance. This would parallel the 1984 election, in which the Labour Party – egged on by an anti-nuclear movement – promised to ban nuclear ships from our harbours. It may seem unlikely that the ephemeral issue of state cyber spying could grab the hearts and minds of voters, and the idea of a Labour-led government instigating such a conflict with the US and isolating itself seems far-fetched. After all, the anti-imperialist struggles of 30 years ago have dissipated and the Labour Party of 2014 will be incredibly different to that of 1984. Nonetheless, there are signs that the issue of state cyber surveillance is becoming politicised, and partisan lines are shaping up. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 14 June 2013: Today's links

The main issues in NZ politics today are state cyber surveillance, Peter Dunne, SkyCity and Labour, and industrial relations reform. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 13 June 2013: Today's links

The main stories in New Zealand politics today are about GCSB/Prism, United Future, Peter Dunne, education, housing, SkyCity, the parliamentary privilege review, Maori politics, and police. [Read more below]

Listener 13 June 2013

NZ Politics Daily - 12 June 2013: Today's links

The main stories in NZ politics today are about GCSB and Prism, Education and Novopay, Peter Dunne, and Solid Energy [Read more below]

Dominion Post 12 June 2013

NZ Politics Daily - 11 June 2013: Today's links

The main stories in NZ politics today are about Peter Dunne, the GCSB, and the National, Greens, and Labour parties. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 10 June 2013: The bizarre and mysterious Peter Dunne scandal

So much of what goes on in politics is shrouded in mystery and intrigue and it’s a constant struggle to lift the veil on what is actually happening. Journalists attempt to get scoops, MPs leak information, spin-doctors try to mold public opinion and keep embarrassing facts under wraps. We still don’t really know what caused Peter Dunne’s downfall and it remains quite a bizarre mystery with many unanswered questions and issues arising from the situation. [Read more below]

 

Images of the Peter Dunne scandal

Here's some of today's cartoons and newspaper representation of Peter Dunne's resignation. [Read more below]

Marlborough Express 11 June 2013

NZ Politics Daily - 7 June 2013: Today's links

The main issues in New Zealand Politics today are Peter Dunne's resignation, United Future's difficulties, Ross Robertson, the media and blogosphere, and the Green Party. [Read more below]

Top tweets & images about Peter Dunne's resignation

Here’s a selection of interesting, insightful or amusing tweets about the resignation of Peter Dunne, as well as some recent cartoons about him. [Read more below]

 

Southland Times 30 May 2013

Some thoughts (and tweets) about the day in Parliament

Below are some of the obvious points that I’d make about today’s farcical parliamentary debates over Peter Dunne’s status and funding. Also there’s a list of some of the more interesting tweets about the issue. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 6 June 2013

The main issues in NZ Politics today are the Ikaroa-Rawhiti byelection, Peter Dunne's United Future Party, the Greens, and Novopay. [See below for links]

Images of the Greens

Here's a few cartoons and photographs relating to the Green Party - all of them are recent, some from the last few days. [Read more below]

Dominion Post 4 June 2013

NZ Politics Daily - 5 June 2013

The main political issues today are the Ikaroa-Rawhiti byelection, education and Novopay, the Greens, Simon Lusk, and blogging ethics. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 31 May 2013: Reactionary cartoons and outrage

Liberals are understandably up in arms about the Al Nisbet cartoons on the food in school programme. You can see the cartoons, plus more in my blog post, Images of the Food in Schools debate. And you can read some of the most interesting, insightful, silly, and amusing reactions to the cartoons in Top tweets about the Food in Schools cartoons. The most amusing satirical take on the issue is The Civilian’s Vulgar cartoon offends everyone equally. But by far the strongest defence of the cartoons has come from Colin Espiner in his blogpost, Cartoons that make you think. He concludes: ‘it's a cartoonist's job to offend people. To needle, provoke, outrage, exasperate, annoy, and entertain. To make you think.  And Al Nisbet has done just that’. A similar defence is made by the Deputy Editor of The Press, Ric Stevens in an in-depth explanation of his decision to publish the Nisbet cartoon yesterday – see: Cartoon row misses the point. [Read more below]

 

The Simon Lusk documents

Here are the leaked Simon Lusk documents. Supposedly there's more to come - see the Sunday Star Times tomorrow.

 

Download Simon Lusk National Doc 1 - Bryce Edwards

Download Simon Lusk National Doc 2 - Bryce Edwards

Download Simon Lusk National Doc 3 - Bryce Edwards