Newshub Bailout Looms?

I've been closely following statements by New Zealand cabinet ministers, about the plight of TV3's News operation and its planned shutdown by Warner Bros. Discovery. It's looking increasingly likely that this private company will be getting a taxpayer funded bailout. It makes my blood boil.

These were people who championed lockdowns and the jab. They're the lowest of the low. 

This latest government hasn't been in office very long, so it's about time they learnt to read the room. TV3 are loathed by the majority of the people. Bail them out at your peril as if you do, your re-election chances will plummet. Use taxpayer funds to deliver long awaited improvements to the country's infrastructure instead. 

Just watch the outrage if Newshub gets bailed out 

Winston Peters Going After Media

 I've elevated Winston Peters to, Lord Winston.

Go get 'em Winnie. For the record, these people turned on us all. They were clearly serving their paymasters, the criminal Labour government of New Zealand. Now they want to be seen as independent. Yeah...nah...no mercy.

And while we're at it, cut ALL government advertising to only the essentials across all media, not just state owned.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/503394/deputy-prime-minister-winston-peters-attacks-state-funded-media-independence

"Well, we'll see the speed at which TVNZ and RNZ - which are taxpayer owned - understand this new message. We'll see whether these people, both the media and journalists - are they independent? Well, isn't that fascinating, I haven't seen evidence of that in the last three years."

He then laughed, and said "you can't defend $55 million of bribery, cannot defend $55m of bribery. Get it very clear".

That last remark was a reference to the Public Interest Journalism Fund, a three-year $55m contestable fund for journalists initially set up to shore up public interest media during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was wound up in July.

This included funding for 219 jobs and 22 industry development projects. Political coverage was exempted from eligibility to benefit from it. The fund was administered by NZ On Air.

RNZ's charter requires the broadcaster to be independent, including providing "reliable, independent, and freely accessible news and information".

While the organisation is funded by the government, by law no ministers of the Crown or person acting on their behalf may give direction to RNZ relating to programming, newsgathering or presentation, or standards, and cannot have staff removed.

Final NZ Election Results 2023 - Winston Peters Kingmaker

Winston Peters is kingmaker. New Zealand First can make either side the government. That's the conclusion of the finalised results just announced.

Now, watch the fur fly.

Here's a link with some analysis:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/501620/updates-final-election-2023-results-released-after-special-votes-counted-ballots-checked

https://electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2023/

Do Not Vote Early

Early voting has begun for the New Zealand General Election 2023. The polls close at 7pm on October 14th, and between now and then you can cast your vote at any voting place across the country. 

Given the unsecured way voting occurs, with ballots placed into an unlocked cardboard box, I suggest voters DO NOT vote early. Leave things until the last minute. This prevents interference with ballots. Who knows what may happen to that piece of paper if you vote now.

I'm voting late, on October 14th preferably, and I'm voting for a party currently outside parliament. For me, that's a first, but I refuse to vote for any of the criminals that call themselves MP's, or their parties for that matter. They should all be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, and their parties banned. 

Peter Williams Interviews Winston Peters

New Zealand First are back. Can they get to 10%?

 

Did Hipkins Just Blow It?

I believe New Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins just blew the 2023 election. He's announced he won't deal with Winston Peters and NZ First after the polls close. 

This is a big mistake as the effect must be to drive Labour voters away to NZ First. That's because the Labour voters won't want to see National and ACT running the country alone. If Labour voters switch to NZ First, they have the chance to put a stop to National's excesses by making Peters as powerful as possible within Parliament. 

No doubt Hipkins is thinking the opposite, that by ruling NZ First out the Labour support will return to him and stop playing footsie with Winston Peters. But that overlooks the past few years and the pain his policies have caused. A far better approach would be to say; he'd look at the results after the polls close and then consider who to deal with. 

But, with the approach he's taking, people remember the pain and back NZ First to be a handbrake on National/ACT.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/496678/instability-and-chaos-labour-rules-out-a-partnership-with-nz-first

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out New Zealand First as a possible coalition partner after this year's election, saying Winston Peters and his party would cause "instability and chaos".

Labour leader Chris Hipkins confirmed the decision at a media conference today.

"New Zealand First has become a party more interested in toilets than the issues that matter most to New Zealanders," said Hipkins.

River of Freedom

Due in New Zealand cinemas soon. This is a must watch documentary following the 2022 protests against mandates which the media and parliament tried to ignore.

Oh, and just a quick note; of all the minor parties only NZ First has any chance of getting over the 5% threshold, so I'm giving them my party vote. I suggest all other lovers of freedom do the same.

Winston Peters Trespassed?

The dystopian nightmare that is New Zealand right now, just got a little weirder.

Former Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters has been trespassed from the grounds of Parliament in Wellington. Read about it here:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300578826/winston-peters-trespassed-jacinda-ardern-pushes-back-on-trevor-mallards-call

The current NZ government are conducting a full scale assault on free speech. 

[Update @ 4/05/2022 - Speaker, Trevor Mallard is reported to have withdrawn five of the trespass notices issued, one of them being Winston Peters]

Winston Peters Sides With Protestors

Now out of Parliament, NZ First leader Winston Peters has come out on the side of protestors. He doesn't quite grasp that the vaccines are dangerous and the whole exercise around Covid seems to be a global coup, but you can detect a shifting of the ground. The political classes in New Zealand are no longer lockstep. Bit by bit, the tyranny of vaccine mandates and ridiculous QR code restrictions are being chipped away at.

Winston Peters: https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/02/10/winston-peters-these-protests-were-avoidable/

Labour's Oil and Gas Decision Very Naive

We are now seeing New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern's major weakness. She's good at media stuff, smiling and looking pleasant but when it gets hard and the issues are deep, she can't handle it. All she thinks about is whether the decision will be popular or not. How do I know this is how she thinks? She's got a team on Twitter constantly saying exactly that. Banning oil and gas exploration will be seen as widely popular they say. There is no evidence for this thinking mind you, but that's obviously how she thinks.

Thing is, we're talking real-world stuff here. This is playing for keeps, decisions have consequences. And with some decisions it doesn't matter whether they're popular or not, they just have to be taken.

A hard decision would be to embrace the oil and gas exploration industry and I'll tell you why: it has to do with sovereign risk. Since the Second World War, NZ has begged oil companies and their investors to come to NZ. Note I say begged. The world is a big place and these investors could go anywhere, but a few listened and they turned up. They'll now be regretting they did.

When that money departs, it will never return. Investors have memories and they won't forgive easily. In future they'll say thanks but no thanks. That is if they even answer the call. And don't think this rebuff will be limited to just oil and gas. There will be spillover into other sectors as well.

When the next financial crisis hits, NZ will be left swinging in the breeze. It is that serious, I find it hard to believe Labour would be that naive. Even if Labour reverse their decision, harm has already been done. The question also needs to be asked, why did Winston Peters and NZ First form a coalition with such fools? Was it so personal with National that Peters was prepared to sacrifice the whole economy? It seems so.

NatTube: Not Really

My second survey of the AM Show took place today between 7 and 8am. National didn't get a single mention so I'm going to back down and say I was wrong. The AM Show are quite fair minded.

All mentions that directly related to New Zealand politics were clearly references to Labour, or one or more of their coalition partners. The AM Show did so generally positively 11 times and negatively 7 times. Included in those 7 times was a 42 second rant against Labour from both Duncan Garner and Mark Richardson who used the old anti-left canard of the "hypocrisy of the left". Nothing surprising from Richardson, he's the ugly face of conservatism in New Zealand. I'd be surprised if he's ever read a book.

But the audience expect nothing else really and there was so many positive mentions of Labour that I'd go so far as to say that their rant makes them look balanced. It's likely to reinforce the positive mentions of Labour, not boost National.

What of National now? They're spent and you have to place the blame firmly at the feet of the staggeringly incompetent Simon "Bill" English.

[A follow up survey 13/11/17, 7-8am showed more positive about Labour than negative, despite that hour being dominated by CPTPP talk. Only the one positive mention of National. This illustrates the difficulty of being in opposition, they can't get heard at all. Well they deserve it so I won't be crying.]

NZ General Election 2017: The Numbers

This is how things stack up in the House of Representatives in New Zealand following the final count of the General Election 2017.

National: 56 seats, Labour 46, NZ First 9, Greens 8, ACT 1.

Possible coalitions therefore, in order of likelihood (need 61 seats to form a government). Note that ACT has become irrelevant:

National 56 + NZ First 9 = 65
Labour + Greens + NZ First = 63
Labour + NZ First 55 + Greens on Confidence and Supply = 63
National 56 + NZ First on Confidence and Supply = 65
National + Labour = 102
National + Greens = 64

If we take the top three options as being far more likely than the bottom three, then we can see that National are left stranded. Labour are in the box seat with more options for how they form a government. It is worth mentioning that only Labour increased its share of the vote this time round. Everyone else slipped and this must play on the minds of the leaders during negotiations.