Scoop  Parliament

13th November 2007

NZ Herald investigation into large, secret party funding

I have it from good sources that any day now the NZ Herald is going to launch a full, in-depth investigative report into the National Party's use of backdoor, closed-door and behind-the-scenes sources of funding from big business interests in the 2005 election.

My sources tell me that the NZ Herald is absolutely shocked at what it has heard and will reveal all.

They tell me the broadsheet, which has always been the protector of the people's democracy, is going to challenge National to "front up" over its use of secret trusts and anomymous donations last election because of fears big businesses with an eye to getting hold of strategic State Owned Enterprises after the 2008 election want to bankroll National again in 2008.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4271120a11.html

NZ Herald to demand National answers over Iran policy

Everyone remembers that the National Party, and its mates in the ACT Party, demanded that the Labour-Progressive government in 2003 risk young New Zealanders lives in the illegal invasion of Iraq.

Everyone in the world, with the exception perhaps of the U.S. president, knows also that that 2003 invasion was a disaster - it created the world's biggest humanitarian refugee crisis in 50 years, has seen ancient minority communities like the Iraqi Christians displaced after surviving nearly 2,000 years of history in the region, and it has resulted also in many tens of thousands of deaths and injuries of innocent, unprotected people. It is a bit like terrorism really, when you think about it.

My reliable sources inform me that the NZ Herald, which is sickened by the evil that is being done in Iraq, is going to start demanding answers from the National Party and ACT: The NZ Herald apparently wants to know exactly what National's position is in the event of an upcoming U.S. war on Iran.

Would a National-led government "stick with our allies"if they decide to attack Iran? Would they risk young New Zealand soldiers lives in a war in Iran - look out for this in the full NZ Herald investigation due any day now.

NZ Herald to demand National not spend taxpayer money

The third bit of exciting news that I have from sources in the NZ Hearld, is that the paper is at last going to run a front-page Editorial demanding the National Party stop using taxpayer money promoting its MPs' work in Parliament.

The National Party gets the most taxpayer money from Parliamentary Services and it is fantastic that the NZ Herald is going to alert the public about the importance that we not see a repeat of National's previous behaviour of using taxpayer money to promote the work of its MPs - after all, they don't do anything - they've in Opposition and haven't won an election since 1996.

http://www.progressive.org.nz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2441

Election 2008: Right-wing worse off than under Brash

In the campaign in 2011, we'll be talking about how National hasn't won an election since 1996 - 15 years of failing to deliver anything for their big business supporters.

Polls at the moment certainly indicate that our pitiful Right Wing are in a worse-off state than they were under Dr Brash.

Under Dr. Brash, the Right Wing Bloc (National, ACT, UnitedFuture and NZ First) won 60 seats out of 121 seats, just short of half, in October 2005.

With Dr Brash gone, these right-wing parties between them would get well short of half of Parliament if an election were held now. In the Morgan Poll taken in the second half of October, the right-wing parties would win 59 seats in a 123 seat Parliament.

http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2007/4236/

And the Police Department's recent controversial actions are also working against National.

A Marae-DigiPoll taken in early November has candidates for the Maori Party winning six, or even all seven, Maori electorates which would push the size of Parliament out to 125 or 126 seats - leaving the right-wing parties (National, ACT, UnitedFuture) with a diminished share of just 59 out of 126 seats - the worse result for the Right since the 1999 election.

No wonder National's cheerleaders are getting more and more hysterical with every passing day.
http://www.maoriparty.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1418&Itemid=2

From our Oz correspondent: Who is paying...and for what?

If you thought the ruling Liberals threw the money around at the last campaign launch three years ago, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

At their campaign launch, less than two weeks from the election, nearly $A10 billion was offered in “family friendly” policies in less than 20 minutes. The PM called himself the Man of Vision, and called opposition Labour leader Kevin Rudd a hollow man copycat!

The PM took on Labor’s promises and with reckless abandon upped the stakes with education rebates for primary and secondary schooling including cash help for parents paying private school fees; child care payments for working families direct to the centres and a housing affordability scheme, similar to the one announced by Kevin Rudd last week but with bigger bonuses.

Kevin Rudd responded with a crisp sound bite saying that the Liberals denied there was a housing affordability crisis less than a month ago. He is also reminding the voters that John Howard will not be there to be accountable for his promises as he is committed to stand down during the next term of office if in fact the Liberals are returned to power.

Labor’s Kevin Rudd is urging a disciplined approach on fiscal policy as the Liberals have clocked up around a cool $A50 billion thus far and with two weeks to go and another Newspoll showing the Coalition slipping further behind Labor, the sky seems to be the limit. Or perhaps it’s not!

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On National’s Fantasy Trip To La La Landlord Land

How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is:
(A) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was touting to voters last year has now blown out to $2.9 billion. (That’s a 38% size error in the calculations.)
(B) unable to provide assurance that this handout won’t simply be pocketed by landlords
(C) unable to explain why Treasury (in research as recent as August 2023) wasn’t citing the loss of interest deductibility as a prime factor driving up rents.
More than anything, the Great Landlords Handout undermines the government’s alarmist talk about the state of the country’s books...
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