Gordon Campbell On Why New Taxes Are A Good Thing, And Dolly Parton RIP
Taxaphobes. They’re running amok in Parliament. Both the major parties have joined ACT in assuming that the voting public is as phobic about tax as […]
Economic Policy
Gordon Campbell On A Week Of Luxon And Peters, Unhinged
Newsflash: PM Christopher Luxon does not take any responsibility for the condition in which the New Zealand economy currently finds itself. Not his problem. He’s […]
Gordon Campbell On The School Lunch Fiasco, And Homelessness
The Auditor General’s damning report on the school lunch programme– and the litany of callous bungles it has uncovered – should require associate education minister […]
Gordon Campbell On Being Thankful That Someone Is Talking About Income Inequality
Political myths die hard. For decades it has been taken on faith – all evidence to the contrary – that those business-savvy National Party types […]
Gordon Campbell On RNZ’s Morning Report – Flagship, Or Sinking Ship?
No doubt, the government’s plan (a) to make KiwiSaver compulsory and (b) significantly increase the contribution rate required of both workers and employers would end […]
Gordon Campbell On Being Spooked Into Settling For Less
Every three years around this time, the election campaign begins to feel a bit like the old carnival Ghost Train. All aboard. After the lurch […]
Gordon Campbell On Budget 2026
The Luxon government won the last election by claiming that it alone possessed the managerial competence to fix the nation’s cost of living crisis. Three […]
Gordon Campbell On Labour’s Vanishing Act
Chris Hipkins is testing the patience (and allegiance) of every centre- left voter. We may be now only a few months out from the election, […]
Gordon Campbell On The Social Housing Debacle, And The Red Tape Fantasy
Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Truly, the witches in Macbeth had a pretty accurate take on the government’s new demands for social housing […]
Gordon Campbell On Pauline Hanson’s Rise, And The TOP Renaissance
Routinely in politics, there is a double standard for outrage. The same people who regarded Jacinda Ardern as a jackbooted tyrant seem to be quite […]
Gordon Campbell On The Political Panic Over Immigration
In the wake of WW2, immigration policy was driven by a mixture of compassion for the refugees of war, and by a less admirable desire […]
Gordon Campbell On The Folly Of Blaming Everything On Trump
The recently infamous “I’m the CEO/ Your job is the Prime Minister” exchange between Christopher Luxon and Tova O’Brien should be a defining moment in […]
Gordon Campbell On The Feeble Fuel Support Package, And Israel’s Violent Land Grabs
Two big calls this week by the two real decision makers in this government. First, David Seymour all but sank the government’s plan to make […]
Gordon Campbell On The Weaponising Of IRD
So hard to pick and choose but the $2.9 billion tax break for landlords still stands out as the coalition government’s most abject surrender to […]
Gordon Campbell On The Centre-Right’s Newly Found Passion For Taxes, And James Bond, Snowboard Ace
Meet National, our new “tax and spend” party. Reportedly, the National-led coalition is seriously considering spending (at least) $16 billion on a second harbour crossing […]
Gordon Campbell On Weather, Climate, And The Contest Between ACT And NZF For The Braindead Vote
As the wild weather rages, and once-in-a-century storms and floods become seasonal events, Mark Mitchell, the country’s Emergency Management and Recovery Minister, still seems locked […]
Gordon Campbell On The Not Good, Very Bad, Terrible Unemployment Figures
As the unemployment rate hits 5.4%, the highest jobless rate in a decade, PM Christopher Luxon may be regretting his choice of “Fixing the Basics, […]
Gordon Campbell On The Secret Pact On Rare Earth Minerals, And The India FTA
Drill and dig, baby. The week began with the coalition government giving an Australian mining company the green light for an open cast gold mine […]
Gordon Campbell On Selling The Recovery Mirage, And Wolf Parade
If the economy was an apartment building, the recovery would be the party that’s beginning to kick off in the penthouse flat, while everyone else […]
Gordon Campbell On GDP Growth, And Other Holiday Diversions
No one likes being a downer at Christmas time, so…as we look forward into 2026, we can all agree that some economic growth is better […]
Gordon Campbell On The Shrinking Lack Of Alternatives Here, And In The US
Nicola Willis vs Ruth Richardson? Alien vs Predator? Thankfully, everyone may now be having second thoughts. We all deserve better than a contest between these […]
Gordon Campbell On The Coup Against Local Government
It’s democracy Jim, but not as we know it. In line with the plans that the government unveiled this week to reform local government, the […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Faith-Based Economic Recovery
For months, the economic recovery has been said to be imminent, and the forecasters at the banks keep promoting that message, even though the former […]
Gordon Campbell On The Ferries Fiasco, Soft Power And Gaza
Good to hear someone calling “bullshit” on Winston Peters, and on his claims to have saved the taxpayer $2.3 billion on the Cook Strait ferries. […]
Gordon Campbell On Asset Sales, And Targeting The Homeless
So asset sales are back on the agenda, and will be dependent only on the coalition government getting re-elected next year. Yikes. Right wing governments […]
Gordon Campbell On Mamdani, And How The Luxon Government Is Expanding The Powers Of The State
First, some good news. Zohran Mamdani has won the mayoral race in New York and as the prophet Leonard Cohen once said, taking Manhattan is […]
Gordon Campbell On How Rich People Feel Affronted By A Capital Gains Tax
But first…the “shock and awe” tactics being deployed by the government against the teaching profession are extensive. They include ramming through rushed and comprehensive curriculum […]
Gordon Campbell On Labour’s CGT, The Government’s Mean Spirit, And Timor-Leste’s Future
Finally, Labour has released its capital gains tax policy. Labour’s CGT would levy a 28% tax on sales of commercial properties and investment housing, and […]
Gordon Campbell On Our Tanking Economy, And US Vigilante Justice
Imagine your house has a plumbing problem. A plumbing firm tendering for the job assures you that hey, no problem they can fix it, so […]
Gordon Campbell On Luxon Advising Young People To Get Out While They Still Can
If anyone under 35 still had mixed feelings about leaving New Zealand to build a future elsewhere, PM Christopher Luxon probably sealed the deal this […]