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 […]
National Party
Gordon Campbell On The Lifeline Thrown To Christopher Luxon
The National Party caucus seems to have a death wish. In increasingly “uncertain and volatile times,” it has placed all its bets on the guy […]
Gordon Campbell On New Zealand’s Luxon Liability
The National Party caucus has got itself into in a real bind. For weeks, their Cabinet Ministers and MPs have had their work cut out […]
Gordon Campbell On National’s Caucus Ructions
In his tilt at the leadership last November, Chris Bishop plainly forgot Omar’s excellent advice from The Wire: “If you come at the king, better […]
Gordon Campbell On The Grail Quest For The Elusive Luxon Voter
At this point, fans of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon are rare birds indeed. Safe to say, if the National Party does swallow hard and go […]
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 Why The Nation Seems To Be Stuck With Christopher Luxon
When you wheel out Judith Collins as your weapon of last resort, you’ve already lost the battle for public opinion, and are pitching your messages […]
Gordon Campbell On A Clueless Government Running A Jobless Economy
One of the whoppers told regularly by Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon is that National inherited a terrible, no good economy from Labour, with rampant […]
Gordon Campbell On The Perils Of Trading With Trump
Luxon did protest too much on the weekend. Sure, the credulous party faithful were willing to believe him as he continued to lay the blame […]
Gordon Campbell On Ducking The Costs Of Climate Change
Looking for consistency in all things is said to be the hallmark of a small mind. Duly noted, but the Luxon government’s stance on climate […]
Gordon Campbell On Luxon’s Survival Chances, And The India FTA
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that […]
Gordon Campbell On Why We Can’t Survive Two More Years Of This
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis […]
Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Aftermath
The euphoria from yesterday’s hikoi may be transitory, but is no less valuable for that. It is pretty rare for the left to feel itself […]
Gordon Campbell On How “fast Track” Steamrolls The Public Good
New Zealand has a habit of creating official posts – the Overseas Investment Office, the Banking Ombudsman, the Grocery Commissioner – as a sop to […]
Gordon Campbell On The Crackdown On The Beneficiary Poor
For the past 50 years, the centre-right has been using beneficiaries as a political punching bag. This was (slightly) more forgivable during the Muldoon era, […]
Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks […]
Gordon Campbell on saving journalists, not an industry that routinely exploits them
Labour is saying it needs to listen. Apparently, Labour is going to spend 2024 listening, and 2025 thinking about its options. It could be 2026 […]
Gordon Campbell on cancer drugs, and the Great Ferries Cancellation Disaster of ’23
The decision taken last December to cancel the contract for the two purpose-built Cook Strait ferries – without having a Plan B in mind, let […]
Gordon Campbell on our doomed love affair with oil and gas
What if New Zealand threw a fossil fuel party, and nobody came? On the weekend, Resources Minister Shane Jones sent out the invitations and strung […]
Gordon Campbell on cutting the sick leave of vulnerable workers
Should sick leave be part and parcel of the working conditions from Day One on the job, just like every other health and safety provision? […]
Gordon Campbell on Nicola Willis and her surplus fetish
So…. according to the Treasury, we’ll have to borrow $17.1 billion by June 2028, to help fund ( among other things) a nearly $10 billion […]
Gordon Campbell on the Hamas Ceasefire Offer, and Mark Mitchell’s Incompetence
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would […]
Gordon Campbell on Adrian Orr’s lending scheme, the Collins reshuffle and the Trump coup
Does anyone under 50 know why “Muldoonist” is a bad word? David Seymour was one year old when Robert Muldoon lost the 1984 snap election. […]
Gordon Campbell on the economic stimulus package
Obviously, yesterday’s massive $12.1 billion economic stimulus package (4% of GDP !) will not totally insulate people from the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus, […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s hopes of driving NZF out of Parliament
For months, National’s best (and only?) hope of winning Election 2020 has involved keeping New Zealand First down below the 5% MMP threshold, and out […]
Gordon Campbell on Kobemania, Palestine, and the infrastructure package
Quick quiz to end the week. What deserves the more attention – the death of a US basketball legend, or the end of Palestinian hopes […]
Gordon Campbell on China treating our citizens as coronavirus hostages, and Election 2020
More than once at her post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, PM Jacinda Ardern claimed it would be “very difficult” to evacuate the 53 New Zealanders currently […]
Gordon Campbell on why Sustainable NZ isn’t self-sustaining
Asking whether this new, environmentally focussed party can make the 5% MMP threshold may be the wrong question…
Gordon Campbell on National’s anointing of Christopher Luxon
Clearly, the National Party hierarchy is very, very excited about Christopher Luxon
Gordon Campbell on Simon Bridges trying to paint himself as a warrior against political correctness
Having failed all year at being a credible alternative Prime Minister, National leader Simon Bridges has lowered his aspirational target this week to something more within his range.