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 […]
Welfare
Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Epic Fails In Jobs And Housing
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder […]
Gordon Campbell On ACT’s Takeover Of The Government Agenda
The ACT Party won only 8.6% of the vote last year, so how come it seems to be driving about 75% of the government’s agenda? […]
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 the government’s fast track to trashing the environment
With Shane Jones as the watchdog, who needs predators? Mining on DOC land now seems to be a fait accompli. Plainly, New Zealand‘s conservation estate […]
Gordon Campbell on National spreading panic about the economy
It is a political strategy as old as time. Scare the public with tales of disaster and stampede them into supporting your ideological agenda because […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s misleading policy packaging
Truth in packaging can be a political rarity, but the gap between what the Luxon administration says it is doing and what its policies will […]
Gordon Campbell on how the state aims to dictate what the unemployed are allowed to buy
At first glance, ACT deputy leader Brooke Van Velden might seem an odd choice to oversee workplace relations. However, if the aim is to atomise […]
Gordon Campbell on the cynical brutality of the centre-right’s welfare policies
The centre-right’s enthusiasm for forcing people off the benefit and into paid work is matched only by the enthusiasm (shared by Treasury and the Reserve […]
Gordon Campbell on whether Winston Peters can be a moderating influence
As the centre-right has (finally!) been subjected to media interrogation, the polls are indicating that some voters may be starting to have second thoughts about […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s selling of its “social investment” policy
There’s a 19th century flavour to National’s “social investment” strategy, in that it aims to seek capital from philanthropists and charitable organisations – some of […]
Gordon Campbell on ram-raids as a policy outcome, not a cause
New British PM Liz Truss is giving us a useful foretaste of what a change of government here next year would deliver: tax cuts, welfare […]
Gordon Campbell on how National’s ”new” welfare plan resurrects a past failure
Sam Uffindell’s defenders keep reminding us that he was only 16 at the time of the King’s College incident, and haven’t we all done things […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s plan to privatise welfare delivery
On the rare occasions when it ever gets asked, the public keeps rejecting tax cuts as such, as a policy priority. It keeps saying it […]
On Budget 2021’s successes and failures
In some realms of the centre-right, Budget 2021 has been portrayed as a “peak Labour” exercise in which the government has veered sharply leftwards in […]
Gordon Campbell on why the public doesn’t always do what its told, even in 24 different languages
Today we were told that the Covid vaccines available to New Zealand are both halal and kosher. Good to know. And good to officially recognise […]
Gordon Campbell on why welfare reform has no champions in Parliament
Ever since Victorian times, the unemployed have been a problem for those more fortunate, wealthy and powerful. Down the ages, society has been torn between […]
Gordon Campbell on the Govt attempts at poaching the soft centre-right vote
More than once in the past few days Finance Minister Grant Robertson has been at pains to thank both his predecessors – Michael Cullen and […]
Gordon Campbell on Budget 2020
Welcome to the breadline. Treasury’s best case scenario sees unemployment reaching 9.8% by September and yet… the coalition government seems to have decided it can […]
Gordon Campbell on why raising benefits is a better option than spending on infrastructure
If New Zealand has a pressing need to stimulate its flagging economy, it seems very weird to meet this need with a $12 billion package of infrastructure spending…
Gordon Campbell on the fallacy of political moderation
The belief that it is the moderate middle who will decide the outcome of Election 2020 is a deeply ideological stance.
Gordon Campbell on the government’s timidity on welfare reform
Only six months ago, the jury was still out on whether the Ardern government would enter the history books as a radical force for change, or as mere tinkerers with the status quo…
Gordon Campbell on Emmanuel Macron’s no good, very bad year
Earlier this year, PM Jacinda Ardern’s harmonious meeting with Emmanuel Macron was deemed to be the most important political coup of her entire trip to Europe.
Gordon Campbell on yesterday’s electricity price review
The review shows the cost of electricity has been shifted off business and onto consumers
Gordon Campbell on the need for immediate action on WINZ
So the old saying goes, the main difference between the centre-right and centre-left is that both believe in market solutions, but the centre-left spends a […]
Gordon Campbell on the inquiry into the abuse of children in care
Apparently, PM Jacinda Ardern has chosen to exclude faith-based institutions from the government’s promised inquiry into the abuse of children in state care. Any role […]
Gordon Campbell on vulnerable kids, fresh RNZ funding, and Poppy
The decision to remove the word ‘vulnerable’ from the Ministry for Vulnerable Children could well mark a whole shift in approach to the care of children in need.
Gordon Campbell on the Turei finale
So the political career of Metiria Turei is, in effect, now over. It goes to show the double standard in politics is alive and well.
Gordon Campbell on the real truth deficit in welfare
The most troubling thing about the current emphasis of government policy is that “success” seems to be judged entirely on whether people are being moved off benefits…
Gordon Campbell on being humane about welfare, child support and tax
It made for an unusual Venn diagram, but Greens co-leader Metiria Turei and Finance Minister Steven Joyce were briefly sharing some common elements this week…