Wouldn't that make our name the Dominion of New Zealand?

Lovely to read a positive story about people finding meaning and community on Waitangi Day (despite being pissed off by the government and wanting to show it).

Here's the link for the health story. www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/07/h...

Though, some people seemed quite excited on Morning Report this morning. A kiwi living in LA was particularly keen, as said many of his friends were, too, in the aftermath of the fires. Things will be pretty awful there for many & I guess those with money or flexible jobs may choose to stay away.

Seems like a bit of an empty announcement, tbh. "Look! We have ideas!" I mean, go for it, but so what? Who's actually going to notice?

Wow - that will be riveting. Can't wait!

A great image to capture the issue! (Though I would have thought Tama's Paint and Paper would have blue uniforms..?)

People like me don't do well under private health insurance. My epilepsy makes me expensive - 3 medications, one of which is relatively new and therefore still costs big bucks. I'm very grateful for our public healthcare system. Even if it's stretched, it's still giving me access to a decent life.

My daughter's heart surgery might have cost $5,000 *USD* if we'd gone to India to get it done privately. $8,700 NZD. "Oh, but you could share some of *your* $6,000 with her, Stephanie" says David. Except that was the same year I gave birth to her. Probably wouldn't be much left in the kitty, David

And yet one of the first things they did (in their first list of targets) was to REINSTATE the damn RMA, trashing Labour's Spatial Planning Act and the Natural and Built Environments Act. They could have tweaked these if they didn't agree with elements of them, but they wanted the symbolism.

Nobody's been 'abused' in this conversation - you've been disagreed with. And I've managed to do that without attacking your party.

I'm not saying that there should be no criticism - just that we all need to keep it in balance. Especially when demanding more unity!😉

Last reply - dog to walk.

So..? There are plenty of opinion writers - you just happen to agree with this one.

You don't strengthen the left bloc by constantly shitting on 1 part of it (the biggest part). You prefer the Greens - great. vote for them! You say you want a stronger alliance, though, so how about acting like it?

Policy discussion happen inside the party, and they have been happening. Hipkins has also done lots of interview etc saying we'll be bringing policy on tax reform into the next election.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

It's almost gone full circle. The 1st NZF+Nat deal was incredibly detailed & took 6 weeks to negotiate. Things got quicker and more general (based core policy & on positions) for quite a while. NZF took adv to block lots of Lab pols in '17-'21 govt, now we're back to 6 wks & detailed shopping lists.

The amount of committee time wasn't in the coalition agreement.

We personalise to simplify; like a shorthand. But in practice, if the majority party leader solidly opposed something, it would be unlikely to make the cull, unless it was a "this for that" bargaining deal (which it may have been).

I recall some towards the end, when there wasn't really time to work them through and enact them anyway. But mostly he worked with a fair amount of authority, and he made compromises himself, to bring a broader swathe of people & interest groups with him. Roundly criticised by some Greens for this.

Which is why I said "at least not rejected". He won't have made that recommendation, but a PM does hold a fair amount of sway over their caucus and in Cabinet: if he really wanted to limit that time, he could have made and should have won the argument over a process matter.

In their Ministerial areas, the policies they shaped got enacted. Apart from that, there's no issue of "stepping on". There was no obligation to enact Green policies over Labour ones.