February 25th, 2010
Air NZ forced the Govt into an embarrassing admission this week over the $234m project to update the RNZAF’s fleet of 45-year-old Hercules transport aircraft. The programme is stalled, forcing Air NZ to cut 100 jobs at Blenheim-based Safe Air. The disclosure is the latest chapter in a saga of botched defence projects running from […]
February 25th, 2010
Steven Joyce might rank at 14th in the Cabinet room, but he’s rapidly assuming a critical role in trouble-shooting in the Beehive, rather in the manner of Michael Cullen in the last Cabinet. In Transport, he has got several contentious projects funded and under way. Trans-Tasman has noted how he has come to be regarded […]
February 24th, 2010
The Key Govt believes it has regained the momentum its critics claim it was losing. The PM himself is remarkably buoyant, despite having to dance on a pinhead over earlier declarations he would not raise GST. And he also confessed to being “sloppy” in disposing of his shares in an Aust uranium exploration company. These […]
February 18th, 2010
Opposition Leader Phil Goff saw the Key speech as a “step-back” and promised a stern fight against any increase in GST. Hyped up as Big Tuesday, he says it turned out to be “Tiptoe Tuesday.” In light of the relatively tepid welcome the Prime Ministerial statement received, Labour could feel it has regained the political […]
February 18th, 2010
The PM’s statement to Parliament said only the Govt would “carefully consider” raising GST. It was a signal it has to get its coalition partners on side, particularly the Maori Party, which says it will fight an increase if it disadvantages low-income groups. But it’s clear Cabinet is set on lifting GST to 15% and […]
February 17th, 2010
A new tax structure, with tax cuts worth $4bn, an increase of GST to 15%, and compensatory adjustments to benefits, unlocking NZ’s mineral wealth, new priorities in science and innovation, changes to how property is taxed; welfare benefit reform with a focus on helping people back to work; Whanau Ora to be developed as a […]
February 11th, 2010
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp flew off to Istanbul this week for an ISAF Defence Ministers’ conference. This follows Foreign Minister Murray McCully going to London last week for an ISAF Foreign Ministers’ conference. Some analysts see this intense activity as evidence the Govt’s intervention in Afghanistan worries the NZ public and the Govt is looking […]
February 11th, 2010
In the first political scrap of the year, Labour’s Phil Goff called on the PM to sack Education Minister Anne Tolley over what he called the “shambles” in introducing national standards for literacy and numeracy in schools. “Tolley’s folly” is how Labour (as well as the teachers’ union) sees the concept of national standards. National […]
February 10th, 2010
At Tuesday’s all-day session on working on this year’s political programme, National’s Caucus enthusiastically backed the overhaul of the tax structure the PM will outline in his opening statement to Parliament next week. John Key says his first major speech of the year will contain “a reasonably detailed shopping list of the economic agenda for […]
February 4th, 2010
Better economic advice to the Govt will be one measure of the shake-up of Treasury’s leadership team. This wasn’t an exercise in staff-shedding. It was an exercise in reasserting the Treasury’s leadership role in the state sector. It also gives expression to the Govt’s yearning for public-sector advisers who will earn their keep not by […]
February 3rd, 2010
How macho will the Govt be is the question intriguing political circles in Wellington, as John Key’s administration lays the foundation for structural changes it says are essential in closing the income gap with Aust. Some of those in Cabinet, (even those who concede this year’s budget will be a defining document for the Key-led […]
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