inverse
reverse
perverse

Oops, yes, I meant Finance Minister. Mind you, Muldoon was both PM and Finance Minister in his day, which gave him some unusually big leverage.

...then again, I have long believed PA may span several
concurrent alternate reality stubs...…

More specifically, the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

And the other major PM in history to have an accountancy background aside from Roger Douglas was, you guessed it, Rob Muldoon.

just sayin'...

The reason there are so many Mormons in NZ is that they consider the Polynesian peoples to be a lost tribe of Israel, or something…

I kept harking back to the the mannagram from the Manna Ministries, man ;)

(hmmm, there's a coupla
good backstories on offer...)

He is. Many here are.

Many thanks. you're a champ.

If you are replying to somebody's comment, highlight the words you want to quote and click the Reply link.

I guess. As I said earlier , they all look the same to me ;)

So many people, everywhere.

Also interesting that Winston's favourite issues (immigration, seniors and racing)have been left to the unranked in Labour – and energy and water (likely big issues coming up wrt deep sea oil exploration and on-going freshwater issues) have also gone to unranked Labour members – perhaps…

They claim to be Christians, no?

Those are title fights, not sparring partners!

Little vs Key
King vs Coleman
Robertson vs English
Mahuta vs Flavell
Twyford vs Bridges and Smith/Bennett
Hipkins vs Parata
Sepuloni vs Tolley
Davis vs Woodhouse and Lotu-Iiga
Ardern vs Adams, Barry and Foss
Clark vs Joyce
Sio vs Lotu-Iiga and Bennett
Lees-Galloway vs Woodhouse and Joyce…

I'd bet on that.

There could be a certain kind of wisdom in the (shadow) ministry title, although it kind of escapes me at present.

It's a way of giving kudos and mana to the…

That I don't know.

"Bridging bigotry" was discarded as an impolitic name for the portfolio.

I presume Andrew Little and Annette King have worked together for years in the Rongotai electorate at personal and political levels so know each other well.

A fair question.

What "interfaith dialogue" has that waste of oxygen ever engaged in beyond his fact-free pandering to homophobic evangelicals in South Auckland?

Andrew Little praised her efforts on Te Karere earlier today. I don't know if she deserves where she has been placed but she has been selected and I cant…

Thank you for a sensible comment on the issue I had wondered about briefly and without particular judgment much earlier, and that had invited Giovanni Tiso's unhelpful personal attack in response.…

They all look the same ;)

You’re asking a son of Tuhoe for comment on Tainui? ;-)

I only know that the name Mahuta carries weight.

Yep – that’s why her Dad called himself that :-)

This remarkably frank Herald obit captures both sides of Sir Robert.…

Kingitanga was a good point in itself, thank you.

Yeah. her Mother and her Father. Although My point may not have been made to the standard that Sacha requires, it was that she is significant in the community which does count as votes for the Party.

I think it will be good for him personally. If he does it well it will…

Good point. In 18 years, Mahuta has had no obvious role in policy development, and has, one bill to her name, which failed at first reading. She hasn't been an attention-grabber, ever.…

The issue remains funding and the intersection with broader cultural issues. It's better that these portfolios stay with people who…

I've met Mahuta, and she seems intelligent and articulate, both good qualities have on the front bench. There is also the symbolic acknowledgement that Maori are (still) staunch supporters of Labour.

Perhaps…

They also both won their seats.

Curran?

Mahuta is prominent in her community and carries much respect from Iwi. In fact her Family have for many years. Like Harawira ,time spent at…

What are Ardern's achievements, out of interest?

And it’s a bit shitty to apply predominantly white, male standards of politics as a way of attacking a Maori woman who is taking on a portfolio that’s about connecting and supporting Maori development. I don’t…

That game is not going to be fun to play if one runs through the current caucus, let's face it.

God, she must be soo old , like those Rolling Stones or somefing. Guess they'll be kicking her to the curb soon too eh ;)

Can you name some prominent examples of her achievements for those of us who they must have completely passed by?

Assuming she will under-perform in her portfolio seems about as unwarranted as the assumption that Ardern will shine – she was absolutely awful on social development and had to be taken off Paula Bennett duties. But…

It gets better.... or umm something, Don Brash was for a while opposition spokesman on Finance. he had a PhD ( Economics) AND was governor of the…

Yet he gave Finance to Robertson, who clearly supported CGT and raising Super for starters. Methinks Little is well aware of public opinion…

Mahuta.

Way to be snide whilst completely failing to name the person correctly.

It's going to be genuinely interesting to see if Robertson grows into the role, and becomes less cautious. He finally has a role that is not all about strategising, but has actual…

That's what I meant, basically.

Little winning certainly does not give me much hope that we will have a CGT and other sensible taxation changes…

which he still hasn't gotten over, ideologically.

And look where that got us. The dangers of a man who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

In fact the last vaguely qualified Minister of Finance the country has had was Roger Douglas, who studied accountancy.

yes, it does often seem to come down to chronic poverty

Yes, it was a response to the result. A response that he signalled before the ballot, when he said (paraphrased) that if he wasn't elected leader he was going to…

well it's not exactly brain surgery :)

Bill English has an honours degree in English literature. Michael Cullen had a PhD in history.

I've been out of the country and I saw…

I don't blame Parker for not wishing to stay in Finance given Little's pronouncements on the policies he had developed — but he's clearly a significant loss from the front bench and the most regrettable…

All the reporting I have seen says that Parker took himself out of the Finance portfolio, and had announced as much before the first vote was cast. What evidence do you have that this was anything other than the true situation?

has been in previous line-ups.

Hopefully she can also work with King and Sepuloni across the intertwined Health and Social Development portfolios, but I don’t have high hopes of anyone in that bunch…

They gave it to Goff? Or did you mean Dyson? EDIT: sorry, it's clearly Dyson. I think it makes sense to leave it with her, rather than giving it to someone ranked higher but who wouldn't know what to do with…

I think Ruth may be being given the message it's time to think about moving on – certainly she's part of the King/Goff/Mallard era that's been given…

Well...they would be, if Labour were actually the government!

Still, he's a safe pair of hands and it's a good way of keeping him close…

True. I don't think you can even blame it on the spokesperson being out of favour.

Oh I don't know. Disability is in the demoted unranked zone at 17. Behind animal rights. Nothing new there.