Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Hebe,
I and others believe a deal could have been done in 2005 had Labour been truly willing to put MMP into practice. They were not and are still not unless they are the self-selected dominant partner.
I'm sure there was some calculation as to the wisdom of reach towards the centre rather than the left. But it was basically about the numbers required for a working majority. If the Greens had had one more MP they would have been in a vastly stronger position.
But does it really make sense to hold what will be a nearly 10 year-old grudge by the time of the election? Senior Green and Labour MPs -- Kevin Hague and Grant Robertson, for example -- seem to work together very well. I don't expect either side to blow the chance should it arise.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Hebe,
My view (as a green not as the party, mind) is that bloc is not a given, and that will hold until Labour gains any real understanding of and commitment to genuine power-sharing within MMP, rather than their present rather regal approach.
It would have to be a fairly significant lack of understanding to justify delivering centre-right rather than a Labour-Green government, surely.
Not last election – the 2005 election deal. Labour royally shafted the Greens and deserves no trust until proven otherwise.
I meant 2005. The Greens won only six seats (down from nine in 2002). NZ First won seven. The extra seat was the one seat Labour needed to form a working majority. Peters exploited the situation and declared he would be no part of a formal support arrangement that included the Greens.
Had Labour told Peters to get stuffed, there would have been no governing majority available to it. That is what the actual situation was.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
It’s way off topic until the election threads start next year, but I’m not going to party vote for anyone who’s going to be part of any support arrangement with New Zealand First.
Which would be either of the two biggest parties if it came down to it.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to ScottY,
Ardern confirmed on Twitter a few minutes ago that she’s not in the race.
Full text:
Thanks for the messages! Many have predicted this already but thought I should confirm- I won't be putting myself forward for Labour leader
I hope everyone can now respect that she's smart enough to make her own decisions.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Hebe,
You are presuming too much about how willing the Greens are to be screwed over by Labour once again.
The Labour-Green bloc is absolutely a given. There will be horse-trading a-plenty, but, that's the only way either of them will get into government.
And I think the belief that the Greens were "shafted" last time was elected doesn't entirely hold up. They simply didn't have the numbers to deliver Labour a majority on their own. NZ First did, and Peters declared he wouldn't be part of any support arrangement that included the Greens.
Things might have looked different if the Greens had had even one more MP -- to which they got bloody close. Couple of thousand votes, iirc.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Lilith __,
She isn’t? Oh, well that does make it rather hard then. :-)
Stuff yesterday had her as one of the frontrunners. But perhaps that was speculation.I think I can confidently say now that she isn't seeking the leadership.
At a guess -- and that's all this is -- I would think she'd consider a deputy role if one was offered.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
Indeed, I think it’s far more relevant that Jacinda managed to reduce the incumbent’s majority despite the overall drop in votes for the Labour Party.
I think she'd have taken back the electorate if the incumbent wasn't as (ahem) popular and competent as Nikki Kaye is. She has an effective electorate office and she's doing the business.
But can we all agree that the fundamental barrier to an Ardern-led party is that she's not standing for the leadership?
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On a lighter, Shearer's arrival at Auckland Airport yesterday: when media scrums go wrong.
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Hard News: Market Wisdom, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Would have taken more photos, but a LOT of the stalls had ‘no photographs, please’ signs on prominent display
I really need to get Fiona to take some pictures of the bra stalls at Avondale. All laid out like a rainbow mountain range, they really are quite a sight on a sunny day. But a man taking pictures of women's underwear is not generally a good look.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to James George,
It occurred to me Cunliffe had been given the job because his smarmy grin would deflect any attempt to fix our network in favour of propping the Telecom monolith.
Imagine my surprise when he used his ‘communication skills’ to dish it out to Telecom execs and the telecommunications regulators whose strings those Telecom execs pulled.It wasn't so much that he "dished it out", but that he had the smarts and focus to set up the reform process and see it through. Regulatory reform is massively complex, which is why must governments bail out or do it half-pie.