Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Democracy Night

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  • Rob Stowell,

    Key seemed to be reading notes from a prompt?

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • HenryB,

    I have just heard that the turnout was roughly 65% - the worst since the 1880s. If true, this is truly depressing. It would mean that pursuing a tactic of taking the politics out of politics has succeeded.

    Palmerston North • Since Sep 2008 • 106 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    I don't get how the turnout can be so low, I would have thought during a recession, quake, referendum etc, that people would want to be involved either way

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew E, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    NoRightTurn estimates that once specials are counted the turnout is probably around 75% this time around too.

    174.77 x 41.28 • Since Sep 2008 • 200 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite, in reply to Hebe,

    The smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

    It never did.

    He certainly doesn’t have the unbridled power he thought he was due. No matter what the specials do (which are likely to erode his lead), what he wanted as a second choice was reliable and significant coalition partners. Instead, he’s got one vote from the Vicar of Bray, one from Act who’s certain to embarrass him with some damnfool public pronouncements, and perhaps three from a very badly frightened Maori Party who can’t be seen to be supporting Act – and then Winston in the debating chamber relishing his opportunities for revenge.

    It’s likely to be fun from a distance. Apparently Gliese 581g is a good prospect, if its existence is confirmed, Gliese 581d if not, at 20.3 light years.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to HenryB,

    I have just heard that the turnout was roughly 65% – the worst since the 1880s. If true, this is truly depressing. It would mean that pursuing a tactic of taking the politics out of politics has succeeded.

    According to the MSD link in my earlier post, it's a pattern consistent across all the Anglo New World nations. Except Australia, where voting is compulsory.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Homer, in reply to bmk,

    I meant a vote – typing too fast.

    No, you don't. Speakers have voted for a decade and a half.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 85 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    The Joyce tactic has been to avoid contact and thus preventing issues firing up. People become energised when there is an issue that affects them or when there is a clearly defined enemy. So by lying low the enemy is ill defined.
    Note how tonight various Government Ministers have appeared when they were largely absent during the election?

    Asset Sales will be off the table but I suspect that it was a deliberate red herring.

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • alistair connor,

    I wheeled out the fax to vote last night- haven't sent a fax for oh um three years I guess, and couldn't work out how. Eventually scanned and faxed it from the puter, from my living room in France.

    And I voted Labour... for the first time since 1984! (I never could get the hang of doing the fashionable thing.) Well only for the electorate vote : Auckland Central looked might flip back. Too bad.

    (yeah it's taken me two and a half decades to recover from being on Richard Prebble's Labour Electorate Committee way back... permanent minority of two with Margaret Wilson)

    It feels like a not-quite-watershed moment for the Greens : over 10% is nice, but should have been better to really eat up the deliquescent Labour vote and look at winning some electorates next time.

    Since Oct 2007 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    In regards to marginals like AKL Central and Waitakere, changing electorate voting to a preferential or STV system would eliminate the spoiler effect. On the other hand, with Epsom and Ohariu it would be rather more complex.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Ian MacKay,

    Asset Sales will be off the table

    unlikely - for ideological rather than practical reasons

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Kracklite,

    Fun from a distance, yeah I know what you mean, kinda. How many more kiwis will be at "a distance"? I've mixed feelings, there's some things Labour did I'm genuinely proud of and I'm happy for the Greens too (Jan Logie is a person of remarkable talent). But Banks and Winston, what a couple of passed-it hacks!

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    How about we start a thread on how he doesn't talk like us!

    Get your head around the fact that Key and the National party got a record majority, add Act and the Conservatives (who came out of no where) and it is outstanding

    But the wheel turns and once the left really gets it head around what people want rather than telling then what they can have things will change and very quickly

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Ian MacKay,

    The Joyce tactic has been to avoid contact and thus preventing issues firing up. People become energised when there is an issue that affects them or when there is a clearly defined enemy. So by lying low the enemy is ill defined.

    That makes sense. Will the Yours Not Mines formula still work on Prostetnic Vogon Joyce?

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Grevers,

    I was about to observe on Friday night (but Russell closed the discussion at a nice conservative 10.40pm) that the "social filter" effect has become very strong - from what I was exposed to on my slice of the internet, National was almost universally loathed.

    New Plymouth • Since Jul 2011 • 143 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell, in reply to Raymond A Francis,

    My head is very firmly wrapped around “the fact that Key and the national party” will form the next govt with a tatter of ACT and a smidgen of Dunne. Painfully wrapped around it. Like a Lamborghini wrapped round a lampost :)
    And… if I start telling people “what they can have”, I expect to be quickly pushed in front of a bus. Good riddance too.
    ETA as long as it’s an electric bus, mkay?

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • tussock,

    Holy fuck. JK just said on TV3 that the super fund and the ACC are going to buy the power companies. So he's selling half of his 100% owned government assets to some other 100% owned government assets and claiming a profit.

    Super fund sells a billion dollars of US assets, buys a billion dollars of NZ assets, and the govt thereby claims a billion dollars profit to "balance the books". Of course. Except the govt now owns a billion dollars less assets.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to tussock,

    Holy fuck. JK just said on TV3 that the super fund and the ACC are going to buy the power companies. So he’s selling half of his 100% owned government assets to some other 100% owned government assets and claiming a profit.

    A very clever move on his part. It takes the sting out of the asset sales hot potato – for now. With a big emphasis on ‘for now’. I suspect it’ll lead to the hoary old refrain, ‘they bastards, but they’re our bastards’.

    I’d rather the Super Fund and ACC invest in our would-be Sam Morgans who are desperate for backers.

    At least one person out there sees the funny side of the privatisation debate. (HT Toby Manhire @Listener Live)

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Auckland Central, Labour 26% party vote, Greens 24%. Then there is Epsom right next door, delivering Banks.
    I saw this man standing alone, looking confused, then stern in High Street today, I thought to help him, I thought I knew his face from somewhere, he seemed to be looking for someone, short, cropped head, state services suit, tie awful. He did not meet my eye as I passed by him one foot away, a very average person, nothing to him at all I thought.
    It was Joyce.
    Quote of the night goes to Key re the Maori Party, "they've done some good things for their people."

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    one of the unknown new NZ First MPs is a former Chch city councillor, Dennis O'Rourke, a volatile and politically wily old fox. Should make for some entertainment.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    Then they privatise ACC's good bits.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Hebe,

    Then they privatise ACC’s good bits.

    If that happened, wouldn’t that expose private workplace insurers to litigation? Then we’d be back to where we were in 1967.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    Voted at NZ House in London on Wednesday (UK time). Helped out by a cheerful woman with the thickest Waikato accent ever. One of the other scrutineers got very excited when he heard my old address, and asked me if I was a regular at the Backbencher. I humoured him and said yes.

    I also overheard two of the scrutineers saying that Wellington Central was by far the most common electorate in the Specials cast at NZ House. Which I guess isn't surprising, but: yeah.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Hebe,

    NZF caucus must surely be one of the weakest ever in Parliament... Although there was the Clive Mathewson led (?) whatevertheywerecalled mob that had Pauline Gardiner...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to tussock,

    some other 100% owned government assets

    not for long

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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