Labour / NZ First Government

[Bjauck]

Pity it is an automatism to knight past PM's, whether they deserve it or not. Makes it like a promise from the Donald - absolutely meaningless.....

A knighthood for just doing their job properly. It may get them a good table at a pretentious restaurant? It seems to be only certain Republican PMs (eg Bolger, Clark) who dodged the sword.

[winner69]

I hope Taranaki gets a brand new stadium out of the Regional Development Fund

Footie stadiums vital to regional development

C’mon Shane ,,,sort it out quick

[elZorro]

I hope Taranaki gets a brand new stadium out of the Regional Development Fund

Footie stadiums vital to regional development

C’mon Shane ,,,sort it out quick

It sounds sensible, maybe the Northland funding is getting away on him. He has been targeted a bit, from what I've seen.

Here's Simon Bridges making a mess of an interview with Guyon Espiner on RadioNZ a couple of days ago, about the state houses laid to waste during National's tenure.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/play..._id=2018647858

Now, Simon says we had a housing crisis.

[Joshuatree]

Listened to that lol. He got a full house at a meet the locals in Warkworth nearly all 65 years plus. Go Winston ohh i mean Simon. He had to tell them that he didn't have any asian in him too ehh, weird

[777]

Just to keep you informed

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/104...-private-clubs

[blackcap]

Just to keep you informed

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/104...-private-clubs

Surely not. Can vaguely remember ElZorro bleating on about National doing this kind of thing....

[winner69]

Nobody takes much notice of Hooto but interesting

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...ectid=12066447

The reason for the urgency is suggested by its context. After Labour's mishandling of the sexual assault allegations at its summer camp, Winston Peters' inexplicable stance on the Russian chemical weapons attack in the UK, Phil Twyford's comical Pt Chevalier KiwiBuild announcement, and the scandal involving Clare Curran and RNZ, Ardern was desperate for something — anything — to reassure her core supporters.

[elZorro]

Surely not. Can vaguely remember ElZorro bleating on about National doing this kind of thing....

The National Party had/has an even better system. They simply invoice a few well-heeled business-people from each electorate each month on an ongoing basis on behalf of the local MP, and this might be a few hundred or few thousand dollars a month, but for that donation, the business leaders get to have a lunch or dinner with ministers or senior party members, regularly. It's all about these businesses getting to lobby ministers about their pet ideas, to have a line through to the beehive. Or, they'll have a golf tournament with a very high entry fee, it's much the same.

Maybe Labour is getting a bit tired of the constant raising of funds from begging emails to all and sundry on their mailing list. Stuart Nash has been pretty good at raising funds for his campaigning, but much of it comes from a few well-off friends I think. He's one of the few exceptions.

Regardless, since the Labour/NZFirst/Green coalition is in power now, some of these corporate donations might be dropping off for National. Business owners will be looking for a similar setup from Labour, maybe that's why these $600 lunches have worked out OK. Believe me, it's small time compared to what National had been doing.

[iceman]

Sorry I'm a bit slow EZ and don't understand your obfuscated response to blackcap. In your view, is fundraising like this OK or not ?

[elZorro]

Sorry I'm a bit slow EZ and don't understand your obfuscated response to blackcap. In your view, is fundraising like this OK or not ?

Let's just say I didn't know until more recently about National's system of fundraising from affluent business owners and the like. It doesn't feel OK that these people could have a much more direct line to lobby MPs and ministers, than most of us do. MPs all know that campaign money usually results in equivalent votes for those parties that have a long-term branding and marketing effort. That's the big four, they always get about 85%-90% of the party vote between them. Some National MPs in the big rural electorates run three offices. Most of the money comes from parliamentary services, but those offices are only there for the populace, not for party use. Their campaigns still have to be funded too.