Labour govt 2020-23

[moka]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/shane-...GVGUQ3GSLYKHQ/

Another perspective on Mahuta.

This comment shows her in a very positive light:

As Minister of Local Government last term, Mahuta had huge success with the so-called "three waters" issue (drinking water, stormwater and wastewater), which meant bringing together dozens of local councils and creating a shared vision.
This was an issue that had potential to blow up in the Government's face. But you barely heard anything about it and real progress has been made, including the creation of the new water services regulator, Taumata Arowai. That's a result Ardern rightly values.

[moka]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/shane-...GVGUQ3GSLYKHQ/

Another perspective on Mahuta.

And another perspective from the article. And isn’t this the truth that the stale pale male is stale in the sense of outdated and not moving with the times.

The best bit is the old grumps and racists moaning about it. It just shows how out of touch and irrelevant they are. It's the 21st century — the days when grey men in suits were in charge are long gone. It's time for the people of Aotearoa to be proud of who we are and display what makes us unique. A skilful, consensus-building wāhine with a moko kauae is the perfect voice for NZ's place in the world.

[Sideshow Bob]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123...s-wage-subsidy

Didn't know where to post this, but makes the like of Briscoes and Warehouse look like small potatoes - frigging ridiculous, especially when alot of their income is derived from ratepayers and taxpayers.

They are also frigging completely hopeless - where I live they've spent almost 1 year constructing a roundabout with a pedestrian underpass. WTF. How much have they bilked out of council and Transit NZ? Drive through the roadworks every day and the lack of progress and productivity is simply stunning......

Large corporate donation to Rich Listers care of the Government.

[iceman]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123...s-wage-subsidy

Didn't know where to post this, but makes the like of Briscoes and Warehouse look like small potatoes - frigging ridiculous, especially when alot of their income is derived from ratepayers and taxpayers.

They are also frigging completely hopeless - where I live they've spent almost 1 year constructing a roundabout with a pedestrian underpass. WTF. How much have they bilked out of council and Transit NZ? Drive through the roadworks every day and the lack of progress and productivity is simply stunning......

Large corporate donation to Rich Listers care of the Government.

Yes read about this yesterday. It is shameful and sadly they are not alone. All companies that pay a dividend in the year they received the Wage Subsidy should show some social responsibility and pay it back.

[moka]

Another earlier article about Fulton Hogan. It sounds like they see the wage subsidy as an opportunity to strengthen their balance sheet. Overall they had a very good year in spite of Covid.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/fulton-hogan-to-keep-33m-wage-subsidy-despite-bumper-profit-shareholder-dividends/IDI7INJG2MIB5WYFCQFI4HHMQ4/

Engineering and civil construction giant Fulton Hogan will retain about $33.3 million received from the wage subsidy scheme, despite recording a bumper $211m net profit for the year to June 2020.
The privately owned company said it wished to maintain a conservative financial position amid global and local uncertainties.

However, Bruyn said the outlook remains uncertain on both sides of the Tasman, with local government in both countries facing lower budgeted incomes, along with deferred capital expenditure in the private sector, as companies move to strengthen their balance sheets in the short-term.

The annual report showed Bruyn was paid $1.6m in 2020 up from $1.5m in 2019, despite the reduced salary during lockdown.
The company had a total of 3618 staff earning more than $100,000 in 2020, up from 3455 in 2019.
Fulton Hogan is facing different challenges from Covid-19 and said in its annual report it needed to maintain a conservative financial position due to an uncertain outlook both here and overseas.
Given the uncertain outlook, the board decided to declare a reduced final dividend of 33c a share – down from 36c last year – taking the annual dividend to 57c compared to 60c in 2019.

"After a strong first-half financial performance across most of our business, the subsequent impact of Covid-19 caused significant business interruption in the second half of the year, in particular in New Zealand," managing director Cos Bruyn said.
"The abrupt and severe curtailment of works during the six-week, Covid-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown saw over 70 per cent of the company's 4500 New Zealand-based employees unable to work.

"Notwithstanding the potential challenges ahead, morale is high, and the business is well-positioned for the future."

[moka]

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06...m-still-fails/

The final results of 2020’s general election have been released, with National losing two seats, the Māori Party gaining a seat and the referendum results not changing.

The final result has the Labour Party winning 65 seats, up one seat, and with exactly 50% of the popular vote. The National Party, the core of the official opposition, shed two seats to 33 seats. The Māori Party not only kept its electorate win on election night but added a list seat with a slightly better party vote showing.

Act and the Green Party are still unchanged at 10 seats each. Chlöe Swarbrick held onto Auckland Central, with a margin of 1,068 votes.
With his victory in Waiariki assured, the Māori Party’s Rawiri Waititi will be joined by Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The party was considered on life-support only months ago and few polls, if any, had expected that it would return to parliament with two seats.

Three electorate wins on election night were overturned on the final result, all of them cases of National losing seats to Labour. Many of the seats were National strongholds which Labour had not expected to win.

Matt King, who held a contested Northland seat for National, lost to Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime by 163 votes. Denise Lee in Maungakiekie lost to Priyanca Radhakrishnan by 635 votes. Dr Shane Reti, National’s health critic in Whangārei, lost to Labour’s Emily Henderson by 431 votes. Reti will be the only one of the three to keep a seat in parliament due to his high place on the party’s list. West Coast-based Maureen Pugh, who was on a precarious place on National’s list, will stay in parliament.

The assisted-dying referendum still won in the end with 65.1% of the vote, with 33.7% opposed.
The cannabis result was tight in the end, with 50.7% opposed to legalisation compared to 48.4% who supported it.

[moka]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...KTW6OGC2H7EVA/
The final results have Labour on 50 per cent (65 seats), National on 25.6 per cent (33 seats), Act on 7.6 per cent (10 seats), the Greens on 7.9 per cent (10 seats), and the Māori Party with 1.2 per cent (two seats).
Huge lead for Labour over National.

Fifty per cent is the largest share of the party vote for Labour since 1946, and the first time a party has won 50 per cent or more of the party vote since National in 1951.
It is also the largest gap between Labour and National since the two-party system began in 1938.

Official turn out for the 2020 election was 82.2 per cent, up from 79.8 per cent in 2017 and 77.9 per cent in 2014.
Far more people voted in advance - 67.7 per cent - than in previous elections.
Final enrolment was 94.1 per cent of eligible voters, the highest since 2008.

[moka]

Nanaia Mahuta is the most experienced minister in the Government.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...comes-now?rm=a
Of which the one that attracted the most immediate attention was the appointment of Nanaia Mahuta as Minister of Foreign Affairs. That quickly drew criticism on social media, including some that was frankly racist.

It was also a demonstration that when it comes to assessing the performance of politicians, visibility and competence are sometimes conflated. While Mahuta, who has been in Parliament since 1996, may not have held the high profile roles of Hipkins, Woods and Andrew Little, she is the most experienced minister in the Government, having been handed the portfolios of Customs, Local Government and Youth Development by Helen Clark in 2005.

The first woman to wear a moko kauae, which she described as “a statement of identity”, in Parliament, Mahuta has already held the internationally focused roles of associate minister of both trade and export growth, which seem to stand her in good stead for the role.

[couta1]

Yes read about this yesterday. It is shameful and sadly they are not alone. All companies that pay a dividend in the year they received the Wage Subsidy should show some social responsibility and pay it back.

Yep, leaves a very bad taste in one's mouth.

[Bjauck]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...KTW6OGC2H7EVA/
The final results have Labour on 50 per cent (65 seats), National on 25.6 per cent (33 seats), Act on 7.6 per cent (10 seats), the Greens on 7.9 per cent (10 seats), and the Māori Party with 1.2 per cent (two seats).....

From Muller's Make America Great Again cap to Boag's leaking of confidential information, a Trump-like National Party lost the election bigly!