If National wins ...

[Bjauck]

So the latest Colmar Brunton, the most reliable according to EZ, showing National pulling ahead of Labour quite a bit and NZF struggling just above 5% as I've been expecting. Personally I think the polls are all over the place and the election too close to call. I would not be surprised if we end up with only 4-5 parties represented in Parliament next term !

I agree. The honeymoon with Ardern is over. The flip flop over tax did not help. Opinion still seems volatile.

I hope TOP get a bit more support though. Morgan is still laying into Peters...maybe he is hoping to get some NZ First switchers.

[minimoke]

Can't you come up with something original I mean you've pillaged that off John Key!

There is no such thing as an original idea - look to labours policies for proof.

[Joshuatree]

Crazy times. Im hopeful people see the advantage with an honest positive campaign by Ardern with the opposite from English. Could be the decisive turning point tonight with him maintaining the lie about a deficit hole,and digging his own hole even deeper. Hell even hoskings was handing him a spade

[Joshuatree]

We rank near the bottom of the OECD on environmental taxes

The OECD offered a deeply researched and forcefully argued version of that diagnosis and remedy in March in its once-in-a-decade environmental review of New Zealand. The water chapter accounted for 48 of the report's 251 pages.
Simon Upton, head of the OECD’s environment directorate, delivered the verdict to the government, which includes some of his old colleagues from the early 1990s when as National’s Environment Minister he brought the Resource Management Act to the statue books. He returns home next month to become our next Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
The slides, summary and full document are available here. The slides are a particularly succinct summary of our enormous environmental challenges, and a guide to the ways we can tackle them and the benefits we’ll derive from doing so.
We rank near the bottom of the OECD on environmental taxes

The OECD starts by setting a big economic context for our environmental policies. Two measures stand out. First, pollution abatement in New Zealand only cost an estimated 0.03% of GDP a year on average 2000-2013.

“This may indicate that New Zealand’s strong growth has come partly at the expense of environmental quality, a dynamic that puts the country’s ‘green’ reputation at risk. This could be detrimental to the competitiveness and attractiveness of the economy in a global market as consumer and investor preferences shift towards sustainability and strong environmental performance,” the OECD says.
In contrast, investing in curbing pollution increased GDP in three-quarters of OECD countries. The top six countries enjoyed up to a 0.5% enhancement in GDP per year.
Second, we rank near the bottom of the OECD on environmental taxes as a percentage of tax revenues and GDP. Yet, the environment is so important to our economy, it makes sense to tax pollution as a way of improving environmental performance, while reducing tax on good things such as income and profits.

[couta1]

Watching the debate tonight, the stardust has fallen to the ground, Bill showed his vast knowledge and experience as opposed to a smiley face with lots of good ideas with little substance.

[elZorro]

So the latest Colmar Brunton, the most reliable according to EZ, showing National pulling ahead of Labour quite a bit and NZF struggling just above 5% as I've been expecting. Personally I think the polls are all over the place and the election too close to call. I would not be surprised if we end up with only 4-5 parties represented in Parliament next term !

Yep, I wasn't expecting that change from the Colmar poll. However, the Greens are up to 8%, so the Labour-Green vote tally is very close to National's. It's volatile, that's for sure.

There has been a lot of early voting though, and I like the sound of that. Some of the first-timers and others won't have land lines into their households, so they are not fully part of the polling from either Reid Research or Colmar Brunton. I remain optimistic for a Labour-Green outright win.

[minimoke]

Crazy times. Im hopeful people see the advantage with an honest positive campaign by Ardern

She says they aren't raisign personal taxes. Truth is on 1 april next year I will be paying more under Labout than under National. She will be raising the mount of tax I will pay. One step closer to homelessness. One step closer to poverty

[minimoke]

Yep, I wasn't expecting that change from the Colmar poll. However, the Greens are up to 8%, .

How can the Greens possible be at 8% when Labour has such positive environmental and anti-poverty policies?

[couta1]

How can the Greens possible be at 8% when Labour has such positive environmental and anti-poverty policies?

The Greens holding any real power is a very scary thought.

[Joshuatree]

She says they aren't raisign personal taxes. Truth is on 1 april next year I will be paying more under Labout than under National. She will be raising the mount of tax I will pay. One step closer to homelessness. One step closer to poverty

Sounds like a first world prob for you mm..Nope no tax raises but more money going into social services, addiction therapy (p is a poverty drug), poverty ,our truly damaged health system(if you don't have health insurance you aren't valued as human being) ; our doctors and nurses at the coal face striving valiantly under multiple layers of admin covering their butts and achieving inefficiency . Give and you shall receive. Take and be miserable.