If National wins ...

[artemis]

Can we please change this Topic to "When Labour loses, again, in 2014"

It's not a done deal by any means, though. If the left mobilise the vote and the centre/right stay home, for whatever reason, it could go either way ...

[Cuzzie]

I just read this in the NZ Herald that surprised me: Tariana puts the boot into Labour
What she says is fair enough & on the ball, but I'm surprised she actually said it, good on her.

[Cuzzie]

Sgt. Pepper, I hope I did not shock you into silence. I did warn you.

[neopoleII]

mobilizing voters is always a difficult thing, it is however easier for the right wing as they are generally working class and above and get out of bed rain or shine.
a reasonably large number of left wing voters need more "mobilization" on voting day if the weather is wet or stormy.
as for the Maori party, they shot themselves in the foot at the last election...... shame really..... it would of been good to have a very strong Maori party,
it gives them a real voice away from treaty gravy train stigma and a grown up modern political standing for all Maori to be proud of and respected by other sections
of NZ society.
instead...... they pushed for $20 a pack ciggies with 80% of that price going into the consolidated fund and letting their fellow kin die from obesity illness with
no effort to fix that issue.... what with most kiwis who smoke being the hard tradesman sort of folk who are on paye there is a 600k voter pool waiting to see
who will stop the ridiculous tax grab.
it seems winston has a shot here to score voter numbers, the nats also, labs no and the greens never.
also on the books is the "rockstar economy" ""bubble"" and rising interest rates....... again..... effecting the majority paye earner.
so the centralist voter is not yet decided.

[westerly]

[QUOTE=elZorro;475972]Poor, middle aged Dan Lowe was part of the cohort who had to pay student loans plus interest. I was in a previous cohort that was virtually fully funded by the state (fees, plus accommodation via bursary). So Labour's idea to provide interest free loans simplified everything, which must have saved a lot of administrative costs, and was also fairer to the latest generation. After all, who decides what proportion of the uni fees students pay, and what proportion the state pays? And who cares if international students who have already been here three years, get the same loans? Some universities need those students, to keep respectable numbers.

Actually I do. Why overseas students get interest free loans escapes me. As most seem to have wealthy families why the taxpayer should fund their education is one of those things which makes NZ a soft touch. In their eagerness to impress other Countries politicians from all sides are walkovers.
They could learn a lot from Aust. in beingt hard nosed

Westerly

[elZorro]

[QUOTE=westerly;476043]

Poor, middle aged Dan Lowe was part of the cohort who had to pay student loans plus interest. I was in a previous cohort that was virtually fully funded by the state (fees, plus accommodation via bursary). So Labour's idea to provide interest free loans simplified everything, which must have saved a lot of administrative costs, and was also fairer to the latest generation. After all, who decides what proportion of the uni fees students pay, and what proportion the state pays? And who cares if international students who have already been here three years, get the same loans? Some universities need those students, to keep respectable numbers.

Actually I do. Why overseas students get interest free loans escapes me. As most seem to have wealthy families why the taxpayer should fund their education is one of those things which makes NZ a soft touch. In their eagerness to impress other Countries politicians from all sides are walkovers.
They could learn a lot from Aust. in beingt hard nosed

Westerly

I thought it was the case, and I just checked: international students always have to pay much higher fees. At Otago, it starts at about $24,000 a year. NZers are at about $6,000 a year for fees (ETS). So while international students may be able to access student loans for some or all of it, it does have to be paid back within a certain timeframe.

http://www.otago.ac.nz/study/fees/

[Major von Tempsky]

Roy Morgan polls from Australia are relatively new to NZ and always give the best outcome for Labour regardless of what the other polls say.
Yet even they show an 2.5% rise for National to a total of 48.5%.

Could it be, is it possible, that there is a flaw in EZ's reasoning somewhere....

[fungus pudding]

Roy Morgan polls from Australia are relatively new to NZ and always give the best outcome for Labour regardless of what the other polls say.
Yet even they show an 2.5% rise for National to a total of 48.5%.

Could it be, is it possible, that there is a flaw in EZ's reasoning somewhere....

No. That's just not possible.

[elZorro]

Roy Morgan polls from Australia are relatively new to NZ and always give the best outcome for Labour regardless of what the other polls say.
Yet even they show an 2.5% rise for National to a total of 48.5%.

Could it be, is it possible, that there is a flaw in EZ's reasoning somewhere....

All I can say, MVT is that your party's PR spin is working better at the moment. We're such an unassuming lot, we're just happy to be climbing out of the morass National policies put us in. Even if record dairy and logging receipts are not yet turning into enough taxable profit to return a budget surplus. Not to worry, the all-seeing market will fix it up for us all, soon enough.

Gary Morgan says:

“Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows National (48.5%) gaining its strongest lead over a potential Labour/ Greens alliance (40%, down 5%) since July 2013 as Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge toured New Zealand. Support for Labour (28.5%, down 3.5%) has slumped to its lowest for nearly two years – since April 2012.
“The slump in support for the main Opposition parties suggests Prime Minister John Key is set to win a third term in office as Prime Minister at September’s election. The strong rise in support for National shows electors have moved past the scandal involving Justice Minister Judith Collins – despite Labour MPs continuing to press the issue. Today’s results show it is time Labour focused more on articulating its policies for the electorate than trying to damage National.

I think Gary Morgan is right, and since the polling timeframe there has been a press release from Labour about the manufacturing sector. From my point of view, that was an important one, but it doesn't have mainstream involvement, or wasn't viewed as such in the media. Did we see the National ministers involved, being grilled on TV about the devastation in the manufacturing sector? No.

But it's still a long way to the election, and I'm sure they'll be saving some interesting policies or announcements for the last few weeks.

[Cuzzie]

EZ, I still see the biggest problem for Labour is the Green Party. D.C has tried to remove himself and Labour as far away as possible, but we all know he will be smooching up to them post election if numbers are needed. He will be Two-Faced as we all know he already is. That is just plain unacceptable and dangerous for any party Worldwide to forge an alliance with the Greens and D.C knows it, wont stop him from doing it though. The Greens are just useful idiots to the U.N in the big picture and that will make D.C even a bigger useful idiot. Do we want a Muppet as a P.M or do we want a strong leader? EZ, D.C could be that strong leader, I very much doubt it but who knows, what I do know is he wont even get that opportunity when power drained by the Greens. IMHO, these are wise words by me - how say you?