Wow, how amazing was Maiki Sherman as a Moderator!

She probed each Politician and really dragged out true answers.

This was one of the best debates to date, TVNZ really stepped up as the Public Broadcaster here.

Their youth debate was excellent as well.

Shane waxed lyrical about Winston’s definition of Indigenous and everyone rolled their eyes.

Tama was dreadful and angry.

He always gets accused of being a traitor standing for National, because he is.

Marama was staunch, John Tamihere was brilliant and Willie is the Labour heavyweight.

Karen was amazingly insightful, but she’s so indoctrinated by right wing bullshit that she can’t see ACTs solution is worse than the problem.

Tama is angry.

Like bitter angry.

Tries to justify Luxon’s desire to throw state tenants out onto the street with no place to go.

He’s so angry.

Shane waxes lyrical about building shanty towns. Does a jig, sings a song, makes some jokes.

John Tamihere notes Banks won’t lend to shared Māori land and argues the need to open capital.

Willie notes how much Māori Housing has expanded under Labour.

Karen makes excellent insightful comments on housing.

Lowering rents debate is funny.

Marama launches a surprise attack on Karen supporting Māori Housing so enthusiastically, which was just as funny.

Tama is angry.

The commentary from Māori on the street was the best political commentary than any panel to date!

Karen is forced to defend her Party’s racist race baiting cross burning Māori hate.

Willie defends co-governance as a model that can work.

Tama is angry.

Marama is righteous in standing for co-governance.

Shane waxes lyrical about co-governance. Non one understands what he means.

Karen gets triggered and becomes a Karen in defending ACTs racist referendum.

Marama has to justify the little they have achieved in Climate Change but makes a clear argument for the future.

John Tamihere makes the case for Kai Sovereignty – his argument about using Tax policy to dismantle inequality.

Karen argues why Māori shouldn’t have a say on water which goes down about as well as you would think it would at a Māori debate.

Shane waxes lyrically about climate change and waxes lyrically about being cancelled which at this stage we all wish would happen.

Quick round on ‘did Māori cede sovereignty.

Willie and John say Māori didn’t cede sovereignty.

Karen detonates a hand grenade by telling everyone she doesn’t understand Māori history.

Shane waxes lyrically on why Māori did by refusing to acknowledge the Māori version of the Treaty.

Marama says of course they didn’t.

Tama is angry and says Māori ceded whatever Luxon says it is.

Shane waxes lyrically about cutting Kapa Haka funding.

The Māori on the street comments are the most intelligent comments made during the entire election!

Big argument over crime and what it means for Māori.

Get tough on crime wins votes but causes more damage.

We are so focused on punishment and suffering and that is all the Right are offering this election.

Shane waxes lyrically about designating Gangs domestic terrorist so that a paramilitary state can shoot them on sight.

Willie and John fires up at Shane’s paramilitary fantasies.

Karen looks lost.

Tama is angry.

The sheer level of extra funding going into Māori organisations is part of Labour’s legacy and those organisations know that.

Shane waxes lyrically about pro growth ideology.

Really interesting discussion on Māori exports and Māori Economy.

There is a tension between Māori Capitalism and kaupapa Māori Capitalism.

Willie and JT showed how they could run the country together.

Marama was fierce.

Karen looked lost at the end, Shane waxed lyrically and Tama?

Tama claimed Chumbawumba’s “I get knocked down but I get back up again’ was his favourite song.

I’ll just leave that there.

This was the best policy debate to date.

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Jesus wept this is becoming a spite election…

More sanctions for unemployed beneficiaries under National

National has pledged to introduce more sanctions for unemployed beneficiaries who “persistently” do not meet benefit obligations.

The sanctions could include mandatory community work experience of up to three months, benefit suspensions or reductions, and Work and Income having a greater role in managing a beneficiary’s money.

National would also require jobseekers to reapply for the benefit every six months, require documented proof of job applications and interview attendance to continue receiving the benefit, and impose a one-month benefit stand-down for people evading arrest warrants.

…this follows on from ACTs attack on the mentally ill and drug addicts…

NZ election 2023 live: ACT announces welfare policy, targets drug addicts and mentally ill

The ACT Party has released its welfare policy today, which calls for benefits to be taken off people who can’t work due to drug addiction or mental illness and aren’t seeking support.

…ACT and National are slipping in the Polls, so they do what the Right does best – bash the dirty filthy bennies!

Targeting drug addicts and the mentally ill is so on brand for ACTs petty fascism, what the play is privatisation of welfare.

Private welfare companies will be brought in to take contracts and they get bonuses from either transitioning the mentally ill and drug addicts into work or cut them off welfare altogether for breaking some bullshit rule they invent.

This is welfare privatisation using drug addicts and the mentally ill as the punching bag.

Once established they will come after solo parents, the unemployed and the disabled with the same cruelty.

This is where we are in the election cycle right now, beating up on drug addicts and the mentally ill.

This isn’t social policy from ACT or National, it’s a fucking Right Wing Revenge Fantasy!

Research shows these sanctions DON’T work, they simply cause misery and that’s fine with ACT and National voters because they are sir furious at Labour they will enact any malice to win.

This is the bitter nasty Kiwi who lurks at the edge of the BBQ.

It’s racist, it’s bigoted and with the Alliance of Arsehole we have beneficiary bashing climate denying anti vaxxers in charge.

I would call ACT and National Cunts, but they lack the depth and warmth.

This is pure spite and malice politics now and the backlash to this right wing revenge fantasies will be blistering.

National and ACT voters wan to use the ballot box to punish those they despise.

David looked very sheepish on Q+A on recently as Jack grilled him over how much money ACT would get going after beneficiary welfare fraud when it cost $50m to investigate and only resulted in $2.5m back.

Jack compared this to the $7billion in Tax fraud and the pittance in welfare fraud and it was obvious the focus on the poorest instead of the richest was nothing more than political spite on behalf of ACT.

Similarly, ACTs call to destroy the Human Rights Commission…

“The Human Rights Commission is nothing but a Wellington managerial-class quango desperately trying and failing to justify the funding it receives from taxpayers. It’s time for it be abolished,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“One of New Zealand’s most serious problems has been met with one of New Zealand’s most serious wastes of money.

“Today they released a report, following a two-year inquiry, where their key finding is that housing is a human right and their solution is to create another useless organisation to act as a ‘watchdog’, and integrate te tiriti o waitangi into policymaking.

“There’s not a single recommendation that would, you know, make it easier to build more houses. Which is the fundamental issue here. ACT on the other hand has a detailed GST-sharing policy that funds councils to provide infrastructure, and will cut red tape around building.

“Time and time again, Paul Hunt and the hapless Commission have proven they have no clue. They trot out tired left-wing platitudes and talking points and barely even try to dress them up as something resembling genuine policy work.

“They fundamentally misunderstand human rights. A human right is only meaningful if someone fulfils a duty to furnish that right.

“A human right to housing is meaningless unless someone fulfils the duty of providing you with housing. The Commission couldn’t tell the difference between a hammer and a nail.

“If it was as easy as the Commission makes it out to be, ACT would simply say “it should be a human right to not experience a cost of living crisis” or “it should be a human right to not have to dodge hundreds of potholes on the highway” or “it should be a human right to not have to put up with a Labour Government until the election in 100 days.”

“It is shameless that they have spent two years on the taxpayer dime ‘investigating’ this issue and still can’t come up with a single solution. A group of fifth form economics students could come up with better in a few periods, that would cost taxpayers a lot less and the students might even learn something.

“The Commission is at best irrelevant and at worst dangerous. It has become a highly-politicised, left-wing organisation, and when it comes to actually helping people with human rights, it doesn’t help at all.

“ACT sees no purpose for it and would abolish it completely.”

…Look, I’m not saying ACT are fascist, but amputating Pacific, Ethnic, Māori, Women’s and Youth political voices ALONGSIDE the Human Rights Commission make their shirts a shade of Sepia doesn’t it?

A light chocolate? A bark?

Sepia, chocolate or Bark, whatever the shade of shirt colour, it is a brown though right?

Not over the top fascism, that takes too much effort and we are far too laid back a culture for goose stepping, but we enjoy a casual fascism in NZ.

A gun centric, public service mutilating free market level basic bitch bigotry we are talking about here right?

Amputating the political voices of Māori, Women, Youth, Pacific and Ethnic Kiwis ON TOP of killing off the Human Rights Commission ON TOP OF ankle bracelets on 11 year olds ON TOP OF allowing the gun nuts to abolish the gun registry ON TOP OF  billions into prisons ON TOP OF vast cuts to welfare ON TOP OF sacking thousands of public servants ON TOP OF vast tax cuts to the rich ON TOP OF a referendum to redefine the Treaty and force it upon Māoridom which will spark a civil war ON TOP OF bashing drug addicts, the mentally ill and beneficiaries.

These are extreme policies which will cause enormous social dislocation and a level of civil disobedience that will make the Parliament Lawn protests look calm and rational.

Add to that National giving rich Landlords $250 per fortnight funded by robbing 2 year olds, mutilating public transport and literally robbing the climate change funds and we have a class war being waged without the political vocabulary.

ACT and National are drunk on their own sense of power and are promising ever more radical change which they intend to implement, no matter how many riots it inspires.

They are wide eyes acolytes who are believers and I don’t think the vast majority actually understand their policy platform and how dangerous it will be to implement.

You’ve all seen how useless Luxon is, there’s no way he’s going to be able to stop someone as smart as David Seymour getting everything he wants in a post election negotiation.

We will get 100% ACT policy with no filters.

The country needs to understand what that looks like before they vote.

This isn’t an election, it’s a grudge fuck and racist, beneficiary bashing antivax conspiracy theorists are about to take over.

Weep dear NZ, we are about to go to a very dark place if ACT/National and NZF take over.

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National Party Mythology 101 – Bashing Beneficiaries helps Beneficiaries

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog,  3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.

With ACT’s attack on the mentally ill and drug addicts alongside their pledge to build a new prison empire for all the State Tenants that National are about to throw out onto the street plus Nationals plan to rob 2 year olds, public transport and climate funds to give rich landlords a $250 per fortnight tax cut is an affront to the very egalitarian meritocracy these right wing muppets claim to champion!

They want to take from the poor and give to the rich! It’s not trickle down, it’s trickle up!

They want right wing revenge fantasies as social policy FFS and voters seem more than happy to allow that because they can’t stop being angry at Jacinda and the Covid lockdown!

The crime debate is over who can put ankle bracelets on Children first, yet in the year ending June 2022, 175,573 family harm investigations were recorded and no one says a fucking word about that!

Ram raiding youth + 501 gang war violence and we are demanding new prisons, new patch banning powers and the desire to designate gang members as domestic terrorists but not a fucking word on the 175, 573 domestic violence cases ripping through our communities.

We are so fucking selective aren’t we?

The planet melts while ACT and National give their mates in the pollution industry another free pass to do nothing other than pay lip service.

We have 25000 people on the social housing wait list.

We spend a million a day keeping beneficiaries in motels.

In term four of last year, only 50.6 percent of students were regularly attending class

12% of children in NZ live in low-income households

55% of Kiwis are struggling financially

Home ownership is at its lowest rate in 70 years

We are facing the worst inflation in 30 years and there are 100 000 kiwis who are facing homelessness.

The Government’s borrowing requirement is set to dwarf pre-Covid levels. Westpac is now pointing to 6% OCR because of huge immigration pressures, that’s the umpteenth time in a row the economists have been wrong about an OCR peak.

Yes our economy has been malformed and warped by the Covid response, but all those screaming at those ramifications ignore why we had to take on that debt in the first place!

COVID!

It’s bizarre that Covid which has shaped all these symptoms in our economy and society, from debt to crime, is not mentioned at all!

It’s like it is Taboo to even speak of it!

This silence damages the Left because we are unable to explain why we are facing the symptoms of the cure we took to protect life in the first place!

We faced a once in a century novel pandemic. We had to make decisions that hurt and damaged many lives.

We all sacrificed for the greater good because that was the best means of dealing with a novel virus.

Were there mistakes?

Of course and there were consequences, and those consequences were worth the alternative which was tens of thousands of dead in a mass death event altho would have mutilated this nation.

Critics pointing at the lack of a mass death event as proof that there never was one ignores what we had to do to ensure that didn’t happen!

It’s the most idiotic argument!

The ease with which we rewrite the recent past, to determine with the luxury of hindsight that Covid was just a cold when it has killed tens of millions around the globe is sophistry.

3, 329 – NZ (population 5m)

24,738 – Sweden (population 10m)

9, 209 – Ireland (population 5m)

191, 586 – Italy (population 59m)

Those are the numbers.

That’s how many died from Covid and the population of each nation, compared to Ireland we are talking about 6000 lives difference.

That’s the price we sacrificed to protect as many people as we could, to leave no one behind.

There were sacrifices made that generated unequal consequences in an unequal society.

This election is becoming a grudge fuck election.

Voters are voting not on policy, but for malice, to hurt the ‘other side’ for all the imagined crimes of Covid, 3 waters and co-governance.

We are being tested this election on who we really are as a Nation.

One that fights for the people vs one that rules in the interests of the Banks, Corporate  Farming and property speculators.

There are 3 weeks unto the 2023 Election.

If the Left Votes – The Left wins!

It ain’t over until the Fat Blogger sings.

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ACT, National and NZ First are using the money spent protecting NZ from a once in a century pandemic as proof Labour can’t manage the Economy when the truth is the total opposite!

CTU Economist Craig Renney highlights how well Labour have actually managed the Economy…

…as Craig concludes…

…and he’s right!

Sure, the planet melts while ACT and National give their mates in the pollution industry another free pass to do nothing other than pay lip service.

We have 25000 people on the social housing wait list.

We spend a million a day keeping beneficiaries in motels.

In term four of last year, only 50.6 percent of students were regularly attending class

12% of children in NZ live in low-income households

55% of Kiwis are struggling financially

Home ownership is at its lowest rate in 70 years

We are facing the worst inflation in 30 years and there are 100 000 kiwis who are facing homelessness.

Those problems won’t be solved by cutting taxes for the rich at the cost of the poor and slashing public services!

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Jackie Foster, CEO, Social Justice Aotearoa

Indonesian overstayers found living in a plywood shed and dilapidated caravan at New Windsor, Auckland property

Overstaying migrants have been found in a backyard shanty town in West Auckland, living for as long as four years in makeshift sheds and a dilapidated caravan.

It is the latest in a shocking list of cases of foreign workers living in inhumane conditions in New Zealand, with multiple investigations already under way into the exploitation of migrants who came into the country under the Accredited Employer Work Visas scheme.

And while the Labour Party announced over the weekend it would offer a lifeline for long-term overstayers in New Zealand, the Indonesian tenants in the rundown shacks at a New Windsor property would not qualify because they had not been in the country long enough.

Auckland Council, which said it was not aware of the overstayers’ living situation until the Herald’s query, have made arrangements to visit the property and commence an investigation.

Wait, WHAT?

How on earth can an exploited migrant worker shanty town exist for 4 years an no one seemed to be aware of it???

One of the great pillars of NZs economic success is our exploitation of migrant labour.

The speed with which this exploitation has been rammed through with zero checks and balances has already been covered…

Shambles of our visa regime: Immigration staff reveal their truth

Immigration officers say they’ve been told to ignore criminal convictions and investigations, not to read supporting documents on visa applications, and not to check work visas at the border in a “light touch” drive to grant more visas faster.

Multiple past and present Immigration NZ (INZ) staff have told Stuff about their concerns with what they say is a completely dysfunctional visa regime that has allowed rampant fraud – including visa staff themselves exposing the flaws by using pictures of cats and dogs as supporting documents in a dummy visa application that was allegedly approved.

Staff had already told Stuff of issues with the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme, with one saying the system was “completely f….d”.

Stuff has since seen an email from a senior INZ official, Peter Elms, which admits that the AEWV visa has “been manipulated by bad actors”.

…the employers got their wish after screaming about the lockdown and rather than challenge this and demand better wages and work conditions for Kiwis, Labour has capitulated and given the baby its bottle.

National and ACT will compound this problem by opening the floodgates of immigration, removing the Foreign Buyers Ban and killing off Fair Pay Agreements so workers have no bargaining power.

ACT and National intend to slash MBIE by 30% when MBIE is the only one policing the exploitation so that there is no policing of it in the first place!

Since 2017, Labour has increased the minimum wage by nearly $7 per hour, or $556 a fortnight – that sort of fact enrages the NZ Business Community and they demand cheaper more exploitable workers!

The solution is to make every migrant worker a compulsory Union member, that’s the solution yet Labour are too spineless for that.

When we have such toothless ambition, exploitation will never end and only become deeply entrenched.

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NOW ON INSTAGRAM!

It’s not too early to begin the blame game. All indications are the election result is set in stone with Labour going, in just three years, from the first party able to govern alone under MMP to a crushing defeat on 14 October which halves their number of MPs.

People who have been paying attention won’t regret the loss. Labour hasn’t had the desire or the ability to bring meaningful change in all but a couple of cases. The task has been beyond it.

Even where Labour has brought significant change, such as with Fair Pay Agreements, it took six years and the policy has been so poorly communicated it will be dashed away in the blink of an eye by National/Act with barely a public murmur.

Labour knows it’s up for a hiding so it is now trying to save its base electorates. It’s begun announcing policies it hopes will be popular with its base such as taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables. It did much the same before the 2011 election, knowing it wouldn’t be able to implement the policy. Next year it will also repeat what it did after the 2011 election and recant on the policy saying “there are better ways to help those on low incomes than changes to GST”. But, as in 2011, those “better ways” will never materialise.

I’m sure someone somewhere has produced a list of Labour’s announced intentions to introduce policies which they have failed to follow through with. It will be long and embarrassing.

Two examples from the last week highlight Labour’s astonishing political inertia.

Firstly Chris Hipkins had to apologise for claiming during the first leaders’ debate that Labour had removed fizzy drinks from primary schools when it emerged the government had thought about it but never followed through.

Secondly we all remember the weeping and gnashing of teeth two years ago over the appalling dawn raids of the 1970s – which included a formal government apology. But following the apology it was found that immigration officials continued with the practice and only this week Immigration Minister Andrew Little has announced the intention to legislate to restrict the practice. But not till after the election – goodbye to that idea.

When you can’t protect children from the most basic of corporate predation and you don’t follow though on protecting families from what amounts to practices of state terror then you have forfeited any right to public respect.

At the moment hope for progressive change rest solely with Te Pāti Māori and the Greens.

I have been all around the country this month hosting election debates and in each one crime has been raised as an issue of major concern, yet the focus on the types of crime tells a very different story of how that concern is registered and comprehended politically.

Ram Raids and Gang turf wars generate enormous headlines and clickbait sensationalism but if we look at the stats we see a very different reality of crime for the vast majority of Kiwis.

There were 886 ram-raids in 2022.

There were 57 murders in 2022.

Those are terrible crimes, of that there is no doubt, but in 2022 there were 175,573 domestic violence investigations with almost 50% of Māori women experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime.

Again, ram raids and murders are terrible crimes, but their numbers pale into insignificance when you look at domestic violence in New Zealand.

Our attention is captured by Gang violence and Ram Raids, but utterly missing when it comes to domestic violence.

The debate in NZ around ram raids is a race as to who can put ankle bracelets on children first!

ACT says 11 year olds, National says 10 year olds and Labour say 12 year olds!

The fact all we have in this debate is an argument over how to punish children tells you how failed the debate has become.

Domestic Violence is a hidden civil war against our loved ones that causes far more damage and gets far less attention.

First published on Waatea News.

Mr Heisenberg after ACTs Breaking Bad Policy

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Special – Why both the United States and China interested in Melanesia?

Currently, the threat of conflict in the Pacific is a topic of discussion, Sino-American diplomatic competition is fierce and both parties are seeking advantage across the region.  

This week, Pacific leaders will visit the White House, spend three days in Washington and meet United States President, Joe Biden. Most nation’s leaders leapt at this opportunity, but a notable exception is Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare who chose to decline the invitation. Another leader that will not be there is the newly elected Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Sato Kilman.  

Recently, both nations are demonstrating a pro-China stance and not attending the Washington meeting is a diplomatic snub that reinforces American and Australian concerns about Melanesia.  

But, why are the United States and China concerned about Melanesia?  

In order to answer this political question, we need to understand the potential for future conflict in the Pacific; and how Melanesia may play an important role in a future conflict. 

Outlining potential scenarios for Pacific conflict – The conventional analysis

When people consider major power conflict in the Pacific, three scenarios tend to be discussed.     

• An invasion of South Korea by the North, or an act of state terror for instance an attack with nuclear weapons against South Korea, Japan or the United States that triggers a war with North Korea.  
• China invading or blockading Taiwan, a situation that could escalate rapidly as the United States and its allies respond. 
• Finally, the possibility that the ongoing bickering and Chinese belligerence in the South China Sea escalates into a larger conflict. 

Any of these scenarios impacts on vital maritime trade routes that link Asia’s powerhouse economies with regional and international trading partners.  NATO’s new interest in the region indicates the potential impact on European economies. NATO is not investing in building a liaison office in Japan, sending ships to support United States ‘freedom of navigation’ patrols in the Taiwan Strait and soldiers to exercise in Australia for any reason other than to protect its trade routes. 

Strategically, the United States and its approach to managing the threat of conflict in these areas has been to encircle and isolate China.  The map below shows the web of United States alliances and partnerships that contribute to the isolation of China.   Essentially, the United States and its allies can effectively block maritime access to; or from China. 

Additionally, China depends on access to the Indian Ocean for most of its oil, to paraphrase analyst Peter Zeihan the United States only needs to put a destroyer in the Indian Ocean and China’s oil supply is severely compromised.  

America’s strategy developed over many years, the United States investing throughout the region to develop deep and strong relationships with nations that surround China. 

Currently, these factors mean that fighting a high-intensity conflict in one of these three potential hotspots places China at a significant risk.  Further, the poor performance of Chinese troops in combat during recent peace-keeping operations in Africa and wargaming and analysis that consistently points to the difficulty of an amphibious assault on Taiwan; means that the odds of China wanting a war in one of these three areas reduces.  Essentially, the United States is using a policy of deterrence to keep the peace in the North-West Pacific.  

The wild card, of course is North Korea.  Just how crazy is Kim Jong Un?  Would he really use nuclear weapons to attack either the South or Japan?  It seems very unlikely; he certainly likes luxuries and the good life, something he knows will quickly disappear if America turns its attention towards him.  Instead, this conflict is likely to drag on in a never-ending series of deterrent threats, until the world order changes or North Korea collapses on itself.

China’s strategy to outmanoeuvre the United States  

Although China is isolated in a military sense there are still ways for it to compete and to change the balance of power.  

America’s carrier battle groups are the most powerful naval units is the world, able to dominate huge areas. Each one a formidable force able to position itself close to a contested area, defend itself from most threats and strike thousands of kilometres into enemy territory.  The United States has spent 100 years building this capability, is very good at using naval airpower and has lots of carriers.

To compete China needed to develop a feasible method of war-fighting that could threaten American naval supremacy. China chose to compete ‘asymmetrically,’ developing long-range anti-ship missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles that can be produced in vast numbers.  After years of work China is now able to swamp an American carrier battlegroup with accurate long-range missile fire; creating an exclusion zone within which a carrier task force is at extreme risk.   This strategy is called ‘Area Denial’. 

In 2014, Robert Haddick wrote Fire on the Water China, America and the Future of the Pacific a book that highlighted the challenge to American naval supremacy in the West Pacific created by China’s area denial strategy. China now employs a system of roughly three defensive layers, shown on the map below, each layer deploying vast quantities of precision-guided missiles fired from land bases, aircraft and submarines to overwhelm a carrier task force’s defences.  China now has a realistic chance of stopping American carrier task forces entering contested areas like the South China Sea or the East China Sea.  Some Chinese anti-ship ballistic missiles may be effective at even greater ranges, 3-5000km but the ability to swamp a carrier task force’s defences is probably still limited to roughly 2000km. 

The other strategy that China uses to counter being isolated is to push out, developing a more widespread network of bases that it can launch missiles from extending the range of its area denial strategy.  Essentially, the further forward it can extend its network of surveillance and bases for missiles, ships, submarines and planes the more of the Pacific it can deny to United States carrier task forces.  

The United States response to China’s asymmetric approach

United States strategists have been considering this issue for a long-time, undertaking a range of planning and capability development programmes aimed at countering China’s area denial strategy.  

In recent years, these plans and programmes are starting to be deployed, shaping the way a conventional war would be fought in the Pacific. Key aspects of the developing American ‘way of war’ can be summarised as follows:

• Space control.  The United States controls space allowing for accurate attacks using long-range precision-guided weapons. Satellite surveillance helping to identify targets and GPS to guide weapons. Satellite communications systems provide a more resilient and mobile digital network than relying on terrestrial radio or microwave links.
• Long-range precision strike. The Ukraine War has proven that the ability to hit and to destroy targets at great distances is now a mature capability.  
• Situational awareness provided by digital data networks.  Commanders now have situational awareness based on huge amounts of data, including live video feeds and GPS tracking.  Target information can be instantly sent anywhere in the world, a capability that when paired with long-range precision strike means very light weight forces can destroy much larger more heavily equipped forces.

Using these technologies to beat China’s ability to deny areas of land and sea to American forces is a motivating factor in new United States doctrine and capability. Specifically, the Marine Littoral Combat Regiment and the Multi Domain Task Force that use these factors to develop military organisations specifically designed to compete against China’s area denial strategy. 

The Multi Domain Task Force (MDTF) – Coordinating long-range fire and using information to shape a campaign

The MDTF is a unit designed by the United States Army to support a campaign, performing the following functions:

• Gathering intelligence for long-range targeting.
• Striking with precision at long-range, using this data.
• Shaping a campaign by denying sensitive information to adversaries and by controlling the release of information to the public. 

The MDTF will support other units that fight the ‘close battle.’  MDTF combat capability is built around long-range precision strike with weapons that can hit targets accurately up-to 1500km away.  Roughly, the distance from Brisbane, Australia to New Caledonia; or from Manilla, in the Philippines to Taiwan or Vietnam.  

This role does not mean the MDTF is a rear-echelon unit, instead it is designed to operate within the range of an enemy’s area denial weapons by dispersing its component parts and by using a range of sophisticated anti-aircraft systems to defend itself.  The aim being to strike as deeply as possible into an enemy’s depth destroying reserves, command centres and logistics hubs.  

Marine Littoral Combat Regiments (MLCR) – The tip of the spear

The United States Marine Corps has developed a unit that meshes with the MDTF.  The MLCR providing the close combat capability that a MDTF supports.   The MLCR is a light formation designed to fight in very small groups, that are easily hidden and unlikely to warrant use of an expensive long-range weapon. 

The MLCR’s groups are small, perhaps 30-40 soldiers and are not designed for intensive combat. Instead, they are designed to:

• Establish small bases for American surveillance; or strike assets.  
• Damage the enemy’s area denial operations by removing their network of ‘sensors;’ or the ships, drones and observers that provide targeting information for long-range precision guided weapons.
• Raid enemy positions or establish beach heads for larger, more heavily equipped forces.

The overall aim being to slip under the enemy’s area denial weapons, compromise their ability to hit targets and create an entry point for conventional forces to close with and destroy the enemy. 

Obviously, the MLCR would work ‘hand in glove’ with a MDTF that provides long-range fire on targets found by MLCR elements.  America can fight this way because it dominates space, so it can use GPS to locate targets, guide its missiles to them and to keep track of widely dispersed forces.  

However, the best space control means nothing without bases on land.  Unlike ships and submarines islands can’t be sunk, so even America’s high-tech military is working hard in peacetime to secure real-estate in case of a future conflict. Hence, the diplomatic offensive in the Pacific complete with invitations to the White House. 

What does this mean for the wider Pacific?  

A major war in the Pacific remains highly unlikely, remember that nobody really wins a war and that China and the United States are economically symbiotic.  Ukraine has demonstrated that the liberal democracies are not as weak as authoritarians like Vladimir Putin or Xi Jin Ping would like to believe. Deterring rash invasions of Taiwan or other similar aggression. 

However, the Pacific does face the prospect of a long but slow burning period of competition.  China and the United States seeking advantage and trying to position themselves for if deterrence fails and competition turns into conflict.  

In peacetime, China will try to extend its ability to deny ocean to American carrier task forces and this is already happening in the South China Sea.  Although China benefits economically from enforcing its territorial claim, every island with an airfield is a potential base from which to launch strikes and even the smallest shoals provide surveillance opportunities.  

The United States and Australia are concerned about Chinese influence in Melanesia for the same reason. The map below shows a roughly 2000km circle around the nation, that demonstrates the area that Chinese missiles could conservatively deny to the United States and its allies if they were based on the islands. 

Even on this rough and inexact map we can see how by developing relationships and extending its network of bases into the South China Sea or Melanesia China increases its potential to challenge American naval power in the Pacific.  

An inevitable consequence of China’s strategy is that it generates American competition. Both diplomatically and in a military sense because as well as developing bespoke formations like the MLCR and MDTF, the United States will be looking for real estate.  Hence, its recent interest in securing a defence relationship with Papua New Guinea. 

Further, the United States needs more secure large bases to support its forces during any conflict in the West or South-West Pacific, and in previous columns we have discussed the development of Australia as a staging point for United States and allied forces deploying into the region. Australia has a capable military and plenty of land area and logistics infra-structure on which to concentrate and support a large force. 

In summary, we need to reconsider the conventional analysis of potential conflict in the Pacific, to instead look at how Sino-American military competition is developing because it provides insight into these nations’ diplomacy; and more importantly the implications of it for the Pacific.  When we take this approach, it quickly becomes clear why the most powerful nations on earth are courting the leaders of Melanesia. 

Ben Morgan is a bored Gen Xer and TDBs military blogger

I have no idea who either of the hosts are.

The NZ First prat claims he will put the K back into Iwi.

Like the KKK.

Arena Williams is funny and smart.

Brooke was awful. Which is weird because she’s normally way better than this.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke from TPM is great.

Erica Stanford is a smug condescending piranha.

Best answers on cost of living crisis were answered by Labour, Greens and Maori Party, the Right had bullshit talking points.

It was nice watching the Right squirm in front of a younger voting block who clearly didn’t believe their answers.

Brooke goes on some weird story about how she ate tuna to buy a house. Is she stoned?

I think Brooke is really stoned.

NZ First has no housing policy. The NZ First Lee Donoghue candidate is awful. So awful.

National’s bullshit idea to let students use KiwiSaver as bond gets explored but because Erica is such a stuck up rich shore girl she has no idea that Landlords use bullshit excuses to withhold your bond.

Arena Williams is such a star, she could be a future leader of the Party.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke is so staunch and cool. Made a great point about the Ghost House Tax.

I’m pretty sure Brooke is really, really, really, stoned.

Or jet lagged.

Or jet lagged and stoned.

Watching Erica defend her awful party policy is so great because she’s so insincere.

Free Dental Health is such a smart move because every dollar spent now saves 3 dollars.

Teenagers working 25 hours a week  on top of schooling should be a nationwide shame.

ACT will fine parents not going to school when many teens are working 25 hours a week just to keep the family bills paid.

Brooke is baked.

Is she smoking her pink jacket?

The host I don’t know hounds Brooke on why fining children who are working 25 hours a week will help.

Chloe points out why are we punishing people for being in poverty.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke goes to the mountaintop on the poverty and inequality in this country.

Lee claims we are ‘hating on the wealthy’. He’s such a red neck banjo twanging arsehole.

Brooke is a Cheech and Chong movie. She’s so slow and flat, I think she’s had edibles.

Arena goes to the mountaintop on fighting against the Right by organising.

Lee defends Toilet Police to check genders in public toilets. He’s such an arsehole.

Chloe smashes Lee in the face for his scaremongering and it’s great.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke puts Lee in his place as well. Love it.

Mental health is discussed – no real solutions offered.

Brooke seems to be coming down now and starts making sense.

Quick fire round and environmental policy. ACT, National and NZ First had very little to seriously offer.

The NZ First candidate really is a poster boy for Heterosexual panic crimes.

This was a really good debate.

Arena, Chloe and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke are the future hopes of the Left.

Erica, Brooke and Lee are the right wing fears of the past.

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media

Labour – 26.5

National – 39.1

ACT – 8.8

Labour – 14.2

NZ First 5.2

TPM – 2.2

Even the voters know the Alliance of Arseholes will be appalling

Now Luxon has ruled Winston in, how on earth is he going to lift the Foreign Buyers Ban that he needs to balance his bullshit budget!

NZ First are utterly against lifting the Foreign Buyers Ban and National need to lift it to pretend they have all this revenue for their bullshit tax cuts for rich Landlords!

ACT + National + NZF are such a toxic mix, they’ll be too busy attacking each other to get anything done!

The Right have been braying about the ‘Coalition of Chaos’ all year when the reality is that the Alliance of Arseholes – ACT, National and NZ First, are going to spend the next 3 years ripping each others throats out as Luxon endlessly sobs between Winston and David stabbing each others eyeballs out every 30 seconds!

ACT is so extreme and NZ First are so extreme and National are so extreme that they all fall off each others cliffs!

ACT wants billions spent on prisons while amputating all political voices that aren’t white and male while National want to vandalise the Egalitarian State by giving rich landlords huge tax cuts funded by robbing 2 year olds, mutilating public transport and literally stealing from the climate change funds using a Foreign Buyers Tax that will never raise anywhere enough for those tax cuts!

Winston wants to designate gangs domestic terrorists with all the paramilitary Police state that requires while funding Toilet cops to check you8r fucking gender in a public toilet!!!

These Egotistical Arseholes can’t do anything other than feed their egos!

They can’t and won’t work together.

The more the electorate see of the Alliance of Arseholes, the far more preferable becomes the Coalition of Chaos!

There’s 3 weeks until the 2023 election!

Act has received more donations than the left bloc combined.

It’s better late than never to volunteer…

Labour

Greens

Māori Party

…it ain’t over until the fat blogger sings.

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media

National’s Christopher Luxon would work with NZ First if he has to

National leader Christopher Luxon says he would form a coalition with New Zealand First after the election if he had to.

Now Luxon has ruled Winston in, how on earth is he going to lift the Foreign Buyers Ban that he needs to balance his bullshit budget!

NZ First are utterly against lifting the Foreign Buyers Ban and National need to lift it to pretend they have all this revenue for their bullshit tax cuts for rich Landlords!

ACT + National + NZF are such a toxic mix, they’ll be too busy attacking each other to get anything done!

The Right have been braying about the ‘Coalition of Chaos’ all year when the reality is that the Alliance of Arseholes – ACT, National and NZ First, are going to spend the next 3 years ripping each others throats out as Luxon endlessly sobs between Winston and David stabbing each others eyeballs out every 30 seconds!

ACT is so extreme and NZ First are so extreme and National are so extreme that they all fall off each others cliffs!

ACT wants billions spent on prisons while amputating all political voices that aren’t white and male while National want to vandalise the Egalitarian State by giving rich landlords huge tax cuts funded by robbing 2 year olds, mutilating public transport and literally stealing from the climate change funds using a Foreign Buyers Tax that will never raise anywhere enough for those tax cuts!

Winston wants to designate gangs domestic terrorists with all the paramilitary Police state that requires while funding Toilet cops to check you8r fucking gender in a public toilet!!!

These Egotistical Arseholes can’t do anything other than feed their egos!

They can’t and won’t work together.

The more the electorate see of the Alliance of Arseholes, the far more preferable becomes the Coalition of Chaos!

There’s 3 weeks until the 2023 election!

Act has received more donations than the left bloc combined.

It’s better late than never to volunteer…

Labour

Greens

Māori Party

…it ain’t over until the fat blogger sings!

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media

This is madness!

ACT pretending to be the victim in their demand to use a referendum to redefine the Treaty of Waitangi and then force that upon Māori!!!!!!!

Jesus wept, I haven’t seen projection like this since Avengers Infinity War on IMax!

Let’s be crystal fucking clear on what ACT are proposing AS THEIR BOTTOM IN IN ANY DEAL WITH NATIONAL – they will hold a referendum using nothing more than majoritarianism to redefine the fucking Treaty of fucking Waitangi and then force it onto Māori, who remember are just 18% of the population.

ACT want to steal the politic al rights of Indigenous NZ using nothing more than a majority referendum FFS!

What in our 184 year history tells you that Māordom will just roll over and have their Treaty redefined by an unhinged Cracker Party like ACT from Honkysville???

The backlash this will provoke against the State will make the Dumb Lives Matter protest on Parliament’s lawn look like a fucking teddy bears picnic!

Most of you have no idea ACT are demanding this, you all think he’s joking, but he ain’t.

David is a brilliant genius of a Politician who has whipped up a race baiting froth of white fragility that wants to start a conflict, because once you feed these dark forces you can’t stop them!

If ACT really try this on, actually attempt to renegotiate the Treaty by nothing more than mass referendum it will unleash a hikoi of protest that will eclipse the Foreshore and Seabed protest.

When those hundreds of thousands descend upon a terrified Luxon and an increasingly Police State oriented David Seymour in Wellington as the torturous discord of this referendum plays out, will they tell the Police Officers to open fire or not when those protesters erupt with incandescent rage on the lawns of Parliament in 2025?

That’s what you are really voting for next month.

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media

NZ FIRST, COALITION WITH NATIONAL
1News: National’s Christopher Luxon would work with NZ First if he has to
William Hewett (Newshub): National’s Christopher Luxon says he’ll work with Winston Peters, NZ First after election if he needs them
Claire Trevett (Herald): Winston is in – National leader Christopher Luxon will pick up the phone to NZ First leader Winston Peters if he really needs to
Luke Malpass (Post): Luxon to voters: We’ll go with Winston, but only if we have to
Newstalk ZB: David Seymour: ACT leader unsure if he can work with Winston Peters
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Winston Peters gets scrappy as Christopher Luxon goes cold on coalition talk (paywalled)
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Christopher Luxon tells Kiwis to read between lines as coalition questions continue
Michael Neilson (Herald): Winston Peters in Epsom, David Seymour’s hood, raising potential headaches for Christopher Luxon (paywalled)
Cass Mason (Newsroom): A country for old men
Luke Malpass (Post): Winston Peters and the great coalition jockeying game (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Pity Luxon as Peters and Seymour react like Mentos and Coke (paywalled)
Ben McKay (AAP): Winston Peters lashes out at corporate Australia on campaign trail
Newshub: The Project: Winston Peters labels Green Party as ‘communists’ but praises James Shaw in game of ‘kiss, kick or marry’ on The Project

ACT
John Campbell (1News): Striving to comprehend the multi-headed creature that is ACT
Tess McClure (Guardian): How David Seymour hopes to move New Zealand to the right
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): ACT throws National’s tax plan on the bonfire (paywalled)
1News: Pharmacists fear reversing pseudoephedrine ban could endanger workers
RNZ: ACT reveals seniors policy including reversing pseudoephedrine ban

CO-GOVERNANCE
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): A referendum on co-governance would return a big, fat no (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Labour can’t understand they’ve divided this country
Elise Johnson (Post): A warning from Brexit Britain on divisive referendums (paywalled)
Perry Wilton (Newshub): Major shouting match in Auckland as Stop Co-Governance movement clashes with counter-protesters

ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Forget the ‘squeezed middle’, what’s on offer for the squashed poor? (paywalled)
Max Rashbrooke (Post): The election’s great beneficiary vanishing act (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘Not clear’ why beneficiary numbers stubbornly higher than pre-Covid
TVNZ: Q+A: Exclusive polling: How Kiwis feel about paying for poverty, climate change
Vernon Small (Post): The distorted truth about the economy (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): The economic results are in pre-election, have you made up your mind? (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Duelling fiscal plans: Labour-National economic rivalry comes to a head
1News: Q+A: Robertson, Willis clash on finance policy in fiery debate
1News: Q+A: Willis on house price-income ratio: ‘Targeted to be much lower’
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Nicola Willis brings the printouts to an ill-tempered Q+A finance debate
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Q+A Review: Nicola Willis destroyed by Grant Robertson in angry Finance Debate
Dan Brunskill (Interest): We asked twenty economists how they would define a recession in New Zealand
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): So many big promises, so little money in the bank (paywalled)
Brian Easton (Pundit): Has There Been External Structural Change?
Fair Policy Commentary): The planned amendment of the Reserve Bank’s mandate: The National Party’s most significant programme element and no one talks about it
Mike Williams (Hawkes Bay Today): What makes anyone think National could run the economy better than Labour?
Steven Joyce (Herald): Not so much a recession as an absence of growth (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): More interest rate rises ahead? How the experts split
Herald: Westpac index finds consumer confidence plummets further

ELECTION
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Market research, rather than principle, is driving the pledges of our mainstream parties (paywalled)
Grant Duncan: Post-truth or recycled lies?
Damien Grant (Stuff): Can we believe political slogans?
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Gone are the days of political leaders being mobbed
Janet Wilson (Post): After the not-so-great debate, look for panic to kick in (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Post): Can Labour bounce back just weeks out from the election? (paywalled)
Felix Desmarais (1News): Luxon is going 100kph on campaign trail
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): 3 Weeks until Election: TDB Battlefield Analysis
Craig Hoyle (Post): Exclusive Brethren lessons suggest Destiny should beware meddling in politics (paywalled)
Newshub: Don Brash’s Hobson’s Pledge returns fire with attack ad taking aim at Chris Hipkins
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Election 2023 profiles: Who are Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw?
Newshub: Chlöe Swarbrick’s witty response to sign vandalised with ‘woke lesbo’ wins praise
Holly Bennett (Newsroom): I don’t want Te Pāti Māori choosing my electoral roll
Listener: Jane Ussher’s political portrait of Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Labour MP concedes election, Chris Hipkins’ trust win, Winston Peters sets the tone at minor parties’ debate (paywalled)
RNZ: Focus ion Politics: On the campaign trail, week three: Debates, polls, sausage and cheese rolls
Herald: Beehive Diaries: Chris Luxon’s scorecard, a win for Chris Hipkins, what to watch for next week (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Leaders’ debate fails to catch fire
Brent Edwards (NBR): TV debates, TV polls, Auckland’s plan and out of recession
Eric Frykberg (Interest): ACT launch implodes, Winston Peters shows responsibility, and the Greens and Labour squabble over solar power
Michele Hewitson (Listener): Pre-election performances career from farcical to fatiguing (paywalled)
Alison Mau (Post): Minor leaders inspire cracking TV, and deserve more voice in election debates (paywalled)
Rob Campbell (Herald): The political parties’ porkies behind the recession, prison and gangs (paywalled)
Earl Bardsley (Post): The risk of becoming the ‘blackout nation’ (paywalled)
Craig Hoyle (Stuff): Why are ACT and Greens supporters more likely to work from home?
Federico Magrin (Stuff): Direct democracy, the political system minor parties are raving about
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Why David Seymour despises TV shows about politics
Spinoff: Sick of tame leaders’ debates? Watch this Youth Wings one instead
Donna Miles (Post): Are you a hobbit, a hooligan or a Vulcan? (paywalled)

ELECTORATES
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘My heart couldn’t take it any more’: How Northland has become a hotbed of frustration, anger and distrust
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): Who dares challenge Chlöe? The race for Auckland Central
Emma Hatton (Newsroom): Electorates to watch: Candidates fight for face time in Whanganui
Mihingarangi Forbes (RNZ): Mata Reports 3: Ikaroa-Rāwhiti
Justin Wong (Post): Public service spending in the spotlight at Mana electorate debate (paywalled)
Otago University: Q&A with Ingrid Leary and Ben Peters
David Hill (Local Democrac Reporting): Waimakariri election candidates tackle crime, healthcare and the cost of living

LABOUR
Duncan Garner (Listener): Why Labour only have themselves to blame (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Game on; Hipkins comes out punching (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Hipkins goes on the attack in rally speech
Molly Swift (Newshub): Chris Hipkins reaffirms stance on wealth tax as Te Pāti Māori reveals it as bottom line during Newshub Nation debate
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): More fiscal holes as Labour faces questions about GST policy
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Labour on attack over free school lunches as poll shows support for taxing wealthy more
RNZ: Labour promises to keep school lunch programme
Thomas Manch (Post): Postcards from the road: A week in the life of a Labour campaign (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Chris Hipkins distances himself from former colleague dismissing bullying allegations against Shanan Halbert (paywalled)
RNZ: Hipkins defends Labour’s handling of Halbert concerns
1News: Chris Hipkins reveals ‘hardest moment’ of the campaign so far
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): One of New Zealand’s youngest candidates wants to hold the door open for young people
Vincent O’Sullivan (Newsroom): Short story of a Labour candidate

NATIONAL
Chris Trotter (Interest): Moving in the direction of the (new) Government
Brent Edwards (NBR): Still no sign of National’s fiscal plan and detailed costings (paywalled)
RNZ: National releases document laying out current economic plan
1News: National to spend at least $30m to reverse speed limit changes if elected
Claire Trevett (Herald): National leader Christopher Luxon takes leaf out of Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s book, declares war on road cones and speed limits
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): National wants to reverse speed limit reductions, minimise use of road cones
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): National promises to reinstate 100kph limit on State Highways
RNZ: Election 2023: National promises to end new speed limit reductions
Jamie Enosr (Newshub): Labour’s Chris Hipkins dismisses National’s speed limit announcement
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): National promises ‘laser sharp’ focus addressing competition problems (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Diary of … Truckin’ Luxon (paywalled)

IMMIGRATION
Lincon Tan (Herald): Indonesian overstayers found living in a plywood shed and dilapidated caravan at New Windsor, Auckland property
Michael Neilson , Adam Pearse and Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Govt moves on Dawn Raids, Labour unveils major immigration policy
Trent Doyle (Newshub): Government announces changes to Green List, seasonal employment, Recovery Visas
RNZ: Immigration rebalance: Green List expanded, restrictions on ‘dawn raid’ deportations
NBR: More roles added to green list to cope with skills shortages
Rayssa Almeida (RNZ): Immigration laws need stability, says adviser group
Casper McGuire (1News): Labour, National, ACT announce similar immigration policies
RNZ: Immigration in spotlight as similar policies announced
RNZ: National announces new parent visa category
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): Dawn Raids stories captured for future generations
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Migrant exploitation is the backbone of NZs low wage addiction
Mark Derby (Post): High-stakes rescue finds new life for Burmese refugee accused of ‘high treason’ (paywalled)

HOUSING
Ged Cann (Post): Mega Landlords: National wants to ‘rebalance market’ to help landlords (paywalled)
Max Rashbrooke (Spinoff): Did National really just simply sell off state houses?
John Minto (Daily Blog): State housing fantasies and a tale of two graphs
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National declines to match Labour’s housing promise as campaign enters crucial week
1News: Labour promises another 6000 public homes if re-elected

NOW ON INSTAGRAM!

We will be releasing a unique Curia Poll for Auckland Central. Will Chloe maintain her lead?

Register your attendance here. because this will sell out!

It’s $10 on the door or watch live for free on Facebook, YouTube, JuiceTV.live, The Daily Blog or Juice TV Channel 200 Freeview and posted up afterwards on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Rova & YouTube 

That’s 7 live debates across NZ with unique polling live-streamed and simulcast on prime-time TV!

NO other independent news network is even close to doing what we are attempting this election, and all done without one red cent from NZ on Air!

It will be politics done differently.