#nzpol
The minimum wage increased by 1.5% this year. Data today from Stats NZ shows annual increases of:

- Food prices up 4.7%
- Fruit up 11%
- Beef up 17.4%, Lamb up 32.2%
- Bread up 11.4%
- Cheese up 14.8%
- Eggs up 16.2%
- Electricity up 11.8%

Laser-focused on the cost of living

'Most deteriorated' - NZ plummets in global tobacco control ranking An anti-vaping group calls the ranking an "international disgrace".

Just call it what it is: corruption. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Just seems a little short while ago that various government politicians, and people acting as their media surrogates, were outraged and scandalized by, and poured scorn on, comments from younger women politicians for suggesting many people don't trust cops.

Highest levels of the force - filth.

Future of Te Huia The Te Huia passenger rail service has been operating between Waikato and Auckland since 2021. Whether you have travelled on Te Huia or not, we want to hear your thoughts about the service and what it...

For anyone passionate about The Huia or commuter rail, Waikato Regional Council are looking for feedback on the service. Open to anyone. Share it around #nzpol #transit #nz yourvoicematters.waikatoregion.govt.nz/future-of-te...

Stuff headline: NZ needs to have a 'mature conversation' about selling state assets, PM says

Luxon thinks we need a "mature conversation" about selling state assets... But I don't think he really means that, because a mature conversation would look at the history of failure and the shortsighted focus on profit ahead of public interest.

He wants a conversation where we agree with him.

National to mull asset sales as part of next election, Christopher Luxon says But the prime minister has ruled out asset sales this term.

How'd that go in the past for consumers? Electricity prices go down? No. Rail services improve? No. Insurance get cheaper? No. Post get better and cheaper? No. Telecom? No. Air NZ went bust. Nationalize the ones we sold. Our country isn't broke enough spin. #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

This, from OUSA's President, is very good and warrants reading:

"For decades, governments of every stripe have treated universities as businesses to be managed rather than institutions of learning and curiosity. ... Students are rebranded as customers, research, degrees and graduates as outputs."

If you'd told me that a speaker at the Free Speech Union conference would call for banning non-Christian public expressions of faith to an applauding crowd, I would have said yes, obviously that is going to happen newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/10/t...

I'm old enough to remember Treasury officials setting Govt finance within a macro context. Now we get silly 'geeing up the ghouls' scare stories. For a start, all the OECD countries on the left side of this chart have run Govt deficits on average since 2010. It's normal. [🧵1/n]

Cartoon. Title: Homeless Help. Image shows PM Christopher Luxon and helper Chris Bishop wearing maid’s aprons and sweeping the homeless from Auckland’s CBD under a rug with “SUBURBS” written on it. Chris Bishop is saying “Move on”, which is the name of the “tool” they will give police to “deal” with rough sleepers.

The govt is considering banning homeless people and rough sleepers in city centres.
My Stuff #cartoon today #homelessness #poverty #homeless

The sad thing is, I remember sketching changes in temperature and heavy precip distributions in exactly this way in the early 2000s, just to now watch it play out.

The animation very much reminds me of an angry beast pulling on its chains; and they are tearing loose...

A graphic that says "Kirikiriroa Hamilton Green Branch, social club November 2025. Waikato Museum - Open Late. Wed November 26th, 6pm-7.30pm. Meet at: The stairs outside the Waikato Museum. Cost: free".

Shaping Kirikiriroa exhibition Learn more about the history of Kirikiriroa Hamilton - from pre-colonial history, to urban planning, and even what it might be like in the future. Perfect if you want to learn more about how Te Tiriti affects us locally Super chill - explore at your own pace, with friendly faces to talk about the things you'll see and learn Even if you've been in the past, the exhibition is regularly updated and the Museum has a brand new entryway too!

I'm launching a brand new social club for Green branch members and friends - starting off with a Wednesday night visit to Te Whare Taonga o Waikato! ✨😎

RSVP here - www.greens.org.nz/khm_se_20251...

In today’s Weekend Herald #nzpolitics

Govt's climate strategy: Let it burn Comment: The Government has relentlessly pursued policies that boost climate pollution – even if they cost more or jeopardise NZ's reputation, Marc Daalder writes

At every turn, the Government has opted for whatever would actually lead to more pollution and a warmer world – even if it costs more, jeopardises NZ’s reputation, overturns a campaign promise or clashes with the Government’s other priorities.

The long retreat:
newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/07/g...

A raised pedestrian crossing, outside the Parnawarri shopping centre in Newman, WA.

Wow, turns out they even have raised crossings in the middle of the outback. And the sky hasn't fallen here either.

Oof

This government consistently acts in a manner suggesting it KNOWS what it is doing is either the wrong thing to do or wildly unpopular, which is why it schedules press releases in the hope that their latest travesty will fly under the radar.

The sad thing is that it largely works. #nzpol

An illustration of Taranaki mounga with the words 'Remember Parihaka Fifth of November'

The Invasion of Parihaka On the anniversary of the invasion of Parihaka on 5 November 1881 I am reproducing an extract from Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo Nō Ngā Pakanga o...

The invasion of Parihaka, 5 November 1881.

buttondown.com/unsettling/a...

Government quietly loosens climate rules An announcement at 8pm on Tuesday saw the Government delinking the ETS from the Paris Agreement and extending another emissions deadline by 25 years.

The Govt quietly announced a loosening of climate rules at 8pm last night:
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:

www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

Yep. Luxon is 100% on the same page ideologically as Seymour. He just is happy to have an 8% party to blame for the policy he absolutely wanted to enact. #nzpol

YouTube video by Kiwi Retro The Polar Pop Bear

A classic!! youtu.be/-ypnzlpwu5A

Lets talk about tax #nzpol

Seymour says we pay one of the highest rates in the world

This may surprise you but it is a lie

We pay 34% vs average of 33.9%

Australia is lower at 29.4% but who pays the tax in Australia?

1/2

"Why should we pay tax just for working hard", they say, referring not to the passive income that they barely pay tax on because it's offset by mortgages, but to the gains in land value that they also don't have to work to earn.

The imported ideology behind education reform | E-Tangata “If a ‘knowledge-rich’ curriculum isn’t grounded in te ao Māori and the very people and things that make Aotearoa unique, who is determining the knowledge and where does it come from?” — Jessie Moss o...

Important article about the ideology underpinning the curriculum changes. It includes this absolutely jaw dropping quote from a speech by Elizabeth Rata (a Pākehā woman who has a lead role in the rewrites).
She hopes the reforms will be a "circuit breaker" to "ending decolonisation's success"
#nzpol

National are lying.

Oh hey everyone. I got a MMR vaccine today.

Booster up against measles.

You should too! It is free.

In that cohort that only got one measles vaccine way back in the day. 💉