Tag: Simon Bridges

Will New Zealand politics in 2019 be characterised by policy substance or issues of leadership, personalities and political manoeuvrings? Every year the political journalists at Stuff put together a long list of predictions for the year. This year's list has the usual mix of policy and people-focused forecasts – see: 2019 Political predictions: Big calls for the year ahead. They include a rebrand for the Act Party (to become the "Freedom Party"); deputy Labour Party leader Kelvin Davis to be replaced, another government minister will go, and any proposed new capital gains tax will fail to get enough parliamentary support. On the left, David Cormack presents more of a wishlist than forecast, particularly on issues like climate change: "let's just do something. Some of the more interesting forecasts are: Phil Goff to win the Auckland mayoralty again, Simon Bridges to remain as National leader, National will continue to have no political party allies, and the New Conservative Party wins a bigger profile but doesn't actually take off. It sounds like you have Winston whispering in your ear; Bullies; KiwiBuild scandals; Brexit updates; The Prime Minister missing question time." The Spinoff surveyed fifteen political pundits on what the three biggest issues of the political year would be – see: 2019 in politics: What will the big issues be?. It's tax reform that many are pointing to as the big issue of 2019, and Peter Williams has an excellent discussion on this in his column, Tax set to become major political issue. Even if Peters does agree to all the proposed changes, which is very unlikely, Labour will have to take its new tax platform to the electorate in 2020.

Ministers were ill-prepared for government or ill-suited to it. She has managed a coalition with the Greens and New Zealand First. But the biggest challenge for Labour? The same challenge it always has: tax. National has had significant challenges this year. The Greens looked swamped by New Zealand First at times but can also be happy with 2018. It wasn't a big bang approach, more of a big ban approach. Well it's only in Parliament because National lets David Seymour win Epsom. In 2020 National lets Act wither. You'd be back to an FPP style, two party Parliament of National and Labour.

Green Party MP Marama Davidson has suggested the donation threshold for the disclosure of a donor’s name and address be lowered from NZ$15,000 to NZ$1,000. She has also proposed banning foreign donations outright and capping individual donations at NZ$35,000. Read more: New Zealand politics: foreign donations and political influence Donations and foreign money Foreign interference in domestic politics is an increasing phenomenon worldwide. Currently in New Zealand foreign donations to a party of up to NZ$1,500 are permissible. Moreover, foreign donations below this amount are not individually or collectively disclosed. A lower threshold would make it more difficult to evade name disclosure rules by splitting donations and attributing each part to a different donor. There is international precedent for setting much lower thresholds for anonymity than the Greens propose. For example, in Canada, the maximum amount of an anonymous donation was set at C$200 in 2015, while in Ireland it is currently €100. For example, between September 2015 and June 2018, the commission passed on only NZ$150,000 in anonymised money to parties via this channel. The fact that donors feel they are buying something should be cause for concern.

National has been ramping up its attack ads ahead of the Government's first budget next week, its latest meme claiming the Government would spend $1 billion funding foreign diplomats, at the expense of cheaper GP visits. However, some of the ads are more than just the opposite political stance - they're factually incorrect. Ardern said the Government had to put that much money towards MFAT and aid. During the election campaign, National put out two versions of a tax attack ad, to hit Labour in one of its weakest spots. Labour has also used social media as a way of attacking National. But Labour targeted National's tax cuts, and Family Tax Credit boost from its last budget. In a Facebook ad from July last year, Labour posted a meme saying National would give $400m in tax cuts to the top 10 per cent of the country, at the expense of homes schools and hospitals. The ad came after National gave tax cuts, and boosted the Family Tax Credit, which it estimated would help about 2.2 million, from all income brackets. The Government has also said its $76.2m boost to frontline family violence services is the first funding increase in 10 years. National might not have poured that money directly into frontline services, but to say it did not fund services and programmes focused on family violence was incorrect.

It's a question many New Zealanders genuinely don't know the answer to. * Ardern takes her place among Commonwealth leaders * Russia dominates PM Jacinda Ardern's talks in London * Ardern to join May, Turnbull at security meeting We live in the age of personality politics, and Bridges and Ardern both have problems, just not the same ones. Bridges, however, is sat in Opposition, with his party of 56 MPs in first place in the polls on 44 per cent, but voters aren't too sure about him leading the country. Bridges followed Joyce's steps into communications, transport and economic development ministerial roles but, because Joyce had so much influence and power as both John Key and Bill English's right-hand man, Bridges was only ever a behind-the-scenes man. The 1 News/Colmar Brunton poll this week saw Labour fall to 43 per cent, the Greens and NZ First rose to 6 and 5 per cent, respectively. On the surface the coalition Government will be happy, and in the most preferred prime minister poll, Ardern is on 37 per cent compared to Bridges' 10. The results showed 35 per cent thought Ardern was doing a good job, 50 per cent said it was OK, and 11 per cent said it was bad. That's 85 per cent of those polled who think she's handling problems well, which means a chunk of National voters are happy with her political management. Picking away at Labour has been pretty easy for the new leader so far – not least because its policy announcements that have hit the regions in recent weeks have fallen into portfolios Bridges used to be the minister of, namely transport and energy. Bridges didn't need to call for her resignation, in fact he barely needed to lift a finger.

Senior National Party MP for Northcote Jonathan Coleman is defending his decision to leave Parliament within six months of the general election, forcing a by-election in his Auckland seat. He is the third senior National Party MP to quit in recent months. His announcement follows the recent departures of Bill English and Steven Joyce. "It's a very exciting opportunity that utilises my skills and draws on my background both outside and inside Parliament." He made no apology for vacating his seat so early in the parliamentary term. And there were personal considerations, he said. He had no regrets from his time in Parliament, including as Health Minister. "But if you look at the statistics overall we consistently increased access to services across the board." "Jonathan has had a long and distinguished career in politics, including 13 years as MP for Northcote and nine as a Minister," he said. Dr Coleman held a range of portfolios under governments led by both John Key and Bill English, including Health, Defence, Immigration and State Services.

OPINION: As far as political resignations go, Steven Joyce's was far from one of Parliament's most brutal. The senior National Party MP chose his moment and there was no apparent whiff of blood in the water before he did. It's not the saddest end to a career like his - many more political giants have gone out in worse circumstances, dragged kicking and screaming from the halls of power after more controversial falls from grace. * National's 'Mr Fixit' Steven Joyce resigns after failed leadership bid * Steven Joyce is bowing out of politics, but insists he's not going back to radio * Joyce sticks to $11.7 billion hole in Government budget But Joyce's star had fallen in the party, despite his success as campaign manager since 2005, despite the trust former Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English placed in him as their "Mr Fix-It" to parachute into a crisis and despite the air of economic credibility he carried with voters. Years of micro-managing and the perception (of some caucus members at least) that he did little to support the ideas of others, caught up with him when he no longer had the absolute power of Key and English in his corner. Joyce is a talented politician and his record proves it. He also made a significant contribution to New Zealand business and the lives of a number of lower income New Zealanders in his last budget - even if many of the ideas from his Families Package are now to be enacted by the current Government. Bridges had offered Joyce a front bench position, but he would not retain finance and with that would likely be forced to step down in the ranks. But the jovial face of the party's economic policy has opportunities outside politics. He may not have been forcibly pushed from the party but really, the party left Joyce with very few reasons to stay.