Picture Day: James Grenon Succeeds In NZME Takeover, Jacinda Ardern's Barrage of Hate, RSB Hope
And the polls of course
RNZ Poll shows left bloc leading by 3 seats
1News Poll shows Coalition leading by 5 seats
The only outliers in these trends appear to be NZ First reaching a record high in both polls.
Trends are relatively consistently, with Labour taking a slight dip.
What’s worth noting is the 6.5%-11% of undecided voters.
We also have to remember the 170,000 Kiwis who didn’t vote in the last election.
All PM candidates have relatively low approval ratings
The RNZ and 1News-Verizon poll results are inverse to each other. 1News shows Hipkins polling 19% and Luxon at 23%. The opposite is true in the RNZ poll results which shows Luxon at ~19% and Hipkins around 23%.
Both polls show Winston Peters in 3rd spot and Chlöe Swarbrick outperforming David Seymour.
Pay Equity - 43% Disapprove, 31% Unsure, 26% Approve. And 68% felt the Government should have consulted on it
31% unsure is a large volume of people befuddled by the mixed messages, and denigration of the pay comparators.
A reminder 180,000 Kiwis had their multi-year, good faith claims scuttled, and almost 20% of those will not qualify to even start again. The power also nearly all resides with employers who will be able to decide if new claims have merit.
Jacinda Ardern’s Publicity Has Brought Back A Barrage Of Hate
Here’s a small sample:
It still baffles me that a leader that did her best, with undeniably good intentions, saved a minimum of 20,000 Kiwi lives, had her team shepherd the economy right through to November 2023 in a way where National inherited “better finances than expected”, all with one of the lowest debt to GDP levels in the OECD, as well as securing and keeping higher credit ratings in her tenure, and did her best to preserve water infrastructure in public hands, taking the political hits and death threats to herself and her family as graciously as anyone could, could have this level of reaction.
No-one is perfect, hindsight is always 20/20, Covid killed at least 7 million known deaths and led to related morbidities and long term illnesses for many. She did her best to preserve life and economy. And succeeded.
And yet it’s clear that the insurmountable, irrepressible power of right wing media, politicians, and affiliates are effective. It’s also why adults mock and belittle Greta Thunberg, a passionate, intelligent young woman braver than most adults we will ever see, currently sailing on an aid ship to Gaza, it’s why they hate Bill Gates, who will be donating nearly all of his fortune to Africa, it’s why Hillary Clinton’s emails were a really, really big deal for national security and Presidential integrity, but Trump’s team sending national secrets and laughing about bombing people on Signal, and Erica Stanford breaking ministerial codes by using private emails is instantly played down as a nothing burger.
The right is powerful - the right can control the masses through propaganda, insults, negativity, mis-truths and lies. They know the power of mass control.
Republican cowards attack Thunberg
The Telegraph is a Tory, right wing rag - Yesterday Stuff published an article from one of its writers to attack Jacinda Ardern
Seymour tries to explain why only 0.33% of submissions supported his RSB during the consultation process:
Jim Grenon and Steve Joyce Successfully Take Over NZME
Talking about reach, NZME and Stuff are NZ’s largest and most influential media groups.
And now, the Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon’s bid for control has effectively succeeded. In what should be a mind-blowing revelation to all of us, it hardly picked up too much interest around the country.
One of the former forces behind Centrist, is now a leading force behind one of NZ’s largest media empires - NZME which owns multiple brands, including Newstalk ZB, One Roof, and NZ Herald.
Steve Joyce, the National fix-it man, and King’s Honours recipient is the Chair.
Corporate media, injected with even more alt-right strands, will be tackling regulation, taxes, the “myth” of climate change, and the falsity of rich people having it tough.
When the world ends, it won’t be with a bang, but with a whimper.
National Business Review reports this morning that Grenon has hit out at the Takeovers Panel, who had investigated whether the takeover followed rules or not.
You can really tell he doesn’t like regulation, can’t you?
I can, anyway.
Thank you for your Votes!
Thanks to paid subscibers for sharing your input - it always helps me navigate the publication better. I thought I was writing too much, so thank you for your help on this one. Feedback always welcome.
PS - Here’s Some Hope on the RSB
First, don’t forget to BE A BOT for David Seymour
Submit on the Regulatory Standards Bill -
Choose from:
OR you can use templates, for example, this one from Greenpeace:
Greenpeace's speedy submission generator tool here. Greenpeace says it will only take a few minutes, and in its guide below, it tells you things you should remember.
Second, Shane Jones indicates NZ First may not support the RSB if submissions are largely opposed. As NZ First turn their eye to the 2026 election, this one is worth engaging on - do it.
Lots to unpack again MT. I’ll start with the reprobates. So, Linnel Withers, Travis Rahman, Peter Graham, Robert Meek, Peter Emmett, Corey Stopfoth, Rachel Sarah, Ross Bailey, René Heyde, and Jase Rowe…in what way does this sort of complete bullshit improve New Zealand? I mean come on, grow up. How about providing some real evidence, some numbers, some facts or was the possibilty of 20,000 dead kiwis all good? What would you fuckwits have done? Jacinda Adern lead, she shouldered an enormous responsibility and committed to a course of action which she - and all of the experts - believed would benefit her country - our country. You or a member of your family might well be here today because of Jacinda Adern. So, shut the f**k up and say thank you.
In terms of New Zealand’s prosperity, the issues and problems are its structural deficits, particularly in GDP, productivity, and in the innovation ecosystem. On those three fronts, Luxon’s government is the most dismal failure in the history of New Zealand. What’s worse, in their ideologically inbred stupidity, Luxon and his anti-kiwi government routinely ignore expertise to double down on ensuring New Zealand remains trapped in the grip of structural decline. Shockingly, if anything, they are proactively accelerating that decline. In the language of Jay Forrester - father of System Dynamics - this government is pushing with all of its power in the completely wrong direction.
Well said again MT. The hate against JA, is something that totally mystifies me. It is also extremely disconcerting when our house has a totally different take on her, her intent and actions and Robertson. We love them for who they are and what they did, despite the lack of perfection. We are not a blindly dumb house. It is disconcerting because out there in the supermarket, at the lights on the road.........there are people who most likely would direct that same hate towards those like us who would support her, and do want her back in NZ.
That is the truth of the ugliness of all this, and those views are held by close family and friends. It's the silent wall between us, and thats not even living like it's central to conversations or relationships............but where it exists, it's like a speed bump, albiet an invisible one, it's there and changes things. It is hard not to feel like we are in the iron grip of something that is not going to be removed by normal means..........I think we are in deep do dooz with the 'right' for want of a better term and the funders of all that, oligarchs and all. I do not like the world at the moment, despite that awareness that darkness is not the whole truth of what's happening.
The soldiers of light look different now, and she looks like revolution. How real is the Handmaids Tale in all this, as I enter Series 6. It seems very real, and all the apocryphal books and movies that shock us...........maybe they saw something my vision missed.....and they are playing out before our eyes. It is all pretty morbid and moribund.