A good thread and article. I gave evidence on the Parliament Bill last week. The MPs on the committee seemed bemused when I said that the public should have been consulted during the four year long development of policy and legislation about *their* legislature. 1/12

My column at the weekend argues that if you’re concerned about rising support for authoritarianism in NZ, you need to deal with one of the major drivers, which is low trust among poorer NZers. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3604...

The government claims to have “saved” the free school lunches scheme, but they may just (to borrow from the vernacular) be “enshittifying” them: degrading them to the point where they no longer work properly. thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-...

This weekend’s column looks at the (strong) evidence that poverty heightens parental stress, makes child mistreatment more likely, and thus places more children at risk of the appalling abuse in ‘care’ revealed by the Royal Commission. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3503...

This weekend’s column looks at John Key’s bipartisan moment in 2007, over the anti-smacking bill, and asks: does Chris Luxon have it in him to do the same? And if so, what should be the issue? Hint: agreeing a pipeline of infrastructure projects. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3503...

This week’s column: the intense focus on “17k extra public servants under Labour" is misguided b/c a) numbers have to be seen in context of wider workforce growth and b) most important q is not an abstract no. but what we need govt to do (and do better). www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3502...

Does NZ really want a strongman leader who “breaks the rules”? This week’s column unpicks the latest surveys on whether populism is taking hold here. Also feat. Shane Jones, and the need for a politics of redistribution (and democratic renewal). www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3502...

My latest column: a tribute to the success of the Living Wage, and why Luxon should guarantee that govt cleaners, caterers and security guards keep being moved onto it. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3502...

Excellent article here from Duncan Grieve at The Spinoff. I'm of the view that there has to be some form of levy on the Tech Giants. Google NZ earns close to a billion dollars in advertising most of which is paid offshore as "service fees" thespinoff.co.nz/business/08-...

My new column: National's crackdown on emergency housing could make things worse, unless we build more social housing. We need 43k more homes, just to restore 1990 levels of provision. And we could copy Vienna, where social homes make up 1/2 of housing, and are beautiful. twitter.com/MaxRashbrook...

In opposition, National called for much tougher transparency around lobbying. In govt, it and its MPs are so far making things *less* transparent. And its draft code of conduct for lobbyists, inherited from Labour, appears toothless. www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-dept...

*Very* interesting move by Independent Electoral Review to say that third-party groups – eg real unions, Taxpayers' Union, etc – sd have to disclose donations over $30k *if used for election campaigning*. electoralreview.govt.nz/assets/PDF/I...

Lowest public sector share of total wages since 2001. We might set a new lowest ever record in the next few months. #nzpol

Big political change in New Zealand happens every 40-50 years. Maybe 2017 was just too early. But if the Labour Party is to reposition itself for that change, it'll need to return to core values. My Spinoff latest. thespinoff.co.nz/politics/30-...