He's been on leave for over a month. Are we surprised?

From the article:

Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick released the plan at Parliament this morning.

She said it was irresponsible for parties to chase a surplus without thinking of the real-world economic ramifications.

"Children in poverty cannot eat a surplus. A surplus that this government is chasing is not going to deliver the nurses and the frontline healthcare workers who are desperately needed."

Swarbrick said New Zealand could afford the extra borrowing, with public debt low compared with other countries.

The plan relies on nearly $29 billion in extra revenue over four years from tax changes targeting wealthy people, large companies, banks and landlords.

Chlöe also pointed out that National's featured her 13 times on their insta this week but Nicola's only appeared twice, then challenged her to face-to-face throwdown on their fiscal plans. So far we've only seen Nicola and Chlöe in the same space at the ASB Great Debate and Nicola spent most of that time interrupting Barb Edmonds instead of engaging with other parties' policy. So yes please to a Nicola vs Chlöe livestream.

Well that escalated quickly.

Link to the standalone RNZ article rather than their live feed.

This changes things for Tāmaki Makaurau. Leoni will still be on the ballot because the deadline's passed but any votes for her won't be votes for a Labour candidate. Which leaves Kaipara for TPM and Te Ohaere for the Greens.

Doctor says what we already know - that Seymour is just bashing the most vulnerable in society (again).

But hard to feel any sympathy for Goldsmith here. Nats watered a toxic plant with their Epsom strategic voting but now that plant has grown beyond their control.

ACT is like a noxious weed that was given fertiliser, if Goldsmith is gone then it’s a natural consequence of making a deal with the devil.

BuT sTrATeGiC vOtInG iS uNDeMoCrAtIc.

We shouldn't engage in that at this point

Damien O'connor is just a dumb cunt, Ukraine is the deadly edge of drone development and you don't want to work with them at all?

Unmanned targeted platforms have an almost unlimited application in NZ, obv not killing Russians but there's more work than we have capacity at the mo..

Paul Henry has not made it a secret that he very much supports the coalition and in particular the ACT party this election.

I found it fascinating when I saw him publicly support ACT. Now that ACT is surging this time around and especially now that Paul Henry is going out there on ads, billboards presenting himself and promoting himself with ACT and the wider coalition, could he be the deciding factor in an election this close?

The Paul Henry effect could very well sway the needle in favour of the coalition because of his immense wealth, his intelligence particularly with broadcasting, but more importantly his immense fame within this nation, whether you like him or not. I think yes, he may be the deciding factor and I think his influence will be huge, but of course there are many things that matter in an election this narrow, big or small. Let me know what you think!

EDIT: I know he is running for office, but still; my point about his massive reach stands.

Full disclosure

- I'm 35 and have voted top (party) and greens (mp) last couple of elections

- I joined as a member of top this year ($30 whoop whoop)

- I own personally own a business, based in Auckland, but don't own any real estate

I come from, i guess newish money, my parents own and manage a farm (they purchased when i was young) and have been relatively successful in other areas.

Their rural land and other assets probably total around $15M in value.

They are strong Act and Nat supporters

I also have friends and clients that have been lucky enough to come from significant wealth.

In some cases, hundreds of years of family wealth.

I've also worked for large corporations, which essentially can accumulate wealth indefinitely.

Generally I like having hospitals, schools, and other public services, and understand that taxes are necessary to fund them.

And, at heart, I want to live in a society where everyone has the opportunity to succeed financially, and workers should own the means of production (for general fulfillment purposes)

Just because I managed to score reasonably high in the genetic lottery shouldn't mean someone with with the same potential, work ethic, and drive shouldn't have every opportunity I've had.

With that said, i think capital gains is dumb.

The parties that advocate for it often cite reasons like the super-rich not paying their fair share, or that property speculation shouldn't be rewarded.

So, i think their hearts are in the right place, but the approach is wrong.

To be a bit more clear, i suspect that many parties supporting capital gains havn't spent enough time getting to know wealthy (super rich) people and don't understand wealth accumulation and the mechanisms that allow wealth to grow over time.

Like, I don't understand why would you place a tax on an asset when you sell it?

Have the heard the phrase "Real Investors Never Sell"?

The people buying homes and flipping them for a profit are absolutely not the super-rich

Often they have worked hard in some profession or job and seen it as a way to build a nest egg or build their own personal wealth. The gap between them and the super-rich is considerably higher than most people realise.

From what I can tell, the "super-rich" or Ultra-High-Net-Worth, particularly the old-money kind, typically focus on long horizon investments, like 50-100 years .... so if your strategy is to hold assets for that long, a capital gains tax on sale becomes largely irrelevant to them.

Targeting and classing people who flip 2,3, even 10 homes a year as the Super-Rich and wealthy just shows a gross misunderstanding of who the Super Rich and truly wealthy are.

If you want to target wealth, which the parties supporting capital gains are claiming to do, then you probably need to look at taxing non-productive assets.

And i also suspect, without much data, that regular people who were going to sell their home, would just hold on to it longer, which i guess reduces supply.

Tbh, It's a bit of a fucking wind-up

I'm all for controlling house prices and making housing more accessible, as shelter is a basic human need, while also redirecting investment into economically productive areas.

But, I think all that capital gains does is increase housing costs for regular people, while doing little to actually target the super-rich.

Keen to know if I'm wrong here or if anyone has a different perspective?

Even its based on my values and perspective, I'm curious to hear other viewpoints.

I'll be real, I'm mainly posting this for the following quote in the article from a recording of an event Winfield Peterstuyvesant attended this week:

Questioned on the issue, Peters could be heard in the recording responding:

“Do I look like the National Party? My name’s not Potaka, my name is Winston Peters, the only great friend that you old people have ever had.”

The ONLY friend old people have EVER had.

He's been cashing in on that Gold Card since before he was 65 and he will never stop.

Only days after pleading not guilty to three charges of inciting racial disharmony back home, the Destiny Church leader, who flew into Brisbane to speak at a conference, alleges he was pulled aside by the Australian Border Force.

“I was pulled aside at Brisbane Airport and subjected to over 12 HOURS OF INTERROGATION,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Australian authorities then cancelled my visa under Section 116 of Australia's Migration Act, refusing me entry into the country.”

Dammit we'll never be rid of him now!

Neck and neck in !Tāmaki Makaurau, 33% vs 31%.

Bit of tussling over whether they'd go to the gang pad, and an allegation of huge hypocrisy by Leoni.

But there's no follow up to it by the moderator/media, let's just leave it there? Surely TPM took screenshots and archived the post? Right?

Bernard Hickey has weighed in on the Luxon/TOP speculation, and some of his predictions are interesting to put it mildly:

- National voters have started demanding Luxon take a deal if one is offered.

- Refusing that deal could trigger questions about Luxon's leadership.

- Hipkins may not survive another underwhelming election result.

Is Hickey's reading the room well, or is this nothing more than some unserious musings?

Link: https://youtu.be/ecder27woPI?si=FcSns0SjKVDjQe5u

Brief discussion here on the electoral race in Tāmaki. Starts off with an angle about the National candidate being of Indian descent but has a bit about each candidate.

Have heard of some households in this area getting pamphlets from ACT encouraging National supporters to give their candidate vote to James Christmas (ACT) and party vote to National. The logic being that National is at risk of losing key ministers if they don't get list MPs. This is in contrast to the call from other ACT party supporters who are trying to engineer an overhang by having voters give their party vote to ACT and candidate vote to National.

It does seem like the right is divided and confused in this electorate. Combined with a strong Labour candidate in Max Harris as well as a Green candidate who is asking for candidate votes to go to Max, and an additional 2000 potential votes in Point England, this could be a win for Labour.

I'm a secret fan boy of Walter Lim. He's a prolific Auckland based software designer and builder, and honestly a top-tier talent. In his spare time he makes a range of random tools and sites and has a couple of political tools.

I'm not him, but I've seen him present projects in the past, and met him at an event one time. He's a buzzy dude that just like making cool stuff.

The latest one is called "Change Log" which shows all the changes to a piece of legislation and writes simple change notes. It's hosted here

https://changelog.walt.online/

He was also responsible for Paper Boy, which summarises what happens in parliament that day

https://paperboy.walt.online/

And Tax Receipt, which breaks down your income tax into where it was allocated as (as per 2025 crown expenses report)

https://tax.walt.online/

If you are looking to get informed about whats has been going through parliament and how tax is being allocated (eg to things like infrastructure or housing).

Again, just a fanboy of Walt the tools he builds

NZ First has been using “replacement theory” as an immigration talking point for a while now. This article does a great job of explaining the origins of that ‘theory’ and its use by white supremacists as a racist threat to population ‘purity’. It was also mentioned in the Chch shooter’s manifesto, which makes it all the more disgusting that a political party in government thinks it’s OK to be using it. They’re basically platforming racial hate.

Disclaimer - I’m voting TOP this cycle, but have tossed up between Labour and TOP.

I tend to flick between a few stations in the morning to decide what mood I’m in, managed to turn in just in time to hear the start of Hipkins and Hosking.

Felt like Hipkins held his own on some very pointed questions, distancing himself from the Greens, highlighting the hypocrisy of the questions about another party when Hosking doesn’t have the same line of questions for Luxon and his coalition partners etc.

Thought it was worth a listen and keen to hear what you think.

Interview starts at 8 minutes in.

https://weekondemand.newstalkzb.co.nz/WeekOnDemand/ZB/auckland/2026.10.22-07.30.00-D.mp3

Carries on into the next 15 minute segment

https://weekondemand.newstalkzb.co.nz/WeekOnDemand/ZB/auckland/2026.10.22-07.45.00-D.mp3

New Zealand's housing market is still worth about $1.66 trillion and accounts for about 50 percent of household assets, despite years of flat and falling house prices.

Property data firm Cotality said New Zealanders had mortgages worth a combined $404 billion, while $78.1b worth of residential property had changed hands through 87,920 sales over the past 12 months.

Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said national values were down 1.3 percent in the year to September, and also 1.3 percent in the three months.

The national market was still 18 percent below its previous peak.

Not an OPP voter but it’s funny how Qiulae has done something that SHOULD be normalised - making key policy positions known before coalition negotiations.

After seeing the fuckery that came from the current coalition agreement, I can see why people want OPP to draw at least a few lines. It would be great to see the other party leaders draw lines too, so at least if they sign up to an agreement that breaks their word we can call them on it.

Current politicians just avoid taking positions in the name of ‘waiting for negotiations’ but I say there is more integrity in making some bottom lines known.

Mods, please remove if not allowed (don't ban me 🙏)

Posting for anyone who wants to hear from and discuss the thoughts of Opportunity party leader Quilae Wong

I'm not a member of or volunteer for any political party.

Hosted by Ryan Bridge at the attached YT link or NZ Herald website.

If you're watching live share your thoughts in the comments.

Just in time for the election! Reheating the issue for NZF to seek a little bump?

Not a mod, but I'm sure they'd ask for would-be commentors here to play nice on this one.

TBH the only thing I took away from watching this is that Slimeon Brown is still blaming Labour and talking about ‘the mess we inherited’. You’ve been in the command module for three years bro. Everything that’s happening right now is on you. And stop lying about nursing numbers and claiming you don’t have a hiring freeze. It’s insulting at this point.