Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics

Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 1:00 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

BUMPER EDITION!!!!

TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS:
Nats Launch Health Policy - Commit To Matching Labour's 06 Funding
On The Back-Foot: Labour Holds Pre-Caucus Press Conferences
Brownlee Urges Unions To Back-Off!
Police Cordon Off Auckland CBD After Suspicious Substance Found
MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:
WEATHER:
Centrist Party Lurches Towards The Right -
SCOOP VIDEO & AUDIO:
COMMENTARY: The Betrayal Of New Orleans
MORE WORLD NEWS HEADLINES:

SCOOP COLUMNS:
If Brash Is Prime Minister….. Here Is Tonight's News
No Right Turn On National's Coalition Worries
Jason Leopold On The Attack On Cindy Sheehan
Russell Brown On What The Internet Means For Libraries
Call For The President To Slow Down On The Supreme Court
MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY:

OTHER NEWS (Just Politics):
POLITICAL NEWSLETTERS:
SCOOP POLL WATCH:
Auckland Transport:
Maharey Accuses National Of Turning Hard Right On Housing Policy
ACT Claims Helen Clark's Leader's Fund Paid For Pledge-Card
Labour Denies Accuracy Of Colmar Brunton Poll
MORE POLITICS HEADLINES:
POLITICAL COLUMNS:

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TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS

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Nats Launch Health Policy - Commit To Matching Labour's 06 Funding

Image by Selwyn
Manning - Middlemore Hospital, A&E unit. National will commit an additional one-off $100 million three-year package to slash the approximately 20,000 backlog of patients in high priority elective surgery categories, says National's Health spokesman, Paul Hutchison. See... National signals major assault on waiting lists [1] ALSO:

Brash - Brash: National's better path for health [2]

Nats - Better funding of aged care services [3]

Nats - National to boost Pharmac funding by $75m [4]

Nats - National signals sensible middle path for health [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00141.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00139.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00143.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00142.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00140.htm

On The Back-Foot: Labour Holds Pre-Caucus Press Conferences

- Labour Awakens: Finance Minister Michael Cullen held Monday a press conference to attempt to explain his view on why National's tax policy will not work. Later PM Helen Clark held a brief Pre-Caucus conference outside Premier House. Click on the links below to listen to the standup in .MP3 audio. See... Pics/Audio: Michael Cullen On National's Budget [1] and Scoop Audio: PM's Pre-Caucus Standup [2] ALSO:

Scoop Link: Memo – Brash Advised To Buy Election [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00058.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00059.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00060.htm

Brownlee Urges Unions To Back-Off!

- National Party Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee says public service bosses must rein in trade union activists distributing pro-Labour, anti-National propaganda. “At this election, the trade union movement has become a stalking horse for the Labour Party and the Greens. The public should be very sceptical about any of the material being circulated by them.” Mr Brownlee says he is pleased that the Bay of Plenty District Health Board took action to stop the distribution of pro-Labour propaganda at Whakatane Hospital. See... Unions must back off, warns Brownlee [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00132.htm

Police Cordon Off Auckland CBD After Suspicious Substance Found

- An area in Downtown Auckland has been cordoned off after a report that a suspicious substance was found in an envelope delivered to people on level 12 of the Dorchester building in Shortland St. See... Substance Causes Auckland City To Be Cordoned Off [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0509/S00034.htm

MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:

New Zealand is Top Country in UK [1]

Asbestos Being Removed From Matiu/Somes Island [2]

SkyTV Revolution “My Sky” Launch Date Confirmed [3]

Monthly Economic Indicator Released (August) [4]

NZ First Promises To Control Power Prices - Grey Power [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00137.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0509/S00059.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0509/S00064.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0509/S00053.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0509/S00054.htm

WEATHER:

Mild Spring Likely With Less Westerly Wind [1]

Spring Rains Arrive On Southern Alps [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0509/S00007.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0509/S00006.htm

Centrist Party Lurches Towards The Right -

Last week United Future's leader Peter Dunne explained to Scoop that keeping the Maori seats was not a bottom line for his party, if they were to enter into a coalition with National. Today Mr Dunne went looking for centre-right voters who may have been leaning towards ACT. According to a media statement United Future was issuing a 'clarion call to ACT supporters to move across to United Future so their votes won't be wasted.' See... Dunne calls all ACT voters on board [1] And Transcript: Maori Seats To Go Under National-UF [2] MORE:

Kevin List & Wgtn Team: A Week Of It: Brash's Leaking Office Special Ed. [3]

Selwyn Manning: Is Resistance Futile? [4]

Lyndon Hood: Lyndon Hood: Not The Sharpest Tool In The Box [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00108.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00055.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00013.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00264.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00263.htm

SCOOP VIDEO & AUDIO:

VIDEO: Anti-Green Smear Campaign Delivered Nationwide To Letterboxes - The Green Party is calling on all other parties to state categorically that they have nothing to do with a dirty tricks campaign which has just been launched on the Greens. An attack leaflet headlined "The Green Delusion", containing significant untruths and distortions about Green policies, is being delivered in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and probably around the country, at a probable cost of at least $100,000. The Greens are asking the leaders of other parties to distance themselves from the dirty tricks campaign. See… Video: Greens Victim Of Dirty Tricks Campaign ALSO:

Green Party - Complaint Laid Over Smear Campaign [1]

Green Party - Dirty Tricks Pamphlet Author Won't Front [2]

Green Party - Greens Challenge Parties To Disown Dirty Tricks [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00076.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00077.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00073.htm

COMMENTARY: The Betrayal Of New Orleans

[1] Rosalea Barker: [2] - From Thursday morning's SF Chronicle: Louis Delasorsse, 38, had been at the Superdome since it opened. "It's no picnic staying here. My real heartache is I don't know about my mother, grandfather or grandmother. They wanted to stay at home. I begged them to come with me, but they wouldn't." See... Stateside With Rosalea: Glimpses [3] See also… a digest of commentary on the disaster in New Orleans from Scoop contributors both local and Stateside…. [4] Including: John Roughan [5] - Mark Drolette [6] & (2) [7] - Greg Palast [8] - Harvey Wasserman [9] - Mark Drolette [10] - Remi Kanazi [11] - Lynn Landes [12] - Genevieve Cora Fraser [13] & (2) [14] - Doug Giebel [15] - Jason Leopold [16] & (2) [17] - Daniel Patrick Welch [18] - Mitchel Cohen [19] - David Swanson [20] - Norma Sherry [21] - William Rivers Pitt [22] - Sam Smith [23] - Kelpie Wilson [24]

MORE WORLD NEWS HEADLINES:

Immigration Security tightened, Melbourne Seaport [1]

President Putin speaks to residents of Beslan [2]

Additional Pakistani troops on Pak-Afghan border [3]

Typhoon Talim Leaves a Trail of Devastation [4]

Uzbekistan: Dissident put in Psychiatric Detention [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00072.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00069.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00068.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00065.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00060.htm

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SCOOP COLUMNS

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If Brash Is Prime Minister….. Here Is Tonight's News

- 1 November 2005: The new National Government today took urgency to pass legislation abolishing the Maori seats in Parliament, together with all the government agencies "specifically set up to deal exclusively with Maori or with Maori issues". The new laws passed by one vote, thanks to support from Act and New Zealand First, which owe their seats to National's last-minute pulling of its candidates in Epsom and Tauranga. See… Anne Else: Brash in Charge - Here is the News [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00039.htm

No Right Turn On National's Coalition Worries

- One of the features of our Mixed Member Proportional system is that it virtually guarantees permanent minority government. Our political landscape makes parties unlikely to gain an outright majority, and memories of the 80's blitzkrieg mean that voters ... See... No Right Turn: National Can't Deliver [1] MORE POLITICAL COMMENTARY:

Russell Brown & Ors- Public Address 02 & 05/09/05 - Ugly As [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00050.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00041.htm

Jason Leopold On The Attack On Cindy Sheehan

- Cindy Sheehan has been subjected to an unwarranted backlash by right-wing pundits because of her antiwar protests and some explosive statements she made about President Bush. Perhaps Sheehan, while mourning the death of her son, Casey, a U.S. soldier ... See... Jason Leopold: What's Eating Cindy Sheehan? [1] MORE: Sheila Samples: The Mothers Are Coming! [2]

David Swanson -A Blog From Camp Casey, Crawford TX [3]

Ramzy Baroud - The Power of The Ordinary [4]

Sheila Samples - Suddenly, This Summer... [5]

Between The Lines - Between the Lines: Interview with Celeste Zappala [6]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00022.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00268.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00257.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00235.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00206.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00203.htm

Russell Brown On What The Internet Means For Libraries

- An address by Public Address blogger, Scoop Columnist and media commentator Russell Brown to a libraries research conference in Wellington at the National Library, delivered Saturday September 3rd at 1.15pm. See... AUDIO: Russell Brown Address: "Information Entrepreneurs" [1] See the full text of the address at: Public Address' Great New Zealand Argument [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00020.htm
[2] - http://www.publicaddress.net/default,2494.sm#post

Call For The President To Slow Down On The Supreme Court

- The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the deaths of some 10,000 or more American citizens in New Orleans and Mississippi have come virtually at the same time. See... All Supreme Court Appointments Must Be Postponed [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00046.htm

MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY:

Martin LeFevre - Meditations: What Is Illumination? [1]

Kamala Sarup - Kamala Sarup: Maoists Ceasefire Is A Good Thing [2]

Narconews - Giordano: Growing Up Zapatista [3]

Ramzy Baroud - Pat Robertson Doesn’t Just Speak for Himself [4]

Sanjay Upadhya - Sanjay Upadhya: Nepal - Contrived Candor [5]

Mary Pitt - Mary Pitt: Inflicting Democracy [6]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00026.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00029.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00027.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00021.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00053.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00052.htm

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OTHER NEWS (JUST POLITICS)

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POLITICAL NEWSLETTERS:

Transtasman Political Letter – 1 September Digest [1] Molesworth & Featherston (Weekend) – 26 August '05 [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00025.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00222.htm

SCOOP POLL WATCH:

Fairfax/ACN, 3 Sept: Nat 44%, Lab 41% [1] One News: Lab 38%, Nat 46% [2] Herald-Digipoll: Lab 43, Nat 39 [3] Mâori Television TNS Poll – Tainui Electorate [4]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00019.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00018.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00011.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00282.htm

Auckland Transport:

National Party Leader Don Brash says the next National Government will put roading in Auckland on the fast track with a comprehensive plan to get the city moving again. See... National's plan for Auckland roads [1] ALSO:

Nats - Labour will trade roads for Green support [2]

Labour - National 'All Talk On Roads' - MP [3]

Greens - National's plan for Akld: gridlock and misery [4]

Labour - Tax cuts don't build roads [5]

Employers & Manufacturers - Response To Auckland Road Challenge ‘Simply Excellent' [6]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00091.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00111.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00098.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00095.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00094.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0509/S00037.htm

Maharey Accuses National Of Turning Hard Right On Housing Policy

- National's plans to reintroduce market rents for state house tenants and sell off the state housing stock is another sign that the hard-right faction within the party is winning the policy battle, Housing Minister Steve Maharey said today. "After Labour applied pressure, National finally posted their housing policy on their website today," Steve Maharey said. "Once you get past the weasel words, it confirms what many have expected – National will reintroduce market rents for state house tenants. See... National to reintroduce market rents [1] ALSO:

National - National's Housing Policy (pdf) [2]

Labour - Housing a barometer of tensions within National [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00114.htm
[2] - http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0509/NationalHousing.pdf
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00085.htm

ACT Claims Helen Clark's Leader's Fund Paid For Pledge-Card

- ACT Justice spokesman Stephen Franks has written to the Auditor General seeking an investigation of the use of parliamentary funds for Labour's red election pledge card. The card bears the parliamentary crest. The crest is supposed to be used only on parliamentary material, not political election propaganda. "If Labour has paid for this card, despite the use of the crest, it would be a minor matter. But at the Brooklyn community election meeting last night, Marion Hobbs defended her party's use of taxpayer's funds. See... Clark's leader's fund paid for red pledge card [1] ALSO:

Nats - Taxes wasted on Labour's pledge card [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00122.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00113.htm

Labour Denies Accuracy Of Colmar Brunton Poll

- The latest Colmar Brunton poll, showing National eight points ahead of Labour, is almost certainly wrong according to Labour's campaign spokesman Pete Hodgson. "Polls are reported with a margin of error based on a 95 per cent confidence level. That means 19 out of every 20 polls are accurate within the margin of error. It also means that one poll in 20 records findings outside the margin of error," said Pete Hodgson. See... Poll a mistake not a trend [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00090.htm

MORE POLITICS HEADLINES:

Govt - NZ to join international efforts on oil [1]

Govt - Te Arawa Agreement in Principle signed [2]

Govt - Kiwi to join UNDAC team in United States [3]

Labour - Nats' foreign policy lacking in credibility [4]

Nats - Brownlee suspicious about settlement timing [5]

NZ First - Compensation For Murderer Shows Labour Priorities [6]

Greens - Smear campaign not so Christian [7]

ACT - ACT releases victims' rights policy [8]

ACT - Welfare sickness explodes under Labour [9]

United - Alexander: Labour pays murderers but not victims [10]

United - Dunne calls all ACT voters on board [11]

POLITICAL COLUMNS:

ACT - The Letter [1]

ACT - Heather Roy's Diary 2 September 2005 [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00110.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00099.htm

ENDS

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

Contact Alastair Thompson

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