Keep kicking the Nats

It's gone from bad to worse for John Key's shaky coalition government. The ministerial resignation of John Banks this week, triggered by Graham McCready's private prosecution is a blow to the Nats. It's also a surprising example of people power. How one pissed off bloke can take on the corruption of the politicians and the double standard of the police and win.
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John Banks |
One of the interesting things about the SkyCity deal is that public opinion is fluid over it. As Brian Rudman pointed out in July 2013,
The latest Herald-Digipoll survey shows 61.5 per cent of voters disapprove of the deal and only 33.8 per cent approve. That was a sharp turnaround from a year ago when a similar poll found 40.3 per cent disapproved and 57.3 supported it.That support will likely drop as Banks heads to court and the deal gets more scrutiny as it heads back before Parliament. Like the GCSB issue, the more the public finds out, the more pissed off they will be.
Churches, unions, community groups and the political parties of the opposition all have a vested interest in taking on the deal. A big demonstration in mid-November with a march on SkyCity will provide some political form to the intellectual content of the debate to be held over the next few months.
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Graham McCready |
As the political stability of Town Hall and Beehive melts in the late Spring heat, it's probably time for the Aotearoa is Not for Sale coalition backed this time by churches, charities and gambling watchdogs to take the streets once more and say our city and our gambling laws are not for sale.
-Socialist Aotearoa
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