New Zealand Conservative

Oh dear. As my oldest son said, doesn't he realize this will just keep all that stuff alive that he'd rather people forget??? In the interests of keeping myself out of Craig's cross-hairs (he's suing Cameron Slater and John Stringer for more than Jordan Williams, because the first two are BLOGGERS!) - all I'll say here is that all of this will (is backfiring) backfire on Craig. Any respect from this side of the political divide that might have been given him because of what he was trying to do with the Conservative Party is now totally gone. Related link: Hilarious booklet on the allegations of defamation

At a time when our democracy is under attack by foreign criminals (DotCom/Greenwald/Snowden/Assange), Colin Craig is disappointing, to say the least, in his response: Conservative Party leader Colin Craig told RNZ the core issue was whether Mr Key could be trusted. "I have to say, I have doubts." Mr Craig believed on balance there was mass surveillance of New Zealanders. "I think John Key's been, shall we say, vague at best around the truth. "And I think that matters, because we want to know that we can trust our leaders, trust our politicians and most importantly that our prime minister is at least either going to tell us the truth, or if he can't tell it because it's far too secure, maybe he can say, 'Guys, I can't tell you the answer to that'." Colin Craig is either showing he cannot be trusted or is totally oblivious to the danger DotCom has exposed NZ to. Related link: Answers needed on mass surveillance - minor parties...

John Armstrong seems to think they should in Key needs to offer hand up to Conservatives : If John Key wants to avoid having to govern with Winston Peters perched constantly and awkwardly on his shoulder, he is going to have to help Colin Craig get his Conservative Party across the 5 per cent threshold. That is the unambiguous message to National's leader from today's Herald-DigiPoll survey. National's support is starting to slowly slide below the 50 per cent mark. Key would still be able to govern with Act's and United Future's two MPs - plus any Maori Party MPs who survive the election. Key would still want some insurance, however, should his party slip further during the eight days left until election day. Well, given that NZ First in Parliament this time around has been all but completely useless (I voted for them last election because I thought they'd add a counterbalance to the mix), it looks like the fear of the gold card voters is starting to set ...

Arghh, what is Colin Craig thinking? Conservative Party leader Colin Craig says he would not form a Government with National unless it agreed to introduce binding referenda . Mr Craig confirmed the party's bottom line for potential coalition talks at its annual meeting in Auckland this afternoon, attended by around 120 delegates. In his keynote speech, he said: "We are not playing a mystery game. We are being upfront with the electorate. "The thing that we want, that will be required if a party wants our support, is that they are going to need to agree to a change whereby that the people of this country have the right on those rare occasions ... to tell the government where to go and what to do." Oh well, they won't be going into coalition with National, then. I'm personally against making citizens initiated referenda binding the Government. The closest thing I would support would be a Voter Veto on Parliament's conscience votes. That would m...

Hmmmm, not sure that lawyering up everytime opponents mischaracterise you is a good idea. Conservative Party leader Colin Craig has set his lawyers on Green co-leader Russel Norman , demanding an apology and retraction of comments Dr Norman made at the Big Gay Out. Mr Craig has asked Dr Norman for a public apology, claiming the statements were defamatory. The letter from Chapman Tripp says the offending statement by Dr Norman which screened on the television news related to how Dr Norman perceived Mr Craig's views on woman and gays. Mr Craig has previously claimed women in New Zealand were promiscuous, and he opposed the gay marriage bill. [Not sure why the article stuck this in and missed out Russel Norman's actual comments ~ Lucia] Mr Craig said he had taken the step of getting his lawyers to assess the claim and seek a retraction and apology because he believed the comments were inaccurate and were widely broadcast. He said Dr Norman's comments did not refle...

  Just listening to John Key on NewsTalkZB, and the thing that stood out was that John Key wanted to let people know that National could work with the Conservatives. The interviewer was much more interested in talking about the change to potentially being able to work with Winston Peters and New Zealand First, than anything else. Colin Craig has said that the "smacking law" would be one of the things that would influence negotiations were he and his party ever in a position where their support was necessary for a government to form. This article from Stuff calls it a bottom line, and then says the opposite when it quotes what Craig has said about it, leading me to believe that overturning the law will not end up being a condition of support, it will be just used as a means to garner votes.  Probably why John Key is indicating now he can work with the Conservatives. Craig said he was not calling it a bottom-line at this stage because the election had not yet happene...

Gordon helps improve relative blog quality What an appalling interviewer is Gordon Campbell (in this case). He wears his bias on his sleeve, and makes a definite contribution to the low quality journalism that continues to ensure my opinion of the "professional" media don't consider objectivity an important attribute in journalism. I came across an interview he did with Colin Craig. Before I go into a couple of examples of his poor interviewing manner, I guess I've firstly got to declare that I currently have no connection with Craig or the Conservative Party, and haven't decided if I'm voting for them as yet. Here's a couple of comments that came out in the interview worth highlighting: Campbell: Going back to that point about the social liberalism of John Key: what was the point of principle when it became apparent to you that there had been a parting of the ways between you and him? Craig: When he refused to be guided by the referendum...

I used to admire Rodney Hide. His blog was the first political blog that I spent quite a bit of time on when I first ventured into the NZ online political scene. It must have been around 2003. Anyway, I thought he was pretty clued on at the time. Now I can only shake my head at reading this sort of thing: I am left wondering if the conspiracy theorists have found a welcoming home with the new Conservative Party. Certainly Craig was anxious not to offend those who believe that governments are mass dosing us, that 9/11 was a government job, and that Nasa staged the moon landings in Nevada. Of course, it could be that Craig genuinely believes such nonsense possible. After all, conspiracy theories have the same amount of supporting evidence as the idea that a supernatural being made the earth and all its creatures in six days in 4004BC and now oversees human affairs. The defining characteristic of the Conservatives may well be gullibility. I consider myself to be a Conservative,...

Luna 2, the first man made object to land on the Moon, sent by the Soviet Union. If what's been spread on the airwaves is to be believed, Colin Craig doesn't believe men landed on the moon. Amazing how what someone says can be spread like Chinese Whispers where it almost takes on a life of it's own. Yet the story, as reported in The Herald is this: Mr Craig's initial comments were made during an interview with RadioLive host Marcus Lush. Mr Craig said he had "no idea'' whether astronauts had landed on the moon, and hadn't had the chance to look into chemtrails - a conspiracy theory that suggests the trails left by aircraft come from the deliberate spreading of chemicals. Asked about the moon landing conspiracy - which suggests the Apollo landings were faked by the US government - Mr Craig replied: "I don't have a belief or a non-belief in these things, I jut don't know." Asked again, Mr Craig said he had "no idea...

I could not believe what I read in the paper today. Looks like Peter Dunne is feeling very threatened by Colin Craig and his Conservative Party: United Future leader Peter Dunne is warning John Key he will have a tiger by the tail if he throws his weight behind the Conservatives. Dunne is famous for his dramatic rise in popularity in the 2002 election thanks to his popularity with TV's "worm", which turned his party from a one-man band to an eight-strong caucus. But he has claimed that some of the Christian MPs who rode his coat-tails into Parliament that year believed it was God, not him, who turned the worm. "The explanation I got was I was God's vessel. It was nothing to do with me. I didn't move the worm . . . that was all God's great plan and he used me and the worm debate to achieve the outcome." Many of the MPs whom Dunne took with him into Parliament that year were promoted by Christian backers, and he has since severed contact wit...

If Craig can't handle satire, he is unsuited to be a Party Leader. And it seems like my choice of political parties that would be capable of representing my views is moving from near zero towards absolute zero. I hope Craig can move the Conservative Party from being about him to being a full blown party, which could bring some balance and help enable common sense. Another angle to this story Update 26/4/13 - Maybe my initial impression above was wrong. I'm having second thoughts: If a man brings a knife to a fight, bring a lawyer

The Australian House of Representatives and the Senate have both recently rejected a redefinition of marriage to include two people of the same sex by an overwhelming margin (98-42 against and 41-26 against), a sort of a reverse of what New Zealand's Parliament voted for with the first reading of Labour's Louisa Wall's bill on the Feast of John the Baptist (oh the irony there!). Yesterday, the Conservative Party of NZ unleashed a press release on the difference between Australia and New Zealand with regards to liberal social change and it's connection with the economy of a country. Mr Craig says “Once again Australia has made the smart decision by refusing to make unnecessary and detrimental changes to the definition of marriage. This is another example of Aussies showing us how to do it, and will further support the trend of New Zealanders leaving for Australia.” “The New Zealand Parliament is simply too liberal to ensure the best interests of New Zealand. On the...

Labour has dropped 2% in the latest poll and some of that drop could be attributed to the same-sex marriage legislation put forward by Labour Louisa Wall and voted for at it's first reading by most Labour MPs and some National MPs, including John Key, the Prime Minister. National hasn't taken a hit over being ruled from behind by Labour yet, most of the ire is being directed at Labour, but people in my circles are certainly noticing this disturbing trend. What's even more interesting, is that 9% of those who have voted in online poll said they would vote for the Conservative Party if an election were held today. However, that number would not be representative of NZ as a whole, rather it shows that there are a significant proportion of conservative supporters out there who are active online. Conservative Party lifted by gay issue ~ NZ Herald

Good on the Conservative Party for standing up on this issue. The Conservative Party is calling for the protection of marriage in New Zealand after Louisa Wall’s Marriage Amendment Bill was drawn from the ballot in Parliament today. “It is important that marriage remains between a man and a woman” says Conservative Party Leader Colin Craig. "Make no mistake, this issue will be an election issue, and the Conservative Party looks like it's the only party with a clear policy of supporting the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman," “This is not an issue of rights; it’s an issue of respect. Respect for the many stakeholders in what marriage means. A tiny minority want to change the rules of the game to suit themselves, and that isn’t right,” he says. “It’s time for all New Zealanders who recognise the importance of marriage being between a man and a woman to stand up and be heard, because our Parliamentarians lack the backbone to do it,” he says....

Free sex advice may have helped minimise infection Fears for youth as free sex advice cut: Many young Aucklanders face having to pay for previously free sexual health consultations because of the Government's squeeze on health dollars. This is expected to contribute to an increase in New Zealand's already internationally high rates of teenage pregnancy and some sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia. Last year, 15 DHBs reported 25,000 positive tests for the disease, according to a report for the Health Ministry I note that testing for Chlamydia occurs in a ratio of about 5 females to 1 male, so the problem is probably larger if more males were tested. Equally though, Chlamydia tends to affect women to a higher degree. Still, after the caning Colin Craig got for his improper suggestions, I'm a little surprised more people haven't leapt on the phrase above: "New Zealand's already internationally high rates of teenage pregnancy and so...

Any position is extreme to a fence-sitter. The Conservatives have been touted as a future coalition party for National since ACT leader John Banks' donations scandal. Leader Colin Craig has risen to prominence lately with controversial views on promiscuity and gay marriage. Now Mr Dunne – who has a confidence and supply deal with National – has launched an attack on the political newcomers . And he says he should know, as two of his former MPs – Larry Baldock and Gordon Copeland – stood for the Conservatives in last year's elections. Mr Baldock was third on the party list, while Mr Copeland stood in Hutt South. "They're extreme," he said. " Look at Larry Baldock's fanaticism over smacking. Copeland, the fact he left UnitedFuture over smacking, for goodness sake, when it was a conscience issue. "Any relationship with the Conservative Party ... suggests it's going to be dogma on one side versus pragmatism on the other side, and I th...

I'm impressed. To view, click here . Hattip Kereopa, of Being Frank .

I thought, having covered the Conservative Party launch BBQ, that I would do a post-election interview with the party leader Colin Craig. I did this and found him to be very pleased with the election result. Sure the party would have liked to make it into parliament, but they showed that they have far more support than four of the parties who did make it in. Craig stated, “with our result we passed the creditably hurdle,” and for a party that was only four months old they did have something to prove. Where other minor parties were created and headed by ex-MPs from already established parties the Conservative party lacked such a pedigree, which lead to many seeing them as a wasted vote. Yet now, although they did not get in this time, some political commentators have said post-election there is a voter base and room for the Conservatives on the right. With the seeming decline of the ACT party the Conservatives might be a rising power in New Zealand politics. Discussing the points of th...

The NZ Conservative Blog looks at the Conservative Party We here at the NZ Conservative blog would like to start out by saying we predate the Conservative Party by many years, indeed it is only 3 months old at this point of time. In no way is the blog associated with the political party. Over a week ago I went to the Conservative Party BBQ, which passed as their party's campaign launch, and while I was there I got to use my new found press credentials to talk to the candidates including an interview with Colin Craig himself. The Conservative Party BBQ attracted around 300 people from around the country was heavily attended by party candidates standing in electorates (the party is standing in around 54 of the 63 general electorates). The Candidates I got the chance to talk to many of the candidates, so many in fact names and electorates were getting hard to remember. Frank, standing for East Mangere, highlighted the diversity of the party with people from all ages and et...

So there's a new party launching itself into the New Zealand scene , and it's calling itself " The Conservative Party ". They even have a test to see how conservative a voter you might be. My first impressions are that the questions they ask are notable by what's missing as much as what they've put up. Very limited range of topics, and very slim dimensions taken, with sometimes two different ideas in the same question, making it hard to answer the question directly. The first press release I read was a general winge about being over-taxed: I am also opposed to the never ending cycle of increased taxation and bigger spending. With 3 tax increases (Emissions Trading Scheme, increased GST rates and cancellation of ability to claim depreciation on buildings) by the current government along with increased compliance costs (Unit Titles Act 2010) there is an ever growing burden on the New Zealand tax payer. and the profile of the over-taxed person, Coli...