Dear Subscribers
From today we are dropping the price of subscriptions to the fully paid Democracy Project Substack email newsletters from $25/month to only $5.
We hope this new low price means we will raise enough money to keep the service going by having a much higher number of financial contributors paying a more affordable amount of money.
Of course, we would like to charge nothing at all, and for about ten years we provided the service without any fee at all. We continue to do so as a public service, but unfortunately it takes a lot of time and resources to produce our services, and we have no funding for this from anyone but subscribers.
When we introduced the original subscription fee of $25/month, we did so because our “NZ Politics Daily” email is used by a lot of organisations that can easily afford to pay $25 – such as government departments, consultancies, media organisations, politicians, and businesses. Meanwhile, we promised to give free full subscriptions to anyone who could not afford it (which we will continue to do – just email me). Unfortunately, this model hasn’t delivered enough money to cover our costs and ensure the ongoing viability of the service.
The new subscription model is essentially a “Pay what you can afford” arrangement – Substack will only allow us to charge two different rates, and we will keep asking for donations on top of whatever people are paying. Therefore, if you want the full service, you now have a choice between two subscription rates:
A $5 “Minimum Subscription” for those who can’t afford more
A $25 “Solidarity Subscription” for those who can afford it, including institutions and businesses (this translates to $300/year)
Existing $25 subscribers will automatically default to the $5 plan, but we will continue to encourage you to shift back to the $25 “Solidarity Subscription” level.
Regardless of which subscription rate you choose, we will keep asking you to consider making donations directly to the project via our Victoria University of Wellington fundraising page: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/engage/giving/donate/areas/democracy-project
We will still allow non-paying subscribers to receive preview emails, but the cut-off paywall in emails will now be used more heavily, including for more of our newsletters such as my Political Roundup columns.
I will continue to keep you informed of our progress in trying to raise enough money to make our services financially sustainable.
Kind regards
Dr Bryce Edwards
Political Analyst in Residence, Democracy Project, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington
TAX CUT, PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS
Andrea Vance (Post): National’s doing the hokey-cokey and getting shaken all about (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Will Luxon and Willis do an Abbott and Hockey? (paywalled)
Janet Wilson (Post): The gentle art of making (and keeping) political promises (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Tax cuts need to be put on hold until we can afford them (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Luxon's toughest cost-cutting task yet (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Paying for tax cuts by not funding insulin pumps and glucose monitors for disabled kids
Grant Duncan (The Conversation): NZ is in recession – so far there are few signs the government has a plan to stimulate and grow the economy
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Tax cuts: Luxon needs to take long view, revisit plan (paywalled)
Press Editorial: Disability and dysfunction (paywalled)
Steven Cowan: Tax cut madness
Peter Davis (Post): The dangers of ‘magical thinking’ (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): How New Zealand can get its mojo back (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Public service cuts at MBIE: Govt doesn’t understand impact, computer systems warning - staff (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): David Seymour: Public service redundancies could top $100 million
Claire Trevett (Herald): Tax cuts or bust? Finance Minister Nicola Willis kicks off rolling maul of cuts with jobs in the public sector (paywalled)
George Block (Herald): Corrections looks to shed roles, asked to find $100m of savings after Government promise not to cut front-line staff (paywalled)
Robin Martin (RNZ): Slash MPI staff and 'we're exposed' - Biosecurity Taranaki chair
Anna Whyte (Post): Inside MBIE’s proposed job cuts: The webinar, and the 100-page document
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Public service job cuts: What ministries are proposing
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): By the numbers: What we know about job cuts at MPI, MBIE and MoH
Herald: MPI public service cuts: Farmers concerned about biosecurity services - officials reject claims
Newstalk ZB: Where optimism may lie within bleak economic forecasts (paywalled)
Robert MacCulloch: The NZ Herald Gets its Economics Wrong Again. The New Coalition is not doing Austerity - it is seeking to boost growth using supply-side economics
RNZ: Hipkins defends increase in public servants on his watch
RNZ: Public service job cuts: Recruitment company seeing surge in applications
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Did we actually need the public service increase?
LABOUR, CHRIS HIPKINS’ STATE OF THE NATION SPEECH
Audrey Young (Herald): The speech Chris Hipkins needed to give to give in a new era for Labour (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Public 'ready to be convinced' about capital gains tax - inequality expert
Grant Duncan: Hipkins refreshes Labour's red paint
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Will tax reform be Labour’s trump card in next general election?
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Is time on the side of a capital gains tax? (paywalled)
1News: Q+A: Chris Hipkins says all tax options ‘back on the table’
Newshub: Labour leader Chris Hipkins says New Zealand needs to fix 'broken' tax system
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Chris Hipkins: Tax reform is back on the table
Newshub: Chris Hipkins delivers first major speech as Opposition Leader
Brent Edwards (NBR): Chris Hipkins outlines Labour's policy challenges (paywalled)
Rebecca Bull (Newshub): Finance Minister Nicola Willis blames Labour's 'economic mess' after Chris Hipkins' tax reform suggestion
Damien Grant (Stuff): How do we judge the 6 years of Grant Robertson’s ascendancy
Newshub: Willie Jackson proud of Labour Government despite country falling into recession
WINSTON PETERS
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Invoking Nazis isn’t politically bad for Winston Peters (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Winston Peters - ‘drunk uncle’ or political genius? (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: If attention was gold, NZ First’s Winston Peters would be a ‘bullionaire’ (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Just say no to Nazi references (paywalled)
Boff Whalley (Guardian): Chumbawamba wrote Tubthumping as a working-class anthem. We won’t have it stolen by the right
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of ... The Abominable Peters (paywalled)
Paid subscribers can access the full “NZ Politics Daily” from here. The following categories of news and analysis continue: SPY AGENCIES, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE; HOUSING; PARLIAMENT; BANKS; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; TRANSPORT; ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING; EDUCATION; RMA, CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT; HECTOR’S DOLPHINS; HEALTH, DISABILITY; MEDIA; EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS; CHILD WELFARE, ORANGA TAMARIKI; JUSTICE; POLICE, CRIME; ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT