In response to the new airport departure/arrival “levy”announced in the Budget, someone posted on the Standard this great clip from John Clarke -Clarke and Dawe – The use of the English language…: https://youtu.be/lQoT9xXRXtY
It got me thinking about the role of satire in bringing down a government. It got me watching John Oliver on The Flag issue. It got me listening to Jeremy Wells on Mike Hosking. And it made me think that we need to work hard at developing satirists to expose the current government. Wells is good, but his humour is a bit too sexual to win the mainstream. Toby Manhire is good, though judging by the comments on the Herald, too intelligent for most of us. Do we need to get them together, to form a modern day McPhail & Gadsby? Might the public start to notice then?
Can someone in the know tell me how much assistance a single mother with two children receives from the state. Say she is working at Woolworths on the checkout?
What does she get in accommodation help, working for families, tax breaks, child care etc… What about if she earns $60,000 pa what does she get then?
Where does she live? Rent or mortgage? How much? Does she have any assets apart from a home she is living in? Count investments, caravan, boat, savings etc.
I would guess that $60,000 puts her over the limit for accommodation supplement and childcare.
There are too many factors across a wide range of organisations to come up with a figure, as Weka points out. And some forms of assistance from different departments balance each other out – e.g. a state house vs accommodation supplement.
I would be a bit surprised if there was any individual who could give a precise answer to a real-world case, either – even if they were as familair with WFF/tax rebates as they were with WINZ or HNZ or the assistance available from the local council, many entitlements are up to the judgement and discretion of the case manager.
“many entitlements are up to the judgement and discretion of the case manager.”
From the WINZ side that might apply to TAS and advances etc, but not things like Accommodation supplement. That should be a pretty straight forward calculation once the case manager has all the info and discretion shouldn’t come into it.
Here’s the online calculator for non-beneficiary families,
a single mother with 2 children working at woolworths. I note nowhere did you ask where the father is and why isn’t he contributing? How many hours does she work?
Assuming she works 40 hours pw on the minimum wage, lives in South Auckland, and pays $350 pw in rent, I think she’d get the following based on the calculators from IRD/WFF:
– Weekly wage: $590 pw gross ($497 after tax+acc)
– Working for Families: $217 pw
– Accommodation top up: $145 pw
So total assistance would be $362 pw bringing the total income to $859pw.
Child care assistance is an hourly subsidy so that would depend on how much childcare she would use. Keep in mind that this is all assuming she has no assets and doesn’t live in a state house…so this would be entirely hypothetical.
Thanks for the link felix. It’s a good read. I imagine only the converted will read? When I see how easily the socalled big figures of our media swallowed the welfare increase BS on Thursday, regurgitated it unchallenged and thereby turned it into fact in voters minds, I despair.
I noted this
“from the Prime Minister down to his loyal poodles like Mike Hosking: “Nicky Hager is just making it up!” Of course he wasn’t.”
Mike Hosking who just won a media award for best talk presenter, radio. Does that mean he forms his words correctly? Uses words in context or is it about the words put together to form sentences and shape opinions?
In order for us to stay below 2°C, the IPCC says we need 500 million hectares of farmland to extract carbon directly from the air using bio-energy techniques. This is bullshit. 500 million hectares of farmland is about the size of India.
Scientific American says humanity only has 60 years of human agriculture left to us because of the rates of soil degradation, depletion and outright loss.
Also, because we add 1 million new people to earth every 4½ days, we will have to grow more food over the next 50 years than we ever grew in all of the last 10,000 years, combined.
To do this, we will need 6 million hectares of new farmland every year for the next 30 years. But, we are actually losing 12 million hectares of farmland every year. We are losing soil at twice the rate we need to build it up.
On top of all this, in just 10 years from now, 66% of humanity, or roughly 4-5 billion people, will be short of fresh water, with nearly 2 billion people being severely short of fresh water. Try growing food without water and soil and see how far you get.
Get your Collapse Data Cheat Sheet here: http://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/311m7d/collapse_data_cheat_sheet/
Industrial monocropping agriculture was never going to be sustainable, it’s always been artificially supported by fossil fuels. Instead we can grow food with regenag and polyculture farming. Even in harsh climactic conditions. Even with low rainfall. It will be harder for sure, and it’s still likely to mean famine in many parts of the world but we will still be able to grow food. The sooner we change and shift to resilient farming the less traumatic the future will be.
We can also grow food in cities. Get rid of lawns and plant food gardens. Rooftops. Parks. Wasteland. Cuba did this post-peak oil, and Half of all Havana’s food was being grown in Havana city. Permaculture uses a technique called stacking which means you grow food at non-competing levels (an apple tree, a pumpkin vine growing up the tree, ground veges) and doubling or tripling production within a given area.
It’s possible that regenag can sequester significant amounts of carbon. This isn’t high tech carbon capture and storage, it’s utilising natural cycles just speeding them up. It’s not a panacea, and if we continue with BAU we will squander the opportunity. There is probably only so much carbon that can be sequestered this way, so at the same time we have to reduce emissions now.
I agree water is going to be a significant issue, but we are so incredibly wasteful of water now that many places still have a lot of leeway if we start designing for low use. All buildings and man-made infrastructure (eg roads) should have rainwater harvesting structures, and most land should be landscaped to hold water in the land instead of allowing it to run off (this means low to zero need for irrigation). We also need to learn how to use less. Composting toilets would help hugely.
Just to put it into perspective, people not familiar with agriculture/horticulture might think that “…rebuilt 12 inches of soil over rock in the last 50 years…” sounds like an impossible waste of effort and time, but I’ve grown enough veges for three people in 2sq metres x 100mm of soil dumped on top of the corner of an old concrete driveway. The waste from surrounding trees, grass clippings, dead plants, vege and food scraps was composted and returned to the “new” soil. Composting means breaking everything into small pieces, putting it in a tidy pile, and drapping an opened-out coffee sack over the top. By comparison, the things you can grow in 300mm (12 inches) of soil are extensive. People can make a start. Anywhere. Pick something simple:
lettuce
turnip
parisian/wild carrot
parsnip
Red kale
perpetual spinach
these are all fairly bullet-proof/idiot-proof. No insecticides, no chemicals required. Add a bit of re-use/recycle/share thinking, and estimated start-up cost is no more $30 per individual lot, much less if a few people get together to share seeds/resources.
You will of course have to stop your kids playing soccer over the top of the vege bed, or neighbouring cars parking on it, dogs and cats shitting in it, or have your landlord dig it up for a new water meter main line. So choose your spot carefully.
Next week on Blue Peter, we show you how to catch a fish from the Downtown bus station…
It’s worth remembering that for all of human history we got food from our immediate environment. This includes growing food. We don’t need artificial fertilisers or palm oil imported from Asia. We can mostly grow food using what we have around us.
It’s worth remembering that for all of human history we got food from our immediate environment.
Historian Rachel Laudan reckons life for the majority wasn’t too flash when we had to rely on our immediate environment.
Everywhere seasons of plenty were followed by seasons of hunger when the days were short. The weather turned cold, or the rain did not fall. Hens stopped laying eggs, cows went dry, fruits and vegetables were not to be found, fish could not be caught in the stormy seas.
Natural was usually indigestible. Grains, which supplied from fifty to ninety percent of the calories in most societies have to be threshed, ground, and cooked to make them edible. Other plants, including the roots and fibers that were the life support of the societies that did not eat grains, are often downright poisonous. Without careful processing green potatoes, stinging taro, and cassava bitter with prussic acid are not just indigestible, but toxic.
We’ve only “thrived” in the last couple of hundred years since the discovery of the mass use of coal providing a kind of surplus energy to civilisation which was not slave labour or beasts of burden…
Even before then we were doing better than we were prehistory which is the time that joe90 was talking about. Agriculture alone has allowed us to multiply unsustainably. The use of fossil fuels over the last 200 years have allowed us to multiply that much more.
What weka is getting at is that we use what we’ve learned over the last few decades about ecosystems to build up sustainable farming that not only grows enough food but also rebuilds the land instead of destroying it as BAU farming does.
That’s it. Resilient food growing techniques (and there are many) utilise traditional and contemporary knowledge. It’s not about going back to a time of less knowledge. And they all pretty much use what is local, because that’s the sustainable thing to do (otherwise you’re just stealing from someone else’s pie. Plus, food growing miles).
Like Charles is saying, you make your compost from what is around you rather than buying it from Mitre10 where it has been shipped from the other end of the country.
Historian Rachel Laudan reckons life for the majority wasn’t too flash when we had to rely on our immediate environment.
Yep. Which was why for the first 250,000 years of modern man (i.e. the first 98% of our history) there were no more than a few hundreds of millions of us, tops.
That’s an odd article from Rachel Lauden*. She basically demonstrates that humans know how to prepare food historically, which supports my point about we’ve been doing this for a long long time. If you look at pre-fossil fuel food tech, it’s highly sophisticated and adapted to the local environment. Which is what we need to be doing in a post-carbon world (sorry, not out of season tomatoes imported from Australia). Lucky for us we have more knowledge now that we’re not going to lose in a hurry.
The idea that fresh milk is yuk is entirely a cultural construct and says more about her than the value of fresh milk as a food. People who grow up on farms know its normal.
But all that aside, if you had to choose between eating locally and having catastrophic climate change, which would you choose? And then consider it’s not like we will continue to have a choice for very much longer. Better to get on with change while we still have some discretion on resource use.
*she might also want to look at the rise of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in countries that adopt modern western diets.
I think the author is saying that unprocessed/locavore/traditional food is so labour and time intensive that a majority in the west only live as well as they do because of industrial production.
That is a valid point and a major reason why I think vertical farms within city limits are a better option. We can allow the environment to repair itself while still being able to feed ourselves.
“I think the author is saying that unprocessed/locavore/traditional food is so labour and time intensive that a majority in the west only live as well as they do because of industrial production.”
The corollary of that is the wage slavery necessary to run a fossil fuel economy. AFAIK research shows that gatherer/hunter cultures have far more leisure time than we do, so I still think her generalisations come from her cultural milieu. Growing food locally, buying locally is only onerus if you don’t like gardening or shopping at the farmers market or cooking a soup instead of getting it out of can.
The other corollary is that any culture that adopts the western, fossil fueled diet experiences a dramatic increase in heart disease and type 2 diabetes. She’s being selective in what she presents.
Certainly, human health and general wellbeing seems to have taken a very bad turn for the worse when the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture occurred.
Some have called the agricultural revolution the ‘greatest con’ in our species’ history.
In essence, we traded more calories (and therefore increased populations) for more disease, more bodily wear and tear, shorter stature (and probably life) and the origins of social stratification which led to all the oppressive intra-social relationships with which we are now so familiar (if we have even a cursory understanding of human history – aka agricultural settlement).
Basically, it resulted in bleaker lives but for more numerous people.
Sow on the shortest day, harvest on the longest, and do bugger all to them in between. In a square metre you can easily grow enough to last 6 months, or even a year depending how much of it you eat.
Onions are a doddle too.
Not at my place they aren’t. But Egyptian walking onions work for me. In the ground, ready to pull out year round. More pungent than real onions but they work.
Prefer red onions though.
I would add scarlet runner beans to the list. My favourites, and they fruit abundantly everywhere I’ve ever lived.
The Chinese did the eat local thing back in 1960 ish the saying went “You eat my child and I will eat yours”
One mother supposedly said to her daughter, “Eat my heart it has the most nutrients”? 30 million didn’t survive
They say the dogs were fighting over cadavers, but this was wrong as all the dogs had been eaten already.
How did the Maori’s do after peak Moa?
There are 5 million and growing people in NZ, and compared to pre European we have fuck all top soil left, and less than 50 months let alone 50 years.
I use to try and get the politicians etc to look at how Cuba got their shit together, I even had a 30 min or so chat with the Cuban Ambassador
He said Cuba went from here (Hand fully in the air) to here (hand on the ground) over night (pointing at his watch), he said he lived off cabbage and pork (and 3 million North Koreans starved)
Yes, he did. Which was going to prompt me to point out that every such prediction made has turned out to be wrong on the timing (I find such predictions worse than useless).
We still have enough top soil left in NZ, and it’s not like NZ is all the same when it comes to soil, but we can’t keep doing this shit forever either.
If ‘we’ think we have 50 years we will wait 49 before we take action.
And in less than 50 years if we haven’t closed down the maternity wards, we will need a NEW chunk of land the size of India just to feed us all.
When the oil stops coming from halfway around the world to us, then NZ will be plunged into a North Korean like lifestyle.
The natzs have got it nearly all set up, – mass surveillance, ‘private prisons’, a leader with god like illusions.
50 months might be to optimistic )
New Zealand can not feed 5 million people on its land area without a massive injection of millions of years worth of ancient sunlight, ask the Maori.
Global crisis continues to build; the bottom 50% of western societies are feeling it out now. But the western leadership classes and the middle classes can still largely ignore the negative effects (or engage in pretend and extend) = no real change.
According to John Michael Greer’s latest series of posts, I do believe that the Era of Pretense will give way to the Era of Impact for most people in the west in the 2020’s
My question is, will our dysfunctional financial, political and energy systems collapse before we cross the tipping point for global warming? Running with our status quo democracy/society, I’ve got severe doubts whether it can problem solve our biggest problem ever – climate change.
I haven’t read much of Greer’s stuff, but I get the idea that he thinks humans can adapt to a much simpler “Amish” lifestyle before things become unliveable. I wonder if that is just a romantic notion though.
Greer thinks that, if we are lucky, human civilisation will collapse in stages, in fits and starts, over the next 200 years and eventually end up in an “ecotechnic future” where remnants of today’s technology is mixed in with sustainable lifestyles for the people who make it through the climate/energy/resource bottleneck.
His take on the psychology of our current situation, including the psychology of our leadership elites, is one of the most interesting aspects of his writing though.
If it was only the very rich people that were stopping us from “owning our future”, it would be much easier to address. The thing is most ordinary people give tacit support to what the rich are doing…
What’s the cut off for ‘rich’? Does that include the middle classes, or are you talking about the 1%ers etc?
I tend to think it’s the middle classes that are the problem. When they realise how bad things are, and if they choose to act, I don’t think the 1%ers will be able to stop them. 10 – 15% of the middle classes in Western lifestyle nations taking their assets out of the global economy would probably make it collapse.
The 0.1% are the real issue; the complicit 10% who benefit most from supporting the system and enjoying the gravy train while it lasts, well they are part of the problem as well.
No one stops anyone from owning their future, at least not in the democratic world, and notwithstanding major disasters. Each one of us owns our future. Once people understand that, and act upon it, they can change anything. No excuses – what do you want to achieve? Then get up and do it! Plan the steps along the way. Seek help if you need it but don’t be diverted. It’s up to each one of us whether we achieve our goals or not. Most of us are really good at blaming someone else but the answer is usually in the mirror.
We have to act as a community and not as individuals. Acting as individuals is what causes a few people to be rich while there is rampant poverty and prevents those in poverty from achieving anything.
We should, rather, joyfully celebrate our wonderful ability to be part of many diverse communities while retaining our special individuality. Of course we should help those in poverty, but we should also teach people to contribute, encourage people to be the best they can be, appreciate those who shine. There is nothing more damning of humanity than expecting us to act like sheep, one trudging after the other, none ever lifting their head higher and seeing further than the rest of their sheepy herd.
Absolutely, Colonial Rawshark. In any community, those with similar passions, interests, hobbies, professions, goals in life, will tend to naturally gel together, and that is how it should be. It is not for someone in charge to tell us how to live our lives. We are long removed from living in small homogeneous villages. We create communities within communities. We need to ensure people have the skills to achieve their own goals within their own chosen communities. Where people do not have the necessary skills to achieve their goals, then let us upskill and enable them – not to live in need forever, not to stay in the same community forever but to take responsibility for themselves and their decisions and direction in life. What an enriched community of fulfilled human beings we would be.
It’s not necessary to limit formations of community to those people who would, in your words, ‘tend to naturally gel together’.
*This* community needs people with skills ‘a’,’b’ and ‘c’.
*This* one needs skills around ‘x’, ‘y’ or ‘z’.
*This* one can’t support people with ‘d’, ‘e’ or ‘f’ needs at the moment.
*This* one needs to rebalance with regards age or gender and needs no particular skill.
And so on.
But where you simply have a ‘natural gelling’ you might also tend to get inflexible ideologies forming, various level of cult arising and, essentially, an unhealthy environment getting in the the way of the practical stuff I’ve sign-posted above.
As for sociability in a community setting (the gelling) – best to keep it simple…on a level of “meh – I can live with that’. The rewards can be enormous. But without adequate safeguards and systems in place to deal with conflict, conflict will come around, take off, and then you’re looking at a living hell.
In any community, those with similar passions, interests, hobbies, professions, goals in life, will tend to naturally gel together, and that is how it should be. It is not for someone in charge to tell us how to live our lives. We are long removed from living in small homogeneous villages. We create communities within communities. We need to ensure people have the skills to achieve their own goals within their own chosen communities. Where people do not have the necessary skills to achieve their goals,…
That’s the misunderstanding right there. A community is not a bunch of people who “naturally gel together”. What you are describing is a group of friends or maybe a mutual admiration society but not a community.
Communities are where and when we happen to find ourselves, not just who we choose to hang out with.
There are friendships and alliances within communties, but one of things that makes a community is an unchosen quality in belonging.
Knowing how to live together and cooperate and make connections with those who are not like us in all sorts of different ways was lost when we lost communtiy. There is commonality, sure, and common interests and common ground in what you describe, Scotty, but it’s an insipid facimilie of community, and when “communities” gather along the lines you describe they quickly become cultish and insular.
I’m not quite sure how to reply to a comment when there is no reply button so please excuse me if I have followed the system wrongly.
In response to Just Saying’s comment:
“Communities are where and when we happen to find ourselves, not just who we choose to hang out with.
There are friendships and alliances within communties, but one of things that makes a community is an unchosen quality in belonging.
Knowing how to live together and cooperate and make connections with those who are not like us in all sorts of different ways was lost when we lost communtiy. There is commonality, sure, and common interests and common ground in what you describe, Scotty, but it’s an insipid facimilie of community, and when “communities” gather along the lines you describe they quickly become cultish and insular.”
When did we lose community? Why did we lose community? And what are we doing about it?
Most of us get along with our neighbours with whom we may have little in common. Most of us get along with our colleagues, also with whom we may have little in common. Most of us actively care about our towns and cities. We may participate in sports or hobbies or internet forums or schools or charities or work. There is no shortage of community. “Community” just requires involvement.
If “community” existed once, when was that – was it at the time when we burned witches, or condemned homosexuals, or maybe when we treated women as second class citizens, or when people without land were denied a say in their “community”, or when we persecuted people for their religious beliefs – all because someone prescribed what a perfect society should be.
Somehow people talk longingly about the past as if it was perfect, sagely saying that what we had is gone. It wasn’t what it used to be we lament. But do we really want to go back? Maybe the sixties were perfect – suburban neurosis was the catch phrase back then – young women in their perfectly clean houses but no-one much to talk to, our old people shut away, out of sight, out of mind, babies given up for adoption.
If you really look, if you take the time to get involved, there is plenty of community – with people you share something in common, but so much more. It’s the same as anything in life – get involved, be active. You cannot define “community”. You cannot prescribe it, or say how it should be. If you do, it will fail, as does any system which prescribes how people should live their lives. Look around your area, you will be astonished what support networks are in place for every conceivable need or want. They’re all run by people who love what they do, love people, want to help, want to share, love their community.
Bill – natural gelling does not mean inflexibility. Inflexible communities fail very quickly. Certainly we need systems to deal with conflict. We already have those systems in place. They are adjusted from time to time to meet the changing needs of different communities.
I did not say community should be limited to natural interest groups. There are limitless types of community and long may it be so.
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that romantically simple lifestyles, such as Amish, rely on the use of land, small communities, and a limited range of “occupations” for want of a better word, in a way that would be totally impractical for most of this country (or the world) today.
Today an article appeared in the NZ Herald. It confirms that NZ Troops are in danger in Camp Taji where they are “training” Iraqi troops to fight ISIS (Even thought they seem to run away while outnumbering ISIS rebels in a clear sign they don’t want to fight ISIS).
If the MSM are having to admit this, things must be deteriorating big time. Meanwhile the Saudis, Turks etc. are continuing to pour arms and money into ISIS in Syria, and the US is pretending to attack ISIS while being secretly pleased that ISIS are on the verge of toppling Assad (as well as giving Iran and Russia heartburn trying to keep Assad in power).
Unlike the TGWU of then, today’s Labour party seems unable to grasp the zeitgeist. There are some portents of new kinds of organisation, Occupy and the growing feminist movement among them. Anyone who was in Scotland immediately before the 2014 referendum will testify that the powerful movement for independence did not look solely to the SNP for leadership…
Journalists and politicians south of the border dismissed their lack of a coherent programme for government, but in such a spirit are revolutions made and they are rarely made overnight. Radical movements have unintended consequences and long legacies. The no vote did not result in a return to normal, but instead galvanised a political debate about Scotland’s future. The spirit in Scotland was for a politics bigger than party and more active than simply placing a cross in a ballot box every five years.
Can people really find a new form of politics? Some will feel that there is no alternative, especially those who reckon that the world is being plundered by governments committed to economic growth rather than redistribution. In this context, one can see how remaking the world becomes a far more important question than whether to save the Labour party.
Dr Selina Todd is fellow in modern history and vice principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford
Look, we have long suspected this government’s ministries have been directed by their ministers, in a calculated strategy, to minimise the numbers indicating the health of the nation which might appear harmful to the government.
It’s happening with crime stats.
It’s happening with benefit stats.
It’s happening with health stats.
A certain well know pollster/blogger gets very excited once a week or so trumpeting these dubiously collected statistics which often bear little or no resemblance to real evidence on the street.
I do hope the Christchurch DHB can get to the bottom of what the Ministry of Health is claiming is a stunning clean up of harmful drinking in Christchurch.
MICHAEL CULLEN SAYS THE CHANGE IN BENEFITS IS DECEPTIVE
Former Finance Minister, Michael Cullen, who introduced Working for Families said: “You can either increase the base rate or load all increases into the supplementary payments for children.
“The difference is that if you do the former you claw it back more quickly if there is any additional payments/income.
What matters is what is the increase in the hand and in that respect today’s announcement is much less than Working for Families.
“Nobody in the media seems so far seems to have understood this.”
And Professor Jonathan Boston, one of the authors of “Child Poverty in New Zealand”, a book which Mr English has referred to positively in the past said the measures would still mean families dependent on a welfare benefit were very likely to fall further behind those who secure their income from paid employment or New Zealand Superannuation.
“The gap is already very large,” he said.
“The child hardship package will reduce this gap only fractionally and probably only on a temporary basis”
“John, tufts of grey body hair adorning his chest, plays photographer. His son Max, standing self-assuredly behind him, sports cocked fingers and a hair style that can only be described as “in momentum”.
Phallic-shaped conifers shoot up to the sky. Fairy lights hang delicately from the spouting of the pool house. And the toned torsos of the shirtless studs have prompted winks and nods around the country. And questions.”
and so Key again uses his children for promoting his political image… cos at any time he could have said to Max “son, I don’t want you posting pictures of me anywhere. I don’t want to stop you using the social media gadgets but don’t put me in there you only invite scrutiny” But, he doesn’t, cos he likes to use it to build his image.
He is a very lucky PM cos so far the Press aren’t printing anything negative about his younger family members.
Short clip at the bottom of this link showing how a bird sanctuary was destroyed by Deep Water Horizon oil spill. It wiped out the mangrove ecosystem that the birds are dependent on. One striking thing in the vid is that the authorities didn’t know in advance that this would happen and so protection measures were inadequate. It’s safe to assume we don’t know what an oil spill would do to NZ coastal and Island ecologies.
I’m reminded of the Rena disaster and an estuary close to Tauranga that I think had NZ dotterel living in it. Then the recovery effort that went into collecting the birds and putting them into a makeshift wildlife shelter. I remember Graeme Hill saying that finally conservation was front and centre of people’s thought’s, only in an environmental crisis.
Thoughts on this idea of “National outflanking Labour on the left” by raising a few benefits.
First, it’s bullshit.
They’ve raised a few people’s benefits by far, far less than their living costs are increasing, and still left them well below the level they were slashed from two decades ago, and even then they get nothing until next April, and even then it only applies to a select group of beneficiaries.
If that’s “left wing” policy, then I guess a centrist policy would be letting them starve, and a right wing policy would be shooting them for sport.
Second, National ARE outflanking Labour (and the Greens I’m sorry to say) but it’s not by way of policy.
They’re outflanked by the discussion. The narrative that this is “left-wing” policy, so far to the left that Labour doesn’t have any way of addressing it, that narrative has been almost totally accepted by the media and probably most of the public.
And why was it accepted so readily? Simple. No-one from the opposition challenged it. No-one stood up and said “This is more of the same hard-right starve-the-poor regressive bullshit, and here’s what we’d do instead”.
That’s where the outflanking is occurring. Once again, National is painting their hard-right ideology as sensible middle-of-the-road pragmatism, and no-one is calling them on it.
they have earned their big fat cheque. They must chuckle at how easy NZers are for them, compared to Aussie and UK… it’s money for jam duping kiwis and buying the media.
Its trite to say thats why they get paid the big bucks but its also true, maybe Labour could try having a few more bake sales and sausage sizzles and save their money up and use Crosby Textor instead of Blue Star Media (or whatever joke the Labour Party uses)
They’ve raised a few people’s benefits by far, far less than their living costs are increasing, and still left them well below the level they were slashed from two decades ago, and even then they get nothing until next April, and even then it only applies to a select group of beneficiaries.
If that’s “left wing” policy, then I guess a centrist policy would be letting them starve, and a right wing policy would be shooting them for sport.
You’re right, it’s not even remotely “left wing” policy. But for… well… since about 1935, NZders think leftwing policy can be summed up by the concept of “attempting or appearing to be nice to people you wouldn’t usually meet, as long as it doesn’t cost you anything in terms of aspirational lifestyle”.
If it’s any consolation, the Communist Manifesto consistently sells more than the books that surround it (mostly fiction or historical non-fiction) at the Auckland university bookstore. Dunno who reads it, or if they read it, but if they do then plenty of people know what left wing really means. Whether they then do anything about it is another question.
In terms of “outflanked by discussion”, I think it’s more a case of that there is no discussion.
The media reports views within the range of socio-economic status/perspective of the staff of the paper, tending towards the higher end; in TV media it’s the same thing x1000. The average person on the street knows what they know owing to lifestyle and earning ability, privilege or lack thereof, and either agrees or disagrees with media views. Media doesn’t sway average people on the street, they use it wrap takeaways, it only scares politicians because they rarely have direct links to what people on the street think. People know what they think and don’t change much while their lifestyle allows them to know what they think.
One way to “change the dialogue” is to have a government make changes that are required (and enforce those changes for a few decades) which may also be unpopular. This works on the right and the left. Even then, in my estimation, they’ll influence about 25% of the people – some cognitive functions/personality traits cannot be changed and will behave a certain way in certain environments.
Party’s on the left – of which there are none in NZ – don’t call BS on National because they want more or less what National wants – status quo lifestyle, minus National’s extremism. Like a newspaper staff writing stories within a restricted perspective, the members of the National government are higher up the socio-economic scale and their perspective rests there, there isn’t a viable political party populated by below middle-class types, so there isn’t going to be any constructive understanding of leftwing perspective by anyone in NZ politics. Even Uni students reading the Communist Manifesto is ironic.
In my opinion, anyone wanting to find “the new politics” is better off starting on the street, one on one, and moving from there: Live your convictions etc etc, change one situation as per your views etc etc, and for the real brave confident people, beginning grass-roots movements. There’s no harm in keeping a weather-eye on organised politics, and supporting a general turn toward the “less punitive” (often incorrectly refered to as leftwing) policies – which is why I don’t understand a lot of the hostility towards Labour on here – but the new politics won’t come from the top down, it’ll spread from the bottom outwards in all directions.
“status quo lifestyle, minus National’s extremism. Like a newspaper staff writing stories within a restricted perspective, the members of the National government are higher up the socio-economic scale and their perspective rests there, there isn’t a viable political party populated by below middle-class types, so there isn’t going to be any constructive understanding of leftwing perspective by anyone in NZ politics. ”
“it’ll spread from the bottom outwards in all directions.”
Well written.
Although the university students reading is not as scornful as you suggest. it’s the reading it and abandoning any small bit from it once they are a few years into their law career, or accounting career, or commerce career…
more ordinary man stuff from Rachel Glucina. More flagrant use by Key of his child to help create that image… the media, to their credit, stay away from printing anything about max, other than what max wants people to see.
Putin does an annual 3-4 hour live on air presser in front of cameras with international journalists and news networks, no questions barred, no teleprompters, no cuts, no edits.
I don’t think that our Hairpuller ‘n Chief is up to it, personally.
Not sure what this is all about. Is it trying to show that our leader, just like everyone else takes selfies all the time and wants to be a celebrity? And has put the pony pulling culture behind him.
It’s to show what drives the Herald and exactly WHY they haven’t taken any action against Ms Glucina despite their 4 versions of events of Bailey’s accusations, indicating Ms Glucina did not tell Ms Bailey at the beginning or early thereafter that she was in fact from the Herald and intended doing a story based on the interview.
Here’s a question for youse all:
Did anybody hear this morning’s NinetaNoom with the regular gal with the regular (don’t size-me-up) portfolio. Specifically the segment From the Right (Matty Dear); and from the Right (Oik Williams) – you know – that guy that professes a concern for incarcerated prisoners who are illiterate – that concern JUST as long as his personal circumstance is not inconvenienced in any way …. (another who prisoners and others of a supposed ‘left wing bent’ pin their hopes on – as they did with that Oik-On bastion of journalistic tegritty Paul Holmes – a Dear dear frend apparently).
Anyway – who did and what was your impression(s).
It struck me that there was a Hooten/Hooton (tie yourself up in loops if you will getting the spin doctors name right (and RIGHT is the keyword); AND if you care to place any credibility on the prick as if he was some legitimate media commentator ….. but it struck me his desperation in trying to show just how left wing our Key gubbamint is/was.
For me, the problem is/was that he referenced (as part of his argument of convenience) corporate welfare – that if he’s to be believed is/has been at an all-time HIGH (not surprising.
So…. have I got things wrong – and is this all-time HIGH in corporate welfare (in dollar terms pretty well guzumping eny left-wing tendenceis now supposedly being ‘left wing’?
I’d like to know – because my take is that its more about power at any cost – even if it means minimal concessions toward an ideology.
In my mind, there’s no doubt Labour are still so far right a good deal of their Shedo Kebnut Munstas have an obvious lean on them – their ball saks even probably challenge their tailors (apologies Aunty Rongotai/Eastern Burb – and pass on my condolences to that poor poor individual you’ve been acting fag hag for),
BUT if (as Matty Dear – well equipped with Croz/Txt spin is claiming the Natzi’s are looking left – it isn’t about ideological belief but more about fear, winning at any cost, and an ability to claim grass rooters support.
BTW John (JFK) Hevya ekshly hed that deep in meaninfull tork with ya kuds??
And just before the “how very dare you’ chants that will eventuate about not bringing femmely into the discussion ….. Paula Bennet should have thought about such moral considerations way back when she decided to use and abuse naming a dirty filthy bene in support of whatever it was she was chanting.
Inspite of the above (and my belief that what’s source for the goose is sauce for ganders), and mindful of a conributor going by the handle “Countryboy” ….. I’d really like to know contributors take on NinetaNoon this morning with both (the now) media whores Oik Williams and Matty Dear (as if any intelligent critical thinking living cell would give them any credence).
And TRP – no need to answer – I realise your commitments to LP wordage – for me it goes down like a Destiny Church looking at ways needed to fund their lifestyle
Cheers for the invite, but not much I can say except to point out that Williams does go out of his way to help prisoners, so that actually does inconvenience his lifestyle, in the sense that he could be charging for the time and work there that he does pro bono. Not sure I much liked the homophobic comment buried in there, either. Other than that, carry on.
I was pretty sure you weren’t going to like any of the comment. In fact I’m bloody sure many won’t. I TRP’d you only because you appear to be an apologist for the way the Labour Party has become in recent times – and by now you’ll have realised I’m utterly disgusted with them – when I consider the activists I’ve known over the years that current Labour effectively shits on …… the whole ‘deserving poor ( the worker )’ versus the ‘undeserving poor (the dirty filthy bene)’ meme they’ve bought in to. Of course you don;t like labels like ‘fag hag’ etc …. unless of course you’re gay yourself – in which case referring to fags, mysogenistic labels (such as referring to female genitalia as ‘gashes’ et al is OK.
But that’s the least of it TRP (in fact you could refer to me as a part time fag myself if you so wished except I think it was prbably a mid-life crisis phase) – it’s a convenient excuse tho eh? to dismiss all the rest of it.
If you do want to engage – give me your opinion on the Hootxn argument today.
I used to ask myself not so long ago …. WHY DOES ANY minority (such as an immigrant, a member of LGBT community, Maori, the working poor, the beneficiary, the digitally divided, …… ANY) vote Natzi or rightish wing/authoritarian tending fascist.
Now I find myself asking why the fuck WOULD they vote Labour. I acknowledge your brave attempts at pushing shit uphill …. and I’ve always hoped that shit might turn into chocolate ice cream. I don’t see any signs thus far of it doing so.
I used to live in hope too (that Labour would actually represent ‘the worker’; ‘the poor’; ‘the indigent’, ….. ‘the downtrodden’).
I woke up to the fact that along came MMP, and along came the realisation that many (politicians not excluded) are often now driven by ego, self-aggrandisement, treats and trinkets and fear of losing them, maintaining the various little cliques and bubbles they sign up to – rather than membership to community (geographic/spatial/physical) and the empathetic associations that go with that. (Something trad Labour once stood for – but NO LONGER).
Call me homophobic, call me a cunt or a prik, call me all you like – don’t bother holding a committee meeting about it tho eh? (you can rest assured it’s how I think of those gutless hijackers of trad Labour who didn’t even have the Blairite GUTS to try and rebrand – as in NEW LABOUR). Christ how they’ve bought the cool aid! I mean I knew there were one or two Hills and Toliches and other specimens who’d decided life was easier to ditch the principles they built their careers on in favour of an AMEX Gold and one or two investment properties – it just took me a while to realise how widespread it’d become – apparently yourself included.
(I can hear the owner of this site’s logic gates going clatter clatter clatter weighing up a ban and how it can be justified btw – not unlike uranium on someone’s breath)
You’re the expert TRP!. What’s Labour’s plan because I’ve spent a lifetime trying to find reasons to vote for them (up until the last election) and I sure as hell ain’t the only one.
You had better go and jump up and down on Michael Cullen’s doorstep, hadn’t you?
He is the boss, so is responsible for the NZ Post activities.
Of course he may not have sobered up enough to realise what is going on.
Morale is terrible in the dunedin branch. It’s hard being an oncall postie, you could have 6 days work, you could have less, you wait at the phone & if they need you they will ring. If they don’t then no phone call (yet they could ring anytime of the day).
Yep, but even better because the workforce isn’t publicly visible when it’s not needed and the unused workers aren’t hanging out together getting angry (and getting organised) as the wharfies and similar workers did.
I notice Kiwiblog is advertising “Meet the sweet Asian woman you were meant to be with.” When you consider the commenters there, you can only admire the skill with which the advertisers have identified their target market.
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
In response to the new airport departure/arrival “levy”announced in the Budget, someone posted on the Standard this great clip from John Clarke -Clarke and Dawe – The use of the English language…: https://youtu.be/lQoT9xXRXtY
It got me thinking about the role of satire in bringing down a government. It got me watching John Oliver on The Flag issue. It got me listening to Jeremy Wells on Mike Hosking. And it made me think that we need to work hard at developing satirists to expose the current government. Wells is good, but his humour is a bit too sexual to win the mainstream. Toby Manhire is good, though judging by the comments on the Herald, too intelligent for most of us. Do we need to get them together, to form a modern day McPhail & Gadsby? Might the public start to notice then?
hi timbo, try this: brown eye, maori tv fridays 9.30 pm. also on maori tv website for replays
Bryan Gould’s latest piece is a must read – he is saying what I’ve been saying and thinking for a long time now. Though I do say so myself.
Can someone in the know tell me how much assistance a single mother with two children receives from the state. Say she is working at Woolworths on the checkout?
What does she get in accommodation help, working for families, tax breaks, child care etc… What about if she earns $60,000 pa what does she get then?
Is this for an actual person?
Where does she live? Rent or mortgage? How much? Does she have any assets apart from a home she is living in? Count investments, caravan, boat, savings etc.
I would guess that $60,000 puts her over the limit for accommodation supplement and childcare.
There are too many factors across a wide range of organisations to come up with a figure, as Weka points out. And some forms of assistance from different departments balance each other out – e.g. a state house vs accommodation supplement.
I would be a bit surprised if there was any individual who could give a precise answer to a real-world case, either – even if they were as familair with WFF/tax rebates as they were with WINZ or HNZ or the assistance available from the local council, many entitlements are up to the judgement and discretion of the case manager.
“many entitlements are up to the judgement and discretion of the case manager.”
From the WINZ side that might apply to TAS and advances etc, but not things like Accommodation supplement. That should be a pretty straight forward calculation once the case manager has all the info and discretion shouldn’t come into it.
Here’s the online calculator for non-beneficiary families,
http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz/calculator/index.jsp
a single mother with 2 children working at woolworths. I note nowhere did you ask where the father is and why isn’t he contributing? How many hours does she work?
Assuming she works 40 hours pw on the minimum wage, lives in South Auckland, and pays $350 pw in rent, I think she’d get the following based on the calculators from IRD/WFF:
– Weekly wage: $590 pw gross ($497 after tax+acc)
– Working for Families: $217 pw
– Accommodation top up: $145 pw
So total assistance would be $362 pw bringing the total income to $859pw.
Child care assistance is an hourly subsidy so that would depend on how much childcare she would use. Keep in mind that this is all assuming she has no assets and doesn’t live in a state house…so this would be entirely hypothetical.
More reading of Dirty Politics from On The Paepae: http://www.thepaepae.com/dirty-politics-revisited-more-evidence-of-deceit-and-covering-tracks/36014/
Thanks for the link felix. It’s a good read. I imagine only the converted will read? When I see how easily the socalled big figures of our media swallowed the welfare increase BS on Thursday, regurgitated it unchallenged and thereby turned it into fact in voters minds, I despair.
I noted this
“from the Prime Minister down to his loyal poodles like Mike Hosking: “Nicky Hager is just making it up!” Of course he wasn’t.”
Mike Hosking who just won a media award for best talk presenter, radio. Does that mean he forms his words correctly? Uses words in context or is it about the words put together to form sentences and shape opinions?
Thanks felix but I despair about the helplessness of us all to actually do anything about the duplicity. Sigh.
In order for us to stay below 2°C, the IPCC says we need 500 million hectares of farmland to extract carbon directly from the air using bio-energy techniques. This is bullshit. 500 million hectares of farmland is about the size of India.
Scientific American says humanity only has 60 years of human agriculture left to us because of the rates of soil degradation, depletion and outright loss.
Also, because we add 1 million new people to earth every 4½ days, we will have to grow more food over the next 50 years than we ever grew in all of the last 10,000 years, combined.
To do this, we will need 6 million hectares of new farmland every year for the next 30 years. But, we are actually losing 12 million hectares of farmland every year. We are losing soil at twice the rate we need to build it up.
On top of all this, in just 10 years from now, 66% of humanity, or roughly 4-5 billion people, will be short of fresh water, with nearly 2 billion people being severely short of fresh water. Try growing food without water and soil and see how far you get.
Get your Collapse Data Cheat Sheet here: http://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/311m7d/collapse_data_cheat_sheet/
That’s the scarey, potentially motivating shit. Here’s the things people can do,
Bear in mind that the data in Robert’s link is what will happen if we don’t change. If we change the scenarios look different.
Soil can be rebuilt using regenerative agricultural techniques. Joel Salatin’s family rebuilt 12 inches of soil over rock in the last 50 years.
http://transitionvoice.com/2012/07/joel-salatin-and-the-straight-poop-on-sustainable-farming/
Industrial monocropping agriculture was never going to be sustainable, it’s always been artificially supported by fossil fuels. Instead we can grow food with regenag and polyculture farming. Even in harsh climactic conditions. Even with low rainfall. It will be harder for sure, and it’s still likely to mean famine in many parts of the world but we will still be able to grow food. The sooner we change and shift to resilient farming the less traumatic the future will be.
We can also grow food in cities. Get rid of lawns and plant food gardens. Rooftops. Parks. Wasteland. Cuba did this post-peak oil, and Half of all Havana’s food was being grown in Havana city. Permaculture uses a technique called stacking which means you grow food at non-competing levels (an apple tree, a pumpkin vine growing up the tree, ground veges) and doubling or tripling production within a given area.
It’s possible that regenag can sequester significant amounts of carbon. This isn’t high tech carbon capture and storage, it’s utilising natural cycles just speeding them up. It’s not a panacea, and if we continue with BAU we will squander the opportunity. There is probably only so much carbon that can be sequestered this way, so at the same time we have to reduce emissions now.
I agree water is going to be a significant issue, but we are so incredibly wasteful of water now that many places still have a lot of leeway if we start designing for low use. All buildings and man-made infrastructure (eg roads) should have rainwater harvesting structures, and most land should be landscaped to hold water in the land instead of allowing it to run off (this means low to zero need for irrigation). We also need to learn how to use less. Composting toilets would help hugely.
re: growing food over hard surfaces/roofs etc.
Just to put it into perspective, people not familiar with agriculture/horticulture might think that “…rebuilt 12 inches of soil over rock in the last 50 years…” sounds like an impossible waste of effort and time, but I’ve grown enough veges for three people in 2sq metres x 100mm of soil dumped on top of the corner of an old concrete driveway. The waste from surrounding trees, grass clippings, dead plants, vege and food scraps was composted and returned to the “new” soil. Composting means breaking everything into small pieces, putting it in a tidy pile, and drapping an opened-out coffee sack over the top. By comparison, the things you can grow in 300mm (12 inches) of soil are extensive. People can make a start. Anywhere. Pick something simple:
lettuce
turnip
parisian/wild carrot
parsnip
Red kale
perpetual spinach
these are all fairly bullet-proof/idiot-proof. No insecticides, no chemicals required. Add a bit of re-use/recycle/share thinking, and estimated start-up cost is no more $30 per individual lot, much less if a few people get together to share seeds/resources.
You will of course have to stop your kids playing soccer over the top of the vege bed, or neighbouring cars parking on it, dogs and cats shitting in it, or have your landlord dig it up for a new water meter main line. So choose your spot carefully.
Next week on Blue Peter, we show you how to catch a fish from the Downtown bus station…
good tips
+1
It’s worth remembering that for all of human history we got food from our immediate environment. This includes growing food. We don’t need artificial fertilisers or palm oil imported from Asia. We can mostly grow food using what we have around us.
Historian Rachel Laudan reckons life for the majority wasn’t too flash when we had to rely on our immediate environment.
Everywhere seasons of plenty were followed by seasons of hunger when the days were short. The weather turned cold, or the rain did not fall. Hens stopped laying eggs, cows went dry, fruits and vegetables were not to be found, fish could not be caught in the stormy seas.
Natural was usually indigestible. Grains, which supplied from fifty to ninety percent of the calories in most societies have to be threshed, ground, and cooked to make them edible. Other plants, including the roots and fibers that were the life support of the societies that did not eat grains, are often downright poisonous. Without careful processing green potatoes, stinging taro, and cassava bitter with prussic acid are not just indigestible, but toxic.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/slow-food-artisanal-natural-preservatives/
And yet we not only survived but thrived and we’ve learned a bit since then.
We’ve only “thrived” in the last couple of hundred years since the discovery of the mass use of coal providing a kind of surplus energy to civilisation which was not slave labour or beasts of burden…
Even before then we were doing better than we were prehistory which is the time that joe90 was talking about. Agriculture alone has allowed us to multiply unsustainably. The use of fossil fuels over the last 200 years have allowed us to multiply that much more.
What weka is getting at is that we use what we’ve learned over the last few decades about ecosystems to build up sustainable farming that not only grows enough food but also rebuilds the land instead of destroying it as BAU farming does.
That’s it. Resilient food growing techniques (and there are many) utilise traditional and contemporary knowledge. It’s not about going back to a time of less knowledge. And they all pretty much use what is local, because that’s the sustainable thing to do (otherwise you’re just stealing from someone else’s pie. Plus, food growing miles).
Like Charles is saying, you make your compost from what is around you rather than buying it from Mitre10 where it has been shipped from the other end of the country.
Yep. Which was why for the first 250,000 years of modern man (i.e. the first 98% of our history) there were no more than a few hundreds of millions of us, tops.
That’s an odd article from Rachel Lauden*. She basically demonstrates that humans know how to prepare food historically, which supports my point about we’ve been doing this for a long long time. If you look at pre-fossil fuel food tech, it’s highly sophisticated and adapted to the local environment. Which is what we need to be doing in a post-carbon world (sorry, not out of season tomatoes imported from Australia). Lucky for us we have more knowledge now that we’re not going to lose in a hurry.
The idea that fresh milk is yuk is entirely a cultural construct and says more about her than the value of fresh milk as a food. People who grow up on farms know its normal.
But all that aside, if you had to choose between eating locally and having catastrophic climate change, which would you choose? And then consider it’s not like we will continue to have a choice for very much longer. Better to get on with change while we still have some discretion on resource use.
*she might also want to look at the rise of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in countries that adopt modern western diets.
I think the author is saying that unprocessed/locavore/traditional food is so labour and time intensive that a majority in the west only live as well as they do because of industrial production.
That is a valid point and a major reason why I think vertical farms within city limits are a better option. We can allow the environment to repair itself while still being able to feed ourselves.
Our current property valuation and town planning model won’t allow anything remotely like that to occur
Which just means that we need to push for another change.
“I think the author is saying that unprocessed/locavore/traditional food is so labour and time intensive that a majority in the west only live as well as they do because of industrial production.”
The corollary of that is the wage slavery necessary to run a fossil fuel economy. AFAIK research shows that gatherer/hunter cultures have far more leisure time than we do, so I still think her generalisations come from her cultural milieu. Growing food locally, buying locally is only onerus if you don’t like gardening or shopping at the farmers market or cooking a soup instead of getting it out of can.
The other corollary is that any culture that adopts the western, fossil fueled diet experiences a dramatic increase in heart disease and type 2 diabetes. She’s being selective in what she presents.
Certainly, human health and general wellbeing seems to have taken a very bad turn for the worse when the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture occurred.
Some have called the agricultural revolution the ‘greatest con’ in our species’ history.
In essence, we traded more calories (and therefore increased populations) for more disease, more bodily wear and tear, shorter stature (and probably life) and the origins of social stratification which led to all the oppressive intra-social relationships with which we are now so familiar (if we have even a cursory understanding of human history – aka agricultural settlement).
Basically, it resulted in bleaker lives but for more numerous people.
Bleaker lives but for more numerous people? Sounds like an accountant’s success story.
Swapping quality for quantity.
It’s an age-old Faustian bargain.
Today it’s called ‘aspiration’.
We need a new ethic of the virtue of the ordinary life.
There’s also the theory that it was a mistake coming down from the trees in the first place 😉
Add to Charles’ list of easy veg: garlic.
Sow on the shortest day, harvest on the longest, and do bugger all to them in between. In a square metre you can easily grow enough to last 6 months, or even a year depending how much of it you eat.
Onions are a doddle too.
gotta have good rich dirt though methinks….
I do have some of that, yep.
Onions are a doddle too.
Not at my place they aren’t. But Egyptian walking onions work for me. In the ground, ready to pull out year round. More pungent than real onions but they work.
Prefer red onions though.
I would add scarlet runner beans to the list. My favourites, and they fruit abundantly everywhere I’ve ever lived.
Ooh those look like fun.
The Chinese did the eat local thing back in 1960 ish the saying went “You eat my child and I will eat yours”
One mother supposedly said to her daughter, “Eat my heart it has the most nutrients”? 30 million didn’t survive
They say the dogs were fighting over cadavers, but this was wrong as all the dogs had been eaten already.
How did the Maori’s do after peak Moa?
There are 5 million and growing people in NZ, and compared to pre European we have fuck all top soil left, and less than 50 months let alone 50 years.
I use to try and get the politicians etc to look at how Cuba got their shit together, I even had a 30 min or so chat with the Cuban Ambassador
He said Cuba went from here (Hand fully in the air) to here (hand on the ground) over night (pointing at his watch), he said he lived off cabbage and pork (and 3 million North Koreans starved)
Did you just say that NZ would stop being able to grow crops and graze livestock within 50 months from today?
Yes, he did. Which was going to prompt me to point out that every such prediction made has turned out to be wrong on the timing (I find such predictions worse than useless).
We still have enough top soil left in NZ, and it’s not like NZ is all the same when it comes to soil, but we can’t keep doing this shit forever either.
If ‘we’ think we have 50 years we will wait 49 before we take action.
And in less than 50 years if we haven’t closed down the maternity wards, we will need a NEW chunk of land the size of India just to feed us all.
When the oil stops coming from halfway around the world to us, then NZ will be plunged into a North Korean like lifestyle.
The natzs have got it nearly all set up, – mass surveillance, ‘private prisons’, a leader with god like illusions.
50 months might be to optimistic )
New Zealand can not feed 5 million people on its land area without a massive injection of millions of years worth of ancient sunlight, ask the Maori.
Focus, Robert.
Do you honestly think that after four years from today there will be no arable soil in NZ?
Because telling lies so someone else does something for their own good really needs a pretty strong justification.
And don’t forget the millions who starved in the Ukranian plains – one of the most fertile areas of the f-USSR.
Yep peak soil is just about on us as well
Global crisis continues to build; the bottom 50% of western societies are feeling it out now. But the western leadership classes and the middle classes can still largely ignore the negative effects (or engage in pretend and extend) = no real change.
According to John Michael Greer’s latest series of posts, I do believe that the Era of Pretense will give way to the Era of Impact for most people in the west in the 2020’s
My question is, will our dysfunctional financial, political and energy systems collapse before we cross the tipping point for global warming? Running with our status quo democracy/society, I’ve got severe doubts whether it can problem solve our biggest problem ever – climate change.
I haven’t read much of Greer’s stuff, but I get the idea that he thinks humans can adapt to a much simpler “Amish” lifestyle before things become unliveable. I wonder if that is just a romantic notion though.
Greer thinks that, if we are lucky, human civilisation will collapse in stages, in fits and starts, over the next 200 years and eventually end up in an “ecotechnic future” where remnants of today’s technology is mixed in with sustainable lifestyles for the people who make it through the climate/energy/resource bottleneck.
His take on the psychology of our current situation, including the psychology of our leadership elites, is one of the most interesting aspects of his writing though.
I always think of Stark, by Ben Elton when people start talking about gradual collapse.
Some specific periods and parts of the collapse might not be so gradual…
Climate change isn’t our biggest problem – the rich people preventing us from adapting to it are.
If it was only the very rich people that were stopping us from “owning our future”, it would be much easier to address. The thing is most ordinary people give tacit support to what the rich are doing…
What’s the cut off for ‘rich’? Does that include the middle classes, or are you talking about the 1%ers etc?
I tend to think it’s the middle classes that are the problem. When they realise how bad things are, and if they choose to act, I don’t think the 1%ers will be able to stop them. 10 – 15% of the middle classes in Western lifestyle nations taking their assets out of the global economy would probably make it collapse.
The 0.1% are the real issue; the complicit 10% who benefit most from supporting the system and enjoying the gravy train while it lasts, well they are part of the problem as well.
Still not sure who you are talking about. In NZ, are you including the middle classes?
0.1% by income or net worth; and top 10% by income or net worth.
That would include the comfortable upper middle classes and the upper classes.
No one stops anyone from owning their future, at least not in the democratic world, and notwithstanding major disasters. Each one of us owns our future. Once people understand that, and act upon it, they can change anything. No excuses – what do you want to achieve? Then get up and do it! Plan the steps along the way. Seek help if you need it but don’t be diverted. It’s up to each one of us whether we achieve our goals or not. Most of us are really good at blaming someone else but the answer is usually in the mirror.
More neo-liberal individualistic tripe.
We have to act as a community and not as individuals. Acting as individuals is what causes a few people to be rich while there is rampant poverty and prevents those in poverty from achieving anything.
We should, rather, joyfully celebrate our wonderful ability to be part of many diverse communities while retaining our special individuality. Of course we should help those in poverty, but we should also teach people to contribute, encourage people to be the best they can be, appreciate those who shine. There is nothing more damning of humanity than expecting us to act like sheep, one trudging after the other, none ever lifting their head higher and seeing further than the rest of their sheepy herd.
You’re talking about building and resourcing strong communities and strong community organisations.
I support that. People are more important than profits.
Absolutely, Colonial Rawshark. In any community, those with similar passions, interests, hobbies, professions, goals in life, will tend to naturally gel together, and that is how it should be. It is not for someone in charge to tell us how to live our lives. We are long removed from living in small homogeneous villages. We create communities within communities. We need to ensure people have the skills to achieve their own goals within their own chosen communities. Where people do not have the necessary skills to achieve their goals, then let us upskill and enable them – not to live in need forever, not to stay in the same community forever but to take responsibility for themselves and their decisions and direction in life. What an enriched community of fulfilled human beings we would be.
It’s not necessary to limit formations of community to those people who would, in your words, ‘tend to naturally gel together’.
*This* community needs people with skills ‘a’,’b’ and ‘c’.
*This* one needs skills around ‘x’, ‘y’ or ‘z’.
*This* one can’t support people with ‘d’, ‘e’ or ‘f’ needs at the moment.
*This* one needs to rebalance with regards age or gender and needs no particular skill.
And so on.
But where you simply have a ‘natural gelling’ you might also tend to get inflexible ideologies forming, various level of cult arising and, essentially, an unhealthy environment getting in the the way of the practical stuff I’ve sign-posted above.
As for sociability in a community setting (the gelling) – best to keep it simple…on a level of “meh – I can live with that’. The rewards can be enormous. But without adequate safeguards and systems in place to deal with conflict, conflict will come around, take off, and then you’re looking at a living hell.
In any community, those with similar passions, interests, hobbies, professions, goals in life, will tend to naturally gel together, and that is how it should be. It is not for someone in charge to tell us how to live our lives. We are long removed from living in small homogeneous villages. We create communities within communities. We need to ensure people have the skills to achieve their own goals within their own chosen communities. Where people do not have the necessary skills to achieve their goals,…
That’s the misunderstanding right there. A community is not a bunch of people who “naturally gel together”. What you are describing is a group of friends or maybe a mutual admiration society but not a community.
Communities are where and when we happen to find ourselves, not just who we choose to hang out with.
There are friendships and alliances within communties, but one of things that makes a community is an unchosen quality in belonging.
Knowing how to live together and cooperate and make connections with those who are not like us in all sorts of different ways was lost when we lost communtiy. There is commonality, sure, and common interests and common ground in what you describe, Scotty, but it’s an insipid facimilie of community, and when “communities” gather along the lines you describe they quickly become cultish and insular.
I’m not quite sure how to reply to a comment when there is no reply button so please excuse me if I have followed the system wrongly.
In response to Just Saying’s comment:
“Communities are where and when we happen to find ourselves, not just who we choose to hang out with.
There are friendships and alliances within communties, but one of things that makes a community is an unchosen quality in belonging.
Knowing how to live together and cooperate and make connections with those who are not like us in all sorts of different ways was lost when we lost communtiy. There is commonality, sure, and common interests and common ground in what you describe, Scotty, but it’s an insipid facimilie of community, and when “communities” gather along the lines you describe they quickly become cultish and insular.”
When did we lose community? Why did we lose community? And what are we doing about it?
Most of us get along with our neighbours with whom we may have little in common. Most of us get along with our colleagues, also with whom we may have little in common. Most of us actively care about our towns and cities. We may participate in sports or hobbies or internet forums or schools or charities or work. There is no shortage of community. “Community” just requires involvement.
If “community” existed once, when was that – was it at the time when we burned witches, or condemned homosexuals, or maybe when we treated women as second class citizens, or when people without land were denied a say in their “community”, or when we persecuted people for their religious beliefs – all because someone prescribed what a perfect society should be.
Somehow people talk longingly about the past as if it was perfect, sagely saying that what we had is gone. It wasn’t what it used to be we lament. But do we really want to go back? Maybe the sixties were perfect – suburban neurosis was the catch phrase back then – young women in their perfectly clean houses but no-one much to talk to, our old people shut away, out of sight, out of mind, babies given up for adoption.
If you really look, if you take the time to get involved, there is plenty of community – with people you share something in common, but so much more. It’s the same as anything in life – get involved, be active. You cannot define “community”. You cannot prescribe it, or say how it should be. If you do, it will fail, as does any system which prescribes how people should live their lives. Look around your area, you will be astonished what support networks are in place for every conceivable need or want. They’re all run by people who love what they do, love people, want to help, want to share, love their community.
Bill – natural gelling does not mean inflexibility. Inflexible communities fail very quickly. Certainly we need systems to deal with conflict. We already have those systems in place. They are adjusted from time to time to meet the changing needs of different communities.
I did not say community should be limited to natural interest groups. There are limitless types of community and long may it be so.
“My question is, will our dysfunctional financial, political and energy systems collapse before we cross the tipping point for global warming?”
No, but we can facilitate that and give ourselves a chance.
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that romantically simple lifestyles, such as Amish, rely on the use of land, small communities, and a limited range of “occupations” for want of a better word, in a way that would be totally impractical for most of this country (or the world) today.
NZ Herald Military Specialist Confirms: NZ Troops Sitting Ducks In Iraq, While John Key Takes Shirtless Selfies!!!
Today an article appeared in the NZ Herald. It confirms that NZ Troops are in danger in Camp Taji where they are “training” Iraqi troops to fight ISIS (Even thought they seem to run away while outnumbering ISIS rebels in a clear sign they don’t want to fight ISIS).
If the MSM are having to admit this, things must be deteriorating big time. Meanwhile the Saudis, Turks etc. are continuing to pour arms and money into ISIS in Syria, and the US is pretending to attack ISIS while being secretly pleased that ISIS are on the verge of toppling Assad (as well as giving Iran and Russia heartburn trying to keep Assad in power).
ISIS is not going to topple Assad. ISIS will be used as an argument to invade Syria to topple Assad. And this might be how!
Has the (UK) Labour Party outlived its usefulness?
From the Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/24/has-labour-party-outlived-its-usefulness
Now the Ministry of Health fudging the numbers?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/68668969/canterbury-mood-disorders-up-post-quake-boozing-halved
Look, we have long suspected this government’s ministries have been directed by their ministers, in a calculated strategy, to minimise the numbers indicating the health of the nation which might appear harmful to the government.
It’s happening with crime stats.
It’s happening with benefit stats.
It’s happening with health stats.
A certain well know pollster/blogger gets very excited once a week or so trumpeting these dubiously collected statistics which often bear little or no resemblance to real evidence on the street.
I do hope the Christchurch DHB can get to the bottom of what the Ministry of Health is claiming is a stunning clean up of harmful drinking in Christchurch.
MICHAEL CULLEN SAYS THE CHANGE IN BENEFITS IS DECEPTIVE
Former Finance Minister, Michael Cullen, who introduced Working for Families said: “You can either increase the base rate or load all increases into the supplementary payments for children.
“The difference is that if you do the former you claw it back more quickly if there is any additional payments/income.
What matters is what is the increase in the hand and in that respect today’s announcement is much less than Working for Families.
“Nobody in the media seems so far seems to have understood this.”
And Professor Jonathan Boston, one of the authors of “Child Poverty in New Zealand”, a book which Mr English has referred to positively in the past said the measures would still mean families dependent on a welfare benefit were very likely to fall further behind those who secure their income from paid employment or New Zealand Superannuation.
“The gap is already very large,” he said.
“The child hardship package will reduce this gap only fractionally and probably only on a temporary basis”
http://politik.co.nz/en/content/53/260/THE-DEVIL-IN-THE-BUDGET'S-DETAIL-Bill-English-Michael-Cullen-Jonathan-Boston-Budget.htm
If you want to be more than a little bit sick in your mouth have a read of Rachel Glucina’s latest fawning piece about dear leader at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11454281
It includes this incredible piece of prose:
“John, tufts of grey body hair adorning his chest, plays photographer. His son Max, standing self-assuredly behind him, sports cocked fingers and a hair style that can only be described as “in momentum”.
Phallic-shaped conifers shoot up to the sky. Fairy lights hang delicately from the spouting of the pool house. And the toned torsos of the shirtless studs have prompted winks and nods around the country. And questions.”
Warning NSFL (not suitable for life)
That needed way more of a warning! :-/
It is the sort of thing that I would expect from the North Korean media …
and so Key again uses his children for promoting his political image… cos at any time he could have said to Max “son, I don’t want you posting pictures of me anywhere. I don’t want to stop you using the social media gadgets but don’t put me in there you only invite scrutiny” But, he doesn’t, cos he likes to use it to build his image.
He is a very lucky PM cos so far the Press aren’t printing anything negative about his younger family members.
Those hand gestures are a Key family in-joke to do with trichophilia. Probably.
“Man executed for brandishing imaginary scissors behind Dear Leader.”
doesn’t every new zealander take selfies in their spa pools on their birthdays? And then eat cake?
That goes beyond purple prose and into the ultra violet.
heh, instagram
Yuck key looks like the snake that he is
daddy issues
Thanks for the morning retch
I understand it has been edited post-publication to no longer be so … porny.
So it has …
Should be recorded for posterity …
The seedy photo has been removed too. Guess the focus group found it less Putin and more puddin’.
I have a copy but in deference to the good people who read the Standard I think I should not put it up.
oh he mad.
It’s little known that Ministry wrote a song about Rachel – includes the memorable lines
“You prob’ly lick more ass than anyone
I guess you like the taste of shit on your tongue”
Something about that story brought it to mind.
Short clip at the bottom of this link showing how a bird sanctuary was destroyed by Deep Water Horizon oil spill. It wiped out the mangrove ecosystem that the birds are dependent on. One striking thing in the vid is that the authorities didn’t know in advance that this would happen and so protection measures were inadequate. It’s safe to assume we don’t know what an oil spill would do to NZ coastal and Island ecologies.
http://thescuttlefish.com/2015/05/heres-how-big-oil-obliterated-a-tiny-island/
It’s not important. The benefits (to a few) outweigh the negatives (to the environment).
I’m reminded of the Rena disaster and an estuary close to Tauranga that I think had NZ dotterel living in it. Then the recovery effort that went into collecting the birds and putting them into a makeshift wildlife shelter. I remember Graeme Hill saying that finally conservation was front and centre of people’s thought’s, only in an environmental crisis.
Thoughts on this idea of “National outflanking Labour on the left” by raising a few benefits.
First, it’s bullshit.
They’ve raised a few people’s benefits by far, far less than their living costs are increasing, and still left them well below the level they were slashed from two decades ago, and even then they get nothing until next April, and even then it only applies to a select group of beneficiaries.
If that’s “left wing” policy, then I guess a centrist policy would be letting them starve, and a right wing policy would be shooting them for sport.
Second, National ARE outflanking Labour (and the Greens I’m sorry to say) but it’s not by way of policy.
They’re outflanked by the discussion. The narrative that this is “left-wing” policy, so far to the left that Labour doesn’t have any way of addressing it, that narrative has been almost totally accepted by the media and probably most of the public.
And why was it accepted so readily? Simple. No-one from the opposition challenged it. No-one stood up and said “This is more of the same hard-right starve-the-poor regressive bullshit, and here’s what we’d do instead”.
That’s where the outflanking is occurring. Once again, National is painting their hard-right ideology as sensible middle-of-the-road pragmatism, and no-one is calling them on it.
“If that’s “left wing” policy, then I guess a centrist policy would be letting them starve, and a right wing policy would be shooting them for sport.”
And when many here are buying into that labelling…
Crosby Textor must be feeling pleased with themselves this week.
they have earned their big fat cheque. They must chuckle at how easy NZers are for them, compared to Aussie and UK… it’s money for jam duping kiwis and buying the media.
Its trite to say thats why they get paid the big bucks but its also true, maybe Labour could try having a few more bake sales and sausage sizzles and save their money up and use Crosby Textor instead of Blue Star Media (or whatever joke the Labour Party uses)
Oh fuck off troll.
You know very well that Crosby/Textor are not going to advise anyone opposing the National Party.
Money talks felix whether you like it or not
I’m sorry that the obvious inequity that produces doesn’t bother you.
They’ve raised a few people’s benefits by far, far less than their living costs are increasing, and still left them well below the level they were slashed from two decades ago, and even then they get nothing until next April, and even then it only applies to a select group of beneficiaries.
If that’s “left wing” policy, then I guess a centrist policy would be letting them starve, and a right wing policy would be shooting them for sport.
so nice it needed to be repeated.
people with children…
nothing for those with disabilities
nothing for those without children
There was a minor increase in support for disabled students and those transitioning out of school, to be fair. Otherwise, you’re quite right.
You’re right, it’s not even remotely “left wing” policy. But for… well… since about 1935, NZders think leftwing policy can be summed up by the concept of “attempting or appearing to be nice to people you wouldn’t usually meet, as long as it doesn’t cost you anything in terms of aspirational lifestyle”.
If it’s any consolation, the Communist Manifesto consistently sells more than the books that surround it (mostly fiction or historical non-fiction) at the Auckland university bookstore. Dunno who reads it, or if they read it, but if they do then plenty of people know what left wing really means. Whether they then do anything about it is another question.
In terms of “outflanked by discussion”, I think it’s more a case of that there is no discussion.
The media reports views within the range of socio-economic status/perspective of the staff of the paper, tending towards the higher end; in TV media it’s the same thing x1000. The average person on the street knows what they know owing to lifestyle and earning ability, privilege or lack thereof, and either agrees or disagrees with media views. Media doesn’t sway average people on the street, they use it wrap takeaways, it only scares politicians because they rarely have direct links to what people on the street think. People know what they think and don’t change much while their lifestyle allows them to know what they think.
One way to “change the dialogue” is to have a government make changes that are required (and enforce those changes for a few decades) which may also be unpopular. This works on the right and the left. Even then, in my estimation, they’ll influence about 25% of the people – some cognitive functions/personality traits cannot be changed and will behave a certain way in certain environments.
Party’s on the left – of which there are none in NZ – don’t call BS on National because they want more or less what National wants – status quo lifestyle, minus National’s extremism. Like a newspaper staff writing stories within a restricted perspective, the members of the National government are higher up the socio-economic scale and their perspective rests there, there isn’t a viable political party populated by below middle-class types, so there isn’t going to be any constructive understanding of leftwing perspective by anyone in NZ politics. Even Uni students reading the Communist Manifesto is ironic.
In my opinion, anyone wanting to find “the new politics” is better off starting on the street, one on one, and moving from there: Live your convictions etc etc, change one situation as per your views etc etc, and for the real brave confident people, beginning grass-roots movements. There’s no harm in keeping a weather-eye on organised politics, and supporting a general turn toward the “less punitive” (often incorrectly refered to as leftwing) policies – which is why I don’t understand a lot of the hostility towards Labour on here – but the new politics won’t come from the top down, it’ll spread from the bottom outwards in all directions.
“status quo lifestyle, minus National’s extremism. Like a newspaper staff writing stories within a restricted perspective, the members of the National government are higher up the socio-economic scale and their perspective rests there, there isn’t a viable political party populated by below middle-class types, so there isn’t going to be any constructive understanding of leftwing perspective by anyone in NZ politics. ”
“it’ll spread from the bottom outwards in all directions.”
Well written.
Although the university students reading is not as scornful as you suggest. it’s the reading it and abandoning any small bit from it once they are a few years into their law career, or accounting career, or commerce career…
this appeared on my FB feed.
our Hairpuller in Chief is posing half naked selfies with his son?
https://www.facebook.com/MikeHoskingBreakfast/photos/a.182404265126476.42442.168001999900036/964708000229428/?type=1&theater
what the effn heck?
more ordinary man stuff from Rachel Glucina. More flagrant use by Key of his child to help create that image… the media, to their credit, stay away from printing anything about max, other than what max wants people to see.
that is breakfeast tv fb feed, that is official media. I actually thought that it was offensive for a public profile of a tv station/programme.
I think our Hairpuller is pulling a Putin.
Putin does an annual 3-4 hour live on air presser in front of cameras with international journalists and news networks, no questions barred, no teleprompters, no cuts, no edits.
I don’t think that our Hairpuller ‘n Chief is up to it, personally.
I’ve always thought of him as more of a Boris Yeltsin, compare the catwalk with Boris’ dancing, the handshake the need for touching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMThTEA4M0o
Not sure what this is all about. Is it trying to show that our leader, just like everyone else takes selfies all the time and wants to be a celebrity? And has put the pony pulling culture behind him.
It’s to show what drives the Herald and exactly WHY they haven’t taken any action against Ms Glucina despite their 4 versions of events of Bailey’s accusations, indicating Ms Glucina did not tell Ms Bailey at the beginning or early thereafter that she was in fact from the Herald and intended doing a story based on the interview.
On Mike’s bedroom wall.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/05/11/bela_doka_photographs_young_vladmir_putin_fans_in_his_series_fan_club_putin.html
Here’s a question for youse all:
Did anybody hear this morning’s NinetaNoom with the regular gal with the regular (don’t size-me-up) portfolio. Specifically the segment From the Right (Matty Dear); and from the Right (Oik Williams) – you know – that guy that professes a concern for incarcerated prisoners who are illiterate – that concern JUST as long as his personal circumstance is not inconvenienced in any way …. (another who prisoners and others of a supposed ‘left wing bent’ pin their hopes on – as they did with that Oik-On bastion of journalistic tegritty Paul Holmes – a Dear dear frend apparently).
Anyway – who did and what was your impression(s).
It struck me that there was a Hooten/Hooton (tie yourself up in loops if you will getting the spin doctors name right (and RIGHT is the keyword); AND if you care to place any credibility on the prick as if he was some legitimate media commentator ….. but it struck me his desperation in trying to show just how left wing our Key gubbamint is/was.
For me, the problem is/was that he referenced (as part of his argument of convenience) corporate welfare – that if he’s to be believed is/has been at an all-time HIGH (not surprising.
So…. have I got things wrong – and is this all-time HIGH in corporate welfare (in dollar terms pretty well guzumping eny left-wing tendenceis now supposedly being ‘left wing’?
I’d like to know – because my take is that its more about power at any cost – even if it means minimal concessions toward an ideology.
In my mind, there’s no doubt Labour are still so far right a good deal of their Shedo Kebnut Munstas have an obvious lean on them – their ball saks even probably challenge their tailors (apologies Aunty Rongotai/Eastern Burb – and pass on my condolences to that poor poor individual you’ve been acting fag hag for),
BUT if (as Matty Dear – well equipped with Croz/Txt spin is claiming the Natzi’s are looking left – it isn’t about ideological belief but more about fear, winning at any cost, and an ability to claim grass rooters support.
BTW John (JFK) Hevya ekshly hed that deep in meaninfull tork with ya kuds??
And just before the “how very dare you’ chants that will eventuate about not bringing femmely into the discussion ….. Paula Bennet should have thought about such moral considerations way back when she decided to use and abuse naming a dirty filthy bene in support of whatever it was she was chanting.
Inspite of the above (and my belief that what’s source for the goose is sauce for ganders), and mindful of a conributor going by the handle “Countryboy” ….. I’d really like to know contributors take on NinetaNoon this morning with both (the now) media whores Oik Williams and Matty Dear (as if any intelligent critical thinking living cell would give them any credence).
And TRP – no need to answer – I realise your commitments to LP wordage – for me it goes down like a Destiny Church looking at ways needed to fund their lifestyle
Cheers for the invite, but not much I can say except to point out that Williams does go out of his way to help prisoners, so that actually does inconvenience his lifestyle, in the sense that he could be charging for the time and work there that he does pro bono. Not sure I much liked the homophobic comment buried in there, either. Other than that, carry on.
I was pretty sure you weren’t going to like any of the comment. In fact I’m bloody sure many won’t. I TRP’d you only because you appear to be an apologist for the way the Labour Party has become in recent times – and by now you’ll have realised I’m utterly disgusted with them – when I consider the activists I’ve known over the years that current Labour effectively shits on …… the whole ‘deserving poor ( the worker )’ versus the ‘undeserving poor (the dirty filthy bene)’ meme they’ve bought in to. Of course you don;t like labels like ‘fag hag’ etc …. unless of course you’re gay yourself – in which case referring to fags, mysogenistic labels (such as referring to female genitalia as ‘gashes’ et al is OK.
But that’s the least of it TRP (in fact you could refer to me as a part time fag myself if you so wished except I think it was prbably a mid-life crisis phase) – it’s a convenient excuse tho eh? to dismiss all the rest of it.
If you do want to engage – give me your opinion on the Hootxn argument today.
I used to ask myself not so long ago …. WHY DOES ANY minority (such as an immigrant, a member of LGBT community, Maori, the working poor, the beneficiary, the digitally divided, …… ANY) vote Natzi or rightish wing/authoritarian tending fascist.
Now I find myself asking why the fuck WOULD they vote Labour. I acknowledge your brave attempts at pushing shit uphill …. and I’ve always hoped that shit might turn into chocolate ice cream. I don’t see any signs thus far of it doing so.
I used to live in hope too (that Labour would actually represent ‘the worker’; ‘the poor’; ‘the indigent’, ….. ‘the downtrodden’).
I woke up to the fact that along came MMP, and along came the realisation that many (politicians not excluded) are often now driven by ego, self-aggrandisement, treats and trinkets and fear of losing them, maintaining the various little cliques and bubbles they sign up to – rather than membership to community (geographic/spatial/physical) and the empathetic associations that go with that. (Something trad Labour once stood for – but NO LONGER).
Call me homophobic, call me a cunt or a prik, call me all you like – don’t bother holding a committee meeting about it tho eh? (you can rest assured it’s how I think of those gutless hijackers of trad Labour who didn’t even have the Blairite GUTS to try and rebrand – as in NEW LABOUR). Christ how they’ve bought the cool aid! I mean I knew there were one or two Hills and Toliches and other specimens who’d decided life was easier to ditch the principles they built their careers on in favour of an AMEX Gold and one or two investment properties – it just took me a while to realise how widespread it’d become – apparently yourself included.
(I can hear the owner of this site’s logic gates going clatter clatter clatter weighing up a ban and how it can be justified btw – not unlike uranium on someone’s breath)
You’re the expert TRP!. What’s Labour’s plan because I’ve spent a lifetime trying to find reasons to vote for them (up until the last election) and I sure as hell ain’t the only one.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11454405
– oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/343420/claims-nz-post-using-zero-hours-contracts-denied
NZ Post says it doesn’t use zerohour contracts . . . but then so has every company criticised for using them.
You had better go and jump up and down on Michael Cullen’s doorstep, hadn’t you?
He is the boss, so is responsible for the NZ Post activities.
Of course he may not have sobered up enough to realise what is going on.
Cullen’s not the boss, he’s chairman of the board. You do know the difference between governance and management, doncha, Alwyn?
Morale is terrible in the dunedin branch. It’s hard being an oncall postie, you could have 6 days work, you could have less, you wait at the phone & if they need you they will ring. If they don’t then no phone call (yet they could ring anytime of the day).
Reminiscent of wharfies lined up at the gates waiting to see how many were needed that day…
Yep, but even better because the workforce isn’t publicly visible when it’s not needed and the unused workers aren’t hanging out together getting angry (and getting organised) as the wharfies and similar workers did.
😆
The National Party doesn’t understand the difference – why on Earth do you think Alwyn might?
Hoverboard. Come in Brett Dale, your time is up 🙂
whatever happened to Brett?
Interesting result. This is pre-budget however so take from that what you will…
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6248-roy-morgan-new-zealand-voting-intention-may-2015-201505250727
I notice Kiwiblog is advertising “Meet the sweet Asian woman you were meant to be with.” When you consider the commenters there, you can only admire the skill with which the advertisers have identified their target market.
Do you not approve of Asian women marrying New Zealanders?
What are you implying Psycho Milt?
What are you implying Psycho Milt?