After the firefight

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 pm, November 21st, 2012 - 128 comments
Categories: labour - Tags:

To paraphrase a great man of the Labour Party, Shearer won, Cunliffe lost, eat that.

Whatever Cunliffe did or didn’t do, he’s been demoted.  Shearer has arranged a convenient vote of confidence in his leadership which I have to hope even his supporters can see is a complete paper tiger.

There’s still going to be a vote in February.  So there’s still going to be media focus on fun inter-faction crap instead of Actual Issues.

The point I’m stuck on is this:  now there are calls for “unity” – which does kinda bug me because there’s a big difference between genuine unity (punctuated by hopefully constructive arguments) and everyone pretending to get along for the cameras and not calling out bad shit because It Will Look Bad.

And a lot of these calls for unity seem to imply that basically, it’s the anti-Shearer people who need to put up or shut up, who need to stop pointing out his perceived errors.

But even today, while David Cunliffe takes his lumps and doesn’t comment to the media, as instructed, as agreed by caucus … well looky here, someone’s been talking to Claire Trevett about what went down in the caucus room.

I’m all for unity – genuine unity punctuated by constructive arguments, that is – and I’m all for waiting until February, looking at Shearer’s performance, letting the democratic wheels of the Labour Party turn.

But not when “unity” means “Cunliffe fans shut up, Shearer fans do whatever the hell they like”.  Not when “unity” means refraining from pointing out that it’s leaky bullshit like this which makes the Labour Party look unstable.  Not when “unity” means pretending that David Shearer’s faction aren’t acting like insecure Mean Girls who just got told someone else is wearing white gold hoops to prom.

Let’s have proper debate if we need to.  Let’s smack down the media narrative that people disagreeing within a party = SCANDALOUS INFIGHTING.  Let’s all grow the fuck up.  Starting with David Shearer and Trevor Mallard.

128 comments on “After the firefight ”

  1. geoff 1

    Paranoid Conspiracy Theory That I Just Thought Of:
    Rightwingers organise to join the Labour Party before Feb so they can vote and influence leadership vote.

    Could this happen?

    • karol 1.1

      Some claim they are already doing that. I guess they have no respect for democracy & will be happy to skew the system in their favour.

      • BM 1.1.1

        Where’s the lack of respect for democracy?
        I’m voting Shearer in an attempt to halt Cunliffe.
        National will eventually lose, so when it does I want the leader of the opposition to be as closely aligned to my type of thinking as possible.

        • felix 1.1.1.1

          Will you be actively working against your new-found party in the hope that they lose the election?

          If so you’re a traitor.

    • geoff 1.2

      why the fuck would anybody even bother

      [lprent: we already have a current geoff, changing your handle. ]

    • Well they are welcome to if they contribute money, all the more to use against Key in 2014.

  2. One of the qualities that Mr Shearer said about himself when or just prior to getting elected leader, is that he had lots of negotiation skills “you are going to see a different type of politics” type thing, it appeared that he knew how to deal with conflict in a positive manner.

    I thought this sounded very good at the time.

    What has occurred recently indicates very clearly that no such skills are evident or exist. A very poor show.

    • Tom Gould 2.1

      Hard to ‘negotiate’ or cut a ‘deal’ with someone who smiles and agrees and lies to your face, then sets about leaking and spinning and back stabbing the second they leave the room.

  3. Dr Terry 3

    Well, once more I find myself looking to quotes in connection with “leadership”. Here goes:

    Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance” (J. Donald Walters)
    Strange, but it is not Cunliffe who comes to mind!

    You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership (Dwight D. Eisenhower).
    Funny, but again one is not thinking of Cunliffe here! Who else might there be?

    Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together (“unity” from Jesse Jackson).
    Somebody managed not to achieve that yesterday! (And he is author of an article on Conflict Resolution! Have a guess who!)

    Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing (Tom Peters). Well, Tom, you sure can say that again!
    If only!

    Bad leadership during the past years has cast on our Party the shadow of great and grave burdens (Bob Iger). Think about it (if you need to think).

    When a man assumes leadership, he forfeits the right to mercy (G. Angiulo). Again, we just might have somebody in mind! (They are not my words!)

    That will do for tonight’s exercises in meditation.

    • Jenny 3.1

      Churchill: You’ve got enemies. Good. It means you stood for something.

    • Rhinocrates 3.2

      I’m thinking too of Admiral Sir John Jellico (later Governor General of NZ and keen yachtie) who was nicknamed “Silent Jack”. It was said of him that he never raised his voice… because he never needed to.

      Unlike David Cartman… I mean Shearer, who demands that people respect his authortitah.

      • Pascal's bookie 3.2.1

        “the beatings shall continue..”

        • Peter 3.2.1.1

          Ah yes, the flogging will stop when the morale improves.

          As a matter of fact, I got a cease and desist message from an MP in the Shearer faction today too, simply for my comments on this blog.

          • lprent 3.2.1.1.1

            And you have been somewhat moderate.

            But folks, now you know why I insist on making sure that pseudonyms are respected. For that matter why it is part of the RFC for the net (for those that don’t know what these are – they were the tool that built the net). I dug it out for Mike after I referred to ‘net rules’. There are a few more RFC’s around that relate to similar topics.

            http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1855 Netiquette Guidelines

            It is from 1995 and largely about usenet, but the same principles carry through to this type of forum. In fact these were mostly cribbed from earlier documents that were common around BBS’es.

            “If a user is using a nickname alias or pseudonym, respect that user’s desire for anonymity. Even if you and that person are close friends, it is more courteous to use his nickname. Do not use that person’s real name online without permission.”

            and of course

            “Material which is inappropriate when posted under one’s own name is still inappropriate when posted anonymously.”

            But I suspect that I won’t get call from an MP, they probably really aren’t likely to like what I say. If I get a message then they’d better state their authority to make it. It is going to be interesting to see if anyone actually tries the John A Lee approach

            I should write a post so those ill-educate journo’s and politicians learn about net cultures. They have no idea on how deep that the net culture penetrates deep into all of the systems.

      • lurgee 3.2.2

        Is this the same Jellicoe that Churchill described (WW1) as being the only man on either side capable of LOSING the war in an afternoon?

        Wouldn’t mind not being compared to him, frankly.

    • Jenny 3.3

      While we’re talking about leadership quotes. Here is one of my favourites:

      There is no such thing as bad soldiers.
      Only bad generals.

      Napoleon

  4. tc 4

    ‘Let’s all grow the fuck up. Starting with David Shearer and Trevor Mallard.’ well the former doesn’t seem to care who leaks what (which will be used against him by the nats) and the latter is incapable of such an act.

    English 02 is being re-run as DS in 14, with the same architects of the Goff era 08-11 running the show, it’s the most inevitable of train crashes so be nice and toe the line all you party faithful or you’ll miss being part of the wreckage.

    • alwyn 4.1

      I read the original post and thought yes, yes,, this can be achieved.
      Then I read the last paragraph and realised that getting Mallard to grow up is impossible.
      He seems to vary between the behaviour of a two year old who has just learnt the word NO and a testosterone charged fifteen year old male teenager. In either case he is never going to grow up.

  5. Jenny 5

    A phony unanimous vote for the leader, followed by rounds of applause for the leader each person afraid to be the first to be seen to stop clapping.

    20th century Soviet Russia? or 21st century Labour Caucus?

    A phony unanimous vote usually means a phony leader.

    • lurgee 5.1

      What’s phoney about it? They endorsed Shearer as leader for now. If there was a genuine desire to get rid of him directly, then it would have happened. There wasn’t, so it didn’t. Applying your favourite words to something doesn’t actually make it true. I can describe myself as handsome, witty, well sexed, successful and happy, but only some of those words genuinely apply.

      And it is pretty repulsive to hear people describing this as akin to Stalinist Russia. A sort of leftwing version of godwin’s Law should be formulated. Perhaps, the first socialist to compare a political opponent to Stalin loses the argument and is a dick?

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1

        What’s phoney about it?

        its as genuine as returning the North Korean leader with a 99.6% majority.

      • Jenny 5.1.2

        Is the saying, phoney as a two bob watch still used these days?

        It’s phoney because it was only extracted with the use of threats and bribes, the promise of promotion and threatened demotion by the Shearer gang. In a free vote Shearer may still have won it. But no way, not in this universe, or any other, would it be unanimous.

        Kim Il Sung was a leader who regularly received unanimous endorsement of his position as leader at party conferences.

        20th century Soviet congress, or 21st century Labour caucus such unanimous votes by their very nature are phoney.

        Let me ask you this lurgee;

        If you really think this was a free and not a phoney unanimous vote. Do you also think the vote in February will see the caucus members voting unanimously in support of their ‘Dear Leader’?

        If so, you are in cloud cuckoo land

        • lurgee 5.1.2.1

          Awesome. Now we’ve got North Korea in the mix as well. You guys just don’t stop giving! Can we get some African and Arab dictators as well?

          I don’t know if the LP caucus will vote unanimously for DS in Feb. I doubt they will. But that’s not the point, is it? Shearer asked if he had the current and ongoing (in the short term) support of his peers. They said they did. February is another matter.

          • blue leopard 5.1.2.1.1

            @Lurgee,

            There is no debate in the above responses to you over whether a Caucus poll was conducted; the comments were related to the nature of the poll; that it was phony.

            Your response doesn’t address this issue.

          • Jenny 5.1.2.1.2

            Yeh. Maybe Shearer can throw them some mango skins.

          • Bill 5.1.2.1.3

            February is another matter.

            BINGO!

            See, that’s basically what Cunliffe indicated over the weekend, y’know, when he said that Shearer had his confidence/support but that speculating on February had nothing to do with the conference or matters being discussed at the conference.

          • Colonial Viper 5.1.2.1.4

            But that’s not the point, is it? Shearer asked if he had the current and ongoing (in the short term) support of his peers. They said they did. February is another matter.

            Cunliffe met all these criteria.

            And yet Shearer and the ABCs took the flamethrower to him anyway.

  6. Well said QoT.
    Can i say that without being accused of hating freedom and loving terrorism?

  7. NZ Femme 7

    “…The point I’m stuck on is this: now there are calls for “unity” – which does kinda bug me because there’s a big difference between genuine unity (punctuated by hopefully constructive arguments) and everyone pretending to get along for the cameras and not calling out bad shit because It Will Look Bad…”

    Bugs me too. The stench from this fire isn’t going to dissipate anytime soon for me. Particularly the stink of wippet boy Chris Hipkin’s commentary to the press. The glee in which he delivered his barrage was embarrassing to watch.

    The likening of David Cunliffe to a huhu grub by Minister of Porn Shane Jones has likewise left a particularly nasty smell in my nostrils.

    These are the most vivid images/odours this average left leaning voter has been left with after the past few days. Funnily enough, neither reflect on David Cunliffe, who now smells strangely like roses to me.

    • weka 7.1

      Weirdly he smells like that to me too (Cunliffe). I don’t even know if I like the guy. It’s very strange to be herded into the Cunliffe camp by a series of bizarre events even though I probably wouldn’t have chosen to be there otherwise (and am only there because I happened to be standing round watching when the shit hit the fan).

  8. Stanley1946 8

    Those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them, said somebody.
    Maybe Hegel said it better when he said, ‘We learn from history that no-one learns from history.’
    Born in 1946, I am old enough to remember the early TV debates between a murderously focused and confident Rob Muldoon, and a ‘nice guy’ called Bill Rowling, who had taken over leadership from the miraculously eloquent Norman Kirk. I noticed that Bill R blinked a lot. Far too much… I used to amuse myself by counting the number of times he would blink per phrase, even if I lost count for the whole interview… Despite the formation of the ‘Citizens for Rowling’ group and other desperate measures taken by the Left’s advocates, I suspected that the public would not warm to blinky Rowling, and much to my disgust, Muldoon won by a landslide.

    • Rhinocrates 8.1

      Except that Shearer has now trashed any hopes of being perceived as a “nice guy”, so he’s now got nothing. “Bumbling and inarticulate but basically a nice guy” (if you’re not a beneficiary) has been replaced by “bumbling, inarticulate and prone to panic and become vindictive and totalitarian when under pressure.”

      In my mind, he’s not Satan or Stalin, but rather a multiple-choice question.

      David Shearer is:

      (A) A genuinely nice guy with a lot of potential that will become apparent any day now , perhaps even as soon as 1993, but cruelly undermined by Darth Cunliffe.

      (B) Dilbert’s Pointy-Haired Boss.

      (C) The Second Coming of Leonid Brezhnev.

      (D) Eric Cartman suddenly given authoritah.

      (E) A fundamentally weak man out of his depth who thinks that authoritarianism is strength, like all bullies. As such, he is easily manipulated by underlings who can’t take responsibility themselves.

      (F) All of the above, excepting A.

      A sign, I think, of the Labour caucus’ decadence is their belief that first, they are destined for power, no matter what and that therefore they simply should wait to have it delivered to them; and that second, when this doesn’t happen, it is because all of their real enemies are internal.

      • RedLogix 8.1.1

        You’re getting better and better Rhino….

      • Colonial Viper 8.1.2

        A sign, I think, of the Labour caucus’ decadence is their belief that first, they are destined for power, no matter what and that therefore they simply should wait to have it delivered to them

        The peoples’ party has become a born to rule aristocracy consisting of establishment Old Guard MPs supplemented by newer MPs who are actually all their own Former Staffers.

    • lurgee 8.2

      Santayana for the first one. Hegel said something similar (but said it first) and Marx played with it a little bit: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” Question is, are we in the tragedy or farce phase?

  9. Herodotus 9

    So where is the comment from Shearer of disappointment that someone has leaked caucus business, and what is being done to ascertain the source of Trevett’s article. To some the actions of this individual have been condoned by Shearer and co.
    Cunliffe already appears as a martyr ” He later said he was not able to comment because caucus had decided that only Mr Shearer would speak on the matter.” whilst another faction has been re reading Machiavelli.

  10. Draco T Bastard 10

    Required fucken reading.

    Party fratricide does not necessarily spell the death of the Party but is a sign not only of deep division within it, but of fundamental weakness. After all, if a Party cannot unite around a common set of objectives, leaders or beliefs in the face of a coherent and well-organized opposition, then it is less a political Party than an amalgam of sectoral interests forced together by political circumstance and shallow ideological affinity.

    IMO, The Labour Party as it once was is toast.

    • karol 10.1

      Ah, yes. I quoted from that somewhere today … here. I thought the bit about “absence of core values” seems apt for the NZ LP today. Even though they have a long list of principles etc on their website, Somehow the practice and the words and the spirit don’t match up.

       

    • Rhinocrates 10.2

      Actually, while I find cynicism and sarcasm oh so easy, I really do take heart from the conference. The membership asserted itself brilliantly. The people who constitute the actual party are committed and energised. They know what they want and they’ve got it. The party is not a lost cause, not by any means, and they might yet turn the caucus in the medium term.

  11. [RL: Deleted. You are on a one week ban. See here]

  12. AmaKiwi 12

    John Armstrong told us this morning the Labour Party doesn’t need an open election in February 2013 because it’s already been decided.

    I’ll go with Armstrong because he’s always right . . . very right.

    • Craig Glen Eden 12.1

      Thankfully John Armstrong does not run the Labour Party as of last Saturday the members do heres to February. I bet their will a BBQ or two at Phils place between now and February. Shearer should cancel all overseas holidays.

  13. QoT like lots of people on TS are confused by the call for unity. Yet that is exactly what the right must appeal to in order to blame those on the left for challenging their power. They will get away with it if people fall for this call for unity, masking as it does the real stakes in play.

    In effect that appeal to unity is to ask those on the left who stand for the traditional constituency of LP, the working class, especially the poorest, to remain passive and follow orders from the right cabal of reconstructed neo-liberals to make the poor pay for the global crisis, by balancing budgets, allowing regressive taxes to rule, only tinkering with the market in housing, interest rates etc. What the Shearer right offers international finance capital is a soft cop government to follow the hard cop NACTs when they have finished their rip, shit, bust rule. That is why the Shearer right is not opposing the NACTs. It is waiting for its turn in office with its nicer, kinder brand of neo-liberalism.

    Now the right cabal has exposed its role as the power base of Blairite neo-liberalism, unity with these traitors to the working class amounts to treason. It is to give up the fight and resign to the global capitalist program to strip NZ of its assets and drive NZ workers further into cheap, deregulated slave labour for international finance capital.

    Seen in this light, unity on these terms is betrayal, while disunity around the growing open split between the interests of capital and labour reflects the reality, that the fight for control of the Labour Party is a symptom of the class war. To win a war you have to understand you are in one, and prepare to fight it, or go down in defeat. If you don’t fight, you don’t win.

  14. Grassroots 14

    There will be no unity until the membership have a chance to exercise their democratic rights which they have just gained from the conference. It’s time to get the Party back!

  15. Chrissy 15

    Given all the grief and rage, it’s worth reviewing a few things as they happened again: the role of the media beatup for one, trying to prise a provocation out of Cunliffe, then running off to tell Shearer Cunliffe is going after him, on the strength of this story.

    It’s not pretty, but here it is, from Saturday at conference. Remember this is TV3 rolling out their best material from a fair bit of filming to try to prop up their leadership challenge story.

    http://www.3news.co.nz/Shearer-denies-Labour-leadership-shakeup/tabid/370/articleID/277072/Default.aspx

    • Judge Holden 15.1

      Yes, there was no attempt by Cunliffe or any of his supporters to undermine the leadership. None at all. Why are you all acting as the Nats’ proxies? They’re laughing at you, guys. At you.

      • lprent 15.1.1

        I know of nothing overt that Cunliffe did that undermined the leadership. So far the best anyone has come up with is that he smiled and was known to have stood against Shearer.

        And supporters? Really? Give me a break. Again no evidence, no smoking gun, and presumably you’d waffle off into a morass of meaningless supposition and innuendo when challenged.

        Cunliffe has about as much chance of controlling supporters as whale has of controlling his urges to being tacky and kind of disgusting. This is a country where we don’t permit pathetic thought police to gain a toehold. So people cannot be persecuted for the thoughts of others. And idiots like yourself can say those types of dumbarse things without it reflecting back on to Shearer.

        Incidentally if attitudes like your unthinking stupidity ever did become the norm, then you’d find me taking some far different actions than merely running a blog.

        In the meantime you rather look like a fool.

        • Judge Holden 15.1.1.1

          You’re the ones being played. You’re currently spending all your time attacking one another, with quite a degree of viciousness I might add, while the tories are quietly going about enriching themselves at your expense. And I’m the fool? Get real.

          • lprent 15.1.1.1.1

            Sorry, I didn’t realize you were a troll. So you have nothing to say? Nothing to contribute? No intelligence..

            Oh well you will probably get swept away in a moderation sweep.

            • Judge Holden 15.1.1.1.1.1

              A moderation sweep? What are you Big Brother?

              [lprent: Yes but I prefer the computer nomenclature – old school. Around here I’m usually known as sysop, or BOFH. People departing usually just refer to me as bastard. However my mother disagrees…

              Read the about and the policy. While there are a number of moderators, I’m probably the nastiest overall. I find humiliation works best on people who are too stupid to read the site rules. Like you. It encourages them not to make the same foolish error elsewhere on the net. ]

              • Judge Holden

                Don’t be a dick. That sort of crap is expected from the likes of the losers and shills at No Minister and Keeping Stock, but you’re supposedly better than that.

          • the pink postman. 15.1.1.1.2

            It seems to me that some people just like to find fault with Labour. These are the same crowd that talk but never act to help Labour. The same lot who attacked Helen Clark ,attacked Phil Goff and now are having a go at David Shearer . The New Lynn LEC. needs to have a good look at it self . Do they want a Labour Government 2014 or do they want another session with the disaster we have now. or do they just want an excuse to moan and criticize. Direct your stupid anger at Key and the evil P. Bennett or shut up now.

            • Judge Holden 15.1.1.1.2.1

              Agreed. This destructive behaviour will do nothing except ensure that the centre-left stays out of power and Joyce gets to continue looting. It’s naive, immature and really, really dumb.

            • Craig Glen Eden 15.1.1.1.2.2

              really pp what New Lynn LEC want like other Labour Party members as voted by them in the weekend is more say in the party . When have the New Lynn LEC complained about Helen Clarke or David Shearer. So the New Lynn LEC who raise money and give to the Party more than their Levies every year are moaners ? Well fuck me its the first I knew about it and I been involved with them for 10 years and what you are alleging is total bloody bullshit. these would be the same people including my self that spent hours putting up Shearer signs and had family members used for his campaign photos so next time you spout of shit get your bloody facts right.

              • Judge Holden

                No one said they were moaners. They and the others who seem incapable of accepting the party’s decision to make Shearer leader are making a very good fist of helping the Nats to retain power though. I put this down to petulance and naivete rather than anything untoward, but the outcome is the same.

                • Colonial Viper

                  They and the others who seem incapable of accepting the 18 MP’s decision to make Shearer leader

                  fify

                  And Shearer would not be having any problems now if he was making real leadership use of the horrible year that National are having.

                  • Judge Holden

                    That’s the process and if you want to see the centre-left in power any time this decade you should accept it and get on. You’re not helping anyone but Bennett, Brownlee, Joyce, McCully, Ryall and Key. Hope you feel good about that.

                    • felix

                      “That’s the process”

                      Was.

                    • Magnus McManus

                      That’s the point people seem to be missing. With Shearer as leader there will be no Labour-led government in 2014. No matter how much we act nice, ‘get in behind him’, ‘unify’, or ‘lend him our full support’. With Shearer as Leader, National will win 2014. No if’s, but’s or maybe’s.
                      They. Will Win.
                      Anyone who can’t see that needs to leave the party now. You’re nothing but a liability.

            • blue leopard 15.1.1.1.2.3

              @ The Pink Postman,

              I really don’t think the current criticism of Labour is coming from the place you are thinking it is.

              I note that there are many comments on TS in which Labour are praised for the policies that they came out with at the conference and then follow with criticism squarely shafted toward the caucus.

              If David Shearer wants to assert that he is in charge, as is so clearly what he was attempting to do re Cunliffe, he needs to address the media-leak that was done a few months ago resulting in an article severely criticizing Mr Cunliffe. I am truly surprised that he hasn’t already; it is an utterly terrible “look” to have such a snipey article published openly citing sources within the Labour party and the leader not addressing this. That he hasn’t, and yet severely chastised Mr Cunliffe over a lot less, makes it extremely easy to believe the ABC rumours and also makes it look like he (DS) would have actively had something to do with the snipey article himself. Very unbecoming; not asserting savvy leadership, as is apparent he is attempting to do.

              Opposition parties have a duty, and as many comments have said, with a Government this farcical this should be a fairly simple duty to achieve. Labour is somehow equalling the farcical nature of this Government-it is hard to believe that this would be possible, yet is the way I am starting to view these antics from the NZLP caucus. Disgraceful.

        • Jenny 15.1.1.2

          I know of nothing overt that Cunliffe did that undermined the leadership.

          Lynne Prentice

          Cunliffe spoke up on some rather major issues that the current leadership would rather not see raised at all. Caucus were afraid that if Cunliffe kept up this outrageous behaviour that they would be forced to take a stand one way or another.

          This presented a quandary.

          Come down on the conservative side of these issues, would be unpopular with flax roots Labour. Come down on the left side of these issues and hot oil and brimstone would be poured on their heads by the conservative establishment and business and media. Caught in this terrible bind, caucus decided it would be easier to shoot (sideline) the messenger.

      • Bill 15.1.2

        Oh, in case you missed it JH. I’m not a Labour Party member. I’m just a part of the working class. My politics are usually focussed on areas outside of what you might term the parliamentary framework. I also have no great expectations with regards parliamentary politics/politicians delivering anything much worth writing home about.

        But with Shearer, even my very low expectations are going to be confounded.

        Does it not say anything to you when a person who is usually disparaging of the parliamentary set up – who has almost zero expectations with regards that set-up – feels a need to speak out quite stridently on the matter of the leader of an opposition party being utterly inadequate?

        I wouldn’t expect much from Cunliffe either by the way. He would (I suspect) merely return my levels of disappointment in parliamentary politics to ‘normal’ levels.

        The policies that parliament enacted these past few terms have made my life a lot more difficult. But I expect that when a National led government drives policy. And I don’t expect too much from Labour. But I do expect something.

        The analogy I keep coming back to is that National governments simply break our legs while Labour governments break our legs and expect thanks when they affor us crutches. With Shearer there isn’t even that front of faux compassion. With Shearer, the impression I get is that there would be no ‘let up’. None at all.

        Further, I suspect NZ is going to tank within the next few years (Chinese and Australian bubbles popping). And the last thing I and thousands of others need is ‘apologetic’ austerity on top of the shit we’ve endured these past few years.

        Is Cunliffe a guarantee against apologetic austerity and people in my position being vilified? No. But apologetic austerity and on going vilification is a sure fire thing with Shearer.

        There is, I believe, the possibility of a ‘step change’ within the Labour Party due to the small injection of democratic procedure that came through at their conference. I believe it could make Labour politicians more responsive to the needs of ‘everyday’ people (insofar as they also members) I believe that if it comes about it will be driven on two fronts. One front would full of cynical old bastards like me who have really had enough after 30 years neo-liberal bullshit. The other is full of optimistic younger types who have no connection to or love for the old ossified heirarchies of control and who may be less inclined to defer to authority. Then again, it could just be the younger types want to ascend to power. Whatever.

        Point is, we can’t carry on along the 1980’s trajectory. We’ve had it with that. And maybe…and I am only saying maybe…the likes of Cunliffe would alter that trajectory somewhat.

        Whether there was a conspiracy or not, the fact is that many people with no connection to the LAbour Party feel an absolute and urgent need for a shift.

        and now i need coffee

  16. Alanz 16

    Hi Everyone

    I have always been supportive of the Labour leadership and their advisers regardless of who they have been. I have tried to withhold judgment in the past few days but increasingly find myself returning to the conclusion that the judgment calls – including particularly the latest one – which Shearer made reflects poorly on his ability as leader; do not put the Labour Party on the course for an inclusive, wise and democratic party; and has revealed he and his advisers are not able to competently balance and include a range of valid and legitimate interests within the Party.

    It pains me to say that history will record the present Labour leadership as losing sight of the way forward and the latest decision taken in caucus as been poor and wrong.

    Regardless of this, I will not walk away from the Party but will stand by to help ensure the Party stays on course.

    • lprent 16.1

      That does seem to be the approach that many people are taking.

      Looking at the way ahead, I doubt that there will wind up being a Feb vote pushed out to the party. There are simply going to be too many ways to exert pressure in the concentration camp that caucus has been made into. Running a Stalin style show trial because someone had leadership ambitions and smiled the wrong way? Without bothering to produce a shred of proof of smoking gun? Give me a break – this is bullshit

      Now into thursday and all we are getting is very poor spin. Hell I half keep expecting that we will start hearing about a tape that can’t be produced as someone suggested last night.

      FFS: how did we wind up with this pack of incompetents in caucus. This what you get by electing youngish staffers without any realworld grounding experience I guess.

      I doubt that we will get much progress in the party’s reforms going forward. Any movement towards greater democracy and transparency inside the party is going to be a threat to people who think like that.

      I was thinking it through this morning, and I can’t bring myself the for the kinds of incompetent politicians who’d run this kind of stalin type show trial. Imagine what would happen if people who think like that got into a position of real power. Urrgh.

      So it looks to me like I will be opting for voting Green in 2014 as being the most effective way to get competent politicians of a sort of left persausion into a position to topple National. The surprising thingto me is that I can think about them as being competent these days based on their performance.

      I guess I just joined the Labour Ulterior damnit.

      • Colonial Viper 16.1.1

        There are simply going to be too many ways to exert pressure in the concentration camp that caucus has been made into.

        And this is the classic Douglas/Prebble/Caygill play of the old bad times.

      • ad 16.1.2

        Crikey LPrent that’s a big call to turn Green after decades of service to Labour. Really sad.

        I have been a Labour activist for 13 years. And I feel the same.

        I could not look Shearer in the face and say I will fight for you, with all my money, all my strength, every volunteer hour I have to dispose of, and win an election. He just shames us.

        I have just had to do a 5k run every morning before sunrise just to collect the necessary seratonin for the day.

        I am utterly exhausted and dispirited about the Labour Party.

        • lprent 16.1.2.1

          Not turning Green. In many ways I have been green for a long time. Since reading some of John Brunner’s books back in the 70’s was bit of an eye opener for me and I did a lot of reading afterwards. Most people who do or did science that are based around biology or earth sciences are quite green because it gets pretty damn hard to pretend that the world is boundless when you look closely at how fragile some of the systems are. But the local Green’s have had a tendency of electing many people that I’d have to describe as flakes rather than politicians.

          But I’m going to vote Green because their politicians no longer turn my stomach with their ineptitude, whereas the some of the Labour ones do. Effectively shift the coalition.

          But I’m going to stay in Labour because the Labour party isn’t the same as the Labour caucus and the party is reforming whilst the caucus is getting worse.

          • ad 16.1.2.1.1

            Sorry shouldn’t have capitalised green as Green. What I was agreeing with was the sensibility, and the vote.

            Labour is beginning to remind me of my first marriage. Not that the grass is always Greener …

            Totally agree with your last paragraph.

      • Jackal 16.1.3

        I agree, it is bullshit, bullshit that many authors on The Standard also promoted 1prent. I seem to recall many requests for Labour to take a leadership challenge from Cunliffe seriously. Now you’re saying the only thing that was really wrong was Cunliffe smiling like Cheshire Cat when Shearer wasn’t. These two realities don’t reconcile themselves well.

        You claim that there is a move towards less democracy, while the NBR et al. says Labour has moved further to the left. I think you’ll agree that the left is inherently more democratic than the right 1prent. The left observe a move to the right, the right observe a move to the left… Nothing new there. My observation is that Labour hasn’t really changed all that much at all. They are still a centre left party with policy designed to help the bulk of New Zealanders, not just a select few.

        It’s amusing that an already Green party supporter is arguing against you becoming Green 🙂 But do it for the right reasons 1prent, not any spur of the moment decision based on Cunliffe’s demotion because of meddling… Meddling that wasn’t just undertaken by the media btw. Unfortunately this meddling is continuing to undermine the left wing, not just Labour. I therefore think it is very foolish!

        I also recall warning people about undermining their own causes. In this I have observed a move by The Standard (The Standard ie it’s authors) towards the centre. A pity because the hard left viewpoint is one of the reasons I started reading The Standard in the first place.

        • Colonial Viper 16.1.3.1

          Labour is a Blairite third way party, if that’s what you’re saying passes for Centre Left these days.

  17. Uturn 17

    Cunliffe hasn’t “lost”, the game is still in play.
    Shearer cannot win, while the members and affiliates demand democracy.
    No single person is the power behind any political party.
    Under these conditions unity for democratic systems could exisit within the membership, but not around a caucus offering a direction members do not want to take.
    The membership can give up their power to whoever or whatever they want, or they can assert their autonomy, which will require on-going effort.
    The game of transition ends when the membership is satisfied of the outcome.

    • Pascal's bookie 17.1

      Well, while I admire the sentiment, I only agree up to point.

      There’s a process. Shearer’s have fucked all over that of course, but still.

      If the trigger doesn’t get pulled in the Feb caucus vote, then Shearer is leader fair and square and the party should fall in.

      So right now, I d suggest making sure memberships are up to date and had by them that want ’em, and lobbying the fuck out of caucus, and the more privately the better on that last score.

      • Slartibartfast 17.1.1

        Is it only the Caucus which can pull the trigger?

        • Colonial Viper 17.1.1.1

          That’s what the rules say.

          Short of a major extra-constitutional action by a very large number of LECs and members of course… 😎

          • Slartibartfast 17.1.1.1.1

            So……Caucus chooses Leader, Leader then effectively chooses caucus by removing those he doesn’t like, Leader can only be removed by caucus. Who chose those dumb rules?
            And you wonder why the party members end up with the opposite of what they want (for years and years).

    • ad 17.2

      This was the worst caucus meeting since 1987, according to all reports I have heard. Cunliffe has been firebombed into ash. I don’t like it but he is politically dead. There is no coming back.

      Whether the members have a say or not is only one or two swinging votes away from Shearer’s magic 22 block. My bet is that’s easy to get because Shearer has all the capacity to buy votes with safe seat appointments. Andrew Little replacing Ross Robertson is the easy play. There will be more.

      There needs to be a new hero found for those who don’t want Shearer. And there isn’t one.

      I think Shearer gets a 5% Preferred PM bump, Robertson is content with holding the full deck, and this is precisely where we are in October 2014.

      • Jenny 17.2.1

        Cunliffe has been firebombed into ash. I don’t like it but he is politically dead. There is no coming back.

        ad

        Never say never, ad. Like Lynne I believe that Shearer has the numbers and levers within caucus to avoid the trigger vote. It’s a shame but probably true.

        But a true leader doesn’t need title, or position, to shape events. I believe that if Cunliffe is not intimidated into silence and keeps openly expressing his views on the subjects close to his heart. (which is his right to do as an MP). Then by moral pressure alone he will embarrass the current leadership to adopt policies further to the left than they they would, if left to their own devices.

        To David Cunliffe; stick in there.

        I have been impressed by your discipline and restraint under fire.

        Don’t let this set back stop you speaking the truth about the climate or the economy.

        As Labour Party back bench member and moral leader, The financiers and the polluters won’t like you for it, neither will their parliamentary lickspittles, but the climate the economy and the poor will thank you it.

        As the leader of Pussy Riot told the court when she was sentenced to two years in prison. I feel sorry for all you people because we are free to say what we like.

        David, I believe that you have history, but also the public on your side.

        In the end, the ways of truth always triumph over the ways of wickedness, guile and lies. And with each day that passes, the ways of truth are more and more triumphant even though we are still behind bars and are likely to be here a lot longer yet.

        Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Pussy riot

        Kia kaha. Jenny

  18. Uturn 18

    “…Shearer is leader fair and square and the party should fall in.”

    So you are arguing that people should give up their autonomy to authority for the illusion of consensus. That is the reason this problem is happening now, when it could have been dealt with 30 years ago. If people fall in line now, around a system they know is corrupted, the problem will be pushed out a little further, maybe fifteen years away this time, only it won’t be a party political problem by then, it will be a sphere of importance closer to their personal lives. The anger then will be greater, the noise louder, same problem, all because it was a job defered.

  19. Craig Glen Eden 19

    The message members sent to Labour MPs on Saturday with the 60% -40% leadership vote is we wont be ignored nothing has changed, in fact what we have seen from the old guard over the last few days is exactly why the members have voted like they did, members have voted to have a say.

    The way Shearer was put in charge was the catalyst for this change MPs not following the wishes of their LECs and voting for in their own perceived interest. Shearer does not have what it takes to be a leader of Labour the old guard are continuing to leak to the media and Shearer stands by and watches.

    The party wont be united until we get rid of behaviour from people like Shane Jones running off at the mouth needlessly attacking the greens ( Greens should never ever be attack by Labour and vise -versa in my view) and referring to colleagues as grubs. Chris Hipkins disgusting defamatory remarks along with Parker to name just three. The ongoing leaking to the media from the old guard is a disgrace.Sadly none of this is going to change with the current lot in charge, its time for members and people who really care about Labour and its values to stand up and show this lot what social democracy is all about.Write to your MP, lobby lets continue to take Labour back to and for grass roots.

  20. ianmac 20

    If Mr Cunliffe wins the leadership, does that mean there will be a united focussed way forward?

    • fatty 20.1

      If Mr Cunliffe wins the leadership, does that mean there will be a united focussed way forward?

      I’m not sure, could be more united, could be less.
      I think it could be less united because the ABC’s dislike Cunliffe based on his personality, that’s how I see it, some say its more policy related…this could be very difficult to overcome. (its a shame highly educated people who take up a job to serve people can act like selfish spoiled 10 year old brats well into the twilight of their working life.)
      Or, Labour could be more united if Cunliffe shows leadership qualities by bringing the groups together. The other thing that would help is that if Labour went up in the polls – that always helps bring some unity.
      That’s the problem with a Shearer led Labour…stagnated polls, factions not being brought together, no apparent leadership qualities in Shearer. I think the problem of stagnating polls and leadership qualities would improve under Cunliffe, but bringing the factions together could be difficult. Cunliffe has been pulling a few knives from his back lately, I think he has the foresight to know that sticking them straight back in the perpetrators will just cause more problems.

    • Colonial Viper 20.2

      Whoever leads after Feb (and remember, if it goes to a 40/40/20 process Feb will simply be the beginning) will need to bring all sides together as one. Helen did it, and Shearer should have done it. One problem being that the ABCs want ALL the top positions for themselves.

  21. jaymam 21

    Are there any Shearer supporters on The Standard? I want one of them to answer some of the statements above.

    e.g. What is Shearer going to do about the caucus people who have been talking to the media while Cunliffe has been banned from doing that? Are they going to be demoted?

    What’s with the phony unanimous vote for Shearer? Do they think everyone is stupid and can’t see through that?

    Shearer certainly does appear to be “bumbling, inarticulate and prone to panic and become vindictive and totalitarian when under pressure.”

    There appear to be only two ways that the Labour Party can now get back to work and get rid of Key’s government.

    1. Cunliffe could be reinstated and Hipkins demoted.
    2.Shearer could resign.

    Otherwise this will fester for months or years.

    • lprent 21.1

      There are. But most of the ones I have seen recently have merely been trolling and frequently look like they may be from the Nats.

      Member41 was one of the few who tried to put up a case.

    • Jackal 21.2

      I support David Shearer as leader of the opposition, but I’m thoroughly sick and tired of this never ending tirade of baseless speculation.

      e.g. How the fuck would I know what is going to be done about any Labour MPs leaking information to the media? But more importantly is that even true? The media could just be making up stories in order to make Labour appear divided, which seems like a much more probable explanation.

      I note that Brian Edwards hasn’t bothered to even reply to my requests for him to confirm his accusations that over a dozen Labour MPs were bullied to vote for Shearer, and then they all let Edwards know about it (important guy that Edwards). The holes in that article are so large I could drive a double decker bus through it.

      Cunliffe won’t be reinstated just yet and Shearer won’t resign… The topic will only fester if people give it attention. Personally I find it rather boring and overcooked, so until there are some noteworthy developments… adious’ amegous!

  22. bomber 22

    There is a way back from this civil war – and it requires Hipkins to be demoted and Cunliffe back on the Front Bench post the February vote

    Hipkins must be demoted before ceasefire in Labour Party can become established – http://tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/hipkins-must-be-demoted-before.html

    • ad 22.1

      Shearer and Robertson will have the 22 bloc within 2 weeks. There will be no 40/40/20 vote in February. Or late January. Or any time. Leadership is going to be defended AT ALL COSTS. And fuck the rules, new or otherwise.

      Perhaps someone else wants to stand up and endure getting an atomic bomb dropped on them before November 2013 Annual Conference in Christchurch. Bomber are you shitting me?

      Shearer and King and Roberston and Mold have the lock on the mainstream media, and all the political gifts in the world at their disposal. And if New Lynn LEC wants to hold on to the rail it will get as electrified as Cunliffe was. Remember there is a full organsiational review on at the moment including funding, so Presland’s Mob are as good as toast for daring to raise their head.

      The operation has no rules – it’s much more like New South Wales Labour politics than we are used to. But it’s here to stay.

      • rosy 22.1.1

        “Leadership is going to be defended AT ALL COSTS. And fuck the rules, new or otherwise.”

        Ironic, really, that DC is the one accused of putting personal ambition ahead of the party.

      • Craig Glen Eden 22.1.2

        “Shearer and Robertson will have the 22 bloc within 2 weeks. There will be no 40/40/20 vote in February. Or late January. Or any time. Leadership is going to be defended AT ALL COSTS. And fuck the rules, new or otherwise.”

        I have been described as a “glass half full” kinda guy by some who know me but I wouldn’t be surprised if some Mps that previously would have supported DS are quite surprised at the deliberate over the top attack on Cunliffe for not being prepared to say he would support Shearer in the February vote or the never never.

        Surely as a Mp with any kind of future you would be looking at whats happened and be going hang on a minute this has all been planned by someone and do I really want to be part of this going forward?

        • Blue 22.1.2.1

          If any person remaining in the Labour caucus had any balls they would have refused to endorse Shearer and walked out.

          The fact that no one did shows that they’re pretty much all just focused on their own careers and won’t stick their necks out.

          • Anne 22.1.2.1.1

            The fact that no one did shows that they’re pretty much all just focused on their own careers and won’t stick their necks out.

            Not entirely Blue. I’ve been in a situation where staff were being threatened and bullied. And when you have been singled out as a special target – in this case because you supported Cunliffe – then ‘the cabal’ will be making life unpleasant and stressful for them. They dare not stick their necks out. Their heads will be chopped off and they will be made to suffer. Don’t blame them.

          • Rhinocrates 22.1.2.1.2

            Give it time to sink in. This has all been in a rush, when emotions were high.

            Cunliffe knows that now is not the time and likely they all do.

            ABC struck quickly, but here are going to be some caucus members who will notice in time that now the constitution has been changed and the party membership has much more of a say. They may be giving their obligatory loyalty oaths to Mallard and Hipkins [hoick…spit] now, but looking at where things are going, even the most self-interested might be, thinking in terms of self-interest, that maybe being associated with ABC if there is a wide vote, they don’t want to be on the losing side.

            Yes, this has been a show trial in true Stalinist fashion, but it’s been a show confession too.

            I think that the major lesson Cunliffe took was “be discrete and bide your time.” Mallard bragged on twitter about his bullying in a way that he thought was sly, but there’s been silence from the opposing camp. If Cunliffe has any nous, then knowing that he couldn’t win this battle, the smart thing he would have said to his supporters is “Keep quiet, agree to everything, smile and nod. Wait… for now.” ABC knows that too, which is why they were demanding loyalty oaths and assurances of support in February. Silence in politics is not nothing.

      • Colonial Viper 22.1.3

        And if New Lynn LEC wants to hold on to the rail it will get as electrified as Cunliffe was. Remember there is a full organsiational review on at the moment including funding, so Presland’s Mob are as good as toast for daring to raise their head.

        Small minor (almost insignificant) detail: New Lynn LEC pays a shit load of money to help fund head office, not the other way around.

        Now, Beltway Labour may want to escalate things and keep making personal threats, but they will also realise that a large scale LEC and branch LEVIES STRIKE will make their summer holidays a whole lot less fun.

  23. Anne 23

    Why do I keep chortling at that those two adorable little furry, cuddly kittens.

    We’re talking about the Labour Party. Aren’t we?

  24. Kevin Welsh 24

    So, at the LEC level how do you remove a candidate whether they be sitting or aspiring?

    Or, once in, are they there till until voted out in an election?

    • Colonial Viper 24.1

      usually sitting MPs are not challenged in the party candidate selection process pre Election year. But it can be done.

      You have to find and stand a capable (and willing haha) candidate in the selection process, gather support from within the Labour branches and the LEC of that electorate, get the affiliates on side, and start lobbying the ordinary members in that electorate.

      HOWEVER once head office understands that a serious challenge is being mounted that they don’t like, you can expect all kind of arm twisting to start to first get the unwanted candidate to withdraw, then to ensure that you lose the vote on the day.

      Mind you I only know this shit in theory, a few others here have actually done it.

      NB the sitting MP for an electorate remains MP until the elections, even if another person is chosen as the candidate.

  25. Could be the start of an even more illustrious political career for Cunliffe:

    http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/11/cunliffe-new-anderton-and-new-left.html

    • xtasy 25.1

      Monique, I do not generally agree with you, but in some way you raise some valid points.

      Labour as a party is becoming a stuffy old redundant crowd controlled by certain caucus menbers and others, who simply want a “Nat Light” version of politics. That is NOT what most prospective Labour and left voters want and need.

      We had this for the last 2 or so decades.

      Even “Aunty Helen” did not go too far off the supposed “centre” to appeal to the “middle class” that to some fair numbers consist of “professionals”, who are also increasingly struggling, but who also have an increasingly “dim” view of those even worse off.

      It is not just a NZ phenomenon, as the division of modern society is taking place in all “western” economies and societies.

      During the first decades after the last great war there was an awareness of having to keep society “cohesive”, fair, inclusive and balanced. That was given up in the late 1980s and during the 1990s.

      Your so much loved “Chicago Boys” took over and set the tone, so even supposedly “left” and “centre” parties gobbled up the propaganda, and they started dividing society in a cunning manner.

      When it started to show that this “rewarding” of the “the performers” and the “stake holders” and “value adders” was leading to social trends of increased division and wealth and income gaps, the answer was, we need to go further, to create yet more “efficiencies”.

      So it went, outsourcing went to send manufacturing and other economic activity to China and various low cost, low regulatory economies.

      All it did was make a few out-sourcers, importers and dealers very wealthy, create some jobs in sales, transport and investing, but most did not gain at all.

      So that is where we are now: Bled out economy, over-valued currency due to speculative monetary policy, exorbitant housing costs due to “investors” (refuge buyers from East Asia and else) coming to drive up prices NO locals can afford, at the same time loss of manufacturing, low paid jobs in remnant manufacturing, catering for tourists and overseas students!

      It is a DUMBED down economy, full of short term planners and thinkers, and while a Mr Cunliffe made the effort to study how smarter Danes and other Europeans learn how to do it better, he gets shafted and thrown onto the back bench. What a DUMB leader and party would do that? It only happens in a post colonial back stop called NZ Aotearoa, that suffers of the biggest brain drain for decades! Come on, you can all do better, just open your mind and switch off the brain washing MSM, who are run by certain selected commercial interests, also to prop up Mr Key and gang!

    • karol 25.2

      Interesting sentence in that blog poast:

      Labour in the ’90’s was like Roald Dahls, “The Witches”. Young, well meaning, middle-class male pollies were being stitched up by the Labour women like Mallard, King, Clark and co in their pursuit for the popular left wing vote. 

       

  26. xtasy 26

    Time for TRUE LABOUR, just one thought and suggestion for the name of a new, true Labour roots focused party!

    It is time to draw a bloody line in the sand and take a resolute stand.

    Where are the union members? Where are those that want a NZ that is united, or at least tries to follow a “united” direction and goal for ALL living in this country?

    We have debates about housing costs exploding, while the law allows any foreign investor or intending buyer to come into the market to buy. As there is wide spread insecurity in many countries, be this Asia, Europe or North America, there are those coming here with filled wallets, to simply get their “wealthy refuge homes”, while dodging taxes in their countries and only looking after number ONE!

    They are lining up at the immigration and bank counters, flashing their cash, while ordinary NZers cannot afford their own homes anymore, not even to rent in many places.

    This is a country now to cater for the rich and wealthy, and it is prostituting itself for this. Key says that is fine, as the “market” rules, and Shearer offers a housing plan, that will favour middle class professionals with a bit of cash, but will NOT stop them to on-sell for a nice gain, to then cash up and move to Australia.

    NZ is run along DUMB economics, ignorant rule, manipulative media pandering to the money interests above true workers, it is being run into the bloody ground, this place.

    Tonight, like on many nights, after 9 pm it is quiet like on a grave yard in the suburb I live in. It is a people under depression, fear and in pure basic survival mode. I just saw a rental list yesterday, where $ 1350 per week were asked for PER WEEK for a 5 brm home in Auckland.

    Where do we bloody live here?

    And Labour is wasting time in-fighting? Shearer get off your weak pride, and build a bloody team. Where are your supposed “Skills” from your UN work?

    I sadly have NO hope in YOU or Labour anymore. Move on, make room for a new party. This is the best time for a new party on the left of centre to be started! Someone get your manpower and team together, we NEED it NOW!

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  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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