Key changing his story (again)…

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, September 15th, 2014 - 60 comments
Categories: election 2014, john key, Spying - Tags: , ,

Well well – Mr “No middle ground. I’m right. He’s wrong” is changing his story:

Mr Key has said the GCSB was working on a business study for a form of “mass cyber protection” following cyber attacks on several large New Zealand companies. Mr Key had told them it was too broad a net. However, this morning he indicated it had gone ahead on a limited capacity.

“I said I think it’s too broad .. so in the end I said let’s set it at a much more narrow level.”

What was it that Key was saying – could it be only yesterday?

Mr Key said Cabinet signed off a proposal for the GCSB to investigate a business case for widespread cyber protection of New Zealand entities, but he personally stopped the work in March last year because he thought it was a step too far.

“In the end, that never even got to a business case.”

And now he says it did go ahead at a “narrow level”?! Key is a liar. He will say anything, do anything, to cling to power. His credibility is finished. Vote him out.

60 comments on “Key changing his story (again)… ”

  1. Barfly 1

    I’m stunned…even when I know the mendacity of this man the sheer speed of the ever increasing lies, obfuscations and misdirections leaves me gobbsmacked

  2. Lanthanide 2

    The public at large are too enamoured with Key, and have bought into their lines about Cunliffe, that these misrepresentations and diversions by Key won’t phase them.

    It may be enough to allow the left to win the election, but unless we have some very hard evidence that cannot be wriggled away from, Key will get away with this too. At least in the short term.

    • weka 2.1

      Cognitive dissonance. Betrayed by Labour in the 80s and National in the 2010s, where will the NZ psyche go next?

      • Clemgeopin 2.1.1

        “Betrayed by Labour in the 80s”

        That is not strictly and absolutely correct because the people were betrayed not so much by the ‘Labour party’, but rather by a traitorous faction, the present and past ACT members in Labour who did the unsuspected betrayal, fooling many in the Labour party itself. Those traitors were people like Roger Douglas, Richard Prebbel and a dozen others. The good thing is that in the end, the good people in the Labour organisation prevailed, kicked these bastards out, and made the present Labour party a strong, caring, sensible and moderate social democratic unit which now has the very best of social, environmental and economic policies and has very good trustworthy leaders to usher in a stable and great government. Give Labour your party vote without any doubts at all, because in my opinion, for many reasons, Labour and the country urgently needs those votes more than any other party now.

        • KJT 2.1.1.1

          Except half those people are still there. Outed themselves as the ABC’s.

          Which is one of the reasons I hope Cunliffe stays.

          I believe he will be a good Prime Minister with the Green MP’s.

          • blue leopard 2.1.1.1.1

            Since reading ‘Dirty Politics’ I have been puzzling over how much the ‘ABC’s’ were a fiction made up by Whaleoil.

            Potentially an exaggerated narrative from the National Party’s dirt creating website (W.O).

            • weka 2.1.1.1.1.1

              my understanding about the ABCs has come from reading ts and TDB. I don’t read WO 😉

              Does Hager make a connection?

              • blue leopard

                You don’t actually have to read that site to be exposed to Nat party lies.

                I don’t think Hager directly linked to the ABC narrative. This is something I have wondered since reading the book due to the tactics that the propagandists use, that Hager pointed out.

                i.e. The whole way this dirty slinging system has worked is by a lie being repeated enough that people start believing it – this has been assisted hugely by members of our media taking these lies wholesale and repeating them. It appears no critical analysis was employed.

                Plenty of commenters on the Standard indicated they read W/O (can tell by what they say or the way they link to it ) around the time that narrative was the strongest.

                (There appears to be a distinct dearth of those types around now banned or slipped off into the dark corners from whence they came after Dirty Politics was released).

                …and therefore I have wondered how much substance there really was in the ABC narrative. Might be a bit of truth to it but strongly exaggerated. Might have been a complete fabrication too.

                This is actually one of the big issues when the strategy of lying starts being used – one ends up finding it extremely hard to know what is made up and what is factual.

                That is one of the reasons why I was shocked and horrified when people in NZ reelected a PM in 2011 who clearly resorted to such tactics.

                Here is hoping there is not a repeat of such willful blindness this year.

                • “.. Might have been a complete fabrication too..”

                  no – no -no – no – no…!

                  ..they still lurk there..

                  ..those deep-undercover unreconstructed neo-libs..

                  ..yoo-hoo..!

                  ..you know who you are…

                  ..and that it is way past time you just moseyed off..eh..?

                  ..you have been there that long..that you can go and really gorge/pig-out on that uber-generous superannuation-scheme you voted/gave yrslves..eh..?

                • Clemgeopin

                  Very well said. Thank you.

                • weka

                  bl, apologies in advance if I have misunderstood you here.

                  “This is actually one of the big issues when the strategy of lying starts being used – one ends up finding it extremely hard to know what is made up and what is factual.”

                  True, and understanding how to assess information and its source is a critical critical thinking skill.

                  In this case, I’ve been listening to people who are active Labour party members (esp those that attend conference), and people like Martyn Bradbury, who while full of rhetoric and often himself, is sufficiently embedded in the political scene to see at least some of what is going on. This doesn’t mean I take Bradbury’s words uncriticially, but that I put his analysis on the context of people here in ts who have actually been involved.

                  If I had to choose between a theory re WO and trusting people like Lynn, CV, micky, Irish and the myriad of other Labour party members here, I know where I go. When I first started learning about teh ABC thing I was critical in the sense that I questioned things until I felt like I had a decent enough understanding. Questioning doesn’t have to involve distrust so much as suspended trust of the issue.

                  “
and therefore I have wondered how much substance there really was in the ABC narrative. Might be a bit of truth to it but strongly exaggerated. Might have been a complete fabrication too.”

                  The problem I have with that is that I can’t see the evidence you are basing that on. You appear to be basing it on the idea that because the VRWC are liars, no-one else can be trusted to understand the truth. But I seriously doubt that people like the ts authors, and many of the commenters here have been reading WO and getting sucked into a conspiracy that says that Labour is full of neoliberals who hate Cunliffe and then repeating it here. It just seems highly unlikely. One of the main reasons I hang out here is because there are so many people here with good to excellent critical thinking skills and that is embedded in the culture of the place.

                  I certainly don’t think those people got their ideas about the ABCs from other ts commenters who read at WO.

                  Add to that, the neoliberalness of Labour is overt and visible to everyong, as is the historical antipaty towards Cunliffe.

                  I think this raises another whole issue, which IMO was at the core of the GP thing the other day. For me critical thinking goes hand in hand with developing relationships of trust with sources of information and analysis. If we don’t have solid relationships to sources of information, then things get very shitty and tricky when big issues come up.

                  You seem to be feeling like your trust in general has been shaken, which makes me sad. Kia kaha though, I think there is a way through this.

                  • blue leopard

                    I am simply saying I am questioning the narrative re ‘ABC’ – especially the extent of it, yet also the veracity.

                    I in no way mean to convey “no-one else can be trusted to understand the truth”. I do, however, still stand by my comment that it gets substantially harder to get to the truth when the entire culture becomes complacent about lying. This is the conditions we have to be aware of. We are all susceptible to getting it wrong in this climate of lies.

                    There is a certain level of echo chamber activity going on, and this is exactly what that tactic of the National party are cashing in on. People hear something from someone they respect doesn’t mean it is the truth – everyone can get things wrong. What if that one person they heard it from got it wrong? It gets shared as being from a reliable source and very much becomes established as fact, in that way, because it is believed to be from a trustworthy source.

                    I really was expressing a genuine question.

                    It would appear that it is common for political parties to have a certain amount of factions – it is the extent to which that ABC faction was marketed that I am questioning. How much disharmony was there really in the Labour party? How much was exaggerated for National’s benefit – because they very much have benefitted from the view that Labour weren’t internally harmonious.

                    Now look at National – how disciplined and aligned they have appeared – they could have very much been marketed in the same way re ‘the Collins vs the Joyce’ faction – or the hard right vs the softer right faction. If the media were challenging National’s internal harmony as much as they were Labour’s, do you really think National would have been polling as high as they have been?

                    I think in the current culture, it pays to really question what we are hearing.

                    Funny you mention the ‘neoliberalness of Labour’ – this is actually an area where I think there is a very poor amount of critical thought going on. It is a complex matter as to what ‘neoliberal’ is or not, yet one feature is that it dismantles any notion of the collective. Mr Cunliffe’s narrative throughout the whole year has been one of encouraging a sense of togetherness. I fully see this narrative that Cunliffe is supplying as the absolutely imperative first step of loosening the neoliberal narrative’s grip on NZ minds.

                    Market theory that is mixed with distribution is not where the neoliberal mindset want to take us. I think it is very wrong to confuse the use of market theory as a tool amongst other tools with neoliberalism. Neoliberalism (NL) applies the theory of the markets to an extreme – that is one of the main problems with NL, any redistribution or sense of community is heresy to NL because such notions ‘distort the market’.

                    I don’t think Labour this year are as neoliberal as a lot of people have been commenting on TS – this has shown me that even some people I have respect for, don’t get everything correct at all times.

                  • weka

                    “There is a certain level of echo chamber activity going on, and this is exactly what that tactic of the National party are cashing in on. People hear something from someone they respect doesn’t mean it is the truth – everyone can get things wrong. What if that one person they heard it from got it wrong? It gets shared as being from a reliable source and very much becomes established as fact, in that way, because it is believed to be from a trustworthy source.”

                    What did you make of my points about critical thinking? It’s not about accepting the opinions of people one respects at face value. Quite the opposite.

                    • blue leopard

                      What I understood from your comment is that you are emphasizing trusting those that write here and elsewhere. This is to slightly bypass the issue that I am questioning. Perhaps it is part of the puzzle, yet not the entire one.

                      Yes, these people that you mention certainly hold sway for me too (I respect their opinions and the direct experiences they share) however when a matter becomes as polarized and polarizing as the ABC theory has, and particularly with the information Hager supplied us with re how propaganda spin is being applied in this country, I am now taking a back step and reassessing the extent of the ‘ABC theory’ and what certain people have said on this site or elsewhere doesn’t entirely answer what I am questioning.

                      By ‘not entirely answer’ I mean that as soon as the framing of ‘severe conflict’ takes a hold – someone simply relaying that there are differences of opinion, and perhaps one who shares an example from a conference, may unwittingly feed the manufactured narrative that these are severe rifts. i.e. whether the person conveying their direct experience is trustworthy or not is not actually the issue. The issue is whether this ABC thing is a massive war, as has been painted, or whether it is simply a common element of a large party – one that needs to incorporate a wide range of political persuasions and therefore has a wide range within the party – that has been exaggerated for the right wing’s (National’s) advantage.

                      Like I said, all parties – and particularly the larger parties who have to appeal to a wider selection of people – will have people with a variety of different views within the party. This, then means a certain amount of ‘factioning’ could be quite common. i.e. those of similar views within the party will be drawn together. This doesn’t mean there is anything horribly awry with the party. It is when these ‘factions’ start warring that there is a problem. The warring within Labour has been emphasized over recent years (not so much now, thankfully) I am questioning the extent of that warring within the Labour party; whether the degree of warring has been exaggerated.

                      I am questioning (haven’t concluded) whether the conflict between the ‘factions’ within Labour has been as severe as it has been presented to us.

                      The group that has been most damaged by this ABC theory is the Labour party (their popularity has taken a hit). I had been of the view that the internal factions were complete idiots and it was them doing the damage – now I wonder how much of that damage was initiated by MPs inside Labour, and how much was created by National’s spin doctors/dogs.

                    • weka

                      “What I understood from your comment is that you are emphasizing trusting those that write here and elsewhere. This is to slightly bypass the issue that I am questioning. Perhaps it is part of the puzzle, yet not the entire one.”

                      No, I am saying that critical thinking should be applied to those people too. That’s the safe guard.

                    • blue leopard

                      Edit: Am already doing that, this doesn’t address the issue I am raising.

            • Murray Olsen 2.1.1.1.1.2

              I don’t think Whalespew made up the way Hipkins treated Cunliffe around the time of Gower’s infamous interview. Whalespew didn’t invent Sealord Jones, nor did he invent Goff’s and Davis’s outbursts against Internet Mana. There are quite a few people in Labour that seem to see their party as alternatives to NAct as administrators of business as usual, rather than as innovators and reformers who actually want to undo some of the damage done in the last 30 years. Looking at the proposal for retirement income, some even want to accelerate the process.

        • weka 2.1.1.2

          “That is not strictly and absolutely correct because the people were betrayed not so much by the ‘Labour party’, but rather by a traitorous faction, the present and past ACT members in Labour who did the unsuspected betrayal, fooling many in the Labour party itself.”

          Sure, so let’s take ‘Labour’ in my comment to mean caucus rather than the party as a whole, although I assume there were party officials involved too.

          It does beg the question though, why it has taken until 2013 for the membership to change the rules so that the membership has more control. This as I understand it despite opposition from the neoliberal faction within caucus.

          Plus what KJT said. Too many neoliberals still there.

          • Clemgeopin 2.1.1.2.1

            “Too many neoliberals still there”

            You are absolutely wrong there, repeating a RW inspired falsehood and spin.
            It is great that Labour is a truly broad replica/representation of the people of this country and includes people of varying persuasions who have sincere workable aspirations for the country and hence for themselves and our future generations in their social, economic and environmental needs, without being too far left or too far right or being a bit mad or silly as obvious from the tactics or utterances of some of the talking-head leaders of political parties we see now.

        • graham 2.1.1.3

          Rhodes Scholars Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble took advantage of the Anti Nuclear lange Labour Govt. Rogernomics and selling Kiwirail (Prebble)

    • Tracey 2.2

      so, how far back is it now that he can’t recall from one evening to a morning following?

      How do you do a narrow mass surveillance?

      I would like to see proof of this statement

      “he personally stopped the work in March last year because he thought it was a step too far.”

      Can we have that evidence declassified too please.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.3

      The next government will have to have an inquiry into all of this BS that we’ve been fed and bring charges if possible.

  3. Ttt 3

    The sad thing for Nz public is that Keys problems will only escalate if he gets back into power. Question time will be a never ending saga for his legacy. Brand Key will be damaged forever and books will be written about it forever.. The public should be worried about brand Key getting into power again, followed by his resignation on medical grounds and then we end up with co leaders namely Joyce and Collin,s GHU

  4. cogito 4

    Good that Greenwald has had a few days to get acclimatised to the sorts of tricks and dirt that he’s up against with Key.

    Hopefully, he will be more determined than ever to present his evidence in the most compelling way possible.

    Key has to go.

    • Tracey 4.1

      Given he has been Snowden’s conduit of sorts I am sure he has seen it all before…

      last time the right tried to pre-empt something Cathy Odgers plunged a knife between Slater and Collins’ shoulder blades with an email apparently not part of the dump…

      Is the debate now going to be cancelled “due to illness”?

  5. Tracey 5

    Access to a cable or no access to a cable? Access to a cable or no planned access to a cable?

    “At the time, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister told the Herald that questions about the SSO visit appeared to be about “a cable access programme”.

    “We can categorically state that there is no such programme operating in New Zealand, and any claims that there is are utterly wrong.”

    In relation to plans for access of cables, she said “we are not and we have no intention of introducing one”.

    The conflicting claims are in direct conflict — a specific point in an argument over mass surveillance. Key has said he canned a plan for mass surveillance in March 2013 because it was too intrusive.”

    Fisher reporting in Herald online
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11324936

    he provides a timeline

    “Timeline

    2011: Cyber attacks on New Zealand.

    Early 2012: GCSB starts looking at a mass protection solution.

    April 2012: Cabinet approves GCSB working towards a business case.

    September 2012: Illegal spying on Kim Dotcom admitted.

    October 2012: Then-Cabinet secretary Rebecca Kitteridge reviews GCSB.

    February 2013: NSA engineer specialising in cable tapping comes to NZ.

    March 2013: GCSB draft review tells Key bureau’s practices don’t fit with the law. Key puts GCSB “mass protection” plan on hold.

    April 2013: GCSB review made public raising concerns about illegal spying on Kiwis.

    May 2013: Two new spy laws are introduced. Key says it stops mass surveillance, opponents say it allows it.

    June 2013: Edward Snowden begins to divulge NSA documents, which include the GCSB cable-tapping plan.

    August 2013: After months of public meetings and concerns over mass surveillance, the new laws pass.”

  6. emergency mike 6

    So, the GCSB investigated a business case for 12 fricken months?!

    Hey, that sounds a bit like bullshit.

    • Tracey 6.1

      well given they aren’t int he business of business it could have taken them ages to work out what the fuck a business plan looks like

      • karol 6.1.1

        Unfortunately, that’s just part of the way the corporate ethos has infiltrated the public sector. That term is used widely in public services.

        • Tracey 6.1.1.1

          Except I think it is another Key lie. I don’t think they were preparing a cost benefit (financial/business) analysis. It is more likely they were doing a plan for mass surveillance, how to do it and timelines. Not quite the same thing as a business plan but given how key views the world he might have seen it that way.

          The REAL cost benefit analysis would have been done by Key and his very inner circle (not focusing on money but political cost/benefits)

          • ghostwhowalksnz 6.1.1.1.1

            Exactly, a business case doesnt involve getting a NSA specialist over to NZ, who is an expert in tapping into cables. Thats when you have the go ahead

      • yeshe 6.1.2

        lol Tracey — that really made me laugh out loud !!!

    • tc 6.2

      Business case is all about costs and benefits and ROI whereas Action plan is how to get it done, how long, who and how much do you need.

      Wouldn’t have taken longer than a few months as these folk know their stuff but Business case sounds more smiley wavey for the sheeple

      • emergency mike 6.2.1

        tc, Key is saying they investigated a business case for 12 months, and that it never got to the business case stage.

        • tc 6.2.1.1

          That clears that up then as of 15/9 mid afternoon till he changes his story again:
          Our highly trained operatives with access to the best tools and experts who use them investigated something for a year that became nothing at all…..back to sleep sheeple.

          • marty mars 6.2.1.1.1

            How long, how bloody long are we going to have to put up with this disgraceful liar key – not long, not very long at all – he is going down with shit all over him, his bullshit and forked tongue are out in the open and they are repellant.

  7. Hami Shearlie 7

    If Key was so worried about foreign powers hacking into NZ companies, why did National do a deal with the Chinese company Huawei for our ultra-fast broadband network?

  8. adam 8

    Newspeak, never missing a day to change the language to suit what they need their truth to be.

  9. emergency mike 9

    At the end of the video in the Herald article John Key says that not only had he never heard of Dotcom before the raid, neither had the heads of the GCSB nor the SIS.

    I could have sworn the GCSB were spying on him before the raid…

    • ghostwhowalksnz 9.1

      They were:
      Herald inquiries revealed that Telecom and staff at its technology service company Gen-I were investigating irregularities with Dotcom’s Internet connection as early as November 2011, well before the illegal GCSB spying was said to have happened (the GCSB admitted spying on him from December 16, 2011 until the day of the raid, January 20th, 2012). When Gen-I technicians did a standard “trace route” search of his Internet signal, they discovered that it was being diverted within New Zealand, rather than going directly to an overseas Xbox computer server.
      http://yournz.org/tag/gcsb/

      • weka 9.1.1

        Translation for the non-technical? Being diverted within NZ could only be done by the GCSB?

        btw, your link doesn’t got to what you quote.

        • Tracey 9.1.1.1

          DotCom’s lawyers are saying that the FBI is leaving out emails and other communications which show that DotCom moved quickly when alerted to illegal material on MegaUpload.

        • McFlock 9.1.1.2

          The computer games he was playing sent packets of information to game servers. The packets find their way from his machine to the southern cross cable and thence to the xbox game server.

          It’s like each packet was a passenger in a taxi going from his place to the airport so they could catch a flight to Hawaii. Only what the telecom folk found was that the taxi was taking a long detour, instead of going straight to the airport. Which stuffed KDC’s games because of the delay, so he called the telecom techs in.

          Given that we are essentially talking about a basic compromise of the telecom network, IT staff generally try to avoid third parties getting that level of control over packet routing. But they do work with government agencies to provide that service, because the government are not a good enemy to have. And giving the timing, it seems to quack like a duck.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 9.1.1.3

          Sorry about incorrect link, I checked my html history and its here
          http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1211/S00027/a-dotcomedy-of-errors-gcsb-illegally-spies-on-nzers.htm

    • Anne 9.2

      Well, its obvious isn’t it emergency mike. They were spying on someone but they didn’t know who he was. 😛

  10. Inky 10

    He’s changed his story. He admits it did go ahead? So where’s his resignation?

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    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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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 KƍreroBy 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
    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
    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
    2 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 â€“ 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 DĂ©jĂ  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
    3 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
    4 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 KƍreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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 KƍreroBy 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
    5 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
    5 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
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KƍreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days 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
    4 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
    6 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
    7 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
    20 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  Mƍrena, 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
    5 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
    7 days 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. Ű§Ù„ŰłÙŽÙ‘Ù„ÙŽŰ§Ù… Űčليكم 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
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
    This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti.  Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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