Nats throwing the kitchen sink at Cunliffe

Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, December 9th, 2011 - 89 comments
Categories: david cunliffe, david shearer - Tags:

Nat masterminds Farrar and Slater are throwing it all into the anti-Cunliffe push. Farrar has a quote dredged up by the Nat research unit of Cunliffe in 2007 saying he doesn’t want to be PM because “it’s bastard of a job and I have a young family. I don’t think the two would go together.” “They must be older now” smirks Farrar. Yes, dumbarse. 7 years older by 2014.

The quiet, but rising, volume of desperation from the Nats in their attacks on Cunliffe and the way Farrar suddenly went from saying Shearer is a shoe-in to being ambivalent (easier to be on the right side of history that way) tells me that the Right’s campaign to make Shearer Labour’s leader has backfired badly.

For what it’s worth, I reckon Labour should ignore the bastards. Just select the guy who’s most likely to win the Treasury benches in 2014.

89 comments on “Nats throwing the kitchen sink at Cunliffe ”

  1. Lanthanide 1

    At this point I’m mildy pro-Cunliffe.

    But I also think that if they choose Shearer, they’ll have an easier job of dropping him for Cunliffe later if he proves incapable, than they would of dropping Cunliffe for Shearer.

  2. Stan 2

    You mean Key

  3. ianmac 3

    Beware of bluff, and of double-bluff, or double-double bluff from Farrar. Better still ignore Farrar altogether!

  4. Curwen 4

    This is, to whit, the first time I’ve ever seen Cameron Slater referred to as a “mastermind”

    [lprent: I suspect that there is just a tad of irony in this post somewhere. But I am sure that Cameron will cut it out and add it to his private collection for later umm ‘perusal’. He does seem to have a fixation on trophies. Perhaps I have seen too much “Criminal Minds” recently. ]

    • One Anonymous Bloke 4.1

      That’s the joke: the right wing’s thirty-year descent into moronism has left them with the situation that Cameron Slater is an intellectual heavyweight.

      • RobertM 4.1.1

        Sexless, Olanzapine poisioning is a cause for celebration on the right.Anything more than 1930’s country music is too exciting for Nelson coutnry inbreds like Nick Smith and the rightly deceased Roger Kerr. Whale Oil fatness is clearly surrender to Olanzapine Poisioning and desexualisation.
        Whaleoil sobriety is so pathetic. Vote Rhianna. Cheers to this. Don’t let the bastards get you down. Vote Cunliffe.

      • Rodel 4.1.2

        Well put! I was trying to think of something to say but you said it all and very succinct.
        He even gets on TV occasionally . They must be hard up.

  5. Ewww…

    …saw the penguin on Backbenchers the other night and felt more than a little uneasy at Shearer buddying up to him.

  6. Tigger 6

    Cunliffe and Mahuta won me over on Wednesday night. This member thinks they’re most capable for the job. But great to have choice in the matter…unlike National who have no one except Key and he’s a puppet who doesn’t even want the job anymore…

    • Deadly_NZ 6.1

      But he can’t resign cos who’d take over??? Joyce, Naaa English, HAHAHA Bennett, HAHHAHAHAHAHA Smith, Burp the rest ?? yeah right. People voted for the John Key Party and now John Key’s bored and wants out. Oh the Irony of it

      • Maui 6.1.1

        I agree. The misery of it all, poor John. Where is that Kleenex box of tissues .. ? A tragic figure.

        You spend your life accumulating loot, then return home to a well-earned retirement where you get sucked in by Jenny Shipley to bolster the wobbly fortunes of the local conservative party.
        You win an election. Then another .. and you end up facing a global economic crisis which challenges your north american perspectives and training. The economic nostrums from the 2000’s don’t seem to work any more.

        You start looking for an exit strategy .. but the party won’t let you go. They are gaving a good time, they are onto a winner. The rich are getting richer and the poor are writing blogs .. which keeps everyboy happy. Your people surf those blogs for ideas, and keep an eye on the opposition.

        You start contemplating an exit strategy. Perhaps a graceful retirement half-way through the next term ? But the crisis intensifies and the shine comes off your leadership. You cannot pull off another World Cup. There is a new, young, agressive Labour leadership starting to score points with the public, one which connects with the burgeoning, semi-criminal, young unemployed for whom global depression has cut off *their* exits. Tertiary education is increasingly a privilege for the rich.

        You start reading Aristotle on eudaimonia. You contemplate happiness, and the life you would like to live. A tropical island, a duplex in Vienna ? Intolerance is growing in Europe however as hardship and old patterns reassert themselves. Not a good move.

        You decide to stay in Aotearoa. But it is a small place, people have long memories, and earth tremors seem to be heading towards the volcanic zones.

        You wait for the right moment to make your run .. but who is that looming in the distance ? The well-fed figures of Farrar and Joyce ..

  7. I agree.  Although interestingly Slater appears to have gone colder on Shearer ever since Parker pulled out on December 1.  Before then Slater thought that Shearer was performing very well. It could be that he realised that his overt support for Shearer was having an adverse effect on lefties.
     
    Certainly they do not want Cunliffe to be leader.

  8. If_you_see_Kay 8

    The only important thing at this stage is to make all such information fully known and explained to those Labour MPs who will be voting on it (in a shamefully undemocratic process I might add – talk about poachers appointing the gamekeeper).

    • Fieldwest 8.1

      Not only debate here, but also email your local MP — that’ll be a more effective way…

  9. queenstfarmer 9

    I hardly think that reporting Cunliffe’s own words, verbatim, constitutes a desparate “anti-Cunliffe push” and “throwing the kitchen sink”. It’s simply a useful tidbit of information to know, for those who care about such things.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.1

      Useful in what way?

      • queenstfarmer 9.1.1

        I don’t know. I am not one of those who cares about such things. But if I did, I expect that all background information on the leadership candidates – especially their own public comments directly on the job they are now seeking – would likely be of interest.

        • Draco T Bastard 9.1.1.1

          I don’t know.

          Ah, so all you were doing was making a mindless brain-fart.

          …would likely be of interest.

          No, not really.

        • Ari 9.1.1.2

          How the fuck can something be useful if you don’t know how it’s useful?

          Most gormless post ever.

          • Colonial Viper 9.1.1.2.1

            It’s the usual right wing post modernism PR styled spin.

            You don’t actually say anything precisely or definitively (which you might be later held to), but infer just enough that the reader makes up their own mind in the direction you want.

            When you deconstruct it, as you have here, it all falls apart because there was nothing there to begin with.

    • Blighty 9.2

      It’s a quote, in print, not found online, that has been dug up by the National research unit (who else has the resources or the incentive) that has been published to make Cunliffe look like a liar who was hiding his ambitions. It’s a weak attack, sure, but it wasn’t easy for Nat/Farrar to get.

      • queenstfarmer 9.2.1

        Why does publishing Cunliffe’s own words makes him look like a liar?

        • felix 9.2.1.1

          It doesn’t. Blighty said it was published to make him look like a liar, not that it does any such thing.

          In much the same way, you troll here to disrupt threads…

        • mickysavage 9.2.1.2

          This is so trollish.  Take a statement, wait for many years until circumstances change, then dig it out and claim it is still relevant.

          QSF you are better than this aren’t you?

          Why do you think that DC did not contest the leadership in 2008? 

    • McFlock 9.3

      well, looking up what appears to be an off-the-cuff line that is probably no longer valid now (let alone in 2014) with ambiguous context is very much the equivalent of the kitchen sink – the last detail on top that demonstrates effort bordering on panic and a singular lack of perspective.

  10. Anthony 10

    It’s all been pretty desperate, so far:

    • He’s arrogant!!!!!
    • Should move to a low socio-economic suburb to prove something… I’m not quite sure what?
    • In 2007 he said he didn’t want the post election job because his kids were still young.
    • In a youtube video he is on message with Labour values
    • Helen Clark…mumble…mumble…Helen Clark…

    /straws clutched

    • ghostwhowalksnz 10.1

      Exactly- no one gives a shit who would be in their cabinet, which would normally fill pages of speculation.

      The only worry is that ‘their story’ is lapped by the opinion leaders on radio and TV.

      Watch some TV tool ask Cuniliffe ( if he wins) ‘Why did you say you didnt want to be PM?’

  11. randal 11

    the nashnil gubmint and their familiars dumbell slater and fatboy farrar are shit scared.
    they know they won the election but by the slimmest of margins and they know the election was rigged.
    when the worm turns they and their cohorts will be out on their asses and good riddance.

    • Vicky32 11.1

      when the worm turns they and their cohorts will be out on their asses and good riddance.

      And then there are the specials out tomorrow! Don’t lose hope…

  12. deemac 12

    some MSM comentators hedge their bets by saying the candidates are EITHER tainted by association with the past OR too inexperienced. Some candidates cleverly seem to be both!

  13. Colonial Viper 13

    Just select the guy who’s most likely to win the Treasury benches in 2014.

    Nah, let’s make winning the Treasury Benches a team effort and instead select the guy who is going to be a strong, outstanding, democratic Prime Minister for NZ over what is going to be a very tough term full of economic turmoil 2014-2017.

  14. the Right’s campaign to make Shearer Labour’s leader has backfired badly

    indeed it has 😆

  15. randal 15

    who gives a stuff about ipredict.
    just another bulshit bauble taking peoples minds off the reall issues which are pay rates, education and doctors bills.
    what the fuck does ipredict say about them?

  16. CWB 16

    Sure, Farrar is infuriating, but what else can we expect?

    What I want to know is when John Pagani is going to disclose [deleted] that he’ll likely be Labour’s Chief of Staff if Shearer’s bid succeeds.

    [lprent: I’ll let that through despite it being close to the edge. It isn’t a ‘fact’ however it is a persistent speculation especially around the beltway if my sources are correct. How much truth there is to it no-one seems to know. It is certainly possible. ]

    • Colonial Viper 16.1

      I thought that ticket wasn’t promising positions to anyone before Tue 13th. Is that no longer true.

    • the sprout 16.2

      what a winning combo that’d be. were it the case, labour MPs in years to come could reminisce fondly of the ‘glory days’ when labour got 28% party vote.

    • The Voice of Reason 16.3

      Pagani helped his wife Josie wipe thousands of votes off the Tory majority in Rangitikei. It was the Nat’s third worst result on the night, as it happens. And I’m pretty sure taking votes of them is going to be pretty important in 3 years (or whenever the snap election comes).

  17. Labours whole leadership change process is flawed when there is so much public input in what should be an internal process. Any decision will now have to consider bizarre perceptions and fabrications that will have nothing to do with their actual potential as leaders.
    http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/12/labours-leadership-change-process.html

    • Colonial Viper 17.1

      You can’t think much of the UK Labour leadership process, then.

      I’ll say one more thing – the position of Labour leader is not a learn on the job one. There is no time here to ‘get up to speed’ in terms of setting a Labour agenda and opposing Key, English and the National machine.

      • Dave Kennedy 17.1.1

        I agree that you can’t have an absolute novice in the role but National spent a great deal of time and money grooming Key into the image of something he isn’t. Key is not in reality a one man band, he has a myriad of minders and an amazing PR machine and it makes sense that Labour should also have strategized around the development of their next leader. Goff’s supposed failure as a leader should be blamed as equally on the party as on himself. It did not appear that he had good advice that supported his undoubted strengths and I feel sorry for whoever is chosen as his successor as they will begin on their back foot even before they have accepted the job.

      • Hami Shearlie 17.1.2

        Totally agree CV!

    • lprent 17.2

      The leadership change process is flawed and has been for quite some time. It has traditionally been done behind closed doors exclusively inside the caucus. Each time we lost a members simply because they got peeved with the process.

      I was not particularly for this bandwagon process at the start. I’m finding it of a lot more interest now simply because it is engaging Labour supporters to become members again so they can have a look at the candidates and make their own assessments.

      Sure we have the poodles of the right weighing in as well, but most people on the left know who they are. iPredict doing its usual insider trading with various people trying to move odds the way they want them (low liquidity markets are a usually a matter of market manipulations). And some friction amongst members and MP’s who weren’t old enough to go through the last rounds of fractional blood-letting in the early 90’s.

      But on a site like this where you’d expect everything to go to the boil, everything has been fairly restrained compared to where I thought it might wind up. There have been a hell of a lot of identifiably new unique people getting on here and probably at Red Alert and other left blogs. Many of them active members and many not recently.

      I think that alone is useful for the party which has some of the most sluggish communication channels of any organisation I’ve ever been involved in.

      The actual public input is pretty low because in the end 34 MP’s only are going to do the vote. But those MP’s will be having their local members and activists speaking to them, e-mailing and blogging etc… Mostly members are just enjoying having some input as far as I can see. And everyone apart from the media seems to be just ignoring Nationals poodles.

  18. felix 18

    Hoots was sounding desperate on RadioLive yesterday:

    “What’s happening here is that David Cunliffe is the Helen Clark candidate, there’s no doubt she’s running this from New York, her friend Chris Carter who’s currently working for the United Nations in Kabul, he is behind the new website ‘we want David Cunliffe’ that was launched, one of his – Chris Carter’s – closest friends was responsible for launching that website…”

    McCarten (incredulously): How do you know all this?

    Hoots: “Because I’ve talked to a very close, err, senior person in the Labour Party, um, on this, so what you’ve got is the Cunliffe candidate, sorry the Helen Clark candidate which is David Cunliffe…”

    McCarten (scoffing): “So what you’ve said is that it’s a friend of Chris Carter, and because he’s a friend of Helen Clark that Helen Clark is running it.”

    Hoots goes on to repeat this several times, really working hard to drive home all the possible links between Clark and Cunliffe like his contract depended on it. McCarten keeps asking him how he knows any of it and Hoots keeps saying it’s just true and that’s that.

    One of his funniest performances lately I must say.

    Audio here, go to Thursday 2pm, starts around 12 minutes in.

    • Colonial Viper 18.1

      What the hell do the Tories care? Hooten is acting like there is going to be an election in 12 months time.

    • ianmac 18.2

      Yes it is Hooton’s pattern to appear amiable then get stuck into his message by repeating it at least x3. He does the same Goebels trick on Nine to Noon but it usually signals a desperation is driving him. He is really a funny little chap. 🙂

      • the sprout 18.2.1

        that was funny.
        hooten was being faithful to goebbels for sure, but sounded like yet another sgt schultz whenever he was challenged 😆 

  19. randal 19

    felix. hoots always sounds desperate. he is a little man trying desperately hard to be a big one.
    ipredict he will be still be a mental midget in 10 years time.

  20. Funny.

    Labour chose to make this a public contest (good on them). They haven’t tried to limit any comment or opinion on it to 27.x % of voters.

    I’m sure most of the 28% of MPs making a decision next week will manage to filter out a bit of blog blarney.

    As lprent just said at 17.2 the benefits of this process are potentially far greater than some alternative views and conspiracy theories.

    It seems to have engaged party members at a time when they could have drifted off in frustration at the election result.

    Too much grizzling about things that don’t matter risks overshadowing the positives.

    • felix 20.1

      Who said anything about “limiting comment”, Pete?

      Or are you saying that because it’s a public process, anyone can comment but no-one can respond to those comments?

      Also on “blog blarney”: I assume you mean that because it’s on a website it’s not to be taken too seriously, or something along those lines. Is it still “blog blarney” when it’s printed in the Herald or broadcast on Radio NZ and Radio Live?

  21. AnnaLiviaPlurabella 21

    The problem is the stuff Labour people are throwing at Cunliffe. The old machine has put a new face forward: Shearer. They are already conceding the 2014 election!!! They have appealed to that Kiwi weakness: Tall Poppy Syndrome. Shearers puppet masters briefed the media with the arrogance line and got loads of help from the RWNJ faction. And sadly many of our own have been taken in by it.

    • js 21.1

      ALP – I don’t really think such comments help promote an image of the LP which is forward looking and inclusive. Could you be part of the problem?

      • Pete George 21.1.1

        I think it may illustrate a part of the problem.

        It’s possible to have different groups of people on the same side or in the same party with different ideas and preferences, but there’s a noticeable tendency here to try and explain opposing views as ‘taken in’ or part of a conspiracy, if not party of the ‘enemy’.

        As I think one or both the leadership candidates have said, politics should include an open contest of ideas – and people – which means resisting trying to bash down any difference in opinion.

        • mik e 21.1.1.1

          the one man band does’nt have that worry because when he goes the party will be gone

  22. I straight up don’t know what to make of the so called “VRWC” talking down Cunliffe and up Shearer. I am legitimately confused as to their strategy, assuming it is a strategy, of which I am not even sure. Is it that Shearer is the weaker candidate, so they want him? Or is it that he the more right-wing candidate, so they want him? I personally would have thought that neither candidate was particularly right or left wing, and in terms of strength, as I’ve stated on my own blog, I’m mildly pro-Cunliffe for the reasons most others who are, are. That said, I am also excited by the prospect of a Shearer-led Labour Party, assuming Shearer performs. So am in general looking forward to the next three years.

    PS. Should Shearer be elected leader next week, I think he’d be wise to appoint Cunliffe as his deputy, as Chris Trotter has suggested today. Cunliffe should definitely be in the tent, I find the whole idea of “ABC” insulting to the many labour party members and supporters who respect him.

    • Jake Quinn 22.1

      I suppose as a matter of comparison, if National were having a leadership contest, I’d be torn between advocating for the least competent (and most likely to lose an election) and the most liberal or progressive candidate.

      • mickysavage 22.1.1

        But you are much more principled than Farrar or the slithery one Jake.  At least you will weigh up the respective qualities of the candiates and measure them against thought through principles. 
         
        Slater just attacks anything that is on the left and is position is solely determined by what will do the most harm.
         
        Farrar is similiar but much more sophisticated and the attacks are always more subtle.
         
        Slater is like a bulldog and Farrar like a scorpion.

        • Hami Shearlie 22.1.1.1

          Agreed mickeysavage, and bulldogs may be stubborn but they’re not exactly bright! Farrar, I’m not sure what he reminds me of – oh wait, – a little english cartoon character from the 1970’s (I think) called Aubrey – Looks like Farrar -I’m glad you’re not calling Whale and Farrar poodles – poodles are beautiful and extremely intelligent – doesn’t sound like Slater and Farrar. Check out Aubrey on youtube, he’s the dead spit for Farrar!!

    • felix 22.2

      I don’t think it’s worth figuring out the motivations of the right-wing stirrers. They’re bound to be no good so best ignored.

  23. AnnaLiviaPlurabella 23

    JS, I work bloody hard to support Labour get into government to implement Labour policies.
    I’m very frustrated at the game I see being played against Cunliffe. And the flawed thinking behind the Shearer proposition.

    Shearer has two years of Parliamentary experience. To make him leader now is setting him up to fail. Whenever a politician is given an easy seat and promoted too quickly he invariably looses touch. Look at Rudd. Contrast Shearer with Phil Twyford: Twyord has a good “backstory” too, but he put in the hard yards on the streets, coaching on fund raising and campaigning, going through the mill a few times in selection meeting before finally securing a hard won seat. Twyford is now forged into a strong MP and more ready than Shearer for a leadership role.

    I don’t blame Shearer alone for this and I’m confident the party can heal after the decision is made.

  24. randal 24

    micky savage.
    slater is like a sausage roll and farrar is like a hot dog.
    both of then reheated several times until the goodness is gone but the fat remains.
    neither of them are any good.
    the only thing they care about is themselves and using politics to assert their psyches on anyone who gets in the way or just because they feel like it.
    in otherwords they are psychopaths.

  25. drongo 25

    What about when Cameron Slater was talking about how David Shearer after the election met with Matthew Hooton and a bunch of National Party supporters? He reckons they convinced him to stand. Some people are saying David Shearer’s really a right winger. Cameron Slater should’ve known that David Shearer would lose support if that got around, but he advertised the fact anyway. They’re talking about it on Brian Edwards’ blog. Talk about desperate bloody housewives…

    • Matthew Hooton 25.1

      Calm down with the conspiracy theory. All sorts of people came to my post-election party, from every party (except NZ First of course). Shearer was invited by Bomber Bradbuy I think, because he appeared on the iPredict TV show. It was nice that he dropped by.

  26. Molly Polly 26

    I too believe that Shearer is being set up to fail, unintentional as it maybe. I worry that he won’t be able to get off the blocks quick enough. We need a huge burst of energy to counterattack the appalling policies that are going to be pushed through by the Torys from the word go.

    From the meeting in Wellington and what I have seen and heard on television and radio, Cunliffe is the one who inspires me and gives me the confidence that he is rearing to go…and I can’t wait for this to happen!

    I am told that the old guard is in charge of Shearer and Robertson to the point that it is a Mallard ticket as Trevor is the person behind them working in his own interests and not the best interests of the country or the Party.

  27. Hilary 27

    Molly Polly – I don’t know David Shearer but I have seen a bit of Grant as he is the local MP, and he is not the sort of person to be manipulated by anyone.

    • Craig Glen Eden 27.1

      Wake up Hiliary, Shearer is not ready I watched him closely in the Mount albert bye-election he was shit scared and out of his depth. Thank God the Nats stuck up Melissa Lee or else we could have lost Mt Albert. Shearer is a nice guy but he often looks like he is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

  28. red blooded 28

    Having been to a meeting last night, I’m confident that either man could lead the party ably. Shearer needs some media training, but is a reasonably articulate speaker with an engaging personality that comes through in a live setting much better than it has in the various interviews and shows I’ve seen him on. Cunliffe is clearly an incisive thinker, again is articulate and is lively and charming.

    I’m very keen to have a woman on the leadership team. Grant Robertson spoke well and would, I think, make a perfectly able deputy, but I want a woman’s voice to be heard in the top echelons of the party and a want a woman’s face to be seen representing it as a leader. It would also be great to break through the parade of pakeha. Having said that, Mahuta wasn’t at our meeting, so I can’t really judge her close-up.

    Shearer makes a lot of his backstory, and it would create resonance with voters, maybe helping to counter the ‘poor boy made good’ story that Key wears like a gold charm.

    Cunliffe is a great debater, and more ready to attack. Shearer says he wants to be able to get away from playing politics, and not necessarily dismiss anything put forward by National, but to endorse policies (or aspects of policy) that are in line with Labour values and put forward alternatives to others.

    The tide of opinion seems to be turning towards Shearer. Until last night, I thought this ridiculous. I’m still somewhat more impressed by Cunliffe, but less distressed by the idea of Shearer. If he does win, though, I think he would be well advised to either ask Cunliffe to serve as deputy (as Cullen did for Clarke) or to look for a woman. (I understand Mahuta has said that she is only interested in serving with Cunliffe.)

    • Colonial Viper 28.1

      Thanks for your report. Similar to the feedback I have been hearing from others at that meeting. Whomever you are backing could you consider emailing your local Dunedin MP to let them know your support.

  29. Sunny 29

    Was at the Dunedin meeting. whilst either man could lead the Labour Party, only one has a chance of winning the next election, which may be a lot sooner than 2014 and that man is David Cunliffe and surely that’s the whole point.

    It is cringe making listening to David Shearer pushing his ‘good back story’. Very un NZ approach. If this is the only string to his bow, and it seems as if it may be, it’s not enough. Far too easy to swift boat this candidate with smears and spin e.g. can’t you just see a tv crew, flack jacketed and helmeted, outside a luxury hotel in some wartorn country solemnly intoning that this is where David Shearer stayed while ‘saving starving children’ ( slow pan shot over another neighbourhood filled with shacks and skeletal babies) Forget the fact that this is the type of accomodation all aid workers have to live in, if they’re not Mother Theresa…it will sink him.

    And that’s just for starters.

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    Bryce Edwards writes –  New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    19 hours ago
  • Thinking About The Property Rights In Resource Decisions As Well As Transaction Costs
    Brian Easton writes –  The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    19 hours ago
  • Gordon Campbell On Israel’s Political Split, And The New Caledonia Crisis
    The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
    20 hours ago
  • After much debate, the Auckland Future Fund was approved. So what should it be used for?
    On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    22 hours ago
  • The State of the Planet with Chlöe & Marama.
    Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    24 hours ago
  • It’s up to Willis now
    Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #20
    A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix 6 @ 6:06am on Sunday, May 19
    TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Lords of the flies
    Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Fact Brief – Does breathing contribute to CO2 buildup in the atmosphere?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
    2 days ago
  • Is it time to take the Interislander away from Kiwirail?
    David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Behind Blue Eyes.
    No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Road food
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Some Reader Feedback For Your Weekend
    Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • Thinking About the Property Rights in Resource Decisions As Well As Transaction Costs.
    The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Can Shane Jones be trusted in making Fast-track decisions?
    New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Seymour appeals to PPTA to call off meetings on charter schools – but does he seriously believe he...
    Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Police don’t fight crime
    What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Two central banks
    Michael Reddell writes –  I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • TVNZ hīkoi documentary needs a sequel
    Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    4 days ago
  • The missing Green MP
    David Farrar writes –  The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The contest for the future heart and soul of the Labour Party
    Peter Dunne writes –  It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Lobbying for Waikato’s Medical School causing problems for the Govt
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the psychological horror film Possession
    This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
    4 days ago
  • Portrait of a Man.
    I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to May 17
    Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 17-May-2024
    We’re at the end of another week. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked if the Herald’s poor journalism will cost lives On Tuesday Matt covered Wayne Brown’s proposal for public transport in the Long ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • Rishi’s relaunch
    With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #20 2024
    Open access notables Publicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change: We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
    4 days ago
  • The thrilling possibilities of charter schools
    You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • This Unreasonable Government.
    Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
    5 days ago
  • Supreme Court weighs in on name suppression
    Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
    5 days ago
  • Is This A “Merchants” Government?
    The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the Brahmins’ emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
    5 days ago
  • This is what corruption looks like
    When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants: On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Take that, Vladimir – and be warned: we have plenty more sanctions (at least, we hope so) in our ...
    Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point.  Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • More Harm Than Good.
    How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
    5 days ago
  • The Ombudsman fails again
    In 2020, the Operation Burnham inquiry reported back, finding that NZDF had lied to Ministers and the New Zealand public about its actions in Afghanistan. The inquiry saw a large number of documents declassified and released, which raised another problem: whether they had also lied to the Ombudsman in his ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • No Time To Think: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
    5 days ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Lobbying for Waikato’s Medical School causing problems for the Govt
    It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago
  • Picking Sides.
    Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s  “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
    5 days ago
  • Universities offer course in self-serving cowardice
    Henry Ergas writes –  When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The teacher trainee challenge
    David Farrar writes –  Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Words and (in)actions
    New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision   Michael Reddell writes –  When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • What do you hope for/fear from the budget?
    Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on ACT’s charter schools experiment
    If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
    5 days ago
  • Drought fuels wildfire concerns as Canada braces for another intense summer
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus and pick ‘n’ mix for Thursday, May 16
    Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Controversial proposal could threaten coalition
    The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Of Rings of Power Annatar, Dramatic Irony, and Disguises
    As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
    5 days ago
  • The future of Nick's Kōrero.
    This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The PM promises tax relief in the Budget – but will it be enough to satisfy the Taxpayers’ Union...
    Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when  the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Fucking useless
    Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Setting things straight.
    Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    6 days ago
  • Far too light a sentence
    David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Unwinding Labour’s Agenda
    Muriel Newman writes –  Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Sequel to “Real reason Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Chhour”
    Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • The Govt’s Fast-Track is being demolished by submissions to Parliament
    Bryce Edwards writes –  The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • A generation is leaving at a rate of one A320-load per day
    An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • NZUP RORS back to life
    The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
    6 days ago
  • School Is Out.
    School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • How Are You Doing?
    Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • The Rings of Power: Season Two Teaser Trailer
    I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
    6 days ago
  • At a glance – What ended the Little ice Age?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    6 days ago
  • Talking Reo with the PM
    “The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • Waitangi Tribunal’s authority in Chhour case is upheld – but bill’s introduction to Parliament...
    Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour.  The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago
  • Australia jails another whistleblower
    In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago

  • Government to rollout roadside drug testing
    The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Minister responds to review of Kāinga Ora
    The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Pseudoephedrine back on shelves
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago
  • New Zealand-China Business Summit
    Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao.  Good morning everyone.   Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • New measures to protect powerlines from trees
    Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events.  “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani win top Māori dairy farming award
    Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • DJ Fred Again – Assurance report received
    "On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden.  “I raised my concerns after being ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • District Court Judges appointed
    Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Unions should put learning ahead of ideology
    Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools.     “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Craig Stobo appointed as chair of FMA
    Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Budget 2024 invests in lifeguards and coastguard
    Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • New Zealand and Tuvalu reaffirm close relationship
    New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says.  “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019.  “It is my pleasure ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • New Zealand calls for calm, constructive dialogue in New Caledonia
    New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.  “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.  “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • New Zealand welcomes Samoa Head of State
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Island Direct eligible for SuperGold Card funding
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Further sanctions against Russia
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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