Moving to a cashless system (as is currently being attempted overseas) would allow banks/the government to financially shut down anyone they don’t approve of, and therefore is unacceptable to New Zealand values.
Just because tracking already occurs does not mean we should permit more extensive controls over the population.
Generally speaking, I don’t think that private companies should be able to track you and that we should be stopping them from doing so. Admittedly difficult to do in this digital world as rules in one country don’t apply in another.
There are of course ways around this such as barter, green dollars, ithaca monetary system.
And that would be what was happening if people could be bothered putting up with the added expense. It’s not so we can be assured that people will happily move top the cashless system. In fact, around 70% of all transactions are now done in a cashless manner:
“Approximately two-thirds of total spending in New Zealand is done electronically on eftpos and credit cards,” says Paul Whiston, spokesman for electronics payment provider Paymark.
And I know damn well that many companies refuse to pay in cash.
The simple fact of the matter is that we’re going to a cashless society whether we like it or not. The choice that we have is the shape of that system and whether it’s owned by the private corporations or by government. The best option is that it’s owned by government.
Not a big picture guy by the use of the term “low end’, I guess
Check out how much drug money Well Fargo got outed for laundering and then check if your statement aligns with whats happening outside the ‘home patch’
And check this out…..
When the ‘money’ is all digital 1’s and 0’s, you will have zero opportunity to prevent [name the entity] from simply taking what you incorrectly believed to be the ‘fruits of of labour’, or switching off the power to the servers.
I believe mental exercise to be as important as physical exercise….
When the ‘money’ is all digital 1’s and 0’s, you will have zero opportunity to prevent [name the entity] from simply taking what you incorrectly believed to be the ‘fruits of of labour’, or switching off the power to the servers.
That’s got to be one of the vaguest pieces of drivel that I’ve seen. Really, WTF are you talking about?
1. Paper cash
2. Electronic (eftpos) and card payments
If paper cash was gone and the servers hosting the ‘electronic cash’ were turned off (bank ‘shuts down’ or a ‘bail in’ occurs) then people have zero choice of the matter, and possibly no way to purchase a single unit of anything
Paper money is currently the only mechanism which offsets 100% control over the ‘tool’ people are forced to use buy necessities of life
It baffles me how there are those who believe removing cash from the system is somehow a sensible idea
It is a foolish notion which will server only to lock in the death choke the financial banking industry has around the neck of the worlds populace
If paper cash was gone and the servers hosting the ‘electronic cash’ were turned off (bank ‘shuts down’ or a ‘bail in’ occurs) then people have zero choice of the matter, and possibly no way to purchase a single unit of anything
Even now of the servers go down I suspect that the majority of people can’t buy anything because they’re not carrying cash and won’t be able to withdraw anything from the bank. Never mind that this isn’t something that will happen all the time and just simple turning it off would be a high order crime where the person/group who does it loses everything and goes to jail.
The threat that a private bank could make of shutting it down is also the one of the reasons why it must be done by the government with all of New Zealand money existing solely upon those servers.
Paper money is currently the only mechanism which offsets 100% control over the ‘tool’ people are forced to use buy necessities of life
That would be true if the majority of people were still using cash which they’re not.
It baffles me how there are those who believe removing cash from the system is somehow a sensible idea
Because it’s a much better system that uses less resources than a cash system. It comes with a few risks that will need to be taken into account but then so does the cash system the major one is that it helps to hide crime.
There’s also one other aspect that you’re not taking into account – 98% of the money in the system is already electronic. We need to put in place proper systems to regulate that whether we go to a cashless system or not and once we have done that then we may as well go to cashless just to get rid of the unnecessary expense of cash.
That’s not really the come back you were looking for either…
Perhaps the term ‘bail in’ is not entered your inbox. While you’re looking at the definition of ‘bail in’ , see if you can place where the ‘OBR’ might be fit into the possible outcomes of not holding cash
While I’m willing to learn off most people I really can’t be bothered with arrogant wind bags so please bail this into what ever shape you like and shove it in you’re OBR
The siege of Knightsbridge is both an emblem of gross injustice and a gruelling farce. For three years, a police cordon around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. It has cost £12 million. The quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee whose only security is the room given him by a brave South American country. His “crime” is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war.
The persecution of Julian Assange is about to flare again as it enters a dangerous stage. From August 20, three quarters of the Swedish prosecutor’s case against Assange regarding sexual misconduct in 2010 will disappear as the statute of limitations expires. At the same time Washington’s obsession with Assange and WikiLeaks has intensified. Indeed, it is vindictive American power that offers the greatest threat – as Chelsea Manning and those still held in Guantanamo can attest.
The Americans are pursuing Assange because WikiLeaks exposed their epic crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq: the wholesale killing of tens of thousands of civilians, which they covered up, and their contempt for sovereignty and international law, as demonstrated vividly in their leaked diplomatic cables. WikiLeaks continues to expose criminal activity by the US, having just published top secret US intercepts – US spies’ reports detailing private phone calls of the presidents of France and Germany, and other senior officials, relating to internal European political and economic affairs.
None of this is illegal under the US Constiution. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama, a professor of constitutional law, lauded whistleblowers as “part of a healthy democracy [and they] must be protected from reprisal”. In 2012, the campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama boasted on its website that he had prosecuted more whistleblowers in his first term than all other US presidents combined. Before Chelsea Manning had even received a trial, Obama had pronounced the whisletblower guilty. He was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison, having been tortured during his long pre-trial detention.
Few doubt that should the US get their hands on Assange, a similar fate awaits him. Threats of the capture and assassination of Assange became the currency of the political extremes in the US following Vice-President Joe Biden’s preposterous slur that the WikiLeaks founder was a “cyber-terrorist”. Those doubting the degree of ruthlessness Assange can expect should remember the forcing down of the Bolivian president’s plane in 2013 – wrongly believed to be carrying Edward Snowden.
According to documents released by Snowden, Assange is on a “Manhunt target list”. Washington’s bid to get him, say Australian diplomatic cables, is “unprecedented in scale and nature”. In Alexandria, Virginia, a secret grand jury has spent five years attempting to contrive a crime for which Assange can be prosecuted. This is not easy. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects publishers, journalists and whistleblowers.
Faced with this constitutional hurdle, the US Justice Department has contrived charges of “espionage”, “conspiracy to commit espionage”, “conversion” (theft of government property), “computer fraud and abuse” (computer hacking) and general “conspiracy”. The Espionage Act has life in prison and death penalty provisions. …..
Thanks Morrissey for update on Assange. I wonder what they are doing to Ecuador?
He wouldn’t want to go home, or come to NZ. We would barbecue him before you could say plumber.
+100 …thanks for that Morrissey….obviously trumped up sexual misconduct charges…Assange is the victim here
…”Neither woman claimed she had been raped. Indeed, both have denied they were raped and one of them has since tweeted, “I have not been raped.” That they were manipulated by police and their wishes ignored is evident – whatever their lawyers might say now. Certainly, they are victims of a saga which blights the reputation of Sweden itself”…
So apart from the our PM from Merrill Lynch, our ‘very clever’ ( but not very wise) Mr Groser, the narcissistic popinjay Hosking and our resident trolls who actually supports it?
And more importantly, with no dairy concessions in sight, what possible reason do they have for supporting it?
A tiny tiny tiny fraction compared to whatever is there.
Since they’re steerable, it seems like they would aim for them to come down on land, to recover the components and re-use them as well as avoid pollution.
Per Nicky Hager’s book, Jason Ede was specifically hired on the taxpayer’s dime to run dirty politics from the ninth floor of the Beehive, including the subversion of the OIA process, unauthorised access of Labour Party systems, and ghostwriting attack posts for WhaleOil.
Why cheapen the seriousness of his actions by comparing them to a journalist writing things you disagree with under her own name?
Oh OK Stephanie. My point was that the spin was mean and inaccurate just like some put out by some MPs. Eade? He escapes pinning regardless as his misdeeds lack criminal evidence. So?
so realestate.co.nz has released its own data on foreign interest. twyford makes some useful observations and reiterates the need for nz govt to collect accurate data.
the website says asking prices dipped in auckland but failed to point out the high percentage of auck properties are listed for auction with no asking or list price.
Been reluctant to relate this story, as it is only hearsay – but perhaps someone here would know how to determine how to get factual evidence.
My sister has a real estate friend based in Horowhenua, who attended the Harcourts internal awards last year. The top selling agent was based in East Auckland. Her client base – all overseas nationals – and she acts almost as a bank trader as they continue to buy and sell as if houses are commodities or shares. Her commission is around $200,000 a month which indicates the level of trading that is going on. (The anecdote actually said this is her weekly earnings, but that sounds too unbelievable).
Although, they regularly comment – real estate agencies are the least willing to provide good data on the issue of overseas ownership of residential properties. Their reward and profitability system is geared towards continuation of the same. In fact, it is tipped towards increasing the purchase price of housing – however that occurs.
If anyone knows a legitimate and public way to get the sales and purchase details of the top selling residential agents of each company, that would give the public a reasonable idea of the extent of the issue.
+100 Molly…sometimes anecdotal evidence is all people in a nation have …and all the authorities want people to have …we can therefore turn a blind eye or take it seriously and follow it up
This article by an honest Chinese businessman gives credence to your anecdotal evidence and the anecdotal evidence of many other New Zealanders…and gives details about how it is happening in Sydney and Melbourne
Not really. This doesn’t make for good medical or health care,
However the Nurses Organisation believes while vaccinations are a good idea, the Waikato DHB had gone too far.
The Public Service Association and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists also raise concerns over the new policy not allowing employers to listen to their staff, and ‘shaming’ of staff, NZ Herald reports.
That’s exactly what it’s about, the DHB in question taking patient safety seriously.
There is very little difference between requiring workers in other industries to take safety precautions. Would there have been the same out cry for example if a nurse of doctor was censured for not washing her/his hands between patients ?
The article is about what happened to the workers. It’s unclear what actually happened on the ward, but it seems clear that the situation wasn’t handled well by the DHB. That’s a concern, because bullying begets horizontal and lateral abuse, and you definitely don’t want that in the culture of an organisation that is looking after vulnerable people. If the DHB can’t introduce a new policy by getting its staff on board in a good way, then it’s not doing its job properly.
Has anyone in the article or this thread said that staff shouldn’t be taking safety precautions? Red herring there doc.
The evidence is current to May 2013. In this update, 90 reports of 116 studies compared the effect of influenza vaccine with placebo or no intervention. Sixty-nine reports were clinical trials (over 70,000 people), 27 were comparative cohort studies (about eight million people) and 20 were case-control studies (nearly 25,000 people). Of the 116 studies, 23 (three case-control and 20 cohort studies) were performed during pregnancy (about 1.6 million mother-child couples).
Key results
The preventive effect of parenteral inactivated influenza vaccine on healthy adults is small: at least 40 people would need vaccination to avoid one ILI case (95% confidence interval (CI) 26 to 128) and 71 people would need vaccination to prevent one case of influenza (95% CI 64 to 80). Vaccination shows no appreciable effect on working days lost or hospitalisation.
And it appears that authorities knew that this was likely many months ago but didn’t tell the public. Talk about unnecessarily eroding trust in vaccination.
CV yes… Multiple studies have demonstrated health benefits to patients, including reduced flu-related complications and reduced risk of death, with vaccination of HCP in long term care settings.
Why would DHBs be offering free vaccination to staff if there we’re no documented benefits ?
Also in relation to the article you link to from the independent you may or may not know that the influenza virus is a rather paid mutator which is why a ‘new vaccine’ is made available for each new flu season sometimes the influenza strains drift and make the vaccines less effective than is normally expected, the vaccine available in NZ is effective against the strains that are currently circulating in NZ.
Why would DHBs be offering free vaccination to staff if there we’re no documented benefits ?
Yes. Because it is ideological not scientific. In the UK here have been criticisms for years that the NHS is wasting hundreds of millions of pounds per year in flu vaccinations which cannot be justified by the benefits seen.
Let’s just say that I’m not much of a ‘good little consumer’, shall we
Many people are suckers for a marketing campaign slogan as can be witnessed in the litany of lies used to sell, pretty much any product or business type you could care to name
Nah that’s just a bullshit comeback by someone with no response to the obvious bullshit of the ‘flu season’ [slogan]
Seriously mate, take some time and think about what sits behind the slogan
Turning illness into a promotional sales tool akin to [name the season] is a preposterous, yet insightful example of the stupidity for what passes as ‘thought’
Would love to see some empirical evidence that flu vaccines are effective, even at a bsiac level do they reduce sick leave? Anecdotally, I see alot of sick leave taken by people who have had the vaccine. Doubt I will ever get an answer to that one, and wonder if the amount of money spent on vaccines could be put into “helping our patients” in a more tangible way? It certainly helps pharmaceutical companies.
The most recent data suggests that immunising health care workers reduces all cause death of taints by around 29% (this is disputed as it appears to large an effect) – while the influenza vaccine is not nearly as effective as many other vaccines anything that reduces the risk to patients in the hospital or elderly care setting is valuable.
People seem to be looking past the fact that the DHB in question also does not require vaccination
“Health workers who don’t have a flu vaccination are expected to either get vaccinated or wear a face mask as part of new policy.’
Reading between the lines, that says to me that the value of vaccinating against influenza in this situation is theorised but not actually known.
And that you are willing to reduce core principles of worker rights in order to promote that theoretical advantage.
To me it looks ideological rather than evidence based.
“People seem to be looking past the fact that the DHB in question also does not require vaccination”
I’m betting there are signficant issues with workers being required to wear face masks, which is probably part of the issue not explained in the article. I’m surprised as a doctor you wouldn’t be aware of those things.
They are not, I repeat not, forcing vaccination. If the personnel in question don’t want to be vaccinated they can wear a facemark when interacting with patients.
Seriously…”I’m betting there are signficant issues with workers being required to wear face masks, which is probably part of the issue not explained in the article.”
Like what ?
Would these issues be any worse than being required to wear a clean uniform, gloves, wash one’s hands in between patients.
I don’t know, but I guess DHBs would trumpet any significant reduction if one existed, since they’re always trying to increase uptake, internally as well as externally.
What would be confounding factors? Staff taking time off work to care for sick children? I would still expect an overall reduction given that a lot of healthcare workers do not have young children.
“They are not, I repeat not, forcing vaccination.”
and I have not, I repeat not, said anything about forced vaccinations. Why are you again bringing in strawmen?
Seriously…”I’m betting there are signficant issues with workers being required to wear face masks, which is probably part of the issue not explained in the article.”
Like what ?
Would these issues be any worse than being required to wear a clean uniform, gloves, wash one’s hands in between patients.
I think you should talk to the staff concerned, or staff in similar situations. If you can’t tell the difference between wearing gloves and a face mask I suggest you wear a face mask for the next full day you do as a GP. Don’t take it off. Take notes about what happens, it will be enlightening.
I’ll just say again, we don’t know what actually happened, so it’s useless to base reasoning on that unknowing. I however trust the various unions involved when they say that there were worker rights issues and it makes sense to me that this wasn’t about worker compliance in the way you are inferring but about the way that the DHB introduced the policy (yes, that’s a guess).
I’d also like to see some good data and analysis on how the Waikato policy is useful in practice (I understand the theory, which has some holes in it related to different strains of flu and the limitations of the flu vaccines).
I must have taken the wrong meaning from both your comment and previous commentary on vaccination.
Can you confirm that you don’t have an issue with the DHB policy over and above the potential for “management bullying’ on this policy……of which there appears to be little evidence outside of this newspaper article.
That DHB policy is only valid if the evidence is very clear that practitioners getting the flu vaccination is highly protective of patients health.
No such clarity in the evidence exists, as far as I know.
Otherwise the DHB is simply pressuring individuals to accept medical treatment by threatening their livelihoods. Under such circumstances no true consent to treatment is possible.
CV suggest you have a chat to an infectious control nurse/physician at your local DHB as you don’t seem to believe any of the evidence on the internet.
Once again no one is being pressured to vaccinate they have the choice to not vaccinate and wear a face mask.
Why does it have to be highly protective ? ……surely even minimally or moderately protective is worthwhile ?
I find that article a bit creepy tbh. Quoting the HDC code of rights as justificiation for a policy that isn’t even backed up by good science in his own argument. Plus, the illogics.
Yep – it’s manipulative to cite the patient rights’ code.
Thing is though to justify this draconian imposition on staff they need to portray it as a patient safety measure. It’s not like employees’ health and safety can be cited, as McFlock seemed to be suggesting.
I want to know if that entire DHB executive team is willing to get in front of the cameras and take the jab themselves. If not, they can suspend themselves.
Some people choose to not have a flu vaccination for health reasons, and protect their health in other ways. What would be a health reason for not wearing ear muffs?
Maybe they sweat a lot and reckon that with the earmufs cause rashes. Apparently it doesn’t really matter if the health “reason” is vague enough, rather than being a legitimate contraindication.
lolz. It’s a valid comment from me though. Why would you assume I am against the Waikato DHB policy unless you already believe I fit into a box (probably with a label of anti-vax on it)? Do you understand the difference between taking an ideological stance (vaccination is always good therefore the policy must be good, or the converse), and me wanting to understand something before I form an opinion? Not least because the debates would be more productive and IMO more interesting.
Would love to see some empirical evidence that flu vaccines are effective, even at a basic level do they reduce sick leave? Anecdotally, I see alot of sick leave taken by people who have had the vaccine. Doubt I will ever get an answer to that one, and wonder if the amount of money spent on vaccines could be put into “helping our patients” in a more tangible way? It certainly helps pharmaceutical companies.
Appreciate the link CV, what a relief to see others are daring to question the nazi like regime to get staff vaccinated, if only the same energy/money were applied to other aspects of nursing/medical practice.
I see it is dated last year, so obviously no immediate impact! Hearing that staff are suspended is a huge step in the wrong direction, and luckily don’t work for that DHB………
While there are various responses to Dr McCartney from all and sundry, including one that suggests influenza is not an infectious disease (give me strength)
…the response below from a medic at the WHO is perhaps the most representative.
hi nsd, i am curious as to whether you had an opinion on our local hospital (palmy) removing all drinks with sugar in them.
i understand that they have been replaced with the artificially sweetened versions.
Does that mean NZ First is finally swaying towards an alignment with National? “How would NZ First voters and people backing us now regard such an act? It would be an act of enormous treachery. They have voted for us to get change and we intend to deliver it. At this point.”
lolznui. He’s such a snake in the grass. Blames the Greens for the left losing the last election as if his antipathy towards being in govt with the GP had nothing to do with Labour not being clear about how it would form a govt. It’s a weird argument, because it’s not like GP voters are going to vote NZF or even Labour instead, so I can only assume he prefers to be in opposition than in a govt that includes the GP. Which would be consistent with his macho politics historically.
I agree with him that the Greens overreached by making too many outrageous demands and scared the potential voters from National and the undecided. I firmly hold that view and I had made similar comments straight after the election. I am sure many people were annoyed and dismayed by the Greens’ pre election unnecessary and harmful dumbarse tactics. I was.
Of course, that was not the only reason that the left block lost. There were other reasons too.
Hopefully, wiser heads and better strategy will prevail in 2017.
Pretty sure that the GP actions were a result of Labour earlier in the year having rejected working together to present a cohesive front. And that was because Labour were hedging their bets on NZF, which is a direct result of Peters playing power and control bullshit games with the electorate. I can’t wait until he is gone from the political scene. For all the good he has done in individual issues, he’s had a huge negative influence on democracy in NZ.
Politics is not just about ideology and impossible dreams, but also about pragmatism and clever tactics to win the voters to our side to change the government to make steady changes.
Indeed, and the GP have the best policy laid out in practical terms of any party currently in govt.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that Labour lost votes to NZF at a time when the GP held its own. It’s not the GP that did badly at the last election.
and yes Labour did not help itself, and NZ First did not help itself.
But it is also a fact that the Greens alone will not govern.
So they either play ball with Labour/NZFirst, or National ….
It is about time that Green Party Members do some soulsearching, as many of the Labour Members have had to do since the election. That the Members of both Parties get over their cooties re Winston Peters, and that they work together, campaing together, and maybe have a shot at winning.
But then, the Greens could also just say, fuck the left, we go with National.
Your comment makes no sense and just perpetuates myths about the GP that amount to lies in someone as politically aware as yourself.
1. the GP membership have already rejected forming govt with National, multiple times in a number of ways.
2. the GP approached Labour earlier last year to see if it wanted to present a united front going into the election. Labour turned that down.
3. the GP has already worked together with NZF a number of times, and openly says it is willing to do that more. The GP’s entire kaupapa is based on cooperation. It’s not the GP running round slagging off NZF. It’s Peters that has the problem with co-operation not the GP, and it’s Peters that routinely puts down the GP and tries to damage them via public statements.
None of that means the GP is perfect, but they do learn from their mistakes. What you are presenting is just plain false.
Have a good look at the Candidate Vote, and tell me that the National Voters did not hold their nose and voted P.f.D.
And now tell me why the Greens could not do the same for Labour (and frankly I would ask the voters of the Labour candidate the same if the Green Candidate would have been the one to pull of the win with the appropriate support?)
The Party Vote would have still gone to Natinal, but P.f.D would now be sitting home counting beans instead of fucking around in parliament.
so there…..
a. The Greens will go nowhere with their 10 – 15 % unless they side with one of the larger parties.
b. The Greens can side with Labour or with National or try to get 30% + of the vote.
c. I personally would like the Green, The Labour Party and National First to work together, as I have no issues with NZ First, but there seem to be a lot of people that seem to have an issue, and quite a few of those seem to come from the Greens.
But to say that the greens will not side with National? They sided with National on a cycleway that the poor of this country will never use, that the hungry of this country will never use, and that the homeless of this country will never use. That was 330 million dollar that needed not be spend, until we could at least fund the ‘feed the kids bill’, but I guess a feel good victory is still a victory.
Myself, I’m in favour of concessions and have long argued for them. However I’ve also seen the argument that if the GP didn’t stand someone in Ōhāriu then National would choose not to as well and Dunne would still win. The reality is that the right wing vote outstrips the leftwing vote in that electorate no matter what you do.
I don’t think there is any way to know how many voters chose Dunne over the National candidate from strategic voting and how many just prefer Dunne. There are often big discrepancies between electorate and party votes where you have a high profile MP.
You can’t expect people to vote strategically unless they have those skills and knowledge. I think most voters simply aren’t paying attention at the level you suggest.
a. The Greens will go nowhere with their 10 – 15 % unless they side with one of the larger parties.
The GP can’t side with National, and they tried to side with Labour but Labour rejected that. FIFY (and please stop with the lies about National and the GP).
Further, the GP have already achieved much in parliament despite never being in govt. The GP want change not power alone.
b. The Greens can side with Labour or with National or try to get 30% + of the vote.
Given that the GP already side with Labour and Labour don’t want them, what do you suggest?
c. I personally would like the Green, The Labour Party and National First to work together, as I have no issues with NZ First, but there seem to be a lot of people that seem to have an issue, and quite a few of those seem to come from the Greens.
I also have no problem with NZF. I do have a problem with Peters, who is anti-democracy as well as being anti GP. Please link to 3 pieces of supporting evidence that the Green Party has an issue with NZF (and that doesn’t include people like me posting our own opinions).
But to say that the greens will not side with National? They sided with National on a cycleway that the poor of this country will never use, that the hungry of this country will never use, and that the homeless of this country will never use. That was 330 million dollar that needed not be spend, until we could at least fund the ‘feed the kids bill’, but I guess a feel good victory is still a victory.
Oh fuck off. You were talking about the GP supporting National to form govt and you know it. You even said it explicitly above,
But it is also a fact that the Greens alone will not govern.
So they either play ball with Labour/NZFirst, or National ….
If you don’t understand the GP poition on that, please stop commenting until you have educated yourself. If you do understand, please stop telling lies.
He gives the greens a slapping ,which makes one think labour has to be in 40% territory if we hope to see the back of key in 2017. As a three way is highly unlikely.
National was always going to win this one. The real prizes were the pecking order of the opposition. David Cunliffe should have waited this one out, and let the ABC’s sleepwalk to defeat, but he was too impatient. Now he will never be PM, and probably wont even be a cabinet minister.
Figures released by website realestate.co.nz reveal about five per cent of all online traffic viewing Auckland property between January and April were primary speakers of an East Asian language.
Of that five per cent, only 2.8 per cent originated from outside New Zealand meaning almost half were viewing from within the country.
“However, with around five per cent of our visitors indicating fluency in an East Asian language, while only 2.8 per cent of offshore traffic originates from East Asian countries, it is clear that a large number of these Asian language speakers are actually located in New Zealand.”
David Hood explains about increasing levels of ‘magic money’ infused into the nz housing economy: “Is all the magic money offshore capital? We just don’t know. There is a lack of evidence of it coming from other parts inside the New Zealand economy, and given the hundreds of billions of dollars, a local source would be somewhat obvious. We also know that in other countries, with more internal housing markets, household debt does not just match the pattern of house value, the amounts add up to the same in gains. In New Zealand there is a 300 billion shortfall. ”
New Zealand is a tiny nation, and while we may not be a backwater, in the scheme of things we are nothing. We have no sway over this process. We have no say on the outcome. We have zero negotiation capability. We are screwed. We get to say “yes” or “no”.
If we say no we won’t be screwed, we already have trading arrangements with China, Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America, most of which are locked out of the TPP. Thanks to Helen Clark, swallow that down Mike, we are in a pretty good trading position. It’s only been since we started buddying up to the U.S. in the past few years that we’ve started to suffer.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. In the TPP NZ is being dictated to and we will be worse off because of it.
This is what happens when the country is so free to do business in:
She researched online, found what seemed a reputable New Zealand-owned and operated site, Pro1Digital, and in April paid $3080 with her credit card.
But after a couple of e-mails promising delivery “next week”, the website shut down in May, the firm went into liquidation and its director, Roy Li, apparently moved to Hong Kong.
And then he apparently moved back and opened up another online store:
But what most upsets Cvetkov is that Li appears to be back trading freely online with a new domain name, sinotech.co.nz. He did not respond to email requests for comment.
Roy Li is named on the Domain Name Commission registry as the registrant of both sinotech.co.nz and pro1digital.co.nz, but the former lists only a Hong Kong address, while the latter includes one in Auckland. A habitation index search showed Roy Li does not live there.
I think that it’s time that NZ stopped being one of the easiest places to do business in because we’re being taken to the cleaners by the corrupt and we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.
I think that it’s time that NZ stopped being one of the easiest places to do business in because we’re being taken to the cleaners by the corrupt and we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.
The corrupt are using our registers to gain acceptance to perpetuate significantly large fraudulent activities.
There are a couple of really good investigative articles by the team at interest.co.nz
We get Janet Wilson and Michelle Boag on TV every week;
How come smart and decent women are hardly ever on the media?
All over the world, women are massively under-represented in media commentary. Sadly, even when they do appear, they are, due to deliberate choices by a small clique of programme editors, overwhelmingly substandard, ranging from the incompetent (Christine Rankin and Denise L’Estrange-Corbet), the nasty but dim (Kirsty Wark and Zeina Badawi at the BBC, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet and Pebbles Hooper in New Zealand), the deranged (Ann Coulter, Pamela Geller), the smug (Deborah Hill Cone, Kerre McIvor) and the depraved (Dame Lesley Max, Melanie Phillips).
Smart and brilliant women like Arundhati Roy, on the other hand, are systematically excluded….
This is why our police officers need to have cameras on them at all times:
Tensing asked Dubose for his license, which had been suspended in January, according to the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles. Dubose resisted providing his license or exiting his vehicle, and an altercation took place. Tensing claims his arm got stuck in the steering wheel and that Dubose began driving forward, dragging him. At that point, Tensing says, he shot Dubose once in the head. Tensing adds that he then fell to the ground, sustaining mild injuries. The car rolled for another block, then crashed.
But Tensing’s body camera footage shows a far different scenario. In the video, Tensing does repeatedly asks Dubose for his license, which Dubose says he doesn’t have. But instead of getting belligerent, Dubose is apologetic.
“I just don’t,” he tells Tensing. “I’m sorry sir. I was just going to go in the house.” Dubose then tells Tensing he lives right around the corner. “I didn’t even do nothing,” Dubose says as Tensing begins to pull his car door open.
They would be his last words. Dubose grabs the door car door with one hand and starts his car with the other. A second later, Tensing shoots him in the head. Dubose, dead instantly, is no longer holding down the brake and the car begins rolling forward. Tensing, still on his feet, chases the car with his gun drawn.
Especially relevant now that our police are permanently armed.
Jon Stewart tries to talk rationally to a loudmouthed pub bore:
“It saddens me to see you wasting your time.”
Trying to talk sense to Bill O’Reilly is like batting your head against a brick wall. “There is a selective outrage machine at Fox,” says Stewart. “You have to be consistent with your outrage.”
O’Reilly, though, is impervious to anything resembling common sense or reason. Watch this, and weep for America….
If it all gets a bit much – Remember to laugh. Here is Lewis Black and friends recently doing some political comedy. The wonderful Dick Gregory is the first one up, and if you have not seen him before, you are in for a treat.
too Weka…. sorry i can’t reply directly as I would like too….No reply button?
Sabine:
a. The Greens will go nowhere with their 10 – 15 % unless they side with one of the larger parties.
Weka:
The GP can’t side with National, and they tried to side with Labour but Labour rejected that. FIFY (and please stop with the lies about National and the GP).
Further, the GP have already achieved much in parliament despite never being in govt. The GP want change not power alone.
Sabine:
I am not lying here, I am stating the obvious. The Greens alone with the current % they have can not go it alone. They can pick and choose legislation from other Parties they would like to support i.e. Bicyle Ways – National, Feed the Kids – Mana, or they can pitch their legislation to be supported by others …re the national cycle way https://www.facebook.com/nzgreenparty/photos/a.489359751371.266952.10779081371/10152855791201372/?type=1&theater
that is not lying, that is day to day business – and frankly without cross bench understanding nothing would get done.
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Sabine:
b. The Greens can side with Labour or with National or try to get 30% + of the vote.
Weka:
Given that the GP already side with Labour and Labour don’t want them, what do you suggest?
Sabine: I don’t see the GP side anymore with Labour that Labour side with the GP – i see them bickering about fine print that only hurts this country, and i think that both parties have to bury their hurt FeeFees and get on with it. Not for themselves but for the country, and I have told this to my Labour Representative in the same words and will do so again and again and again until they grow a brain.
I have yet to meet the Green Candidate for Te Atatu South.
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Sabine:
c. I personally would like the Green, The Labour Party and National First to work together, as I have no issues with NZ First, but there seem to be a lot of people that seem to have an issue, and quite a few of those seem to come from the Greens.
Weka:
I also have no problem with NZF. I do have a problem with Peters, who is anti-democracy as well as being anti GP. Please link to 3 pieces of supporting evidence that the Green Party has an issue with NZF (and that doesn’t include people like me posting our own opinions).
Sabine:
I have only lived in this Country since 1998, and never understood the Winston hate. He is a Politician, and he does not belong to any party than his own, and he will only promote his own party, the same as does Labour and/or the Greens. I see virtually no difference between the people other then their policies. And in many cases the policies should help for understanding. Again, I wish all of them would bury their hurt FeeFees and grow a brain and get on with it, not for themselves but the better of the country.
And I don’t have to link to anything, as I did not say the Green Party, but the Members of the Green Party like yourself that seem to think that Winston Peters is anti GP and anti Democracy.
I did state upthread, that once we are in the voting booth, we are on our own regardless of party affiliation, and we can vote for ourselves, for our parties, or for our country.
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Sabine:
But to say that the greens will not side with National? They sided with National on a cycleway that the poor of this country will never use, that the hungry of this country will never use, and that the homeless of this country will never use. That was 330 million dollar that needed not be spend, until we could at least fund the ‘feed the kids bill’, but I guess a feel good victory is still a victory.
Wet:
Oh fuck off. You were talking about the GP supporting National to form govt and you know it. You even said it explicitly above,
Sabine:
Despite your lovely suggestion i will not fuck off, its too early for it.
I am not speaking of the GP forming a government with National, i am talking about supporting the National government and calling success / victory while getting nothing in return.
So yes, i’d rather the GP would have not supported national on the great cycle way of epic proportions, but rather said that if we can’t feed the kids cause we are too poor, than we can’t have a cycle way that will not be used by most of NZ cause too far away, too poor, too hungry and too homeless.
So don’t put words in my mouth that i have not spoken.
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Sabine:
But it is also a fact that the Greens alone will not govern.
So they either play ball with Labour/NZFirst, or National ….
Weta:
If you don’t understand the GP poition on that, please stop commenting until you have educated yourself. If you do understand, please stop telling lies.
Sabine:
Clearly, now you are just trying to be insulting. I have not said any lies.
I have mentioned what has happened, i have posted a link for you to check and come back with. I have spoken about my impressions and my perception.
And i stand with what I said, unless the GP has the 40%+ in election on their own, they will have to form a government with the Party that wins the high numbers if they want to be in Government. At any time this can be Labour or National, in absence of a third Party that could garner the votes. Or they can form a Government with several of the smaller Parties, including NZ First.
This has nothing to do with the GP position of the day, this has anything to do with what is possible. Again, no lies here, just options. And the GP will decide for themselves what they want to do and with whom.
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However, being a German I have seen the German GP actually fracture in the “The Fundies” and the “Realos – or realistic GP”, so I know that what is today might not be tomorrow.
So to end, i would hope that you understand that I am talking only about my perception, from my understanding and political upbringing, infused with a large dose of cynicism and a distinct lack of romanticism.
“At any time this can be Labour or National, in absence of a third Party that could garner the votes.”
To cut this short, you simply have no idea what you are talking about. The GP cannot support the formation of a National govt in the way you are implying. There are specific internal processes that prevent that, that were created by the membership. The only real world viable option is Labour and whoever else Labour do deals with.
Confusing govt formation with policy work doesn’t help (and to be fair the GP itself isn’t great on communicating this). They’re separate things. The GP will work with any party where there is policy in common. They have demonstrated this with multiple parties, including NZF.
“And I don’t have to link to anything, as I did not say the Green Party, but the Members of the Green Party like yourself that seem to think that Winston Peters is anti GP and anti Democracy.”
Good, so you accept that the Green Party itself has no problem with NZF and promotes a cooperative relationship with them. As for myself, my views on Peters has nothing to do with my GP membership, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped conflating the two.
I think a lot of what you are saying about the GP is misleading and based on not understanding what they actually do. I’m going to link to the remit that established who the party could enter into govt with, but please bear in mind that my tolerance for the myths perpetuated about the GP is pretty low now.
“I am not speaking of the GP forming a government with National, i am talking about supporting the National government and calling success / victory while getting nothing in return.”
Please give a couple of examples of the GP supporting the National govt. I don’t see it myself.
Are we getting a weekend social post this week. It all seems rather flat now that TPP isn’t around to goad us and rile us. It has been on my mind for most of this week. Hope RIP, with on the tombstone Saved from National Hell. NZ would have entered in haste and repented at leisure.
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 ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
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 ...
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; ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
“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 ...
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, ...
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, ...
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, ...
.“$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 ...
“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. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 → ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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,” ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Moving to a cashless system (as is currently being attempted overseas) would allow banks/the government to financially shut down anyone they don’t approve of, and therefore is unacceptable to New Zealand values.
It would make low end tax evasion and drug dealing much harder so I’m pro cashless society .
Legalising all drugs would do this and is a better option than universal removal of liberties (Portugal).
Cashless society would by definition include extensive tracking of individuals.
Extensive tracking of individuals already occurs – by the banks, by Google, and generally by corporate world which is very close to being a monopoly.
Basically, you’re saying that something shouldn’t happen because of something that’s already happening and of which you’re not complaining.
Just because tracking already occurs does not mean we should permit more extensive controls over the population.
There are of course ways around this such as barter, green dollars, ithaca monetary system. This would limit tax take not support it.
Generally speaking, I don’t think that private companies should be able to track you and that we should be stopping them from doing so. Admittedly difficult to do in this digital world as rules in one country don’t apply in another.
And that would be what was happening if people could be bothered putting up with the added expense. It’s not so we can be assured that people will happily move top the cashless system. In fact, around 70% of all transactions are now done in a cashless manner:
And I know damn well that many companies refuse to pay in cash.
The simple fact of the matter is that we’re going to a cashless society whether we like it or not. The choice that we have is the shape of that system and whether it’s owned by the private corporations or by government. The best option is that it’s owned by government.
Not a big picture guy by the use of the term “low end’, I guess
Check out how much drug money Well Fargo got outed for laundering and then check if your statement aligns with whats happening outside the ‘home patch’
And check this out…..
When the ‘money’ is all digital 1’s and 0’s, you will have zero opportunity to prevent [name the entity] from simply taking what you incorrectly believed to be the ‘fruits of of labour’, or switching off the power to the servers.
I believe mental exercise to be as important as physical exercise….
That’s got to be one of the vaguest pieces of drivel that I’ve seen. Really, WTF are you talking about?
If you can’t understand the fundamental concept of the statement then you have no business passing comment on the subject
But by all means continue to express your blatant technical ignorance
You wrote a statement that holds no meaning and then blame others for not being able to understand it?
Yeah, the dimwit happens to be you.
Fair enough , it did come across in a shit way
Most people have access to only two types ‘money’
1. Paper cash
2. Electronic (eftpos) and card payments
If paper cash was gone and the servers hosting the ‘electronic cash’ were turned off (bank ‘shuts down’ or a ‘bail in’ occurs) then people have zero choice of the matter, and possibly no way to purchase a single unit of anything
Paper money is currently the only mechanism which offsets 100% control over the ‘tool’ people are forced to use buy necessities of life
It baffles me how there are those who believe removing cash from the system is somehow a sensible idea
It is a foolish notion which will server only to lock in the death choke the financial banking industry has around the neck of the worlds populace
Even now of the servers go down I suspect that the majority of people can’t buy anything because they’re not carrying cash and won’t be able to withdraw anything from the bank. Never mind that this isn’t something that will happen all the time and just simple turning it off would be a high order crime where the person/group who does it loses everything and goes to jail.
The threat that a private bank could make of shutting it down is also the one of the reasons why it must be done by the government with all of New Zealand money existing solely upon those servers.
That would be true if the majority of people were still using cash which they’re not.
Because it’s a much better system that uses less resources than a cash system. It comes with a few risks that will need to be taken into account but then so does the cash system the major one is that it helps to hide crime.
There’s also one other aspect that you’re not taking into account – 98% of the money in the system is already electronic. We need to put in place proper systems to regulate that whether we go to a cashless system or not and once we have done that then we may as well go to cashless just to get rid of the unnecessary expense of cash.
Were is you’re house and can I come dig you’re garden as you obviously bury all you’re cash in tins I might get lucky.
That’s not really the come back you were looking for either…
Perhaps the term ‘bail in’ is not entered your inbox. While you’re looking at the definition of ‘bail in’ , see if you can place where the ‘OBR’ might be fit into the possible outcomes of not holding cash
Oh, and Greece
While I’m willing to learn off most people I really can’t be bothered with arrogant wind bags so please bail this into what ever shape you like and shove it in you’re OBR
It wouldn’t just be low end tax evasion but the high end stuff as well.
Another live one here…
Yes of course the controllers of the ‘cashless system’ would be all for trapping themselves
FFS there are some dim wits around
If there are controllers of the economy then we need to find them and weed them out.
Assange: The Untold Story of an Epic Struggle for Justice
by JOHNPILGER, 31 July 2015
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Assange-The-Untold-Story-of-an-Epic-Struggle-for-Justice-20150731-0003.html
The siege of Knightsbridge is both an emblem of gross injustice and a gruelling farce. For three years, a police cordon around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. It has cost £12 million. The quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee whose only security is the room given him by a brave South American country. His “crime” is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war.
The persecution of Julian Assange is about to flare again as it enters a dangerous stage. From August 20, three quarters of the Swedish prosecutor’s case against Assange regarding sexual misconduct in 2010 will disappear as the statute of limitations expires. At the same time Washington’s obsession with Assange and WikiLeaks has intensified. Indeed, it is vindictive American power that offers the greatest threat – as Chelsea Manning and those still held in Guantanamo can attest.
The Americans are pursuing Assange because WikiLeaks exposed their epic crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq: the wholesale killing of tens of thousands of civilians, which they covered up, and their contempt for sovereignty and international law, as demonstrated vividly in their leaked diplomatic cables. WikiLeaks continues to expose criminal activity by the US, having just published top secret US intercepts – US spies’ reports detailing private phone calls of the presidents of France and Germany, and other senior officials, relating to internal European political and economic affairs.
None of this is illegal under the US Constiution. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama, a professor of constitutional law, lauded whistleblowers as “part of a healthy democracy [and they] must be protected from reprisal”. In 2012, the campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama boasted on its website that he had prosecuted more whistleblowers in his first term than all other US presidents combined. Before Chelsea Manning had even received a trial, Obama had pronounced the whisletblower guilty. He was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison, having been tortured during his long pre-trial detention.
Few doubt that should the US get their hands on Assange, a similar fate awaits him. Threats of the capture and assassination of Assange became the currency of the political extremes in the US following Vice-President Joe Biden’s preposterous slur that the WikiLeaks founder was a “cyber-terrorist”. Those doubting the degree of ruthlessness Assange can expect should remember the forcing down of the Bolivian president’s plane in 2013 – wrongly believed to be carrying Edward Snowden.
According to documents released by Snowden, Assange is on a “Manhunt target list”. Washington’s bid to get him, say Australian diplomatic cables, is “unprecedented in scale and nature”. In Alexandria, Virginia, a secret grand jury has spent five years attempting to contrive a crime for which Assange can be prosecuted. This is not easy. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects publishers, journalists and whistleblowers.
Faced with this constitutional hurdle, the US Justice Department has contrived charges of “espionage”, “conspiracy to commit espionage”, “conversion” (theft of government property), “computer fraud and abuse” (computer hacking) and general “conspiracy”. The Espionage Act has life in prison and death penalty provisions. …..
Read more….
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Assange-The-Untold-Story-of-an-Epic-Struggle-for-Justice-20150731-0003.html
The new trailer for “Snowden”, the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RKto0Yh4so
Thanks Morrissey for update on Assange. I wonder what they are doing to Ecuador?
He wouldn’t want to go home, or come to NZ. We would barbecue him before you could say plumber.
+100 …thanks for that Morrissey….obviously trumped up sexual misconduct charges…Assange is the victim here
…”Neither woman claimed she had been raped. Indeed, both have denied they were raped and one of them has since tweeted, “I have not been raped.” That they were manipulated by police and their wishes ignored is evident – whatever their lawyers might say now. Certainly, they are victims of a saga which blights the reputation of Sweden itself”…
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Assange-The-Untold-Story-of-an-Epic-Struggle-for-Justice-20150731-0003.html
Fran O’Sullivan says Groser should walk away from the TPP.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11490133
Even John Roughan questions it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11490099
So apart from the our PM from Merrill Lynch, our ‘very clever’ ( but not very wise) Mr Groser, the narcissistic popinjay Hosking and our resident trolls who actually supports it?
And more importantly, with no dairy concessions in sight, what possible reason do they have for supporting it?
hi paul, you forgot to mention hard working in yr description of grosser.
every news report seems to say at least twice that they are working hard.
for petes sake, they are sitting and talking, before retiring to 4 or 5 star accomadation.
Good news.
Looks like the talks have failed.
http://www.voanews.com/content/tpp-talks-appear-headed-for-crucial-stage/2890488.html
Google’s project Loon has some impressive tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOndhtfIXSY
Features NZ and vodafone.
I’m looking at that and thinking about how much more plastic will end up in the oceans. I really don’t think that this is a good idea.
A tiny tiny tiny fraction compared to whatever is there.
Since they’re steerable, it seems like they would aim for them to come down on land, to recover the components and re-use them as well as avoid pollution.
Slap.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/351037/labour-struggling-pin-down-its-bottom-lines
No surprises that the corporate media writes this, is there?
Claire Trevett? Surprised? Stephen Joyce is her mentor so spin, spin, spin. Trevette the new Jason Eade?
Per Nicky Hager’s book, Jason Ede was specifically hired on the taxpayer’s dime to run dirty politics from the ninth floor of the Beehive, including the subversion of the OIA process, unauthorised access of Labour Party systems, and ghostwriting attack posts for WhaleOil.
Why cheapen the seriousness of his actions by comparing them to a journalist writing things you disagree with under her own name?
Oh OK Stephanie. My point was that the spin was mean and inaccurate just like some put out by some MPs. Eade? He escapes pinning regardless as his misdeeds lack criminal evidence. So?
@realblue
I think Steven Joyce wrote that and Trevett just signed it. It doesn’t even get Labour’s percentage vote at the election right.
Note who has written the ODT item – ShonKey’s favourite journalist ! More MSM nonsense to draw attention away from the nasty doings of the Nats.
so realestate.co.nz has released its own data on foreign interest. twyford makes some useful observations and reiterates the need for nz govt to collect accurate data.
the website says asking prices dipped in auckland but failed to point out the high percentage of auck properties are listed for auction with no asking or list price.
Been reluctant to relate this story, as it is only hearsay – but perhaps someone here would know how to determine how to get factual evidence.
My sister has a real estate friend based in Horowhenua, who attended the Harcourts internal awards last year. The top selling agent was based in East Auckland. Her client base – all overseas nationals – and she acts almost as a bank trader as they continue to buy and sell as if houses are commodities or shares. Her commission is around $200,000 a month which indicates the level of trading that is going on. (The anecdote actually said this is her weekly earnings, but that sounds too unbelievable).
Although, they regularly comment – real estate agencies are the least willing to provide good data on the issue of overseas ownership of residential properties. Their reward and profitability system is geared towards continuation of the same. In fact, it is tipped towards increasing the purchase price of housing – however that occurs.
If anyone knows a legitimate and public way to get the sales and purchase details of the top selling residential agents of each company, that would give the public a reasonable idea of the extent of the issue.
all property sales, their prices and the names of their new owners have to be provided to the local town council.
+100 Molly…sometimes anecdotal evidence is all people in a nation have …and all the authorities want people to have …we can therefore turn a blind eye or take it seriously and follow it up
This article by an honest Chinese businessman gives credence to your anecdotal evidence and the anecdotal evidence of many other New Zealanders…and gives details about how it is happening in Sydney and Melbourne
http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/wall-of-chinese-capital-buying-up-australian-properties-20150628-ghztdf.html
The real reason why the TPPA agreement is a secret in NZ is revealed here
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/70650692/andrew-gunn-oops-we-mislaid-nzs-only-copy-of-the-tpp
So Macro. A very busy buzzy bee called Tim buzzing furiously but not going anywhere. How sad.
Non-vaccinated nurses from Waikato Hospital were sent home after refusing to comply with new flu policy
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/unvaccinated-nurses-sent-home-from-waikato-dhb-2015080108#ixzz3hVVtLfu9
Glad to see the various unions stepping up on that.
Indeed.
Good to see the DHB taking patient and staff safety seriously.
Not really. This doesn’t make for good medical or health care,
However the Nurses Organisation believes while vaccinations are a good idea, the Waikato DHB had gone too far.
The Public Service Association and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists also raise concerns over the new policy not allowing employers to listen to their staff, and ‘shaming’ of staff, NZ Herald reports.
Health workers who don’t have a flu vaccination are expected to either get vaccinated or wear a face mask as part of new policy.
Makes very good sense most especially during influenza season.
That’s not what the article or this discussion is about though.
That’s exactly what it’s about, the DHB in question taking patient safety seriously.
There is very little difference between requiring workers in other industries to take safety precautions. Would there have been the same out cry for example if a nurse of doctor was censured for not washing her/his hands between patients ?
The article is about what happened to the workers. It’s unclear what actually happened on the ward, but it seems clear that the situation wasn’t handled well by the DHB. That’s a concern, because bullying begets horizontal and lateral abuse, and you definitely don’t want that in the culture of an organisation that is looking after vulnerable people. If the DHB can’t introduce a new policy by getting its staff on board in a good way, then it’s not doing its job properly.
Has anyone in the article or this thread said that staff shouldn’t be taking safety precautions? Red herring there doc.
Cochrane Collaboration Review 2014
http://www.cochrane.org/CD001269/ARI_vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults
UK Flu vaccination 97% ineffective
And it appears that authorities knew that this was likely many months ago but didn’t tell the public. Talk about unnecessarily eroding trust in vaccination.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/new-winter-flu-vaccine-given-to-millions-barely-works-according-to-public-health-officials-10027186.html
I don’t know why you trot this out every time.
Can you not see there is a difference in vaccination amongst a general population and a in hospital healthcare professional population ?
This is also the reason why PHARMAC only funds vaccination for a relatively small percent of the populace.
is there clear evidence for flu vaccinations being more protective in hospital settings than in general settings?
CV yes… Multiple studies have demonstrated health benefits to patients, including reduced flu-related complications and reduced risk of death, with vaccination of HCP in long term care settings.
Why would DHBs be offering free vaccination to staff if there we’re no documented benefits ?
Also in relation to the article you link to from the independent you may or may not know that the influenza virus is a rather paid mutator which is why a ‘new vaccine’ is made available for each new flu season sometimes the influenza strains drift and make the vaccines less effective than is normally expected, the vaccine available in NZ is effective against the strains that are currently circulating in NZ.
Yes. Because it is ideological not scientific. In the UK here have been criticisms for years that the NHS is wasting hundreds of millions of pounds per year in flu vaccinations which cannot be justified by the benefits seen.
“Because it is ideological not scientific.”
Oh the irony !
Influenza season…..
LOL – Another live one
Do tell …
Let’s just say that I’m not much of a ‘good little consumer’, shall we
Many people are suckers for a marketing campaign slogan as can be witnessed in the litany of lies used to sell, pretty much any product or business type you could care to name
Myself, not so much
You appear to have cornered the market in tinfoil all to yourself.
Nah that’s just a bullshit comeback by someone with no response to the obvious bullshit of the ‘flu season’ [slogan]
Seriously mate, take some time and think about what sits behind the slogan
Turning illness into a promotional sales tool akin to [name the season] is a preposterous, yet insightful example of the stupidity for what passes as ‘thought’
The reason we call it a flu season is that influenza is seasonal and the influenza strains tend to change from season to season.
It’s hardly a marketing slogan.
What term would you suggest is used if not “flu season”
“What term would you suggest is used if not “flu season”..”
what about calling…um winter?
😆 Winter ?? You filthy marketing swine !
northshore doc
Great finish.
By any means, Northshore? There are claims of the DHB overstepping the line and perhaps acting illegally.
Would love to see some empirical evidence that flu vaccines are effective, even at a bsiac level do they reduce sick leave? Anecdotally, I see alot of sick leave taken by people who have had the vaccine. Doubt I will ever get an answer to that one, and wonder if the amount of money spent on vaccines could be put into “helping our patients” in a more tangible way? It certainly helps pharmaceutical companies.
The most recent data suggests that immunising health care workers reduces all cause death of taints by around 29% (this is disputed as it appears to large an effect) – while the influenza vaccine is not nearly as effective as many other vaccines anything that reduces the risk to patients in the hospital or elderly care setting is valuable.
People seem to be looking past the fact that the DHB in question also does not require vaccination
“Health workers who don’t have a flu vaccination are expected to either get vaccinated or wear a face mask as part of new policy.’
Reading between the lines, that says to me that the value of vaccinating against influenza in this situation is theorised but not actually known.
And that you are willing to reduce core principles of worker rights in order to promote that theoretical advantage.
To me it looks ideological rather than evidence based.
“People seem to be looking past the fact that the DHB in question also does not require vaccination”
I’m betting there are signficant issues with workers being required to wear face masks, which is probably part of the issue not explained in the article. I’m surprised as a doctor you wouldn’t be aware of those things.
They are not, I repeat not, forcing vaccination. If the personnel in question don’t want to be vaccinated they can wear a facemark when interacting with patients.
Seriously…”I’m betting there are signficant issues with workers being required to wear face masks, which is probably part of the issue not explained in the article.”
Like what ?
Would these issues be any worse than being required to wear a clean uniform, gloves, wash one’s hands in between patients.
DHB staff flu jab cover increased from 45% to 61% from 2010 to 2014. Has there been a commensurate reduction in sick leave in DHBs in that time?
You tell me and while you’re at it correct for all the confounding factors ….
I don’t know, but I guess DHBs would trumpet any significant reduction if one existed, since they’re always trying to increase uptake, internally as well as externally.
What would be confounding factors? Staff taking time off work to care for sick children? I would still expect an overall reduction given that a lot of healthcare workers do not have young children.
“They are not, I repeat not, forcing vaccination.”
and I have not, I repeat not, said anything about forced vaccinations. Why are you again bringing in strawmen?
Seriously…”I’m betting there are signficant issues with workers being required to wear face masks, which is probably part of the issue not explained in the article.”
Like what ?
Would these issues be any worse than being required to wear a clean uniform, gloves, wash one’s hands in between patients.
I think you should talk to the staff concerned, or staff in similar situations. If you can’t tell the difference between wearing gloves and a face mask I suggest you wear a face mask for the next full day you do as a GP. Don’t take it off. Take notes about what happens, it will be enlightening.
I’ll just say again, we don’t know what actually happened, so it’s useless to base reasoning on that unknowing. I however trust the various unions involved when they say that there were worker rights issues and it makes sense to me that this wasn’t about worker compliance in the way you are inferring but about the way that the DHB introduced the policy (yes, that’s a guess).
What percentage of people who get vaccinated have adverse side effects?
Also is the vaccine effective against new strains or mutations of old strains?
BTW I’m all for elderly and such getting vaccinated as it’s better than nothing.
Google is your friend – I suggest the CDC and WHO
I’d also like to see some good data and analysis on how the Waikato policy is useful in practice (I understand the theory, which has some holes in it related to different strains of flu and the limitations of the flu vaccines).
I’d like to understand why you object to this policy ?
what makes you think I object to the policy? Genuine question.
I must have taken the wrong meaning from both your comment and previous commentary on vaccination.
Can you confirm that you don’t have an issue with the DHB policy over and above the potential for “management bullying’ on this policy……of which there appears to be little evidence outside of this newspaper article.
That DHB policy is only valid if the evidence is very clear that practitioners getting the flu vaccination is highly protective of patients health.
No such clarity in the evidence exists, as far as I know.
Otherwise the DHB is simply pressuring individuals to accept medical treatment by threatening their livelihoods. Under such circumstances no true consent to treatment is possible.
CV suggest you have a chat to an infectious control nurse/physician at your local DHB as you don’t seem to believe any of the evidence on the internet.
Once again no one is being pressured to vaccinate they have the choice to not vaccinate and wear a face mask.
Why does it have to be highly protective ? ……surely even minimally or moderately protective is worthwhile ?
Why only the patient’s health?
OSH clearly says that employees have responsibilities for their own health and safety, too.
It is about the patients’ health in the health care setting. At least, that was the DHB’s chief executive Nigel Murray main justification for this move when he stressed the supposed risk to patients:
http://www.waikatodhbnewsroom.co.nz/2015/05/19/why-not-vaccinate-or-mask-up/
I find that article a bit creepy tbh. Quoting the HDC code of rights as justificiation for a policy that isn’t even backed up by good science in his own argument. Plus, the illogics.
Yep – it’s manipulative to cite the patient rights’ code.
Thing is though to justify this draconian imposition on staff they need to portray it as a patient safety measure. It’s not like employees’ health and safety can be cited, as McFlock seemed to be suggesting.
I want to know if that entire DHB executive team is willing to get in front of the cameras and take the jab themselves. If not, they can suspend themselves.
“OSH clearly says that employees have responsibilities for their own health and safety, too.”
Good, then supporting staff who choose not to vaccinate should be happening.
In exactly the same way staff who choose to not wear earmuffs or other protective equipment are “supported”.
Some people choose to not have a flu vaccination for health reasons, and protect their health in other ways. What would be a health reason for not wearing ear muffs?
“other ways”. Like face masks.
Maybe they sweat a lot and reckon that with the earmufs cause rashes. Apparently it doesn’t really matter if the health “reason” is vague enough, rather than being a legitimate contraindication.
only in your mind. And protecting one’s health is not limited to offically sanctioned contraindications thankfully.
and no, I didn’t mean masks. Masks are there to protect the patients.
lol
So “only in your mind” is insufficient for a valid opinion, but so is “officially sanctioned” via a demonstrable evidence base.
Goodnight.
I’d need to see the explicit policy to have an opinion on it.
“I must have taken the wrong meaning from both your comment and previous commentary on vaccination.”
You must have missed the comment where I pointed out that I don’t fit into the dualistic argument that you frame vaccination in.
“You must have missed the comment where I pointed out that I don’t fit into the dualistic argument that you frame vaccination in.”
🙄 at times weka you are so wet your are positively supersaturated.
lolz. It’s a valid comment from me though. Why would you assume I am against the Waikato DHB policy unless you already believe I fit into a box (probably with a label of anti-vax on it)? Do you understand the difference between taking an ideological stance (vaccination is always good therefore the policy must be good, or the converse), and me wanting to understand something before I form an opinion? Not least because the debates would be more productive and IMO more interesting.
Would love to see some empirical evidence that flu vaccines are effective, even at a basic level do they reduce sick leave? Anecdotally, I see alot of sick leave taken by people who have had the vaccine. Doubt I will ever get an answer to that one, and wonder if the amount of money spent on vaccines could be put into “helping our patients” in a more tangible way? It certainly helps pharmaceutical companies.
Have a read of this in the BMJ (British Medical Journal)
What use is mass flu vaccination?
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g6182
Appreciate the link CV, what a relief to see others are daring to question the nazi like regime to get staff vaccinated, if only the same energy/money were applied to other aspects of nursing/medical practice.
I see it is dated last year, so obviously no immediate impact! Hearing that staff are suspended is a huge step in the wrong direction, and luckily don’t work for that DHB………
The DHB is not proposing mass vaccination for influenza, neither is the MoH,, you are raising a straw man.
While there are various responses to Dr McCartney from all and sundry, including one that suggests influenza is not an infectious disease (give me strength)
…the response below from a medic at the WHO is perhaps the most representative.
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g6182/rr/778898
hi nsd, i am curious as to whether you had an opinion on our local hospital (palmy) removing all drinks with sugar in them.
i understand that they have been replaced with the artificially sweetened versions.
Probably a local public health initiative with the DHB/hospital wanting to be seen to be leading the way.
I bet the staff are still having sugar in their coffee/tea ! not too mention their orange juice ..
this is where i have an issue.
to me a health initiative that replaces sugar with aspartame/nutrasweet is a contradiction in terms.
You won’t get an argument from me on that one.
cool.
This is a great song warning about the dangers of aspartame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eep3PJ–Czc
very good, paul.
i had a few epiphanies a coupla years back and one that stayed with me was executives from monsanto having a sabbatical at the …fda!
at that time aspartame entered the food system.
i like to ask anyone sucking on a diet product if they enjoy their accumulative neuro toxin.
Anyone from here at the New Zealand First Conference this weekend?
Would be good to hear the vibe.
Winston Peters makes some interesting points here :
“The Opposition bloc lost “the unloseable election.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70728843/hes-70-but-winston-peters-has-no-plans-to-retire
Does that mean NZ First is finally swaying towards an alignment with National? “How would NZ First voters and people backing us now regard such an act? It would be an act of enormous treachery. They have voted for us to get change and we intend to deliver it. At this point.”
lolznui. He’s such a snake in the grass. Blames the Greens for the left losing the last election as if his antipathy towards being in govt with the GP had nothing to do with Labour not being clear about how it would form a govt. It’s a weird argument, because it’s not like GP voters are going to vote NZF or even Labour instead, so I can only assume he prefers to be in opposition than in a govt that includes the GP. Which would be consistent with his macho politics historically.
I agree with him that the Greens overreached by making too many outrageous demands and scared the potential voters from National and the undecided. I firmly hold that view and I had made similar comments straight after the election. I am sure many people were annoyed and dismayed by the Greens’ pre election unnecessary and harmful dumbarse tactics. I was.
Of course, that was not the only reason that the left block lost. There were other reasons too.
Hopefully, wiser heads and better strategy will prevail in 2017.
Pretty sure that the GP actions were a result of Labour earlier in the year having rejected working together to present a cohesive front. And that was because Labour were hedging their bets on NZF, which is a direct result of Peters playing power and control bullshit games with the electorate. I can’t wait until he is gone from the political scene. For all the good he has done in individual issues, he’s had a huge negative influence on democracy in NZ.
Politics is not just about ideology and impossible dreams, but also about pragmatism and clever tactics to win the voters to our side to change the government to make steady changes.
Indeed, and the GP have the best policy laid out in practical terms of any party currently in govt.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that Labour lost votes to NZF at a time when the GP held its own. It’s not the GP that did badly at the last election.
Peter Fuckn Dunne.
i rest my case,
and yes Labour did not help itself, and NZ First did not help itself.
But it is also a fact that the Greens alone will not govern.
So they either play ball with Labour/NZFirst, or National ….
It is about time that Green Party Members do some soulsearching, as many of the Labour Members have had to do since the election. That the Members of both Parties get over their cooties re Winston Peters, and that they work together, campaing together, and maybe have a shot at winning.
But then, the Greens could also just say, fuck the left, we go with National.
Their choice really.
Your comment makes no sense and just perpetuates myths about the GP that amount to lies in someone as politically aware as yourself.
1. the GP membership have already rejected forming govt with National, multiple times in a number of ways.
2. the GP approached Labour earlier last year to see if it wanted to present a united front going into the election. Labour turned that down.
3. the GP has already worked together with NZF a number of times, and openly says it is willing to do that more. The GP’s entire kaupapa is based on cooperation. It’s not the GP running round slagging off NZF. It’s Peters that has the problem with co-operation not the GP, and it’s Peters that routinely puts down the GP and tries to damage them via public statements.
None of that means the GP is perfect, but they do learn from their mistakes. What you are presenting is just plain false.
http://data.nzherald.co.nz/electorates/ohariu
Have a good look at the Candidate Vote, and tell me that the National Voters did not hold their nose and voted P.f.D.
And now tell me why the Greens could not do the same for Labour (and frankly I would ask the voters of the Labour candidate the same if the Green Candidate would have been the one to pull of the win with the appropriate support?)
The Party Vote would have still gone to Natinal, but P.f.D would now be sitting home counting beans instead of fucking around in parliament.
so there…..
a. The Greens will go nowhere with their 10 – 15 % unless they side with one of the larger parties.
b. The Greens can side with Labour or with National or try to get 30% + of the vote.
c. I personally would like the Green, The Labour Party and National First to work together, as I have no issues with NZ First, but there seem to be a lot of people that seem to have an issue, and quite a few of those seem to come from the Greens.
But to say that the greens will not side with National? They sided with National on a cycleway that the poor of this country will never use, that the hungry of this country will never use, and that the homeless of this country will never use. That was 330 million dollar that needed not be spend, until we could at least fund the ‘feed the kids bill’, but I guess a feel good victory is still a victory.
Myself, I’m in favour of concessions and have long argued for them. However I’ve also seen the argument that if the GP didn’t stand someone in Ōhāriu then National would choose not to as well and Dunne would still win. The reality is that the right wing vote outstrips the leftwing vote in that electorate no matter what you do.
I don’t think there is any way to know how many voters chose Dunne over the National candidate from strategic voting and how many just prefer Dunne. There are often big discrepancies between electorate and party votes where you have a high profile MP.
You can’t expect people to vote strategically unless they have those skills and knowledge. I think most voters simply aren’t paying attention at the level you suggest.
a. The Greens will go nowhere with their 10 – 15 % unless they side with one of the larger parties.
The GP can’t side with National, and they tried to side with Labour but Labour rejected that. FIFY (and please stop with the lies about National and the GP).
Further, the GP have already achieved much in parliament despite never being in govt. The GP want change not power alone.
b. The Greens can side with Labour or with National or try to get 30% + of the vote.
Given that the GP already side with Labour and Labour don’t want them, what do you suggest?
c. I personally would like the Green, The Labour Party and National First to work together, as I have no issues with NZ First, but there seem to be a lot of people that seem to have an issue, and quite a few of those seem to come from the Greens.
I also have no problem with NZF. I do have a problem with Peters, who is anti-democracy as well as being anti GP. Please link to 3 pieces of supporting evidence that the Green Party has an issue with NZF (and that doesn’t include people like me posting our own opinions).
But to say that the greens will not side with National? They sided with National on a cycleway that the poor of this country will never use, that the hungry of this country will never use, and that the homeless of this country will never use. That was 330 million dollar that needed not be spend, until we could at least fund the ‘feed the kids bill’, but I guess a feel good victory is still a victory.
Oh fuck off. You were talking about the GP supporting National to form govt and you know it. You even said it explicitly above,
But it is also a fact that the Greens alone will not govern.
So they either play ball with Labour/NZFirst, or National ….
If you don’t understand the GP poition on that, please stop commenting until you have educated yourself. If you do understand, please stop telling lies.
Not quite right, and that simple, but never mind.
He gives the greens a slapping ,which makes one think labour has to be in 40% territory if we hope to see the back of key in 2017. As a three way is highly unlikely.
National was always going to win this one. The real prizes were the pecking order of the opposition. David Cunliffe should have waited this one out, and let the ABC’s sleepwalk to defeat, but he was too impatient. Now he will never be PM, and probably wont even be a cabinet minister.
oh dear
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/70737690/real-estate-website-data-debunks-chinese-buyer-claims
I don’t think that is going to reassure people 😉
“However, with around five per cent of our visitors indicating fluency in an East Asian language, while only 2.8 per cent of offshore traffic originates from East Asian countries, it is clear that a large number of these Asian language speakers are actually located in New Zealand.”
Oh dear.
David Hood explains about increasing levels of ‘magic money’ infused into the nz housing economy: “Is all the magic money offshore capital? We just don’t know. There is a lack of evidence of it coming from other parts inside the New Zealand economy, and given the hundreds of billions of dollars, a local source would be somewhat obvious. We also know that in other countries, with more internal housing markets, household debt does not just match the pattern of house value, the amounts add up to the same in gains. In New Zealand there is a 300 billion shortfall. ”
http://publicaddress.net/speaker/house-prices-and-the-magic-money/
funny – poor charlie – memes they meme
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11489836
TPP Misinformation and TVNZ Journalism: Dumb & Dumber meets What we do in the Shadows?
Couldn’t have said it better myself. In the TPP NZ is being dictated to and we will be worse off because of it.
This is what happens when the country is so free to do business in:
And then he apparently moved back and opened up another online store:
I think that it’s time that NZ stopped being one of the easiest places to do business in because we’re being taken to the cleaners by the corrupt and we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.
DTB
+100
Let’s be a place with a good name for honesty and acuteness in Business, not ‘cuteness’.
I think that it’s time that NZ stopped being one of the easiest places to do business in because we’re being taken to the cleaners by the corrupt and we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.
The corrupt are using our registers to gain acceptance to perpetuate significantly large fraudulent activities.
There are a couple of really good investigative articles by the team at interest.co.nz
http://www.interest.co.nz/news/76832/ex-nz-financial-service-provider-allegedly-behind-major-international-fraud-boasted
We get Janet Wilson and Michelle Boag on TV every week;
How come smart and decent women are hardly ever on the media?
All over the world, women are massively under-represented in media commentary. Sadly, even when they do appear, they are, due to deliberate choices by a small clique of programme editors, overwhelmingly substandard, ranging from the incompetent (Christine Rankin and Denise L’Estrange-Corbet), the nasty but dim (Kirsty Wark and Zeina Badawi at the BBC, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet and Pebbles Hooper in New Zealand), the deranged (Ann Coulter, Pamela Geller), the smug (Deborah Hill Cone, Kerre McIvor) and the depraved (Dame Lesley Max, Melanie Phillips).
Smart and brilliant women like Arundhati Roy, on the other hand, are systematically excluded….
Debunking the Gandhi Myth: Arundhati Roy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-yMiBGBOe0
You missed the most objectionable. Katie Hopkins.
Of course! Thanks for reminding me. She belongs in the same bracket as Kirsty Wark and Zeina Badawi.
This appalling of Greenwald by Wark was a lowlight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkGDTnsOkxM
She came similarly unstuck when she foolishly tried the same tactics on Norman Finkelstein. Nasty but dim.
This is why our police officers need to have cameras on them at all times:
Especially relevant now that our police are permanently armed.
The criminals should be scared of the police and not the innocent, but around the world the opposite is happening.
Very good – that article puts a bloody good case for the body cameras. I was on the fence with that one but I can see the merits now. Thanks Draco.
Jon Stewart tries to talk rationally to a loudmouthed pub bore:
“It saddens me to see you wasting your time.”
Trying to talk sense to Bill O’Reilly is like batting your head against a brick wall. “There is a selective outrage machine at Fox,” says Stewart. “You have to be consistent with your outrage.”
O’Reilly, though, is impervious to anything resembling common sense or reason. Watch this, and weep for America….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_om3iK9kE
If it all gets a bit much – Remember to laugh. Here is Lewis Black and friends recently doing some political comedy. The wonderful Dick Gregory is the first one up, and if you have not seen him before, you are in for a treat.
Because laughing at them – gives you the power!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eqn9khbR3Q
too Weka…. sorry i can’t reply directly as I would like too….No reply button?
Sabine:
a. The Greens will go nowhere with their 10 – 15 % unless they side with one of the larger parties.
Weka:
The GP can’t side with National, and they tried to side with Labour but Labour rejected that. FIFY (and please stop with the lies about National and the GP).
Further, the GP have already achieved much in parliament despite never being in govt. The GP want change not power alone.
Sabine:
I am not lying here, I am stating the obvious. The Greens alone with the current % they have can not go it alone. They can pick and choose legislation from other Parties they would like to support i.e. Bicyle Ways – National, Feed the Kids – Mana, or they can pitch their legislation to be supported by others …re the national cycle way
https://www.facebook.com/nzgreenparty/photos/a.489359751371.266952.10779081371/10152855791201372/?type=1&theater
that is not lying, that is day to day business – and frankly without cross bench understanding nothing would get done.
——————————————————————————————————————–
Sabine:
b. The Greens can side with Labour or with National or try to get 30% + of the vote.
Weka:
Given that the GP already side with Labour and Labour don’t want them, what do you suggest?
Sabine: I don’t see the GP side anymore with Labour that Labour side with the GP – i see them bickering about fine print that only hurts this country, and i think that both parties have to bury their hurt FeeFees and get on with it. Not for themselves but for the country, and I have told this to my Labour Representative in the same words and will do so again and again and again until they grow a brain.
I have yet to meet the Green Candidate for Te Atatu South.
———————————————————————————————————————–
Sabine:
c. I personally would like the Green, The Labour Party and National First to work together, as I have no issues with NZ First, but there seem to be a lot of people that seem to have an issue, and quite a few of those seem to come from the Greens.
Weka:
I also have no problem with NZF. I do have a problem with Peters, who is anti-democracy as well as being anti GP. Please link to 3 pieces of supporting evidence that the Green Party has an issue with NZF (and that doesn’t include people like me posting our own opinions).
Sabine:
I have only lived in this Country since 1998, and never understood the Winston hate. He is a Politician, and he does not belong to any party than his own, and he will only promote his own party, the same as does Labour and/or the Greens. I see virtually no difference between the people other then their policies. And in many cases the policies should help for understanding. Again, I wish all of them would bury their hurt FeeFees and grow a brain and get on with it, not for themselves but the better of the country.
And I don’t have to link to anything, as I did not say the Green Party, but the Members of the Green Party like yourself that seem to think that Winston Peters is anti GP and anti Democracy.
I did state upthread, that once we are in the voting booth, we are on our own regardless of party affiliation, and we can vote for ourselves, for our parties, or for our country.
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Sabine:
But to say that the greens will not side with National? They sided with National on a cycleway that the poor of this country will never use, that the hungry of this country will never use, and that the homeless of this country will never use. That was 330 million dollar that needed not be spend, until we could at least fund the ‘feed the kids bill’, but I guess a feel good victory is still a victory.
Wet:
Oh fuck off. You were talking about the GP supporting National to form govt and you know it. You even said it explicitly above,
Sabine:
Despite your lovely suggestion i will not fuck off, its too early for it.
I am not speaking of the GP forming a government with National, i am talking about supporting the National government and calling success / victory while getting nothing in return.
So yes, i’d rather the GP would have not supported national on the great cycle way of epic proportions, but rather said that if we can’t feed the kids cause we are too poor, than we can’t have a cycle way that will not be used by most of NZ cause too far away, too poor, too hungry and too homeless.
So don’t put words in my mouth that i have not spoken.
——————————————————————————————————————–
Sabine:
But it is also a fact that the Greens alone will not govern.
So they either play ball with Labour/NZFirst, or National ….
Weta:
If you don’t understand the GP poition on that, please stop commenting until you have educated yourself. If you do understand, please stop telling lies.
Sabine:
Clearly, now you are just trying to be insulting. I have not said any lies.
I have mentioned what has happened, i have posted a link for you to check and come back with. I have spoken about my impressions and my perception.
And i stand with what I said, unless the GP has the 40%+ in election on their own, they will have to form a government with the Party that wins the high numbers if they want to be in Government. At any time this can be Labour or National, in absence of a third Party that could garner the votes. Or they can form a Government with several of the smaller Parties, including NZ First.
This has nothing to do with the GP position of the day, this has anything to do with what is possible. Again, no lies here, just options. And the GP will decide for themselves what they want to do and with whom.
————————————————————————————————————————-
However, being a German I have seen the German GP actually fracture in the “The Fundies” and the “Realos – or realistic GP”, so I know that what is today might not be tomorrow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundi_(politics)
So to end, i would hope that you understand that I am talking only about my perception, from my understanding and political upbringing, infused with a large dose of cynicism and a distinct lack of romanticism.
“At any time this can be Labour or National, in absence of a third Party that could garner the votes.”
To cut this short, you simply have no idea what you are talking about. The GP cannot support the formation of a National govt in the way you are implying. There are specific internal processes that prevent that, that were created by the membership. The only real world viable option is Labour and whoever else Labour do deals with.
Confusing govt formation with policy work doesn’t help (and to be fair the GP itself isn’t great on communicating this). They’re separate things. The GP will work with any party where there is policy in common. They have demonstrated this with multiple parties, including NZF.
“And I don’t have to link to anything, as I did not say the Green Party, but the Members of the Green Party like yourself that seem to think that Winston Peters is anti GP and anti Democracy.”
Good, so you accept that the Green Party itself has no problem with NZF and promotes a cooperative relationship with them. As for myself, my views on Peters has nothing to do with my GP membership, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped conflating the two.
I think a lot of what you are saying about the GP is misleading and based on not understanding what they actually do. I’m going to link to the remit that established who the party could enter into govt with, but please bear in mind that my tolerance for the myths perpetuated about the GP is pretty low now.
http://thestandard.org.nz/time-for-the-greens-to-transcend-left-vs-right/#comment-985371
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12092014/#comment-885763
“I am not speaking of the GP forming a government with National, i am talking about supporting the National government and calling success / victory while getting nothing in return.”
Please give a couple of examples of the GP supporting the National govt. I don’t see it myself.
Trump the movie, has been unseen for 25 years, now you can see it, great insight into scumbag capitalism! http://trumpthemovie.com/watch/
Are we getting a weekend social post this week. It all seems rather flat now that TPP isn’t around to goad us and rile us. It has been on my mind for most of this week. Hope RIP, with on the tombstone Saved from National Hell. NZ would have entered in haste and repented at leisure.