Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
It’s really disapointing to find out that the ghost of Roger Douglas is still casting a strong shadow on the thinking of the Labour party. A technique of running down the public service pioneered by Ronald Reagan and Douglas was to reduce the government income and then claim that the government couldn’t afford to provide a better public service.
So Labour looks to lock in the shoddy treatment that ACC gives to it’s “clients” by making sure that it won’t have enough money to provide any better. Shame on Labour.
Having being through the complete debacle that is government-owned EQC in Christchurch I feel so very sorry for those who have to deal with government departments with similar bad attitudes (winz, ACC) 24/7/365.
It is like smashing your head against a brick wall.
A tip for people prone to earthquakes…. do not rely on EQC at all. Take out an insurance cover to replace the EQC component of your insurance.
And on top of all that, EQC carries out the most shoddy repairs ever seen. Absolute crap.
Ahaa, so you are suggesting that those governments of certain political persuasions (usually the right) will intentionally provide bad government service as one of several tools to weaken the government service and the esteem in which they are held by the public?
Makes complete sense. It has certainly happened with EQC I would suggest.
I am suggesting just that. Privatisation by stealth when the the private sector can’t afford to buy in or the public has no appetite for it. For example see some quickly googled links of how the argument for ACC privatisation has been lost over the years.
What to do? Run the service down so it doesn’t provide what was intended and people need to take out private insurance so the public scheme is no longer relevant.
ACC surplus ( 20′ 13″ )
09:08 Tony Gibbons is an ACC claimant representative with Access Support Services,
a nationwide advocacy organisation; and Jonathan Eriksen, managing director of actuaries and investment firm Eriksen & Associates, which evaluates the liabilities of funds like ACC.
Read what is in the article. Lees-Galloway is saying Team Key/Collins should give the levy cut now, and don’t use it as an election bribe in election year. It’s just a response to the way it’s being manipulated by the government, yet again after keeping the levies articificially high.
Opposition ACC spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway said the surplus had come out of the pay packets of hard-working Kiwis and there was room for ACC Minister Judith Collins to slice $2b from levies.
The Government had been gouging New Zealanders for years and had talked up a “phoney” crisis when it took office in 2008 to push levies artificially high, he said. More recently it had ignored advice from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and from ACC, to significantly cut levies.
“That would have given someone on the average wage an extra $125. Now it is proposing to ‘give back’ some of what it’s taken in election year. That’s a bribe, no two ways about it,” he said.
“Judith Collins should axe the ACC tax now.”
Also in the article, the question is open as to what Labour will do. I guess Cunliffe hasn’t got to that yet.
Lees-Galloway said it was an open question if Labour would continue to argue for full funding or adopt his predecessor Andrew Little’s push for a return to pay-as-you-go funding to keep levies down. “We don’t have a firm view on it. It’s a live debate and we need to consider both sides.”
Clearly I’m with richard on this one. Labour should not be arguing that the government should give a levy reduction now instead of in election year. The gouging is happening not because the levies are too high, it’s because the services are too low.
Labour has the wrong end of the stick – It should be talking about an immediate restoration of accident funding not an immediate levy reduction. They could still complain about the government election bribe by refusing to accept that ACC’s ‘denegerative’ and ‘pre-existing’ condition cop-outs and requirements for patient part funding for rehabilitation services are here to stay.
I’d quite like the debate to consider fully funding services. That’s what ACC was designed for, after all.
Karol, your comment smacks of the apoligism the Labour party peddled in the 80’s – the Labour MPs are doing bad things but we won’t criticize too much because we can see that their intentions are good.
The facts are that ACC is not meeting the needs it was set up to achieve.
The net effect of “giving the levy cut now” is that ACC’s income will be reduced by the amount of the levy cut. This will mean that ACC will never be in a position to deliver what it should.
If Lees-Galloway was sincere, he would be pushing for the improvement of ACC services, rather than advocating for measures that ensure that ACC will fail.
i agree with you Karol to a certain extent on ‘wait and see’, we have to give Labour at least to the new year for David Cunliffe and the Party to have sorted through what the policies are,
Blind faith tho can only carry us so far, and such faith has had Labours left wing cruelly rewarded befor…
Agreed about blind faith, bad, which is why I will be party voting Green next election.
But I actually haven’t seen any comment from the Greens on the ACC proposed levy drop as yet. At least under Cunliffe his spokespeople are pretty much out there quickly with responses to things (except on the TPP – that’s a real worry).
Cunliffe has indicated a certain amount of caution about the policies Labour will roll out under his watch – ie that he’ not going to make promises they can’t keep.
Myself, I’m still under ACC (sort of) for my injury that resulted in permanent damage). I get ACC funded regular check ups – specialists watching to see when a joint replacement might be in order. And I have no idea how much ACC might support such ops in the future – there’s a worry of uncertainty.
I understand the worries people have about crucial injuries not getting the necessary coverage or rehabilitation now and in the future. ACC staff can be difficult to deal with.
But I’ll wait a little and see what Labour comes up with as a committed policy.
There appears to be a 3 way split in opinions over ACC, (1) is the fund as you go model which, correct me if i am wrong, Andrew Little favors, (2) being the future funding of all current claims against ACC which ACC claim will mean that for the next 2 years levies would have to remain at present levies and then be able to be reduced,
(3), Being the call for ACC to be forced back to it’s previous ‘full cover’ of injuries which at a guess would probably mean the levies would also remain at their current levels further out than the currently suggested (by ACC), two years,
Strangely enough, for such an opinionated big mouth lol, i havn’t really got an opinion on what option i favor,
Yeah ae Karol, thank the smart New Zealand people we have MMP, while the Green Party is polling high i have the luxury of voting Mana in an attempt to gain that Party a 3 seat bloc in the next Parliament…
Good point. ACC is a great concept and the service needs strengthening and extending. For example, coverage of Physio costs was slashed a few years ago and if you injure your teeth there’s a bizarre protocol which sees them part funding emergency treatments like root canals and capping of broken teeth. The argument is that your teeth shouldn’t be improved – they probably weren’t perfect before the accident that broke or killed them. Well guess what – not many people throw themselves down stairs in the hope of going through months of pain and having their teeth ‘improved’. Making claimants pay what can be thousands of dollars also has the unsurprising effect of creating a divide between those who can and who can’t pay. That’s pernicious in a society which claims this system treats all equally.
Q2, the results from dealing with insurance companies in Chch is as variable as the weather over the next week. Some companies have been absolute sparklers (FMG) and others have been virtually criminally negligent (AMI / southern response, which just so happens to be government owned and run now, how surprising (see miravox just above and intentionally poor government service)).
Overall, dealing with a good insurance company has been better than dealing with EQC by a long shot.
It’s good to see Stephen Joyce and John Key have a hotline to the editor’s room of the Herald.
You aren’t really saying the Herald reports balanced news, are you?
This trend has become established in most western democracies and has little to do with Police, Justice or Corrections really and everything to do with the fact that aging populations mean that there are increasingly less men in the age range of most offenders.
Also surely only a fool would conflate a Herald editorial with fact.
I work in the area. There was a policy decision made by the Police to put even more cases through alternative action. This means that overnight court lists went down so of course the rate of convictions also went down.
It is a change of approach, a good one in my view, but it is not evidence that this Government is doing anything that has improved things.
It was interesting that the police put the increase in sexual violence crimes down to their changed attitudes and better reporting but crime which dropped wasnt attributed to poorer reporting but rather to their skills and application.
I also agree diversions and alternatives are a better option. However the right wingers ought to be outraged at all the criminals being “let off lightly”.
What a clueless bunch these Forest and Bird Clowns are as protectors of wild life they don’t know that you simply cannot go on a farm during August through to October because it is lambing and calving time. If the legal process is held up becuase of this then us townies will have to lump it.
Apparently no farming contractors or workers come or go from the farm for 3 months either. Basically that farmer, and Conor English, are taking the piss.
Farm workers and contractors are precisely that working with the animals not some idiotic spectators wandinging around disturbing the animals … what a pair of fools.
WARNING: Latest Hobbit is crap
Jackson-worshippers will try to put lipstick on this pig, but it’s still a pig
TV1 Breakfast, Wednesday 2 October 2013, 7:50 a.m.
Even those cheerful folk on TV1’s Breakfast, the nation’s most dependable cheerleaders, struggled to hide how unimpressed they were….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: All right, we have a preview of the second part of Sir Peter Jackson’s Hobbit series….
[Cue two tiresome minutes of ominously deep voices, ominously grey beards, ominously dark shadows, ominously swelling bombastic orchestral soundtrack. It’s only two minutes, but it seems like two hours…]
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Well, will YOU be going to see it? NADINE CHALMERS-ROSS Ahhhh, I haven’t actually seen the first one. So I would have to see that first. Have YOU seen it? RAWDON CHRISTIE: Errr, no. I guess you have to see it on the big screen rather than the small screen…
Oh well because they say its not good I won’t see it…no wait I liked the the lord of the rings series and I liked the first movie in the hobbit series (except for the goblin king) so I’ll be going to see it
And enough people must have liked it because it grossed: $1,017,003,568 (thanks wikipedia :))
Sir Peter Jackson: one of the finest talents NZs produced
I’d say Damien O’Connor is pretty safe in that seat now, especially if there’s a nationwide swing to Labour at the election. Auchinvole’s going isn’t going to make much of a difference.
Auchinvole used to be the Member for West Coast-Tasman though and was narrowly defeated by O’Connor (against the swing) at the last election. That’s one reason I think O’Connor is now safer in this seat.
Stuff also reporting that Eric Roy is probably going to bail out of Invercargill (which before MMP changes saw its boundaries pushed further out into Southland was a Labour leaning seat). Also the guy who holds Hunua (can’t remember his name – which says it all really) is going too.
Paul Hutchinson is likely making way for another National Party member who indicated that he would like to run as National MP in the next election – the current Franklin Local Board chairman, Andy Baker. Hunua is a fairly blue electorate.
I think not CV, Chris is a young man no longer, he moved to the Coast for family reasons years ago. I suspect he has had more than enough of any kind of work, has his business to run etc, and more importantly may want some form of retirement. If you ever have the pleasure to meet him, amongst the amusement you should ask him why he is going…I suspect the answer wont be sinking ships, not his style.
Isn’t Auchinvole about 70 years & being an MP from the West Coast a huge ask.
Expect more white over 60’s Nats MPs to go. Look at the Nats list of anyone who was there in 2005, not in cabinet & over 60 – gone. It will be interesting to see what type of candidates replace list MP’s like Auchinvole – I am expecting to see Asian and Maori names become more dominate in the Nats team?
Labour didn’t do a heavy cull in in 2005 & paid the price in 2008 – as the voters just saw the same faces. So anyone who didn’t make Cunliffe’s recent top 20 & was an MP in 2008 needs to stand down or be culled for 2014.
Ahhhright sorry guys, I didn’t realise that the man has done his time. But yes, I am expecting several more similar announcements before the end of the year. And word of a new younger group of Nat candidates appearing.
All good CV, I really struggle to think that some people I know well are sitting and voting on the Nat side of the table. I question how could x or y vote that way on this or that issue? When it gets too incongruous I normally look for commonalities we share (otherwise you feel obliged to entirely disown the person). Sometimes it is worse when somebody I know from “our” side says or does something I entirely disagree with, of that I find it far more difficult to forgive.
Maybe it is easier to put ourselves in the shoes of any politician and ask every time they vote, say or decide something how many of their friends, acquaintances or associates they are offending? It cant be easy.
Four foreign-owned banks – ANZ, BNZ, ASB and Westpac – will take a $75 million ownership stake in Solid Energy in return for writing off debt. The Government will commit a further $155 million believing Solid Energy’s core business model is sound.
“With the stroke of a pen, National has sold a large chunk of Solid Energy into foreign ownership,” Green Party energy spokesperson Gareth Hughes said today.
“The National Government is proposing to give the big four Australian-owned banks approximately 14 percent of Solid Energy, at the very least.
“This is a conversion of debt into ownership; not a true debt write-off, but the detail is still to come.
The MSM is owned by foreign corporates.
They are actually very good at their job..which is the dumbing down of NZ so these same corporates can go about their looting of NZ without people noticing.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 9.1.1.1
How’s this work? The government is obliged to keep in its ownership anything it happened to own in 1983? Must we really own the shit companies as well?
Nothing wrong with Solid Energy – until Blinglish told them to go into far more debt so as to pay out higher dividends to the government to try and cover the large hole in governmental income due to the tax cuts for the rich that he instituted.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 9.1.1.1.3.1
“Odd that sharebrokers and banks are lining up to buy these so-called “shit” companies.”
Sharebrokers aren’t lining up to buy Solid Energy.
The banks are converting debt to equity. Their other option was to enforce their security and sell the assets in a fire sale (and probably get nothing).
No-one wants to own it. Some people just have fuck all other options.
“Prime Minister John Key has been accused of lying about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the day after the launch of a campaign calling for the details of the controversial deal to be released.” -TV3 News
@leftriteleft…that link is scarey !…definitely NO to the TPPA!…. because it amounts to dictatorship by American international corporates….democracy and an country’s sovereignty go out the window…Shocking really!
he lack of serious Government investment in the tertiary sector; and the disturbing centralized style of management and the attack on student democracy and academic freedom at this university. Why staff aren’t being paid a living wage will also be noted.
Professor Jane Kelsey, Hannah Williams, Campbell Jones, Vernon Tava, Nigel Hayworth, Chrs Shore, Alastair Shaw, Jow McCrory, David Cunliffe, John Minto, Curwen Rolinson, Dan Haines and I [Martyn Bradbury] will be MCing it.
Was looking through the local body candidates for my area this morning and seeing a lot saying they were members of CHANGE! (Not a Party). Could someone please enlighten me as to what/who this is?
I heard Dr William Rolleston make some comment on the effects of climate change and the need for action and thought that is very encouraging.
Then I heard him say that farmers need to provide themselves with more water storage. And I felt that doesn’t mean doing anything that will assist in limiting climate change excessive effects to the planet, or in assisting the general population in some way, more likely just draining rivers of the water that is needed for the environment and sequestering it to keep otherwise unsustainable agricultural practices viable.
I found the item at Homepaddock which has some useful items on initiatives in farming and also right wing political stuff and this item will reveal more. I may be wrong, I’ll know when I’ve read it. Federated Farmers vice president Dr William Rolleston has been calling for more water storage systems for some time.http://homepaddock.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/prevent-reverse-andor-prepare/
Some comments on other aspects of this on-line publication.
One item on the Greens describes what NACTs might like to do to Russel Norman – ‘Neutralising Norman’. It may be that the Greens co-leader is demanding thought from farmers that is taking them to uncomfortable places in their heads.
Before the item on the referendum on asset sales, a word is offered that has relevance to NACTs today, meaning litigious – Barratry.
Then – This politicians’ initiated referendum is a very expensive publicity exercise for the opposition. (But there is comfort to be drawn from -) The partial float will be done and dusted with the money banked before the referendum begins.
A quote from Chris Tremain’s announcement on his decision to leave NACTs – “I am proud of the significant achievements of this government led by Prime Minister John Key. Under his leadership New Zealand is now one of the strongest growing economies in the western world and has a very bright future. I intend to continue to contribute to this exciting future but now in the commercial sector of our economy.
And an interesting example of how RW people view social research. It apparently must be seen in context of the individual’s own experience, not whether it is relevant to others, today.
One item on Hyundai survey that families are under work stress, and one headed ‘ House ownership has never been easy’.
The comments indicate a reluctance to face today’s difficulties. Instead it’s ‘In my youth we had to.. or my grandfather had to put up with…’
“A quote from Chris Tremain’s announcement on his decision to leave NACTs –
“I am proud of the significant achievements of this government led by Prime Minister John Key. Under his leadership New Zealand is now one of the strongest growing economies in the western world and has a very bright future. I intend to continue to contribute to this exciting future but now in the commercial sector of our economy.”
Just to put this on your radar.
Wednesday 30 October, 6.30pm, 2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture: The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas “Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause”
The speaker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at The University of Auckland, argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid-1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned. A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result.
Reforms to counter this inequality are widely mooted. But increasing focus and discussion on the topic is confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened. The speaker advances a strategy designed to provide a coherent impetus to reduce the rank inequality that now prevails.
Maidment Theatre, Alfred Street, The University of Auckland, The Maidment Bar will open from 5.30pm
so the little tory dweebs think they are already one up on DC. nup. Them and their whoole cohort of criminally negligent nitwits and neanderthals will be gone next november if not sooner.
S’pose it is a point against Referenda Clement. Or it indicates that constant repetitions of anti anything seeps into the subconscious. Hope it works for anti-Asset Sales.
Thinking about the USA and medicare or Obamacare or Don’t care. It’s hard to understand the reason for ordinary not well off people to regard public health as a communist plot or an attempt to mass poison or tranquilise them or whatever comes out of the mouths of hysterical people that get filmed at rallys.
Lynley Hood in A City Possessed on the child abuse case in Christchurch examines outbreaks of fervour about various concerns that arise en masse at times. She quotes from Stanley Cohen from a study Folk Devils and Moral Panics: Societies….A condition…become[s] defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylised…fashion by the mass media….Sometimes the object of the panic is quite novel and at other times it is something which has been in existence long enough but suddenly appears in the limelight….at…times it has more serious and long-lasting repercussions and might produce such changes as those in legal and social policy or even in the way society conceives itself.
This might explain why people who have the most to gain apparently, have turned against the practical medical help that could be available through the government in one of the most expensive private/profit ridden medical care systems in the world. Irrationality Rules Okay!
Need some special Anti-Septic against this poisonous thinking.
Hopefully this scale of profit is the first step towards getting rid of ACC levies altogether – except for those foolish industries with high accident rates.
lprent: Not sure if someone has already mentioned it but there is an issue rendering the ‘feeds’ on the right of the page, which is causing a mismatch between article titles and their sources.
Specifically, the article source is being placed below the gray horizontal line, effectively placing it next to the title of the following feed article, e.g. the source ‘frogblog’ for the article “Monorail project risky for environment and investors” is being drawn next to the title of the following article “U.S. Government resumes five-year shutdown” (making it seem that the latter article is from frogblog when it is actually from The Civilian).
Doesn’t it all feel a bit empty without Felix? Thinking of you bro’.
[lprent: I saw that he’d picked up a ban. Makes his second one from memory. I think he got one back in 2009. He’ll be back the day after Jenny. On the same day as BM. They’re both good whilst banned. They don’t comment and risk the double ups.
Jenny has been incredibly lucky. None of the daily comments she has been writing over the last six weeks has been released by a moderator that I have seen until this one. My policy is to warn on any visible comment and if repeated to then double the ban to discourage repetitions and more work for us. Have to say that that her comment writing has improved markedly… 😈 ]
Generally, economists favourite policies actually don’t have much evidence behind them. ‘Free trade’ deals have ambiguous effects on growth. The issue of whether the minimum wage produces unemployment is famously controversial, with any of the effects predicted being undeniably small. Estimates of the Keynesian multiplier also vary widely, and are generally easy to predict based on the political biases of who is doing the estimation. There is also a surprising lack of evidence to support the contention that fiscal stimulus alone can ‘kick start’ a flailing economy. Sure: the New Deal created growth, but it didn’t end the Great Depression. Japan has had a lot of monetary and fiscal stimulus but has remained in a ‘lost decade‘. Countries that have used stimulus and done well in the recent crisis generally had strong institutions and financial sectors (Sweden, Germany) or are simply at an earlier stage of development and therefore their growth is far more resilient (China). What’s more, you get as many arguments against stimulus coming from economists as you do for it, so even if it were the case that stimulus were the ‘right’ policy, the discipline hasn’t been a beacon of scientific truth concerning the matter.
Have “economists” got anything right in the last two centuries? As far as I can make out, nope, not a single thing. Where they appear to have got something right is, IMO, more often than not pure serendipity.
“[M]y working theory,” he writes, “is that wealthy individuals bought themselves a radical right party, believing … that it would cut their taxes and remove regulations.” What the .01 percent didn’t realize is that “eventually the craziness would take on a life of its own, and that the monster they created would turn on its creators as well as the little people.”
also comments on widening income gaps and the rich subsidised to buy up housing In US and Britain:
We get the same approach to recovery in the UK where the Conservative coalition has launched a plan to help home buyers by providing government money and guarantees for mortgages with as little as 5% deposit down for residential property worth up to £600k. Speculative investors are piling in to take advantage of this government scheme. In London, house prices are rising at near 10% a year and buy-to-let purchases are booming.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasn’t showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. “When I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
The House - The principle that all MPs are honourable and that they should be taken at their word has been tested multiple times this week in Parliament. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Since the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) released its recommendations in December, there has been a series of Town Hall events to discuss them around the country ...
Asia Pacific Report Two of the global Freedom Flotilla ships are being prepared in Turkey and almost ready for the upcoming humanitarian mission to Gaza. It is expected that the flotilla will include a New Zealand medical team. Kia Ora Gaza is a member of the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition ...
It’s really disapointing to find out that the ghost of Roger Douglas is still casting a strong shadow on the thinking of the Labour party. A technique of running down the public service pioneered by Ronald Reagan and Douglas was to reduce the government income and then claim that the government couldn’t afford to provide a better public service.
Contrast the Herald headline on the Anger over ACC’s ‘obscene’ surplus with the reeported statement from Labour’s ACC spokesman, Iain Lees-Galloway – Call to chop levies after ACC bonanza.
So Labour looks to lock in the shoddy treatment that ACC gives to it’s “clients” by making sure that it won’t have enough money to provide any better. Shame on Labour.
Having being through the complete debacle that is government-owned EQC in Christchurch I feel so very sorry for those who have to deal with government departments with similar bad attitudes (winz, ACC) 24/7/365.
It is like smashing your head against a brick wall.
A tip for people prone to earthquakes…. do not rely on EQC at all. Take out an insurance cover to replace the EQC component of your insurance.
And on top of all that, EQC carries out the most shoddy repairs ever seen. Absolute crap.
+1 richard
Reducing income to reduce services.
“Take out an insurance cover to replace the EQC component of your insurance.”
Exactly the model coming into play with ACC.
Ahaa, so you are suggesting that those governments of certain political persuasions (usually the right) will intentionally provide bad government service as one of several tools to weaken the government service and the esteem in which they are held by the public?
Makes complete sense. It has certainly happened with EQC I would suggest.
vto,
I am suggesting just that. Privatisation by stealth when the the private sector can’t afford to buy in or the public has no appetite for it. For example see some quickly googled links of how the argument for ACC privatisation has been lost over the years.
2008
2011
2013
What to do? Run the service down so it doesn’t provide what was intended and people need to take out private insurance so the public scheme is no longer relevant.
imho, of course.
Works for education and the health service too.
This monring on 9 to Noon – interesting on ACC. It seems to have bigger piles than Grandpa McDuck. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
ACC surplus ( 20′ 13″ )
09:08 Tony Gibbons is an ACC claimant representative with Access Support Services,
a nationwide advocacy organisation; and Jonathan Eriksen, managing director of actuaries and investment firm Eriksen & Associates, which evaluates the liabilities of funds like ACC.
Read what is in the article. Lees-Galloway is saying Team Key/Collins should give the levy cut now, and don’t use it as an election bribe in election year. It’s just a response to the way it’s being manipulated by the government, yet again after keeping the levies articificially high.
Also in the article, the question is open as to what Labour will do. I guess Cunliffe hasn’t got to that yet.
Clearly I’m with richard on this one. Labour should not be arguing that the government should give a levy reduction now instead of in election year. The gouging is happening not because the levies are too high, it’s because the services are too low.
Labour has the wrong end of the stick – It should be talking about an immediate restoration of accident funding not an immediate levy reduction. They could still complain about the government election bribe by refusing to accept that ACC’s ‘denegerative’ and ‘pre-existing’ condition cop-outs and requirements for patient part funding for rehabilitation services are here to stay.
I’d quite like the debate to consider fully funding services. That’s what ACC was designed for, after all.
Bright side is I guess people who are struck down with chronic illness will no longer have to compare their shoddy deal with long term accident victims. They’ll all be on the lowest level of care that funders can get away with.
Karol, your comment smacks of the apoligism the Labour party peddled in the 80’s – the Labour MPs are doing bad things but we won’t criticize too much because we can see that their intentions are good.
The facts are that ACC is not meeting the needs it was set up to achieve.
The net effect of “giving the levy cut now” is that ACC’s income will be reduced by the amount of the levy cut. This will mean that ACC will never be in a position to deliver what it should.
If Lees-Galloway was sincere, he would be pushing for the improvement of ACC services, rather than advocating for measures that ensure that ACC will fail.
All I’m saying is wait and see. It looks like they haven’t worked out their approach to ACC yet.
i agree with you Karol to a certain extent on ‘wait and see’, we have to give Labour at least to the new year for David Cunliffe and the Party to have sorted through what the policies are,
Blind faith tho can only carry us so far, and such faith has had Labours left wing cruelly rewarded befor…
Agreed about blind faith, bad, which is why I will be party voting Green next election.
But I actually haven’t seen any comment from the Greens on the ACC proposed levy drop as yet. At least under Cunliffe his spokespeople are pretty much out there quickly with responses to things (except on the TPP – that’s a real worry).
Cunliffe has indicated a certain amount of caution about the policies Labour will roll out under his watch – ie that he’ not going to make promises they can’t keep.
Myself, I’m still under ACC (sort of) for my injury that resulted in permanent damage). I get ACC funded regular check ups – specialists watching to see when a joint replacement might be in order. And I have no idea how much ACC might support such ops in the future – there’s a worry of uncertainty.
I understand the worries people have about crucial injuries not getting the necessary coverage or rehabilitation now and in the future. ACC staff can be difficult to deal with.
But I’ll wait a little and see what Labour comes up with as a committed policy.
There appears to be a 3 way split in opinions over ACC, (1) is the fund as you go model which, correct me if i am wrong, Andrew Little favors, (2) being the future funding of all current claims against ACC which ACC claim will mean that for the next 2 years levies would have to remain at present levies and then be able to be reduced,
(3), Being the call for ACC to be forced back to it’s previous ‘full cover’ of injuries which at a guess would probably mean the levies would also remain at their current levels further out than the currently suggested (by ACC), two years,
Strangely enough, for such an opinionated big mouth lol, i havn’t really got an opinion on what option i favor,
Yeah ae Karol, thank the smart New Zealand people we have MMP, while the Green Party is polling high i have the luxury of voting Mana in an attempt to gain that Party a 3 seat bloc in the next Parliament…
Party voting Greens?!
Election headline 2014
…. Labour flipflops on call to axe the ACC tax …
Just sayin’
you’ve knicked miriam’s tagline
+1
Good point. ACC is a great concept and the service needs strengthening and extending. For example, coverage of Physio costs was slashed a few years ago and if you injure your teeth there’s a bizarre protocol which sees them part funding emergency treatments like root canals and capping of broken teeth. The argument is that your teeth shouldn’t be improved – they probably weren’t perfect before the accident that broke or killed them. Well guess what – not many people throw themselves down stairs in the hope of going through months of pain and having their teeth ‘improved’. Making claimants pay what can be thousands of dollars also has the unsurprising effect of creating a divide between those who can and who can’t pay. That’s pernicious in a society which claims this system treats all equally.
Two points VTO
Can you get eqc type insurance?
From what I have read, insurance companies are so good at paying out either.
Q1, I don’t know.
Q2, the results from dealing with insurance companies in Chch is as variable as the weather over the next week. Some companies have been absolute sparklers (FMG) and others have been virtually criminally negligent (AMI / southern response, which just so happens to be government owned and run now, how surprising (see miravox just above and intentionally poor government service)).
Overall, dealing with a good insurance company has been better than dealing with EQC by a long shot.
>>Overall, dealing with a good insurance company has been better than dealing with EQC by a long shot.
As a person living outside ChCh that is pleasing to hear.
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/heat-or-eat-or-take-out-a-loan-do-both-and-hope-for-the-best-ed-yoo-hoo-this-is-also-the-case-here-in-nz-we-too-have-gone-back-to-the-darkcold-ages/
“..It’s back to the bleak 1980s in Liverpool as hard-working people are forced to sit in the dark –
– to save on fuel bills..”
(cont..)
(ed:..i don’t sit in the dark…
..but i am just one of many who have just gone thru another winter..
..without turning a heater on..
..it’s either ‘heat or eat’ around here..
..(fucken poor-bashing tory shits..!..eh..?..a fucken pox on all of them..!)
..and i wd recommend layering/hoodies/beanies..
..(and on really cold days/nights..beanie first then hoodie on top as another layer..)
..and of course..always a duvet to hand – to wrap around yr legs/body….
..and hey..!..there are a lot who are doing it harder than i am..
and um..!..is it good and right that so many nz’ers are unable to afford that most basic of human needs..?
..in this year 2013..?
..i mean..even caves had fucken fires..eh..?
..at least they were warm..)
(cont..)
phillip ure..
time to begin community fires in 44-gallon drums. plenty of fences to burn.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11133095
More good news 🙂
It’s good to see Stephen Joyce and John Key have a hotline to the editor’s room of the Herald.
You aren’t really saying the Herald reports balanced news, are you?
This trend has become established in most western democracies and has little to do with Police, Justice or Corrections really and everything to do with the fact that aging populations mean that there are increasingly less men in the age range of most offenders.
Also surely only a fool would conflate a Herald editorial with fact.
The number of youths in NZ has not fallen by 20% over the last 2 or 3 years.
I think the advent of unleaded petrol may be a factor with lower crime rates. How would we know? Dunno.
+1
Really A drop in youth crime? Or a drop in the reported youth crime? I really take numbers like these, and political polls, with a huge pinch of salt.
Well if Labour had announced these numbers it’d be a drop in crime but since its National its a drop in reported crime
Hope that helps 🙂
have you ever considered that you may be a ‘Try-Hard’; It’s a freakin weak editorial opinion, for goodness sake, as my Nana used to exclaim.
I work in the area. There was a policy decision made by the Police to put even more cases through alternative action. This means that overnight court lists went down so of course the rate of convictions also went down.
It is a change of approach, a good one in my view, but it is not evidence that this Government is doing anything that has improved things.
This is reported crime, i.e. those the Police have wrritten an Offence Report for, not prosecution rates.
It was interesting that the police put the increase in sexual violence crimes down to their changed attitudes and better reporting but crime which dropped wasnt attributed to poorer reporting but rather to their skills and application.
I also agree diversions and alternatives are a better option. However the right wingers ought to be outraged at all the criminals being “let off lightly”.
What a clueless bunch these Forest and Bird Clowns are as protectors of wild life they don’t know that you simply cannot go on a farm during August through to October because it is lambing and calving time. If the legal process is held up becuase of this then us townies will have to lump it.
“you simply cannot go on a farm during August through to October because it is lambing and calving time”
Bullshit! This guy is being an asshole, I suppose he just goes on holiday from August till october and leaves the animals to it.
Apparently no farming contractors or workers come or go from the farm for 3 months either. Basically that farmer, and Conor English, are taking the piss.
Farm workers and contractors are precisely that working with the animals not some idiotic spectators wandinging around disturbing the animals … what a pair of fools.
WARNING: Latest Hobbit is crap
Jackson-worshippers will try to put lipstick on this pig, but it’s still a pig
TV1 Breakfast, Wednesday 2 October 2013, 7:50 a.m.
Even those cheerful folk on TV1’s Breakfast, the nation’s most dependable cheerleaders, struggled to hide how unimpressed they were….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: All right, we have a preview of the second part of Sir Peter Jackson’s Hobbit series….
[Cue two tiresome minutes of ominously deep voices, ominously grey beards, ominously dark shadows, ominously swelling bombastic orchestral soundtrack. It’s only two minutes, but it seems like two hours…]
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Well, will YOU be going to see it?
NADINE CHALMERS-ROSS Ahhhh, I haven’t actually seen the first one. So I would have to see that first. Have YOU seen it?
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Errr, no. I guess you have to see it on the big screen rather than the small screen…
@ hobbits..
..maybe this could be a variation on court sentences..?
..you are sentenced to watch every rings/hobbit-movie..
..and all in one sitting..
..panicked-defendants would be pleading for incarceration instead..
..phillip ure..
You bunch of tall poppy slashers should be the ones who are incarcerated!
You’re a brave man to be watching that Breakfast T.V. dross Morrissey!
I watch the TV3 brekkie news, keeps my bullshit meter pegged.
I read Scoop. And funnily enough Open Mike, as it usually points me in the right direction for the ‘real’ news.
Oh well because they say its not good I won’t see it…no wait I liked the the lord of the rings series and I liked the first movie in the hobbit series (except for the goblin king) so I’ll be going to see it
And enough people must have liked it because it grossed: $1,017,003,568 (thanks wikipedia :))
Sir Peter Jackson: one of the finest talents NZs produced
Peter Jackson: one of the biggest welfare recipients NZ’s ever produced. FIFY
Auchinvole not re-standing.
Rats. Sinking. Ship.
so that cements another seat more firmly labour’s way ya?
I’d say Damien O’Connor is pretty safe in that seat now, especially if there’s a nationwide swing to Labour at the election. Auchinvole’s going isn’t going to make much of a difference.
Auchinvole is a list MP – just Key trying to re-vitalise the list. Doesn’t mean a seat more likely to go to Labour.
Auchinvole used to be the Member for West Coast-Tasman though and was narrowly defeated by O’Connor (against the swing) at the last election. That’s one reason I think O’Connor is now safer in this seat.
Stuff also reporting that Eric Roy is probably going to bail out of Invercargill (which before MMP changes saw its boundaries pushed further out into Southland was a Labour leaning seat). Also the guy who holds Hunua (can’t remember his name – which says it all really) is going too.
Hunua: Paul Hutchison
Stuff article.
Paul Hutchinson is likely making way for another National Party member who indicated that he would like to run as National MP in the next election – the current Franklin Local Board chairman, Andy Baker. Hunua is a fairly blue electorate.
I think not CV, Chris is a young man no longer, he moved to the Coast for family reasons years ago. I suspect he has had more than enough of any kind of work, has his business to run etc, and more importantly may want some form of retirement. If you ever have the pleasure to meet him, amongst the amusement you should ask him why he is going…I suspect the answer wont be sinking ships, not his style.
CV – you must be a tough bas…
Isn’t Auchinvole about 70 years & being an MP from the West Coast a huge ask.
Expect more white over 60’s Nats MPs to go. Look at the Nats list of anyone who was there in 2005, not in cabinet & over 60 – gone. It will be interesting to see what type of candidates replace list MP’s like Auchinvole – I am expecting to see Asian and Maori names become more dominate in the Nats team?
Labour didn’t do a heavy cull in in 2005 & paid the price in 2008 – as the voters just saw the same faces. So anyone who didn’t make Cunliffe’s recent top 20 & was an MP in 2008 needs to stand down or be culled for 2014.
Ahhhright sorry guys, I didn’t realise that the man has done his time. But yes, I am expecting several more similar announcements before the end of the year. And word of a new younger group of Nat candidates appearing.
All good CV, I really struggle to think that some people I know well are sitting and voting on the Nat side of the table. I question how could x or y vote that way on this or that issue? When it gets too incongruous I normally look for commonalities we share (otherwise you feel obliged to entirely disown the person). Sometimes it is worse when somebody I know from “our” side says or does something I entirely disagree with, of that I find it far more difficult to forgive.
Maybe it is easier to put ourselves in the shoes of any politician and ask every time they vote, say or decide something how many of their friends, acquaintances or associates they are offending? It cant be easy.
the Nats need all the discards they can dispose of; that man, what a poser.
Gareth Hughes on government’s privatisation of Solid Energy by stealth.
Good on Gareth Hughes for spotting this. Our MSM was dead useless on it yesterday.
The MSM is owned by foreign corporates.
They are actually very good at their job..which is the dumbing down of NZ so these same corporates can go about their looting of NZ without people noticing.
How’s this work? The government is obliged to keep in its ownership anything it happened to own in 1983? Must we really own the shit companies as well?
No, the media is obliged to inform the public about what the government is doing so that the public can be informed on what is happening.
Then the public can make their will known to those in government.
I think it’s time that we stopped relying on the MSM to do that and legislated that the government would do it. Full transparency.
Odd that sharebrokers and banks are lining up to buy these so-called “shit” companies.
Maybe they know something a little more about it than you do?
Nothing wrong with Solid Energy – until Blinglish told them to go into far more debt so as to pay out higher dividends to the government to try and cover the large hole in governmental income due to the tax cuts for the rich that he instituted.
“Odd that sharebrokers and banks are lining up to buy these so-called “shit” companies.”
Sharebrokers aren’t lining up to buy Solid Energy.
The banks are converting debt to equity. Their other option was to enforce their security and sell the assets in a fire sale (and probably get nothing).
No-one wants to own it. Some people just have fuck all other options.
Their other option was to enforce their security and sell the assets in a fire sale (and probably get nothing). Ah, so it is worth sweet fuck all?
Like commentors (#88, again, in case anybody was wonderin’)
.+1
“Prime Minister John Key has been accused of lying about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the day after the launch of a campaign calling for the details of the controversial deal to be released.” -TV3 News
Surely not! Not our PM!
http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-accused-of-spreading-TPPA-mistruths/tabid/1607/articleID/315300/Default.aspx
Add it to blip’s list!
Chris Barton in The Herald yesterday also asked if he was making shit up or was just woefully misinformed in a technology column about the copper tax.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11132381
The USA’s version of TPPA.
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/10/we-are-90-days-away-from-total-loss-of.html
@leftriteleft…that link is scarey !…definitely NO to the TPPA!…. because it amounts to dictatorship by American international corporates….democracy and an country’s sovereignty go out the window…Shocking really!
Sorry I can’t get to this today at Auckland Uni – would have liked to. Protest about government treatment of Unis at Auckland University 1pm today.
Good to see Cunliffe in that line up.
Seems we are not alone in having put up with lies and dirty smear campaigns from the right wing mainstream media:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/01/ed-miliband-daily-mail-father-row?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2&et_cid=51054&et_rid=7665268&Linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.theguardian.com%2fmedia%2f2013%2foct%2f01%2fed-miliband-daily-mail-father-row
Was looking through the local body candidates for my area this morning and seeing a lot saying they were members of CHANGE! (Not a Party). Could someone please enlighten me as to what/who this is?
I heard Dr William Rolleston make some comment on the effects of climate change and the need for action and thought that is very encouraging.
Then I heard him say that farmers need to provide themselves with more water storage. And I felt that doesn’t mean doing anything that will assist in limiting climate change excessive effects to the planet, or in assisting the general population in some way, more likely just draining rivers of the water that is needed for the environment and sequestering it to keep otherwise unsustainable agricultural practices viable.
I found the item at Homepaddock which has some useful items on initiatives in farming and also right wing political stuff and this item will reveal more. I may be wrong, I’ll know when I’ve read it.
Federated Farmers vice president Dr William Rolleston has been calling for more water storage systems for some time. http://homepaddock.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/prevent-reverse-andor-prepare/
Some comments on other aspects of this on-line publication.
One item on the Greens describes what NACTs might like to do to Russel Norman – ‘Neutralising Norman’. It may be that the Greens co-leader is demanding thought from farmers that is taking them to uncomfortable places in their heads.
Before the item on the referendum on asset sales, a word is offered that has relevance to NACTs today, meaning litigious – Barratry.
Then – This politicians’ initiated referendum is a very expensive publicity exercise for the opposition. (But there is comfort to be drawn from -) The partial float will be done and dusted with the money banked before the referendum begins.
A quote from Chris Tremain’s announcement on his decision to leave NACTs –
“I am proud of the significant achievements of this government led by Prime Minister John Key. Under his leadership New Zealand is now one of the strongest growing economies in the western world and has a very bright future. I intend to continue to contribute to this exciting future but now in the commercial sector of our economy.
And an interesting example of how RW people view social research. It apparently must be seen in context of the individual’s own experience, not whether it is relevant to others, today.
One item on Hyundai survey that families are under work stress, and one headed ‘ House ownership has never been easy’.
The comments indicate a reluctance to face today’s difficulties. Instead it’s ‘In my youth we had to.. or my grandfather had to put up with…’
“A quote from Chris Tremain’s announcement on his decision to leave NACTs –
“I am proud of the significant achievements of this government led by Prime Minister John Key. Under his leadership New Zealand is now one of the strongest growing economies in the western world and has a very bright future. I intend to continue to contribute to this exciting future but now in the commercial sector of our economy.”
Simon Power mark II
Excellent Post greywarbler. 😎
Thanks RT. Adding to the standard’s overview of the flow of info and misinformation to make sure whether it’s 100% Pure. Hah.
So has the destabilising of David Cunliffe begun all ready or was this just sheer incompetence?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/editorials/9231556/Editorial-Labour-misses-its-chance
If you seriously think the corporate media supports parties with a genuine left agenda…
Or are you like slylands, just here to make mischief?
Hey Paul – do I take it that you think that little snafu by DC was good enough?
If I was Cunliffe I’d be looking at who set it up and replace them pronto
Aww gees…
wotta load of editorial custard. Wooden Spoon.(you really like to hoist yourselves on your own petard). Higher.
Just to put this on your radar.
Wednesday 30 October, 6.30pm, 2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture: The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas “Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause”
The speaker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at The University of Auckland, argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid-1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned. A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result.
Reforms to counter this inequality are widely mooted. But increasing focus and discussion on the topic is confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened. The speaker advances a strategy designed to provide a coherent impetus to reduce the rank inequality that now prevails.
Maidment Theatre, Alfred Street, The University of Auckland, The Maidment Bar will open from 5.30pm
so the little tory dweebs think they are already one up on DC. nup. Them and their whoole cohort of criminally negligent nitwits and neanderthals will be gone next november if not sooner.
QUESTION :
WHICH DO YOU PREFER, OBAMA CARE or AFFORDABLE CARE?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/9234163/Jimmy-Kimmel-wades-in-on-Obamacare
Shows how the public perceive things. Is it prejudice, ignorance, bias, easy manipulation or something else. Fascinating stuff, isn’t it!
S’pose it is a point against Referenda Clement. Or it indicates that constant repetitions of anti anything seeps into the subconscious. Hope it works for anti-Asset Sales.
Nope, it’s a point against the private MSM which is purposefully misinforming people.
ain’t that the God-damn Truth.
Thinking about the USA and medicare or Obamacare or Don’t care. It’s hard to understand the reason for ordinary not well off people to regard public health as a communist plot or an attempt to mass poison or tranquilise them or whatever comes out of the mouths of hysterical people that get filmed at rallys.
Lynley Hood in A City Possessed on the child abuse case in Christchurch examines outbreaks of fervour about various concerns that arise en masse at times. She quotes from Stanley Cohen from a study Folk Devils and Moral Panics:
Societies….A condition…become[s] defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylised…fashion by the mass media….Sometimes the object of the panic is quite novel and at other times it is something which has been in existence long enough but suddenly appears in the limelight….at…times it has more serious and long-lasting repercussions and might produce such changes as those in legal and social policy or even in the way society conceives itself.
This might explain why people who have the most to gain apparently, have turned against the practical medical help that could be available through the government in one of the most expensive private/profit ridden medical care systems in the world. Irrationality Rules Okay!
Need some special Anti-Septic against this poisonous thinking.
Hopefully this scale of profit is the first step towards getting rid of ACC levies altogether – except for those foolish industries with high accident rates.
Wot? (have you been at the communion tipple?)
lprent: Not sure if someone has already mentioned it but there is an issue rendering the ‘feeds’ on the right of the page, which is causing a mismatch between article titles and their sources.
Specifically, the article source is being placed below the gray horizontal line, effectively placing it next to the title of the following feed article, e.g. the source ‘frogblog’ for the article “Monorail project risky for environment and investors” is being drawn next to the title of the following article “U.S. Government resumes five-year shutdown” (making it seem that the latter article is from frogblog when it is actually from The Civilian).
Same issue on both Firefox and Chrome (Windows).
Another poll boost for Labour, 3rd “rogue” in a week …
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5221-new-zealand-voting-intention-october-2-2013-201310020458
“Dance me, until The End of Love” -Cohen
(99, and NOT counting) 😉
Roy Morgan: Nat 42 (+1), Lab 37 (+4.5), Gre 11.5 (-3.5) NZF 4.5 (-2).
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5221-new-zealand-voting-intention-october-2-2013-201310020458
Holy shit could TV3 get any more fawning and offensive than what they have on at the moment with their puff piece on Alasdair Thompson.
Doesn’t it all feel a bit empty without Felix? Thinking of you bro’.
[lprent: I saw that he’d picked up a ban. Makes his second one from memory. I think he got one back in 2009. He’ll be back the day after Jenny. On the same day as BM. They’re both good whilst banned. They don’t comment and risk the double ups.
Jenny has been incredibly lucky. None of the daily comments she has been writing over the last six weeks has been released by a moderator that I have seen until this one. My policy is to warn on any visible comment and if repeated to then double the ban to discourage repetitions and more work for us. Have to say that that her comment writing has improved markedly… 😈 ]
A Question for Economists
Have “economists” got anything right in the last two centuries? As far as I can make out, nope, not a single thing. Where they appear to have got something right is, IMO, more often than not pure serendipity.
Dammit, that last paragraph isn’t a quote – can someone please fix it.
[lprent: done (eventually) ]
Economists tend to create and support theories which benefit those in power at any given time.
Krugman: The 1 percent has created a monster
An interesting comment by Krugman.
The US keeps doing this over and over again. The oil billionaire Kochs funded and directed the extremist Tea Party.
In the 1950’s Texas oil millions funded Senator McCarthy in his extremist “Reds under the Bed” witch hunts.
US Economy in Shutdown | Michael Roberts Blog | http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/us-economy-in-shutdown/
also comments on widening income gaps and the rich subsidised to buy up housing In US and Britain:
We get the same approach to recovery in the UK where the Conservative coalition has launched a plan to help home buyers by providing government money and guarantees for mortgages with as little as 5% deposit down for residential property worth up to £600k. Speculative investors are piling in to take advantage of this government scheme. In London, house prices are rising at near 10% a year and buy-to-let purchases are booming.