Todays article about the Greens proposal of a guaranteed minimum income has been commented on by Rod Oram and I agree with him.
I am disappointed in labour. Despite all their fanfare to focus on poverty all they produced was an increase in the minimum wage. That did nothing for the very vulnerable on the bottom of the heap depended on a benefit that is too much to die of not enough to live on. The increase was good as long as it lasted, actual food inflation measured on price increases is at 3.5% for the last 3 months but this hasn't got the fuel tax increase of recent included.
Void of any ideas, we get to hear that the tax system is fair. Of cause it is for those who have a disproportionate slice of the pie, courtesy by the taxpayer no less.
BTW, what ever happened to the announced reduction of wages by 20% for the parliamentarians? Lets not talk about snout in the trough shall we. They think the public has forgotten. No they didn't.
…what ever happened to the announced reduction of wages by 20% for the parliamentarians?
Sorry to disappoint you Fw, but Parliamentary Services are still processing the change. Bureaucrats like to take their time with these things. Jacinda Ardern – or someone – expressed mild frustration about two weeks ago, so imagine its started or is about to start.
They will process this as long as it takes to get it out of the collective memory. Its like the story with reducing the number of seats from 120 to 100. Yeah Right.
Meanwhile, the Australian private "partner" skins the NZ taxpayer to get millions of our hard earned money as this government has not even read the fine print of the contract and they are now putting the dumb screws onto NZTA with the mega blow out of the Transmission gully, Water issues in Auckland that haven't been addressed for years (any political party) and they wont be the last to experience this, millions of taxpayer money syphoned by fraud from Americas cup team (IT is an issue for a millionaires cup?) and the stories keep going…
Walking the talk BS and it does not matter where you look, no wonder people take to the streets. It maybe for isolated issues but really there is an underlying (lying?? ok pun intended) issue.
Very helpful, lets see whether its implemented. People have taken a cut in hours(pay) or have lost their job since May I may point out. Meanwhile 200 000 are on a benefit.
This is what was achieved in health when David Clark was Minister. I wish the likes of Tova and Heather et al would inform themselves better………..this is from who is being described as an incompetent minister. And Yes I absolutely acknowledge his errors with the lockdown breach and taking ministerial responsibility
NZ’s largest ever investment in frontline mental health services
– Hiring 1600 new mental health workers which will result in 325,000 Kiwis a year receiving free access to improved mental health services
– NZ’s largest ever increase to DHB funding
– 3x the increases to health funding compared to what National delivered in 9 years
– Significant additional funding for disability support services
– Made GP visits $30 cheaper for 600,000 New Zealanders
– Brought in NZ’s long overdue medicinal cannabis regulations
– Free counselling for under 25’s
– Expanding telehealth and digital supports for mental wellbeing
– Delivered 80 new mental health workers in Canterbury schools (18 months earlier than promised)
– Extended free GP visits to under 14s
– Rolled out national bowel screening
– Opened Suicide Prevention Office
– Increased suicide prevention funding
– Established a national suicide bereavement counselling fund providing free counselling for people bereaved by suicide
– Tailored Māori and Pacific suicide prevention initiatives addressing New Zealand's persistently high suicide rates
– An expanded family and whānau suicide prevention information service
– More suicide prevention services in District Health Boards, including increased post-discharge support
– An improved suicide media response service, supporting responsible discussion about suicide across all media and social media.
– New research on improving health outcomes for Māori and Pacific peoples.
– Increased investment to develop innovative Pacific community health initiatives
– Established National Cancer Control Agency
– Developed Cancer Action Plan
– New Rheumatic fever prevention funding
– Largest ever investment in radiation therapy
– Extended the nurses in schools programme
– Expansion of mental health and addiction services for offenders
– $70 million investment for the building of mental health facilities at Hillmorton Hospital
– Significant hospital upgrades and funding increases to capital projects
– Fast-tracked new Dunedin hospital
– Large funding boosts to Pharmac
– Reimbursements for midwives working through Covid-19 response
– Boosted air ambulance network
– Rural locum relief for rural midwives
– More GP training placements in rural and regional areas
– New funding for AIDS research
– New funding for gender reassignment surgeries
– Strengthened NZ’s immunisation system
– Pay increases of between 12-15.9% for nurses, midwives, practitioners, community nurses, health care assistants & hospital aides
– Pay equity for mental health & addiction workers
– Initiated a wide-ranging review of our health & disability services
Would this have all happened without him? Not necessarily. He was the Associate Minister of Finance for the first 2 budgets and actively lobbied to ensure that funding was made in these areas.
Some of those are plans rather than results, which just plays into the opposition line about Labour's delivery. Also overplays the Minister's involvement. Just let him go.
If this list exaggerates health gains made during the two-and-a-half years that Dr David Clark was the Minister of Health, IMHO it's still a useful rebuttal to the frankly ludicious assertions made by some on this site that he was a do-nothing, MIA minister. Now I'll "let him go."
You left out the huge job getting the hospitals up to speed and accessing new equipment for the Covid response, thats why he was keep on because he did a bloody good job there, but look over there , fuck me he's riding a bike! Yeah like 5 million other Kiwis did.
Thanks anker for relisting this info from yesterday, many don't want to believe he achieved anything at all, and FACTs don't matter, sounds like I'm describing a Nat MP, but many here made that decision to ignore facts and portray their own misbeliefs.
Hi Gsays, just seen you question. To be honest, I did't compile this list. A very reliable contact of mine did. It sounds like you have some good information to say the pay rise was 6% over three years. That doesn't sound that great. I seem to remember there was a lot of toing and froing over it, so I will look into it.
I am not wanting to be a cheerleader for David Clark as such, but I think there was a witch hunt going on and its a little unfair. Just wanted to present a balanced picture.
Article in the Herald. today saying America are interested in hiring him
Unusual to see a judge advising a minister on how to do politics! The nexus where environment meets public interest and the economy will always produce allegations of bias when someone with a track record of partisan advocacy is given the power to decide who wins in a conflict situation.
Sage and Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods rejected Rangitira Development Ltd's application in June 2018 to mine a 12-hectare patch of conservation land at Te Kuha, near Westport.
Justice Clark said the coal mining company had alleged Sage was biased because of her "strong voice against coal mining generally".Sage opposed the mine while employed by Forest and Bird and had drafted submissions opposing it in the 1990s.
Since general principles are involved, this is a space to watch. Industry capture by means of lobbyists has been institutionalised in the USA for a long time and the public have been held to ransome. Now the boot's on the other foot, here.
Interesting to see that there's some part of this you don't understand: "A judge has advised Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage to handover future decisions on some mining projects after being accused of bias."
Could it be the relation between advised and advising? Third form English classes got taught they derive from the same root word when I was young – but maybe that was no longer standard practice by the time you entered college? Linguistic basics by then deemed too hard for English teachers to comprehend let alone students…
Back when I attended school in a cardboard box in middle of road, people did not even need to be taught that "a judge has advised Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage to handover future decisions on some mining projects" is not the same statement as "a judge advising a minister on how to do politics".
One is about being a Minister, the other about being a politician. Exercising a specific regulatory authority is far narrower than 'politics' as most humans understand the term.
Ok, Grasshopper. This would be a good headline “Judge advises Minister on how to do politics!”. As with many headlines nowadays, they are inaccurate and misleading, often deliberately and grossly. Your view reads like a headline.
Given that your premise is wrong, your comment becomes mostly nonsensical. My education and the foundation of my lacking language skills are not the reason for your nonsense. You are illogical.
Sacha's point above yours is good, since it addresses governance responsibilities – which then enables anyone else to see it as addressing a technical issue rather than being political. Rather than beating all around the bush, if you were sensing that relevance you ought to have said so. Simply pushing your subjective view of what is or is not politics achieves nothing, so long as you don't explain why you feel that the premise is wrong.
Finally, we agree that your premise was wrong, phew! It has taken you all day for the penny to drop; Sacha @ 9:59 am got it in one. I felt you were wrong, relatively speaking, but had to overcome subjective hurdles before it could crystallise in the subconscious and come to the fore to become the idea that you could see as your own.
Ah, not so fast to that conclusion! I don't agree my premise was wrong – I was simply acknowledging merit in Sacha's point. Thus there are two valid interpretations (corresponding to whether one prefers a wide take on politics that includes governance (the commonly-held perspective, and mine) or prefers a narrow view of it that excludes governance). Me, I've always been broadminded… 😇
How come you now are noncommittal and evasive? You enthusiastically asserted that the judge had advised the Minister how to do politics @ 3. Were you projecting again? Or simply trying to squeeze conform her advice into your own narrow but valid interpretation of politics without governance? Not a good verdict by the learned judge if it is open to such wide range of valid interpretations, IMHO.
Come now, I was honest in what I wrote. If you feel that is "noncommittal and evasive" that's your problem. Own your subjective reactions & feelings, why don't you?
I simply called it how I saw it. I see no point in your sustained effort to psychoanalyse me. It's not as if psychoanalysis were trendy: it lost its place as a predominant fashion trend in psychology long ago! And anyway, trying to make it all about the personality of commentators is not an appropriate way to conduct a political blog.
In other words you ascribed something to the judge’s advice that was never there? Because that’s how you saw it and that’s you called it? I’d call that making things up to suit your thinking AKA confirmation bias. Last time I checked, this was still very much en vogue so you are still trendy.
Personality comes through in behaviour and motivation, doesn’t it? I always wonder why people twist reality and what their motivation is. Often it is because they have an agenda, e.g. politicians, and sometimes it is ego-tripping. To label that “psychoanalysis” is fascinating but flawed. I don’t smoke cigars and don’t have a beard if that’s any consolation; your mind is safe. Newtonian mechanics is still very useful and taught at schools. As a Physics graduate you will appreciate the irony of that.
BTW, I’m not conducting a political blog, merely commenting and responding here and occasionally cleaning up 😉
Some people like defining words to suit themselves. Fine in their own back yard but rather useless in the public square. Villagers tended to shun them after a while.
A 20+ year 'conflicts of interest tail' must be both long and thin!
Third question: When judges 'advise' or 'suggest' (as opposed to instruct/direct) a course of action, are Ministers bound to follow? In any event, good that the application for a judicial review of Sage's decision has been dismissed, IMHO, and thanks for bringing this "win for conservation" to my attention.
Fourth question:
"Industry capture by means of lobbyists has been institutionalised in the USA for a long time and the public have been held to ransome. Now the boot's on the other foot, here."
So who/what is being "held to ransome" here? Arthur?
Btw, that fourth question was genuine. I’m easily confused by business/financial/legal matters – were you suggesting that this decision represents the public (via its 'ministerial lobbyist' Sage?) holding industry to ransom? If so then that's great – good example of our government acting in the longer-term public interest.
No no just pointing out the analogy – capture by interest groups. I agree the judge seems to be acting in the public interest & wish commenters would focus on the things that matter: setting a precedent (?) and constitutionality of that. I get that idle chit-chat passes time, but would prefer blog commentary to elucidate…
Regarding the racist Nat mp and returnees being sent to Queenstown. He should be so lucky they're not coming back from China, as every one in national knows Chinese count two more than Indians.
When push comes to shove, how many colleagues does it take to force a minister out? Heather du Plessis-Allan believes enough is enough:
the reason I don't believe it is because on Monday I was told there were moves afoot to force David Clark to resign. I was told more senior members of government and former senior MPs were involved in a bid to strike a deal with him. I'm told they realised the damage his snafu was doing to them in the polls, and decided to cut him loose.
And if you want to know what a political deal looks like, read Judith Collins' book where she tells how John Key forced her to quit and maybe come back as a minister in a year. What did the PM say today? Clark might be allowed back as a minister after the election.
I can see why she's baffled. Could it be that Ardern made a team play? You know, like a rugby scrum where all bind to drive forward. She could have just secured agreement that Clark needed to be shown how to be a team player. Having all those other top ministers gang up on him to push him out would have made it clear that it wasn't personal animus from the PM. Smart thinking!
Does it really require that much imagining to believe Ardern is that smart?? I'm troubled by your pessimism. Maybe there will have to be more prosetylising in the Labour ranks, huh? O ye of little faith!
Irrelevant. The court's judgment is the issue. "In law, a judgment, also spelled judgement, is a decision of a court" according to Wikipedia. The judge decided to advise the minister. Perhaps our resident lawyer will opine upon the issue. Good question: is it unprecedented? Another: is it unconstitutional?
Nice diversion and thus irrelevant. I’m really starting to doubt your judgement. You are commenting and opining here, the judge isn’t. This could apply equally to your comments @ 3 and @ 5.
You are opining here. I can see it with even one eye closed, day in day out. Why deny it? Why cloud your judgement to suit your narrative? I’m losing faith in your opinion as well as judgement but you write good headlines.
Do you know what a judge’s professional opinion is called?
Dennis Frank you seem to be putting some of the topics in your own salt-grinder and turning and turning until the letters start dropping individually. Actually leaving them a bit chunky for someone else to chew on would be good. Is that possible?
My ‘needs’ haven’t changed all of a sudden but my faith in your judgement and opinion has been rocked severely. Why would I go on about somebody else’s opinion to you? It makes no sense and I wasn’t but for some reason you pretended I was. I don’t think you’re particularly ‘slow’ and I can only speculate on your reticence acknowledging the issue I was referring to all along.
why not, after all the Black Hills, sacred to the Lakota (if anyone cares about the things the first nations of the US thought sacred) were exploded to carve out the presidents that stole the land from the Lakota.
Todd Muller on Checkpoint last challenged by Lisa on his policies. Not very convincing?
Muller batted away questions over a perceived lack of policies.
"It's not that nothing has come out, I've made a number of announcements – particularly in terms of supporting business to get them back up on their feet … there's a lot in the can but we're 10 weeks out and I want to make sure we sequence it in the right way. I've got a speech next week which I'm sure you'll be interested in and a number, a series of announcements."
He said the party had a mixture of policies that were complete, and some which were still being worked on.
"A bit of both … there are certainly some that have been finalised and some that haven't been finalised … I'm not going to go through that with you on afternoon radio."
How many elections have we seen where National had NO policies to announce, just more of the same and their response is "look over there at the opposition policies" and then deliberately misinterpret them with usual slant of higher taxes or don't have the experience or Just Outright LIES.
Yes Just Us. Seemed amazing that the Key lot could get away with that. This time might be different because they will have to come up with a compelling counter argument to manage Covid19 aftermath. Questions are already being asked and just saying that this Government is a shambles won't wash – I hope.
Anybody arguing that this Govt is a Shambles has their head in the sand and are seriously politically biased.
NZ is the luckiest country in the world today, because of the Govts response to the virus, there is no room for criticism fron anyone who values their credibility.
Xi seems hellbent on destroying all the gains China has made over the last 30 years, and he is intent on war to preserve his power, just like every other failing dictator.
Not content with trying to (unsuccessfully) bully the rest of the world, they are once again trying to bully us. No more. Boycott their products.
Trump may be an idiot, but he is right when he says the UN and WHO are largely funded by the west yet whose interests do they represent? The UN is nowhere to be seen on the virus China unleashed on the world due to its lies and secrecy. About tome they suggested that the evil communist government starts making reparations, particularly to the developing world. But of course, as always it will be the nasty old west that does that.
The single biggest disaster of our time is China C19, yet all posters on here seem concerned about os that isiot Trump.
Not true. India will eclipse China economically within the next 20 years, and they are a well educated, democratic society that we have a long and strong relationship with.
It's not about 'going back', it's more about managing the evil influence of China going forward. Following the UK approach of accepting large scale immigration from Hong Kong would be economically and socially beneficial for NZ and send a clear message of which side of the line we stand.
Edit
China. We should start studying some of their sage's thoughts on how to conduct oneself so as to win the war before it even starts. I don't know whether it will succeed, but we should try to do something better than throwing our arms up in the air despairingly, or letting people just walk over us without a move to lessen the pressure. Sun Tzu has a lot to say and if only one out of a 100 is a good, new idea, the study time won't be wasted.
“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected .”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of Warhttps://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1771.Sun_Tzu
And don't forget that Australia is not our friend yet we still find ways of interacting with them. China is on a path that is not good, is there some way we could change their course, using chaos theory? Some small variable that we could introduce at a time that's a tipping-point? Perhaps plan it out like tactics in a rugby game, seeing that has become our special interest. Rugby isn't just about being a boof-head though sometimes it seems so.
And just wonder whether we are the subject of some of Sun-Tzu’s moves ourselves. ‘..appear where you are unexpected’ – I didn’t expect the MP among our politicians?
Today's idiot decision makers in our tertiary education sector.Southern Technical Institute
This makes absolutely no sense at all.
Looks like government has provided money for a training course – heavy machinery driving 120 people funded
Minister says " his first priority is helping find work for New Zealanders who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19"
Course has been over subscribed
Half the course are people on temporary work permits ( need a status change or work placement to be allowed to stay)
Why on earth is the course not giving priority to unemployed New Zealanders. If there aren't enough living in the area then shift the course location or fund temporary relocation through WINZ..
It's absolutely barking mad. The taxpayer is paying for a course but not taking people who would otherwise be on a taxpayer funded benefit.
The organisation Rural Contractors New Zealand say they will be short of 1000 skilled tractor and heavy machinery drivers this summer and it is calling on the Minister of Agriculture to allow overseas workers in under the essential worker category.
Fuck em. Time for some industries to invest in training locals and increase their pay rates to attract and keep employees. Or go out of business if they are incapable of renegotiating their arrangements accordingly. Why should the rest of us prop up their profits?
Yes, longer term industries should fund their own training. Short term – with the crisis -it's probably a reasonable investment in changing work skills.
But STI must be brain dead – they should be required to take people who are eligible to work here, New Zealanders who have lost their jobs( or maybe who want to upgrade) rather than people who are on a short term cannot be used work permit. I'd like to think a "please explain" is already winging it's way from the ministers office.
nah, surely that can't be it. But maybe low pay, cold houses and the expense of moving is what is keeping people from not going for it.
usually when businesses complain of lack of skilled workers its code for 'our wages are so crap that we can only get people from countries were the wages are even crappier. please provide visas".
Alot of them are young fallas and fulesss one oe. Young kiwis chase the harvesting ,shearing seasons around the globe and foreign ones come here for the same . Most arnt full time jobs and are quit skilled . Any one can drive tractors ,even me , but operateing them with some of the gear they tow and on some of the terrain they they travel over is a another thing .
Did you tell james Cameron to get fucked and hire kiwis,
The courses are actually oversubscribed according to the story. How hard would it be to actually teach people who live here long term and would otherwise be on unemployment benefits.
Yep at the top end some of it is pretty skilled but that is not the object of this course – creating entry level people who can then move up or enable others already in the industry to move up. And some of the trainees are ex pilots – I'm sure an ex 747 pilot has the spatial skills to move up fairly rapidly … we just haven't previously trained any.
And james Cameron should also be pushed to have a training programme for locals rather than just a great big taxpayer funded bung.
It may come down to experience in the working world, with that I mean real work not carrier politics. It seems that a crisis shows shortcomings more pronounced.
Perhaps it can be treated like a vaccination. There is a dis-ease in NZ and to stop it becoming more advanced, give it a bit of a shot in the arm from education. Then perhaps we can concentrate on coping with the chronic illness we have of persisting in over-fattening ourselves on imported matter, and use home-grown product wherever possible. Have I been able to express this in a kindly but practical manner?
I thought this was a thoughtful message to people in general.
“We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them — to try to understand what you have done, why you have done it. That way, you can begin to forgive yourself. That's very important. If you don't forgive yourself you'll never be able to forgive anybody else and you'll go on committing the same crimes forever.”
― James Baldwin, Another Country
Well Florida's problem is just nature at work. There's a saying about Florida being where the retired 'snowbirds' go for the winter. And another 'Birds of same feather flock together'. So all the oldies go and mingle there and they must have a large proportion of older ages.
Now they have had 169,000 confirmed cases and 3,505 deaths. On 4 June new cases registered at 1419. On 18 June 3207, more than double new cases two weeks. The largest number of new cases registered was on 27 June 9,585 and then there was a drop which indicates a break in testing because it is so sharp. Latest confirmed new cases – (25/6-1/7 – 5004, 8942, 9585, 9530, 5266, 6093, 6563 = 50,983 in week. There is a potential for deaths in five figures from Florida alone. There won't be the room to bury such numbers, smoking chimneys common. RIP.
And Florida is a laid-back place about doing government honestly and properly. Carl Hiaasen has made his living from writing about their zeitgeist. If they cared about their visitors the government would have taken the oldies particularly, under their wing. They are worth billions to the state.
(To look at Florida and other state daily figures look up google and keywords – Florida covid-19 cases so far – which is shorter than the link address)
Note Idaho is shooting up percentagewise looking at chart further up – 467% new in last two weeks, but base numbers were low so at 1 July there were only 253 new confirmed cases. (6593 cases 91 deaths – recovered 4073)
Figures can differ between different reports. But the trend is the important thing, is it going sharply up, or plateauing, sloping down?
How did this idiot ever get elected, is the avg IQ in the US so low its not measurable
It is, IMO, the problem with telling people that their opinions are just as valid as everyone else's even when those opinions are not based upon fact or even logic.
Layers of irony here – someone in Seminole County saying "my body my choice". Not a choice given to members of the Seminole tribe forced out of Florida to exile in "Indian Territory" (Oklahoma) in the late 1850's.
Why would google have a 2020 date on a Herald article from 2001? I was looking up Laila Harre and came on a piece about smacking which I knew was historical stuff.
May 7, 2020 – Youth Affairs Minister Laila Harre has condemned the law allowing children to be smacked, calling it 'legalised violence. ' Under the Crimes Act, pa.
I don't know if you remember the 2008 election where this issue was quite possibly the reason Clark was not returned.
The level of hyperbole and misinformation from Key and the media was relentless, the Anti Smacking Bill, right idea, wrong time, a Green Bill that was attached to the Govt, should have been left till after the election.
I think the outcome would have been a lot different.
I was thinking if Trump has a hiccup one morning and decided he wants to send armed forces here and we have to accept them, they might do a Guam on us bringing their nasty bugs with them along with their warmongering. In the old historic days the crafties knew how to use germs. They would chuck infected bandages etc over the walls to spread disease. They mightn't have known all the science but they knew what havoc it would create. We don't want that do we!
I know your suggestion is an almighty piss take- but if if happened who would be in our corner?? It wouldn't be Aussie UK France Canada The EU ..such irony the only ones likely to complain would be China and Russia.
But those 131,000 people enjoyed their 'freedom'. Albeit a totally insane conception of freedom – the freedom to not give a flying f*ck about anyone else, and have them not give a flying f*ck about you.
Has anyone else come across an 'app' called 'Logmate'? I'm just curious because for what its ekshully doing, it really should be capable of running on the most back-level "smartfone" device anyone ever invented. NZTA requires it, or something like it.
But as you were….there are far more pressing matters for people to discuss (oops have a conversation with)
anyone who is engaged in, or thinking of engaging in the g-g-g-gig economy, and if we don't know already, NZTA has a spectacular record.
I had a runout rego payment to make to NZTA. I phoned up to make the payment and got put through to some system that asked me to use the the phone buttons & tones to put all the payment data in from cards etc. Absolutely no indication of what the system was or the level of security or anything else. The only other way to make the payment was by cheque- which was what they got. The nice very practical person that I spoke to at NZTA did say that an on the ground payment option (other NZTA fees can be paid at the NZPO) would be a good idea but it appears to have been squashed further up.
As a matter of principal I believe there should be a whole of government /local body answer to being able to pay these and other obligatory charges without the payer having to incur excessive fees or costs charged by banking systems rather than every little department having its own system..
Logmate looks like a system that records commercial drivers approved hours.
That's exactly what it is. Not that complicated one would have thought. Inputting small amounts of data to a database to ensure drivers are compliant with the regs.
I guess Logmate's developer is probably making a killing these days removing all references to "Master" and "Slave" from code.
Nah they are worried that quarantine will kill the locals coming there. And as far as I am concerned they are dead right – I wouldn't go near the place any more than I would catch a flight on the local plague airline.
Queenstown is a freezing cold, overpriced sh*thole contaminated by sleazy money-obsessed Tories. Fifty years ago it was one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
True I agree and Eichardts was a pub with a public bar where no woman would feel comfortable but dogs were allowed. Those were the days.It's always been on the shady side of the lake though.
Fifty years ago it was a freezing cold, overpriced sh*thole contaminated by sleazy money obsessed Tories too. Whakatipu is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
I did wonder if the ppl letting Boult know they'd be staying away are the owners of the flash houses up on the hills. Never mind Jim, they'll still pay their rates.
Queenstown would be a bit silly for a plane load of people straight from LA, London or Delhi. The risk to the returnee, and the Queenstown health system and population would be too great. We've got a 20 – 30 bed third level hospital here and it's a 1 – 2 hour helicopter ride to better care depending on what's required. Not to say we didn't get through the initial bit in March without too much drama. And yes it was ALL on here for a few weeks.
That's not to say that some Queenstown hotels couldn't be set up to take lower risk people in their second week. This would take the pressure off Auckland facilities and put some much needed cashflow into into hotels that are at present effectively shut and their staff unemployed. There's several large hotels that are seperate from the rest of town that would be easily set up and controlled.
If part charging becomes a thing there's quite a few higher end places that could do a quite nice couple of weeks for a price, This is probably how our tourism industry will operate in medium term so would be a good way of setting that up and learning how to do it.
Why on earth are we even taking "expressions of interest" from potential migrants when we have a queue of half a million and 200,000 registered as unemployed plus those who would like more work but who don't register? Don't we need to quash the endless expectation that there will be endless migration.
The article is by a black Muslim immigrant woman so I can fully understand why she would like her family to be in NZ and her kids to grow up here (despite our faults) rather than the States.
I wasn't commenting on that individual, rather on the number of people looking.
Although if they are from the UK and looking they could have voted to put in MMP when they had the referendum, told the lib dems to back Jeremy Corban for #10 with a very limited agenda to move brexit along, rather than voting for Boris and giving him a landslide. Stop voting for the tories and Farage. Then maybe they would have what we have . The US is more complex but there will be some similar levers.
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
A warning – suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand’s own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn’t hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ dare to kill off our favourite soap? That’s the fear as times get tough in television – even though it’s been pointed out ...
Essay: If the Crown harms children, how do you hold it accountable? Analysis by Aaron Smale in light of the Waitangi Tribunal court decision. The post The Crown versus Māori Children appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals used widely in everyday consumer items such as textiles, packaging, and cookware, popular for their water, grease and stain-repellent properties. However, the very properties that make PFAS so attractive to manufacturers are also what ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,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, Friday 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan resistance leader has condemned the United Nations role in allowing Indonesia to “integrate” the Melanesian Pacific region in what is claimed to be an “egregious act of inhumanity” on 1 May 1963. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A key part of the Albanese government’s political strategy is to fill the news cycle with its presence and messaging. Ministers are deployed to the maximum, even when they’ve little to say. This week ...
Recent extreme weather events showed the importance of a well-functioning insurance system, says Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Andrew Bayly. ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Brakenridge, Postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne University, Centre for Urban Transitions, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute The Conversation, Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall ...
The Wellington-based Reserve Force soldier is now almost three years into his New Zealand Army career with 5th/7th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. ...
"The Government needs to release the review immediately as this reckless approach to change risks disjointed decision making and creates more distress and uncertainty for staff," Fitzsimons said. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Jeremiah Manele has been elected Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, polling 31 votes to 18 over rival candidate and former opposition leader Mathew Wale with one abstention. The final result of the election by secret ballot was announced by the Governor-General, Sir David Vunagi, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
Renters and realtors are upset with a government decision to scrap a bill meant to regulate property managers over concerns about unethical and unlawful behaviours. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University richardernestyap/Shutterstock Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to ...
Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
He’s fine but it feels like I’m losing a friend and it’s making me bitter. How do I say ‘enough is enough’? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHey Hera,I’ve recently moved in with a girlfriend, her partner Steve, and his friend. We all live in a lovely little house. ...
Todays article about the Greens proposal of a guaranteed minimum income has been commented on by Rod Oram and I agree with him.
I am disappointed in labour. Despite all their fanfare to focus on poverty all they produced was an increase in the minimum wage. That did nothing for the very vulnerable on the bottom of the heap depended on a benefit that is too much to die of not enough to live on. The increase was good as long as it lasted, actual food inflation measured on price increases is at 3.5% for the last 3 months but this hasn't got the fuel tax increase of recent included.
Void of any ideas, we get to hear that the tax system is fair. Of cause it is for those who have a disproportionate slice of the pie, courtesy by the taxpayer no less.
BTW, what ever happened to the announced reduction of wages by 20% for the parliamentarians? Lets not talk about snout in the trough shall we. They think the public has forgotten. No they didn't.
Link?
For any comment that starts with "Todays article" it seems essential, yes.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/finance/personalfinance/greens-poverty-plan-welcome-and-essential/ar-BB16guae
Thank you. Interestingly still (temporarily for 24 hours) paywalled on the Newsroom site itself: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/greens-poverty-plan-welcome-and-essential
Sorry to disappoint you Fw, but Parliamentary Services are still processing the change. Bureaucrats like to take their time with these things. Jacinda Ardern – or someone – expressed mild frustration about two weeks ago, so imagine its started or is about to start.
Hi Anne
They will process this as long as it takes to get it out of the collective memory. Its like the story with reducing the number of seats from 120 to 100. Yeah Right.
Meanwhile, the Australian private "partner" skins the NZ taxpayer to get millions of our hard earned money as this government has not even read the fine print of the contract and they are now putting the dumb screws onto NZTA with the mega blow out of the Transmission gully, Water issues in Auckland that haven't been addressed for years (any political party) and they wont be the last to experience this, millions of taxpayer money syphoned by fraud from Americas cup team (IT is an issue for a millionaires cup?) and the stories keep going…
Walking the talk BS and it does not matter where you look, no wonder people take to the streets. It maybe for isolated issues but really there is an underlying (lying?? ok pun intended) issue.
https://www.twitter.com/FoxyLustyGrover/status/1278407800817766401
Very helpful, lets see whether its implemented. People have taken a cut in hours(pay) or have lost their job since May I may point out. Meanwhile 200 000 are on a benefit.
Labour:
I Preferred Their Early Work
Tova on TV3 loves a scalp. I find it painful to watch her glee. She has had a great few weeks with David Clark and Simon Bridges.
She certainly can make a big deal out of SFA, she has a good nose for dirt.
This is what was achieved in health when David Clark was Minister. I wish the likes of Tova and Heather et al would inform themselves better………..this is from who is being described as an incompetent minister. And Yes I absolutely acknowledge his errors with the lockdown breach and taking ministerial responsibility
NZ’s largest ever investment in frontline mental health services
– Hiring 1600 new mental health workers which will result in 325,000 Kiwis a year receiving free access to improved mental health services
– NZ’s largest ever increase to DHB funding
– 3x the increases to health funding compared to what National delivered in 9 years
– Significant additional funding for disability support services
– Made GP visits $30 cheaper for 600,000 New Zealanders
– Brought in NZ’s long overdue medicinal cannabis regulations
– Free counselling for under 25’s
– Expanding telehealth and digital supports for mental wellbeing
– Delivered 80 new mental health workers in Canterbury schools (18 months earlier than promised)
– Extended free GP visits to under 14s
– Rolled out national bowel screening
– Opened Suicide Prevention Office
– Increased suicide prevention funding
– Established a national suicide bereavement counselling fund providing free counselling for people bereaved by suicide
– Tailored Māori and Pacific suicide prevention initiatives addressing New Zealand's persistently high suicide rates
– An expanded family and whānau suicide prevention information service
– More suicide prevention services in District Health Boards, including increased post-discharge support
– An improved suicide media response service, supporting responsible discussion about suicide across all media and social media.
– New research on improving health outcomes for Māori and Pacific peoples.
– Increased investment to develop innovative Pacific community health initiatives
– Established National Cancer Control Agency
– Developed Cancer Action Plan
– New Rheumatic fever prevention funding
– Largest ever investment in radiation therapy
– Extended the nurses in schools programme
– Expansion of mental health and addiction services for offenders
– $70 million investment for the building of mental health facilities at Hillmorton Hospital
– Significant hospital upgrades and funding increases to capital projects
– Fast-tracked new Dunedin hospital
– Large funding boosts to Pharmac
– Reimbursements for midwives working through Covid-19 response
– Boosted air ambulance network
– Rural locum relief for rural midwives
– More GP training placements in rural and regional areas
– New funding for AIDS research
– New funding for gender reassignment surgeries
– Strengthened NZ’s immunisation system
– Pay increases of between 12-15.9% for nurses, midwives, practitioners, community nurses, health care assistants & hospital aides
– Pay equity for mental health & addiction workers
– Initiated a wide-ranging review of our health & disability services
Would this have all happened without him? Not necessarily. He was the Associate Minister of Finance for the first 2 budgets and actively lobbied to ensure that funding was made in these areas.
Some of those are plans rather than results, which just plays into the opposition line about Labour's delivery. Also overplays the Minister's involvement. Just let him go.
If this list exaggerates health gains made during the two-and-a-half years that Dr David Clark was the Minister of Health, IMHO it's still a useful rebuttal to the frankly ludicious assertions made by some on this site that he was a do-nothing, MIA minister. Now I'll "let him go."
You left out the huge job getting the hospitals up to speed and accessing new equipment for the Covid response, thats why he was keep on because he did a bloody good job there, but look over there , fuck me he's riding a bike! Yeah like 5 million other Kiwis did.
Yep, hyperbole, deliberate character assassination.
Disappointing to see so many yesterday putting the BOOT in cos the media says so.
Thanks anker for relisting this info from yesterday, many don't want to believe he achieved anything at all, and FACTs don't matter, sounds like I'm describing a Nat MP, but many here made that decision to ignore facts and portray their own misbeliefs.
Hi anker, I am not taking issue with yr larger point, that Clark did get some stuff done.
I do dispute the 12 -15.9% payrise for nurses etc. Closer to 6% over three years.
What gives?
Hi Gsays, just seen you question. To be honest, I did't compile this list. A very reliable contact of mine did. It sounds like you have some good information to say the pay rise was 6% over three years. That doesn't sound that great. I seem to remember there was a lot of toing and froing over it, so I will look into it.
I am not wanting to be a cheerleader for David Clark as such, but I think there was a witch hunt going on and its a little unfair. Just wanted to present a balanced picture.
Article in the Herald. today saying America are interested in hiring him
I was really disappointed with his two lockdown breaches. I didn't buy into the bus throwing BS.
As an aside, the NZNO is in disarray, seemingly stuck between being a union and being a professional body. And not doing either to well.
It appears there are some high up in the Union who's loyalties lie close to the Ministry.
She's a grinning sadist with no apparent commitment to anything other than her own advancement.
Unusual to see a judge advising a minister on how to do politics! The nexus where environment meets public interest and the economy will always produce allegations of bias when someone with a track record of partisan advocacy is given the power to decide who wins in a conflict situation.
Since general principles are involved, this is a space to watch. Industry capture by means of lobbyists has been institutionalised in the USA for a long time and the public have been held to ransome. Now the boot's on the other foot, here.
It would be helpful if West Coasters came up with new industries rather than trying to resurrect mining.
Mining, milling, milking, managing, and moving. The NZ economy in a nutshell.
It would have been unusual if the judge had done that. Just as well she hadn’t, eh?
Interesting to see that there's some part of this you don't understand: "A judge has advised Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage to handover future decisions on some mining projects after being accused of bias."
Could it be the relation between advised and advising? Third form English classes got taught they derive from the same root word when I was young – but maybe that was no longer standard practice by the time you entered college? Linguistic basics by then deemed too hard for English teachers to comprehend let alone students…
Back when I attended school in a cardboard box in middle of road, people did not even need to be taught that "a judge has advised Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage to handover future decisions on some mining projects" is not the same statement as "a judge advising a minister on how to do politics".
One is about being a Minister, the other about being a politician. Exercising a specific regulatory authority is far narrower than 'politics' as most humans understand the term.
Whose interests does it serve to conflate them?
Ok, Grasshopper. This would be a good headline “Judge advises Minister on how to do politics!”. As with many headlines nowadays, they are inaccurate and misleading, often deliberately and grossly. Your view reads like a headline.
Given that your premise is wrong, your comment becomes mostly nonsensical. My education and the foundation of my lacking language skills are not the reason for your nonsense. You are illogical.
Sacha's point above yours is good, since it addresses governance responsibilities – which then enables anyone else to see it as addressing a technical issue rather than being political. Rather than beating all around the bush, if you were sensing that relevance you ought to have said so. Simply pushing your subjective view of what is or is not politics achieves nothing, so long as you don't explain why you feel that the premise is wrong.
Finally, we agree that your premise was wrong, phew! It has taken you all day for the penny to drop; Sacha @ 9:59 am got it in one. I felt you were wrong, relatively speaking, but had to overcome subjective hurdles before it could crystallise in the subconscious and come to the fore to become the idea that you could see as your own.
Ah, not so fast to that conclusion! I don't agree my premise was wrong – I was simply acknowledging merit in Sacha's point. Thus there are two valid interpretations (corresponding to whether one prefers a wide take on politics that includes governance (the commonly-held perspective, and mine) or prefers a narrow view of it that excludes governance). Me, I've always been broadminded… 😇
Of course, you disagree! Going back to the judge, which interpretation of politics did she use in her judgement?
Sorry, can't read her mind. Even if I could, would be presumptuous to try & interpret it. Trespassing in interior worlds is uncool. 😇
How come you now are noncommittal and evasive? You enthusiastically asserted that the judge had advised the Minister how to do politics @ 3. Were you projecting again? Or simply trying to
squeezeconform her advice into your own narrow but valid interpretation of politics without governance? Not a good verdict by the learned judge if it is open to such wide range of valid interpretations, IMHO.Come now, I was honest in what I wrote. If you feel that is "noncommittal and evasive" that's your problem. Own your subjective reactions & feelings, why don't you?
I simply called it how I saw it. I see no point in your sustained effort to psychoanalyse me. It's not as if psychoanalysis were trendy: it lost its place as a predominant fashion trend in psychology long ago! And anyway, trying to make it all about the personality of commentators is not an appropriate way to conduct a political blog.
In other words you ascribed something to the judge’s advice that was never there? Because that’s how you saw it and that’s you called it? I’d call that making things up to suit your thinking AKA confirmation bias. Last time I checked, this was still very much en vogue so you are still trendy.
Personality comes through in behaviour and motivation, doesn’t it? I always wonder why people twist reality and what their motivation is. Often it is because they have an agenda, e.g. politicians, and sometimes it is ego-tripping. To label that “psychoanalysis” is fascinating but flawed. I don’t smoke cigars and don’t have a beard if that’s any consolation; your mind is safe. Newtonian mechanics is still very useful and taught at schools. As a Physics graduate you will appreciate the irony of that.
BTW, I’m not conducting a political blog, merely commenting and responding here and occasionally cleaning up 😉
I’m bored now so TTFN.
Are you being honest when you claim to be honest?
Some people like defining words to suit themselves. Fine in their own back yard but rather useless in the public square. Villagers tended to shun them after a while.
Shamans tend to make weird sounds and speak in strange languages. The tribesmen are in awe. Until they realise it is just mostly ritualised BS.
Every village also has its idiot.
Is this the nexus where snarx meets slynex in praxis?
Yes, very good, I prefer to call it sparing
A 20+ year 'conflicts of interest tail' must be both long and thin!
Third question: When judges 'advise' or 'suggest' (as opposed to instruct/direct) a course of action, are Ministers bound to follow? In any event, good that the application for a judicial review of Sage's decision has been dismissed, IMHO, and thanks for bringing this "win for conservation" to my attention.
Fourth question:
So who/what is being "held to ransome" here? Arthur?
http://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php/Ransom_-_Ransome
Yeah I did spot that one, but too late to edit. Comes of gardening when frost is on the ground. Even the beanie didn't prevent brain-freeze. 😒
Good way to weed out the pedants. 🙂
Sorry Dennis, couldn't help it
Btw, that fourth question was genuine. I’m easily confused by business/financial/legal matters – were you suggesting that this decision represents the public (via its 'ministerial lobbyist' Sage?) holding industry to ransom? If so then that's great – good example of our government acting in the longer-term public interest.
No no just pointing out the analogy – capture by interest groups. I agree the judge seems to be acting in the public interest & wish commenters would focus on the things that matter: setting a precedent (?) and constitutionality of that. I get that idle chit-chat passes time, but would prefer blog commentary to elucidate…
Back to 3rd form Englix for you.
Regarding the racist Nat mp and returnees being sent to Queenstown. He should be so lucky they're not coming back from China, as every one in national knows Chinese count two more than Indians.
When push comes to shove, how many colleagues does it take to force a minister out? Heather du Plessis-Allan believes enough is enough:
I can see why she's baffled. Could it be that Ardern made a team play? You know, like a rugby scrum where all bind to drive forward. She could have just secured agreement that Clark needed to be shown how to be a team player. Having all those other top ministers gang up on him to push him out would have made it clear that it wasn't personal animus from the PM. Smart thinking!
Too much imagination, this time.
Does it really require that much imagining to believe Ardern is that smart?? I'm troubled by your pessimism. Maybe there will have to be more prosetylising in the Labour ranks, huh? O ye of little faith!
My faith in your judgement is wavering.
Irrelevant. The court's judgment is the issue. "In law, a judgment, also spelled judgement, is a decision of a court" according to Wikipedia. The judge decided to advise the minister. Perhaps our resident lawyer will opine upon the issue. Good question: is it unprecedented? Another: is it unconstitutional?
This seems to be a reply to #3.
Oh yes, thanks. Mental wires got crossed. 🙄
Nice diversion and thus irrelevant. I’m really starting to doubt your judgement. You are commenting and opining here, the judge isn’t. This could apply equally to your comments @ 3 and @ 5.
Anyone can see the judge isn't opining here! The judgment was made in court. Why try to cloud the issue? Facing the fact works better. 🙄
You are opining here. I can see it with even one eye closed, day in day out. Why deny it? Why cloud your judgement to suit your narrative? I’m losing faith in your opinion as well as judgement but you write good headlines.
Do you know what a judge’s professional opinion is called?
Of course I'm opining here, just like most commentators who post here. What's with this sudden need of yours to keep stating the obvious??
Dennis Frank you seem to be putting some of the topics in your own salt-grinder and turning and turning until the letters start dropping individually. Actually leaving them a bit chunky for someone else to chew on would be good. Is that possible?
My ‘needs’ haven’t changed all of a sudden but my faith in your judgement and opinion has been rocked severely. Why would I go on about somebody else’s opinion to you? It makes no sense and I wasn’t but for some reason you pretended I was. I don’t think you’re particularly ‘slow’ and I can only speculate on your reticence acknowledging the issue I was referring to all along.
Let the voters decide in Clark's Dunedin electorate, that is what an election is for.
Micky's never been the same since Auntie Maxine brushed him off.
/
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1278513333675659264
Can I have some of what he is smoking?
why not, after all the Black Hills, sacred to the Lakota (if anyone cares about the things the first nations of the US thought sacred) were exploded to carve out the presidents that stole the land from the Lakota.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rushmore-sioux/
Oh poor lil man, whats he to do with his white working male class economic anxiety.
Cain's since been hospitalised with COVID so perhaps Lakota will get the last laugh.
https://twitter.com/THEHermanCain/status/1278444266881273856
https://twitter.com/THEHermanCain/status/1274489632886075398
btw, some names to watch.
https://okcfox.com/news/local/trump-campaign-announces-top-surrogates-for-tulsa-rally
btw, some
Good idea not wearing masks to the political rally. Let them be hoist by their own petard.
Todd Muller on Checkpoint last challenged by Lisa on his policies. Not very convincing?
Especially from 4:40
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018753281/muller-on-rebuilding-bridges-we-ve-a-professional-relationship
ianmac 7
How many elections have we seen where National had NO policies to announce, just more of the same and their response is "look over there at the opposition policies" and then deliberately misinterpret them with usual slant of higher taxes or don't have the experience or Just Outright LIES.
Yes Just Us. Seemed amazing that the Key lot could get away with that. This time might be different because they will have to come up with a compelling counter argument to manage Covid19 aftermath. Questions are already being asked and just saying that this Government is a shambles won't wash – I hope.
Anybody arguing that this Govt is a Shambles has their head in the sand and are seriously politically biased.
NZ is the luckiest country in the world today, because of the Govts response to the virus, there is no room for criticism fron anyone who values their credibility.
Maybe Muller will be up to speed after the election.
Time to call time on China.
Xi seems hellbent on destroying all the gains China has made over the last 30 years, and he is intent on war to preserve his power, just like every other failing dictator.
Not content with trying to (unsuccessfully) bully the rest of the world, they are once again trying to bully us. No more. Boycott their products.
Trump may be an idiot, but he is right when he says the UN and WHO are largely funded by the west yet whose interests do they represent? The UN is nowhere to be seen on the virus China unleashed on the world due to its lies and secrecy. About tome they suggested that the evil communist government starts making reparations, particularly to the developing world. But of course, as always it will be the nasty old west that does that.
The single biggest disaster of our time is China C19, yet all posters on here seem concerned about os that isiot Trump.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12345158
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12345066
We brought them into world trade.
We utterly depend on them.
And there's no turning back.
Not true. India will eclipse China economically within the next 20 years, and they are a well educated, democratic society that we have a long and strong relationship with.
It's not about 'going back', it's more about managing the evil influence of China going forward. Following the UK approach of accepting large scale immigration from Hong Kong would be economically and socially beneficial for NZ and send a clear message of which side of the line we stand.
India might be a democratic society, but corruption is now institutionalised, no real difference between them and China.
why? finding it hard to buy somewhat more expensive goods made by us?
NZ goods you mean that last 10 times as long and not made of shit metal and spit.
pretty much yes. Made by us.
Edit
China. We should start studying some of their sage's thoughts on how to conduct oneself so as to win the war before it even starts. I don't know whether it will succeed, but we should try to do something better than throwing our arms up in the air despairingly, or letting people just walk over us without a move to lessen the pressure. Sun Tzu has a lot to say and if only one out of a 100 is a good, new idea, the study time won't be wasted.
“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected .”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1771.Sun_Tzu
And don't forget that Australia is not our friend yet we still find ways of interacting with them. China is on a path that is not good, is there some way we could change their course, using chaos theory? Some small variable that we could introduce at a time that's a tipping-point? Perhaps plan it out like tactics in a rugby game, seeing that has become our special interest. Rugby isn't just about being a boof-head though sometimes it seems so.
And just wonder whether we are the subject of some of Sun-Tzu’s moves ourselves. ‘..appear where you are unexpected’ – I didn’t expect the MP among our politicians?
Today's idiot decision makers in our tertiary education sector.Southern Technical Institute
This makes absolutely no sense at all.
Looks like government has provided money for a training course – heavy machinery driving 120 people funded
Minister says " his first priority is helping find work for New Zealanders who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19"
Course has been over subscribed
Half the course are people on temporary work permits ( need a status change or work placement to be allowed to stay)
Why on earth is the course not giving priority to unemployed New Zealanders. If there aren't enough living in the area then shift the course location or fund temporary relocation through WINZ..
It's absolutely barking mad. The taxpayer is paying for a course but not taking people who would otherwise be on a taxpayer funded benefit.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/419923/heavy-machinery-driver-shortage-leads-to-plea-for-overseas-workers-to-be-allowed
Fuck em. Time for some industries to invest in training locals and increase their pay rates to attract and keep employees. Or go out of business if they are incapable of renegotiating their arrangements accordingly. Why should the rest of us prop up their profits?
Yes, longer term industries should fund their own training. Short term – with the crisis -it's probably a reasonable investment in changing work skills.
But STI must be brain dead – they should be required to take people who are eligible to work here, New Zealanders who have lost their jobs( or maybe who want to upgrade) rather than people who are on a short term cannot be used work permit. I'd like to think a "please explain" is already winging it's way from the ministers office.
Down below I see we have hit 200,000 unemployed
They may have found a lack of eagerness among hardworking kiwi families to subject themselves to a cheery southern winter.
nah, surely that can't be it. But maybe low pay, cold houses and the expense of moving is what is keeping people from not going for it.
usually when businesses complain of lack of skilled workers its code for 'our wages are so crap that we can only get people from countries were the wages are even crappier. please provide visas".
Alot of them are young fallas and fulesss one oe. Young kiwis chase the harvesting ,shearing seasons around the globe and foreign ones come here for the same . Most arnt full time jobs and are quit skilled . Any one can drive tractors ,even me , but operateing them with some of the gear they tow and on some of the terrain they they travel over is a another thing .
Did you tell james Cameron to get fucked and hire kiwis,
Senior digital screen production expertise is a limited pool. Most of the industry here are New Zealanders.
Driving tractors, on the other hand..
Pull your skirt down your ignorance is showing.
Classy.
I believe it’s called a kilt.
Ssshh. I wanted it to be a surprise.
😀
The courses are actually oversubscribed according to the story. How hard would it be to actually teach people who live here long term and would otherwise be on unemployment benefits.
Yep at the top end some of it is pretty skilled but that is not the object of this course – creating entry level people who can then move up or enable others already in the industry to move up. And some of the trainees are ex pilots – I'm sure an ex 747 pilot has the spatial skills to move up fairly rapidly … we just haven't previously trained any.
And james Cameron should also be pushed to have a training programme for locals rather than just a great big taxpayer funded bung.
It may come down to experience in the working world, with that I mean real work not carrier politics. It seems that a crisis shows shortcomings more pronounced.
Perhaps it can be treated like a vaccination. There is a dis-ease in NZ and to stop it becoming more advanced, give it a bit of a shot in the arm from education. Then perhaps we can concentrate on coping with the chronic illness we have of persisting in over-fattening ourselves on imported matter, and use home-grown product wherever possible. Have I been able to express this in a kindly but practical manner?
I thought this was a thoughtful message to people in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin (1924-1987)
Unemployment has reached 200 000 – this is double digit unemployment figures, and no end in sight.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300048558/more-than-200000-new-zealanders-now-on-unemployment-benefits
https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/employed-persons
The number of Covid 19 cases is just about to clock over to 11 million, a new record for new daily cases with US recording 56980 new cases on its own.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
The stats indicate 92% recover and 8% don't
So much winning.
https://twitter.com/ObsoleteDogma/status/1278710192608247813
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1278764469540265985
USA USA USA USA .
WORLD LEADERS
TRUMP IS GREAT.
Well Florida's problem is just nature at work. There's a saying about Florida being where the retired 'snowbirds' go for the winter. And another 'Birds of same feather flock together'. So all the oldies go and mingle there and they must have a large proportion of older ages.
It seems they had in 2010 about 5.5 million people over 55 years, which is when Covid-19 starts to weigh in. http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/population-demographics/data/Pop_Census_Day.pdf
Now they have had 169,000 confirmed cases and 3,505 deaths. On 4 June new cases registered at 1419. On 18 June 3207, more than double new cases two weeks. The largest number of new cases registered was on 27 June 9,585 and then there was a drop which indicates a break in testing because it is so sharp. Latest confirmed new cases – (25/6-1/7 – 5004, 8942, 9585, 9530, 5266, 6093, 6563 = 50,983 in week. There is a potential for deaths in five figures from Florida alone. There won't be the room to bury such numbers, smoking chimneys common. RIP.
And Florida is a laid-back place about doing government honestly and properly. Carl Hiaasen has made his living from writing about their zeitgeist. If they cared about their visitors the government would have taken the oldies particularly, under their wing. They are worth billions to the state.
(To look at Florida and other state daily figures look up google and keywords – Florida covid-19 cases so far – which is shorter than the link address)
Note Idaho is shooting up percentagewise looking at chart further up – 467% new in last two weeks, but base numbers were low so at 1 July there were only 253 new confirmed cases. (6593 cases 91 deaths – recovered 4073)
Figures can differ between different reports. But the trend is the important thing, is it going sharply up, or plateauing, sloping down?
Ahh, Carl Hiaasen, the best hours you can have between the covers!
STOP TESTING GODDAMMIT!!
Trump honestly believes the only reason the US has so many cases is cos they carry out more tests than any other country.
How did this idiot ever get elected, is the avg IQ in the US so low its not measurable
It is, IMO, the problem with telling people that their opinions are just as valid as everyone else's even when those opinions are not based upon fact or even logic.
Quick, someone find these lemmings a cliff.
https://twitter.com/StephBuffamonte/status/1278424931798331395
Yep, the good oll US of A, we have the right to behave stupidly, why do think we voted in Trump.
Meanwhile there are over 40 million unemployed right now.
You can see those protesters are all wet! Perhaps the devil made them do it.
Layers of irony here – someone in Seminole County saying "my body my choice". Not a choice given to members of the Seminole tribe forced out of Florida to exile in "Indian Territory" (Oklahoma) in the late 1850's.
Reopen the schools….what could possibly go wrong?
https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1278543840367050757
University experiment confirms reopening problem.
https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1278822040095645696
They got clued in that Keep America Great might not be the most effective slogan right now. So they went back to Make America Great Again. Oops.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-make-america-great-again-slogan-returns_n_5efe8471c5b6ca97091b9dd4
And dear Eric tried to have a crack at the Clintons over Ghislaine's arrest, bless his heart. Somebody get a Participation Trophy for that boy.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eric-trump-ghislaine-maxwell_n_5efe9858c5b612083c5992da
The most reliable aspect of Covid-19 is more cases. A breakthrough, even a small one would be welcomed.
Why would google have a 2020 date on a Herald article from 2001? I was looking up Laila Harre and came on a piece about smacking which I knew was historical stuff.
Ban the smacks, says Laila Harre – NZ Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › news › article
May 7, 2020 – Youth Affairs Minister Laila Harre has condemned the law allowing children to be smacked, calling it 'legalised violence. ' Under the Crimes Act, pa.
I don't know if you remember the 2008 election where this issue was quite possibly the reason Clark was not returned.
The level of hyperbole and misinformation from Key and the media was relentless, the Anti Smacking Bill, right idea, wrong time, a Green Bill that was attached to the Govt, should have been left till after the election.
I think the outcome would have been a lot different.
Breaking News
WHO is changing the name of Covid-19 to Trumpvirus-2020.
Cases: 2,837,189
Deaths: 131,485
Making America Great Again.
Certainly leading from the front.
I was thinking if Trump has a hiccup one morning and decided he wants to send armed forces here and we have to accept them, they might do a Guam on us bringing their nasty bugs with them along with their warmongering. In the old historic days the crafties knew how to use germs. They would chuck infected bandages etc over the walls to spread disease. They mightn't have known all the science but they knew what havoc it would create. We don't want that do we!
I know your suggestion is an almighty piss take- but if if happened who would be in our corner?? It wouldn't be Aussie UK France Canada The EU ..such irony the only ones likely to complain would be China and Russia.
But those 131,000 people enjoyed their 'freedom'. Albeit a totally insane conception of freedom – the freedom to not give a flying f*ck about anyone else, and have them not give a flying f*ck about you.
This item by Chris Trotter in Interest.co. from Jun.15/20
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/105493/chris-trotter-assesses-national-leader-todd-mullers-weekend-speech-suggesting-he-has
I was looking for Laila Harre's latest and she is mentioned here I think.
Just for some light relief …..
Has anyone else come across an 'app' called 'Logmate'? I'm just curious because for what its ekshully doing, it really should be capable of running on the most back-level "smartfone" device anyone ever invented. NZTA requires it, or something like it.
But as you were….there are far more pressing matters for people to discuss (oops have a conversation with)
anyone who is engaged in, or thinking of engaging in the g-g-g-gig economy, and if we don't know already, NZTA has a spectacular record.
I had a runout rego payment to make to NZTA. I phoned up to make the payment and got put through to some system that asked me to use the the phone buttons & tones to put all the payment data in from cards etc. Absolutely no indication of what the system was or the level of security or anything else. The only other way to make the payment was by cheque- which was what they got. The nice very practical person that I spoke to at NZTA did say that an on the ground payment option (other NZTA fees can be paid at the NZPO) would be a good idea but it appears to have been squashed further up.
As a matter of principal I believe there should be a whole of government /local body answer to being able to pay these and other obligatory charges without the payer having to incur excessive fees or costs charged by banking systems rather than every little department having its own system..
Logmate looks like a system that records commercial drivers approved hours.
That's exactly what it is. Not that complicated one would have thought. Inputting small amounts of data to a database to ensure drivers are compliant with the regs.
I guess Logmate's developer is probably making a killing these days removing all references to "Master" and "Slave" from code.
Thank your God I'm well out of it these days.
Why Queenstown for quarantine – I know it has hotels but the main hospital if needed is way over in Dunedin.
So Qtown don't want to be a quarantine centre but want their tourists back? Seems a tad inconsistent.
Nah they are worried that quarantine will kill the locals coming there. And as far as I am concerned they are dead right – I wouldn't go near the place any more than I would catch a flight on the local plague airline.
well then, don't go to Auckland, nor Rotorua. But i guess Queenstown is a little less NZ then the rest of NZ.
They are pretty low on my list as well. Gisborne here I come.
Queenstown is a freezing cold, overpriced sh*thole contaminated by sleazy money-obsessed Tories. Fifty years ago it was one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
True I agree and Eichardts was a pub with a public bar where no woman would feel comfortable but dogs were allowed. Those were the days.It's always been on the shady side of the lake though.
Hang on, the sheilas in the clean Swannies were nice girls.
Down memory lane here. The swannies, the dogs and the hunting , shooting fishing gear all part of that.
Fifty years ago it was a freezing cold, overpriced sh*thole contaminated by sleazy money obsessed Tories too. Whakatipu is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
I did wonder if the ppl letting Boult know they'd be staying away are the owners of the flash houses up on the hills. Never mind Jim, they'll still pay their rates.
I guess they don't get the concept of quarantine. They must be expecting to socialise with the returnees.
or with their wallets, at least.
But they think tourists won't? Fukcwits.
Queenstown would be a bit silly for a plane load of people straight from LA, London or Delhi. The risk to the returnee, and the Queenstown health system and population would be too great. We've got a 20 – 30 bed third level hospital here and it's a 1 – 2 hour helicopter ride to better care depending on what's required. Not to say we didn't get through the initial bit in March without too much drama. And yes it was ALL on here for a few weeks.
That's not to say that some Queenstown hotels couldn't be set up to take lower risk people in their second week. This would take the pressure off Auckland facilities and put some much needed cashflow into into hotels that are at present effectively shut and their staff unemployed. There's several large hotels that are seperate from the rest of town that would be easily set up and controlled.
If part charging becomes a thing there's quite a few higher end places that could do a quite nice couple of weeks for a price, This is probably how our tourism industry will operate in medium term so would be a good way of setting that up and learning how to do it.
theyve got their gov bailout…no need to play the game any more…it would be laughable if it wasnt so serious…Boult atypical
Why on earth are we even taking "expressions of interest" from potential migrants when we have a queue of half a million and 200,000 registered as unemployed plus those who would like more work but who don't register? Don't we need to quash the endless expectation that there will be endless migration.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300047408/we-no-longer-feel-safe-in-the-us-new-zealand-presents-a-safe-haven-for-wouldbe-migrants
The article is by a black Muslim immigrant woman so I can fully understand why she would like her family to be in NZ and her kids to grow up here (despite our faults) rather than the States.
I wasn't commenting on that individual, rather on the number of people looking.
Although if they are from the UK and looking they could have voted to put in MMP when they had the referendum, told the lib dems to back Jeremy Corban for #10 with a very limited agenda to move brexit along, rather than voting for Boris and giving him a landslide. Stop voting for the tories and Farage. Then maybe they would have what we have . The US is more complex but there will be some similar levers.