Graham Philip was charged with seven counts of sabotage in May, relating to an alleged attack on New Zealand infrastructure late last year. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Anti-misinformation group FACT Aotearoa had concerns about more than 170 candidates – about 5 percent of those standing for election.
So RNZ approached some of these candidates, some of whom we knew from previous interactions and others who we spoke to for the first time.
Gill Booth had put her hand up for the Teviot Valley Community Board in Central Otago.
"I fell into this about 20 years ago and when I first heard about the New World Order – we'll go there – I didn't believe it because I didn't see how it could possibly work. And then I started watching this happen, especially in America, because it happened quite quickly over there," she told the group.
The New World Order was a conspiracy theory formed on the belief a secret cabal was attempting to form a global authoritarian government.
I like that you are putting up topics of interest most days. Can you please make sure your copy and pastes aren't so long as today? It makes it harder for people on a phone, and we prefer copypasta to be supporting arguments and commentary rather than being the main thing. Not an absolute, but something to be aware of. Thanks.
Oh allgood. Looking at it afterwards ..Todays was maybe long. Re Interest…at times I wonder WHO is interested. (and I am def not a One Interest person , So thanks : )
I find your comments very interesting to read and give thought to Patricia, for which I thank you. Digitally challenged or not, you always get your message across concisely.
I am deaf so alternative media such as TS and other (left leaning) sites with contributors such as yourself, give me a lot of pleasure, as well as keeping my 76 year old brain exercised hee hee.
Anti-vax group wanting to make NZ 'ungovernable' targets local body elections
“Having all of those pretty dangerous people onboard [as candidates] I think is a worrying development,” said Dr Mona Krewel, a political scientist who has studied Voices For Freedom and other leading figures in the so-called freedom movement.
Thanks for that info Tony (2.1.2), I shall keep it in mind for election time.
It seems quite a few fruit nuts are weedling their oddball way into local body politics at present. Unsettling to say the least. Even worse, there are those who will vote for them!
It should be concerning to anyone that a major media org is running a concerted smear campaign against candidates putting themselves up for democratic election.
Never thought I would see it in new zealand, but here we are.
Before a full investigation is launched, did anyone apart from the media actually use the words "Make NZ ungovernable"? Or are we just going along with whatever the sensational headline was, with little to no context around what was being said.
[There have been a few Mod notes for you, none of which you responded to in a way that could close it off so that you could continue commenting freely here. Every time you choose to ignore, deflect, and obfuscate. You’re wasting moderator time. Since you asked, here’s the most recent Mod note in the trail that led you into Pre-Mod where you still are until we can resolve this or until you end up in the Black List for a while to save us all more time: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18-08-2022/#comment-1906481 – Incognito]
The thing about "a concerted smear campaign" is its meaning- "2. damage the reputation of (someone) by false accusations; slander."
The opposite to that is hopefully what the media do in a democracy. Are these candidates being slandered, i.e. having false and damaging statements made about them)?
If they are, they have remedies in law and via the Press Council.
A doctor for 30+ years with her own charity, one might draw the conclusion from that, that she is therefore respected in the community and cares a lot for people and their health.
But the media ignores anything positive, and paints the picture of someone angry, into conspiracies, with far right views.
I read the article. What was written seems fair journalism.
As for the question as to whether good people can go down rabbit holes- I've seen it happen with people I know.
Indeed, I once gave a lift in a car to a pleasant, courteous hitch-hiker who laughed at my pleasantries and called me sir. He seemed to be a good man- in a hurry, but a good man.
I found him in the paper next day as to why he was in a hurry- to get back to the Picton anti-mandate demonstration. He is now standing for a school board in Christchurch. He attended the recent protest in Christchurch whee the reporter in the Press described his actions in trying to destroy a counter-demonstration placard, and directing racist and homophobic insults at them.
Not quite sure of the meaning here? Do you maybe think your hitcher was…. Arps !? (that would be a worry to have found out ! )
My Link was purely to show…the connectivity between all those within. Associates. Whether Mr Bromley does not consider him as such (maybe ..) Notwithstanding, he still Friends white supremacists Kyle Chapman…and Lee Williams.
I know he was Arps. It wasn't a worry but I found the two faces of the man interesting. That one seeks 'freedom' within the ranks of the far -right is also an interesting view of freedom.
The article you cited gives enough of Bromley's conservative views and opinions, especially the last paragraph. We have a member of VFF up here standing for counsel and her views were elaborated at length by a reporter. She wrote to the paper trying to dispute the paper's version of her views but the Editor stuck by the reporter saying the original account was sound.
Mac 1, And was Arps ! Well thats good that you were not worried. And yea the 2 Faces. Psychopaths often present as that. (On that, there was a prison officer used to comment here …and found him quiet and no trouble. All very situational of course ! )
And yes re the Journalists. Some fantastic Investigative Reporters. On that… I can never understand the vitriol directed at MSM in general. The Rightwing think its all Lefty and Socialist…. and of course the Leftwing think its right biased and conservative. ."Some" are…but laughable really.
Wow! She cannot be bad or wrong, can she? It isn’t binary, B & W, but being selective often originates in and perpetuates binary attitudes and thinking and bias, of course.
A written submission from Moala’s charitable trust, Pacific Child, Youth and Family Integrated Care Trust (PACYFIC), spreads conspiracy theories about the Pfizer vaccine. Moala is the chairperson of the trust.
When people start using ‘their’ charities as political platform they should be de-registered as charities, as has happened with Family First NZ – it doesn’t mean that they have done ‘bad’ things and nothing ‘good’, but it means that they no longer meet the requirements and responsibilities of a charitable organisation.
"When people start using ‘their’ charities as political platform they should be de-registered as charities".
Does that apply to the "Charity" that is the Helen Clark Foundation? I cannot see anything about it that makes it a charity rather than a political platform. Some of what they produce is interesting but it certainly isn't related to charitable purposes.
Still wasting precious time with silly biased questions, I see. To me, you’re becoming more and more of a diversion troll every time you comment here and make that sound of an old yappy snappy dog barking at birds & butterflies buzzing around that that tiny little head of yours.
But the media ignores anything positive, and paints the picture of someone angry, into conspiracies, with far right views.
Private charities and being a Dr can never override the possibility that we may elect an angry person who is into conspiracies and with far right views onto our local body. Why would we need to have such people around, except to keep an eye on them so we can stop them fomenting evil with wild and wacky ideas? I'd rather the SIS or similar did that rather than the people of Wellington having to do this.
We just want our potholes dealt to and our city competently managed. We don't need a 'side' of making the place ungovernable* which is apparently in their riding instructions.
** I'm sorry I'll read that again…apparently the word is not ungovernable it is 'resilient' – yeah right.
We could have a thread where all of the investigations can be collected so we get to know all the weirdos. Even if we can't vote everywhere many of us have friends and relatives who might be interested…though mine are probably already sleuthing.
I link with trepidation – since this is an opinion piece by Joyce – and therefore shines his own National Party focus on the recent Kiwi-Saver legislative u-turn.
However, I did think that it contained useful information on the mechanics of the legislative process before a bill is introduced – especially over the duty of officials to highlight potential sore points (stakeholders who are impacted) – in the Regulatory Impact Statement.
This was info that I didn't have about the review process which goes into legislation before it is introduced into the House – and thought it was worth sharing.
Joyce's opinions about why this failed in this instance ('fail' being defined as the legislation being reversed 24 hours later, due to popular outcry) – are, as always, slanted by his political perceptions – consume at your own risk.
This is the first time I hear it mentioned here, and AFAIK so far only one commenter (that would be me) has linked to one of the items covered in the RIS package. It beggars belief that nobody seems to have bothered to read the technical reasoning for the Bill as introduced in Parliament and it shows that the storm of protest had nothing to do with reason or evidence, for that matter.
Point 69, in the RIS under the Managed Funds section is the one which should have had political antennae twitching. Not as a reason not to do it (if it was determined to be the best outcome), but that political management and control of the message would be needed.
69. The preferred option will likely increase the fees charged to managed fund investors, resulting in reduced returns for savers and consequently
reduce the future balances in KiwiSaver and other managed funds
In the normal course of events, every paper that goes up must be lodged by the middle of the previous week. That gives Treasury, the Prime Minister's Office, and every other affected government department time to offer their views on it and prime their minister with their concerns.
Each significant paper must be accompanied by a Regulatory Impact Statement, which lays out in detail the impact of a decision on the relevant stakeholders. This was an innovation of the Key government, and its power is that it is written by officials rather than ministers, so it is where you look if you want to find a fish hook glossed over in the main Cabinet paper.
Both Treasury and the Prime Minister's Office prepare short cheat sheets for their ministers highlighting the key elements of every Cabinet paper. An hour before Cabinet on Monday morning, senior Treasury officials sit down with the Finance Minister and his associates (including in this case David Parker) and discussed the key papers of interest at that day's Cabinet. At a similar time two floors higher, the Prime Minister's Office is taking their boss through a similar preview of the papers.
As an added protection Cabinet also has senior ministers who act as sweepers. They are normally alert for things that might carry ramifications others haven't thought of that either worry their constituency or affect the Government's broader standing. They serve an important alarm-raising function for the wider Cabinet.
Once the Cabinet decision is made, there are more protections around how the decision is announced. Ministers don't just dash off press releases themselves for significant economic matters. Any draft announcement involving government finances is shared with the Finance Minister's Office, and anything political with the ninth floor.
I think it’s safe to say that this wasn’t your typical run-of-the-mill paper, it was a highly technical (aren’t all things related to Tax highly technical?) omnibus bill.
Policy proposals in this omnibus bill fall into three categories; the first category is to set the annual rates of income tax for the 2022-23 tax year; the second category aims at improving current settings within a broad-base, low-rate framework to help ensure that taxes are fair and efficient and impede economic growth as little as possible; and the third category relates to proposals aimed at improving the settings for tax administration, the GST regime, KiwiSaver, and social policy rules administered by Inland Revenue.
Yes, I freely admit that the technicalities and financial implications of the various options are well over my head (luckily no one is about to appoint me Revenue Minister [joke])
However, the impact on KS investors (and therefore political implications) was clearly signalled
"resulting in reduced returns for savers and consequently reduce the future balances in KiwiSaver"
That's the bit which needed political management and a clearly articulated message.
At worst, it was a political misjudgement. Government seems easily rattled and spooked and they are not prepared to die in a ditch when someone screams ‘guppy attack!’. Sadly, though, the preferred option (by IRD) will never receive the due consideration and democratic debate it rightly deserved; it was judged, sentenced, and executed in and by the kangaroo court of public outcry where facts and reason are stopped at the door. It is so typical of National’s MO of political opposition, which is no different from their MO when in government.
Labour could certainly do with the risk aerials of Joyce right now.
He's the guy who made MBIE, broadband fibre rollout, and Crown Infrastructure Partners. All three the biggest and longest lasting reforms of their day.
"Key would have fired Parker by now." – Yes but Ardern does not have the luxury of a deep talent pool. In fact, isn't Parker one of their most experienced ministers, and one of the few Labour ministers with actual real world experience outside of politics.
Nonsense. MPs like Barbara Edmonds and Deborah Russell are tax experts, more than qualified to be Revenue Minister.
The "talent pool" jibe is a favourite attack line from the Right, and doesn't stand up to any serious analysis. National's "talent pool" delivered Bridges, Muller, Collins and Luxon – they all had CVs, only the talent was lacking.
Deborah Russell may have the financial and tax expertise, but comes across as just as much of an ivory tower intellectual as Parker.
I admit that I hadn't heard of Barbara Edmonds until now (local Wellington MP & I'm up in Auckland). Her CV looks impressive, and I'd certainly like to see more of her in Government. Given that she's in the fairly safe Labour seat of Mana – Labour should be actively fostering her parliamentary career.
She's currently Junior Whip (which is fairly impressive for someone who was only elected in 2020) – but appears not to be on any select committees (or, at least, I couldn't see any).
She'd be a perfect junior partner for Parker in his Revenue Ministry – both with the technical knowledge and as someone who looks as though she has both feet firmly on the ground, politically speaking.
Deborah Russell may have the financial and tax expertise, but comes across as just as much of an ivory tower intellectual as Parker.
Maybe it’s only me, but "ivory tower intellectual" jibes come across as just lazy. Anti-intellectualism is alive and well in Aotearoa – where’s it taking us?
David Parker was born in Roxburgh and grew up in Dunedin. As a teenager, Parker attended Otago Boys' High School. He attended the University of Otago, studying law and business, and co-founded the Dunedin Community Law Centre.
Before entering politics, Parker worked as a litigation partner in the law firm Anderson Lloyd Caudwell. He later had a business career in the agri-biotechnology field, including with Blis Technologies, where he was a manager.
The point I'm trying to make is that she doesn't come across as well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis.
Nor does Parker.
Geeks may be valuable (and essential) to any business-delivery process, but you don't put them out front to sell the product (Steve Jobs aside).
You can rail at anti-intellectualism (and I may well agree with you) – but your and my opinions aren't relevant, when it comes to selling policy to the vast majority of NZers.
Russell was elected MP for New Lynn in 2017 (2,825 majority), and re-elected in 2020 with a "vast majority" of 13,134. If (as you posit @3:21 pm) "she doesn't come across as well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis", then presumably either "ordinary Kiwis" don't have much electoral clout in the New Lynn electorate, or they're not bothered that Russell (in your words) "doesn't come across… [etc.]"
"Sell the product" and "Selling policy" is intriguing (business?) framing – one would have thought that "tax cuts" would be an easy sell, but maybe not all tax cuts. She's a hard road finding the perfect tax cut policy. Still, no hurry eh?
You can rail at anti-intellectualism…
Anti-intellectuals – never around when you need them
Anti-intellectuals – never around when you need them
Someone around here and there must have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
It is not a matter of the comms response per se but of controlling the narrative. An omnibus tax bill makes it difficult but then usually it was understood or a convention that you did not include potentially 'controversial' matters in the tax washing up bill or other omnibus or washing up bills.
So someone right down at IRD level has not actually really turned their mind to the implications of a malevolent view being taken. This has gone right through all the levels including the legislation cabinet committee right up to and through the House sub committees (Whips & the like) where egg spplatering stuff is usually able to be weeded out.
It has the feel of tiredness and over reliance on checks & balances.
I disagree. IRD went through the appropriate consultation process:
26. The scope of the options is limited to measures the managed funds industry could implement and administer. Options two, three and four were consulted on in a public consultation paper which also asked for submissions on alternative options which led to option one (legislating to allow the current GST practices to continue) being submitted as the preferred option for one group of stakeholders.
73. The impacts of the non-monetised costs and benefits have been determined through public consultation and discussions with interested managed funds and tax advisors who work with the managed funds industry.
As stated by Government, support suddenly evaporated, presumably because they got rattled after National decided to wage a campaign of fear. The big players – after all, we are still a FIRE economy – were never really in favour, obviously. Fairness considerations went out of the window.
If you're going to argue that you need to have popular appeal to get elected into a safe Labour seat – then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
New Lynn has been staunch Labour since before the days of Jonathan Hunt (i.e before I was born).
Surely you can see the difference in popular appeal between Russell and Kiri Allen, for example.
That's not to say that they don't both add value to the Government – but that they have very different talents.
You can sneer at 'selling' all you please. But all Governments know they have to sell policies to the electorate. And, have to do a better sales job than the opposition, come election time.
One of the greatest of challenges to democracy, is that the skill-set required to get elected, has little to do with the skill-set required to govern.
Yes you are quite correct. It did go out for consultation.
Perhaps the step about 'what would be the most malevolent or hostile connotation we can think of and let's build the answer to that in our publications' was missed.
In one workplace (Health sector) we always had fun grilling our CEO before public policy announcements and before public meetings finding these off the wall and wrong interpretations and questioning him on them. That admittedly is the big picture but you soon get into the habit of looking for them in everything…..
If you're going to argue that you need to have popular appeal to get elected into a safe Labour seat – then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Belladonna (@5:35 pm) – indeed we will just have to agree to disagree, as not too many Labour MPs increased their electoral majority by more than 10,000 votes in the 2020 general election. Think Chris Hipkins (an engaging, high-profile MP – hope you will agree) was the only one.
Imho, the "vast increase" in electorate votes for Russell suggests that your image of her (or at least your assumptions regarding the image of her that is prevalent amongst voters) as an "ivory tower intellectual" who isn't "well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis" isn't realistic.
Tbh, I'm not seeing any basis in fact for the above comments/memes about Russell's defects as a politician – seems to be a paucity of commentary to that that effect, which really make me wonder.
Really, you can't judge by majorities in safe seats – the opposition frequently puts up less-than-stellar candidates – since there's no chance of winning. And particularly not in 2020, due to the Jacinda bounce.
A better indicator is the difference between their electorate vote and the party vote – which is around 1K for Russell (virtually identical margin in 2017 & 2020). It was notably better for David Cunliffe – the previous MP – throughout the entire time he held the seat. Which says to me that she's not particularly personally popular in the seat.
It's difficult to find other Labour politicians in safe seats, who don't also have a high national (and therefore local) profile – it's not realistic to compare her to Ardern, Robertson, or Woods.
Having heard Russell in person, and in the debating chamber, she doesn't come across to me as a warm, relatable character.
Now, YMMV – and you are entitled to your own opinion (as am I).
Having looked her up on the parliamentary website, it turns out that she is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Revenue – who knew? – so is (apparently) part of Parker's team. And, clearly didn't see the political implications of the bill, any more than he did. Which doesn't argue for someone well in touch with political realities (as opposed to financial theory)
No. You named Edmonds as a potential revenue minister. I said I knew nothing about her (she's Wellington, I'm Auckland), but her CV looked impressive.
I'm assuming that you have more knowledge than I do.
And, what evidence can you provide – apart from 'popularity' in a safe Labour seat – and I've demonstrated that the stats show she's not particularly popular, even there – that Russell is a popularly relatable figure. I used Kiri Allen as a benchmark.
And, what evidence can you provide – apart from 'popularity' in a safe Labour seat – and I've demonstrated that the stats show she's not particularly popular, even there – that Russell is a popularly relatable figure.
I can imagine why Russell's popularity relative to Kiri Allan might be your benchmark – thank goodness they're on the same team.
Despite Russell's multiple perceived political handicaps (an "ivory tower intellectual" who lacks "popular appeal" and doesn't come across as a warm, relatable character "well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis"), in 2020 she was re-elected as MP for New Lynn with a 13,134 majority, the largest in the history of the seat – well done that woman.
No. You named Edmonds as a potential revenue minister.
Belladonna, like you (@5.3.2.1.2.1), I had next to no idea about Edmonds (a new MP) – perhaps you are confused.
Nope. Not confused. You named her as a potential revenue minister – in your original comment.
"Nonsense. MPs like Barbara Edmonds and Deborah Russell are tax experts, more than qualified to be Revenue Minister."
I assumed that you had more knowledge of her than a cursory glance at her CV. As we all know from the Sharma drama – a CV doesn't necessarily reflect political ability.
"in 2020 she was re-elected as MP for New Lynn with a 13,134 majority, the largest in the history of the seat – well done that woman."
Hope you're prepared to eat your words when she plunges – as she inevitably will – in 2023.
I note you haven't engaged with the points I made about safe Labour seats, and the difference between personal and party vote, being significantly reduced in comparison to the previous New Lynn MP.
Continuing to re-state that a healthy majority in a safe seat makes an MP ‘popular’ fails to convince.
Continuing to re-state that a healthy majority in a safe seat makes an MP ‘popular’ fails to convince.
Not suggesting that Russell was/is a popular MP; my ‘engagement’ consists of suggesting that Russell is not an unpopular MP, all the more remarkable given that some choose to characterise her as an “ivory tower intellectual” who lacks “popular appeal” and doesn’t come across as a warm, relatable character “well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis“,
Nope. Not confused. You named her as a potential revenue minister – in your original comment.
You may have to eat your words Belladonna – unless of course you can provide a relevant quote to substantiate your assertion.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
– Russell
Those Labour tax experts have only been delegated IRD makework projects and taking near nothing off Parker's load. Parker's failure to properly delegate is as dog-in-a-manger.
I agree that this Government appears to have lost its course, but not (yet) its (social democratic) compass and/or captain. We need all hands on deck, working together, not shouting at each other and blaming the captain for steering into a shit storm.
As I point out below, evaluating your successes and failures is the basic of leadership. You often confuse criticism with disloyalty and it makes for really bad writing.
The question Labour as the government is: what do you focus on now to improve? They have far fewer options than one might think.
Thanks, Ad. I really appreciate your honest and constructive criticism of my bad writing, which is one reason why I’ve stopped writing Posts here (the other main ones being time & energy).
However, you’re way off the mark with your comment about conflating criticism and disloyalty. Personally, the two are inextricably linked in that I cannot be loyal if I cannot criticise – anybody who is versed in being his/her own worst critic would know what I mean here.
Of course debt has increased, and of course you know why, and of course you know how it is forecast to track in future. But you have to play this game, where you constantly mistake being contrarian for being clever, It really isn't.
If you support major cuts in spending, say so. Then join ACT.
Certainly removed the operating balance fast from 16.1 billion yr end 21 to a forecast 27.76 b deficit in 22, those rainbows and butterflies are very unsustainable.There is a good reason why the south pacific peso has depreciated 6% in the last month,one being finger pointing by investors.
Headline unemployment and interest rates are still good here, sheltered by Australia. With the June figure so flat, the 15 September GDP announcement better be good.
Our 10 year yield on the secondary market is over 4% (worse then italy ) which shows currency risk,and increasing yields are a measure of fewer buyers.
Unemployment is low everywhere,its a good measure of the constraint on travel,and emigration from constrained economies.Australia has a property and construction crash (fewer permits in July) along with double figure electricity and gas increases (which have not showed up in the data) Iron ore prices have collapsed (as have most intensive conversion production centres both across Europe and China shut down.
There are a few chickens starting to arise now,with transports say treasury in the budget update flagged the increase in RUC and fuel levy in next budget to repay the 2.4b loan due in April 24,since then there is an obvious problem.
24-25 there are significant refinancing (debt roll over ) at higher rates,blowouts on capital imports due to $ going south etc.
National has brought us here before. A vote for Labour is a vote for Kim Dotcom. Iwi/Kiwi. Dancing Cossacks. It was disgraceful then. It’s disgraceful now.
Joyce just set out clear Cabinet paper decisionmaking processes, so I pointed out that Joyce has the credibility to state that. No angle.
The harder question to answer now is:
In what policy field can Labour make a plan convincing enough to turn its current car-crash around?
The policy fields Labour have politically ruined are:
health, tertiary education, tax, debt management, violent crime, local government, water, electricity, housing, banking, poverty alleviation, transport, broadcasting, public information access, firefighting, and democratic strength.
They remain strong in: foreign policy, disaster management, social security, and employment.
Much of that balance is in poor political management, some in legislative design, the rest is simple inexperience and failure to execute. All well-forecast problems in 2017.
The climate crisis is going to hit us much sooner and much harder than we are prepared for. A more ascetic lifestyle, which also reduces pressure on conventional housing will offend only property speculators and slumlords (who would not vote Labour on a bet).
Labour should have been building for the lower income quartile all along.
Interesting opinion. Key (8+ years as PM) removed Worth, whereas Ardern (<5 years as PM) has dismissed Curran and Lees-Galloway. Others fell (or were pushed) on their swords, albeit temporarily.
Worth's conduct "[did] not befit a minister and I [Key] will not have him in my Cabinet'' [June 2009]
Smith resigned from all his Cabinet portfolios on 21 March 2012…
On 1 May 2014, he [Williamson] resigned his ministerial portfolios after making what the Prime Minister, John Key, called, "A serious error of judgement."
Key said Collins had been 'unwise' and placed on her second final warning.
…
On 30 August 2014 Collins resigned her Cabinet positions following the leak of another e-mail written by Slater in 2011.
On 24 August 2018, Prime Minister Ardern dismissed Curran from the Cabinet…
On 30 August 2018, Whaitiri had to "stand aside" from her ministerial portfolios…
Ardern accepted his resignation, stating that she "accepted Clark's conclusion that his presence in the role was creating an unhelpful distraction from the Government's ongoing response to Covid-19 and wider health reforms." [July 2020]
On 22 July 2020 Lees-Galloway was dismissed from his immigration, workplace relations and ACC ministerial portfolios by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after admitting an inappropriate but consensual relationship with a person working in one of his agencies.
Let's remember the gst changes proposed were actually a good idea, where foreign owned banks had to pay 225 million dollars a year to the government and which should have come out of their profits and not charged to their customers. So Parker thought people would favourable to the change. The media, including RNZ's Checkpoint (WTF) portrayed the reforms as a wealth tax or a tax on Kiwisaver which was wrong, shallow and pathetic. The standard of journalism on RNZ's Checkpoint is atrocious. FACTS AND BALANCE are often missing.
Tipler argues the voting age should be lowered from 18: that would have an impact on government and council decisions that most affect young people, such as the availability of good public transport, or addressing climate emissions.
Now, a Government review has reached the same conclusion.
What are you talking about? Current law allows children as young as 10 being charged in court:
No child should ever appear in an adult court and should never be sentenced to life imprisonment, youth justice experts say.
In a paper released last week they are calling for four urgent law changes to remove children aged between 10 and 17 from being dealt with in the adult court completely.
They also want to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility and remove the ability for children to be remanded into police cells.
How do we currently test voters intellectual and moral maturity other than to have lived past their 18th birthday? I know plenty older that fail to exhibit this maturity, and they’re in the Parliament! Under such thinking surely those who are of age but do not vote should have it revoked henceforth, for not exhibiting the requisite maturity?
Universal suffrage means just that, and encouraging youth involvement and engagement with politics by lowering the age to 16 is social good. They will only have one election to vote in while they are below 18 anyway, after that they’re intellectually and morally mature right?
Very good point, the line is arbitrary. I think the reasoning behind 16 is because the education of registering and engaging with the process could be part of the year 11 curriculum, the last year of schooling that is mandatory.
I can't see the problem with teaching it in the last year of school and then them voting at 18. Unless they're intending to register students while still at school.
Not every student continues High School after Year 11, they'll miss out on learning an important civic process. Apparently the social studies class is elective past year 10 and how teachers approach the curriculum is left up to individual educators more than other subjects. If schools are to teach the next generations what is needed for our society then surely civics should be a mandatory topic.
It's not necessarily a problem, other than that it may be against the Bill of Rights. In the Newsroom article Dr Bronwyn Wood, Senior Lecturer at the School of Education at VIC says:
"One of the strongest arguments I have for why youth should vote is that they inherit the policies and their consequences formed by adults for a much longer time than the adults themselves. So Brexit was strongly opposed by the younger generation but the older generation got what they wanted – which seems quite unfair.
On the other hand, though, she says youth are poorly set up to understand the nuances of political party positions at 16. "Arguably many adults still don't understand these either – but in the meantime many youth don't want, or feel confident, to vote at 16. Any campaign to lower voting age therefore needs to have a package of educational support."
A mandatory education program accompanying any change seems to be common across those making the recommendation.
The inheriting policies argument takes us back to why 16 and not 14. Or 5 (I asked about the rationale on twitter once and someone I respect said they think all children should have the right to vote 😳)
Yeah that's not a sensible argument and not one I'd support.
I guess an idea why 16 could be that it is the next age threshold below 18, that society already uses for a variety of rights, it's not 14 because that seems a lot younger to society. All these thresholds aren't static, as we've seen with alcohol purchasing laws, it takes society to think it makes sense, and I think the argument that 16 is too immature to vote is not particularly strong. But we shall see what happens.
It has better rational arguments then bottom trawling for voters here and abroad (the latter being those with nz residents living abroad) if you cannot attract more the 1 in 12 voters with your policies,maybe the wisdom of the masses holds.
Yemen’s former Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, who said that French Foreign Legion, a French military force comprising of foreign nationals, has arrived in Yemen’s Shabwah province to secure control of the Balhaf gas facility.
…
In July, Paris and Abu Dhabi signed an energy cooperation deal for the joint production of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
According to reports from earlier in the year, the energy cooperation between the two countries is aimed at securing control over Yemeni gas resources through the Balhaf facility, which is owned by French multinational oil and gas company TotalEnergies SE.
The G7 also placed a cap on Russian oil (the nordstream event was likely a reaction as the maintenance was timed for the meeting) as Europe controls 90% of the insurance,a no sail requirement is now in place.
It is almost too depressing to report but Heather Stupidity-Allen yesterday came out with two unhinged clangers:
‘All mask wearers are merely signalling their support for Jacinda Ardern.’ I don't know about you but I wear a mask so I reduce the chances of catching a virus. I'm a freelance contractor and mask wearing in contact situations helps keep me and my family safe and food on the table. Perhaps the hundreds of millions of asian people who practice mask-wearing are also left wing conspirators?
‘Rather a VFF/Anti-vaxxer for council than a Green.’ This is something she said which 1ZB has actually used as a promo for her show. Her argument, and clearly NZME’s argument is the Green candidate is actively and ideologically for destroying the economy and would do more damage than an anti-science, white-supremacist.
I get that Stupidity-Allen has to say dumb shit to appeal to her audience of racists and crystal-clutchers in order to keep her job, but it must hurt bad when she reflects at the end of each day on the monumental garbage just spouted.
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias[2] whereby people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of a task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge. Some researchers also include in their definition the opposite effect for high performers: their tendency to underestimate their skills.
With some of the highest covid case rates in the world back in March and then again in July, think how bad it would have been if we weren't wearing masks!
Which is not as silly as it sounds, large savings to be made by replacement of more efficient appliances b4 winter.
It is extremely silly.
How is it not silly to spend £20 on a kettle to save £10 in the first winter, a winter of 250% increases in energy prices? You are immediately £20 worse off and still £10 worse off a year after purchase.
More than that, it is out of touch in the face of household energy bills rising by hundreds of pounds in the coming winter. He is rightly being ridiculed for it.
Hi Muttonbird. Concerning stuff!..but what would the tory's care? Their rich voters…safe and insulated (literally) …and the poor/stupid who also vote for them…will blame "Greenies"
Note the second link re Spain. (I realise Spain is EU…but reckon UK will be same…and tory directed hate on Greenies)
UK energy bills to rise by 80% in October as regulator announces hike
In the current system the EU wholesale electricity price is set by the last power plant needed to meet overall demand. Gas plants often set that price, which countries including Spain have said is unfair because it means cheap renewable energy is sold at the same price as costlier fossil fuel-based power.
Looking at the opex not the capex,where a more efficient appliance will reduce costs,which is similar to demand destruction,if you start replacing inefficient appliances on a large scale,it equates to a generator very quickly.
I mentioned Boris's 'get a new kettle' idea on my Sunday morning walk to some men of scientific bent. They laughed, saying kettles boil water at the same rate converting electricity into heated water. More powerful kettles use more power but for a lessee time. Slower kettles use less power for a longer time. I googled it.
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 ...
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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. ...
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These people…are not rational. And support/supported by people who are Definitely dangerous. Counterspin….Alp, white supremacist Arps etc etc.
Good the journalists asking them questions. Revealing for sure. !
I like that you are putting up topics of interest most days. Can you please make sure your copy and pastes aren't so long as today? It makes it harder for people on a phone, and we prefer copypasta to be supporting arguments and commentary rather than being the main thing. Not an absolute, but something to be aware of. Thanks.
Oh allgood. Looking at it afterwards ..Todays was maybe long. Re Interest…at times I wonder WHO is interested. (and I am def not a One Interest person , So thanks : )
it's tricky in the FB/twitter age with no like button, but often people read without commenting 👍
Interesting post thank you from a digitally challenged 80 year old.
Thankyou and Wow Patricia. I would never have known. You have my Respect, and for your always active Leftness : ) (and I..dont give that lightly ! )
Keep True : )
I find your comments very interesting to read and give thought to Patricia, for which I thank you. Digitally challenged or not, you always get your message across concisely.
I am deaf so alternative media such as TS and other (left leaning) sites with contributors such as yourself, give me a lot of pleasure, as well as keeping my 76 year old brain exercised hee hee.
Take good care.
Thank you, likewise. PLA and Mary_a
Stuff is doing great work highlighting the odd ones running for councils.
Hi Stephen D. Odd. Thats a bit of an understatement…. But yea Stuff has been doing good coverage. Keep watching !
I couldn’t think of another adjective, without being offensive.
Indeed matey…and thanks for being interested. Too many possibly apathetic ..and that maybe will allow these characters to ?
the mind boggles
Peoples' Choice (in Christchurch, I don't know how widespread they are through the rest of NZ) is Labour aligned, and seems a safe bet.
Committing to making Christchurch a world leading environmental city
Securing an affordable Mass Rapid Transit system for Christchurch
Hi Tony V . well they sure tick some boxes here ! thanks for that Input : )
Thanks for that info Tony (2.1.2), I shall keep it in mind for election time.
It seems quite a few fruit nuts are weedling their oddball way into local body politics at present. Unsettling to say the least. Even worse, there are those who will vote for them!
Peoples Choice please…..so much better than this ChCh Mayoral candidate Carl Bromley. Complete Scumbag. Please read.
It should be concerning to anyone that a major media org is running a concerted smear campaign against candidates putting themselves up for democratic election.
Never thought I would see it in new zealand, but here we are.
Yes, the "smear campaign" against Labour/Greens, including the latest outright lies, is disturbing.
However making the real views of candidates, like VFF, who are deliberately trying to hide them, clear, is a public service to Democracy.
This is local government we're talking about, Green candidates are often supported by large media, and the outside influence on them is ignored? case in point: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/456020/ex-green-chief-of-staff-tory-whanau-to-run-for-wellington-s-mayoralty
While on the other hand freedom candidates are demonised. The double standard is obvious.
But not a smear campaign, as you have now tacitly acknowledged.
If a statement about any of these candidates is false, let us know. Otherwise, your accusation is the smear.
Publishing their actual views, is "demonising"?
Maui any group who wants to "Make NZ ungovernable" should be examined for their beliefs and who they support. No smear there at all.
Before a full investigation is launched, did anyone apart from the media actually use the words "Make NZ ungovernable"? Or are we just going along with whatever the sensational headline was, with little to no context around what was being said.
Maui Voices for Freedom asked their 100 000 members to do that.
[deleted]
[You’ll need to address your unresolved moderation first before you can come back here and pick up where you left – Incognito]
Mod note
Remind me …what am I in moderation for again?
[deleted]
[There have been a few Mod notes for you, none of which you responded to in a way that could close it off so that you could continue commenting freely here. Every time you choose to ignore, deflect, and obfuscate. You’re wasting moderator time. Since you asked, here’s the most recent Mod note in the trail that led you into Pre-Mod where you still are until we can resolve this or until you end up in the Black List for a while to save us all more time: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18-08-2022/#comment-1906481 – Incognito]
Mod note
The thing about "a concerted smear campaign" is its meaning- "2. damage the reputation of (someone) by false accusations; slander."
The opposite to that is hopefully what the media do in a democracy. Are these candidates being slandered, i.e. having false and damaging statements made about them)?
If they are, they have remedies in law and via the Press Council.
I'm not an expert on smear campaigns Mac, but this seems to fit the bill. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-body-elections/129677583/antimandate-doctor-running-for-wellington-city-council
A doctor for 30+ years with her own charity, one might draw the conclusion from that, that she is therefore respected in the community and cares a lot for people and their health.
But the media ignores anything positive, and paints the picture of someone angry, into conspiracies, with far right views.
Stuff is simply seeking to crush alternative media competition.
Only a small and old minority now get their news from msm sites, so they know they are losing.
This may not be a democratic renewal for the old left, but renewal it is.
And Trump can say he has been a businessman for 50 years and even had a charitable foundation – but I am confident that he is absolutely
"the picture of someone angry, into conspiracies, with far right views."
They aren't mutually exclusive
I read the article. What was written seems fair journalism.
As for the question as to whether good people can go down rabbit holes- I've seen it happen with people I know.
Indeed, I once gave a lift in a car to a pleasant, courteous hitch-hiker who laughed at my pleasantries and called me sir. He seemed to be a good man- in a hurry, but a good man.
I found him in the paper next day as to why he was in a hurry- to get back to the Picton anti-mandate demonstration. He is now standing for a school board in Christchurch. He attended the recent protest in Christchurch whee the reporter in the Press described his actions in trying to destroy a counter-demonstration placard, and directing racist and homophobic insults at them.
A good man, though, seemingly………
An associate of ?
Not according to Bromley.
“When asked about Philip Arps, Bromley described him as "a man who has a story" but did not consider him someone he knew well or a close friend."
Not quite sure of the meaning here? Do you maybe think your hitcher was…. Arps !? (that would be a worry to have found out ! )
My Link was purely to show…the connectivity between all those within. Associates. Whether Mr Bromley does not consider him as such (maybe ..) Notwithstanding, he still Friends white supremacists Kyle Chapman…and Lee Williams.
Whose beliefs/actions are known.
I know he was Arps. It wasn't a worry but I found the two faces of the man interesting. That one seeks 'freedom' within the ranks of the far -right is also an interesting view of freedom.
The article you cited gives enough of Bromley's conservative views and opinions, especially the last paragraph. We have a member of VFF up here standing for counsel and her views were elaborated at length by a reporter. She wrote to the paper trying to dispute the paper's version of her views but the Editor stuck by the reporter saying the original account was sound.
Mac 1, And was Arps ! Well thats good that you were not worried. And yea the 2 Faces. Psychopaths often present as that. (On that, there was a prison officer used to comment here …and found him quiet and no trouble. All very situational of course ! )
And yes re the Journalists. Some fantastic Investigative Reporters. On that… I can never understand the vitriol directed at MSM in general. The Rightwing think its all Lefty and Socialist…. and of course the Leftwing think its right biased and conservative. ."Some" are…but laughable really.
Anyway keep looking. And being Active : )
Wow! She cannot be bad or wrong, can she? It isn’t binary, B & W, but being selective often originates in and perpetuates binary attitudes and thinking and bias, of course.
When people start using ‘their’ charities as political platform they should be de-registered as charities, as has happened with Family First NZ – it doesn’t mean that they have done ‘bad’ things and nothing ‘good’, but it means that they no longer meet the requirements and responsibilities of a charitable organisation.
"When people start using ‘their’ charities as political platform they should be de-registered as charities".
Does that apply to the "Charity" that is the Helen Clark Foundation? I cannot see anything about it that makes it a charity rather than a political platform. Some of what they produce is interesting but it certainly isn't related to charitable purposes.
It is, none the less, on the Charities Register.
Still wasting precious time with silly biased questions, I see. To me, you’re becoming more and more of a diversion troll every time you comment here and make that sound of an old yappy snappy dog barking at birds & butterflies buzzing around that that tiny little head of yours.
There’s your answer.
Have a nice day.
Oh dear. What a beautiful example of circular reasoning you offer.
I tried it on Family First NZ. It is apparently impossible to remove them as a charity by your reasoning.
I want to remove them from the Charities Register.
But you can't remove them. They are a charity. The proof is that they are on the Charities Register and are therefore a charity and cannot be removed.
Put them back. Their removal was wrong.
Bzzzz …
Private charities and being a Dr can never override the possibility that we may elect an angry person who is into conspiracies and with far right views onto our local body. Why would we need to have such people around, except to keep an eye on them so we can stop them fomenting evil with wild and wacky ideas? I'd rather the SIS or similar did that rather than the people of Wellington having to do this.
We just want our potholes dealt to and our city competently managed. We don't need a 'side' of making the place ungovernable* which is apparently in their riding instructions.
** I'm sorry I'll read that again…apparently the word is not ungovernable it is 'resilient' – yeah right.
It's not a smear if it's true.
Re candidates for councils
Would it be useful to a post the an additive list of candidates with 'odd' views as they are discovered?
Great idea.
In the analysis I would like a ranking for all candidates as to their adherence to neo-liberal, market driven politics.
The 'race to the bottom', cheapest tender wins the contract is causing everyday damage to our communities.
Those ones usually out themselves.
Claims that they will "cut rates, while providing more efficient services" are a dead giveaway.
It ain't the Actoids I am worried about.
It's the reasonable, moderate sounding ones that still want to sub-contract everything rather than build local capability and resilience.
completely agree.
We could have a thread where all of the investigations can be collected so we get to know all the weirdos. Even if we can't vote everywhere many of us have friends and relatives who might be interested…though mine are probably already sleuthing.
https://policy.nz/2022
This link does that. Enter your address to get your area.
Stuff coverage on Tasman District Candidates with 'odd' views:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/129640451/former-principal-and-current-councillor-among-seven-tasman-candidates-with-links-to-conspiracies-and-disinformation
I link with trepidation – since this is an opinion piece by Joyce – and therefore shines his own National Party focus on the recent Kiwi-Saver legislative u-turn.
However, I did think that it contained useful information on the mechanics of the legislative process before a bill is introduced – especially over the duty of officials to highlight potential sore points (stakeholders who are impacted) – in the Regulatory Impact Statement.
This was info that I didn't have about the review process which goes into legislation before it is introduced into the House – and thought it was worth sharing.
Joyce's opinions about why this failed in this instance ('fail' being defined as the legislation being reversed 24 hours later, due to popular outcry) – are, as always, slanted by his political perceptions – consume at your own risk.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/steven-joyce-what-kiwisaver-stuff-up-says-about-the-state-of-the-government/JEJMRAWHAFVIG74P2QBR5YUQE4/?c_id=3&objectid=12549390&ref=rss
It's paywalled, thank goodness…I have had quite enough of “rons” Joyce.
This is the first time I hear it mentioned here, and AFAIK so far only one commenter (that would be me) has linked to one of the items covered in the RIS package. It beggars belief that nobody seems to have bothered to read the technical reasoning for the Bill as introduced in Parliament and it shows that the storm of protest had nothing to do with reason or evidence, for that matter.
https://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/publications/2022/2022-ris-perm-bill
Point 69, in the RIS under the Managed Funds section is the one which should have had political antennae twitching. Not as a reason not to do it (if it was determined to be the best outcome), but that political management and control of the message would be needed.
Sorry, didn't realize it was paywalled…
Relevent quote
I think it’s safe to say that this wasn’t your typical run-of-the-mill paper, it was a highly technical (aren’t all things related to Tax highly technical?) omnibus bill.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_125954/taxation-annual-rates-for-2022-23-platform-economy-and
It never even made it to its First Reading!
Yes, I freely admit that the technicalities and financial implications of the various options are well over my head (luckily no one is about to appoint me Revenue Minister [joke])
However, the impact on KS investors (and therefore political implications) was clearly signalled
"resulting in reduced returns for savers and consequently reduce the future balances in KiwiSaver"
That's the bit which needed political management and a clearly articulated message.
At worst, it was a political misjudgement. Government seems easily rattled and spooked and they are not prepared to die in a ditch when someone screams ‘guppy attack!’. Sadly, though, the preferred option (by IRD) will never receive the due consideration and democratic debate it rightly deserved; it was judged, sentenced, and executed in and by the kangaroo court of public outcry where facts and reason are stopped at the door. It is so typical of National’s MO of political opposition, which is no different from their MO when in government.
Key would have fired Parker by now.
Labour could certainly do with the risk aerials of Joyce right now.
He's the guy who made MBIE, broadband fibre rollout, and Crown Infrastructure Partners. All three the biggest and longest lasting reforms of their day.
"Key would have fired Parker by now." – Yes but Ardern does not have the luxury of a deep talent pool. In fact, isn't Parker one of their most experienced ministers, and one of the few Labour ministers with actual real world experience outside of politics.
Agree.
Nonsense. MPs like Barbara Edmonds and Deborah Russell are tax experts, more than qualified to be Revenue Minister.
The "talent pool" jibe is a favourite attack line from the Right, and doesn't stand up to any serious analysis. National's "talent pool" delivered Bridges, Muller, Collins and Luxon – they all had CVs, only the talent was lacking.
Deborah Russell may have the financial and tax expertise, but comes across as just as much of an ivory tower intellectual as Parker.
I admit that I hadn't heard of Barbara Edmonds until now (local Wellington MP & I'm up in Auckland). Her CV looks impressive, and I'd certainly like to see more of her in Government. Given that she's in the fairly safe Labour seat of Mana – Labour should be actively fostering her parliamentary career.
She's currently Junior Whip (which is fairly impressive for someone who was only elected in 2020) – but appears not to be on any select committees (or, at least, I couldn't see any).
She'd be a perfect junior partner for Parker in his Revenue Ministry – both with the technical knowledge and as someone who looks as though she has both feet firmly on the ground, politically speaking.
Maybe it’s only me, but "ivory tower intellectual" jibes come across as just lazy. Anti-intellectualism is alive and well in Aotearoa – where’s it taking us?
The point I'm trying to make is that she doesn't come across as well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis.
Nor does Parker.
Geeks may be valuable (and essential) to any business-delivery process, but you don't put them out front to sell the product (Steve Jobs aside).
You can rail at anti-intellectualism (and I may well agree with you) – but your and my opinions aren't relevant, when it comes to selling policy to the vast majority of NZers.
Russell was elected MP for New Lynn in 2017 (2,825 majority), and re-elected in 2020 with a "vast majority" of 13,134. If (as you posit @3:21 pm) "she doesn't come across as well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis", then presumably either "ordinary Kiwis" don't have much electoral clout in the New Lynn electorate, or they're not bothered that Russell (in your words) "doesn't come across… [etc.]"
"Sell the product" and "Selling policy" is intriguing (business?) framing – one would have thought that "tax cuts" would be an easy sell, but maybe not all tax cuts. She's a hard road finding the perfect tax cut policy. Still, no hurry eh?
Anti-intellectuals – never around when you need them
Someone around here and there must have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
It is not a matter of the comms response per se but of controlling the narrative. An omnibus tax bill makes it difficult but then usually it was understood or a convention that you did not include potentially 'controversial' matters in the tax washing up bill or other omnibus or washing up bills.
So someone right down at IRD level has not actually really turned their mind to the implications of a malevolent view being taken. This has gone right through all the levels including the legislation cabinet committee right up to and through the House sub committees (Whips & the like) where egg spplatering stuff is usually able to be weeded out.
It has the feel of tiredness and over reliance on checks & balances.
I disagree. IRD went through the appropriate consultation process:
https://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/-/media/project/ir/tp/publications/2022/2022-ria-perm-bill/2022-ria-3-gst-managed-funds.pdf?modified=20220828034214 [finalised 25 May 2022]
As stated by Government, support suddenly evaporated, presumably because they got rattled after National decided to wage a campaign of fear. The big players – after all, we are still a FIRE economy – were never really in favour, obviously. Fairness considerations went out of the window.
If you're going to argue that you need to have popular appeal to get elected into a safe Labour seat – then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
New Lynn has been staunch Labour since before the days of Jonathan Hunt (i.e before I was born).
Surely you can see the difference in popular appeal between Russell and Kiri Allen, for example.
That's not to say that they don't both add value to the Government – but that they have very different talents.
You can sneer at 'selling' all you please. But all Governments know they have to sell policies to the electorate. And, have to do a better sales job than the opposition, come election time.
One of the greatest of challenges to democracy, is that the skill-set required to get elected, has little to do with the skill-set required to govern.
@Incognito.
Yes you are quite correct. It did go out for consultation.
Perhaps the step about 'what would be the most malevolent or hostile connotation we can think of and let's build the answer to that in our publications' was missed.
In one workplace (Health sector) we always had fun grilling our CEO before public policy announcements and before public meetings finding these off the wall and wrong interpretations and questioning him on them. That admittedly is the big picture but you soon get into the habit of looking for them in everything…..
Belladonna (@5:35 pm) – indeed we will just have to agree to disagree, as not too many Labour MPs increased their electoral majority by more than 10,000 votes in the 2020 general election. Think Chris Hipkins (an engaging, high-profile MP – hope you will agree) was the only one.
Imho, the "vast increase" in electorate votes for Russell suggests that your image of her (or at least your assumptions regarding the image of her that is prevalent amongst voters) as an "ivory tower intellectual" who isn't "well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis" isn't realistic.
Tbh, I'm not seeing any basis in fact for the above comments/memes about Russell's defects as a politician – seems to be a paucity of commentary to that that effect, which really make me wonder.
Really, you can't judge by majorities in safe seats – the opposition frequently puts up less-than-stellar candidates – since there's no chance of winning. And particularly not in 2020, due to the Jacinda bounce.
A better indicator is the difference between their electorate vote and the party vote – which is around 1K for Russell (virtually identical margin in 2017 & 2020). It was notably better for David Cunliffe – the previous MP – throughout the entire time he held the seat. Which says to me that she's not particularly personally popular in the seat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Lynn_(New_Zealand_electorate)#2020_election
It's difficult to find other Labour politicians in safe seats, who don't also have a high national (and therefore local) profile – it's not realistic to compare her to Ardern, Robertson, or Woods.
Having heard Russell in person, and in the debating chamber, she doesn't come across to me as a warm, relatable character.
Now, YMMV – and you are entitled to your own opinion (as am I).
Having looked her up on the parliamentary website, it turns out that she is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Revenue – who knew? – so is (apparently) part of Parker's team. And, clearly didn't see the political implications of the bill, any more than he did. Which doesn't argue for someone well in touch with political realities (as opposed to financial theory)
So, what about Barbara Edmonds, then?
Thanks for your evaluation Belladonna, believe it or not I do now understand that to you, Russell:
and is comparatively lacking in
Comes across to me as a well-intentioned hit job, tbh, apart from "geek."
Can you elaborate – does Edmonds also come across to you as someone lacking a warm, relatable character?
No. You named Edmonds as a potential revenue minister. I said I knew nothing about her (she's Wellington, I'm Auckland), but her CV looked impressive.
I'm assuming that you have more knowledge than I do.
And, what evidence can you provide – apart from 'popularity' in a safe Labour seat – and I've demonstrated that the stats show she's not particularly popular, even there – that Russell is a popularly relatable figure. I used Kiri Allen as a benchmark.
I can imagine why Russell's popularity relative to Kiri Allan might be your benchmark – thank goodness they're on the same team.
Despite Russell's multiple perceived political handicaps (an "ivory tower intellectual" who lacks "popular appeal" and doesn't come across as a warm, relatable character "well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis"), in 2020 she was re-elected as MP for New Lynn with a 13,134 majority, the largest in the history of the seat – well done that woman.
Belladonna, like you (@5.3.2.1.2.1), I had next to no idea about Edmonds (a new MP) – perhaps you are confused.
Nope. Not confused. You named her as a potential revenue minister – in your original comment.
"Nonsense. MPs like Barbara Edmonds and Deborah Russell are tax experts, more than qualified to be Revenue Minister."
I assumed that you had more knowledge of her than a cursory glance at her CV. As we all know from the Sharma drama – a CV doesn't necessarily reflect political ability.
"in 2020 she was re-elected as MP for New Lynn with a 13,134 majority, the largest in the history of the seat – well done that woman."
Hope you're prepared to eat your words when she plunges – as she inevitably will – in 2023.
I note you haven't engaged with the points I made about safe Labour seats, and the difference between personal and party vote, being significantly reduced in comparison to the previous New Lynn MP.
Continuing to re-state that a healthy majority in a safe seat makes an MP ‘popular’ fails to convince.
Not suggesting that Russell was/is a popular MP; my ‘engagement’ consists of suggesting that Russell is not an unpopular MP, all the more remarkable given that some choose to characterise her as an “ivory tower intellectual” who lacks “popular appeal” and doesn’t come across as a warm, relatable character “well-connected to the concerns of ordinary Kiwis“,
You may have to eat your words Belladonna – unless of course you can provide a relevant quote to substantiate your assertion.
I just gave you the quote.
Here it is again
Thank you; I did read the quote you gave me. Can you please do me the courtesy of reading who wrote it?
Apologies – you had engaged so consistently on this issue – I'd conflated you with the original poster.
We'll leave it at the fact that neither of us knows anything about Barbara Edmonds, apart from her CV.
Those Labour tax experts have only been delegated IRD makework projects and taking near nothing off Parker's load. Parker's failure to properly delegate is as dog-in-a-manger.
Is Joyce still looking for his $11,000,000,000 hole?
NZ net Crown debt is $127 billion and rising in billions weekly, heading from 15-20% of GDP to 50% of GDP.
Ardern is digging a hole for us 10 times larger than anything Joyce forecast.
With a few more global pandemics and a few more foreign invasions of sovereign nations you could be right, but otherwise not so much.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/crown-accounts-reflect-government%E2%80%99s-balanced-fiscal-management
Every small state government faces headwinds.
Only a few hold course.
I agree that this Government appears to have lost its course, but not (yet) its (social democratic) compass and/or captain. We need all hands on deck, working together, not shouting at each other and blaming the captain for steering into a shit storm.
As I point out below, evaluating your successes and failures is the basic of leadership. You often confuse criticism with disloyalty and it makes for really bad writing.
The question Labour as the government is: what do you focus on now to improve? They have far fewer options than one might think.
Thanks, Ad. I really appreciate your honest and constructive criticism of my bad writing, which is one reason why I’ve stopped writing Posts here (the other main ones being time & energy).
However, you’re way off the mark with your comment about conflating criticism and disloyalty. Personally, the two are inextricably linked in that I cannot be loyal if I cannot criticise – anybody who is versed in being his/her own worst critic would know what I mean here.
Have a nice day.
The weather may deliver us a curve ball of comparable proportions.
This is evidently the warmest & wettest NZ winter on record.
When we reach summer, if it is in any way comparable to Europe's it is going to kill a good few businesses.
You can count on Mother Nature being unpredictable …
You aversion to truth would make Joyce proud.
Of course debt has increased, and of course you know why, and of course you know how it is forecast to track in future. But you have to play this game, where you constantly mistake being contrarian for being clever, It really isn't.
If you support major cuts in spending, say so. Then join ACT.
Any Labour tax policy would be great right now.
Certainly removed the operating balance fast from 16.1 billion yr end 21 to a forecast 27.76 b deficit in 22, those rainbows and butterflies are very unsustainable.There is a good reason why the south pacific peso has depreciated 6% in the last month,one being finger pointing by investors.
Headline unemployment and interest rates are still good here, sheltered by Australia. With the June figure so flat, the 15 September GDP announcement better be good.
Our 10 year yield on the secondary market is over 4% (worse then italy ) which shows currency risk,and increasing yields are a measure of fewer buyers.
Unemployment is low everywhere,its a good measure of the constraint on travel,and emigration from constrained economies.Australia has a property and construction crash (fewer permits in July) along with double figure electricity and gas increases (which have not showed up in the data) Iron ore prices have collapsed (as have most intensive conversion production centres both across Europe and China shut down.
There are a few chickens starting to arise now,with transports say treasury in the budget update flagged the increase in RUC and fuel levy in next budget to repay the 2.4b loan due in April 24,since then there is an obvious problem.
24-25 there are significant refinancing (debt roll over ) at higher rates,blowouts on capital imports due to $ going south etc.
It's at the non-brain end of brain-stem.
The only thing Joyce got wrong in the end was that he underestimated.
wtf ? ! Who else couda/woulda Key have "fired" from.. national? And didnt…
And now…apart from continually bagging Jacinda Ardern ..youre praising up Steven …Joyce ?
I really dont know what angle you are running here …..
When you spin, the angle changes all the time, from left to right, from up to down, and round and round it goes.
Yes and as the RW is constantly vomiting garbage and filth while they spin you end up with a hell of a mess all over the place.
Joyce just set out clear Cabinet paper decisionmaking processes, so I pointed out that Joyce has the credibility to state that. No angle.
The harder question to answer now is:
In what policy field can Labour make a plan convincing enough to turn its current car-crash around?
The policy fields Labour have politically ruined are:
health, tertiary education, tax, debt management, violent crime, local government, water, electricity, housing, banking, poverty alleviation, transport, broadcasting, public information access, firefighting, and democratic strength.
They remain strong in: foreign policy, disaster management, social security, and employment.
Much of that balance is in poor political management, some in legislative design, the rest is simple inexperience and failure to execute. All well-forecast problems in 2017.
But they still have a year to run.
What should they do now?
Sort out the bollocks around tiny houses.
The climate crisis is going to hit us much sooner and much harder than we are prepared for. A more ascetic lifestyle, which also reduces pressure on conventional housing will offend only property speculators and slumlords (who would not vote Labour on a bet).
Labour should have been building for the lower income quartile all along.
Interesting opinion. Key (8+ years as PM) removed Worth, whereas Ardern (<5 years as PM) has dismissed Curran and Lees-Galloway. Others fell (or were pushed) on their swords, albeit temporarily.
Let's remember the gst changes proposed were actually a good idea, where foreign owned banks had to pay 225 million dollars a year to the government and which should have come out of their profits and not charged to their customers. So Parker thought people would favourable to the change. The media, including RNZ's Checkpoint (WTF) portrayed the reforms as a wealth tax or a tax on Kiwisaver which was wrong, shallow and pathetic. The standard of journalism on RNZ's Checkpoint is atrocious. FACTS AND BALANCE are often missing.
Couldawouldashoulda doesn't work.
The question for Ardern is what specifically does she do to turn this around, enough to have a shot at 2023?
Interesting reforms there Ad.
Going line by line' through MBIE's expenditures is quite ..telling.
How much was pumped into Chorus by the Govt to keep it afloat?
Crown Infrastructure Partners…does that work where Crown carries the risk?Usually it does.
Good news!
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/lower-voting-age-and-longer-terms-for-local-councils-govt-review
Make it 16 petition here
https://twitter.com/NZGreens/status/1565525824081575936
Thats great now they can face their full responsibilities as adults in court.
What are you talking about? Current law allows children as young as 10 being charged in court:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/126848630/law-change-wanted-to-prevent-children-ending-up-in-adult-courts
Thats indictable offences,presently the ram raiders ,car lifters etc appear in youth court.
And according to youth justice experts that just where they should be appearing.
What more would you like to see 'achieved' by the use of the adult court system regarding this criminal menace?
So they are not mature intellectually or morally to appear as an adult in court,but they can vote fucken hilarious.
How do we currently test voters intellectual and moral maturity other than to have lived past their 18th birthday? I know plenty older that fail to exhibit this maturity, and they’re in the Parliament! Under such thinking surely those who are of age but do not vote should have it revoked henceforth, for not exhibiting the requisite maturity?
Universal suffrage means just that, and encouraging youth involvement and engagement with politics by lowering the age to 16 is social good. They will only have one election to vote in while they are below 18 anyway, after that they’re intellectually and morally mature right?
if the issue is maturity, why 16 and not 15? Or 14? or 12?
Very good point, the line is arbitrary. I think the reasoning behind 16 is because the education of registering and engaging with the process could be part of the year 11 curriculum, the last year of schooling that is mandatory.
do they teach those things already?
I'm not certain. From a cursory look online the beginning of educating around of the NZ political process begins around year 10 / level 6.
I can't see the problem with teaching it in the last year of school and then them voting at 18. Unless they're intending to register students while still at school.
Not every student continues High School after Year 11, they'll miss out on learning an important civic process. Apparently the social studies class is elective past year 10 and how teachers approach the curriculum is left up to individual educators more than other subjects. If schools are to teach the next generations what is needed for our society then surely civics should be a mandatory topic.
I quite agree. One of my main objections to lowering the age at this time is the lack of civics education.
Let's say it's made compulsory in the last two mandatory years of school. Then they still can't vote until 18. How is that a problem?
It's not necessarily a problem, other than that it may be against the Bill of Rights. In the Newsroom article Dr Bronwyn Wood, Senior Lecturer at the School of Education at VIC says:
A mandatory education program accompanying any change seems to be common across those making the recommendation.
The inheriting policies argument takes us back to why 16 and not 14. Or 5 (I asked about the rationale on twitter once and someone I respect said they think all children should have the right to vote 😳)
Yeah that's not a sensible argument and not one I'd support.
I guess an idea why 16 could be that it is the next age threshold below 18, that society already uses for a variety of rights, it's not 14 because that seems a lot younger to society. All these thresholds aren't static, as we've seen with alcohol purchasing laws, it takes society to think it makes sense, and I think the argument that 16 is too immature to vote is not particularly strong. But we shall see what happens.
Regarding what is possible at different age thresholds, this is informative: https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00001126
Why not 25 that is when the Brain is fully developed.
is that a serious suggestion?
It has better rational arguments then bottom trawling for voters here and abroad (the latter being those with nz residents living abroad) if you cannot attract more the 1 in 12 voters with your policies,maybe the wisdom of the masses holds.
fuck sake, it's like pulling teeth trying to get people to state their position clearly.
Asking if 16 y.o's can exercise good judgement….whatabout the 'Ufindell effect'?
Well in that particular example the lack of good judgement by all involved, seems to extend to the present day!
So here's the energy crash course for Europe: Russia has now permanently shut down NordStream.
Nord Stream 1: Gazprom announces indefinite shutdown of pipeline | Gazprom | The Guardian
How will 'leader' v 'fast follower' v 'petrostate to the South play out now?
And will it be enough of an effect to stabilise its climate shock?
Search for alternatives perhaps?
https://thecradle.co/Article/news/14486
The G7 also placed a cap on Russian oil (the nordstream event was likely a reaction as the maintenance was timed for the meeting) as Europe controls 90% of the insurance,a no sail requirement is now in place.
https://twitter.com/AsstSecEcon/status/1565738230154231808?cxt=HHwWgIC8uf2nz7orAAAA
It excludes Oil to Japan from its Sakhalin field.
Nordstream2 is available ,a more modern ..option!
It is almost too depressing to report but Heather Stupidity-Allen yesterday came out with two unhinged clangers:
I get that Stupidity-Allen has to say dumb shit to appeal to her audience of racists and crystal-clutchers in order to keep her job, but it must hurt bad when she reflects at the end of each day on the monumental garbage just spouted.
If you want to vote to spite HDPA here's a tool for finding your local government candidates with the Greens endorsement or alternatively a list.
Well said, but too generous (imho.)
P.S. Thanks for the Green candidate links arkie – worked well for my local.
Link?
It was just me yesterday listening in the car while I was heading to Sylvia Park Pak'nSave.
The first was when she was interviewing her own husband, you know the one, while pretending he was an independent commenter.
The second as I said was a promo run to drive further traffic to her show, although I do not like to think about what sort of traffic that is!
Ta
Driving the car is quiet time for me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Problem is HADP is not low ability, expertise, or experience. She is working to a specific agenda and steadily heading down the rabbit hole.
With some of the highest covid case rates in the world back in March and then again in July, think how bad it would have been if we weren't wearing masks!
France announces that the 32 nuclear reactors idled for maintenance and parts,will be operating by winter,decreasing some generation risk in Eurozone.
https://twitter.com/quakes99/status/1565697494373527553
Boris Johnston outlines one of the UK policy response to the energy shortage.
https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1565327392868106249?cxt=HHwWkoC8kY2-lLkrAAAA
Which is not as silly as it sounds,large savings to be made by replacement of more efficient appliances b4 winter.
It is extremely silly.
How is it not silly to spend £20 on a kettle to save £10 in the first winter, a winter of 250% increases in energy prices? You are immediately £20 worse off and still £10 worse off a year after purchase.
More than that, it is out of touch in the face of household energy bills rising by hundreds of pounds in the coming winter. He is rightly being ridiculed for it.
Hi Muttonbird. Concerning stuff!..but what would the tory's care? Their rich voters…safe and insulated (literally) …and the poor/stupid who also vote for them…will blame "Greenies"
Note the second link re Spain. (I realise Spain is EU…but reckon UK will be same…and tory directed hate on Greenies)
Looking at the opex not the capex,where a more efficient appliance will reduce costs,which is similar to demand destruction,if you start replacing inefficient appliances on a large scale,it equates to a generator very quickly.
https://www.eeca.govt.nz/regulations/equipment-energy-efficiency/about-the-e3-programme/efficient-appliance-calculator/
I mentioned Boris's 'get a new kettle' idea on my Sunday morning walk to some men of scientific bent. They laughed, saying kettles boil water at the same rate converting electricity into heated water. More powerful kettles use more power but for a lessee time. Slower kettles use less power for a longer time. I googled it.
http://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/boiling-kettle-costs/
The article states, "How can I reduce the cost of my kettle?
There is no such thing as an energy efficient kettle, meaning the only way to save money on your kettle is to adjust your habits."
The article has charts for all sorts of kettles.