John Westgate, the defence lawyer mentioned in the article is a barrister based in Dunedin but who appears to also do cases in Christchurch, Invercargill, Queenstown etc.
Here are a few links to cases he has defended. They include the Queenstown Tindall assault case, the driver who crashed into the Hubbard’s car, and other assault cases.
Thats true, but taking into account the Dunedin hasn’t had a high court for most of the last three to four years, QT is no surprise since many end up there,more and better business.
I have just re-read the Stuff article and note that Westgate is mentioned as the man’s solicitor, while Jonathan Eaton QC is described as the Barrister in the case and was the one to seek the Chch High Court injunction against the SST naming the man or the Cabinet Minister.
That’s a high-powered legal team – not to mention expensive.
Thanks, weka. Didn’t check it, but an interesting read. Eaton’s (and Westgate’s) case histories suggest that this is possibly going to be a big case, and not one that will remain at DC level.
Surely a cabinet minster would only need to stand down if s/he was involved with the crime, the investigation or had ministerial responsibility for children, justice or police?
Yes ianmac, during Question Time. Paula Bennett made a reference to Carmel’s situation at the time of her mother’s guilty verdict. Someone will surely remember what she actually said – I can’t. I do remember the Labour members responding in disgust to Bennett’s vindictive comment.
Surprise, surprise… I don’t think she was called to “withdraw and apologise” but I may be wrong.
Anne .. I remember that too. Have just searched Hansard for Feb 25, but can’t find anything. Are you remembering it was AFTER the actual conviction then ? I can search again …
I can’t remember rawshark-yeshe. I think it must have been after the guilty plea because she would have been treading a fine legal line had she commented beforehand.
I do remember something happened in response to Madam B’s spite because she stood up and claimed she had only been responding to Sepuloni’s provocation. In other words she was suggesting Carmel started it. That was bullshit. All Carmel did was robustly question her about a social issue which was what she is supposed to do as Paula’s opposite number. Bennett was the one who introduced the personal aspect into the debating chamber.
IIRC, it was actually the press that informed Sepuloni that her mother was being brought up on charges and they were informed by the minister before Sepuloni was informed at all. It was a nasty Nat attack on Sepuloni via the MSM who had assumed that Sepuloni had already been informed.
Also note that the author of that piece can’t keep the story straight from one end to the other:
Earlier this year, Labour spokeswoman Carmel Sepuloni stepped aside while her mother was before the courts on benefit fraud charges.
Earlier this year Carmel Sepuloni was stood down from her social development spokeswoman role after her mother was charged with several counts of benefit fraud.
botox even ? maybe he got some from crusher who really does need to stop abusing it. dear crusher’s eyebrows are so very arched she has a look of permanent surprise built in .. must be disconcerting for those close to her.
not attacking but commenting on what is a dangerous habit for some. and the weirdest thing is the other facial muscles take over the work of the botox paralysed ones, and develop quite unexpectedly which leads to a great distortion over time and faces can change quite badly.
Under normal circumstances, assuming his areas of responsibility create a conflict, there are a range of options as listed below (1.3.1.1.1). The interesting aspect of this is that any public action will immediately narrow the field – how many brothers can a cabinet minister have, after all.
National’s initial response – stonewalling – doesn’t bode well for their eventual decision. I expect the correct response would have been – “yes I’m standing down and if you report that you’ll breach a suppression order.”
I expect they’ll do precisely nothing. It’s not that this one appears to be the sharpest tool in the ministerial shed so goodness knows why they think they’ll be missing something. If someone was going to step aside/been asked to step aside it would have been done already
“how many brothers can a cabinet minister have, after all.”
I dunno, one or more of them have quite big families
I think, really, if a PM can go around dodging the law for his own openly admitted and socially condoned misdeeds, then the degree of seperation between siblings of MP’s is irrelevent, not in the public interest, and not even news. If people only get worked-up because of the type of crime, but otherwise believe the law applies only when it’s convenient, then it’s not a matter of law, or principle.
Carmel stepping down was a complete idiocy. Hard to be an effective opposition when your own values are so puritanical you fire yourself for things that your opponent can’t comprehend. Especially so, if most of your electorate think the same way as your opponent, secretly, and do the same everyday. The outraged noise people make has no relation to their actual personal values. The end may not justify the means, but who said a politician had to continue with less-than-pure means past the short term end of actually winning?
I agree she shouldn’t of stood down and neither should the nat mp unless he’s linked somehow. No one should be held back because of the sins of there ralitives.
taking no action;
enquiring as to whether all affected parties will consent to the member’s or official’s involvement;
seeking a formal exemption to allow participation (if such a legal power applies);
imposing additional oversight or review over the official;
withdrawing from discussing or voting on a particular item of business at a meeting;
exclusion from a committee or working group dealing with the issue;
re-assigning certain tasks or duties to another person;
agreement or direction not to do something;
withholding certain confidential information, or placing restrictions on access to information;
transferring the official (temporarily or permanently) to another position or project;
relinquishing the private interest; or
resignation or dismissal from one or other position or entity.
Dealing with COIs is commonplace in industrial and academic circles. Not sure how you justify ignoring them in politics.
“I agree she shouldn’t of stood down and neither should the nat mp unless he’s linked somehow. No one should be held back because of the sins of there ralitives.”
It’s not about being responsible for the sins, it’s about conflict of interest.
If, for example, it were the Minister of Police who’s brother were facing charges, there would be a clear conflict of interest for the minister.
If it were Minister of Replacing Lightbulbs in John Key’s office (or whatever the fuck it is they’ve got Paula doing these days) then there probably wouldn’t be much of a conflict.
Perceived conflict of interest.
Sepuloni standing down for the duration removed any possibility of a conflict, or of an innocent question being mistaken as interference.
Minister of Replacing Lightbulbs. Totally succinct comment. As the Nats are full of 1930’s vintage, single carbon filament, low wattage types, it would be easy to say that describes them all.
Note how Stuff put
“Carmel Sepuloni was stood down” but at the time
“We have agreed she will step aside” was what Andrew Little said after he appears to have been told very promply by Carmel.
So it looks like Carmel had a part in the stand down and accepted it as a responsibilty for her not some thing imposed on her by the boss.
Stuffs comment kinda implies otherwise. It’s a small thing I know but.. Mischief making. Not that any Nact ever seems to vountarily fall on their sword
Sepuloni wasn’t fired. She returned as soon as the conflict of interest was no longer an issue.
It’s a perfectly acceptable way of dealing with such conflicts of interest when they arise. Your cynicism notwithstanding, many people understand that they are toxic because they lead to poor decisions being made.
I agree that the National Party has plumbed new depths of corruption and denial in this regard. Even in their ranks there’s disquiet over it.
IIRC Sepuloni did not cease to be a politician and MP. From one of the links in comment 1.2.1.3:
”Carmel Sepuloni will remain on the front bench and as the party’s junior whip.”
Sepuloni did not know anything till it became public knowledge and quick action on the same day was aimed to deal with possible spill-over and public perception.
As it turned out, it was a temporary measure as Sepuloni’s mother pleaded guilty the next day so it was not going to be a long drawn-out legal affair, etc.
IMO, it was the best action under the circumstances and has left no real ammunition for others to attack Sepuloni, Little, or the Labour Party with. So, at the end of the day (…), ‘the end did justify the means’.
I think Carmel Sepuloni standing down was the best thing overall, because of her responsibility for welfare. A police minister, for example, should be required to stand down if a member of their family is charged with any criminal offence.
NAct people seem to have a real problem keeping things consensual and legal, don’t they? I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll see a British type of scandal down here.
English has at least one brother, Smith has four, Brownlee was hatched from a goose’s egg, Woodhouse is the fifth of nine children.
Don’t know of any other male Cabinet Ministers from the South Island except John Key and he is so obviously an only child it’s not even worth looking up.
One of the above would have a very serious conflict of interest due to the nature of their portfolio.
In their infinite wisdom the WordPress designers decided to change the defaults. They have apparently missed some out. It is possible to revert. Can’t be bothered…
According to the article, the actual case is scheduled for a District Court hearing (location not specified) – but the interim injunction on naming was issued by a Christchurch High Court judge, presumably pending the DC hearing considering a submission for name suppression.
Key is not an only child. He has two older sisters here in NZ. He also has two much older half-brothers in the UK. IIRC English has at least two brothers.
“The problem here is that they have to step down, as per Carmel Sepuloni, and stepping down will breach name suppression.
Convenient, eh.”
Two ways to look at that. One is that if there were a conflict of interest the Minister would have stepped down by now for personal or family reasons, but since there isn’t, they haven’t. The other is that it’s National, and why would they do the right thing unless they were forced to?
or all the four cabinet ministers that fit the criteria could stand down, Key could reshuffle the lot and we would be none the wiser on the specifics. Well no further ahead than now
Likely. As I have no idea who it is, So to conform to the reported suppression, I will just limit people saying explicitly which minister it is.
I also note that there has been nothing reported about the alleged victims seeking suppression.
Mind you, after the questions on how Carmel’s mothers name got into media, I am only inclined to follow the letter of suppression orders when it comes to the politically associated.
If it is good enough for Paula Bennett to play games with the courts and relatives, then I can’t be bothered fighting dirty politics with my hands tied….
He refers repeatedly to the “advice” he’s received, but (as he made plain on HardTalk) he views the purpose of “advice” as being to endorse the decision he wants, rather than a genuinely impartial and expert opinion of what should be done; and
if “there is no conflict of interest”, then surely there is no “issue” than “can be managed”.
ha ha excellent idea Philip. I would like “The Craven-Spineless Wharf”
I’d like to know why 5 councilors failed to turn up to that crucial wharf vote?
And wasn’t a judicial review of the non-notified wharf resource consent contemplated by opponents? Sounds like a role for “givealittle” here to fund this.
Sounds good medicine in the present housing climate. And then reduce the number of immigrants. We need to sop behaving like Mr Cresote taking more on all the time. Is there a medical doctor in the House that can administer it plus laxative to those sitting with minds and ends bound up and stultified?
I am not happy about the many ordinary people who might have their lives ruined when the bubble bursts. I have seen the disruption it causes in good people’s lives as they try and adjust to financial difficulties and their drop in the pecking order when they have been working hard, bettering themselves and doing all the right things.
I have a close friend with a daughter who has FASD, and the disability is heartbreaking and permanent.
After years of reading and researching this condition in an effort to provide support, I despair when I read reassurances by experts in newspaper articles that moderate or light drinking is fine. (An obvious problem with this is that people’s ideas of moderate or light vary greatly).
That is also the recommendation I was receiving while I was pregnant.
Knowing now the damage that can be caused, only abstinence is the reassurance most mothers would need to avoid this syndrome.
Pity governments do not listen to the public and experts on the matter.
NZLC R114 Alcohol In Our Lives: Curbing the Harm
‘Key policy recommendations include:
_ the introduction of a new Alcohol Harm Reduction Act;
_ raising the price of alcohol by an average of 10% through excise tax increases;
_ regulating irresponsible promotions that encourage the excessive consumption, or purchase, of alcohol;
_ returning the minimum purchase age for alcohol to 20;
_ strengthening the rights and responsibilities of parents for the supply of alcohol to minors;
_ introducing national maximum closing hours for both on and off-licences; ( 4am and 10pm respectively )
_ increasing the ability of local people to influence how and where alcohol is sold in their communities;
_ increasing personal responsibility for unacceptable or harmful behaviours induced by alcohol, including a civil cost recovery regime for those picked up by the police when grossly intoxicated;
_ moving over time to regulate alcohol advertising and sponsorship.
For those concerned Aucklanders who want to ‘stand up and be counted’ against Mayor Len Brown’s , (in my view) treacherous sellout – supporting the Ports of Auckland ‘compromise’ in extending one wharf?
PROTEST!
WHEN: Today – Sunday : May 2015
TIME: 11am
WHERE: Quay Street
What is happening here, in my view, is a disgrace.
Where’s the fire? What’s the rush?
The legality of the (non-notified) resource consents upon which these wharf extensions are based, as I understand it,, are still before the Court.
The idea that the wharf extension work can go ahead – then be ‘deconstructed’ at a later date, if found in Court to be illegal, is simply madness, in my view.
It is not just multi-national shipping companies or overseas cruise ship companies that have an interest in the Ports of Auckland and how that land is developed, or harbour ‘reclaimed’.
Why on earth would you charge ahead with wharf extension work, before full, proper, comprehensive, consultation and consideration of the issues involved?
Whose interests are being served in this unseemly and ill-considered rush?
Follow the dollar?
What do concerned citizens need to do to STOP extension work on the wharves?
Physically occupy them?
What a disaster this corporate-controlled Auckland ‘Supercity’ (for the 1%) has been for the majority of citizens and ratepayers!
Somebody should maybe apply for a “stop-work” directive now while the court decides whether the wharf consents should have been publicly notified.
Given the completely bleedin’ obvious public interest in this matter I would have thought that the court action to have the wharf consent publicly notified has a high chance of success. In fact by backing down on one wharf POAL have already considerably weakened their case.
I don’t think POAL can argue that this work is in any way urgent.
What a delightful idea of Jonathan Milne (Editorial in Stuff) to name John Key “Father of the Year”. I’m sure every child would be thrilled to have a father who has sexually harassed a young woman and, thereby, made himself an international laughing stock!
That’s a bit hard, perhaps – as adults we make our own decisions for our own reasons and we don’t always do things the way our parents would like us to. Interesting that she feels the need to explore that subject, though, as she has perhaps received some negative or disempowering messages about women in her upbringing.
ah …. now I see what you mean! (at first I was confused as to the kind of skid marks you were meaning). my judgment was obviously clouded when I first read your comment @PU – Mediawatch in the background where the name Hosking was getting a run
Sums things up fairly well really.
What’s really sad is that such a huge proportion of the population has become so disengaged, so utterly disinterested and completely dumbed down they’re unable to see the bleeding obvious when it jumps up and bites them in the bum.
My biggest hope that any new government will recognise just how huge the media’s role in all of this has been and they commit to a PSB system.
I saw that dick Jamie White on the panel afterwards praising prat English and how debt really was not a problem. Funny that I thought, wasn’t the vast amount of debt left by Muldoon, that fucking Douglas, you know Douglas who founded the Act party, used as an excuse to pillage the country’s infrastructure to sell off to every known spiv to mankind.
Jamie Whyte’s thinking about the end game. Running up debt is not serious for us, our descendants will take care of it. Selling off the education system will make billions and save billions … and hospitals … and anything else.
Congratulations, it’s a royal! So what’s the new sprog going to be called?
I’m told Prince Philip is keen on naming the newbie Nigella Faragia, but according to the betting sites I’ve consulted the most popular options are Borisina at 6/2, Cameronella 8/2, and the favourite, Dame Margaret Hilda Thatcher Windsor, at 7/4.
I have second hand anecdotal word that serco prisons are far more violent than state ones ,contraband is more freely available ,prisoners spend more time locked down due to lower staff numbers. But the menus better.
I’ve just been reading John Cleese’s bio. He has been Labour, SDP and ha views on the Liberal Democrats, and was for proportional representation.
Of the present. Talking to Der Spiegel in 2015, Cleese took a critical position on how the things were in the world. He told he had reached a point when he “saw that our existence here is absolutely hopeless. I see the rich people have got a stranglehold on us. If somebody had said that to me when I was 20, I would have regarded him as a left-wing loony.”[51] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese
“Three deadly road accidents in one week, involving expensive cars driven by super-rich young Iranians, have dominated the past week’s news in Iran – especially after the country’s supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, used a meeting with police chiefs to criticise fast-driving, wealthy youngsters. Khamenei said: “I hear that young people from the generation of wealth, a generation intoxicated by their money, are driving luxury cars and parading in the streets, making the streets insecure. . . This is an example of psychological insecurity.”1
“The cars involved in these accidents were Porsches, Ferraris and Maseratis driven by sons and daughters of ayatollahs or their cronies. . .”
I’m sick of Trophy Hunters trying to excuse their grim sport by saying they provide a service. They exploit the needs of the poor. They pay lots of money to go and shoot a magnificent animal because the authorities need the cash, and then claim they are doing a good deed.
If they really wanted to do a good deed they would donate the money, and NOT shoot the animal. They would be heroes then. As opposed to murdering scum.
This unnecessary killing is one of horrible effects of the ‘market’ where everything is for sale.
Ornish goes to argue that protein and saturated fat increase the risk of mortality and chronic disease. As evidence for these causal claims, he cites a handful of observational studies. He should know better. These types of studies—which might report that people who eat a lot of animal protein tend to develop higher rates of disease—“only look at association, not causation,” explains Christopher Gardner, a nutrition scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. They should not be used to make claims about cause and effect; doing so is considered by nutrition scientists to be “inappropriate” and “misleading.” The reason: People who eat a lot of animal protein often make other lifestyle choices that increase their disease risk, and although researchers try to make statistical adjustments to control for these “confounding variables,” as they’re called, it’s a very imperfect science. Other large observational studies have found that diets high in fat and protein are not associated with disease and may even protect against it. The point is, it’s possible to cherry-pick observational studies to support almost any nutritional argument.
We have to eat and a good, healthy diet with a variety of fresh foods (including meat) seems to be the best option. And that makes animals killed for food a necessary killing.
I won’t bother replying to you after this as, quite frankly, the argument’s just not worth the time.
I see little is now polling lower than cunliff and shearer, peters has taken over as opposition, greens and labour relationship dysfunctional, national on 49pc, all trending well for 2017
Why Key 49%? It has just occurred to me, late, that we are no longer looking at politicians as servants of the country and the people, we are looking at them from a point of view of them appearing in a reality show. Key is the most amusing, fluent and attention-grabbing on offer. He could be replaced by, is it, Paul Henry if he can keep his ratings up. Understanding the reality of reality shows for life is the answer I think.
Collins will roll key next year then she will become the next Shipley kicked out at the next election to spend the rest of her life putting her snout in one trough after the other.
And it’s a win for Mayweather, unanimous on points.
All 3 judges in favour of Mayweather.
116-112×2 & 118-110 all judges for FM
Floyd “We did what we had to do tonight… I’m a calculated fighter and he’s a tough fighter.”
Pacquiao says “I thought I won the fight, he didn’t do nothing.”
Snippets from news items. [I am sure you WANT to know this!]
As Mayweather put it: “Tickets are going for between $8,000 and $400,000 to $500,000. You know, we call this the billionaire boys’ club.”
Plenty have stumped up big bucks to be there, with Tony Buzbee, an attorney who paid $74,000 for a pair of 12th-row seats, telling CNN: “It’s going to be a once in a lifetime type of fight, and I’m going to be there just for the event of it all.
Pacquiao fan Mark Sarmiento, paid $7,500 to be there,
Here’s a look at the numbers behind the boxers:
60:40 — revenue split in favor of Mayweather.
$300-400m — the estimated total revenue for the May 2 bout.
38 — Mayweather’s age; two years older than his opponent.
5 — The number of years it took to strike a deal between the two boxers.
$1.5m — How much Pacquiao’s shorts alone will be worth after six companies bid for sponsorship space.
$25,000 — The value of the mouth guard adorned with diamonds and gold Mayweather will wear on fight night.
$1,500 — starting price for tickets in U.S. dollars.
8 — Pacquiao is the first and only eight-division world champion with 10 world titles to his name.
1 — Mayweather’s ranking on last year’s Forbes highest-paid athletes list.
$105m — The amount “Money” earned last year.
$180,000 — The price ringside tickets had skyrocketed to by April 27 (5 days before the fight.)
16,800 — Capacity at the MGM Grand Garden arena where the fight will take place.
5 — The number of boxers Pacquiao and Mayweather have both fought. The “famous five”: Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto.
$100 — The fee pay-per-view subscribers will shell out to watch the fight, which will be aired jointly on Showtime and HBO.
$300m — Expected pay-per-view buys with the most sales coming from U.S., Puerto Rican and Canadian markets, according to Repucom.
$5.6m — The winning bid for official fight sponsorship by Tecate beer.
57 — The number of wins throughout Pacquiao’s career. Mayweather has less at 47 wins, but…
0 — Mayweather remains undefeated in his fight career (Pacquiao, on the other hand, has suffered 5 losses.)
.@FloydMayweather got hanged a check for $100 million tonight. "There's nothing you can buy anymore." #MayPac— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 3, 2015
I miss my boxing but refuse to pay sky for 50 channels of shit so I can get pay per view. Look forward to the day I can buy only what I want to view.
For all I know mayweather is the right full winner It just brings me down when the guy with the white hat loses.
Cheers for the stats.
Just when you start thinking things couldn’t get weirder .
If Collins isn’t gunning for key I’ll eat my hat, imagine if that photo was taken in keys house!!!
Collins is on an upwards march and she won’t stop till she sits at the top of the pile. Curious to know who is the spin merchant she has hired to do her PR. Hooton would know which one of his ilk has a clean enough record to do the job?
On the bright side between the stuff and tv3 articles I’ve seen in the last day I’ve only seen one pro Collins comment from the I reckon crowd and that was from a rwnj .
“”The advice I’ve received is that there is no conflict of interest and the issue can be managed. People appreciate that Cabinet ministers, like anyone else, have family but I’m quite confident the position can be managed.”
The server had an error with its mail system yesterday. One of its virtual drives dropped out due to windows server munting its structure.
Last night while restarting the system after fixing that, it uncovered a InnoDB database index error. Maybe from the power plug problem earlier in the week.
It’d work most of the time, but the database that The Standard runs on would abruptly crash while reading comments (or just counting them for posts). The safety system would restart the database, and then it’d do the same thing a few minutes later. Damn irritating getting slow pages and the odd message about the database not being available.
After a bit of pain trying several ways of fixing that, I extracted the database using a kludge to bypass the errors and rebuilt the database from scratch.
No comments appear to have been lost, just some sleep and probably some words of wisdom from offshore.
I now suspect that the database error has been there a while. All of a sudden the database backups got faster and quieter, the way they were last month when I made them nice.
“One of its virtual drives dropped out due to windows server munting its structure.
Yep. I understand that sentence, I think. As for the rest – I’m pleased you’re there to sort it. Thanks so very much. Sorry about your destroyed sleep,
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Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
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 ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
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How many cabinet ministers have brothers?
The problem here is that they have to step down, as per Carmel Sepuloni, and stepping down will breach name suppression.
Convenient, eh.
There is a lot of detail in that article.
Stuff weren’t very discreet.
there’s a lot of rumours here in dunedin.
According to the article, the High Court was Christchurch
yeah but not the mp
Lawyer Dn based.
John Westgate, the defence lawyer mentioned in the article is a barrister based in Dunedin but who appears to also do cases in Christchurch, Invercargill, Queenstown etc.
Here are a few links to cases he has defended. They include the Queenstown Tindall assault case, the driver who crashed into the Hubbard’s car, and other assault cases.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11289574
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11140534
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11133195
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11126359
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=10896693
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=10888317
Thats true, but taking into account the Dunedin hasn’t had a high court for most of the last three to four years, QT is no surprise since many end up there,more and better business.
Aah??? Dunedin still has a High Court, with resident, not circuit, judges.
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/courts/dunedin
I have just re-read the Stuff article and note that Westgate is mentioned as the man’s solicitor, while Jonathan Eaton QC is described as the Barrister in the case and was the one to seek the Chch High Court injunction against the SST naming the man or the Cabinet Minister.
That’s a high-powered legal team – not to mention expensive.
Here is some info on Eaton (who is Chch based) and the cases he has defended.
http://www.bridgesidechambers.co.nz/jonathan-eaton/
The link to his CV (PDF) makes interesting reading.
This article is also very interesting (including the pictures). Eaton defended Graham Capill in more ways than one ….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/…/Unlucky-suit-no-bar-to-becoming-QC
strange, that link didn’t work. Here is is again,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8715562/Unlucky-suit-no-bar-to-becoming-QC
Thanks, weka. Didn’t check it, but an interesting read. Eaton’s (and Westgate’s) case histories suggest that this is possibly going to be a big case, and not one that will remain at DC level.
Surely a cabinet minster would only need to stand down if s/he was involved with the crime, the investigation or had ministerial responsibility for children, justice or police?
Trying to remember if National made any nasty remarks at Carmel at that time?
i don’t recall any..
I guess the Nats were silent about Sepuloni in anticipation of their own imminent court case, not for the decency or the goodness of their heart.
I seem to remember it was the Nats who ‘exposed’ Carmel Sepuloni ?? I recall being very angry at them … maybe it’s just my natural state these days. 🙁
This story from TV3News has Andrew Little stating clearly that Carmel had no knowledge “of the ordeal’
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/carmel-sepulonis-mother-due-in-court-2015022605#axzz3Z1E0H7Ij
It always had the stench of dirty politics to me.
And here .. TVOne News claiming to be first to discover the story … ( “Hello Corin — Jason here” and all that). It still stinks.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/labour-welfare-spokesperson-stood-down-mother-faces-benefit-fraud-charges-6242031
Yes ianmac, during Question Time. Paula Bennett made a reference to Carmel’s situation at the time of her mother’s guilty verdict. Someone will surely remember what she actually said – I can’t. I do remember the Labour members responding in disgust to Bennett’s vindictive comment.
Surprise, surprise… I don’t think she was called to “withdraw and apologise” but I may be wrong.
Anne .. I remember that too. Have just searched Hansard for Feb 25, but can’t find anything. Are you remembering it was AFTER the actual conviction then ? I can search again …
I can’t remember rawshark-yeshe. I think it must have been after the guilty plea because she would have been treading a fine legal line had she commented beforehand.
I do remember something happened in response to Madam B’s spite because she stood up and claimed she had only been responding to Sepuloni’s provocation. In other words she was suggesting Carmel started it. That was bullshit. All Carmel did was robustly question her about a social issue which was what she is supposed to do as Paula’s opposite number. Bennett was the one who introduced the personal aspect into the debating chamber.
Must have been after Carmel was returned to her spot.
which seems to be March 5 2015 but the house did not sit again til March 10 .. can’t find it, but I know it’s there !
IIRC, it was actually the press that informed Sepuloni that her mother was being brought up on charges and they were informed by the minister before Sepuloni was informed at all. It was a nasty Nat attack on Sepuloni via the MSM who had assumed that Sepuloni had already been informed.
Also note that the author of that piece can’t keep the story straight from one end to the other:
Same fucken article, two different meanings.
indeed. but we are trying to find Bennett’s attack on her in the house …
I could be remembering it wrong and the attack was what started the whole rigmarole in the first place.
The article makes clear it’s a ‘he’.
He can’t stand down because doing so would breach name suppression. He has to stand down under the circumstances you’ve outlayed.
Is the National Party capable of negotiating this ethical minefield? Of course not. What will their self-interest dictate?
Where does it refer to the gender of the minister?
This sentence in the Stuff article:
The minister did not respond yesterday to questions about whether he would stand down while the case was before the court.
Ah thanks. Well that narrows it down considerably.
might also explain why one Hon from down there has had a perpetual misery face for the last few months.
I think he looks like he was frozen while emotionally transitioning between abject misery and outrageous smugness.
Must be Lumberwhare then, mind you his frozen rictus never changes much.
lol felix.
botox even ? maybe he got some from crusher who really does need to stop abusing it. dear crusher’s eyebrows are so very arched she has a look of permanent surprise built in .. must be disconcerting for those close to her.
not attacking but commenting on what is a dangerous habit for some. and the weirdest thing is the other facial muscles take over the work of the botox paralysed ones, and develop quite unexpectedly which leads to a great distortion over time and faces can change quite badly.
Under normal circumstances, assuming his areas of responsibility create a conflict, there are a range of options as listed below (1.3.1.1.1). The interesting aspect of this is that any public action will immediately narrow the field – how many brothers can a cabinet minister have, after all.
National’s initial response – stonewalling – doesn’t bode well for their eventual decision. I expect the correct response would have been – “yes I’m standing down and if you report that you’ll breach a suppression order.”
That isn’t what happened though.
I expect they’ll do precisely nothing. It’s not that this one appears to be the sharpest tool in the ministerial shed so goodness knows why they think they’ll be missing something. If someone was going to step aside/been asked to step aside it would have been done already
“how many brothers can a cabinet minister have, after all.”
I dunno, one or more of them have quite big families
Bill English has 10 siblings, Woodhouse has 8 (according to the internets).
Woodhouse has 5 brothers.
http://michaelwoodhouse.co.nz/index.php?/archives/1-Maiden-Speech-to-the-House.html
I don’t think FJK even requires that, going by past events.
I think, really, if a PM can go around dodging the law for his own openly admitted and socially condoned misdeeds, then the degree of seperation between siblings of MP’s is irrelevent, not in the public interest, and not even news. If people only get worked-up because of the type of crime, but otherwise believe the law applies only when it’s convenient, then it’s not a matter of law, or principle.
Carmel stepping down was a complete idiocy. Hard to be an effective opposition when your own values are so puritanical you fire yourself for things that your opponent can’t comprehend. Especially so, if most of your electorate think the same way as your opponent, secretly, and do the same everyday. The outraged noise people make has no relation to their actual personal values. The end may not justify the means, but who said a politician had to continue with less-than-pure means past the short term end of actually winning?
i think with carmel her spokesperson- role was factored into her?/the decision to stand down..
tho’ i thought it was an over-reaction/wasn’t needed..
I agree she shouldn’t of stood down and neither should the nat mp unless he’s linked somehow. No one should be held back because of the sins of there ralitives.
There are a range of options:
Dealing with COIs is commonplace in industrial and academic circles. Not sure how you justify ignoring them in politics.
“I agree she shouldn’t of stood down and neither should the nat mp unless he’s linked somehow. No one should be held back because of the sins of there ralitives.”
It’s not about being responsible for the sins, it’s about conflict of interest.
If, for example, it were the Minister of Police who’s brother were facing charges, there would be a clear conflict of interest for the minister.
If it were Minister of Replacing Lightbulbs in John Key’s office (or whatever the fuck it is they’ve got Paula doing these days) then there probably wouldn’t be much of a conflict.
I would have thought minister of police or some such would have stepped aside when he knew his brother was facing charges.
That’s taking responsibility for the conflict of interest. Responsibility – something the NActs are big on, they say.
well yes, of course ! But these are the Nacts. Nothing decent to be expected in any direction.
Imagine the conflict for such a minister !
It’s not about being responsible for the sins, it’s about conflict of interest
Including blackmail
Such ‘preferences’ are unlikely to be those of ‘recent first timers’ and so direct family relationship becomes very relevant to the discussion
No doubt the lodges will be a hive of activity
Perceived conflict of interest.
Sepuloni standing down for the duration removed any possibility of a conflict, or of an innocent question being mistaken as interference.
Yes sorry, perceived conflicts and potential conflicts.
Seriously funny comment Felix. Minister of Replacing Lightbulbs. They’re all 1930’s vintage single filament incandescents!
Minister of Replacing Lightbulbs. Totally succinct comment. As the Nats are full of 1930’s vintage, single carbon filament, low wattage types, it would be easy to say that describes them all.
Sorry, I’m a double-posting dipstick from Dipton, sarc.
😀
Note how Stuff put
“Carmel Sepuloni was stood down” but at the time
“We have agreed she will step aside” was what Andrew Little said after he appears to have been told very promply by Carmel.
So it looks like Carmel had a part in the stand down and accepted it as a responsibilty for her not some thing imposed on her by the boss.
Stuffs comment kinda implies otherwise. It’s a small thing I know but.. Mischief making. Not that any Nact ever seems to vountarily fall on their sword
She did. She discussed it with Andrew and agreed that she should voluntarily stand down until the matter was resolved.
Except that as we all know, with the bias of the MSM the left have to be more cautious than ‘the right to rulers’
Except that as we all know, with the bias of the MSM the left have to be more cautious than ‘the right to rulers’
Sepuloni wasn’t fired. She returned as soon as the conflict of interest was no longer an issue.
It’s a perfectly acceptable way of dealing with such conflicts of interest when they arise. Your cynicism notwithstanding, many people understand that they are toxic because they lead to poor decisions being made.
I agree that the National Party has plumbed new depths of corruption and denial in this regard. Even in their ranks there’s disquiet over it.
IIRC Sepuloni did not cease to be a politician and MP. From one of the links in comment 1.2.1.3:
”Carmel Sepuloni will remain on the front bench and as the party’s junior whip.”
Sepuloni did not know anything till it became public knowledge and quick action on the same day was aimed to deal with possible spill-over and public perception.
As it turned out, it was a temporary measure as Sepuloni’s mother pleaded guilty the next day so it was not going to be a long drawn-out legal affair, etc.
IMO, it was the best action under the circumstances and has left no real ammunition for others to attack Sepuloni, Little, or the Labour Party with. So, at the end of the day (…), ‘the end did justify the means’.
Yeah, which is why the National Party now has an opportunity* to look corrupt and incompetent by comparison.
*which I’m sure they’ll seize with both feet.
I think Carmel Sepuloni standing down was the best thing overall, because of her responsibility for welfare. A police minister, for example, should be required to stand down if a member of their family is charged with any criminal offence.
NAct people seem to have a real problem keeping things consensual and legal, don’t they? I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll see a British type of scandal down here.
kinda think that would also apply to the chair of a law and order committee,
right ? Yeah? Nah.
At the end of the day FJK can actually find people who don’t think it should. Many of them are NAct MPs. That worries me.
English has at least one brother, Smith has four, Brownlee was hatched from a goose’s egg, Woodhouse is the fifth of nine children.
Don’t know of any other male Cabinet Ministers from the South Island except John Key and he is so obviously an only child it’s not even worth looking up.
One of the above would have a very serious conflict of interest due to the nature of their portfolio.
Indeed. and all the more reason to try and keep it very, very secret and suppressed.
old habit for Key by now .. he must have almost mastered it ?
Why the South Island Ministers?
The case is being heard in the Christchurch High Court, and the lawyer is from Dunedin?
which applies to the brother, not necessarily the Minister presumably, or am I missing something?
Not necessarily the Minister, but it does seem more likely, no?
Just seen the comments upthread about Dunedin 😉
I know you’re winking but it looks like you have something stuck in your eye 😀
Good morning felix,
Whats happened to the old smilies.?
👿
WordPress redesigned them and we got them in a recent upgrade.
In their infinite wisdom the WordPress designers decided to change the defaults. They have apparently missed some out. It is possible to revert. Can’t be bothered…
lprent .. I have a nice bottle of wine or some beersies for you if it helps with the bothering ? 🙂
+1 for rawshark. The new smilies suck.
Look what they’ve done to the roll-eyes one: 🙄 pathetic!
You look like you’ve got a very large wedge of grapefruit in your mouth.
I hate these fucking Smilies. Bloody wordpress designers, what were they thinking? Not about communication obviously.
Ta.. :green:
(Mr Green). who is eating grapefruit too.
According to the article, the actual case is scheduled for a District Court hearing (location not specified) – but the interim injunction on naming was issued by a Christchurch High Court judge, presumably pending the DC hearing considering a submission for name suppression.
Key is not an only child. He has two older sisters here in NZ. He also has two much older half-brothers in the UK. IIRC English has at least two brothers.
I assume he’s had them all hunted down and imprisoned.
LOL – no. They are all alive and free. Brownlee is the oldest of five children. From here – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=3535532
Key has two sisters – but is an only son
“The problem here is that they have to step down, as per Carmel Sepuloni, and stepping down will breach name suppression.
Convenient, eh.”
Two ways to look at that. One is that if there were a conflict of interest the Minister would have stepped down by now for personal or family reasons, but since there isn’t, they haven’t. The other is that it’s National, and why would they do the right thing unless they were forced to?
Would this fall into the ‘no surprises’ category?
I assume the Police Minister would have been informed. That’s Michael Woodhouse, a list MP from Dunedin.
From the sound of things, it looks like he would have been the first one to be informed.
He might have known for ages.
or all the four cabinet ministers that fit the criteria could stand down, Key could reshuffle the lot and we would be none the wiser on the specifics. Well no further ahead than now
The courts granted an injunction to prevent publication by the SST of the Minister’s name. Does that injunction apply to the public?
Likely. As I have no idea who it is, So to conform to the reported suppression, I will just limit people saying explicitly which minister it is.
I also note that there has been nothing reported about the alleged victims seeking suppression.
Mind you, after the questions on how Carmel’s mothers name got into media, I am only inclined to follow the letter of suppression orders when it comes to the politically associated.
If it is good enough for Paula Bennett to play games with the courts and relatives, then I can’t be bothered fighting dirty politics with my hands tied….
They’ve finally got their story straight. They’ve known about this all along and steps have already been taken to do nothing.
Two things spring to mind:
He refers repeatedly to the “advice” he’s received, but (as he made plain on HardTalk) he views the purpose of “advice” as being to endorse the decision he wants, rather than a genuinely impartial and expert opinion of what should be done; and
if “there is no conflict of interest”, then surely there is no “issue” than “can be managed”.
Fucking slimy liar.
Another one for BLip’s list
i heard the idea the wharf-extensions be named after our mayor..
(as an act of gratitude on the part of his bosses @ the wharf-company..?
..esp. seeing as he cast the casting vote for it – in a split council..eh..?..
..he made it happen..all his own work – lest we forget..)
…so..’browns’ dump’..?…’browns’ car-park’..?…’browns’-folly’..?..’browns’-brown-nose’..?
..suggestions welcomed
11 a.m.
Stand up.
Be counted.
http://www.livesaildie.com/stop-stealing-our-harbour-protest-11am-3rd-may/
ha ha excellent idea Philip. I would like “The Craven-Spineless Wharf”
I’d like to know why 5 councilors failed to turn up to that crucial wharf vote?
And wasn’t a judicial review of the non-notified wharf resource consent contemplated by opponents? Sounds like a role for “givealittle” here to fund this.
Brown shit
Quisling Quay would do.
Another mental health victim failed by indifferent DHB staff. How many more will die before anyone is held accountable?
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/05/01/guest-blog-tony-stevens-why-did-my-brother-die/
the idea – now law in victoria – that foreigners be only allowed to buy new houses..
..is a good one..
..and one we should adopt..
..it will add to the housing stock – and will stimulate ‘the market’ to build the houses needed..
..what’s not to love about all that..?
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/02/extra-tax-on-foreign-property-investors-in-victoria-to-balance-infrastructure-cost
oh..!..and of course an extra sales tax and land tax…
..and of course foreign investors will have to register..
..with serious penalties for scamming the scheme..
..that all looks quite tidy to me..
Sounds good medicine in the present housing climate. And then reduce the number of immigrants. We need to sop behaving like Mr Cresote taking more on all the time. Is there a medical doctor in the House that can administer it plus laxative to those sitting with minds and ends bound up and stultified?
I am not happy about the many ordinary people who might have their lives ruined when the bubble bursts. I have seen the disruption it causes in good people’s lives as they try and adjust to financial difficulties and their drop in the pecking order when they have been working hard, bettering themselves and doing all the right things.
Important investigation into Foetal Alcohol Syndrome on RNZ at the moment.
When will we tackle the multinational liquor companies ?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/201752639/insight-for-3-may-2015-nz's-neglected-foetal-alcohol-problem
I have a close friend with a daughter who has FASD, and the disability is heartbreaking and permanent.
After years of reading and researching this condition in an effort to provide support, I despair when I read reassurances by experts in newspaper articles that moderate or light drinking is fine. (An obvious problem with this is that people’s ideas of moderate or light vary greatly).
That is also the recommendation I was receiving while I was pregnant.
Knowing now the damage that can be caused, only abstinence is the reassurance most mothers would need to avoid this syndrome.
Pity governments do not listen to the public and experts on the matter.
NZLC R114 Alcohol In Our Lives: Curbing the Harm
‘Key policy recommendations include:
_ the introduction of a new Alcohol Harm Reduction Act;
_ raising the price of alcohol by an average of 10% through excise tax increases;
_ regulating irresponsible promotions that encourage the excessive consumption, or purchase, of alcohol;
_ returning the minimum purchase age for alcohol to 20;
_ strengthening the rights and responsibilities of parents for the supply of alcohol to minors;
_ introducing national maximum closing hours for both on and off-licences; ( 4am and 10pm respectively )
_ increasing the ability of local people to influence how and where alcohol is sold in their communities;
_ increasing personal responsibility for unacceptable or harmful behaviours induced by alcohol, including a civil cost recovery regime for those picked up by the police when grossly intoxicated;
_ moving over time to regulate alcohol advertising and sponsorship.
http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/project/review-regulatory-framework-sale-and-supply-liquor/publication/report/2010/alcohol-our-lives
http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/2010/04/Publication_154_464_Part_2_Intro.pdf
Paul they certainly listen to the alcohol lobby.
Maybe its because they are aloud fund political parties especially the National Party.
i wd actually give dunne the ‘bleary-eyed-award’ – for his services to big-alcohol..
..national are close behind –
– but runners-up to dunne – in the sell-out stakes..
“i wd actually give dunne the ‘bleary-eyed-award’”
Nah, I would give him The Biggest Traitorous Self Seeking Turd Ever Award.
that too – his trophy cabinet is loaded..
..he’s got arsewipe-of-the-year-award every year for the past decade..
For those concerned Aucklanders who want to ‘stand up and be counted’ against Mayor Len Brown’s , (in my view) treacherous sellout – supporting the Ports of Auckland ‘compromise’ in extending one wharf?
PROTEST!
WHEN: Today – Sunday : May 2015
TIME: 11am
WHERE: Quay Street
What is happening here, in my view, is a disgrace.
Where’s the fire? What’s the rush?
The legality of the (non-notified) resource consents upon which these wharf extensions are based, as I understand it,, are still before the Court.
The idea that the wharf extension work can go ahead – then be ‘deconstructed’ at a later date, if found in Court to be illegal, is simply madness, in my view.
It is not just multi-national shipping companies or overseas cruise ship companies that have an interest in the Ports of Auckland and how that land is developed, or harbour ‘reclaimed’.
Why on earth would you charge ahead with wharf extension work, before full, proper, comprehensive, consultation and consideration of the issues involved?
Whose interests are being served in this unseemly and ill-considered rush?
Follow the dollar?
What do concerned citizens need to do to STOP extension work on the wharves?
Physically occupy them?
What a disaster this corporate-controlled Auckland ‘Supercity’ (for the 1%) has been for the majority of citizens and ratepayers!
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Somebody should maybe apply for a “stop-work” directive now while the court decides whether the wharf consents should have been publicly notified.
Given the completely bleedin’ obvious public interest in this matter I would have thought that the court action to have the wharf consent publicly notified has a high chance of success. In fact by backing down on one wharf POAL have already considerably weakened their case.
I don’t think POAL can argue that this work is in any way urgent.
What a delightful idea of Jonathan Milne (Editorial in Stuff) to name John Key “Father of the Year”. I’m sure every child would be thrilled to have a father who has sexually harassed a young woman and, thereby, made himself an international laughing stock!
The NZ media really is a propaganda arm of the multinational corporates who are benefiting from Key’s looting of the country.
I’d conslder myself a failure of a father if [r0b: Leave Key’s family out of it please]
Yeah did try to delete it but was to late sorry
OK, thanks.
That’s a bit hard, perhaps – as adults we make our own decisions for our own reasons and we don’t always do things the way our parents would like us to. Interesting that she feels the need to explore that subject, though, as she has perhaps received some negative or disempowering messages about women in her upbringing.
The story seems to have disappeared before my eyes.
andrew little back from hanging with miliband and piketty..
..but has come back with no new ideas..(he says he was focused on ‘organisational’-stuff..(!)..)
..he almost left skid-marks on the screen – he reversed so severely away from any pikkety-stylings solutions for here..
..(oh dear..!..)
ah …. now I see what you mean! (at first I was confused as to the kind of skid marks you were meaning). my judgment was obviously clouded when I first read your comment @PU – Mediawatch in the background where the name Hosking was getting a run
Another Macskasy gem ( http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/05/03/the-nation-reveals-gobsmacking-incompetence-by-ministers-english-and-lotu-iiga/ )
Sums things up fairly well really.
What’s really sad is that such a huge proportion of the population has become so disengaged, so utterly disinterested and completely dumbed down they’re unable to see the bleeding obvious when it jumps up and bites them in the bum.
My biggest hope that any new government will recognise just how huge the media’s role in all of this has been and they commit to a PSB system.
If The Nation carry on like this, they will be up for ‘review’ in no time.
oh my, what an ominous thought.
I saw that dick Jamie White on the panel afterwards praising prat English and how debt really was not a problem. Funny that I thought, wasn’t the vast amount of debt left by Muldoon, that fucking Douglas, you know Douglas who founded the Act party, used as an excuse to pillage the country’s infrastructure to sell off to every known spiv to mankind.
Jamie Whyte’s thinking about the end game. Running up debt is not serious for us, our descendants will take care of it. Selling off the education system will make billions and save billions … and hospitals … and anything else.
Hey thanks for that repateet, I noticed I spelt Whyte incorrect.
Can’t win them all I suppose.
Well, I suppose debt isn’t a problem when you’re planning on using it as an excuse to loot the nation as both Act and National have done.
Congratulations, it’s a royal! So what’s the new sprog going to be called?
I’m told Prince Philip is keen on naming the newbie Nigella Faragia, but according to the betting sites I’ve consulted the most popular options are Borisina at 6/2, Cameronella 8/2, and the favourite, Dame Margaret Hilda Thatcher Windsor, at 7/4.
‘spare’..?
This Herald article quotes a supposed tweet from Prince William reading “Heir DONE. Spare DONE.”
Ooops – link.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11436705
Also now this. “Spares to the heirs”. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11442488
Just another mouth for the UK taxpayers to feed.
Was born just over a week ago but it takes a while to surgically remove the scales.
Very good Felix, almost lost my coffee over that one!
How about Elizabeth Saxe Coberg -Gotha Windsor ?
Credit for Andrew Little for being prepared to listen and respond to policy ideas from a rank and file Kiwi voter concerned about the housing bubble:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/andrew-little-my-father-in-law-and-new.html
i just realised why the nation was markedly better than usual..
..there was no gower gurning/glomming/sneering at us..
..no gower doing the interviews..
..to the nation – gower is like a thermometer on a clock..sitting on a mantlepiece..
..it just makes you ask..’why would you?’..
Lisa Owen gave Sam Lotu-Iiga and Serco a thorough pasting on the Nation.
I have second hand anecdotal word that serco prisons are far more violent than state ones ,contraband is more freely available ,prisoners spend more time locked down due to lower staff numbers. But the menus better.
I’ve just been reading John Cleese’s bio. He has been Labour, SDP and ha views on the Liberal Democrats, and was for proportional representation.
Of the present. Talking to Der Spiegel in 2015, Cleese took a critical position on how the things were in the world. He told he had reached a point when he “saw that our existence here is absolutely hopeless. I see the rich people have got a stranglehold on us. If somebody had said that to me when I was 20, I would have regarded him as a left-wing loony.”[51]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese
Children of the ayatollahs flaunt their wealth:
“Three deadly road accidents in one week, involving expensive cars driven by super-rich young Iranians, have dominated the past week’s news in Iran – especially after the country’s supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, used a meeting with police chiefs to criticise fast-driving, wealthy youngsters. Khamenei said: “I hear that young people from the generation of wealth, a generation intoxicated by their money, are driving luxury cars and parading in the streets, making the streets insecure. . . This is an example of psychological insecurity.”1
“The cars involved in these accidents were Porsches, Ferraris and Maseratis driven by sons and daughters of ayatollahs or their cronies. . .”
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/05/03/iran-children-of-ayatollahs-flaunt-their-wealth-but-new-wave-of-workers-protests-begin/
Ricky Gervais
This unnecessary killing is one of horrible effects of the ‘market’ where everything is for sale.
‘magnificent’/beautiful animals – those cows…
..and of course their offspring..
..what do people call them..?…’veal’..that’s right..!
Why Almost Everything Dean Ornish Says about Nutrition Is Wrong
We have to eat and a good, healthy diet with a variety of fresh foods (including meat) seems to be the best option. And that makes animals killed for food a necessary killing.
I won’t bother replying to you after this as, quite frankly, the argument’s just not worth the time.
I see little is now polling lower than cunliff and shearer, peters has taken over as opposition, greens and labour relationship dysfunctional, national on 49pc, all trending well for 2017
[lprent: so where is the link to the poll. ]
Ah, but The Parnell Pony-Tail Puller is still doing well. That should keep you and all other RW pricks happy!
Why Key 49%? It has just occurred to me, late, that we are no longer looking at politicians as servants of the country and the people, we are looking at them from a point of view of them appearing in a reality show. Key is the most amusing, fluent and attention-grabbing on offer. He could be replaced by, is it, Paul Henry if he can keep his ratings up. Understanding the reality of reality shows for life is the answer I think.
So can we still vote him off the island?
@ felix
LOL. But seriously, good question! Waghorn below may have an inkling of future events. His crystal ball is showing portents.
Collins will roll key next year then she will become the next Shipley kicked out at the next election to spend the rest of her life putting her snout in one trough after the other.
Nate Silver’s UK election result prediction, updated for 2 May:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/uk-general-election-predictions/
And it’s a win for Mayweather, unanimous on points.
All 3 judges in favour of Mayweather.
116-112×2 & 118-110 all judges for FM
Floyd “We did what we had to do tonight… I’m a calculated fighter and he’s a tough fighter.”
Pacquiao says “I thought I won the fight, he didn’t do nothing.”
Always going to be tough for Manny to win on points.
Snippets from news items. [I am sure you WANT to know this!]
As Mayweather put it: “Tickets are going for between $8,000 and $400,000 to $500,000. You know, we call this the billionaire boys’ club.”
Plenty have stumped up big bucks to be there, with Tony Buzbee, an attorney who paid $74,000 for a pair of 12th-row seats, telling CNN: “It’s going to be a once in a lifetime type of fight, and I’m going to be there just for the event of it all.
Pacquiao fan Mark Sarmiento, paid $7,500 to be there,
Here’s a look at the numbers behind the boxers:
60:40 — revenue split in favor of Mayweather.
$300-400m — the estimated total revenue for the May 2 bout.
38 — Mayweather’s age; two years older than his opponent.
5 — The number of years it took to strike a deal between the two boxers.
$1.5m — How much Pacquiao’s shorts alone will be worth after six companies bid for sponsorship space.
$25,000 — The value of the mouth guard adorned with diamonds and gold Mayweather will wear on fight night.
$1,500 — starting price for tickets in U.S. dollars.
8 — Pacquiao is the first and only eight-division world champion with 10 world titles to his name.
1 — Mayweather’s ranking on last year’s Forbes highest-paid athletes list.
$105m — The amount “Money” earned last year.
$180,000 — The price ringside tickets had skyrocketed to by April 27 (5 days before the fight.)
16,800 — Capacity at the MGM Grand Garden arena where the fight will take place.
5 — The number of boxers Pacquiao and Mayweather have both fought. The “famous five”: Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto.
$100 — The fee pay-per-view subscribers will shell out to watch the fight, which will be aired jointly on Showtime and HBO.
$300m — Expected pay-per-view buys with the most sales coming from U.S., Puerto Rican and Canadian markets, according to Repucom.
$5.6m — The winning bid for official fight sponsorship by Tecate beer.
57 — The number of wins throughout Pacquiao’s career. Mayweather has less at 47 wins, but…
0 — Mayweather remains undefeated in his fight career (Pacquiao, on the other hand, has suffered 5 losses.)
Conspicuous consumption.
https://twitter.com/nickwoodhouse/status/594627145130840064
https://twitter.com/EmilioEstefanJr/status/594622083574964224
I miss my boxing but refuse to pay sky for 50 channels of shit so I can get pay per view. Look forward to the day I can buy only what I want to view.
For all I know mayweather is the right full winner It just brings me down when the guy with the white hat loses.
Cheers for the stats.
Ouch.
http://i.imgur.com/1bEoni8.jpg
lolz
ouch ouch ouch the buuurn. TPP The Parnell Puller.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=puller
More subtle way of calling someone a jerkoff/jackoff
So it seems there’s these weird calendars with pictures of Young Nats girls with long hair wearing not much except “I’m a Key Person” t-shirts.
Oh yeah, and Collins is giving them to journalists.
https://twitter.com/TovaOBrien/status/594720165830402048
Wonder if Key was cropped out of the photos?
Just when you start thinking things couldn’t get weirder .
If Collins isn’t gunning for key I’ll eat my hat, imagine if that photo was taken in keys house!!!
seems certain your hat is safe !!!
Collins is on an upwards march and she won’t stop till she sits at the top of the pile. Curious to know who is the spin merchant she has hired to do her PR. Hooton would know which one of his ilk has a clean enough record to do the job?
On the bright side between the stuff and tv3 articles I’ve seen in the last day I’ve only seen one pro Collins comment from the I reckon crowd and that was from a rwnj .
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/68234530/key-says-minister-willing-to-step-down-over-brother-facing-indecency-charges
“”The advice I’ve received is that there is no conflict of interest and the issue can be managed. People appreciate that Cabinet ministers, like anyone else, have family but I’m quite confident the position can be managed.”
Thus spake Our Leader.
The server had an error with its mail system yesterday. One of its virtual drives dropped out due to windows server munting its structure.
Last night while restarting the system after fixing that, it uncovered a InnoDB database index error. Maybe from the power plug problem earlier in the week.
It’d work most of the time, but the database that The Standard runs on would abruptly crash while reading comments (or just counting them for posts). The safety system would restart the database, and then it’d do the same thing a few minutes later. Damn irritating getting slow pages and the odd message about the database not being available.
After a bit of pain trying several ways of fixing that, I extracted the database using a kludge to bypass the errors and rebuilt the database from scratch.
No comments appear to have been lost, just some sleep and probably some words of wisdom from offshore.
I now suspect that the database error has been there a while. All of a sudden the database backups got faster and quieter, the way they were last month when I made them nice.
“One of its virtual drives dropped out due to windows server munting its structure.
Yep. I understand that sentence, I think. As for the rest – I’m pleased you’re there to sort it. Thanks so very much. Sorry about your destroyed sleep,
Was there a post on this? I think there probably should be.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/corrections-minister-defends-serco-run-prison-2015050217#axzz3ZEpLFqlM