The NZ Defence Force has been called on to defend New Zealanders, by using some of their resources to help Te Puea Marae deal with the homeless emergency.
Will the army step up to the plate in defending poorer New Zealanders?
Is are our armed forces only purpose, to serve the geo-political interests of the rich and powerful, here and overseas?
Or to defend all New Zealanders?
The New Zealand Defence force has received a “big jump” in their funding in this budget, they are well able to spare some resources to help Te Puea Marae cope with emergency housing efforts.
Or is our army only at the beck and call of the rich and privileged who have no interest in defending New Zealand, only their own selfish geo political partnerships and interests, with our soldiers lives if necessary.
National will allocate $100.3 million in next month’s Budget and a total of $535 million over the next four years….
Jenny the armed forces, in NZ, follow the orders of the NZ government. This is as it should be.
It sounds nice and good to say why doesn’t the military act when someone deserving asks for help but that would be a very bad thing.
It would be a very bad thing because, as an example, if a government is elected that the military thinks is bad for the country then the military might decide that a coup is in order to protect the people from themselves.
Now I would have no problem with the military being called in to help, it would probably even be good training, but only if the government gives the good ahead.
Basically I feel that the slippery slope argument is why the military should always take direction from the government of the day
And if the Government tells you to escort all the South Aucklanders living in cars to an internment camp on the Desert Rd.. you would be just following orders right?
You are required to follow any order from a superior officer that will not result in a breach of the law. If you are given an order that would result in an illegal action you are required to not follow that order. If you do not agree with an order or feel that it is not a lawful order (does not meet certain criteria, nothing to do with illegal) you are required to follow that order and then file a formal complaint in regards to the order.
Failure to follow lawful orders can include detention in Burnham military camp or a sever fine. In times of war it can result in execution (yes New Zealand does still have the death penalty).
Military personnel do contribute to the community every day in ways you don’t see. The number of times you will be approached to help out with charitable endeavours is impressive. It is also in policy that if you are carrying out certain types of training and team building you are required to organise time to do community service.
If you want more information on how the NZDF contributes to the communities in which they are located feel free to go to your local base and have a chat to them. I am sure they will be happy to answer any queries you have.
Bought to you by your friendly local member of the NZDF.
I couldn’t give you numbers. Formal complaints are common and often upheld. There is a very rigorous system that allows any member to push a complaint as high as the Chief of Defence Force if they feel it has not be fairly addressed.
IIRC complaints could also progress to the Governor General, if CDS does not satisfy the complaint. That was still one of the main reasons IMHO for the retention of the Monarchy. I held my commission as an officer of the RNZN from the Queen – not the PM.
Whilst serving on Naval Staff I dealt with a number of complaints of a variety of different reasons. (but that was back in the late ’70’s early ’80’s)
I can’t think of any that did go on to the GG however.
The NZDF, fearing that these restrictions will place the country in an immediate threat of invasion, have decided to mount a coup to protect NZ
They do this because, instead of waiting for parliament to agree, they just decide its the right thing to do because they want to protect the people of NZ.
My question is: would you be ok with that?
Because that’s the other side of the coin. IMHO the system we have now where the NZDF responds to requests is the better option, it isn’t perfect but the alternative may well lead to outcomes you weren’t expecting
That’s not really the question though is it, a hypothetical question was asked supporting one side of the argument, I posed a hypothetical for the other.
I don’t expect the NZDF to stage a coup at any time but then I don’t expect the homeless to be shipped off to an internment camp on the Desert road either
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, ugly and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Unaffordable housing.
‘John Key suggested we Google Trade Me for homes under $500,000. So we did, and here they are The prime minister told reporters yesterday there are plenty of (relatively) affordable Auckland homes on Trade Me. Madeleine Chapman searched the site to see if he was right.
Asked yesterday about Auckland’s average house price nearing the $1 million mark, John Key was as upbeat as ever: “If you go on Trade Me this afternoon and Google property $500,000 or less in Auckland, you will find there are quite a few.”
Leaving to one side the curious instruction to Google something on Trade Me, this isn’t the first time the PM has directed us to this online real estate nirvana.
Almost exactly two years ago he talked down concerns about the housing crisis with an even stronger endorsement of Trade Me’s budget catalogue.
“If you go on Trade Me to look for Auckland housing under $400,000 there are over 2,000 properties listed.”
The journey from 2,000 under-$400k to “quite a few” under-$5ook is troubling enough. But what are these “quite a few”? I Googled up my Trade Me to find out.’
Key carries on under the assumption his media shills will keep swallowing the spin and not bother doing any digging or analysis on his BS. His recent rants being examples.
This site has many examples yet look at the msm and it’s a wasteland of celebrity, sport and human interest pieces in between careful messaging on behalf of national.
Mr and mrs soper appear to be very busy along with the usual sycophants like trevitt and the suck up brothers Henry/Hoskins.
This was a particularly stupid comment even by Key’s standards. Very odd-there is a consistent pattern now that he just can’t be bothered; that the media “will swallow anything I say”. So he tells the media there are still lots of cheap houses in Auckland, where on Planet Key this is under $500k, and it’s not really true anyway. He just can’t come to terms with the housing crisis that National has created.
If Little had said this the MSM would have hit him with a tonne of bricks.
I notice in the Herald today 14.2% of sales in Auckland last month were below $500k. Assuming almost all of these were in the $400-500k bracket that means there are sod-all affordable houses around. Is a house at $350k really affordable to a wide range of society? Not in my book.
‘Shoeless and limping to school.’
But that’s ok…..John Key and Mike Hosking says there isn’t a housing or homeless crisis in New Zealand. We should just pull up our tinted windows in our SUVs and pay them money to disappear.
Godzone has morphed into Randistan and narcissist psychopaths are shredding this country.
@ Paul, While I like the theme of how bad John Key has made this country – I have to say that I am optimistic that people are still kind and caring and generous. Not Hoskings obviously, but have a look at the Te Puea Marae and people have donated over $7000 already, when Campbell Live was on people always gave generously.
There is a lot of hope and worldwide things are changing. Just caring by posting is changing the discourses….
Paul I do like your constant repetition of the line “cruel and selfish” in its various guises.
It does describe our society to a considerable extent, brought on and/or cemented in place by the arrival of the neoliberal paradigm in the 1980’s which had as its base premise “self-interest”.
It is a very sad indictment.
But it is true.
People today are outwardly more selfish, cruel, nasty, greedy and less caring..
But inwardly people will be the same – with the other characteristics of humanity that are more caring and sharing, more social (we are the most social of creatures and absolutely not a bunch of individuals – what a stupid idea), more with a view to what we leave for our mokopuna… those characteristics are there for sure …..
….. they are just hidden under the ugly morass of greedy neoliberalism, but they will sprout and flower again..
Maybe you should try staying in bed. Every morning is the same, try seeing the glass half full for a change. Who cares what Mike Hosking thinks? He makes a living out of people like you giving him oxygen. Lighten up a bit, it’s a lovely day.
Hosking says 800 under $500k in Auckland.
Spinoff says 65. (Of which some are a long way out of Auckland and some are on lease land.)
Who should I believe? Key/Hoskings or Spinoff?
Key knows that he can toss off his remarks with immunity. How many voters would go and actually look? And why quibble about the exact number of houses?
A cunning plan Baldrick!
Take out the leases. Remember the woman who had her lease in Cornwall park go up to $40,000 per year or something. She then had to go to court about it when she couldn’t pay and had to abandon the property etc etc.
Also take out the apartments with Body Corps as the same thing can happen. They decide you need a big long term fund, replace the roof, new swimming pool or what have you and low and behold, legally you have to make the extra payments.
I’m constantly bemused by the inability of the media at large to use a search engine, especially the Trademe one. Some of these people who quote Trademe are really too stupid for words.
All Hoskings had to do was sort his search results in order of highest price to lowest and he would have discovered that the Trademe search engine is a little less than truthful. But no, he instead makes a dick of himself.
Will the conservative Democratic Super-Delegates hand the presidency to Donald Trump by nominating second runner (to Sanders) Clinton as their nominee?
Will the Democratic Convention of 2016 be a repeat of the Democratic Convention of 1968?
Where the convention handed the US presidency to Nixon by choosing an unpopular pro-Vietnam war candidate Hubert Humphrey, over and anti-Vietnam war candidate Eugene McCarthy?
The horse race itself is swinging toward the billionaire businessman, who according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll has picked up 11 points since March, giving him a narrow 46%-44% lead. But the sum result in both surveys is a statistical dead heat. Clinton leads by 3 points, 46%-43%, in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Both results are within the margin of error.
Trump’s recent bump coincides with a growing sense of acceptance among Republican establishment figures. From former primary opponents to elected officials on Capitol Hill, the GOP is broadly warming to its likely standard-bearer.
Efforts by the #NeverTrump movement to draft a conservative challenger have been all but abandoned. Perhaps the most popular figure in the GOP, House Speaker Paul Ryan, has signaled a desire for détente with Trump.
On the Democratic side, Clinton remains the front-runner but has yet to actually clinch the number of delegates necessary to defeat rival Bernie Sanders. But the Vermont senator is not going quietly, and the left is now seemingly at odds with itself as Democrats squabble over the allocation of delegates.
Indeed, both polls show the most popular candidate in either party is Sanders, who to his benefit has largely avoided any especially negative attacks during the primary. The Washington Post-ABC News poll shows the Vermont independent with a net positive favorability rating (49% to 41%), which essentially matched the NBC News/Wall Street Journal findings.
I read this op-ed by Thomas Friedman this morning (02/06/2016) in the Tampa Bay Times (I’m stuck in Florida for the next several months, ugh)
All lying in politics is not created equal. I think the ideology Sanders is selling is fanciful, but underlying it is a moral critique of modern capitalism that has merit and deserves to be heard. But Sanders is not being truthful about the costs. What is grating about Clinton is that her prevarications seem so unnecessary and often insult our intelligence. But they are not about existential issues. As for Trump, his lies are industrial size and often contradict each other. But there is no theory behind his lies, except what will advance him, which is why Trump is only scary if he wins. Otherwise, his candidacy will leave no ideas behind. It will be just a reality TV show that got cancelled.
This is serious. We’re about to elect all three branches of our government. I wish we had better choices, but given the options, I’d vote for the candidate most likely to be a practical unifier and get some things done — and who only tells whoppers about herself, not about my country’s future.
Friedman has given Clinton one of the greatest weak tea endorsements I’ve seen in ages. lol
So Frieddman says “But there is no theory behind his lies, except what will advance him,…”
In my eyes this is what Key does. No particular philosophy, say what the audience want to hear, and respond to problems with pragmatic non solutions to buy time. Key has a smoother delivery though.
This, I think, is the crux of the matter. There are things you can lie about with impunity but there are some things you can’t and they don’t always make, logical, sense
You are right, Trump and Key are very similar. Key is dangerous because he has a team behind him, working the numbers and pushing obstacles out of his way (Campbell Live) and appears pretty ordinary in other ways so you don’t realise what he is capable of (being the IDU chairman seems to mean he is VERY capable), Trump is dangerous because if he gets elected he is likely to have a bad hair day and release all the missiles, maybe just for fun if Merkel doesn’t put lipstick on. He wants people to fear him. It’s kinda like an American Kim Jong Un – in fact Kim Jong Un is one of the few foreign PM’s who have endorsed Trump and called him ‘wise’ while John Key has had a secret meeting with Trump (another endorsement).
The liar is concerned with that the truth of the statement is believed. Key cares neither what people think nor about the real state of affairs – he says what makes him look good.
The gorilla is a good example – we are supposed to believe that the gorilla engaged Key’s sympathy – but it’s a counterfactual – Key never had to cope with the gorilla, and given the enthusiasm with which he has DOC poisoning kiwi this new ‘animal lover’ identity is empirically unlikely.
Clinton needs Trump for now, i just dont believe that Trump can win, too many republicians will not vote, as trump will set the image of Republicianism. Why are so many prominent party politicians unavailable to back their parties candidate, its obvious they or who they want to run in the future would be worse off with Trump.
But in many ways they have their selves to blame, they thought they could go right against Clinton, and they’d win, till Trump beat off weak spineless out of touch wanabees.
Despite pressure from party establishment on Sanders to drop out of the race, most Democratic voters want the senator to keep running.
The findings contradict the pressure from prominent Democratic politicians and centrist pundits on Sanders to drop out of the presidential race—some of whom even argue that he’s already lost—despite the fact that several states (including delegate-rich California) and U.S. territories have yet to hold their primaries. (Polls also show Sanders and Clinton in a dead heat in California, which votes on June 7.)
Despite pressure from party establishment on Sanders to drop out of the race, most Democratic voters want the senator to keep running.
The findings contradict the pressure from prominent Democratic politicians and centrist pundits on Sanders to drop out of the presidential race—some of whom even argue that he’s already lost—despite the fact that several states (including delegate-rich California) and U.S. territories have yet to hold their primaries. (Polls also show Sanders and Clinton in a dead heat in California, which votes on June 7.)
Last week I queried the Meth Contamination thresholds in houses. Turns out that this could be this year’s biggest scam and there is shitloads of candidates for that title.
The “testing ” is being done by real estate agents, and to top it off there is no official threshold, that is being establish by, you quested it, the people doing the testing.
Who would have thought that real estate agents could be dishonest.
What I want 3’s Story to follow up on is how many ” contaminated” houses have been bought by agents or their proxies for a huge discount.
My understanding is that that there is no legislation, there are no ‘standards’, regulations, policies, procedures or protocols covering the testing for alleged “P” contamination of houses, owned by either the private sector or the State.
So – how exactly is it being decided that houses ARE ‘contaminated’ with “P”?
Who decides that – based on what?
Next question – WHO contaminated the house with “P”?
How convenient for the impression to be created that there are empty State houses because State tenants contaminated them with “P”?
I have a comprehensive OIA request on the issue of “P” contamination of State houses currently lodged with Housing Minister Nick Smith and am awaiting with interest the official response to my questions.
I think the question you should be asking is not who conducts tests, but looking at the tests themselves, how many, how good is each product, are the testers trained, are they aware of cross contamination, rental property managers could be cross contaminating tons of places just inspecting renters.
Due to this their will be a regulation, tests will eventually become compulsory on all sales and the few agencies with certification to do it will be owned by tories and raking in truckloads off kiwis in testing costs.
P. I like the Indonesian laws on this, a bullets cheaper.
Good point Adrian!!! Now there is some cottage industry of people going around finding everything is P contaminated and the property is unliveable. Another reason to sell off the state houses and to blame the tenants.
Not to mention the windfalls for real estate agents and property investors.
From what I have read, both here and on Public Address, the meth-testing business should send a shiver down everyone’s spine. For one thing, if there is no threshold, those accused are left with no grounds for defending themselves – you cannot challenge a false positive if there is no standard determining the positive in the first place. For another, according to Russell Brown, scientists have said that meth manufacture poses a serious health risk, but meth having been smoked in a house generally does not. http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/this-is-crazy/ Moreover, minor contamination could just as easily come from a tradesman who fixed the toilet, or a relative sneaking off to the laundry at an after-wedding party, etc – there could even be a cooking ingredient that registers a blip on whatever it is they use for “testing”. If what I have read about it is even half true, it shows a frighteningly cavalier attitude to human rights, rule of law, and sober-minded governance.
There is a guideline actually. Ministry of Health say that it is .5mg per 100mg.
However, this guideline relies on a “per room” method of testing in which up to 8 swabs are taken in a different area of each room. So for a 3 bedroom house, you’re looking at around 50 swabs.
This is a fairly expensive method.
What the meth tests companies do instead, is use ONE swab, and rub it over 8 different locations throughout the house and come up with a ‘composite test’
This is incredibly misleading as some of the ingredients in P are also found in common household brands of flyspray.
Housing NZ have a policy that any meth contamination is too much contamination.
A lot of their houses have been found to only have .05mg or less, per 100mg of contamination.
That apparently, is enough to prove P use. Despite the fact it likely isn’t.
So to summarise.
MoH say .5mg per 100mg is a level at which a house is safe to live in. Anything above it is likely to have been a p lab.
However,the guidelines recommend 8 swabs per room.
P testing companies routinely report contamination levels of .05mg/100mg and under. That is, 10 times less contamination than the MOH recommends.
This is often arrived at by using one swab across 8 areas of the house.
Likely that the ‘composite’ test inflates the true figure of potential contamination, and could easily be picking up flyspray residue.
If any level whatsoever counts against the tenant, and the testing method is open to producing a positive from fly spray, then the ‘guideline’ functions as little more than a fig leaf for expedience. And of course, the zero tolerance stance allows for an “honest mistake” claim to be made should a serious challenge arise. Hardly a recipe for political or social trust.
Toluene which is used in meth production is also in nail varnish and particularily in remover and in all sorts of cleaner including carpets etc”
I,m sure this is a scam using bad science and fear mongering to scam the house trading industry.
“The Ministry of Health currently recommends that surface wipes for methamphetamine not exceed a concentration of 0.5 μg/100 cm2 as the acceptable post-remediation re-occupancy level for a dwelling that has been used as a clan meth lab”. Based on US guidelines (suggestions). Ok. Note that 0.5 micrograms (μg or ug) means 0.0005 mg.
This does not differentiate from potential residue left by end-users, who can be quite different to the ‘cooks’ or producers (in my ignorant opinion, I don’t believe that that every P user makes their own?)
They also make no mention of the type of meth molecule being tested for. Illicit methamphetamine is characterised by its stereochemistry, dictated by the choice of precursor used. All manufacturing methods starting from l-ephedrine or d-pseudoephedrine produce (d) (+)-(S)-methamphetamine as the single optical isomer. Methods using P2P (phenyl-2-nitropropene to phenylacetone) results in a racemic mixture (both l- and d- isomers) of methamphetamine.
A well-used example: L-methamphetamine (“l” form/isomer) is available over-the-counter as the active ingredient of decongestant inhalers like the popular Vick’s brand. It is a metabolite of certain prescription medications. Both “d” and “l” test positive by both immunoassay and most GC/MS assays.1
Meth is meth but I would expect a positive result to be further investigated to determine if the meth COULD have originated from a completely legit source. https://www.hitpages.com/doc/5766999321870336/2#pageTop is one link.
Not much indication that testing for other chemicals involved in illicit manufacture is actually REQUIRED, which one might expect? Seems the Guidelines (suggestions) only suggest that these other chemicals be tested for. To my small brain this would go some way in determining the source of the detected ‘meth’ (i.e. clan lab vs. end user)
I’d like to see some basic NZ-based research. I’d like to at least see a random selection of houses/dwellings ‘tested for meth’. Or even just the McMansions, that would be entertaining.
How do they prove that the current tenant/occupier/owner was ACTUALLY involved in cooking? Or even an end-user? Some of this is really not right. To say the least.
Here in Papakura a corner block of state houses in Rosehill were demolished on grounds of P contamination.
And P Contamination is one of the reasons given why another 25-50 State Houses in this suburb of high housing need are kept empty.
It is distressing to read that such grounds for demolition and removal of State Housing stock from the rental market on grounds of P Contamination is a subjective matter.
Especially when our local Bruce Pulman Park has been in the news for the large number of homeless who camp here.
(Bruce Pulman Park even featured in the news of John Key’s latest lies)
John Key says his comments that some of the homeless sleeping in cars in Bruce Pulman Park didn’t want to be housed, were made on the information supplied to him by his officials.
If the government at the highest level can blatantly lie about fictional visits to the homeless in Bruce Pulman Park, – With no proper sound scientific basis for making such decisions, who can trust that these same zealous officials are not exaggerating the nature and the extent of the P contamination of State Houses in Papakura to help carry out the government’s stated privatisation program of the State Housing asset?
Following the 2014 election the National government embarked on what it intends will be the largest privatisation of State assets in New Zealand history – dwarfing any of the sales successive Labour and National governments have posted in the last 30 years. National is beginning the sale of New Zealand’s estimated $15 billion in State housing stock. No less than three National government ministers are now directly involved – Housing Minister Nick Smith, State Housing Minister Bill English and Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett.
The first stage of privatisation involves the sale of 6,000 to 8,000 houses over the next few years with up to 2,000 being sold in the first year. It’s clear that if unchecked National will sell every last State home. The latest proposal for mass privatisation of State housing comes close on the heels of National Party attacks on Housing New Zealand (HNZ) and its tenants from its first two terms. Early in its first term National forced HNZ to slash State house waiting lists, close most local offices and strip tenure (the right to stay in your home) from existing tenants. It drove staff morale to rock-bottom and HNZ has been stripped of its role in assessing tenants for housing needs. Work and Income NZ (WINZ) has taken over this function and will allocate eligible tenants and families to HNZ or private “social housing providers”. John Minto
Newstalk ZB has revealed anywhere between 20 and 50 cars are parked every night at Bruce Pulman Park in Takanini as their homeless occupants make use of a toilet facility.
The Ministry of Social Development has said it has become aware of the group and is now working hard to get them the help they need.
Base on the evidence, let me correct the above statement;
The MSD has said it has become aware of the group and is now lying hard to prevent them getting the help they need.
Housing New Zealand has said it has 52 vacant houses in Papakura, with 25 of those not presently fit to rent
of the 27 Housing New Zealand homes ready to let, a family is either about to move in, or the property is in the process of being matched to a family while minor maintenance work is carried out.
The remaining 25 have significant issues such as fire damage, methamphetamine contamination or may be about to be demolished to make way for new homes.
What the ZB report blatantly leaves out or doesn’t make clear is what kind of homes are being built to replace the demolished State Houses.
On past experience, most of them (or even just the land) will be sold privately with a few sold/given to private charities to run as so called “Social Housing”.
The National Government’s “Social Housing” program, with it’s stated concentration on providing affordable houses for private sale, as well as to private charities, has had very mixed results. While it can be argued that the Social Housing program has provided relief for those on middle incomes unable to buy in an overpriced housing market. (and some relief for those at the very bottom reliant on private charities). Overall it has seen a decline in the number of rentals for people unable to afford to buy, at the so called affordable level ($300,000)
“Following the release, earlier this week, of testimony filed in a federal lawsuit against Trump University, the United States is facing a high-stakes social-science experiment.
Will one of the world’s leading democracies elect as its President a businessman who founded and operated a for-profit learning annex that some of its own employees regarded as a giant rip-off, and that the highest legal officer in New York State has described as a classic bait-and-switch scheme? …”
___________________________
Of all of my loathing of Paul Henry being a Tory Scum, he made me famous this morning. Still hate your guts Henry and yes you lost to Georgina Beyer.
Now I would like to make it clear I do not have any issues with transgender people at all. I said it that way, because I imagine to a TORY SCUMBAG like Paul Henry, the dent in his TORY pride from losing to an LBGT of all opposition to him, must really irritate him hence he attacks the left every opportunity to exact his pathetic revenge and dislike..
Since I cannot battle his Tory point of view, to make my sad little life better, I thought i’d make his day in Keys paradise a reminder of what a loser National prospect he was.
So to Any TG people reading, no offence meant and thank you for allowing/hopefully not crucifying me to use Georgina B to rub salt in Henrys wounds.
Cracked up when he said Richard, I don’t think he’s a fan.. Never thought he’d actually read it out.
I just woke up, turned on to see Henry spouting all homeless don’t want help and painting the National line.
I remembered someone posting here yesterday that Henry lost to GB, I didn’t know that till yesterday, I didn’t know Henry had stood for National and I was shocked he’s now on TV3 with full access in the morning to spout his tory beliefs.
I’m Bi-polar and even on meds find things coming out that I realize I should have thought of first before I spoke.
I was wrong, But at the same time I got everyone who watches Paul Henry and didn’t know he’d been a National candidate to know go hold on? is that true?
They may research and now know for a fact what they hear from him has a political purpose!
If in any way one person changes knowing they are being manipulated by the media, i’m sure the LBGT members who support our political point of view will let it slide.
I apologise to anyone who loves to point fingers and pick fault in others, in the belief no one makes mistakes and if they do they should be thoroughly rounded upon. 🙂
no problems richard – this position of mine is consistent with me and honed over a long time – not a personal thing against you or even what you said or did – it is my limits, my lines in the sand – not other people’s whose lines may be and often are in different places. My only point in posting was to say out loud the above so that others see different views and opinions.
The issue is more about how in a more even contest Paul Henry loses hands down.
Yep Weldon, Chrisite and John Key have put him on this pedestal and got him on TV to push their poison – but ultimately he is deeply unpopular no matter what they do and that is why TV3 ratings have plummeted.
Thats because TV ratings are as relevant as winning lotto statistically… something like 600 over 4.5 million people. You do the math. Then moderated by the TV companies.
With all due respect I’m pretty sure most people would know that Paul Henry’s an unpleasant person and so his political leanings are on the right, its not really a big surprise
Why do you watch the show if Henry is Tory scum, he loves the hate mail it builds his ratings. I can’t really understand why you hate him, most of what he does and says is hilarious with no malice and for effect, people with thin skins simply choose to be offended
So if it is true, and the labour party has only about 5k members – give or take.
Then has the time come to announce their death? With those numbers they look like the Bolsheviks, representing just over 0.1% of the population. National are not much better at something like 0.6% of the population as members – but they at least do politics in the interests of the 0.6%
Is it not well past time that people on the left did what was best for the people rather than let a tired old bunch of professionals and technocrats telling them what is best for them. Because if the third way taught us anything, it was that the professional left is a nasty vicious piece of work.
A whole lot of electorates are up for grabs – take your pick from lazy, to the down right awful Labour MP’s. Mix in those neo-con muppets who have sold working people down the river in the first place.
“So if it is true”. There’s a lot of prognosticating going on here and with Chris Trotter based on an “if”.
What if Trotter were wrong? His guess of 2000 ordinary members spread over 67 electorates means about 30 members per electorate. My electorate is a ‘safe’ National rural provincial seat, yet this number attended this years electorate committee AGM.
So you are saying the future of the Labour party is more falling membership?
My point, is in a MMP environment, why should the left bow down to any party? Why should labour be uncontested in electorates when it puts forward non-left candidates.
I’d also point out the vaunted labour war chest no longer exists. So left wing people should stand in electorates, because labour does not have the money. Labour still gets list MP’s with it’s party vote.
Adam, I’m saying nothing about what you think I’m saying. I have merely pointed out that Trotter, and therefore you, may (have allowed your feelings for Labour to colour your figures and thinking and ) have constructed an argument based on a premise that has not been substantiated- i.e. Labour has only 2000 members or 6000 if you count affiliates.
I point out your conditional argument. You want now to accord me even more thinking than I have put forward. There is no “so” for you to fly with.
I say Trotter is wrong, in my experience. “So”, it is up to you to justify that figure to allow all the rest of your argument any validity.
BTW, I have been a member for forty plus years. The branch I joined in1974 had 1500 members! Of course, the membership is dropping. It is a phenomenon with many causes, all but one have to do with your major gripe-that Labour is no longer a party of the Left. It’s also no longer 1975. It’s a different world with different working patterns, life styles, media, upbringing, literature, songs, history, education, union membership, TV, films, family structures, social pressures; all of these have impacted, and there are more than I can conjure up quickly and without research, upon why people join political parties in the numbers that they do.
If people fell away from Labour because of their perceptions of how left is Left, then why did the more recent leftish parties- the Alliance, Mana et al.- not grow to bigger percentages? There are more reasons than you allow for.
My point is quite simple really, labour is a political party. It has a small membership, it can’t speak for the left, like I can’t speak for the left. It is not all powerful, and people should make decisions based on what they think is right, not what is good for the labour party. In this case, the myth of labours war chest, and membership base is just that – mythology.
It is beyond time good people stood in electorates against labour. If the party is not connecting, well that’s their issue, not one of the left, and people should get over it. No doubt some people will get upset with that assessment. Or label me loony lefty or what was Ads remark, ‘hard left’ what ever that means – personally I like Christian anarchist.
I know recent, but not the most up to date, figures for both Dunedin South and Dunedin North electorates. I also know the Clutha Southland numbers from when I was candidate there, but those numbers have grown.
Judging from that the true figure of FINANCIAL members is probably under 5,000, but 2,000 is definitely too low an estimate. I would have picked between 4000 and 5000.
If you include non-financial members the number will be over 5,000.
Having said that I am fairly certain that membership numbers have fallen by thousands from when David Cunliffe was Leader, when the financial membership was at least 10K.
Even better, act in a good comedy or tragedy. Drama is a good way to investigate political/social concerns. The last role I had, my character started as a gung ho King and Country soldier and ended by saying, “I went down to the river and threw all my medals into the water.” All sorts of political leanings saw that show- all were affected in some way. Living in the provinces does not necessarily mean we are ‘provincial’!
I recall a trip from Napier to Gisborne where I was following/chasing a Crown Limo. I figured Parekura Horomia was in the back seat so we had double immunity on the Coast.
In defence of the driver, neither s/he nor I exceeded 150kmh on the run up the East Coast.
I do think that its the Limo drivers who love to speed knowing they are above the law, rather than any Poli’s pulling their ears and screaming “faster, Faster”
Liar! It had nothing to do with Helen Clark and you know it. The police laid the charges because the driver was one of their own and this has always been the course of action when a police officer is involved in an alleged law breaking incident. The Judge threw the case out and Helen Clark was then able to respond to the case by saying:
” She believed that the judge made the right decision”. Or words to the same effect.
I liked Kevin Locke’s analysis this morning on Morning Report, especially where he said now the media should report the block vote for polls i.e. Lab/Gr 42% Gnats 46%.
I watched Glucina’s ‘scout’ trash twice. The second time because I couldn’t believe it the first time.
I’m sure TV3 people were proud to be associated with it.(sarc).
How awful can TV get.
Dunno..ask Paddy Gower how low journalism can get? He is incredible . (i.e That is-not credible)
Sample quote:
“If the convention centre was being led by a private company, then the CEO of that company would have been fired a long time ago for failing to deliver on the project.
April 2019 has now been set as the latest operational completion date. That’s frankly disgusting, and Gerry Brownlee needs to front up and stop acting like a 12 year old whenever criticism comes his way.
The report also shows the government initially wanted all negotiations around the convention centre to be finalised before CERA was disestablished. Well that hasn’t happened? So who’s going to take responsibility? Who’s protecting who? And who needs to be fired for failing Christchurch and its business community?”
Not sure when in New Zealand I’ve anything more excoriating of a government Minister, without them being held to account by a Prime Minister.
Of this government, only Key is smart enough about Auckland not to take on responsibility for the entire Council’s functions. Ordinarily I’d expect all his jaw-jawing is simply focusing Auckland Council’s mind in preparation for August.
But is he still so smart? He’s been so cack-handed lately it’s hard to really trust him to manage a proper conversation between Smith and Brownlee on the perils of trying to run/command-and-control/plan/influence either Christchurch or Auckland.
There just doesn’t appear to be a real “lessons learned” from Christchurch being applied to Auckland at all. Other than in Treasury.
Which – given these cities’ dominance of New Zealand into the future – strikes me as somewhat fatal for them, and not too good for the rest of us either.
His accountability standards have lowered substantially since the good of days when Craig Heatley stood down for something pretty minor. Pretty hard to raise them back up again in a different government.
“Those in default and living in Australia will come under more scrutiny from next month, when a transtasman information-sharing agreement begins. It will cover contact details of student loan borrowers living in Australia.”
One overseas womans $6000 student loan has ballooned over $30,000. “Will I be arrested at the airport?…how will I pay my mortgage if I’m detained in New Zealand, what will happen to my children in Australia if I’m detained?”
Cue responses from all those who never fucked up in their lives …3-2-1-
Even if I agreed that student loans should be paid back or even exist, that’s still a completely different argument to whether people should be arrested because of them.
No no McFlock, the full strength of the state MUST be used for naughty loan defaulters, “respect my athoritah!” & all that, like the poor children of poor familes they should just “jump back up your mother”, which came first the horse or the cart etc…
“that’s still a completely different argument to whether people should be arrested because of them” – thank you, more succinct than mine.
We’ll pay it off quickly and don’t incur penalty or interest, by far the majority of non payers are just taking the piss of people who paid thier loans and tax payers who fund the loans who both are in exactly the same financial circumstances as the free loaders
When someone loans someone money that person is taking the risk that they’re not going to get it back. We even have laws allowing for this to happen through bankruptcy (And a student, once they get through their course, is essentially bankrupt) and No Asset Procedure. Of course, the government has excused itself from those laws.
So, we have rich people defaulting willy nilly on loans and other responsibilities while poor people get the boot put into them by the government in its persona of Loan Shark.
This is just the very end of the tip of this type of horrendous exploitation and offending – the great mass of it is hidden – behind respectable facades and benign exteriors…
A Christchurch activist and union organiser has admitted child abuse imagery charges.
Joseph (Joe) Robert Davies, 60, pleaded guilty on Thursday to five charges brought by the Customs Department of possessing, distributing, and exporting objectionable material.
The charges involve 44 videos and nine images, some involving bondage, and many involving penetrative sex between adults and children.
Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert remanded Davies on bail for sentencing on August 31, and asked for a pre-sentence report to consider his suitability for home detention.
And you know what? I don’t give a flying fuck if institutions are hurt by this, if movements are hurt – I deal with people who are the children grown from this shit and they are struggling to find reasons to exist and live. Fuck you exploiter.
Pot-Smokers Harm Gums; Other Physical Effects Slight
Long-term study finds no differences in metabolism, lung function, inflammation
Durham, NC – A long-term study of nearly 1,000 New Zealanders from birth to age 38 has found that people who smoked marijuana for up to 20 years have more gum disease, but otherwise do not show worse physical health than non-smokers.
The international research team assessed a dozen measures of physical health, including lung function, systemic inflammation and several measures of metabolic syndrome, including waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, glucose control and body mass index.
Tobacco users in the study, which appears online the week of June 1 in JAMA Psychiatry, were found to have gum disease as well as reduced lung function, systemic inflammation and indicators of poorer metabolic health.
“We can see the physical health effects of tobacco smoking in this study, but we don’t see similar effects for cannabis smoking,” said Madeline Meier, an assistant professor of psychology at Arizona State University who conducted the study with colleagues at Duke University, King’s College in the UK and the University of Otago in New Zealand.
I’m not too surprised. I think most social service agencies would not be too keen on the Prime Minister or any state official so grossly misrepresenting what they do to the public. Or lying about it.
That article is great.
Director Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit director Ian Hutson said it was important the “miscommunication” between his organisation and MSD was corrected in the public eye.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Social Housing Paula Bennett have been contacted for comment.
MSD said addressed any queries on the incorrect statements to the Minister.
It was continuing to “offer a community presence” in Auckland so people without a place to stay could get their help.
Sallies calling the PM a liar.
The MSD passing the buck to the Minister.
The MSD admitting that it basically either doesn’t know what to do or isn’t allowed to do it’s job. And that people don’t trust them any more.
Interesting position from the SA about not approaching people in cars too. FFS can you imagine having someone from the MSD knock on your window.
It shouldn’t Bill, the relationship between the government and The Salvation Army has be deteriorating for sometime. The Salvation Army are rightly upset they are being left to carry the load – time after time after time.
Well! It seems that the Clinton campaign has deliberately been mis-leading us all about the Super-delegates. They are NOT to be counted until the Convention in July. They change their minds. All is not yet lost for Bernie!
“Not on a hot mic or during a commercial break, but live on the air, Luis Miranda, (communications director for the Democratic National Committee) in no uncertain terms, told Jake Tapper that the media should not be including them. Miranda said, “One of the problems is the way the media reports them. Any night that you have a primary or caucus, and the media lumps the Superdelegates in, that they basically polled by calling them up and saying who are you supporting, they don’t vote until the convention, and so they shouldn’t be included in any count.” http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/king-clinton-media-counting-superdelegates-dnc-pleas-article-1.2655752?cid=bitly
Drivers in Tunbridge Wells have been left outraged after (…) foxes apparently chewed through the brake cables of several cars. Kent police have now warned drivers to check their brakes before setting off on journeys.
Another day has passed in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring ,nasty and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
It’s predicted to be 5 degrees in Auckland tonight.
3 degrees in Christchurch.
Cold if you’re in a car.
Cold if you’re in a garage.
Cold if you’re on the street.
About one in every 100 New Zealanders don’t have a home to call their own, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Otago found that in 2013, more than 41,000 people were staying in severely crowded houses with family or friends, or in boarding houses, camping grounds, in cars or on the street.
Less than 1 pc of pop, of that most will be random, ie there will a percentage as such no matter what you do, you can’t ignore it but don’t pimp it either or extrapolate to Paul’s and little angry andy absurdity that the county going to hell in a hand cart, which it is plainly not, cheer up son
Just watched some of Duncan Garner’s whateverit’scalled show with shriekers shouting about the Labout-Greens memorandum of understanding and Garner desperately trying to sound like Hosking while his guests try equally desperately, but unsuccessfully to sound important. No idea who they are or why they are on TV…Awful bias TV much like the insincere fools on ‘Fox News’ attacking Obama and democrats at any cost.
Oh for some real panel discussions on the issues of the day with someone of intellect.
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
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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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
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 ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
The NZ Defence Force has been called on to defend New Zealanders, by using some of their resources to help Te Puea Marae deal with the homeless emergency.
Will the army step up to the plate in defending poorer New Zealanders?
Is are our armed forces only purpose, to serve the geo-political interests of the rich and powerful, here and overseas?
Or to defend all New Zealanders?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11648844
The New Zealand Defence force has received a “big jump” in their funding in this budget, they are well able to spare some resources to help Te Puea Marae cope with emergency housing efforts.
Will they do it?
“Big Jump In Defence Spending”
Or is our army only at the beck and call of the rich and privileged who have no interest in defending New Zealand, only their own selfish geo political partnerships and interests, with our soldiers lives if necessary.
Jenny the armed forces, in NZ, follow the orders of the NZ government. This is as it should be.
It sounds nice and good to say why doesn’t the military act when someone deserving asks for help but that would be a very bad thing.
It would be a very bad thing because, as an example, if a government is elected that the military thinks is bad for the country then the military might decide that a coup is in order to protect the people from themselves.
Now I would have no problem with the military being called in to help, it would probably even be good training, but only if the government gives the good ahead.
Basically I feel that the slippery slope argument is why the military should always take direction from the government of the day
And if the Government tells you to escort all the South Aucklanders living in cars to an internment camp on the Desert Rd.. you would be just following orders right?
the shultz defence would kick in then – at the peoples trials held after I mean…
You are required to follow any order from a superior officer that will not result in a breach of the law. If you are given an order that would result in an illegal action you are required to not follow that order. If you do not agree with an order or feel that it is not a lawful order (does not meet certain criteria, nothing to do with illegal) you are required to follow that order and then file a formal complaint in regards to the order.
Failure to follow lawful orders can include detention in Burnham military camp or a sever fine. In times of war it can result in execution (yes New Zealand does still have the death penalty).
Military personnel do contribute to the community every day in ways you don’t see. The number of times you will be approached to help out with charitable endeavours is impressive. It is also in policy that if you are carrying out certain types of training and team building you are required to organise time to do community service.
If you want more information on how the NZDF contributes to the communities in which they are located feel free to go to your local base and have a chat to them. I am sure they will be happy to answer any queries you have.
Bought to you by your friendly local member of the NZDF.
“a formal complaint in regards to the order”
has this happened very much?
I couldn’t give you numbers. Formal complaints are common and often upheld. There is a very rigorous system that allows any member to push a complaint as high as the Chief of Defence Force if they feel it has not be fairly addressed.
IIRC complaints could also progress to the Governor General, if CDS does not satisfy the complaint. That was still one of the main reasons IMHO for the retention of the Monarchy. I held my commission as an officer of the RNZN from the Queen – not the PM.
Whilst serving on Naval Staff I dealt with a number of complaints of a variety of different reasons. (but that was back in the late ’70’s early ’80’s)
I can’t think of any that did go on to the GG however.
I also see that in the UK they have now introduced a Service Complaints Ombudsman.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/armed-forces-service-complaints-process
Something we could perhaps introduce here.
Since you’ve asked me a question I’ll ask one of you in response:
Its 2020 and Labour/Greens have claimed power. As part of the deal the Greens have insisted on implementing their policy on defence: https://home.greens.org.nz/policy/summary/defence
The NZDF, fearing that these restrictions will place the country in an immediate threat of invasion, have decided to mount a coup to protect NZ
They do this because, instead of waiting for parliament to agree, they just decide its the right thing to do because they want to protect the people of NZ.
My question is: would you be ok with that?
Because that’s the other side of the coin. IMHO the system we have now where the NZDF responds to requests is the better option, it isn’t perfect but the alternative may well lead to outcomes you weren’t expecting
What exactly would the NZDF mount a coup with?
That’s not really the question though is it, a hypothetical question was asked supporting one side of the argument, I posed a hypothetical for the other.
I don’t expect the NZDF to stage a coup at any time but then I don’t expect the homeless to be shipped off to an internment camp on the Desert road either
Better shit than the Fijian military has.
All the shit they get from the UN
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, ugly and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Unaffordable housing.
‘John Key suggested we Google Trade Me for homes under $500,000. So we did, and here they are The prime minister told reporters yesterday there are plenty of (relatively) affordable Auckland homes on Trade Me. Madeleine Chapman searched the site to see if he was right.
Asked yesterday about Auckland’s average house price nearing the $1 million mark, John Key was as upbeat as ever: “If you go on Trade Me this afternoon and Google property $500,000 or less in Auckland, you will find there are quite a few.”
Leaving to one side the curious instruction to Google something on Trade Me, this isn’t the first time the PM has directed us to this online real estate nirvana.
Almost exactly two years ago he talked down concerns about the housing crisis with an even stronger endorsement of Trade Me’s budget catalogue.
“If you go on Trade Me to look for Auckland housing under $400,000 there are over 2,000 properties listed.”
The journey from 2,000 under-$400k to “quite a few” under-$5ook is troubling enough. But what are these “quite a few”? I Googled up my Trade Me to find out.’
http://thespinoff.co.nz/politics-media/02-06-2016/john-key-suggested-we-google-trademe-for-homes-under-500000-so-we-did-and-here-they-are/
Key carries on under the assumption his media shills will keep swallowing the spin and not bother doing any digging or analysis on his BS. His recent rants being examples.
This site has many examples yet look at the msm and it’s a wasteland of celebrity, sport and human interest pieces in between careful messaging on behalf of national.
Mr and mrs soper appear to be very busy along with the usual sycophants like trevitt and the suck up brothers Henry/Hoskins.
This was a particularly stupid comment even by Key’s standards. Very odd-there is a consistent pattern now that he just can’t be bothered; that the media “will swallow anything I say”. So he tells the media there are still lots of cheap houses in Auckland, where on Planet Key this is under $500k, and it’s not really true anyway. He just can’t come to terms with the housing crisis that National has created.
If Little had said this the MSM would have hit him with a tonne of bricks.
I notice in the Herald today 14.2% of sales in Auckland last month were below $500k. Assuming almost all of these were in the $400-500k bracket that means there are sod-all affordable houses around. Is a house at $350k really affordable to a wide range of society? Not in my book.
A cruel and selfish nation.
Mike Hosking.
A narcissist, who comments on a housing crisis while driving around the leafy suburbs in a Maserati.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/housing-crisis-driven-more-emotion-than-fact
‘Shoeless and limping to school.’
But that’s ok…..John Key and Mike Hosking says there isn’t a housing or homeless crisis in New Zealand. We should just pull up our tinted windows in our SUVs and pay them money to disappear.
Godzone has morphed into Randistan and narcissist psychopaths are shredding this country.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/80649213/Nelson-boy-came-to-school-shoeless-and-limping-Child-Poverty-Action-Group-told
@ Paul, While I like the theme of how bad John Key has made this country – I have to say that I am optimistic that people are still kind and caring and generous. Not Hoskings obviously, but have a look at the Te Puea Marae and people have donated over $7000 already, when Campbell Live was on people always gave generously.
There is a lot of hope and worldwide things are changing. Just caring by posting is changing the discourses….
Paul I do like your constant repetition of the line “cruel and selfish” in its various guises.
It does describe our society to a considerable extent, brought on and/or cemented in place by the arrival of the neoliberal paradigm in the 1980’s which had as its base premise “self-interest”.
It is a very sad indictment.
But it is true.
People today are outwardly more selfish, cruel, nasty, greedy and less caring..
But inwardly people will be the same – with the other characteristics of humanity that are more caring and sharing, more social (we are the most social of creatures and absolutely not a bunch of individuals – what a stupid idea), more with a view to what we leave for our mokopuna… those characteristics are there for sure …..
….. they are just hidden under the ugly morass of greedy neoliberalism, but they will sprout and flower again..
Maybe you should try staying in bed. Every morning is the same, try seeing the glass half full for a change. Who cares what Mike Hosking thinks? He makes a living out of people like you giving him oxygen. Lighten up a bit, it’s a lovely day.
Hosking says 800 under $500k in Auckland.
Spinoff says 65. (Of which some are a long way out of Auckland and some are on lease land.)
Who should I believe? Key/Hoskings or Spinoff?
Key knows that he can toss off his remarks with immunity. How many voters would go and actually look? And why quibble about the exact number of houses?
A cunning plan Baldrick!
Take out the leases. Remember the woman who had her lease in Cornwall park go up to $40,000 per year or something. She then had to go to court about it when she couldn’t pay and had to abandon the property etc etc.
Also take out the apartments with Body Corps as the same thing can happen. They decide you need a big long term fund, replace the roof, new swimming pool or what have you and low and behold, legally you have to make the extra payments.
I’m constantly bemused by the inability of the media at large to use a search engine, especially the Trademe one. Some of these people who quote Trademe are really too stupid for words.
All Hoskings had to do was sort his search results in order of highest price to lowest and he would have discovered that the Trademe search engine is a little less than truthful. But no, he instead makes a dick of himself.
“A narcissist, who comments on a housing crisis while driving around the leafy suburbs in a Maserati”
Paul your idol Mike sold his Maserati in 2014. Do try to keep up old boy.
well. that changes things no end
On TradeMe no doubt.
Shame though because I’ve been told that a Maserati makes for excellent night accommodation for homeless people.
Severely tortured Guantánamo detainee makes case for freedom at board hearing
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/02/guantanamo-bay-hearing-mohamedou-slahi-diary
Clinton and Trump “Neck and Neck in the polls”
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/22/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-polls/
How could this disaster happen?
Will the conservative Democratic Super-Delegates hand the presidency to Donald Trump by nominating second runner (to Sanders) Clinton as their nominee?
Will the Democratic Convention of 2016 be a repeat of the Democratic Convention of 1968?
Where the convention handed the US presidency to Nixon by choosing an unpopular pro-Vietnam war candidate Hubert Humphrey, over and anti-Vietnam war candidate Eugene McCarthy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention
President trump will save us all by killing everyone.
If I was a democrat I’d be ditching Clinton
I read this op-ed by Thomas Friedman this morning (02/06/2016) in the Tampa Bay Times (I’m stuck in Florida for the next several months, ugh)
Friedman has given Clinton one of the greatest weak tea endorsements I’ve seen in ages. lol
So Frieddman says “But there is no theory behind his lies, except what will advance him,…”
In my eyes this is what Key does. No particular philosophy, say what the audience want to hear, and respond to problems with pragmatic non solutions to buy time. Key has a smoother delivery though.
“All lying in politics is not created equal”
This, I think, is the crux of the matter. There are things you can lie about with impunity but there are some things you can’t and they don’t always make, logical, sense
Lying never makes logical sense. Believing that it does is probably a sign of psychopathy.
You are right, Trump and Key are very similar. Key is dangerous because he has a team behind him, working the numbers and pushing obstacles out of his way (Campbell Live) and appears pretty ordinary in other ways so you don’t realise what he is capable of (being the IDU chairman seems to mean he is VERY capable), Trump is dangerous because if he gets elected he is likely to have a bad hair day and release all the missiles, maybe just for fun if Merkel doesn’t put lipstick on. He wants people to fear him. It’s kinda like an American Kim Jong Un – in fact Kim Jong Un is one of the few foreign PM’s who have endorsed Trump and called him ‘wise’ while John Key has had a secret meeting with Trump (another endorsement).
Key is not a liar, he’s a bullshitter.
The liar is concerned with that the truth of the statement is believed. Key cares neither what people think nor about the real state of affairs – he says what makes him look good.
https://jdc325.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/why-are-lies-worse-than-bullshit/
The gorilla is a good example – we are supposed to believe that the gorilla engaged Key’s sympathy – but it’s a counterfactual – Key never had to cope with the gorilla, and given the enthusiasm with which he has DOC poisoning kiwi this new ‘animal lover’ identity is empirically unlikely.
Clinton needs Trump for now, i just dont believe that Trump can win, too many republicians will not vote, as trump will set the image of Republicianism. Why are so many prominent party politicians unavailable to back their parties candidate, its obvious they or who they want to run in the future would be worse off with Trump.
But in many ways they have their selves to blame, they thought they could go right against Clinton, and they’d win, till Trump beat off weak spineless out of touch wanabees.
Last week I queried the Meth Contamination thresholds in houses. Turns out that this could be this year’s biggest scam and there is shitloads of candidates for that title.
The “testing ” is being done by real estate agents, and to top it off there is no official threshold, that is being establish by, you quested it, the people doing the testing.
Who would have thought that real estate agents could be dishonest.
What I want 3’s Story to follow up on is how many ” contaminated” houses have been bought by agents or their proxies for a huge discount.
My understanding is that that there is no legislation, there are no ‘standards’, regulations, policies, procedures or protocols covering the testing for alleged “P” contamination of houses, owned by either the private sector or the State.
So – how exactly is it being decided that houses ARE ‘contaminated’ with “P”?
Who decides that – based on what?
Next question – WHO contaminated the house with “P”?
How convenient for the impression to be created that there are empty State houses because State tenants contaminated them with “P”?
I have a comprehensive OIA request on the issue of “P” contamination of State houses currently lodged with Housing Minister Nick Smith and am awaiting with interest the official response to my questions.
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
I think the question you should be asking is not who conducts tests, but looking at the tests themselves, how many, how good is each product, are the testers trained, are they aware of cross contamination, rental property managers could be cross contaminating tons of places just inspecting renters.
Due to this their will be a regulation, tests will eventually become compulsory on all sales and the few agencies with certification to do it will be owned by tories and raking in truckloads off kiwis in testing costs.
P. I like the Indonesian laws on this, a bullets cheaper.
Good point Adrian!!! Now there is some cottage industry of people going around finding everything is P contaminated and the property is unliveable. Another reason to sell off the state houses and to blame the tenants.
Not to mention the windfalls for real estate agents and property investors.
From what I have read, both here and on Public Address, the meth-testing business should send a shiver down everyone’s spine. For one thing, if there is no threshold, those accused are left with no grounds for defending themselves – you cannot challenge a false positive if there is no standard determining the positive in the first place. For another, according to Russell Brown, scientists have said that meth manufacture poses a serious health risk, but meth having been smoked in a house generally does not. http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/this-is-crazy/ Moreover, minor contamination could just as easily come from a tradesman who fixed the toilet, or a relative sneaking off to the laundry at an after-wedding party, etc – there could even be a cooking ingredient that registers a blip on whatever it is they use for “testing”. If what I have read about it is even half true, it shows a frighteningly cavalier attitude to human rights, rule of law, and sober-minded governance.
There is a guideline actually. Ministry of Health say that it is .5mg per 100mg.
However, this guideline relies on a “per room” method of testing in which up to 8 swabs are taken in a different area of each room. So for a 3 bedroom house, you’re looking at around 50 swabs.
This is a fairly expensive method.
What the meth tests companies do instead, is use ONE swab, and rub it over 8 different locations throughout the house and come up with a ‘composite test’
This is incredibly misleading as some of the ingredients in P are also found in common household brands of flyspray.
Housing NZ have a policy that any meth contamination is too much contamination.
A lot of their houses have been found to only have .05mg or less, per 100mg of contamination.
That apparently, is enough to prove P use. Despite the fact it likely isn’t.
So to summarise.
MoH say .5mg per 100mg is a level at which a house is safe to live in. Anything above it is likely to have been a p lab.
However,the guidelines recommend 8 swabs per room.
P testing companies routinely report contamination levels of .05mg/100mg and under. That is, 10 times less contamination than the MOH recommends.
This is often arrived at by using one swab across 8 areas of the house.
Likely that the ‘composite’ test inflates the true figure of potential contamination, and could easily be picking up flyspray residue.
If any level whatsoever counts against the tenant, and the testing method is open to producing a positive from fly spray, then the ‘guideline’ functions as little more than a fig leaf for expedience. And of course, the zero tolerance stance allows for an “honest mistake” claim to be made should a serious challenge arise. Hardly a recipe for political or social trust.
“There is a guideline actually. Ministry of Health say that it is .5mg per 100mg.”
thats for lab contamination – which has a different set of chemicals and residues
(as far as im aware)
this is where much of the problem arises – guidelines for one set of chemicals being used for a different situation than they cover
Toluene which is used in meth production is also in nail varnish and particularily in remover and in all sorts of cleaner including carpets etc”
I,m sure this is a scam using bad science and fear mongering to scam the house trading industry.
Hi adrian, I agree, a scam run by the sorts of people who do workplace ‘drug testing’.
Very interesting point. It’s hard to get ANY reliable information on the subject of testing, reliability, acceptable levels of meth, who gets to decide that suspicion is permitted to be cast onto whatever property. Finally found a little something, sorry if you all have already seen it: http://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2016/03/24/meth-contaminated-homes-whats-the-risk-expert-reaction/
“The Ministry of Health currently recommends that surface wipes for methamphetamine not exceed a concentration of 0.5 μg/100 cm2 as the acceptable post-remediation re-occupancy level for a dwelling that has been used as a clan meth lab”. Based on US guidelines (suggestions). Ok. Note that 0.5 micrograms (μg or ug) means 0.0005 mg.
This does not differentiate from potential residue left by end-users, who can be quite different to the ‘cooks’ or producers (in my ignorant opinion, I don’t believe that that every P user makes their own?)
They also make no mention of the type of meth molecule being tested for. Illicit methamphetamine is characterised by its stereochemistry, dictated by the choice of precursor used. All manufacturing methods starting from l-ephedrine or d-pseudoephedrine produce (d) (+)-(S)-methamphetamine as the single optical isomer. Methods using P2P (phenyl-2-nitropropene to phenylacetone) results in a racemic mixture (both l- and d- isomers) of methamphetamine.
A well-used example: L-methamphetamine (“l” form/isomer) is available over-the-counter as the active ingredient of decongestant inhalers like the popular Vick’s brand. It is a metabolite of certain prescription medications. Both “d” and “l” test positive by both immunoassay and most GC/MS assays.1
Meth is meth but I would expect a positive result to be further investigated to determine if the meth COULD have originated from a completely legit source.
https://www.hitpages.com/doc/5766999321870336/2#pageTop is one link.
Not much indication that testing for other chemicals involved in illicit manufacture is actually REQUIRED, which one might expect? Seems the Guidelines (suggestions) only suggest that these other chemicals be tested for. To my small brain this would go some way in determining the source of the detected ‘meth’ (i.e. clan lab vs. end user)
I’d like to see some basic NZ-based research. I’d like to at least see a random selection of houses/dwellings ‘tested for meth’. Or even just the McMansions, that would be entertaining.
How do they prove that the current tenant/occupier/owner was ACTUALLY involved in cooking? Or even an end-user? Some of this is really not right. To say the least.
Meanwhile the privatisation of the State Housing stock proceeds at pace.
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/39/07.html
Here in Papakura a corner block of state houses in Rosehill were demolished on grounds of P contamination.
And P Contamination is one of the reasons given why another 25-50 State Houses in this suburb of high housing need are kept empty.
It is distressing to read that such grounds for demolition and removal of State Housing stock from the rental market on grounds of P Contamination is a subjective matter.
Especially when our local Bruce Pulman Park has been in the news for the large number of homeless who camp here.
(Bruce Pulman Park even featured in the news of John Key’s latest lies)
PM’s remarks, “untrue” say Salvation Army
John Key says his comments that some of the homeless sleeping in cars in Bruce Pulman Park didn’t want to be housed, were made on the information supplied to him by his officials.
If the government at the highest level can blatantly lie about fictional visits to the homeless in Bruce Pulman Park, – With no proper sound scientific basis for making such decisions, who can trust that these same zealous officials are not exaggerating the nature and the extent of the P contamination of State Houses in Papakura to help carry out the government’s stated privatisation program of the State Housing asset?
Base on the evidence, let me correct the above statement;
The MSD has said it has become aware of the group and is now lying hard to prevent them getting the help they need.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/half-the-homes-vacant-in-papakura-are-not-fit-to-rent-to-families-sleeping-in-cars/
What the ZB report blatantly leaves out or doesn’t make clear is what kind of homes are being built to replace the demolished State Houses.
On past experience, most of them (or even just the land) will be sold privately with a few sold/given to private charities to run as so called “Social Housing”.
The National Government’s “Social Housing” program, with it’s stated concentration on providing affordable houses for private sale, as well as to private charities, has had very mixed results. While it can be argued that the Social Housing program has provided relief for those on middle incomes unable to buy in an overpriced housing market. (and some relief for those at the very bottom reliant on private charities). Overall it has seen a decline in the number of rentals for people unable to afford to buy, at the so called affordable level ($300,000)
http://www.socialhousing.govt.nz/
Wth, This is actual depressing. Think I need to watch me some Batchelor reruns to get my mind off it…
“Quested”?, should be quessed , is predictive spelling just another pain in the arse?
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump – ‘Presidential’?
SCARY stuff !
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/trump-university-its-worse-than-you-think?mbid=nl_Copy%20of%20060216%20Cassidy%20Post%20Newsletter%20(1)&CNDID=41877260&spMailingID=9006421&spUserID=MTMyMDA4OTYwNzQzS0&spJobID=940207458&spReportId=OTQwMjA3NDU4S0
“Following the release, earlier this week, of testimony filed in a federal lawsuit against Trump University, the United States is facing a high-stakes social-science experiment.
Will one of the world’s leading democracies elect as its President a businessman who founded and operated a for-profit learning annex that some of its own employees regarded as a giant rip-off, and that the highest legal officer in New York State has described as a classic bait-and-switch scheme? …”
___________________________
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Penny Bright – mayoral candidate….scary stuff !
+1,000.
Luckily the chances of that happening are nil.
Just hope Penny gets more votes than Cameron’s Palino.
Of all of my loathing of Paul Henry being a Tory Scum, he made me famous this morning. Still hate your guts Henry and yes you lost to Georgina Beyer.
Now I would like to make it clear I do not have any issues with transgender people at all. I said it that way, because I imagine to a TORY SCUMBAG like Paul Henry, the dent in his TORY pride from losing to an LBGT of all opposition to him, must really irritate him hence he attacks the left every opportunity to exact his pathetic revenge and dislike..
Since I cannot battle his Tory point of view, to make my sad little life better, I thought i’d make his day in Keys paradise a reminder of what a loser National prospect he was.
So to Any TG people reading, no offence meant and thank you for allowing/hopefully not crucifying me to use Georgina B to rub salt in Henrys wounds.
Cracked up when he said Richard, I don’t think he’s a fan.. Never thought he’d actually read it out.
I don’t agree with using a group, that has suffered so much in society, as a weapon against a dickhead. No one wins, everyone loses.
I just woke up, turned on to see Henry spouting all homeless don’t want help and painting the National line.
I remembered someone posting here yesterday that Henry lost to GB, I didn’t know that till yesterday, I didn’t know Henry had stood for National and I was shocked he’s now on TV3 with full access in the morning to spout his tory beliefs.
I’m Bi-polar and even on meds find things coming out that I realize I should have thought of first before I spoke.
I was wrong, But at the same time I got everyone who watches Paul Henry and didn’t know he’d been a National candidate to know go hold on? is that true?
They may research and now know for a fact what they hear from him has a political purpose!
If in any way one person changes knowing they are being manipulated by the media, i’m sure the LBGT members who support our political point of view will let it slide.
I apologise to anyone who loves to point fingers and pick fault in others, in the belief no one makes mistakes and if they do they should be thoroughly rounded upon. 🙂
no problems richard – this position of mine is consistent with me and honed over a long time – not a personal thing against you or even what you said or did – it is my limits, my lines in the sand – not other people’s whose lines may be and often are in different places. My only point in posting was to say out loud the above so that others see different views and opinions.
With all due respect I’m pretty sure most people would know that Paul Henrys political leanings are on the right, its not really a big surprise
The issue is more about how in a more even contest Paul Henry loses hands down.
Yep Weldon, Chrisite and John Key have put him on this pedestal and got him on TV to push their poison – but ultimately he is deeply unpopular no matter what they do and that is why TV3 ratings have plummeted.
Hes not a good politician that’s for sure but to label him deeply unpopular isn’t quite correct because the ratings for his show have increased:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11496016
http://www.throng.co.nz/2015/09/ratings-paul-henrys-numbers-up/
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1604/S00338/paul-henry-hits-2016-ratings-high-tv3-wins-friday-night.htm
Tried to do it by monthly but its not always easy to find the viewing stats
Thats because TV ratings are as relevant as winning lotto statistically… something like 600 over 4.5 million people. You do the math. Then moderated by the TV companies.
“leanings”?
Nice, gentle, forgiving word, “leanings”.
Bullshit.
With all due respect I’m pretty sure most people would know that Paul Henry’s an unpleasant person and so his political leanings are on the right, its not really a big surprise
Why do you watch the show if Henry is Tory scum, he loves the hate mail it builds his ratings. I can’t really understand why you hate him, most of what he does and says is hilarious with no malice and for effect, people with thin skins simply choose to be offended
So if it is true, and the labour party has only about 5k members – give or take.
Then has the time come to announce their death? With those numbers they look like the Bolsheviks, representing just over 0.1% of the population. National are not much better at something like 0.6% of the population as members – but they at least do politics in the interests of the 0.6%
Is it not well past time that people on the left did what was best for the people rather than let a tired old bunch of professionals and technocrats telling them what is best for them. Because if the third way taught us anything, it was that the professional left is a nasty vicious piece of work.
A whole lot of electorates are up for grabs – take your pick from lazy, to the down right awful Labour MP’s. Mix in those neo-con muppets who have sold working people down the river in the first place.
And a left wing government looks viable.
“So if it is true”. There’s a lot of prognosticating going on here and with Chris Trotter based on an “if”.
What if Trotter were wrong? His guess of 2000 ordinary members spread over 67 electorates means about 30 members per electorate. My electorate is a ‘safe’ National rural provincial seat, yet this number attended this years electorate committee AGM.
Go figure as to the accuracy of Trotter’s claim.
+1
So you are saying the future of the Labour party is more falling membership?
My point, is in a MMP environment, why should the left bow down to any party? Why should labour be uncontested in electorates when it puts forward non-left candidates.
I’d also point out the vaunted labour war chest no longer exists. So left wing people should stand in electorates, because labour does not have the money. Labour still gets list MP’s with it’s party vote.
The hard left could keep voting Mana, and all the best to them, bowing and all.
Missed my point, but OK. Love the irony with Kelvin Davies though.
Adam, I’m saying nothing about what you think I’m saying. I have merely pointed out that Trotter, and therefore you, may (have allowed your feelings for Labour to colour your figures and thinking and ) have constructed an argument based on a premise that has not been substantiated- i.e. Labour has only 2000 members or 6000 if you count affiliates.
I point out your conditional argument. You want now to accord me even more thinking than I have put forward. There is no “so” for you to fly with.
I say Trotter is wrong, in my experience. “So”, it is up to you to justify that figure to allow all the rest of your argument any validity.
BTW, I have been a member for forty plus years. The branch I joined in1974 had 1500 members! Of course, the membership is dropping. It is a phenomenon with many causes, all but one have to do with your major gripe-that Labour is no longer a party of the Left. It’s also no longer 1975. It’s a different world with different working patterns, life styles, media, upbringing, literature, songs, history, education, union membership, TV, films, family structures, social pressures; all of these have impacted, and there are more than I can conjure up quickly and without research, upon why people join political parties in the numbers that they do.
If people fell away from Labour because of their perceptions of how left is Left, then why did the more recent leftish parties- the Alliance, Mana et al.- not grow to bigger percentages? There are more reasons than you allow for.
My point is quite simple really, labour is a political party. It has a small membership, it can’t speak for the left, like I can’t speak for the left. It is not all powerful, and people should make decisions based on what they think is right, not what is good for the labour party. In this case, the myth of labours war chest, and membership base is just that – mythology.
It is beyond time good people stood in electorates against labour. If the party is not connecting, well that’s their issue, not one of the left, and people should get over it. No doubt some people will get upset with that assessment. Or label me loony lefty or what was Ads remark, ‘hard left’ what ever that means – personally I like Christian anarchist.
I know recent, but not the most up to date, figures for both Dunedin South and Dunedin North electorates. I also know the Clutha Southland numbers from when I was candidate there, but those numbers have grown.
Judging from that the true figure of FINANCIAL members is probably under 5,000, but 2,000 is definitely too low an estimate. I would have picked between 4000 and 5000.
If you include non-financial members the number will be over 5,000.
Having said that I am fairly certain that membership numbers have fallen by thousands from when David Cunliffe was Leader, when the financial membership was at least 10K.
That is still substantially less than national party membership.
Also much lower than the historical membership numbers.
But my point is, that labourights no longer have to be tolerated.
Just being a smart arse, but thought something might be said about labour rights and labourites…;-)
Teehee, auto correct I love you…
Obviuosly not much else on in the provinces, why not go watch a good comedy or Greek tragedy, irrespective of your political leanings 😀
Even better, act in a good comedy or tragedy. Drama is a good way to investigate political/social concerns. The last role I had, my character started as a gung ho King and Country soldier and ended by saying, “I went down to the river and threw all my medals into the water.” All sorts of political leanings saw that show- all were affected in some way. Living in the provinces does not necessarily mean we are ‘provincial’!
Good point, love the provinces, 😀
Oh dear, remember the tremendous fuss over Helen Clark’s speeding motorcade?
Well, apparently it happens on almost a daily basis:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11649911
+1 Anne-my thoughts exactly when I read that.
Oh yeah, the good old days are still with us.
I recall a trip from Napier to Gisborne where I was following/chasing a Crown Limo. I figured Parekura Horomia was in the back seat so we had double immunity on the Coast.
In defence of the driver, neither s/he nor I exceeded 150kmh on the run up the East Coast.
I do think that its the Limo drivers who love to speed knowing they are above the law, rather than any Poli’s pulling their ears and screaming “faster, Faster”
Ah yes but Helen was quite happy to throw the driver in front of the bullets even though she was well aware and approving of the speeding
Liar! It had nothing to do with Helen Clark and you know it. The police laid the charges because the driver was one of their own and this has always been the course of action when a police officer is involved in an alleged law breaking incident. The Judge threw the case out and Helen Clark was then able to respond to the case by saying:
” She believed that the judge made the right decision”. Or words to the same effect.
Tell the truth for a change.
Toby Manhire gets it right (as usual) on the Labour/Green pact.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11649618
I liked Kevin Locke’s analysis this morning on Morning Report, especially where he said now the media should report the block vote for polls i.e. Lab/Gr 42% Gnats 46%.
Gnats and nzf 58pc then
Oh dear, with the loss of their great visionary leader who managed to tank tv3, Scout and Rachel Glucina are now on their way out.
A blow for journalism in NZ. 😉
What’s her “new opportunity”? Punching babies in the face and then laughing?
Oh dear!
How sad!
Never mind.
I watched Glucina’s ‘scout’ trash twice. The second time because I couldn’t believe it the first time.
I’m sure TV3 people were proud to be associated with it.(sarc).
How awful can TV get.
Dunno..ask Paddy Gower how low journalism can get? He is incredible . (i.e That is-not credible)
Crikey.
The NZHerald and ZB Radio absolutely laying waste to Gerry Brownlee about failure of progress on the Christchurch rebuild:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11650090
Sample quote:
“If the convention centre was being led by a private company, then the CEO of that company would have been fired a long time ago for failing to deliver on the project.
April 2019 has now been set as the latest operational completion date. That’s frankly disgusting, and Gerry Brownlee needs to front up and stop acting like a 12 year old whenever criticism comes his way.
The report also shows the government initially wanted all negotiations around the convention centre to be finalised before CERA was disestablished. Well that hasn’t happened? So who’s going to take responsibility? Who’s protecting who? And who needs to be fired for failing Christchurch and its business community?”
Not sure when in New Zealand I’ve anything more excoriating of a government Minister, without them being held to account by a Prime Minister.
When the top quintile start getting antsy, that’s when Governments fall.
Bodes well for when national anexs the super city council!!
Of this government, only Key is smart enough about Auckland not to take on responsibility for the entire Council’s functions. Ordinarily I’d expect all his jaw-jawing is simply focusing Auckland Council’s mind in preparation for August.
But is he still so smart? He’s been so cack-handed lately it’s hard to really trust him to manage a proper conversation between Smith and Brownlee on the perils of trying to run/command-and-control/plan/influence either Christchurch or Auckland.
There just doesn’t appear to be a real “lessons learned” from Christchurch being applied to Auckland at all. Other than in Treasury.
Which – given these cities’ dominance of New Zealand into the future – strikes me as somewhat fatal for them, and not too good for the rest of us either.
When I think of failed Crown Ministers – Gerry Brownlee, is quite close to the top of my list.
Is Key unable to now to control any ministers? Or hold any to account?
His accountability standards have lowered substantially since the good of days when Craig Heatley stood down for something pretty minor. Pretty hard to raise them back up again in a different government.
Do kiwis really believe that Pharmac is safe from the TPPA? A similar agreement between the US and the EU will put an end to the NHS in the UK according to leaked papers from the EU!!
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/666454/NHS-EU-killed-off-Brexit-Remain-Leave-referendum-Brussels-European-Union
cough – f*scist state – cough
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11649957
“Those in default and living in Australia will come under more scrutiny from next month, when a transtasman information-sharing agreement begins. It will cover contact details of student loan borrowers living in Australia.”
One overseas womans $6000 student loan has ballooned over $30,000. “Will I be arrested at the airport?…how will I pay my mortgage if I’m detained in New Zealand, what will happen to my children in Australia if I’m detained?”
Cue responses from all those who never fucked up in their lives …3-2-1-
What I did do was pay what I owed.
They should.
Even if I agreed that student loans should be paid back or even exist, that’s still a completely different argument to whether people should be arrested because of them.
No no McFlock, the full strength of the state MUST be used for naughty loan defaulters, “respect my athoritah!” & all that, like the poor children of poor familes they should just “jump back up your mother”, which came first the horse or the cart etc…
“that’s still a completely different argument to whether people should be arrested because of them” – thank you, more succinct than mine.
BUT the killer is the penalty and interest.
We’ll pay it off quickly and don’t incur penalty or interest, by far the majority of non payers are just taking the piss of people who paid thier loans and tax payers who fund the loans who both are in exactly the same financial circumstances as the free loaders
We’ll pay it off quickly and don’t incur penalty or interest
Jeez why didn’t I think of that.
No taking the piss is getting a free education that takes you to top jobs ,then fucking over the kids of your peers
Why?
When someone loans someone money that person is taking the risk that they’re not going to get it back. We even have laws allowing for this to happen through bankruptcy (And a student, once they get through their course, is essentially bankrupt) and No Asset Procedure. Of course, the government has excused itself from those laws.
So, we have rich people defaulting willy nilly on loans and other responsibilities while poor people get the boot put into them by the government in its persona of Loan Shark.
the scary thing?
This is just the very end of the tip of this type of horrendous exploitation and offending – the great mass of it is hidden – behind respectable facades and benign exteriors…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/80691436/christchurch-union-organiser-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-charges
And you know what? I don’t give a flying fuck if institutions are hurt by this, if movements are hurt – I deal with people who are the children grown from this shit and they are struggling to find reasons to exist and live. Fuck you exploiter.
Which union?
What difference?
The National Distribution Union
Remember kids, floss before bong!
Pot-Smokers Harm Gums; Other Physical Effects Slight
Long-term study finds no differences in metabolism, lung function, inflammation
Durham, NC – A long-term study of nearly 1,000 New Zealanders from birth to age 38 has found that people who smoked marijuana for up to 20 years have more gum disease, but otherwise do not show worse physical health than non-smokers.
The international research team assessed a dozen measures of physical health, including lung function, systemic inflammation and several measures of metabolic syndrome, including waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, glucose control and body mass index.
Tobacco users in the study, which appears online the week of June 1 in JAMA Psychiatry, were found to have gum disease as well as reduced lung function, systemic inflammation and indicators of poorer metabolic health.
“We can see the physical health effects of tobacco smoking in this study, but we don’t see similar effects for cannabis smoking,” said Madeline Meier, an assistant professor of psychology at Arizona State University who conducted the study with colleagues at Duke University, King’s College in the UK and the University of Otago in New Zealand.
https://today.duke.edu/2016/05/cannhealth
The Sallies call out Key.
Key makes a claim, the Sallies say, that’s a lie, John.
Goodness!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/80725620/salvation-army-msd-homeless-visits-didnt-happen-and-the-pms-wrong
Why am I not surprised?
Mind you, that the Salvation Army so publicly flat stick contradicts and criticises the PM’s public pronouncements – maybe that surprises me a little.
I’m not too surprised. I think most social service agencies would not be too keen on the Prime Minister or any state official so grossly misrepresenting what they do to the public. Or lying about it.
That article is great.
Director Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit director Ian Hutson said it was important the “miscommunication” between his organisation and MSD was corrected in the public eye.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Social Housing Paula Bennett have been contacted for comment.
MSD said addressed any queries on the incorrect statements to the Minister.
It was continuing to “offer a community presence” in Auckland so people without a place to stay could get their help.
Sallies calling the PM a liar.
The MSD passing the buck to the Minister.
The MSD admitting that it basically either doesn’t know what to do or isn’t allowed to do it’s job. And that people don’t trust them any more.
Interesting position from the SA about not approaching people in cars too. FFS can you imagine having someone from the MSD knock on your window.
It shouldn’t Bill, the relationship between the government and The Salvation Army has be deteriorating for sometime. The Salvation Army are rightly upset they are being left to carry the load – time after time after time.
Maybe the latest John Key-ism was one step too far for them.
Well! It seems that the Clinton campaign has deliberately been mis-leading us all about the Super-delegates. They are NOT to be counted until the Convention in July. They change their minds. All is not yet lost for Bernie!
“Not on a hot mic or during a commercial break, but live on the air, Luis Miranda, (communications director for the Democratic National Committee) in no uncertain terms, told Jake Tapper that the media should not be including them. Miranda said, “One of the problems is the way the media reports them. Any night that you have a primary or caucus, and the media lumps the Superdelegates in, that they basically polled by calling them up and saying who are you supporting, they don’t vote until the convention, and so they shouldn’t be included in any count.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/king-clinton-media-counting-superdelegates-dnc-pleas-article-1.2655752?cid=bitly
Clever foxes get climate change…Do you? 😈
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/02/foxes-blamed-chewing-motorists-brake-cables
WINZ tells man with cancer to get a job.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/80593373/cancer-sufferer-pleas-for-benefit-break
Stay classy, National.
FFS!
Another day has passed in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring ,nasty and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
It’s predicted to be 5 degrees in Auckland tonight.
3 degrees in Christchurch.
Cold if you’re in a car.
Cold if you’re in a garage.
Cold if you’re on the street.
Thanks Paul you should be a weather girl 😀, I was going to say metrologist but to much of a stretch
Laughing at other peoples misery, classy Red, you are all class.
We all laugh at Pauls misery. He wallows in negativity.
Not the only one naki- that is a very negative statement!!!!
Exactly
Pull up the tinted window.
If you open the Curtians and let reality in its a deal
Your comment only reinforces the point I made about NZ becoming cruel, nasty and uncaring.
About one in every 100 New Zealanders don’t have a home to call their own, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Otago found that in 2013, more than 41,000 people were staying in severely crowded houses with family or friends, or in boarding houses, camping grounds, in cars or on the street.
Less than 1 pc of pop, of that most will be random, ie there will a percentage as such no matter what you do, you can’t ignore it but don’t pimp it either or extrapolate to Paul’s and little angry andy absurdity that the county going to hell in a hand cart, which it is plainly not, cheer up son
I think Paul’s one of those hair shirt wearing Christians.
Never happy unless they’re miserable.
coreection BM every one else has to be miserable as well,for the Paul to achieve peak happiness, hence socialism
A mean spirited point made by a citizen of Randistan.
Yes Paul, keep on parroting your manic moronic lines if it helps with the therapy
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring ,nasty and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
You have proved my point.
Just watched some of Duncan Garner’s whateverit’scalled show with shriekers shouting about the Labout-Greens memorandum of understanding and Garner desperately trying to sound like Hosking while his guests try equally desperately, but unsuccessfully to sound important. No idea who they are or why they are on TV…Awful bias TV much like the insincere fools on ‘Fox News’ attacking Obama and democrats at any cost.
Oh for some real panel discussions on the issues of the day with someone of intellect.