Stuff today launched a fact checking policy tracker on the new government’s “major” initiatives. If done well (researched, balaced, investigated), I think it is a great development. I am not sure they have the resources unless they have added post election staff to do it well?
“The concept is simple: we’ll highlight key events with short pieces of analysis, fact-checking and data-based reporting.” Which is kind of what journalism is always supposed to be.
A “new” type of journalism? Maybe. Or maybe not.
“Post will include a mix of the elements you’re used to from Stuff: charts, video, pictures and tweets, all wrapped up with sharp insights from our journalists.”
How they determine “major” ( cost, number of people impact, etc) will also be interesting.
There’s no way they would’ve ever done that for national.
This will be probably be gamed to further push negative memes around the govt by cloaking them in ‘facts’ IMO as part of the rights new media strategy.
Y’know that ‘my expert says…’ shit that shonky had as stock in trade.
The Fourth Estate is dead in New Zealand. John Campbell used to ask the tough questions , holding politicians responsible for their actions or inactions. Remember Campbell’s dogged determination to have John Key and Brownlee do the right thing for those suffering during Christchurch’s post-earthquake? John Campbell soon afterwards lost his job at TV3, many news host now are seen to tow the line, afraid to upset their bosses. True reporting and holding politicians accountable has flown out of the window in New Zealand. Shame on us.
Very true savenz but like Carolyn_nth, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt.
By and large Newsroom has been a success and its possible they have been galvanised into action by a new government with new ideas and lots of changes about to occur. In other words, they now have impetus which was certainly lacking under the previous government.
Well my advice to our coalition government I would have someone auditing all the news videos and make sure they all show the good side to out new coalition government because some of the videos have not been flattering and everyone has a side that looks good on video. I no you have just started but u need someone on that job of keeping the media honest.
1st point every news show except for the breakfast show has a blue back ground. This is subliminal message blue is best.
Like in 2008 nearly every fucken article I read had key in it. It was the key to this the key to that go back you and will find the proof national still have the media in there clasp look at bill and joice videos all good shots we are in this for the long game we have to be. Kia kaha
There is a a nother subliminal message being put out through Our media and thats crack this a have a crack this word should be banned as the media have not figured out that they are being used by some people to put this message out there I notice these things. This shit is a design drug that does what it is designed to do which is to hook the user and then makes them a uncontrolled idiot whom has no grasp on reality and will do anything to get there next fix. Fuck that.
“The concept is simple: we’ll highlight key events with short pieces of analysis, fact-checking and data-based reporting.” Which is kind of what journalism is always supposed to be.
Agree. But given many of us wanted it we cannot object now. Balance and investigation are key. My conern is they are going to just repackage the “I reckon and knee jerk” journalism with some pretty bells and whistles.
I woukd have loved to have seen this during the election campaign but too many journos and editors dribbling at tge possibility of a scandal for real stuff?
Patricia +1
The selective eye of the media is very concerning. It tends to focus increasingly on trivia, gore, and sensationalism. Not to mention the international component at RNZ which is dodgy, quoting suspect US sources. RNZ needs better funding and journalism. Here’s hoping.
It would be a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” in the American political machine Andre, and you know it. Both the Repugs and Dems are a lost cause.
That comment is more useful for assessing your vantage point that it is for assessing the very real differences between Dems and Repugs for Americans and the rest of the world.
There is no real difference , both parties are war mongering, corporate supporting, 1% defending, scum. Who have hurt working people ever since their inception.
Says someone who is so fukn stupid that he admitted a couple of months ago he had pen in hand with his ballot paper, and he couldn’t even put a tick in a box that would help get rid of the Nats.
And just very politely, I’m suggesting you might want to pull your head in Andre.
If you don’t want to address a point made, then don’t. If you can’t, that’s okay too.
What isn’t okay is to launch into ad hom bullshit off the back of previous, unrelated comments you either disagreed with or couldn’t get your head around.
The appropriate point in reply to adam had already been made at 2.1.1.1. adam’s reply to that just perfectly illustrated the point that had already been addressed, and he completely missed.
So more or less dismissing someone out of hand because they opined that both the Dems and Repugs are a lost cause, was addressing the point that both parties share broadly similar perspectives on specific policy fronts.
Erm, no. That can’t be what you meant, because all you did in response to Adam’s comment was what you did in response to Garibaldi’s – which was to side-step the substantive content of the comment and “go” the person making the comment.
But we’ve been through this (above) and I’m confident, that now you have had the opportunity to make a second go at comprehension, that it won’t develop into a pattern that marks your comments, and that being the case, I won’t have to start putting on hats and what-not when I stumble across your contributions to the site. 🙂
I think it’s a fair point to make that the farther one is politically from the US political “Overton Window”, the less apparent distance there is between the dems and the republicans. Particularly if you’re viewing it from side-on.
But for the 10% of the US population who have affordable healthcare under the dems which they could lose under the republicans, the distance between the two parties might seem a little bit larger than it does to you or Adam.
If you or anyone else really needs a concise explanation of the difference between Dems and Repugs in how it relates to ordinary Americans, here you go.
And I’ll add another one: Democrats support workers rights, such as the right to organise, equal pay, non-discrimination. Republicans want to eliminate all worker protections to allow employers complete rights to do whatever they want.
And there’s many many more differences that deeply affect Americans and the rest of the world.
Come on McFlock the democrats opposed single payer, which would make a real difference to people’s lives. The democrats could stop the repeal, but they will not. loads of ways to stop the repeal of legislation but the democrats never do.
The ‘they’re the same’ line is a rhetoric device not designed to be fact. Therefore a irreverent sharpish response with a link seems okayish. But of course I bow to greater knowledge of these things. //leaves quietly and quickly…
Come on McFlock the democrats opposed single payer, which would make a real difference to people’s lives.
Oh, government paying would be better, but ACA still made a real difference to 30 million people that the republicans are trying to repeal.
The democrats could stop the repeal, but they will not. loads of ways to stop the repeal of legislation but the democrats never do.
That’s not how democracy works. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the dems are minority in Congress, Senate, and it’s a republican presidency. How are the dems supposed to outvote that?
There would be very few that don’t support single-payer in principle. There are at least three realpolitik reasons why there was no chance of passing single-payer in that tiny 2008-2010 period when they had 60 votes in the senate.
First is it’s an extremely complex problem how to get to single-payer from the system they had in ’08, 2 years would not be anywhere near enough time to sort out a robust solution.
Second, literally every single Democrat senator was needed to pass Obamacare, there was no margin for even a single no. And yes, there probably were a very few dems that would not have been willing to sign on to such a massive change. So they all signed on to something they (incorrectly) believed had a chance of bipartisan support.
Third, they do need to consider re-electability. As it was, they went way out on a limb supporting the expansion of healthcare to those that previously couldn’t afford it. And many of them paid the political price in 2010, when Obamacare was widely considered to have added a lot of momentum to the Republican wave that year.
That was a lot of writing needed to address a simple throw-away bullshit line. I really hope you’ll take it on board so it won’t be neeeded again.
Now, how about you tell us how you think Democrats could stop the repeal if the Republicans mustered the fifty votes in the Senate?
1) Filibuster
2) Committee hearings requests on point by point basis.
3) Points of order stalling as it’s a repeal – so not covered by Byrd Rule
4) Open up new debates within the debate to repeal
5) Put forward amendments rather than the repeal
That’s from the top of my head. They have other tools. The senate and the house can slow bills down to a snail’s pace until the midterms. There is very limited ability to go into urgency to repeal unlike us – also there is the whole talking to moderate republicans to remind them about midterms.
As I said, it’s about stopping the repeal. The road to do that is not a simple straight up vote.
adam, the repugs were trying to do it under reconciliation. So none of that applies. None of it.
The time window they had for reconciliation ran out a little while ago, so those points do apply now. And the repugs aren’t even trying now after their window closed. But they might try again next year under a new reconciliation process.
I suppose if the trumpists look like actually winning the repeal of ACA on their (third?) attempt, the dems could make use of your great expertise on how to stop people doing anything substantial, ever.
Yes they did, and now they must do it in a open floor debate – if at all.
They will probably not go to reconciliation again, as elections are coming up.
As for slandering the democrats – hell yes, and I stand by it, ‘wet liberal I know your pain politics’ is the reason we are in this mess. No good saying you agree with somthing in principle if you not go the backbone to actually support it via voting for it. Corporate donors make peons of us all.
You do know that slander is an untruth, right? So standing by slander is standing by an untruth…
Anyway, regardless of whether you think dems are soft liberals or not, they have fundamentally improved (simply with the ACA) the lives of 30 million people, and the republicans want to repeal that improvement.
So yes, there is a significant difference between the two, the closer you are to US politics. You’re in the opposite hemisphere and on their far left. Of course the positions of the democrats and republicans look similar to you – you’re a very long way away from them. Get closer, and you’d feel the differences.
Actually guys the main thrust of my comment was more to do with the fact that both the party machines are so corrupt that anyone half decent cannot make it through. But , yes ,I also meant that whoever Americans vote for they still get the same boss ie deep state Zionism ( for want of a better expression).
Hear! Hear! re your response to Garibaldi at 2.1.1.1, Andre. Looking back…..and knowing what we now know, I’m even more appalled than I was then by the utterly scandalous madness of TS becoming a vehicle for cheerleading for Trump…..thanks principally to the overbearing and bawling hubris of one CV. Particularly since that self-vaunted ‘prime leftie’ seemed to be motivated more by a ridiculously indulgent reaction to an internecine shit-fest occurring somewhere south of Timaru. Self-satisfying delusions as to one’s own ‘purity’ are fucking dangerous!
There’s a new controversial theory that anti-muons can detect virtual holes. They could run an experiment on Joyce to test the theory and publish in Nature.
India trade deal is apparently on life support and has been for many months. I guess John Key was just inflating his own importance when he said great progress was being made?
@Tracey
It basically comes down to the manner in which many of their nationals have been treated over the gNat junta’s reign.
Strangely enough, despite corruption (overt there, covert here), India does actually give a shit about its nationals.
Same thing with South American states. I’m not sure whether many will remember the absolute CLANGER Key, and his business enterage dropped when on a mission to Sth America at the time of Chavez’ death. They (a number of Sth American states) certainly didn’t and still haven’t.
It went down like a cup of cold sick – even though not all were fans of the Chavez reign.
Why would India want a trade deal with NZ when we’ve created a mechanism by which many/most of their nationals are exploited and treated as disposable human economic units. Even though India have veered right and swallowing much of the cool aid, Modi’s staked his name on fixing corruption, cosy little deals, black money, and they’re wide awake to all that now happening in lil ‘ole NuZull.
I’ve had the popcorn out not long after the gNatz came to power, and I happened to pick up a South American diplomat’s son hitch hiking back to Wellington with his mates. And was it the start of the gNat junta’s second term that Key started rattling on about being careful not to be arrogant? Or maybe it was the first term when an astute journalist observed that the smiling assassin only knew where various blots on the Pacific Ocean were, and that they were actually Pacific Island neighbours during his flights to HhhhWoiEeee with mum and the kuds
Parker does not seem confident of overturning ISDS clause but if we must have it I am happier ( not to be confused with happy) if the adjudication of disputes is done by;
Fulltime Judges
Public Forum
Fully disclosed decisions
He is not talking at all about IP issues. Thry had 5 bottom lines ( Labour) as Mcflock pointed out a couple of days ago but so far are publicly focusing on only 2(arguably 3) of them.
“Parker confirmed he was interested in the alternative to ISDS developed by the European Union, based on a public investment court system.
“One of the principles of justice is actually once you turn yourself over to becoming a judge, you put your prior biases and conflicts of interest behind you, and that’s not as clearly done in respect of arbitrations because the people who sit on those arbitration panels, once they’ve done it they go back to being a trade lawyer, perhaps accountable for their business to some of these forces who were in the contest, so a court is better in that regard.”
I find myself in agreement with Mike Hosking this morning:
“So here’s the theme: Governments make a difference. Governments can cock it up, or stoke it up.
But governments also, by and large, aren’t quite as big a deal as you might think.
Certainly not as big a deal as the headline writers would have you believe.
Mostly people carry on. Mostly people make their own decisons. Take their own risks. Live their own lives. Chart their own reality.
If you’re waiting for a government to tell you what to do, where to do it, how to do it and when to do it, then good luck to you. But the rest of us are getting on with it.”
We have a weak and disaggregated state and public sector.
We have a highly deregulated and market-driven society.
We have almost zero horizontal discipline across government policy or departments.
We have a very delicately poised coalition government, in no position to make massive changes.
We have no common direction as a country.
None of that has changed in the last 20 years, and is unlikely to on current tracking.
Certainly I didn’t notice some minor season of anomie forming during the coalition negotiations.
And yet we have a functioning society.
Plenty of things are getting worse, which we can all roll off as a list. All will take many years to improve.
We don’t yet have a government that is strongly altering our daily lives for good..
We have a weak and disaggregated state and public sector.
We have a highly deregulated and market-driven society.
We have almost zero horizontal discipline across government policy or departments.
We have no common direction as a country.
That’s all because our society has been under attack by business for the last thirty or more years which has been helped by the governments of the day.
We have a very delicately poised coalition government, in no position to make massive changes.
Actually, it’s not – it’s pretty solid. Probably more solid that the previous government.
Now let’s go through the list of entities this government would need to clean out:
– Electricity Commission
– NZTA Board
– HNZ Board
– Boards of all power generators (since they can still roll them from 51%)
– Boards of all Crown Research Institutions
– Law Commission
– Reserve Bank
– Boards of all the hundreds of largely useless quangos circulating through Wellington, from the Walking Commission to NZ On Air
– RNZ, TVNZ,and all the remaining State Owned Enterprises
etc.
You get the picture.
This government has started with momentum in only a very few areas. And this is this government at its peak: it never gets stronger, more forceful or more popular than here.
Page 15 of yesterdays Herald quotes Phil Goff proposing a streamlining of Water Services.
Let’s ignore the use of the word “streamlining” in an article about water services ??? and cut to the important possibility if this takes place.
The concept of “three waters” ie Watercare being responsible for Potable water, Waste Water and Stormwater management is not new and shouldn’t need any great research. This was the concept proposed before amalgamation by those responsible who had spent 3–4 years carefully examining all aspects of the best way to handle this important section of infrastructure for the new Auckland.
Sadly their deliberations were effectively thrown in the rubbish bin and Rodney Hide was given the job of sorting everything out which he did in about three months after his mate John Key had handed him the task.
The then head of Watercare refused to have stormwater as part of their responsibility and so it became a separate section of Auckland Council. Wastewater discharges into the Waitemata continue at roughly the same rate as they did before amalgamation except in the former North Shore City area , they had followed the three waters principal during the upgrade of their infrastructure over several years.
This is another legacy that Auckland could well do without. Let’s hope that reason will now prevail.
Only slightly on topic… I discovered a while back that the (privatised) Papakura water contract was still operational. It’s not part of Watercare, I assume because they couldn’t break the contract & have to let it expire.
It was Hide who pushed for those privatised contracts to be extended up to 25years. Interesting when one considers that if all of the councils had contracted out their utilities the SuperCity could never have come about. Doesn’t make a lot of sense does it.
Paddles the cat, the twitter account for Jacinda and Clarks’s pet, now has more followers after being active only a month than the deputy leader of the National Party, Paula Bennett, who has been on Twitter since 2009.
Jacinda’s pet has more media followers than Bill’s.”
I doubt this instance is any guide, Germans have a far tougher driving licence test than we do they’re generally pretty good drivers from what I’ve heard.
Tiredness may be a part that needs addressing. I had a near miss a while back with someone in a hire camper crossing the line on a corner. They entered it wrong and cut the white line. Their reaction was to swerve even further towards me, luckily for me they just as quickly corrected and pulled back in. That was open road, I’d taken my foot off when I saw them over the line & then nearly crapped myself when they veered further, thought for a brief moment they were aiming at me.
I put them down as used to driving on the right, where their swerve to the right would have been the natural reaction, and that they may have picked the camper up straight after landing & then drove north. They could have been getting tired, which may be why they took the wrong line on the corner to begin with.
The point being it may not be a bad idea to more strongly urge people to not engage in a long drive in a camper immediately on arriving here after a long flight. They are campers after all, it’s not as if they have nowhere to sleep.
” The comments came in response to Health Minister David Clark saying he is “very seriously considering” accepting resignations from District Health Board (DHB) heads that aren’t on the new Government’s “wavelength.”
“I’m extremely disappointed,” Mr English said.
“I thought the Jacinda Ardern Government would be different. It turns out it’s just the same old Labour trying to do its brutal tactics on the public service.”
Mr Clark told RNZ he may ask for resignation letters from current chairs of DHBs before choosing which ones to accept back into the fold.
“I want to be sure that the district health board chairs are in agreement with the current Government’s agenda and direction,” Mr Clark told RNZ. ”
Good idea, Minister Clark. Would it be too much to ask you to also take the opportunity to trim bloated top-level administrative overhead and salaries? Y’know, so the money actually gets spent on providing services rather than funding lots of expensive top-level jobsworths whose only function is getting in the way?
And they did so through crony appointments to senior management positions. I suspect even public servants at the coal face in WINZ live in fear of their masters.
I’m hoping the age of the various corporatised public service feifdoms will get a bloody big shake up. And despite someone’s pessimism on another thread about not being able to make changes needed, the neo-libs created exactly the structure that will/could allow a bloody big shakeup to happen.
We’ll see. It is very early days.
$500,000 salary plus for a damn hospital CEO. Where was that? The figure stayed in my head, and everything else faded when I heard it to day or yesterday on Radionz. The hospitals are damned of course, trying to manage on short rations for the working parts, while the cock at the top is paid for playing the neo -lib game of sorting out the inefficiencies with a sinking budget level.
+1 This is the essence of neo-liberal corruption. English to blame for setting it all up that way before he rose to be an outgoing prime-ministerial candidate first time he lost.
The Electoral Commission in London has a very poor record of inquiry and prosecution. Sadly the Metropolitan police are not much better.
Carol Cadwalladr has pushed the story in The Guardian but it is not getting any traction in the mainstream media.
Open Democracy has done some solid work which the Electoral Commission will probably ignore. https://www.opendemocracy.net/dup-dark-money
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an attempt by the late hotelier Earl Hagaman’s estate to reconsider a defamation case against the new justice minister Andrew Little.
I say good for the boy’s parents, they at least have their priorities right. IMO the Police should respect their wishes and stay out of it… provided the boy agrees too.
My oh my Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, a prestigious Anglican private school – and they let their “gals” out of bounds topless to play truant. What on earth is the world coming to. I have heard tales of yore from other Hawkes Bay Private schools for girls as well – doesn’t say much for the upper echelons of society in this country does it. Breeding our young ladies to be such utter trollops!!!!! Tongue in cheek here but seeing our prisons are littered with the poor and products of our public schools it just shows tacky-ness comes from all stratas of our society, you’d better believe it.
I have always found single sex schools to have a certain elitism and super-patriotism about them that was pretty gross. This could be a consequence of that.
Maui ,
You are entitled to your opinion but I disagree, depends on the on the ethics of the school and the way it is run surely. Your experience may well have been much less
agreeable than mine was.
Also – allows them to repeat the gratuitous publishing of three photos of teenage girls in their underwear (restrained?) on the back of a motorbike, and to reinforce the notion that privilege denotes respectability to all actions without critique.
I think it the best-conceived streaking prank so far carried out. The Herald even did a cartoon based on it. Unfortunately, the boy was run over and cut in the leg. Without that, it would have seemed impressive and harmless. But now, the question of whether the girls had the appropriate licences to be driving the bikes could come into question, and it could end in tears. There was no malice here, as there is when the poor bash a dairy-owner, so I am not sure that it is a matter of privilege. Wait and see if prosecution follows.
Without modern phones, there would have been no photos for the NZ Herald to so cynically publish as click-bait (and the article reached the top of their internet chart). That is also a sad commentary – on what the general public want to see.
In the old days they used vehicles for pranks, like seeing how many people you could pile into a volkswagen. Probably now it would have to be that they were all nude.
Then if there were both sexes one of the males would get an erection, then there would be some tale of sexual malpractice, and that would be good click bait. So watch the media over the next year when there is a low point in the news cycle, and no sexual malpractice of some luminary being investigated, or a new war, or shooting in a school, mall, concert, church, or particularly horrific bombing or picture of a child suffering. /sad and disillusioned not sarc
The rise in motocross bikes in public places is everywhere. They are super dangerous and often ridden by unlicensed people – aka – kids without the brains or understanding that they can kill people with their behaviour. The parents cheer it on.
Somehow whenever there is an accident of this kind, surprise surprise it is always considered a prank gone wrong and hushed up. Even when someone is killed or severely injured.
I’m all for harmless pranks but if they could have pulled the same prank on bicycles and nobody would have been hurt and it would not have been doing something illegal (aka riding motocross bikes in public places without permission or a motorbike license + injuring someone to boot).
Now I no my money from my business is not thunderous I made 2× this when I was 14 but in my line of business it’s all about the good will and if some people are shitting all over my good name there goes my earning sliding backwards. By 2 thirds but the potential earnings from my eco Maori pseudonym is thunderous but the same people are interfering with this. So I will be making a claim on the breaches of my rights under the Treaty of Waitangi there are many injustices that are being dealt out to me and my whanau. like the red head guy whom thought that he would come over to the farm house that I was living in that the farm owner had just sacked me idiot an say boo and the dumb ass Maori would run away. Well no because this Maori is a proud and brave Maori that knows his rights and told him were to go. So they have stuffed my farming career that I had planed to be managing and making $80.000 WTF. Now the big picture is that this sort of service can be dealt out to anyone in New Zealand if they are not in the who gives a________ club ie millionairs club. They now no that Im not a dumb ass Maori now. I wonder if the generals want to negotiate well no sorry they are God’s and are never worng
WTF just like the orange man Kia Kaha
The White House first learned one of its senior staffers met with the grand jury hearing the case presented by the special counsel into alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 election not from the staffer but from media reports, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell ABC News.
Former Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis recently testified before that grand jury into his role on President Donald Trump’s campaign. Clovis currently serves as the senior White House adviser to the Department of Agriculture.
Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page privately testified Thursday that he mentioned to Jeff Sessions he was traveling to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign — as new questions emerge about the attorney general’s comments to Congress about Russia and the Trump campaign.
During more than six hours of closed-door testimony, Page said that he informed Sessions about his coming July 2016 trip to Russia, which Page told CNN was unconnected to his campaign role. Page described the conversation to CNN after he finished talking to the House intelligence committee.
The Repugs release their tax reform bill. Like all “conservative” tax plans anytime anywhere, it borrows money to pay for big tax cuts to those that already have the most (especially those that write the rules and their owners), sticks it to those that have the least, and lies that it will increase growth.
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Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
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Stuff today launched a fact checking policy tracker on the new government’s “major” initiatives. If done well (researched, balaced, investigated), I think it is a great development. I am not sure they have the resources unless they have added post election staff to do it well?
“The concept is simple: we’ll highlight key events with short pieces of analysis, fact-checking and data-based reporting.” Which is kind of what journalism is always supposed to be.
A “new” type of journalism? Maybe. Or maybe not.
“Post will include a mix of the elements you’re used to from Stuff: charts, video, pictures and tweets, all wrapped up with sharp insights from our journalists.”
How they determine “major” ( cost, number of people impact, etc) will also be interesting.
Watching that space
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98487531/the-first-draft-tracking-the-start-of-a-government
Pity they didn’t start it 9 years ago!
Then we’d also have a comparison.
Or during the election. Apparently Garner has been alluding to a similar thing.
There’s no way they would’ve ever done that for national.
This will be probably be gamed to further push negative memes around the govt by cloaking them in ‘facts’ IMO as part of the rights new media strategy.
Y’know that ‘my expert says…’ shit that shonky had as stock in trade.
It looks like a Newsroom initiative, supported by Stuff.
So, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that Newsroom would’ve done it in response to the NACT government, if they’d been around then.
However, to be fair, they do need to compare the current government’s performance with NACT’s track record.
Exactly so unless they do that it’s simply more DP.
Alot of what’s going to get done is repairing the damage National have dished out across NZ society so unless there’s context it’s pure spin.
Watch for synergies between stuff/granny and national attack lines.
Well done Newsroom, again… gosh they are a wonderful resource, kudos Newsroom
The Fourth Estate is dead in New Zealand. John Campbell used to ask the tough questions , holding politicians responsible for their actions or inactions. Remember Campbell’s dogged determination to have John Key and Brownlee do the right thing for those suffering during Christchurch’s post-earthquake? John Campbell soon afterwards lost his job at TV3, many news host now are seen to tow the line, afraid to upset their bosses. True reporting and holding politicians accountable has flown out of the window in New Zealand. Shame on us.
Yes, funny timing. When they cheerleaded shit for 9 years.
Very true savenz but like Carolyn_nth, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt.
By and large Newsroom has been a success and its possible they have been galvanised into action by a new government with new ideas and lots of changes about to occur. In other words, they now have impetus which was certainly lacking under the previous government.
Yep, has been some well researched articles on newsroom.
Well my advice to our coalition government I would have someone auditing all the news videos and make sure they all show the good side to out new coalition government because some of the videos have not been flattering and everyone has a side that looks good on video. I no you have just started but u need someone on that job of keeping the media honest.
1st point every news show except for the breakfast show has a blue back ground. This is subliminal message blue is best.
Like in 2008 nearly every fucken article I read had key in it. It was the key to this the key to that go back you and will find the proof national still have the media in there clasp look at bill and joice videos all good shots we are in this for the long game we have to be. Kia kaha
There is a a nother subliminal message being put out through Our media and thats crack this a have a crack this word should be banned as the media have not figured out that they are being used by some people to put this message out there I notice these things. This shit is a design drug that does what it is designed to do which is to hook the user and then makes them a uncontrolled idiot whom has no grasp on reality and will do anything to get there next fix. Fuck that.
True. They never did it for National though.
Agree. But given many of us wanted it we cannot object now. Balance and investigation are key. My conern is they are going to just repackage the “I reckon and knee jerk” journalism with some pretty bells and whistles.
I woukd have loved to have seen this during the election campaign but too many journos and editors dribbling at tge possibility of a scandal for real stuff?
Alarm bells went off for me when I saw “first draft”.
Too many times I’ve seen a story get edited over a week to become a massaged message.
So I think this is the same group finding a new way to colour public perception.
Bill English has declared war, so we have been warned.
Government should claim this space to avoid false news.
Patricia +1
The selective eye of the media is very concerning. It tends to focus increasingly on trivia, gore, and sensationalism. Not to mention the international component at RNZ which is dodgy, quoting suspect US sources. RNZ needs better funding and journalism. Here’s hoping.
Looks like the Democrats have decided to emulate the Republicans and establish their very own circular firing squad.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774
I won’t shed any tears if the Dem old crusties all take other out and clear the field for new blood.
It would be a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” in the American political machine Andre, and you know it. Both the Repugs and Dems are a lost cause.
That comment is more useful for assessing your vantage point that it is for assessing the very real differences between Dems and Repugs for Americans and the rest of the world.
There is no real difference , both parties are war mongering, corporate supporting, 1% defending, scum. Who have hurt working people ever since their inception.
Says someone who is so fukn stupid that he admitted a couple of months ago he had pen in hand with his ballot paper, and he couldn’t even put a tick in a box that would help get rid of the Nats.
https://thestandard.org.nz/is-nz-doomed-to-lying-politics-now/#comment-1389259
And just very politely, I’m suggesting you might want to pull your head in Andre.
If you don’t want to address a point made, then don’t. If you can’t, that’s okay too.
What isn’t okay is to launch into ad hom bullshit off the back of previous, unrelated comments you either disagreed with or couldn’t get your head around.
The appropriate point in reply to adam had already been made at 2.1.1.1. adam’s reply to that just perfectly illustrated the point that had already been addressed, and he completely missed.
Ah. I see.
So more or less dismissing someone out of hand because they opined that both the Dems and Repugs are a lost cause, was addressing the point that both parties share broadly similar perspectives on specific policy fronts.
Erm, no. That can’t be what you meant, because all you did in response to Adam’s comment was what you did in response to Garibaldi’s – which was to side-step the substantive content of the comment and “go” the person making the comment.
But we’ve been through this (above) and I’m confident, that now you have had the opportunity to make a second go at comprehension, that it won’t develop into a pattern that marks your comments, and that being the case, I won’t have to start putting on hats and what-not when I stumble across your contributions to the site. 🙂
I think it’s a fair point to make that the farther one is politically from the US political “Overton Window”, the less apparent distance there is between the dems and the republicans. Particularly if you’re viewing it from side-on.
But for the 10% of the US population who have affordable healthcare under the dems which they could lose under the republicans, the distance between the two parties might seem a little bit larger than it does to you or Adam.
If you or anyone else really needs a concise explanation of the difference between Dems and Repugs in how it relates to ordinary Americans, here you go.
http://addictinginfo.com/2013/05/09/fifteen-differences/
And I’ll add another one: Democrats support workers rights, such as the right to organise, equal pay, non-discrimination. Republicans want to eliminate all worker protections to allow employers complete rights to do whatever they want.
And there’s many many more differences that deeply affect Americans and the rest of the world.
See how easy that was to respond to the actual content of a comment? Thank-you.
Come on McFlock the democrats opposed single payer, which would make a real difference to people’s lives. The democrats could stop the repeal, but they will not. loads of ways to stop the repeal of legislation but the democrats never do.
The ‘they’re the same’ line is a rhetoric device not designed to be fact. Therefore a irreverent sharpish response with a link seems okayish. But of course I bow to greater knowledge of these things. //leaves quietly and quickly…
Oh, government paying would be better, but ACA still made a real difference to 30 million people that the republicans are trying to repeal.
That’s not how democracy works. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the dems are minority in Congress, Senate, and it’s a republican presidency. How are the dems supposed to outvote that?
adam, that’s slandering most of the Democrats.
There would be very few that don’t support single-payer in principle. There are at least three realpolitik reasons why there was no chance of passing single-payer in that tiny 2008-2010 period when they had 60 votes in the senate.
First is it’s an extremely complex problem how to get to single-payer from the system they had in ’08, 2 years would not be anywhere near enough time to sort out a robust solution.
Second, literally every single Democrat senator was needed to pass Obamacare, there was no margin for even a single no. And yes, there probably were a very few dems that would not have been willing to sign on to such a massive change. So they all signed on to something they (incorrectly) believed had a chance of bipartisan support.
Third, they do need to consider re-electability. As it was, they went way out on a limb supporting the expansion of healthcare to those that previously couldn’t afford it. And many of them paid the political price in 2010, when Obamacare was widely considered to have added a lot of momentum to the Republican wave that year.
That was a lot of writing needed to address a simple throw-away bullshit line. I really hope you’ll take it on board so it won’t be neeeded again.
Now, how about you tell us how you think Democrats could stop the repeal if the Republicans mustered the fifty votes in the Senate?
1) Filibuster
2) Committee hearings requests on point by point basis.
3) Points of order stalling as it’s a repeal – so not covered by Byrd Rule
4) Open up new debates within the debate to repeal
5) Put forward amendments rather than the repeal
That’s from the top of my head. They have other tools. The senate and the house can slow bills down to a snail’s pace until the midterms. There is very limited ability to go into urgency to repeal unlike us – also there is the whole talking to moderate republicans to remind them about midterms.
As I said, it’s about stopping the repeal. The road to do that is not a simple straight up vote.
adam, the repugs were trying to do it under reconciliation. So none of that applies. None of it.
The time window they had for reconciliation ran out a little while ago, so those points do apply now. And the repugs aren’t even trying now after their window closed. But they might try again next year under a new reconciliation process.
I suppose if the trumpists look like actually winning the repeal of ACA on their (third?) attempt, the dems could make use of your great expertise on how to stop people doing anything substantial, ever.
Yes they did, and now they must do it in a open floor debate – if at all.
They will probably not go to reconciliation again, as elections are coming up.
As for slandering the democrats – hell yes, and I stand by it, ‘wet liberal I know your pain politics’ is the reason we are in this mess. No good saying you agree with somthing in principle if you not go the backbone to actually support it via voting for it. Corporate donors make peons of us all.
You do know that slander is an untruth, right? So standing by slander is standing by an untruth…
Anyway, regardless of whether you think dems are soft liberals or not, they have fundamentally improved (simply with the ACA) the lives of 30 million people, and the republicans want to repeal that improvement.
So yes, there is a significant difference between the two, the closer you are to US politics. You’re in the opposite hemisphere and on their far left. Of course the positions of the democrats and republicans look similar to you – you’re a very long way away from them. Get closer, and you’d feel the differences.
Took a leaf from your playbook McFlock, changed the language to suit.
Seeing as we can’t call acts of terror, terrorism.
May as well call the dishonesty of wet liberals – slander.
So we must worship at the altar of your world view, otherwise its abuse there Andre.
Open your mind, try reading ‘A People’s History of America’ by Howard Zinn.
No worshiping and no alters (except for thems that’s so inclined) and no personal abuse.
Pretty simple really.
Actually guys the main thrust of my comment was more to do with the fact that both the party machines are so corrupt that anyone half decent cannot make it through. But , yes ,I also meant that whoever Americans vote for they still get the same boss ie deep state Zionism ( for want of a better expression).
Try stop licking Trump’s arse by default Adam.
Oh do try getting the point North, other wise I’ll just take you as another wet liberal who can’t handle working people actually having power.
Hear! Hear! re your response to Garibaldi at 2.1.1.1, Andre. Looking back…..and knowing what we now know, I’m even more appalled than I was then by the utterly scandalous madness of TS becoming a vehicle for cheerleading for Trump…..thanks principally to the overbearing and bawling hubris of one CV. Particularly since that self-vaunted ‘prime leftie’ seemed to be motivated more by a ridiculously indulgent reaction to an internecine shit-fest occurring somewhere south of Timaru. Self-satisfying delusions as to one’s own ‘purity’ are fucking dangerous!
All I’m reading is the same puritanical ranting coming from you North. Just, from a different ideological position.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/africa/98511341/cosmic-rays-reveal-mysterious-void-in-egypts-great-pyramid
This could be used to find that fiscal hole that Steven Joyce was talking about; even when he was wrong about it, he was still right 😉
🙂
Muons only detect holes that exist. Like the one inside Joyce’s head.
There’s a new controversial theory that anti-muons can detect virtual holes. They could run an experiment on Joyce to test the theory and publish in Nature.
But in Joyce’s case, you probably won’t get a useful read because what surrounds that void is so dense.
On the other hand, it is such a perfect vacuum in there that you could store a very large amount of antimatter quite safely.
Joyce = a void. Absolute zero warmth – a space wasted on nothing.
Might be usefull as a carbon sink.
India trade deal is apparently on life support and has been for many months. I guess John Key was just inflating his own importance when he said great progress was being made?
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/11/02/57753/nz-india-fta-on-life-support
All I can say to that is ‘good’. Obviously getting that FTA would increase our already unsustainable dairy herd.
@Tracey
It basically comes down to the manner in which many of their nationals have been treated over the gNat junta’s reign.
Strangely enough, despite corruption (overt there, covert here), India does actually give a shit about its nationals.
Same thing with South American states. I’m not sure whether many will remember the absolute CLANGER Key, and his business enterage dropped when on a mission to Sth America at the time of Chavez’ death. They (a number of Sth American states) certainly didn’t and still haven’t.
It went down like a cup of cold sick – even though not all were fans of the Chavez reign.
Why would India want a trade deal with NZ when we’ve created a mechanism by which many/most of their nationals are exploited and treated as disposable human economic units. Even though India have veered right and swallowing much of the cool aid, Modi’s staked his name on fixing corruption, cosy little deals, black money, and they’re wide awake to all that now happening in lil ‘ole NuZull.
I’ve had the popcorn out not long after the gNatz came to power, and I happened to pick up a South American diplomat’s son hitch hiking back to Wellington with his mates. And was it the start of the gNat junta’s second term that Key started rattling on about being careful not to be arrogant? Or maybe it was the first term when an astute journalist observed that the smiling assassin only knew where various blots on the Pacific Ocean were, and that they were actually Pacific Island neighbours during his flights to HhhhWoiEeee with mum and the kuds
Parker does not seem confident of overturning ISDS clause but if we must have it I am happier ( not to be confused with happy) if the adjudication of disputes is done by;
Fulltime Judges
Public Forum
Fully disclosed decisions
He is not talking at all about IP issues. Thry had 5 bottom lines ( Labour) as Mcflock pointed out a couple of days ago but so far are publicly focusing on only 2(arguably 3) of them.
“Parker confirmed he was interested in the alternative to ISDS developed by the European Union, based on a public investment court system.
“One of the principles of justice is actually once you turn yourself over to becoming a judge, you put your prior biases and conflicts of interest behind you, and that’s not as clearly done in respect of arbitrations because the people who sit on those arbitration panels, once they’ve done it they go back to being a trade lawyer, perhaps accountable for their business to some of these forces who were in the contest, so a court is better in that regard.”
Tracey, ISDS are now not allowed in any trade agreement. Agreed by all three parties and passed by cabinet today.
Jacinda has said that is their biggest concern, so now it is official.
Not doubting you but can you post a link? I don’t see this in the news yet.
A.
Stage four of the grieving process is depression. Stage five acceptance.
Hosking now at bewilderment factor 9, showing indictors of both of the above.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11939977
I find myself in agreement with Mike Hosking this morning:
“So here’s the theme: Governments make a difference. Governments can cock it up, or stoke it up.
But governments also, by and large, aren’t quite as big a deal as you might think.
Certainly not as big a deal as the headline writers would have you believe.
Mostly people carry on. Mostly people make their own decisons. Take their own risks. Live their own lives. Chart their own reality.
If you’re waiting for a government to tell you what to do, where to do it, how to do it and when to do it, then good luck to you. But the rest of us are getting on with it.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11939977
We have a weak and disaggregated state and public sector.
We have a highly deregulated and market-driven society.
We have almost zero horizontal discipline across government policy or departments.
We have a very delicately poised coalition government, in no position to make massive changes.
We have no common direction as a country.
None of that has changed in the last 20 years, and is unlikely to on current tracking.
Certainly I didn’t notice some minor season of anomie forming during the coalition negotiations.
And yet we have a functioning society.
Plenty of things are getting worse, which we can all roll off as a list. All will take many years to improve.
We don’t yet have a government that is strongly altering our daily lives for good..
I love how he doesnt think he is a headline writer
I doubt Mikey even knows who he is.
https://thestandard.org.nz/mike-hosking-the-case-of-the-vanishing-journalist/
That’s all because our society has been under attack by business for the last thirty or more years which has been helped by the governments of the day.
Actually, it’s not – it’s pretty solid. Probably more solid that the previous government.
Hasn’t had a test yet to evaluate its strength.
Oh I don’t agree. Asking political appointees to write a resignation letter is a start.
Clean out the strategic interference to begin real change on day 10.
Health Minister is simply “considering” this.
Now let’s go through the list of entities this government would need to clean out:
– Electricity Commission
– NZTA Board
– HNZ Board
– Boards of all power generators (since they can still roll them from 51%)
– Boards of all Crown Research Institutions
– Law Commission
– Reserve Bank
– Boards of all the hundreds of largely useless quangos circulating through Wellington, from the Walking Commission to NZ On Air
– RNZ, TVNZ,and all the remaining State Owned Enterprises
etc.
You get the picture.
This government has started with momentum in only a very few areas. And this is this government at its peak: it never gets stronger, more forceful or more popular than here.
This is as good as it gets.
So, Hosking is right this time.
As good as it gets? Your lack of imagination is eclipsed only by a pessimism – an ebony hue on black.
Page 15 of yesterdays Herald quotes Phil Goff proposing a streamlining of Water Services.
Let’s ignore the use of the word “streamlining” in an article about water services ??? and cut to the important possibility if this takes place.
The concept of “three waters” ie Watercare being responsible for Potable water, Waste Water and Stormwater management is not new and shouldn’t need any great research. This was the concept proposed before amalgamation by those responsible who had spent 3–4 years carefully examining all aspects of the best way to handle this important section of infrastructure for the new Auckland.
Sadly their deliberations were effectively thrown in the rubbish bin and Rodney Hide was given the job of sorting everything out which he did in about three months after his mate John Key had handed him the task.
The then head of Watercare refused to have stormwater as part of their responsibility and so it became a separate section of Auckland Council. Wastewater discharges into the Waitemata continue at roughly the same rate as they did before amalgamation except in the former North Shore City area , they had followed the three waters principal during the upgrade of their infrastructure over several years.
This is another legacy that Auckland could well do without. Let’s hope that reason will now prevail.
+1 John Shears
+100
Only slightly on topic… I discovered a while back that the (privatised) Papakura water contract was still operational. It’s not part of Watercare, I assume because they couldn’t break the contract & have to let it expire.
It was Hide who pushed for those privatised contracts to be extended up to 25years. Interesting when one considers that if all of the councils had contracted out their utilities the SuperCity could never have come about. Doesn’t make a lot of sense does it.
“Can there be a more wonderful humiliation?
Paddles the cat, the twitter account for Jacinda and Clarks’s pet, now has more followers after being active only a month than the deputy leader of the National Party, Paula Bennett, who has been on Twitter since 2009.
Jacinda’s pet has more media followers than Bill’s.”
Ouch.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/11/02/twitter-watch-jacindas-cat-has-more-followers-than-the-deputy-leader-of-the-national-party/
Go paddles. Love it love it,,—what ya say to that james, –poor paula?
The killing fields. Tourist drivers are a danger not only to themselves but to Kiwis as well.
The Germans crossed the centre line, hit a truck which then lost control and killed two (reading between the lines) locals.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11939828
Question: is the latest road death spike associated with the spike in tourist numbers?
I doubt this instance is any guide, Germans have a far tougher driving licence test than we do they’re generally pretty good drivers from what I’ve heard.
Tiredness may be a part that needs addressing. I had a near miss a while back with someone in a hire camper crossing the line on a corner. They entered it wrong and cut the white line. Their reaction was to swerve even further towards me, luckily for me they just as quickly corrected and pulled back in. That was open road, I’d taken my foot off when I saw them over the line & then nearly crapped myself when they veered further, thought for a brief moment they were aiming at me.
I put them down as used to driving on the right, where their swerve to the right would have been the natural reaction, and that they may have picked the camper up straight after landing & then drove north. They could have been getting tired, which may be why they took the wrong line on the corner to begin with.
The point being it may not be a bad idea to more strongly urge people to not engage in a long drive in a camper immediately on arriving here after a long flight. They are campers after all, it’s not as if they have nowhere to sleep.
This year police have a greater involvement in deaths on the road than tourists.
Billy already getting in a whine that the elites might not be quite so coddled going forward.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/labour-already-a-brutal-government-bill-english/ar-AAulbPV?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout
” The comments came in response to Health Minister David Clark saying he is “very seriously considering” accepting resignations from District Health Board (DHB) heads that aren’t on the new Government’s “wavelength.”
“I’m extremely disappointed,” Mr English said.
“I thought the Jacinda Ardern Government would be different. It turns out it’s just the same old Labour trying to do its brutal tactics on the public service.”
Mr Clark told RNZ he may ask for resignation letters from current chairs of DHBs before choosing which ones to accept back into the fold.
“I want to be sure that the district health board chairs are in agreement with the current Government’s agenda and direction,” Mr Clark told RNZ. ”
Good idea, Minister Clark. Would it be too much to ask you to also take the opportunity to trim bloated top-level administrative overhead and salaries? Y’know, so the money actually gets spent on providing services rather than funding lots of expensive top-level jobsworths whose only function is getting in the way?
Irony alert. The last govt acted so poorly toward public servants one even got death threats as a result of one Minister’s actions.
I almost spat my coffee when I saw his comment about brutal tactics. Rank hypocrisy.
You’ve got better control of your reflexes than I do.
And they did so through crony appointments to senior management positions. I suspect even public servants at the coal face in WINZ live in fear of their masters.
I’m hoping the age of the various corporatised public service feifdoms will get a bloody big shake up. And despite someone’s pessimism on another thread about not being able to make changes needed, the neo-libs created exactly the structure that will/could allow a bloody big shakeup to happen.
We’ll see. It is very early days.
Perhaps the same should happen in broadcasting. (Wouldn’t leave many though.)
“Considering” is just weak.
He has a month tops to get his people in there and re-write the entities.
After that, political ossification sets and the window closes.
$500,000 salary plus for a damn hospital CEO. Where was that? The figure stayed in my head, and everything else faded when I heard it to day or yesterday on Radionz. The hospitals are damned of course, trying to manage on short rations for the working parts, while the cock at the top is paid for playing the neo -lib game of sorting out the inefficiencies with a sinking budget level.
+1 This is the essence of neo-liberal corruption. English to blame for setting it all up that way before he rose to be an outgoing prime-ministerial candidate first time he lost.
Russophobia… fake news…
/
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-investigation/uk-investigates-brexit-campaign-funding-amid-speculation-of-russian-meddling-idUKKBN1D14H9
The Electoral Commission in London has a very poor record of inquiry and prosecution. Sadly the Metropolitan police are not much better.
Carol Cadwalladr has pushed the story in The Guardian but it is not getting any traction in the mainstream media.
Open Democracy has done some solid work which the Electoral Commission will probably ignore.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/dup-dark-money
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/28/trump-assange-bannon-farage-bound-together-in-unholy-alliance
I can’t help but suspect that the Russians may have interfered in our election too.
Who did plant all that unfavourable news that kept breaking out??
Have you heard of the seed and soil hypothesis? The wind blows the seed and if it lands on suitable soil it will germinate.
But who is controlling that wind?
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an attempt by the late hotelier Earl Hagaman’s estate to reconsider a defamation case against the new justice minister Andrew Little.
It awarded Mr Little costs.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/342933/court-dismisses-defamation-appeal-against-andrew-little
Good . Minister. Little holds honest stances.
Hooray.
If you havent had a chance to listen to the spoof of Max Key dissing Eminem you might lije to. Lil Max will be very pouty
This one?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/music/27-10-2017/maxclusive-max-key-destroys-eminem-career-in-diss-track/
Hamilton Boys’ High School student injured in girls’ nude bike prank
(not sure how running someone over at a school on a motorbike can be considered a ‘prank’)
You also have to wonder about the girls who thought it was a good idea????
If it was a youth gang that deliberately ran amok around a school and ran someone over, they would be in custody.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/11/hamilton-boys-high-school-student-injured-in-girls-nude-bike-prank.html
I say good for the boy’s parents, they at least have their priorities right. IMO the Police should respect their wishes and stay out of it… provided the boy agrees too.
Sounds like it was simply an accident. The prank was simply riding nude which seems to be the only reason why this was ‘news’.
My oh my Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, a prestigious Anglican private school – and they let their “gals” out of bounds topless to play truant. What on earth is the world coming to. I have heard tales of yore from other Hawkes Bay Private schools for girls as well – doesn’t say much for the upper echelons of society in this country does it. Breeding our young ladies to be such utter trollops!!!!! Tongue in cheek here but seeing our prisons are littered with the poor and products of our public schools it just shows tacky-ness comes from all stratas of our society, you’d better believe it.
I have always found single sex schools to have a certain elitism and super-patriotism about them that was pretty gross. This could be a consequence of that.
Maui ,
You are entitled to your opinion but I disagree, depends on the on the ethics of the school and the way it is run surely. Your experience may well have been much less
agreeable than mine was.
Just to reinforce the “just a prank” perspective, the Herald has kindly come up with an article High school pranks that have annoyed teachers.
Also – allows them to repeat the gratuitous publishing of three photos of teenage girls in their underwear (restrained?) on the back of a motorbike, and to reinforce the notion that privilege denotes respectability to all actions without critique.
never happened in my day. Pity – would have been a highlight of my teenage years…
True savenz. Depends whether you view pranks top-down or bottom-up.
I think it the best-conceived streaking prank so far carried out. The Herald even did a cartoon based on it. Unfortunately, the boy was run over and cut in the leg. Without that, it would have seemed impressive and harmless. But now, the question of whether the girls had the appropriate licences to be driving the bikes could come into question, and it could end in tears. There was no malice here, as there is when the poor bash a dairy-owner, so I am not sure that it is a matter of privilege. Wait and see if prosecution follows.
Without modern phones, there would have been no photos for the NZ Herald to so cynically publish as click-bait (and the article reached the top of their internet chart). That is also a sad commentary – on what the general public want to see.
In the old days they used vehicles for pranks, like seeing how many people you could pile into a volkswagen. Probably now it would have to be that they were all nude.
Then if there were both sexes one of the males would get an erection, then there would be some tale of sexual malpractice, and that would be good click bait. So watch the media over the next year when there is a low point in the news cycle, and no sexual malpractice of some luminary being investigated, or a new war, or shooting in a school, mall, concert, church, or particularly horrific bombing or picture of a child suffering. /sad and disillusioned not sarc
The squealing in this Kiwiblog thread should amuse – https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/labour_confirms_national_awards_will_be_compulsory.html
The rise in motocross bikes in public places is everywhere. They are super dangerous and often ridden by unlicensed people – aka – kids without the brains or understanding that they can kill people with their behaviour. The parents cheer it on.
Somehow whenever there is an accident of this kind, surprise surprise it is always considered a prank gone wrong and hushed up. Even when someone is killed or severely injured.
I’m all for harmless pranks but if they could have pulled the same prank on bicycles and nobody would have been hurt and it would not have been doing something illegal (aka riding motocross bikes in public places without permission or a motorbike license + injuring someone to boot).
Now I no my money from my business is not thunderous I made 2× this when I was 14 but in my line of business it’s all about the good will and if some people are shitting all over my good name there goes my earning sliding backwards. By 2 thirds but the potential earnings from my eco Maori pseudonym is thunderous but the same people are interfering with this. So I will be making a claim on the breaches of my rights under the Treaty of Waitangi there are many injustices that are being dealt out to me and my whanau. like the red head guy whom thought that he would come over to the farm house that I was living in that the farm owner had just sacked me idiot an say boo and the dumb ass Maori would run away. Well no because this Maori is a proud and brave Maori that knows his rights and told him were to go. So they have stuffed my farming career that I had planed to be managing and making $80.000 WTF. Now the big picture is that this sort of service can be dealt out to anyone in New Zealand if they are not in the who gives a________ club ie millionairs club. They now no that Im not a dumb ass Maori now. I wonder if the generals want to negotiate well no sorry they are God’s and are never worng
WTF just like the orange man Kia Kaha
Well that is a comment with lot of possibilities.
Kushner is now a target:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/jared-kushner-robert-mueller-documents-russia-investigation/index.html
Family dinners will be fun.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358248-vanity-fair-trump-blaming-kushner-for-mueller-investigation
Thanksgiving is coming up soon.
And Mr Clovis won’t be on the invite list.
The White House first learned one of its senior staffers met with the grand jury hearing the case presented by the special counsel into alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 election not from the staffer but from media reports, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell ABC News.
Former Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis recently testified before that grand jury into his role on President Donald Trump’s campaign. Clovis currently serves as the senior White House adviser to the Department of Agriculture.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-unaware-top-adviser-testified-grand-jury/story?id=50895265
Al Franken is going after Sessions for lying under oath to the Senate.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/jeff-sessions-under-fire-as-new-revelations-cast-further-doubt-on-his-russia-testimony/
Floodgates are opening.
Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page privately testified Thursday that he mentioned to Jeff Sessions he was traveling to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign — as new questions emerge about the attorney general’s comments to Congress about Russia and the Trump campaign.
During more than six hours of closed-door testimony, Page said that he informed Sessions about his coming July 2016 trip to Russia, which Page told CNN was unconnected to his campaign role. Page described the conversation to CNN after he finished talking to the House intelligence committee.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/carter-page-testimony-russia-trip/index.html?sr=twCNN110217carter-page-testimony-russia-trip0734PMVODtop
The Repugs release their tax reform bill. Like all “conservative” tax plans anytime anywhere, it borrows money to pay for big tax cuts to those that already have the most (especially those that write the rules and their owners), sticks it to those that have the least, and lies that it will increase growth.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/2/16595980/winners-losers-house-republican-tax-bill
It’s almost like they have an agenda.
https://twitter.com/byHeatherLong/status/926139481052385285
Must be coincidence, surely? They wouldn’t really act with considered malice towards regions that don’t support them, would they?
Still has to be coincidence…
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/11/charts-of-the-day-how-republicans-are-using-the-tax-code-to-screw-blue-states/
Is it just me then, that repealing the all the crazy laws from national over employment is not much of a victory.
Actually feels shallow, weak, and if this is the great example of a changing government.
Then don’t expect much change.
If that’s all they manage in the frist hundred days (let alone the entire term), I’d agree with you.
I suspect that a few more changes than that are on the cards, despite the nats’ desire to become a cancer on the side of parliament.
I hope you’re right McFlock, I hope you’re right.
Looks like Iceland’s Left-Green alliance is about to become a governing reality under Katrin Jakobsdottir:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/02/iceland-president-left-greens-form-coalition
“I am the only one that matters…” – the Grabemfuhrer in response to questions about why positions are being left unfilled.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/358573-trump-on-lack-of-nominees-i-am-the-only-one-that-matters
The good news is he doesn’t understand that those positions are there to help him actually achieve things.