The response should have been to call in Wellington workplace delegates to stand and show public solidarity at the office and keep on trucking.
Back in the 80s at the sizeable Auckland Trade Union Centre in Grey Lynn, a full time front door security desk was set up following Ernie Abbott’s 1984 murder by suitcase bomb, at the Wellington Trades Hall. The open anti union threats had been escalating for years thanks to Muldoon, and further after Winston’s 1981 “Kiwis Care Tanya Harris march”. At that event signs were spotted–“kill communist union officials”…nice, but that is the dark New Zealanders for you.
The Kiwi Care march was not anything to do with Winston. It was not planned as an Anti-Union March but became hijacked in the Media as such. I spent a good portion of that day blocking Politicians from getting anywhere near the Mic.
I have said what wasn't planned as, and it wasn't anti-union. "Suits" tried to suck up to her all day and she didn't want a bar of them. What the media reported it to be is up to them.
Well, I was involved with the Northern Storeworkers and other unions at the time including retail, and the fact is all around the Auck. CBD employers granted paid time off and encouraged clerical workers too to attend the Tania Harris march with their blessing.
Bosses did not extend the same offer to staff for the two big Queen St NZFOL (NZ Federation of Labour) union marches of 1979 and 1982.
I was a member of the Clerical Union at the time. I don't recall being encouraged to attend or being given time off. Not saying it didn't happen to you though and yes it was hijacked by anti union sentiment people, but in my opinion it simply wasn't planned that way.
CBD employers granted paid time off and encouraged clerical workers too to attend the Tania Harris march with their blessing.
I can attest to that. In my case it was a Public Service department and the bosses also attended that March. I, and one other, were the only two who refused to attend so we stayed behind and ran the joint in their absence. For our pains we were ostracised by the bosses and made to feel like second grade individuals.
Tanya what's-her-name may not have intended as such, but it was hijacked by the anti -Union movement of the day.
if they had to call the police, they probably have had a credible death threat or similar. We're not in the 80s any more. We're post-Ashburton where a man walked into a WINZ office, murdered two staff and injured two others, unions take that shit very seriously. We're also in the age where the leader of a political party has been assaulted on the street while walking to work. And this election in particular is a point of tension where we don't know if we are going to tip into crazy or stronger democracy.
It’s not like the 80s were some placid time weka, we got door security at the TUC because someone had died in a clear attack on Unions. Sure if Police advise to do whatever, that has to be considered, but not at the risk of looking weak under anonymous threat.
Unions act in public and under great scrutiny–just doing a bargaining process agreement before you can even negotiate with an employer, is an example of the complexities faced by union members and organising staff.
In contrast the fruitcakes and would be fascists operate largely undercover and need to be outed where ever possible. Unions should publicly send them a message.
I was in the Wellington Trades Hall just a day before the bombing, working on a union newspaper. It was just fate that I was not there at the wrong time because I finished my duties that day.
I remember that a certain man had come by the place a few days before and had made some undisclosed threats to people in the building. The police were called, given a good description of the man but police apparently did not make much effort to locate him.
This was the time of the Muldoon government, there was a lot of industrial unrest in the country and there had been a recent bus drivers strike. The general consensus around Trades Hall was that police had been told by the Muldoon government not to pursue the matter and the culprit was never apprehended.
Poor old Ernie Abbot was the caretaker there, simply going about his job.
A bunch of commie unionists were not considered worthy of police protection, you know!
The general consensus around Trades Hall was that police had been told by the Muldoon government not to pursue the matter and the culprit was never apprehended.
Mike the Lefty that is of special interest to me.
I knew a small group of people (one in particular) who I later discovered had been up to all manner of under-the-radar political activities – including criminal deeds – in the 1970s and part of the 1980s. There was a close link between Muldoon and at least one of that group. I ended up also being targeted by them.
I was unaware of the extent of their activities nor the link to Muldoon until a number of years later. One of the principle figures fled to Aussie in strange circumstances and spent two years moving around the country – as if he was in hiding. That was, from memory, shortly before the 1984 snap election called by Muldoon.
I did eventually pluck up the courage to inform the police of my knowledge and experiences. The police to my knowledge conducted no investigation.
Just a brief encounter of my experience and I have to say my respect for, and faith in the police took a rapid spiral downward as a result and has never fully recovered.
Thanks for that information Anne. There did seem to be a gang operating under the implicit direction of Muldoon to seek out suspected communist political infiltrators. Bill Such was perhaps its best known target but Ken Douglas and Tom Skinner were also repeatedly harrassed. It was very covert but possibly had links to the SIS. Muldoon had few limits to the extent he would go for political gains.
Not only can I name a couple of the culprits, but I can also name one or two high profile individuals of the day who were involved. I can also name a newspaper that was in on the game. Yes, The Truth newspaper – a misnomer if ever there was one. And yes, there were innocent people caught up in the sting. I was one of them. An untold story thus far but I have in the past hinted at some of my experiences.
The criminal offences committed in the name of the former prime minister, RD Muldoon were numerous and affected a lot of people. Colin Moyle was another well publicised target. There were a few other major events of the period that were subjected to the same behaviour. The fallout from the 1979 Erebus tragedy was one of them. I'll leave it there.
The problem MtL there was a major cover-up. It has taken me almost 30 years to ferret out what really happened.
I would need assistance – someone with journalistic experience perhaps – to help me put it together in an acceptable form. I'm not sure after all these years whether there would be much appetite for the story.
Suffice to say it was tied up with the antics of the Cold War era and the paranoia that accompanied it.
It has crossed my mind but I think Hagar's interests lie in more recent events. 20 years ago he would have been intrigued I am sure, but unfortunately back then I didn't have the knowledge and understanding that I have now.
There is a book that might be of interest Anne, if you are not aware of it already, called “Seeing Red–Undercover in 1950s New Zealand”
By George Fraser. 1995 The Dunmore Press Ltd.
ISBN 0 86469 255 2
George was a jazz musician who also worked at NZBC with a relative of mine, and was recruited by special branch NZ Police who were the precursors of the NZ SIS, to be a plant in the NZ Communist Party and pass on information to them. Many adventures followed as can be imagined.
Interesting TM. I will check out my local library.
I researched the 1960s era for some background knowledge and it is clear there was a period between the hand-over to the newly minted SIS and the Police special branch when there were two spy agenciesa breaking into properties and conducting surveillance activity. My reasonably well informed conclusion is: it was the Police special branch crowd who were active in my case.
The police also put plants in the Labour Party during those decades. As a LP activist in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, I was befriended by one of them. She did a great job pretending to be a good friend and confidant. Imagine my shock and anger when I eventually discovered the truth about her.
Those types did a lot of irreversible damage to innocent people and were never brought to account. To my way of thinking, that is a big stain on the NZ body politic.
I would certainly love to read your story in a book Anne.I suspect the same stuff is happening today, not at the behest of a politician necessarily, but for eg entrenched secretive civil servants at GCSB,SIS and the multifarious intelligence agencies.For that reason your experience is absolutely relevant
I'm 90% sure that at least some of the activity linked to my case was related to the Police and not the SIS. The reason had its genesis in a former cabinet minister who checked out a particular incident at the time it occurred and it was not carried out by the SIS. They are the professionals in the game and there are limits beyond which they cannot go – and I don't believe would want to go. The bunch who were targeting me and others, including some politicians, were amateurs. They were almost certainly acting on behalf of Muldoon, but far enough removed to allow him to deny any direct association had anything come to light.
The problem after all these years is… the evidence has long since disappeared.
Yes, I know a couple of people that looked at the suitcase and left it undisturbed, and another that was meant to be at Trades Hall that day but changed plans.
Coincidentally, Mrs Mac1 and I visited the Trades Hall today and paid our respects to Ernie Abbot in the foyer there. I also found there two other paintings of union people killed. Lest we forget!
Yes, Tiger Mountain, those are they. You have not forgotten. You know, we have met and seen some very decent kiwis on our little travels to Wellington. Some great parents on the ferry, staff as well, and then here in the city. We read of dodgy people in the news and grotesque views in the social media, and we can get a different view of where Kiwis are. Kiwis like Ernie Abbot, Evans and Clarke. Decent folk. Good values. A world away from the sociopaths, the angry misfits and the greedy.
Our political campaigns should be aimed there- to get back the votes of decent ordinary folks, the true heart of our country.
They abound in all walks of life and it amazes me how well informed they are too. But you never hear from them. No clickbait to be had from normal, decent people.
I have to say Mike the Lefty…reading your stories, I have much Respect for you…Tiger Mountain, Anne and others. I did know about the Trades Hall bombing..but all of you have given me real Insight into the level of hate against the Left then.
You …were, and are now, only standing up for our rights.
Does the leader of a political party need real life experience.You know the trials and tribulations of the working class,family life,obligations to children and an understanding of the financial realities facing ordinary people.
Can't see how flying…virgin would be a qualification.
I still don’t know what you’re on about. Is this an exercise in hypotheticals or do you have anything specific you’d like to discuss here? Say what you mean and mean what you say.
Would they have said that about Christ, Mother Theresa and Mother Aubert? Heartless thing to say, especially as a good proportion of our population never will have been parents.
"More than one-quarter of the adults (27 percent) were childfree. More than half of the adults were parents (54 percent). Another 12 percent planned to have biological or adopted children in the future. The remaining 8 percent were childless—they didn't have children, but they wish they could."
We are told that Jacinda Ardern is to write a book about leadership.
Just one problem: Dan Carter has got his book out ahead of hers (see "The Art of Winning: Lessons in Leadership, Purpose and Potential", released in July).
As you well know gsays, winning an electorate is largely about the prevailing mood in the country and the political make up of the electorate-it is never ever a straight fight between two people.
I did so enjoy Chloe taking out Akl Central at the last election though
The mean Canadians find out that unilever/unilateral interpreting of the rules the way they want is not without arbitration/legal clarification.
New Zealand has just won a major trade dispute with Canada over restrictions on diary goods ….
… a CPTPP panel has publishing a ruling this morning in New Zealand's favour.
Hundreds of millions of potential trade for New Zealand dairy diary exporters was being restricted by Canada through a system of import tariffs and quotas, in breach of CPTPP rules, the panel determined.
Canada will now have to comply with the ruling to allow for diary imports, including from New Zealand.
The dispute has been a serious undertaking by the Government – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern raised the issue in a face-to-face meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Clearly the Canadians weren't 'pretty solid' in their interpretation of the agreement. 'Pretty solid' seems like a close cousin of 'pretty legal'. It does look like a fair chunk of the blokey part of the electorate finds over-confident, ignorant, opinionated chest-puffing to be pretty appealing though. Probably because it matches their own default methods for navigating the world.
Unfortunately the most flippant came across the best while the earnest two (Greens and NZ 1st) were less convincing. Hands down Seymour appeared the most on to it. He was what made me turn it off, his crime rhetoric.
I thought Willie Jackson did quite well (especially with a reasonably hostile audience – audible heckling). Jenny Marcroft was quite simply outweighted in the debate.
Jeez, you are a kinder judge than I. He has been told off by his boss for his outburst about National getting rid of the minimum wage then when challenged said they would lower it.
I agree it was surprisingly hostile towards Labour.
Hipkins did say Jackson got the "getting rid of MW" wrong, but said that Jackson himself admitted this during the debate.
Hipkins said Jackson was right about ACT's policy being to reduce the MW because it's policy is to freeze it which when inflation is taken into account is a reduction.
Got an email today from Nicola Willis complaining Labour spent billions in 6 years with little to show for it. Wonder what they would've said if Labour had let all businesses go to the wall over Covid instead of propping them up with unprecedented levels of welfare payments.
"Hi Chris,
Yesterday Chris Hipkins said that New Zealand's "economic fundamentals are in good shape."
What a shocker.
Despite Hipkins' assertion about New Zealand's economic fundamentals, the reality is very different.
After six years of wasting billions of extra dollars with little to show for it, New Zealand's economy has fallen into recession.
There are Kiwis struggling to pay their bills every single day and whose mortgages are simply becoming too much to handle.
Inflation is running at 6% driving a prolonged cost of living crisis. Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation and mortgage repayments are too much for many Kiwis to handle
New Zealand is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region in recession.
IMF forecasts indicate we’ll have one of the worst economic growth rates in the world next year – putting jobs and incomes at risk.
Every Kiwi in the country knows these are not sound economic fundamentals, except apparently Chris Hipkins who has shown just how out of touch he is with the lives of every day Kiwis.
New Zealanders deserve competent economic management.
This election the choice is clear – a strong, stable National-led Government that will rebuild the economy to reduce the cost of living and help Kiwis get ahead, including with well-deserved tax relief for the squeezed middle.
Or three more years of a high taxing, high spending Labour-led government that is out of touch with reality and lacks the plans and ideas needed to address the issues facing New Zealanders.
Let’s get our country back on track.
Nicola Willis
National Party Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance"
He [Our PM] also outlined some economic headlines:
Under Labour
The economy is 6.7% larger than before Covid. Since the depths of the Covid recession, New Zealand’s economy has grown by 10.2% compared to 8.8% for Australia, 7.6% for the US, 7.1% for the Euro Area and 6.1% for the UK, according to the IMF.
Unemployment below 4% for eight consecutive quarters
Strong Government finances: Affirmed last week by Fitch. Net debt of 18.9% of GDP, below Australia, the US, and the UK according to the IMF.
Seven trade agreements singed or upgraded; FTAs now cover almost three quarters of New Zealand’s export.
Hahaha… good one. She really said that? It's a little bit like Australia in the last year where the LNP suddenly finds a voice for the "not so well off" after screwing them for years, every year (ROBODEBT anyone?).
It's always a little hypothetical to look back and imagine what would have happened with another party in government. But two things I'm relatively certain of:
The minimum wage today would be lower under National / Act and
The living wage today would be lower under National / Act
With similar inflation / mortgage figures.
Wasn't it Bill English who admitted the National Party wants to keep wages low?
The idea this Govt is more wasteful than others is not supported by evidence. Govts spend more in crisis periods, and the Sixth Labour Govt has faced a few expensive ones. Total Govt spending hit 48.1% of GDP in 2011 under a National Govt with (C&S from Act, UF and TPM).
Just wondering… are posts being blocked on this site due to political affiliation?
[lprent: Typically you’ll be stuck in moderation if the system hasn’t seen you before under your current ‘e-mail’. You have to have one comment approved by a moderator under a e-mail or handle before further comments appear automatically. That reduces the amount of spam we have to clean up.
Or you do certain behaviors like having too many links, or words and phrases that look like trolling to the automatic mechanisms. Again a spam reduction technique.
Or a moderator picked out some previous bad behavior under either you current alias or a previous one and put you into moderation. Read the policy if you wish to avoid that. Basically say something that makes it appear that you thought about what you were saying and explain why. Don’t be a dimwitted parrot – because we consider that to be trolling spam.
In this case it is the first because you’re using different e-mail handles. Pretty obvious if you look at your previous comments in search. The gravators change frequently.
I suggest that stop being such a dickhead and just stick to a single ‘e-mail’. Don’t whine to the moderators because you are too irresponsible to control your own behaviour. ]
You’ve been in Pre-Moderation for almost a month (see https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-08-2023/#comment-1963798). You haven’t responded and continued making unnecessary work for the Mods here, also by including too many links. This and the piss-poor quality of your comments suggests that you’re heading for the Exit. I’d suggest you respond to the outstanding Mod note and lift your game if you wish to keep your commenting privilege here – pissing off Mods & SYSOP is not smart.
“New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has the audacity to claim his government never mandated vaccines:
“In terms of the vaccine mandates, I acknowledge that it was a challenging time for people but they ultimately made their own choices. There was no compulsory vaccination. People made their own choices.”
Hipkins was the country's minister when New Zealand instituted mandatory vaccinations for health workers, military, teachers, university students, police officers, travel, many sports, and small businesses.”
[lprent: I also trashed your 2-3 previous versions of this comment. Moderators will get around to freeing up comments in moderation when they get some time.
You also left more than 10 links in the comment. This is a automatic moderation as well because it is a astroturfing technique beloved by dumbarse machines and parrots. While you’re mostly astroturfing a dictionary, it still looks like astroturfing which I disapprove of. You may notice that don’t run any other kinds of advertising on the site. Why should we run yours?
I count two small paragraphs that appear to be your own words (maybe). So I’ve damaged all links.
Use no more than about 2-3 links in comment in future, and write about why people should click into them rather than leaving meaningless clickbait comeons that read like a pimp in front of New Orleans brothel.
Otherwise I’ll start assuming that you’re just a stupid parrot or a autobot and act accordingly. ]
They weren’t coercive measures. They were public health measures exactly like stopping people crapping on a footpath, street, public place, or into a waterway used for drinking water. Or for that matter, on the floor in a office.
Do you approve of people crapping street? If so, could you please explain why?
Similarly restricting people with potentially carrying a notifiable disease from entering an office is no different from requiring that people don’t crap on the floor in a workspace. Both are health risks to the other people in the same location. So we have laws and regulations about health orders to minimize the spread of disease.
They don’t involve coercion as in dragging people away and locking them up. We do have those as well. But they were used in the first part of the lockdowns before we had widespread vaccines and medical treatments, and at the border. Again to slow the spread of the disease the Director of Health ordered most places to be closed and restrictions on travel. Worked too.
The rules about masking and unvaccinated after vaccines became widespread weren’t so much the government as the property owners and managers, employers, retailers could be charged if they allowed violations of a health order. Now that does include the government as a property owner, manager, funder and employer of most health facilities, all military, most teachers, all universities, and all police officers. They are just as bound by health orders as anyone else. The Director of Health who issues those orders is just as bound by the legislation. They are required to act in certain ways under pandemic or epidemic situations.
Frankly you’re an idiot if you haven’t read the relevant legislation. Which as far as I can tell you have not.
The choice of being liable to the consequences of enabling behavior that violates those health orders is left to businesses large and small and organizations. Their response was usually to conform, because the alternative would have been for the health ministry to direct the police to prosecute those organisations.
Now personally I would be all in favour of repealing those restrictions from the health and pandemic response acts /sarc. Provided they also repealed the restrictions on other citizens about beating disease carriers to prevent them from entering our public and work spaces. Shutting them in ghettos. Lynchings. Because that used to be the standard behavior during pandemics during pre-vaccine history. The health legislation is a tradeoff between two forms of ‘freedom’
I would have had a murderous response to having unvaccinated, unmasked medical staff while I was in hospital for emergency care during the lockdown. If not to the individuals, then certainly to those who employed them to endanger me. It is exactly the same degree of reckless behavior as having a medical people do child births with dirty hands.
The ‘coercion’ in the health laws is two way process. You should be extremely wary of unleashing the freedom to remove perceived existential threats in a free manner.
But I guess you just like crapping out bacteria and virus loads wherever you like eh?
Really I suspect that you are simply a selfish arsehole crapping on this site probably as you express your ‘freedom’ to defecate in the street in real life.
Yes I appreciate that SPC
I;m not necessarily backing KS,just wishing for a bit more civility in life .We don’t always agree for instance ,but you never descend to ugly emotive language or abuse
Then again you don’t have a privileged position here
After being on social networks since 1980 while I was using the Waikato uni internal messaging. Since then I have been on local and global BBSes, usenet, blogs, work networks, and the current social media. It has always been my opinion that 'civility' is vastly overrated on social media.
The pattern of people on social media who call for civility are usually that don't have a history of using sites and haven't seen exactly how they deteriorate from trolls uninterested in discussion using them as point scoring toilet.
Or are trolls who are uninterested in discussion and long on wanting to express their opinions without dealing with responses. They use it as an victim excuse to avoid discussion on a topic that they raised. As student of online behaviour it is a pattern that comes up over and over again.
You may not agree with that assessment. I simply don't care because, as usual, you haven't provided any argument to back your ill-informed opinion. You haven't explained the origin of the experience that forms your opinion. Haven't explained why you think more civility is a good idea. Nor have you suggested any other strategies for dealing with the obnoxious who are less interested in listening to other than they are in crapping on a 'free' pavement without dealing with the consequences. (this analogy may be a somewhat too subtle for you as you don't appear to have picked up on why I specifically used it in responding to KS).
There must be a way to get your message across without playground bullying. A smart fellow like you would have many resources at hand
Yes there are many. But the absolute best one for dealing with someone repeating childish and offensive behaviour on a social site is to personally tear one of their comments apart in public and make it about them and their behaviour. That tends to be memorable to them even as they try to sneer at it. It makes them cautious about repeating similar online behaviour. It is a step that is less destructive of their ability to comment and usually less work for a moderators long term than alternatives.
KS came to my attention this time because they made a complaint that I read while I was doing a moderation sweep. They had 4 comments in auto-moderation. 3 were duplicated astroturfs and the other one was a victim statement from a incompetent troll spammer.
They had used a different 'email' yet again.
They'd put more than 10 unnecessary links into a comment.
It was clearly an attempt to astroturf a spam comment on this site.
Claimed victim status when they ran into anti-spam code.
Didn't bother to look for alternate explanations.
Unlike you. I did some work before taking any action.
I read their comments in moderation.
Looked up their previous comments and several changes in identity.
I looked up their previous interactions on the site and found that they had done this kind of behaviour many times before. Not only under this handle and variants of it. But also under other ones. Saw that they had been warned about the behaviour before.
Scanned the web and found the same lines parroted across multiple sites by multiple handles.
There was no personal opinion or thought in what they said, it was just something that they'd copied. They'd dumped it onsite here to try to get a rise
Why should I respect or treat with civility someone who has a history of dropping crap comments here, who wastes our time, and who never engages with replies with discussion or argument, but who always either just makes Trumpian proclamations of their own infallibility or the Trumpian persecution and victim statements, and who is apparently puppet of a spam factory.
So I did a comment that was absolutely bound to offend them personally. I sneered at them. Made references to their real and imaged disgusting behaviour. Wove in an appropriate analogy to their behaviour on this site.
It succeeded in its intent. As you can see it got an offended response in a way that previous moderation had not. Was almost certainly memorable to KS and will help educate them about how others view them. It will also probably give them bragging rights on Kiwiblog or BFH or whatever echo chamber that they parroted their comment from. It will also discourage them from doing the same behaviour here when they come back under that handle or another.
That is the role of a sysop on a social site. They are the BOFH and can do things that others cannot do as easily. It takes time and effort to do that effectively – something that you clearly do not understand. It is about a clinical as any other kind of potty training.
Now perhaps you'd now like to look at your comments, and consider how they would appear to this veteran of social media. I suspect you may have some difficulties with having to look at anything from a perspective other than your own constrained worldview.
You'll note that aside from a few snarky asides, this comment was 'civil'. It is also probably just as offensive to you as my comment was to KS.
Consider that it was meant to be and see if you can figure out why.
Seems to be set to NZ. But I seldom use the dictionary functions, and really don't care what spelling I use. I'm a programmer. So functional legibility and being able to compile /link are about the limits of what I get concerned about whilst writing.
However I can't see any particular Americanisms in the comment you responded to.
So I suspect that you should have been born French and taken a job at the Académie Française at the worlds premier idiotic language police (they appear to recruit heavily from the anally retentive). It doesn't really suit English as the premier bastard sticky language of the world.
There was no forced vaccination. The freedom from forced medical treatment by the state was maintained. However, it was balanced against the freedom of other people to use state-run healthcare facilities in the expectation that they would not be exposed to avoidable (possibly fatal) risks. Why do libertarian nutters not understand that freedom is is dynamic network of reciprocated obligations?
We (NZ) had this out at the time about the vaccines. Make your choice but be aware of the consequences of any choice you make. Certain people, many of whom ended up at the protest at Parliament, had great difficulty, as you indicate, understanding this then and the passage of time hasn't improved their understanding.
Same as any moral dilemma – I am sure those who opposed conscription made the decision not to go to war in the knowledge that there would be consequences.
It just seems to be recently that we have the notion of consequence-free decisions such as these. I guess another name for it is entitlement. I am not talking about those who physically could not have an injection, allergies, having chemo etc etc. These are the people we were trying to protect by halting the spread so their risk could be lessened.
I am not talking about those who physically could not have an injection, allergies, having chemo etc etc.
It became obligatory for anyone who tried to stand -up to the naysayers (remember Rosemary McDonald) to finish up with this proviso because if we didn't, we were accused by said naysayers of "not caring about the immuno compromised" when the opposite was true.
One of my friends was immuno compromised at the time and wanted to have an injection/protection and the lengths that her medical people went to to make sure she was able to have protection. She had access to the alternative and had several boosters before we were being urged to have ours. So immuno compromised plus wanting to be protected did not mean a person could not have the injection.
I think some home 'Drs' and conspiracy theorists made out that just because you were immuno compromised or allergic you couldn't be protected.
Now they seem to be rerunning the force/coercion argument instead of the choice argument. I know if I had felt strongly about the vaccination I would have chosen not to and accepted any consequences of my decisions including whether I kept my job.
If National get in, Upton should remain exactly where he is.
As the Minister who got the RMA through, and with big EU specialist credentials, when Upton speaks National listen. Believe it or not there are earnest blue-greens in there.
Upton will be particularly important if Act get the Environment portfolio and really start burning regulations.
Statistically, yes. As there were pacifists and those who cared for the plight of the working class Tommy amongst the officers at Passchendaele. And there wouldn’t have been those without the Victorian fashion for younger daughters and 4th sons to have a care for charity and the moral education of the less seemly parts of town.
But action didn’t happen until the Tories were turfed out. And here the Tories are those denialists and shoe draggers of all colours of rosette. Yep, right there if the Nats win. Sure.
I’m living in some kind of retconable world where he could drop in at 10 on the list and perhaps even pick up a teal seat somewhere. And really ramp up the electoral urgency for climate action.
C and Cs climate credentials leave a lot to be desired.
And f- me I hadn’t considered a world where those to the right of groundswell get any input into this…The fire at those ‘protests’ is their literal platform.
Don’t worry Ad, Chippy is a riding into town. It’s far from over just yet. Just watching how much the TPU polls continue to say exactly what the Nats want…
This is a positive sign for future lowering of NZ emissions. Apparently might make the Treasury forecast off by $900 million but really who cares. The budget typically misses by a few billion within 6 month anyway.
I’ve been receiving an escalating stream of panicked emails from people telling me their longtime physician was retiring, was no longer taking their insurance or had gone concierge and would no longer see them unless they ponied up a hefty annual fee. They said they couldn’t find another primary-care doctor who could take them on or who offered a new-patient appointment sooner than months away.
Their individual stories reflect a larger reality: American physicians have been abandoning traditional primary-care practice — internal and family medicine — in large numbers. Those who remain are working fewer hours. And fewer medical students are choosing a field that once attracted some of the best and brightest because of its diagnostic challenges and the emotional gratification of deep relationships with patients.
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A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
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 ...
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National vs Labour yes. But also ACT vs Greens. Cue Seymour/Rimmer with yet more mouthdrain..
And on the back of his "reckons" of historical icons who woulda voted ACT (Nelson Mandela ! ) He also "reckons" Kate Sheppard !?
And….a bit of
Who seriously thinks he is worthy of a vote?
Those who value money above all else.
Really CTU…retreat? Mr Wagstaff–please stand up to the thugs.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/09/election-2023-council-of-trade-unions-closes-doors-to-public-calls-cops-after-concerning-response-to-christoper-luxon-attack-ad.html
The response should have been to call in Wellington workplace delegates to stand and show public solidarity at the office and keep on trucking.
Back in the 80s at the sizeable Auckland Trade Union Centre in Grey Lynn, a full time front door security desk was set up following Ernie Abbott’s 1984 murder by suitcase bomb, at the Wellington Trades Hall. The open anti union threats had been escalating for years thanks to Muldoon, and further after Winston’s 1981 “Kiwis Care Tanya Harris march”. At that event signs were spotted–“kill communist union officials”…nice, but that is the dark New Zealanders for you.
The Kiwi Care march was not anything to do with Winston. It was not planned as an Anti-Union March but became hijacked in the Media as such. I spent a good portion of that day blocking Politicians from getting anywhere near the Mic.
Of course it was anti-union. Harris and the suits marched in response to rolling- strikes by engineers, wharfies, meat workers and firemen.
I have said what wasn't planned as, and it wasn't anti-union. "Suits" tried to suck up to her all day and she didn't want a bar of them. What the media reported it to be is up to them.
Well, I was involved with the Northern Storeworkers and other unions at the time including retail, and the fact is all around the Auck. CBD employers granted paid time off and encouraged clerical workers too to attend the Tania Harris march with their blessing.
Bosses did not extend the same offer to staff for the two big Queen St NZFOL (NZ Federation of Labour) union marches of 1979 and 1982.
I was a member of the Clerical Union at the time. I don't recall being encouraged to attend or being given time off. Not saying it didn't happen to you though and yes it was hijacked by anti union sentiment people, but in my opinion it simply wasn't planned that way.
I can attest to that. In my case it was a Public Service department and the bosses also attended that March. I, and one other, were the only two who refused to attend so we stayed behind and ran the joint in their absence. For our pains we were ostracised by the bosses and made to feel like second grade individuals.
Tanya what's-her-name may not have intended as such, but it was hijacked by the anti -Union movement of the day.
if they had to call the police, they probably have had a credible death threat or similar. We're not in the 80s any more. We're post-Ashburton where a man walked into a WINZ office, murdered two staff and injured two others, unions take that shit very seriously. We're also in the age where the leader of a political party has been assaulted on the street while walking to work. And this election in particular is a point of tension where we don't know if we are going to tip into crazy or stronger democracy.
It’s not like the 80s were some placid time weka, we got door security at the TUC because someone had died in a clear attack on Unions. Sure if Police advise to do whatever, that has to be considered, but not at the risk of looking weak under anonymous threat.
Unions act in public and under great scrutiny–just doing a bargaining process agreement before you can even negotiate with an employer, is an example of the complexities faced by union members and organising staff.
In contrast the fruitcakes and would be fascists operate largely undercover and need to be outed where ever possible. Unions should publicly send them a message.
I was in the Wellington Trades Hall just a day before the bombing, working on a union newspaper. It was just fate that I was not there at the wrong time because I finished my duties that day.
I remember that a certain man had come by the place a few days before and had made some undisclosed threats to people in the building. The police were called, given a good description of the man but police apparently did not make much effort to locate him.
This was the time of the Muldoon government, there was a lot of industrial unrest in the country and there had been a recent bus drivers strike. The general consensus around Trades Hall was that police had been told by the Muldoon government not to pursue the matter and the culprit was never apprehended.
Poor old Ernie Abbot was the caretaker there, simply going about his job.
A bunch of commie unionists were not considered worthy of police protection, you know!
Mike the Lefty that is of special interest to me.
I knew a small group of people (one in particular) who I later discovered had been up to all manner of under-the-radar political activities – including criminal deeds – in the 1970s and part of the 1980s. There was a close link between Muldoon and at least one of that group. I ended up also being targeted by them.
I was unaware of the extent of their activities nor the link to Muldoon until a number of years later. One of the principle figures fled to Aussie in strange circumstances and spent two years moving around the country – as if he was in hiding. That was, from memory, shortly before the 1984 snap election called by Muldoon.
I did eventually pluck up the courage to inform the police of my knowledge and experiences. The police to my knowledge conducted no investigation.
Just a brief encounter of my experience and I have to say my respect for, and faith in the police took a rapid spiral downward as a result and has never fully recovered.
Thanks for that information Anne. There did seem to be a gang operating under the implicit direction of Muldoon to seek out suspected communist political infiltrators. Bill Such was perhaps its best known target but Ken Douglas and Tom Skinner were also repeatedly harrassed. It was very covert but possibly had links to the SIS. Muldoon had few limits to the extent he would go for political gains.
Not only can I name a couple of the culprits, but I can also name one or two high profile individuals of the day who were involved. I can also name a newspaper that was in on the game. Yes, The Truth newspaper – a misnomer if ever there was one. And yes, there were innocent people caught up in the sting. I was one of them. An untold story thus far but I have in the past hinted at some of my experiences.
The criminal offences committed in the name of the former prime minister, RD Muldoon were numerous and affected a lot of people. Colin Moyle was another well publicised target. There were a few other major events of the period that were subjected to the same behaviour. The fallout from the 1979 Erebus tragedy was one of them. I'll leave it there.
I love to see all this in a book, have you considered writing one?
The problem MtL there was a major cover-up. It has taken me almost 30 years to ferret out what really happened.
I would need assistance – someone with journalistic experience perhaps – to help me put it together in an acceptable form. I'm not sure after all these years whether there would be much appetite for the story.
Suffice to say it was tied up with the antics of the Cold War era and the paranoia that accompanied it.
Hi Anne,
I value your experiences and a book would of infinite value. Have you thought to contact Nicky Hagar
It has crossed my mind but I think Hagar's interests lie in more recent events. 20 years ago he would have been intrigued I am sure, but unfortunately back then I didn't have the knowledge and understanding that I have now.
There is a book that might be of interest Anne, if you are not aware of it already, called “Seeing Red–Undercover in 1950s New Zealand”
By George Fraser. 1995 The Dunmore Press Ltd.
ISBN 0 86469 255 2
George was a jazz musician who also worked at NZBC with a relative of mine, and was recruited by special branch NZ Police who were the precursors of the NZ SIS, to be a plant in the NZ Communist Party and pass on information to them. Many adventures followed as can be imagined.
Interesting TM. I will check out my local library.
I researched the 1960s era for some background knowledge and it is clear there was a period between the hand-over to the newly minted SIS and the Police special branch when there were two spy agenciesa breaking into properties and conducting surveillance activity. My reasonably well informed conclusion is: it was the Police special branch crowd who were active in my case.
The police also put plants in the Labour Party during those decades. As a LP activist in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, I was befriended by one of them. She did a great job pretending to be a good friend and confidant. Imagine my shock and anger when I eventually discovered the truth about her.
Those types did a lot of irreversible damage to innocent people and were never brought to account. To my way of thinking, that is a big stain on the NZ body politic.
I would certainly love to read your story in a book Anne.I suspect the same stuff is happening today, not at the behest of a politician necessarily, but for eg entrenched secretive civil servants at GCSB,SIS and the multifarious intelligence agencies.For that reason your experience is absolutely relevant
@ Francesca.
I'm 90% sure that at least some of the activity linked to my case was related to the Police and not the SIS. The reason had its genesis in a former cabinet minister who checked out a particular incident at the time it occurred and it was not carried out by the SIS. They are the professionals in the game and there are limits beyond which they cannot go – and I don't believe would want to go. The bunch who were targeting me and others, including some politicians, were amateurs. They were almost certainly acting on behalf of Muldoon, but far enough removed to allow him to deny any direct association had anything come to light.
The problem after all these years is… the evidence has long since disappeared.
Yes, I know a couple of people that looked at the suitcase and left it undisturbed, and another that was meant to be at Trades Hall that day but changed plans.
Coincidentally, Mrs Mac1 and I visited the Trades Hall today and paid our respects to Ernie Abbot in the foyer there. I also found there two other paintings of union people killed. Lest we forget!
FG Evans (Waihi miner 1912) and Christine Clarke (Lyttleton Port picket 1999)?
Yes, Tiger Mountain, those are they. You have not forgotten. You know, we have met and seen some very decent kiwis on our little travels to Wellington. Some great parents on the ferry, staff as well, and then here in the city. We read of dodgy people in the news and grotesque views in the social media, and we can get a different view of where Kiwis are. Kiwis like Ernie Abbot, Evans and Clarke. Decent folk. Good values. A world away from the sociopaths, the angry misfits and the greedy.
Our political campaigns should be aimed there- to get back the votes of decent ordinary folks, the true heart of our country.
They abound in all walks of life and it amazes me how well informed they are too. But you never hear from them. No clickbait to be had from normal, decent people.
I have to say Mike the Lefty…reading your stories, I have much Respect for you…Tiger Mountain, Anne and others. I did know about the Trades Hall bombing..but all of you have given me real Insight into the level of hate against the Left then.
You …were, and are now, only standing up for our rights.
Which NAct will be only too keen to take away.
Yep – nobody got past the stalwarts who staffed that desk.
Does the leader of a political party need real life experience.You know the trials and tribulations of the working class,family life,obligations to children and an understanding of the financial realities facing ordinary people.
Can't see how flying…virgin would be a qualification.
Was this comment meant for
TwitterX orFacebookMeta? It sure reads like it.No.I'm quite genuine .
Should political leaders have a grounding in real life experience.
The so called squeezed middle is about families coping with everyday life.
A single,celibate person would not have much voter appeal,I would suggest.
I still don’t know what you’re on about. Is this an exercise in hypotheticals or do you have anything specific you’d like to discuss here? Say what you mean and mean what you say.
I remember that some media outlets accused Helen Clark of having no empathy for families because she herself had no children.
Would they have said that about Christ, Mother Theresa and Mother Aubert? Heartless thing to say, especially as a good proportion of our population never will have been parents.
Just looked it up on Google! https://www.psychologytoday.com/nz/blog/living-single/202107/the-truth-about-people-who-remain-childfree
"More than one-quarter of the adults (27 percent) were childfree. More than half of the adults were parents (54 percent). Another 12 percent planned to have biological or adopted children in the future. The remaining 8 percent were childless—they didn't have children, but they wish they could."
We are told that Jacinda Ardern is to write a book about leadership.
Just one problem: Dan Carter has got his book out ahead of hers (see "The Art of Winning: Lessons in Leadership, Purpose and Potential", released in July).
And Carter knew how to win, of course.
I know Ardern was the P.M of NZ,thats leadership.
Not sure if Carter even captained the AB's.He was a brilliant rugby player,no doubt.
She won. Twice. Never lost.
Tell that to Nikki Kaye.
“Ardern and Kaye have been political rivals for years.
They ran against each other in Auckland Central in 2011 and 2014 – Kaye winning both times.”
https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-national/i-wish-her-all-best-arderns-tribute-nikki-kaye
As you well know gsays, winning an electorate is largely about the prevailing mood in the country and the political make up of the electorate-it is never ever a straight fight between two people.
I did so enjoy Chloe taking out Akl Central at the last election though
Yeah, Chloe is one Green MP who seems to keep a lot better grounded than some of her colleagues. Says what she thinks and is smart in a low-key style.
Martyn Bradbury thinks Chloe is the best thing since sliced bread.
Winner on the rugby field .
Not so much in business ,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/3977187/Last-of-Carters-Gas-fashion-stores-closes-leaving-1m-debt
Also backed a failed NFT 'business' last year .
The mean Canadians find out that unilever/
unilateralinterpreting of the rules the way they want is not without arbitration/legal clarification.Reporting by Thomas
ManchMnachSome should take note.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300964832/election-2023-live-new-zealand-wins-trade-dispute-with-canada
Clearly the Canadians weren't 'pretty solid' in their interpretation of the agreement. 'Pretty solid' seems like a close cousin of 'pretty legal'. It does look like a fair chunk of the blokey part of the electorate finds over-confident, ignorant, opinionated chest-puffing to be pretty appealing though. Probably because it matches their own default methods for navigating the world.
So was this ruling undertaken by one of those secret arbitration panels we all opposed during TPPA protests
Was Canada trying to protect its own farmers?
Or was there some other reason?
Amazing, I didn't realize that NZ had a significant "diary" export business to Canada.
Must be all of those trees we grow….. /sarc/
I wouldn't have thought that the trade in "diary" goods was a major part of NZ's economy.
I enjoyed the … robust … exchange of views at the Taxpayers Union debate last night.
Hosted (I won't say moderated) by Martyn Bradbury and Damien Grant.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/09/election-2023-willie-jackson-david-seymour-trade-barbs-over-justice-policies.html
While I doubt any views will have been changed in the course of the evening – it was interesting to see the clash of views.
It wasn't until nearly the end of the article that you knew that National's Paul Goldsmith was there as well.
That guy is such a non-entity that if he failed to show up for his own birthday party nobody would notice.
I managed about 3/4 of an hour.
Unfortunately the most flippant came across the best while the earnest two (Greens and NZ 1st) were less convincing. Hands down Seymour appeared the most on to it. He was what made me turn it off, his crime rhetoric.
I thought Willie Jackson did quite well (especially with a reasonably hostile audience – audible heckling). Jenny Marcroft was quite simply outweighted in the debate.
Jeez, you are a kinder judge than I. He has been told off by his boss for his outburst about National getting rid of the minimum wage then when challenged said they would lower it.
I agree it was surprisingly hostile towards Labour.
Get the facts right gsays.
Hipkins did say Jackson got the "getting rid of MW" wrong, but said that Jackson himself admitted this during the debate.
Hipkins said Jackson was right about ACT's policy being to reduce the MW because it's policy is to freeze it which when inflation is taken into account is a reduction.
I was describing what I saw.
You are talking about what Hipkins said about it.
Got an email today from Nicola Willis complaining Labour spent billions in 6 years with little to show for it. Wonder what they would've said if Labour had let all businesses go to the wall over Covid instead of propping them up with unprecedented levels of welfare payments.
"Hi Chris,
Yesterday Chris Hipkins said that New Zealand's "economic fundamentals are in good shape."
What a shocker.
Despite Hipkins' assertion about New Zealand's economic fundamentals, the reality is very different.
After six years of wasting billions of extra dollars with little to show for it, New Zealand's economy has fallen into recession.
There are Kiwis struggling to pay their bills every single day and whose mortgages are simply becoming too much to handle.
Inflation is running at 6% driving a prolonged cost of living crisis. Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation and mortgage repayments are too much for many Kiwis to handle
New Zealand is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region in recession.
IMF forecasts indicate we’ll have one of the worst economic growth rates in the world next year – putting jobs and incomes at risk.
Every Kiwi in the country knows these are not sound economic fundamentals, except apparently Chris Hipkins who has shown just how out of touch he is with the lives of every day Kiwis.
New Zealanders deserve competent economic management.
This election the choice is clear – a strong, stable National-led Government that will rebuild the economy to reduce the cost of living and help Kiwis get ahead, including with well-deserved tax relief for the squeezed middle.
Or three more years of a high taxing, high spending Labour-led government that is out of touch with reality and lacks the plans and ideas needed to address the issues facing New Zealanders.
Let’s get our country back on track.
Nicola Willis
National Party Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance"
Labour… the Horror, I tell ya
Here we go (Stuff – Election 2023 live stream):
He [Our PM] also outlined some economic headlines:
Under Labour
I like this from Willis:
"Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation and mortgage repayments are too much for many Kiwis to handle"
Pure fcuking gold.
Hahaha… good one. She really said that? It's a little bit like Australia in the last year where the LNP suddenly finds a voice for the "not so well off" after screwing them for years, every year (ROBODEBT anyone?).
It's always a little hypothetical to look back and imagine what would have happened with another party in government. But two things I'm relatively certain of:
With similar inflation / mortgage figures.
Wasn't it Bill English who admitted the National Party wants to keep wages low?
No contradiction there then.
Reckless spending..
/
Edward Miller
@labourcartel
The idea this Govt is more wasteful than others is not supported by evidence. Govts spend more in crisis periods, and the Sixth Labour Govt has faced a few expensive ones. Total Govt spending hit 48.1% of GDP in 2011 under a National Govt with (C&S from Act, UF and TPM).
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F5TEeonbMAAHF8M?format=png&name=small
https://twitter.com/labourcartel/status/1699200448639684716
And Scotty makes four.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/09/06/fourth-act-candidate-resigns-in-lead-up-to-election/
I shared that to FB Joe. It is going to be a sad day if Seymour and his fellow nutters form part of the next government.
Just wondering… are posts being blocked on this site due to political affiliation?
[lprent: Typically you’ll be stuck in moderation if the system hasn’t seen you before under your current ‘e-mail’. You have to have one comment approved by a moderator under a e-mail or handle before further comments appear automatically. That reduces the amount of spam we have to clean up.
Or you do certain behaviors like having too many links, or words and phrases that look like trolling to the automatic mechanisms. Again a spam reduction technique.
Or a moderator picked out some previous bad behavior under either you current alias or a previous one and put you into moderation. Read the policy if you wish to avoid that. Basically say something that makes it appear that you thought about what you were saying and explain why. Don’t be a dimwitted parrot – because we consider that to be trolling spam.
In this case it is the first because you’re using different e-mail handles. Pretty obvious if you look at your previous comments in search. The gravators change frequently.
https://thestandard.org.nz/search/%40author+%22Karl+Sinclair%22/?search_comments=true&search_posts=true&search_sortby=date
I suggest that stop being such a dickhead and just stick to a single ‘e-mail’. Don’t whine to the moderators because you are too irresponsible to control your own behaviour. ]
You’ve been in Pre-Moderation for almost a month (see https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-08-2023/#comment-1963798). You haven’t responded and continued making unnecessary work for the Mods here, also by including too many links. This and the piss-poor quality of your comments suggests that you’re heading for the Exit. I’d suggest you respond to the outstanding Mod note and lift your game if you wish to keep your commenting privilege here – pissing off Mods & SYSOP is not smart.
Kiwis are meant to be straight up no bs people…What the hell has happened to us…1984 protocols!
This is sadly why I’m ditching labour. Playing Orwellian semantics it’s not ok…. (Be straight up)
https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1698860930644504790?s=46&t=Mb3vWtlQ9iVITzFN3xvWAQ
“Unbelievable.
“New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has the audacity to claim his government never mandated vaccines:
“In terms of the vaccine mandates, I acknowledge that it was a challenging time for people but they ultimately made their own choices. There was no compulsory vaccination. People made their own choices.”
Hipkins was the country's minister when New Zealand instituted mandatory vaccinations for health workers, military, teachers, university students, police officers, travel, many sports, and small businesses.”
Definition coercion
the use of force to persuade someone to do something that they are unwilling to do:
He claimed the police had used coercion, threats, and promises to obtain the statement illegally.
Check out also the Canadian Government’s Justin T bs
https://youtu.be/gS2OeHbO1Yk?si=Sxrz015CZIbGaeHG
[lprent: I also trashed your 2-3 previous versions of this comment. Moderators will get around to freeing up comments in moderation when they get some time.
You also left more than 10 links in the comment. This is a automatic moderation as well because it is a astroturfing technique beloved by dumbarse machines and parrots. While you’re mostly astroturfing a dictionary, it still looks like astroturfing which I disapprove of. You may notice that don’t run any other kinds of advertising on the site. Why should we run yours?
I count two small paragraphs that appear to be your own words (maybe). So I’ve damaged all links.
Use no more than about 2-3 links in comment in future, and write about why people should click into them rather than leaving meaningless clickbait comeons that read like a pimp in front of New Orleans brothel.
Otherwise I’ll start assuming that you’re just a stupid parrot or a autobot and act accordingly. ]
They weren’t coercive measures. They were public health measures exactly like stopping people crapping on a footpath, street, public place, or into a waterway used for drinking water. Or for that matter, on the floor in a office.
Do you approve of people crapping street? If so, could you please explain why?
Similarly restricting people with potentially carrying a notifiable disease from entering an office is no different from requiring that people don’t crap on the floor in a workspace. Both are health risks to the other people in the same location. So we have laws and regulations about health orders to minimize the spread of disease.
They don’t involve coercion as in dragging people away and locking them up. We do have those as well. But they were used in the first part of the lockdowns before we had widespread vaccines and medical treatments, and at the border. Again to slow the spread of the disease the Director of Health ordered most places to be closed and restrictions on travel. Worked too.
The rules about masking and unvaccinated after vaccines became widespread weren’t so much the government as the property owners and managers, employers, retailers could be charged if they allowed violations of a health order. Now that does include the government as a property owner, manager, funder and employer of most health facilities, all military, most teachers, all universities, and all police officers. They are just as bound by health orders as anyone else. The Director of Health who issues those orders is just as bound by the legislation. They are required to act in certain ways under pandemic or epidemic situations.
Frankly you’re an idiot if you haven’t read the relevant legislation. Which as far as I can tell you have not.
The choice of being liable to the consequences of enabling behavior that violates those health orders is left to businesses large and small and organizations. Their response was usually to conform, because the alternative would have been for the health ministry to direct the police to prosecute those organisations.
Now personally I would be all in favour of repealing those restrictions from the health and pandemic response acts /sarc. Provided they also repealed the restrictions on other citizens about beating disease carriers to prevent them from entering our public and work spaces. Shutting them in ghettos. Lynchings. Because that used to be the standard behavior during pandemics during pre-vaccine history. The health legislation is a tradeoff between two forms of ‘freedom’
I would have had a murderous response to having unvaccinated, unmasked medical staff while I was in hospital for emergency care during the lockdown. If not to the individuals, then certainly to those who employed them to endanger me. It is exactly the same degree of reckless behavior as having a medical people do child births with dirty hands.
The ‘coercion’ in the health laws is two way process. You should be extremely wary of unleashing the freedom to remove perceived existential threats in a free manner.
But I guess you just like crapping out bacteria and virus loads wherever you like eh?
Really I suspect that you are simply a selfish arsehole crapping on this site probably as you express your ‘freedom’ to defecate in the street in real life.
Your site so you can be as unpleasant as you like
There must be a way to get your message across without playground bullying.A smart fellow like you would have many resources at hand
I can only assume you enjoy throwing your weight around
Anyone else would be chucked out for starting a "flame war"
I do realize this is a sackable offense speaking out and I'll take whatever punishment happily
KS has been ditching Labour again and again via posts on this site …. This is why … who on the left follows Charlie Kirk?
Yes I appreciate that SPC
I;m not necessarily backing KS,just wishing for a bit more civility in life .We don’t always agree for instance ,but you never descend to ugly emotive language or abuse
Then again you don’t have a privileged position here
This is how I look at it…
Yes there are many. But the absolute best one for dealing with someone repeating childish and offensive behaviour on a social site is to personally tear one of their comments apart in public and make it about them and their behaviour. That tends to be memorable to them even as they try to sneer at it. It makes them cautious about repeating similar online behaviour. It is a step that is less destructive of their ability to comment and usually less work for a moderators long term than alternatives.
Unlike you. I did some work before taking any action.
Why should I respect or treat with civility someone who has a history of dropping crap comments here, who wastes our time, and who never engages with replies with discussion or argument, but who always either just makes Trumpian proclamations of their own infallibility or the Trumpian persecution and victim statements, and who is apparently puppet of a spam factory.
So I did a comment that was absolutely bound to offend them personally. I sneered at them. Made references to their real and imaged disgusting behaviour. Wove in an appropriate analogy to their behaviour on this site.
It succeeded in its intent. As you can see it got an offended response in a way that previous moderation had not. Was almost certainly memorable to KS and will help educate them about how others view them. It will also probably give them bragging rights on Kiwiblog or BFH or whatever echo chamber that they parroted their comment from. It will also discourage them from doing the same behaviour here when they come back under that handle or another.
That is the role of a sysop on a social site. They are the BOFH and can do things that others cannot do as easily. It takes time and effort to do that effectively – something that you clearly do not understand. It is about a clinical as any other kind of potty training.
Now perhaps you'd now like to look at your comments, and consider how they would appear to this veteran of social media. I suspect you may have some difficulties with having to look at anything from a perspective other than your own constrained worldview.
You'll note that aside from a few snarky asides, this comment was 'civil'. It is also probably just as offensive to you as my comment was to KS.
Consider that it was meant to be and see if you can figure out why.
Er umm…"dissing"?
Reason No. xyt.
OK. I didn’t read the KS. comment. Apols.
Lprent- Any chance you could set your setting to English-NZ or English-UK, unless of course you are an American ?
Seems to be set to NZ. But I seldom use the dictionary functions, and really don't care what spelling I use. I'm a programmer. So functional legibility and being able to compile /link are about the limits of what I get concerned about whilst writing.
However I can't see any particular Americanisms in the comment you responded to.
So I suspect that you should have been born French and taken a job at the Académie Française at the worlds premier idiotic language police (they appear to recruit heavily from the anally retentive). It doesn't really suit English as the premier bastard sticky language of the world.
You follow Charlie Kirk on X?
The same stuff floats around on Rebel News … Ani O'Brien reposts that locally and Eva McTin.
There was no forced vaccination. The freedom from forced medical treatment by the state was maintained. However, it was balanced against the freedom of other people to use state-run healthcare facilities in the expectation that they would not be exposed to avoidable (possibly fatal) risks. Why do libertarian nutters not understand that freedom is is dynamic network of reciprocated obligations?
Because being part of a dynamic network of reciprocated obligations is way beyond their ability to comprehend – if I may be so bold.
And I'll boldly agree with you Anne.
We (NZ) had this out at the time about the vaccines. Make your choice but be aware of the consequences of any choice you make. Certain people, many of whom ended up at the protest at Parliament, had great difficulty, as you indicate, understanding this then and the passage of time hasn't improved their understanding.
Same as any moral dilemma – I am sure those who opposed conscription made the decision not to go to war in the knowledge that there would be consequences.
It just seems to be recently that we have the notion of consequence-free decisions such as these. I guess another name for it is entitlement. I am not talking about those who physically could not have an injection, allergies, having chemo etc etc. These are the people we were trying to protect by halting the spread so their risk could be lessened.
It became obligatory for anyone who tried to stand -up to the naysayers (remember Rosemary McDonald) to finish up with this proviso because if we didn't, we were accused by said naysayers of "not caring about the immuno compromised" when the opposite was true.
Yes old habits die hard.
One of my friends was immuno compromised at the time and wanted to have an injection/protection and the lengths that her medical people went to to make sure she was able to have protection. She had access to the alternative and had several boosters before we were being urged to have ours. So immuno compromised plus wanting to be protected did not mean a person could not have the injection.
I think some home 'Drs' and conspiracy theorists made out that just because you were immuno compromised or allergic you couldn't be protected.
Now they seem to be rerunning the force/coercion argument instead of the choice argument. I know if I had felt strongly about the vaccination I would have chosen not to and accepted any consequences of my decisions including whether I kept my job.
Wonder if the Greens had ever considered approaching Simon Upton to get back into politics for them?
No point heckling either Luxon or Chippy as they have minimal environmental action credibility.
Should have stood for the Greens and tried to take teal votes from the Nats.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/497384/next-prime-minister-must-lead-emissions-cuts-simon-upton-report
If National get in, Upton should remain exactly where he is.
As the Minister who got the RMA through, and with big EU specialist credentials, when Upton speaks National listen. Believe it or not there are earnest blue-greens in there.
Upton will be particularly important if Act get the Environment portfolio and really start burning regulations.
Statistically, yes. As there were pacifists and those who cared for the plight of the working class Tommy amongst the officers at Passchendaele. And there wouldn’t have been those without the Victorian fashion for younger daughters and 4th sons to have a care for charity and the moral education of the less seemly parts of town.
But action didn’t happen until the Tories were turfed out. And here the Tories are those denialists and shoe draggers of all colours of rosette. Yep, right there if the Nats win. Sure.
I’m living in some kind of retconable world where he could drop in at 10 on the list and perhaps even pick up a teal seat somewhere. And really ramp up the electoral urgency for climate action.
C and Cs climate credentials leave a lot to be desired.
And f- me I hadn’t considered a world where those to the right of groundswell get any input into this…The fire at those ‘protests’ is their literal platform.
Don’t worry Ad, Chippy is a riding into town. It’s far from over just yet. Just watching how much the TPU polls continue to say exactly what the Nats want…
One Voice confronts the reality of the Oz electorate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-66470376
Meanwhile here in New Zealand, Peters says NZF would withdraw from UNDRIP.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/132885845/carbon-credit-auction-fails-again-depriving-treasury-of-about-900-million
Carbin credit scheme failure,
Nationals ghost money ain't gonna materialize!! For tax cuts.
This is a positive sign for future lowering of NZ emissions. Apparently might make the Treasury forecast off by $900 million but really who cares. The budget typically misses by a few billion within 6 month anyway.
Thanks, Labour.
.
I’ve been receiving an escalating stream of panicked emails from people telling me their longtime physician was retiring, was no longer taking their insurance or had gone concierge and would no longer see them unless they ponied up a hefty annual fee. They said they couldn’t find another primary-care doctor who could take them on or who offered a new-patient appointment sooner than months away.
Their individual stories reflect a larger reality: American physicians have been abandoning traditional primary-care practice — internal and family medicine — in large numbers. Those who remain are working fewer hours. And fewer medical students are choosing a field that once attracted some of the best and brightest because of its diagnostic challenges and the emotional gratification of deep relationships with patients.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/05/lack-primary-care-tipping-point/