Will farmers attend tonight’s meeting in Mangatangi?
Will trade unionists?
Will the Green Party?
Climate Change has the power to beggar us all.
As Helen Kelly writes: “We’re all beneficiaries now”
We all need to address this crisis collectively, Naomi Klein writes:
…..it’s time to come together, for real, and fight to preserve and extend what you care most about — which means engaging in the climate fight, really engaging, as if your life and your life’s work, even life itself, depended on it. Because they do.
Each has a tough-love message for their own constituency — McKibben for an insular environmental movement that’s been woefully ineffective on climate; Klein for a left, including many in the Occupy movement, that has failed to grapple with the seriousness and urgency of the climate crisis. Look, they’re saying, this is it: science tells us that time is running out, and everything you’ve ever fought for is on the line. Climate change has the ability to undo your historic victories and crush your present struggles. So it’s time to come together, for real, and fight to preserve and extend what you care most about — which means engaging in the climate fight, really engaging, as if your life and your life’s work, even life itself, depended on it. Because they do.
There are so many threads to this fight:
“The climate crisis,” Klein told me, “is the ultimate indictment of capitalism, certainly the model of capitalism that we have, and the solutions to the climate crisis are the same as the solutions to the economic crisis.” That means restoring democracy and reinvigorating the public sphere, reining in and re-regulating corporations, re-localizing our economies, taxing polluters and the wealthy to put a stiff price on carbon and bring basic fairness into the system, and building alternatives to limitless profit and unsustainable growth. The book’s argument, she said, is “an attempt to weave together disparate movements under the banner of rising to meet the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced.”
Absolutely there is one point we must face up to. The right instinctively understood absolutely from the outset that climate change was an existential issue for unrestrained capitalism; that any meaningful response from the left had to be quashed regardless of the science or the ultimate cost to humanity. The capitalists have absolutely, consciously chosen to eat the future.
Jenny … however irritating many people find her … is still absolutely correct. Yesterday I wrote a post about how this government is politically footling about quietly dismantling and neutering the mechanisms of environmental protection in this country. It’s a real and present issue. Yet the politics of this will all be rendered utterly moot and pointless if catastrophic climate change burns up our beloved and precious land anyhow.
“That means restoring democracy and reinvigorating the public sphere, reining in and re-regulating corporations, re-localizing our economies, taxing polluters and the wealthy to put a stiff price on carbon and bring basic fairness into the system, and building alternatives to limitless profit and unsustainable growth.
The only way to do that is revolution and even that is probably too late – they and us just will not change our habits or attitudes without personal contact with the effects of climate change and many of us are interwoven with capitalism overtly and covertly.
Sad in some ways but we are fucked because we are the capitalists and we have eaten the future – there is no them and us on this issue.
The question for me is what are we doing personally to adjust to the realities that are on the doorstep and creeping over the windowsills. Have we even begun to adjust our reality yet or do we need another superstorm to blow our house or community away and to make us realise that money is actually… nothing.
The capitalists have absolutely, consciously chosen to eat the future.
QFT
And that’s the message that the left needs to be talking about when it comes to climate change, the re-regulation of capitalism and protecting the environment.
I disagree. Capitalism is a gun, you can shoot yourself in the foot, or use it to see off danger.
The problem is the left does not hold capitalism up to the light, that National, Key, ACT, are
actually not capitalists any more than any union member is. Its how government distorts
capitalism that has created massive disparity, inequality, environmental instability, resource wastage. The left failed to hold the right to account, the right turned into a zombie plague, and now we have nobody on the right who actually reveres democracy or the rights of the individual, even property rights are pretty much destroyed if your beach home is flooded by rising sea levels, etc, etc.
Isn’t it obvious that the tired communist ranter was actively re-enforcing the status quo?
Why is Labour so inept, because it knows it doesn’t want to go hard left (correctly) but
is still incapable of holding up capitalism to the light. Capitalism isn’t the problem,
capitalism is part of the solution, the economic facet that allows citizens to consent,
question, control, society. The money supply, the printing press, is the sole responsibility
of the government, yet when National deride the Greens for wanting to use it, where are
the Greens and Labour deriding National anti democracy, neo-liberal mantra, that only
banks can print money. Silence in face of the corrupt practices endemic, the zombie plague
continues.
The last thirty years of western governments has been to
place the power into a private politburo (media-corporate without government oversight).
Its as if fascism and communism have been merged and destroyed both our very
livelihoods and our communities at the same time.
You also have a point. Crony corporate capitalism is the main poison. A normal sphere of capitalist creative destruction where the Government was naturally a major force in the markets on behalf of the people, would be a significant improvement.
You are very confused AB
The CC is not an aberration of capitalism, it is clear evidence that capitalism itself must destroy the planet as it goes into self-destruct.
Do you really think that capitalism can be reformed in the window of a decade or so before we hit the point of no return, if we havnt already?
We need revolutionary change, now.
That means a popular revolution by the vast majority who are workers, farmers, or unemployed as the result of capitalisms declining trajectory.
We are seeing instances of this in various struggles going on internationally from SA to Syria to right now Bulgaria and soon, bet on it, China.
We should turning our talents to mobilise this huge global majority as a democratic force to make this revolutionary change.
Let’s no fester over whether this will be called clean capitalism, 21st century socialism, occupy, or fuckemism.
The capitalists will not give up without a fight, already they jail, rend, murder, drive people to suicide, and otherwise try to wipe out serious opposition.
So an an organised armed majority of revolutionaries bent on survival is our starting point. You have to take your chances that you are on the right side and make the right decisions.
As Lenin said in as many words ‘suck it and see’.
And RR is not kidding about the suicides (being suicided?) either. The senior communications manager at a failing Italian Bank recently killed himself by jumping out of an office window.
I have taken the liberty of copying from a Forest & Bird Alert and Govt details of public meetings to be held next week, and following week, throughout NZ re proposals to change the RMA.
This follows on from Red Logix’ concerns yesterday about the govt “dismantling and neautering the mechanisms of environmental protection ….. It’s a real and present issue” ……
Forest & Bird E-Alert
Save the RMA!
Your right to have a say in what happens where you live is at risk with planned changes to the Resource Management Act.
This might seem a boring issue for lawyers and planners and Wellington bureaucrats. It’s not. It’s a real threat that will affect you.
As of this coming Monday, it’s time to stand up for the RMA law that has done so much to keep New Zealand the way New Zealanders like it.
You will probably know last week Environment Minister Amy Adams put out a discussion paper, in which she outlined her plans to change important parts of the Resource Management Act.
Overall, what she suggests would shift the balance away from the environment, towards economic efficiency and development.
It would also shift it very strongly towards Ministers and central government, away from communities.
Mrs Adams is rewriting the RMA as an economic development tool – not the framework for sustainable environmental management that it’s been for a quarter century.
Next week, the Government will begin a series of ‘consultation’ meetings on the changes – starting this coming Monday. It’s a rushed process, of which we’ve been given almost no notice, and we say that these meetings are a sham. It adds another to the long list of examples, such as with Christchurch, where this government has ignored our constitutional conventions, democratic processes, and people’s right to have their say.
But we can change that. A strong turnout from our branch members, all echoing the same message – that the RMA is fundamentally good law, and these changes are completely unacceptable – will show the decision-makers that New Zealanders, who love their environment, do have something to say that can’t be ignored. We’ve done it before, when we said ‘no’ to mining our national parks, and the RMA matters just as much.
(See below for) a list of meeting times.
……………
Next week, we’ll be updating our website with suggested questions and ‘the good, the bad and the really very ugly’ about the discussion paper, so keep checking back at this page.
And please forward this message to anyone else who might want to come along.
We hope to have a Forest & Bird Field Officer at each meeting, to answer media questions.
Public meetings and hui (extract from Govt website)
Public meetings and hui are being held throughout the country during March 2013. The details for the meetings are in the table below. If you would like to attend a meeting or hui you do not need to RSVP.
A number of venues are yet to be confirmed. This table will be updated as new information is available.
Mon 11 MARCH Public meeting Dunedin Kingsgate Hotel 10 Smith Street 12 – 2pm
Tues 12 Public meeting Greymouth Kingsgate Hotel 32 Mawhera Quay 12 – 2 pm
Public meeting Wellington Kingsgate Hotel 24 Hawkestone St, Thorndon 1 – 3 pm
Wed 13 Hui Gisborne Emerald Hotel 13 Gladstone Road 1 – 4 pm
Thurs 14 Public meeting Rotorua Copthorne Hotel 111 Fenton St 11 – 1 pm
Hui Distinction 39 Fenton St 6 – 8 pm
Fri 15 Public Meeting Invercargill Ascot Park Cnr Tay St and Racecourse Rd 12 – 2 pm
Public meeting Whangarei Kingsgate Hotel 9 Riverside Dr 12 – 2 pm Hui 3 – 5 pm
Mon 18 Public meeting Tauranga Classic Flyers NZ 9 Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui 11 – 1 pm
Hui Maungatapu Marae 2 – 4 pm
Tues 19 Public meeting Hawke’s Bay Hawke’s Bay Opera House 101 Hastings Street South 2 – 4 pm
Hui 5- 8 pm
Wed 20 Public meeting Queenstown Copthorne Hotel & Resort Corner Frankton Rd & Adelaide St 1 – 2.30pm
Hui Taupo Great Lakes Centre 5 Story Pl 5.30 – 8.30
Thurs 21 Public meeting Palmerston North Kingsgate Hotel 110 Fitzherbert Ave 12 – 2 pm
Hui Whanganui Kingsgate Hotel 379 Victoria Ave 6 – 8 pm
Public meeting Hamilton Kingsgate Hotel 100 Garnett Ave, Te Rapa 11 – 1 pm
Hui 3 – 5 pm
Fri 22 Public meeting Christchurch The Atrium 455 Hagley Avenue 1 – 3 pm
Hui 4 – 6 pm
Mon 25 Hui New Plymouth Quality Plymouth Int’l Cnr. Courtenay & Leach St 2 – 4 pm
Public meeting 11 – 1 pm
Public meeting Auckland Copthorne Hotel, 196 Quay St 12 – 2 pm Hui TBC 3 – 5 pm
Tues 26 Public meeting Nelson Tahuna Function Centre 70 Beach Rd Tahunanui 3 – 5 pm
Hui 6 – 8 pm
Wed 27 Final Hui Wellington Kingsgate 24 Hawkestone St, Thorndon 12 – 2 pm
r0b: I have taken the liberty of removing the bold markup from this comment.
Good business for the Kingsgate chain. Now how did they get that. Mot of those are small venues.
Notice how many of the meeting times are when people can’t go or not for long as they are at work. Consultation – rubbish.
Yesterday Xtasy commented: “Out of mischief, I think that all beneficiaries in this country should simply have their interests registered, and in the final minute withdraw or cancel it, turning the whole exercise into a gigantic shambles!
Now what about that strategy???
Yes more than the 340 thousand beneficiaries could do so, it could be half the population, who opposed all this, thus upset the whole registration and sales process, creating immense costs and inconveniencing the government in their plans.”
What if beneficiaries registered their interest en mass meaning the share parcels were then limited to $2000 for each applicant? I noticed on the website when I registered that you have to agree not to assign your shares to an overseas party (or words to that effect).
Q. Could beneficiaries like me assign or presell their share parcel in the above situation slightly above par value without actually paying money??
“It’s not just a matter of walking in and saying I want to sell up today.”
New share investors have to get a Common Shareholder Number (CSN) and a valid Faster Identification Number (FIN) before they can sell any shares as well as providing documentation such as their bank account, tax number and proof of residency.
Such good thinking ! And this is deliciously provocative from Mai Chen in Herald today on the reality of not a green light for asset sales, but an amber light only .. oh, if only she might be a Prime Ministger or Attorney General one day .. such rare and lovely clarity of mind ..
Listening to RNZ this morning I heard that IRD are disappointed in the low number of tax cheats who are high income earners ( top tax bracket) coming forward to fess up they are cheating the system. IRD have allowed a grace period for these evaders/dodgers to come forward which ends on the 31st of March. Sounds like they are stepping up their efforts to catch these thieves.
How about sending them to a mandatory jail sentence to stop this rort?
I’ve alwasy thought that the tax payer should be accountable for the tx they avoided, and that all epanlty payments should be split 50/50 between the tax payer and their accountant.
Are accountants held accountable at all for the schemes they invent? There is an implicit assumption that an accountants job is to minimise tax for their client, when it should be to get it right.
“Are accountants held accountable at all for the schemes they invent?”
Nope, it’s all care and no responsibility. If they make a mistake in your tax return it’s you that has to pay & who gets hit with the penalties. There is the tort of negligence but that’s often a hard one to win and very costly to pursue unless the sums are small.
Now is the time to dob in all those ex brothers in law who don’t pay child support.
QOT if you are out there, as I feel you may have good contacts in this area, put the word out to all who have gone for an admin review to raise the point with the IRD tipline – that should net the first 10,000 dodgers.
And all the well off in your area whose kids are getting student allowances – show social responsibility towards these people.
The rail system is pretty much a fail for the disabled, watched a person in a wheelchair getting left at a station beacuse the conductor never came down with the ramp, so the driver just left.
Then there’s all those level crossings without pedestrian gates that should operate with the barrier arms, 2 in Mt eden spring to mind. Kingdon St in newmarket should be the template for them all.
It’s a poor system, and definitely a fail for those with disabilities. The ticketing machines are not self explanatory to first time users with good vision. First time I attempted to load money on my Hop card, I gave up as the train was due, and ended up buying a ticket on the train.
The last time I took a train from my local station, 2 or 3 others were struggling trying to work out how to pay for a ticket.
I’ll have to point out that I haven’t used them yet myself as i hardly ever use trains and I’ve still got the Snapper/Hop card and not the proper AT Hop card.
And so Nick Smith wants to “smash” Auckland’s metropolitan urban limit even though it is shortly to be replaced by the “rural urban boundary” which he seems ok with.
And the difference between the two?
The MUL is slightly stronger and permits less development outside it’s boundary whereas the RUB will be slightly more permissive.
But they are both designed to change Auckland into a compact urban form.
The repercussions of not having a MUL are clear through experience throughout the world, more sprawl, more need to rely on a car for transport, a less economically viable city and destruction of fertile land as the city expands. Development becomes more expensive and environmental damage increases.
Smith is using violent language to try and deflect criticism of the Government for not doing anything about housing affordability. Now they can blame Auckland Council.
It was good for Len Brown to stand up to Smith this morning. But stand by as National gets ready to undermine environmental protection and Auckland’s right to design a unitary plan so that Auckland grows the way that locals want it to.
Smith was brought back specifically to bully and shout his way through the hollowman script, Heatley was way too soft.
On a related matter I see Granny reporting a likely $28m windfall for the developers on housing corp land being flogged in sandringham so more affoprdable stock can be built.
Affordable and auckland in the same sentence…..mmmmm.
Actually, it’s more the $28m windfall and affordable in the same sentence that’s the problem. It’s another proof of the dead weight loss of profit and most won’t see it.
“On a related matter I see Granny reporting a likely $28m windfall for the developers on housing corp land being flogged in sandringham so more affoprdable stock can be built.”
I was just reading that article. Terrible reporting, writer doesn’t know the difference between nett & gross. The $28m is what they’d expect to sell all the houses for, not how much profit they’d make on them.
I’d have thought a site like that would be a good start on medium/high density housing, building town houses looks to be a waste of good land really.
Article here;
“Developers picked to net $28m from Crown land selloff”
Yes and all those 100,s of HousingNZ ‘new affordable houses’ will be built in ummm aaah ummm,
Just another CON by the Slippery lead National Government, it’s flog it off to the developers as far as the land goes with a promise of ‘more affordable houses’ that has yet to materialize and undoubtedly wont…
I wonder how far Smith would get if he stood up in Wellington and demanded housing development in their Green belt? Hopefully he would be run out out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered or both. I suspect a few of the NACT mates want to build in the Waitakeres, and so why not, the Kauri are dying and they are not going to spend any more money on that, once they have all died out, then they can build up there. They will run right over Len.
Would a Maori woman without the blue eyed and blond “cute” factor get this much cover for any of the extreme life crisis situations she goes through, arguably more than being the wife of someone suspected of murder but not found guilty.
Further to my comments on deficiencies in the census enquiries. The interview this morning with the head of NZ ambulance service at St Johns made the point that they rely heavily on volunteers in the smaller towns, rural etc. The fire fighter volunteers were referred to as essential but he voiced the worry that this didn’t get so taken for granted that they were further loaded with being pseudo-ambulance workers replacing some of the ambulance services now provided.
Where in the census did it ask about this type of volunteering? The wording seemed to be slanted towards those looking after elderly or disabled others. A true picture of the volunteer work put into the nation would amaze I believe. Those providing national service like firefighters should have a special place with their own numbered question.
But for all volunteers needed is more information over an average week’s activity, not four weeks (need to zoom in). Then with daily hours indicated, and particulars about the work involved and how often during the year this occurs would organise the data into usable information.
Hello ER hope you’re over you’re stomach bug. Oh wait, that’s the other one. You’re the one who never gets boring. I don’t think we’ll have time for boredom this year.
Rio Tinto – aussies biggest employer of indigenous people – no wonder walsh is smiling
The spin
“We are not doing it to point-score and I am not doing it because of the competition. I am doing it because it makes good business sense and it is the right and proper thing to do,
The truth
Walsh says there is nothing contradictory about the need to slash costs inflated by the rising price of materials while expanding indigenous involvement; great synergies exist between both objectives.
“The truth is we are changing the nature of jobs, they are becoming more sophisticated, but we still need people to carry out maintenance and repairs.”
Smile why you destroy the earth, make money for yourself and your mates and oh, while you create a supply of people to carry out maintenance and repairs.
There does not appear to have been any further reporting on the very secret two day High Court hearing which started on Tuesday relating to the search and seizure of evidence.
A secret hearing regarding evidence in the Kim Dotcom extradition case is underway at the High Court in Auckland, with lawyers likely to be locked inside for two days.
The material under discussion is so confidential that even Dotcom’s lawyers are not allowed in the courtroom, with an amicus, or “friend of the court”, instead acting as an intermediary.
Justice Helen Winkelmann will oversee the discussion, which is believed to centre on evidence regarding police actions on the day of the helicopter raid on Dotcom’s Coatesville mansion last January.
A person would not want to be the Attorney General as the out come was unfavourable. I bet the phone has been running red hot from the beehive to Mexico.
The copyright industry is corrupt to the core. Affiliates of media corporations like Warner Brothers distributed file sharing software which in turn drove the copyright infringement allegations used by the corporations to argue for legislation like SOPA.
On te radio this morning there was a farmer describing the ‘drought’ conditions and indicators. One of the indicators he said was that one of the river catchments was at its lowest in five years! Five whole years!
Bennett recently came out with the shocking news that a man had been on a benefit for 25 years, her entirely inappropriate apology for the failure of MSD to help this citizen to find gainful employment, seem to leave me with the impression that he should have been thrown off the benefit and starved to death by now as it was not her problem, her ministry’s problem. I would suggest that government should be fined when people have not been helped by WINZ, and where WINZ cannot help, government step in and help create jobs when the unemployed languish in perpetual dependency.
Oh, wait, that what Labour did do, and got many (not all obviously) people into work.
To simply concentrate on this one individuals length of time on ‘the dole’ is ludicrous, until such time as unemployment in the Gisborne region becomes a factor of 1 person then the individual is simply fulfilling a useful social function,
He is surviving upon the least amount possible over a long period thus allowing others to gain employment and a higher standard of living,(perhaps),
The real question here is: if this particular individual in Gisborne found employment in the economy would this lower the amount of unemployed in Gisborne or for that matter the New Zealand economy???,
The answer to that is a big NO,under the auspices of the Neo-liberal economic paradigm THERE WILL BE BETWEEN 2-6% OF THE WORKFORCE ABLE TO WORK UNEMPLOYED, full stop,
There are NO ifs or buts to that little equation and given such economics it is pointless to be chasing people around over the length of time that they are unemployed…
Yes and No. The state failed to address the employment problem, maybe there is a job for this individual. You are correct though, its pointless expecting government to say sorry, and then do the right thing, instead government gets out and dictates that the outlier is somehow a representative sample, and means they can roll out a program of onerous costly coercive intervention on all which will just move the problem on that insecurity for some is a necessary part of our culture (as long as its hidden and tax payers pay to hide it!).
Mai Chen’s article in the Herald online this morning on the Supreme Court decision on Maori water rights vis a vis the partial sale of Mighty River is well worth reading – “Amber light flashing over sales”
Mai discusses the possible implications of the Court decision further down the track
…The court has also left it open over what may happen should the Crown fail to honour the commitment it made during the hearing that the sale process would not be relied upon to argue against Maori rights in water, or if the current reforms are seen to be an empty exercise. It may be that in enabling the part sale of the company to proceed, the court has also created a leverage point for claimants further down the track. …
On a related note, FYI Penny Bright – yesterday I had a call from Genesis Energy with a good one year deal which meant that all things going to plan, I am about to become an ex-customer of Mercury Energy. Once the Supreme Court decision was out, I had decided to move from Mercury anyway, but being somewhat of a procrastinator had not yet done anything about it. I was one of the many thousands who left Contact a few years ago when they or rather their directors became too greedy.
Yes, I know, Genesis is also on the starting blocks to go to partial sale; but if this happens during the one year deal or is about to, I will just move to someone else at the end of the one year contract.
“Prime minister John Key has made a lasting impression on Colombia – donning a sombrero at a joint press conference with President Juan Manuel Santos.”
jesus wept andrea vance, ive seen some pathetic reporting in my time, but “prat puts on hat” is a new low
The Herald is no better. In an otherwise serious article, Claire Trevett chimes in with a question about how hot John Key thinks the Mexican President’s wife is:
However, Mr Key feigned ignorance when asked about the beauty of Mr Pena Nieto’s wife – a stunning actress.
“I didn’t notice,” he said, when asked before adding “Bronagh told me to say that.”
It’s about the directors of MRP getting some extra money to do the job that they signed up for, but this bit:
It came as a Treasury document revealed directors at the company expected their daily fees to increase and wanted the Government to do it so they didn’t have to at the first shareholders’ meeting.
That’s talking about their ‘expectation’ of fees increasing post float.
They want the government to do it now so they won’t have to get the approval of shareholders. That kind of implies that asking the shareholders would be awkward, or undignified, or something.
But hang on a second, the govt is retaining 51%.
So asking the government now, or asking the shareholders after listing is of no material difference. Except for the look of the thing, for all concerned.
I suspect Key just insulted the entire population of Colombia and showed them what a moron he is.
Claire Trevett would have insulted Mexico if anyone there knew who she was.
Bloody schoolkids, the lot of them. Emotionally stunted retards who know nothing except hero worship and allegiance to a bullshit neoliberal bankruptcy.
The privatisation of power is proving to be the catalyst for a popular uprising in Bulgaria.
Escalating power prices by privatised power corps have become the last straw.
The right wing regime has been forced to resign.
The question is: will the people be fooled into handing over there newly won power to a bunch of political crooks or not.
They are demanding that the people directly vote for MPs without party intermediaries.
This is halfway to forming their own socialist government based on local, regional and national democratic councils, as this revolutionary left article points out.
another stream here http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN2/
regardless of your views of the man, what he is speaking on is essential, your right to live as a free person, that is what is at stake, that is what the future is about, not your bank balance
Look out for this tomorrow – copied from Hot Topic
Symptoms too serious to ignore: a call to face up to NZ’s critical risks
Gareth Renowden
This post is syndicated from Hot Topic » Gareth – Original Post
A loose affiliation of New Zealand’s great and good will launch an appeal to parliament next week, asking for a dispassionate and non-partisan risk assessment of the “unprecedented threats to our collective security” facing the country as a result of climate change, fossil fuel extraction and economic uncertainty. The Wise Response group features poets, writers, All Blacks, academics, surgeons and scientists amongst its first 100 supporters1, and will launch its appeal at a public meeting in Dunedin on March 8th.
In its appeal the group identifies critical risks in five areas:
1. Economic security: the risk of a sudden, deepening, or prolonged financial crisis. Such a crisis could adversely impact upon our society’s ability to provide for the essentials, including local access to resources, reliable supply chains, and a resilient infrastructure.
2. Energy and climate security: the risk of continuing our heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Progressively restricting their extraction, importation and use could promote a switch to genuine renewables and encourage smarter use of existing energy and energy systems while creating better public transportation. Such responses would simultaneously lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
3. Business continuity: the risk exposure of all New Zealand business, including farming, to a lower carbon economy. To mitigate this risk, all businesses could explore both market and job opportunities in reducing the human ecological footprint, finding substitutes for petroleum-based goods and services, increasing efficiencies and reducing waste in food and resources. This would position New Zealand as a market leader in low-carbon technologies and living arrangements.
4. Ecological security: the risks associated with failing to genuinely protect both land-based and marine ecosystems and their natural processes. We believe that such protection is essential for both the maintenance of indigenous biodiversity and ultimately, all human welfare.
5. Genuine well-being: the risk of persisting with a subsidised, debt-based economy, preoccupied with maximising consumption and GDP. An alternative is to measure progress by means of indicators of community sustainability, human well-being, more equitable wealth-sharing and environmental resilience, and to incorporate full-cost pricing of harmful environmental impacts.
The group is looking to build support both inside and outside parliament for a detailed risk assessment of how these issues might impact New Zealand, and is hoping this will lead to:
…robust cross-party strategies and policies to avert these risks and give future generations the very best chance of security, peace, social justice and opportunity for all.
There’s much to like in the group’s appeal statement, but what I find most encouraging is that a diverse group of prominent New Zealanders is looking to make our politicians face up to the harsh realities of the modern world. I don’t imagine that John Key and his government will pay much attention — they’re too wedded to the all growth, all the time dogma for that — but with luck and persistence, the group may be able to start building a consensus around the things that we really need to do as a nation. That’s something I’m only too happy to support.
The Otago Daily Times lists Brian Turner, Wayne Smith, Fiona Kidman, Glenn Turner, David Thom, Philip Temple, Anne Salmond, Julian Dean, Owen Marshall, Morgan Williams, Chris Trotter, Bruce Burns, Richard Langston and Anton Oliver amongst others.
Stephen Franks loses it when he hears the dread word: “democracy”
“The Panel”, Radio New Zealand National, Thursday 7 March 2013
Jim Mora, Stephen Franks, Ali Jones
A group of prominent southerners has called for a risk assessment for the whole of New Zealand. They are concerned about the environment, and the government’s attacks against local democracy. Of course, Stephen Franks, ACT lawyer, lawyer for the S.S. Trust and general far right whacko, is not impressed by all this outrageous talk about democracy….
JIM MORA: A group of prominent southerners has called for a risk assessment for the whole of New Zealand. They are concerned about the environment,
JIM MORA: Professor Sir Alan Mark joins us. Professor Mark, good afternoon.
PROFESSOR SIR ALAN MARK: Good afternoon.
MORA: Stephen Franks has compared this campaign to the ill-fated Citizens for Rowling in 1975.
PROF. ALAN MARK: It’s actually far more like the Save Manapouri campaign, and the anti-nuclear ships campaigns.
STEPHEN FRANKS:[spluttering] They were all ABSOLUTELY USELESS! Utterly useless! You couldn’t PAY me to go to this. I see it as Morning Report crystallized!
ALI JONES: I see it a real lack of democracy in Christchurch. It is a real problem. And I complained about the last government too, so it’s not narrowly political.
PROF. ALAN MARK: The Resource Management Act is being gutted.
STEPHEN FRANKS: That was a DEMOCRATIC DECISION! The government is responding to what the people want! I’m just concerned that there are these SLOGANS! Where are the new ideas?
ALI JONES: I think it’s really spurious for Stephen to suggest that democracy is an excuse.
FRANKS: Oh, it’s just a big MOAN. Whining without producing solutions!
[Franks continues to drool, spit, snarl, slobber and yelp for several minutes while his interlocutors maintain a horrified silence….]
I think Steve may have his knife into the RMA. Thre was a electoral meeting in Wellington a while back when he was standing as a candidate for something or other and most of his spiel consisted of telling the audience how the RMA consent from the Council for his driveway/garage? had cost $35000. Real man of the people stuff, a lot of people don’t even earn that much in a year.
Frankly, (sorry), Stephen Franks is one of your “came-to-it-later-in life-after-shades-of-parading-as-a-lefty”, right-wing nutbars. Douglas, Moore, Caygill et al. I was at VUW 33-37 years ago. Focused on the same “discipline” as said Stephen.
Kia Ora re the train trip through the Soviet Union Stevo. Authorities stopped the train for hours at western border ??? A mate of mine travelled with you.
a website for which I take full personal responsibility for content.
Also on this above-mentioned website are copies of my key legal submissions, as an Appellant in my own name, so people can read them for themselves.
The main reason I organised the setting up of this website, was to counter the defamatory lies about myself being spread by Suzette Maree Dawson, which she has published on her own private websitehttp://occupysavvy.com
Suzette Maree Dawson published on her above-mentioned private website a statement by Ben Cooney (‘Redstar’) during his livestream video coverage of the protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) protest on 8 December 2012:
“There’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”.
The FACTS are, that I was one of 12 people responsible for organising Auckland anti-Springbok Tour protests in 1981, I was named in Muldoon’s SIS list as a ‘subversive’, and have never been able to get a copy of my SIS file.
If people think I’m going to put up with these sorts of filthy defamatory lies, when I have had a proven track record going back over 40 years as an activist – think again.
I strongly recommend that those involved in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, exercise commonsense and due diligence?
If people come from nowhere, with no proven track record in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, and make a beeline for controlling the message, or means of getting the message out – act in ways which cause dissension or conflict within the group, spread misinformation / disinformation about people, without facts and evidence to back it up – BEWARE!!!
Being involved in ‘media’ gives such people the ability to mix and mingle and take photos from inside the ranks of the ‘protest’ movement.
Where exactly are those photos going?
BEWARE of those who act like the 1%, without openness, transparency or democratic accountability.
Why is it that as a (successful) Appellant in the Occupy Auckland Appeal, I cannot post this information up on the Occupy Auckland facebook page?
WHO are ‘Admin’ currently responsible for the Occupy Auckland facebook page, and why am I being blocked?
I note a Press Release up on Scoop – in the name of Occupy Auckland.
Who put out this Press Release?
On whose authority?
As a NAMED APPELLENT in this Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal – I for one was never contacted by this now mysterious, anonymous and apparently secretive ‘Occupy Auckland’ – who do NOT have permission or any authority to speak on my behalf.
WHO now are ‘Occupy Auckland’?
Without transparency – there is no accountability.
When / where was the Occupy Auckland General Assembly that discussed the Appeal, and authorised this Press Release?
I note that Suzette Maree Dawson and her private website ‘occupy savvy’ did NOT attend the hearing of the Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal, and did not publish any of my legal documents, which arguably played a role in helping achieve this significant victory for Occupy Auckland, both locally, nationally and internationally?
Remember Rob Gilchrist – the Police informant who infiltrated the animal rights movement?
I for one, am not interested in working with ‘idiots, sheep, amateurs, saboteurs or provocateurs’.
Decent people, with good hearts, brains, guts and a basic understanding of the principles of natural justice, are those with whom I will work, on an issue by issue basis, where we have common cause.
In New Zealand, we have the basic human right to ‘freedom of association’.
Those who choose to associate with Suzette Maree Dawson and/or Ben Cooney – that is your right and your choice.
But – please be advised that if you choose to associate with Suzette Maree Dawson and/or Ben Cooney, I will choose not to associate with you.
(The same applies to Linda Anne Wright – but that’s another story – update coming soon….)
FYI – here are ‘Minutes’ of Occupy Auckland General Assemblies – 1 February 2012 and 15 February 2012, which record agreed decisions on a number of matters:
MINUTES OF OCCUPY AUCKLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEDNESDAY
1 FEBRUARY 2012
RESOLVED BY CONSENSUS:
“That Occupy Auckland endorse/support the PRINCIPLE of a draft Action Plan to prevent ‘White Collar crime, corruption and corporate welfare.”
OCCUPY AUCKLAND (General Assembly 1/2/2012) SUPPORTS THE PRINCIPLE OF A DRAFT ACTION PLAN TO PREVENT CORRUPTION – ‘WHITE COLLAR’ CRIME & ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ IN NEW ZEALAND [DRAFT DISCUSSION DOCUMENT ONLY]
1. Get our anti-corruption domestic legislative framework in place so NZ can ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption.
2. Set up an NZ independent anti-corruption body tasked with educating the public and PREVENTING corruption.
3. Change NZ laws to ensure genuine transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office and political parties at central government level
4. Legislate for an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the rules for everyone else).
5. Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002 for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
6. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government elected representatives.
7. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Central Government staff responsible for property and procurement, (including the Ministry of Health), in order to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
8. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government staff, and Directors and staff employed by ‘Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) responsible for property and procurement.
9. Make it a lawful requirement for details of ‘contracts issued’ – including the name of the contractor; scope, term and value of the contract to be published in NZ Central Government Public Sector, and Local Government (Council), and ‘Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) Annual Reports so that they are available for public scrutiny.
10. Make it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government, and Local Government public finances be undertaken to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority. If not – then return public service provision to staff directly employed ‘in-house’ and cut out these private contractors who are effectively dependent on ‘corporate welfare’.
11. Legislate for a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
12. Ensure that ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them.
13. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
14. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ at Central Government Ministerial level.
15. Make it a lawful requirement at NZ Central and Local Government level for a ‘post-separation employment quarantine’ period from the time officials leave the public service to take up a similar role in the private sector. (Help stop the ‘revolving door’).
16. Make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ Central or Local Government level are sold; or long-term leased via Public-Private –Partnerships (PPPs).
17. Make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to election at central or local government level.
18. Make laws to protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations who are ‘whistleblowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
19. Legislate to help stop ‘State Capture’, a form of ‘grand corruption’ arguably endemic in NZ – where vested interests get their way at the ‘policy level’ before legislation is passed which serves their interests.
[Feedback to Occupy Auckland can be sent c/- Penny Bright waterpressure@gmail.com to assist further debate/discussion/workshopping ]
____________________________________________________________________________
MINUTES OF OCCUPY AUCKLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2012
Minute-taker: Penny Bright
MINUTES OF THE OCCUPY AUCKLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY HELD ON SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2012 WERE AGREED BY CONSENSUS OF THOSE WHO WERE PRESENT AT THAT MEETING TO BE A TRUE AND ACCURATE ACCOUNT:
……
ANNOUNCEMENTS: 15 FEBRUARY 2012 NEW EVENTS:
1) ‘AOTEAROA IS NOT FOR SALE’ PUBLIC MEETING:
DATE: Friday, 17 February 2012TIME: 7pm VENUE: Trades Hall, 147 Great Nth Rd, Grey Lynn
GA (General Assembly) agreed that Penny, on behalf of Occupy Auckland to take the following proposal (passed by unanimous consensus at the Occupy Auckland GA, Sunday 12 February 2012), to the above-mentioned ‘AOTEAROA IS NOT FOR SALE’ PUBLIC MEETING:
1) That Occupy Auckland support the new group that was formed on Thursday 9 February 2012, at the Unite Office 6A Western Springs Rd, Kingsland – ‘Aotearoa is not for sale’, particularly focusing on opposing the proposed ‘partial privatisation’ of State-owned assets.
2) That Occupy Auckland help organize opposition to proposed State-Owned asset sales, by making available to the public, hard copy ‘submission’ forms which can be sent to Treasury, who are organizing the ‘consultation’, (‘submissions must be in by 5pm 22 February, 2012).
3) That Occupy Auckland concentrate on public ‘outreach’ activities, co-ordinating with as many other interested parties / groups as possible, preferably on a daily basis, including, but not limited to publicizing:
a. Opposition to State-Owned asset sales.
b. Opposition to the NZ Food Bill.
c. Support for the Ports of Auckland workers.
d. Support for the Tamaki Housing Group.
e. Collecting signatures for the petition for an inquiry into the Huljich Kiwisaver prosecutions.
f. Collecting submission forms opposing the sale of State-Owned assets.
That the suggested public ‘outreach’ point be opposite the Auckland Town Hall on Queen Street, but if there are other events on at that time we go there.
That the form of this public ‘outreach’ be, banners on fence, fold-up table and chairs, clip boards, and ‘protest ponchos’. Penny is prepared to help organise this activity. …..”
Just looking at the Chavez RIP column got me thinking: for the Left Chavez was a real hero, flaws and all. On the news tonight people in Caracas were crying, wailing for their “Hero”. Like our own Michael Joseph.
I see Keith Locke saying that Key should go to Chavez’ funeral. And that he’s screwed up not doing so (or at least that’s how it’s reported on Stuff where it’s highlighted as a snub).
Yeah, I see that. Possibility of impressing Latin America etc, and that’s Locke’s reported line.
Well actually, to be fair, if he did contrive to go, I’d lash him as a showboat prick.
John Key whose heart beats for Wall Street is not fit to attend the funeral of a man whose heart beat for his people.
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Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
Fonterra cooks the climate, Auckland Coal Action calls on everybody including farmers to protest.
http://aucklandcoalaction.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/mangatawhiri-mine-leaflet.pdf
Will farmers attend tonight’s meeting in Mangatangi?
Will trade unionists?
Will the Green Party?
Climate Change has the power to beggar us all.
As Helen Kelly writes: “We’re all beneficiaries now”
We all need to address this crisis collectively, Naomi Klein writes:
Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/148879-id-rather-fight-like-hell-naomi-kleins-fierce/#ixzz2MraubGko
http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/148879-id-rather-fight-like-hell-naomi-kleins-fierce/
Worth quoting from that Naomi Klein interview:
There are so many threads to this fight:
Absolutely there is one point we must face up to. The right instinctively understood absolutely from the outset that climate change was an existential issue for unrestrained capitalism; that any meaningful response from the left had to be quashed regardless of the science or the ultimate cost to humanity. The capitalists have absolutely, consciously chosen to eat the future.
Jenny … however irritating many people find her … is still absolutely correct. Yesterday I wrote a post about how this government is politically footling about quietly dismantling and neutering the mechanisms of environmental protection in this country. It’s a real and present issue. Yet the politics of this will all be rendered utterly moot and pointless if catastrophic climate change burns up our beloved and precious land anyhow.
Good interview
The only way to do that is revolution and even that is probably too late – they and us just will not change our habits or attitudes without personal contact with the effects of climate change and many of us are interwoven with capitalism overtly and covertly.
Sad in some ways but we are fucked because we are the capitalists and we have eaten the future – there is no them and us on this issue.
The question for me is what are we doing personally to adjust to the realities that are on the doorstep and creeping over the windowsills. Have we even begun to adjust our reality yet or do we need another superstorm to blow our house or community away and to make us realise that money is actually… nothing.
QFT
And that’s the message that the left needs to be talking about when it comes to climate change, the re-regulation of capitalism and protecting the environment.
I disagree. Capitalism is a gun, you can shoot yourself in the foot, or use it to see off danger.
The problem is the left does not hold capitalism up to the light, that National, Key, ACT, are
actually not capitalists any more than any union member is. Its how government distorts
capitalism that has created massive disparity, inequality, environmental instability, resource wastage. The left failed to hold the right to account, the right turned into a zombie plague, and now we have nobody on the right who actually reveres democracy or the rights of the individual, even property rights are pretty much destroyed if your beach home is flooded by rising sea levels, etc, etc.
Isn’t it obvious that the tired communist ranter was actively re-enforcing the status quo?
Why is Labour so inept, because it knows it doesn’t want to go hard left (correctly) but
is still incapable of holding up capitalism to the light. Capitalism isn’t the problem,
capitalism is part of the solution, the economic facet that allows citizens to consent,
question, control, society. The money supply, the printing press, is the sole responsibility
of the government, yet when National deride the Greens for wanting to use it, where are
the Greens and Labour deriding National anti democracy, neo-liberal mantra, that only
banks can print money. Silence in face of the corrupt practices endemic, the zombie plague
continues.
The last thirty years of western governments has been to
place the power into a private politburo (media-corporate without government oversight).
Its as if fascism and communism have been merged and destroyed both our very
livelihoods and our communities at the same time.
You also have a point. Crony corporate capitalism is the main poison. A normal sphere of capitalist creative destruction where the Government was naturally a major force in the markets on behalf of the people, would be a significant improvement.
You are very confused AB
The CC is not an aberration of capitalism, it is clear evidence that capitalism itself must destroy the planet as it goes into self-destruct.
Do you really think that capitalism can be reformed in the window of a decade or so before we hit the point of no return, if we havnt already?
We need revolutionary change, now.
That means a popular revolution by the vast majority who are workers, farmers, or unemployed as the result of capitalisms declining trajectory.
We are seeing instances of this in various struggles going on internationally from SA to Syria to right now Bulgaria and soon, bet on it, China.
We should turning our talents to mobilise this huge global majority as a democratic force to make this revolutionary change.
Let’s no fester over whether this will be called clean capitalism, 21st century socialism, occupy, or fuckemism.
The capitalists will not give up without a fight, already they jail, rend, murder, drive people to suicide, and otherwise try to wipe out serious opposition.
So an an organised armed majority of revolutionaries bent on survival is our starting point. You have to take your chances that you are on the right side and make the right decisions.
As Lenin said in as many words ‘suck it and see’.
And RR is not kidding about the suicides (being suicided?) either. The senior communications manager at a failing Italian Bank recently killed himself by jumping out of an office window.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-06/head-communications-italys-scandal-ridden-banca-monte-paschi-has-committed-suicide
I have taken the liberty of copying from a Forest & Bird Alert and Govt details of public meetings to be held next week, and following week, throughout NZ re proposals to change the RMA.
This follows on from Red Logix’ concerns yesterday about the govt “dismantling and neautering the mechanisms of environmental protection ….. It’s a real and present issue” ……
Forest & Bird E-Alert
Save the RMA!
Your right to have a say in what happens where you live is at risk with planned changes to the Resource Management Act.
This might seem a boring issue for lawyers and planners and Wellington bureaucrats. It’s not. It’s a real threat that will affect you.
As of this coming Monday, it’s time to stand up for the RMA law that has done so much to keep New Zealand the way New Zealanders like it.
You will probably know last week Environment Minister Amy Adams put out a discussion paper, in which she outlined her plans to change important parts of the Resource Management Act.
Overall, what she suggests would shift the balance away from the environment, towards economic efficiency and development.
It would also shift it very strongly towards Ministers and central government, away from communities.
Mrs Adams is rewriting the RMA as an economic development tool – not the framework for sustainable environmental management that it’s been for a quarter century.
Next week, the Government will begin a series of ‘consultation’ meetings on the changes – starting this coming Monday. It’s a rushed process, of which we’ve been given almost no notice, and we say that these meetings are a sham. It adds another to the long list of examples, such as with Christchurch, where this government has ignored our constitutional conventions, democratic processes, and people’s right to have their say.
But we can change that. A strong turnout from our branch members, all echoing the same message – that the RMA is fundamentally good law, and these changes are completely unacceptable – will show the decision-makers that New Zealanders, who love their environment, do have something to say that can’t be ignored. We’ve done it before, when we said ‘no’ to mining our national parks, and the RMA matters just as much.
(See below for) a list of meeting times.
……………
Next week, we’ll be updating our website with suggested questions and ‘the good, the bad and the really very ugly’ about the discussion paper, so keep checking back at this page.
And please forward this message to anyone else who might want to come along.
We hope to have a Forest & Bird Field Officer at each meeting, to answer media questions.
Public meetings and hui (extract from Govt website)
Public meetings and hui are being held throughout the country during March 2013. The details for the meetings are in the table below. If you would like to attend a meeting or hui you do not need to RSVP.
A number of venues are yet to be confirmed. This table will be updated as new information is available.
Mon 11 MARCH Public meeting Dunedin Kingsgate Hotel 10 Smith Street 12 – 2pm
Tues 12 Public meeting Greymouth Kingsgate Hotel 32 Mawhera Quay 12 – 2 pm
Public meeting Wellington Kingsgate Hotel 24 Hawkestone St, Thorndon 1 – 3 pm
Wed 13 Hui Gisborne Emerald Hotel 13 Gladstone Road 1 – 4 pm
Thurs 14 Public meeting Rotorua Copthorne Hotel 111 Fenton St 11 – 1 pm
Hui Distinction 39 Fenton St 6 – 8 pm
Fri 15 Public Meeting Invercargill Ascot Park Cnr Tay St and Racecourse Rd 12 – 2 pm
Public meeting Whangarei Kingsgate Hotel 9 Riverside Dr 12 – 2 pm Hui 3 – 5 pm
Mon 18 Public meeting Tauranga Classic Flyers NZ 9 Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui 11 – 1 pm
Hui Maungatapu Marae 2 – 4 pm
Tues 19 Public meeting Hawke’s Bay Hawke’s Bay Opera House 101 Hastings Street South 2 – 4 pm
Hui 5- 8 pm
Wed 20 Public meeting Queenstown Copthorne Hotel & Resort Corner Frankton Rd & Adelaide St 1 – 2.30pm
Hui Taupo Great Lakes Centre 5 Story Pl 5.30 – 8.30
Thurs 21 Public meeting Palmerston North Kingsgate Hotel 110 Fitzherbert Ave 12 – 2 pm
Hui Whanganui Kingsgate Hotel 379 Victoria Ave 6 – 8 pm
Public meeting Hamilton Kingsgate Hotel 100 Garnett Ave, Te Rapa 11 – 1 pm
Hui 3 – 5 pm
Fri 22 Public meeting Christchurch The Atrium 455 Hagley Avenue 1 – 3 pm
Hui 4 – 6 pm
Mon 25 Hui New Plymouth Quality Plymouth Int’l Cnr. Courtenay & Leach St 2 – 4 pm
Public meeting 11 – 1 pm
Public meeting Auckland Copthorne Hotel, 196 Quay St 12 – 2 pm Hui TBC 3 – 5 pm
Tues 26 Public meeting Nelson Tahuna Function Centre 70 Beach Rd Tahunanui 3 – 5 pm
Hui 6 – 8 pm
Wed 27 Final Hui Wellington Kingsgate 24 Hawkestone St, Thorndon 12 – 2 pm
r0b: I have taken the liberty of removing the bold markup from this comment.
rOb – that’s okay – I really only wanted the bold on the bit introducing it …. but somehow can’t make bold work on only one part of the message.
Hi Jenny – see if this helps….
http://thestandard.org.nz/faq/comment-formatting/
Death by committee.
Sounds like a great big fat diversion.
Way to go to kill a campaign. Suck the oxygen right out of the room.
And suck the life force out of committed activists. Meanwhile back in the real world…..
Coal miners gear up to expand their mining operations and local communities and their supporters gear up to stop them.
Good business for the Kingsgate chain. Now how did they get that. Mot of those are small venues.
Notice how many of the meeting times are when people can’t go or not for long as they are at work. Consultation – rubbish.
Yesterday Xtasy commented: “Out of mischief, I think that all beneficiaries in this country should simply have their interests registered, and in the final minute withdraw or cancel it, turning the whole exercise into a gigantic shambles!
Now what about that strategy???
Yes more than the 340 thousand beneficiaries could do so, it could be half the population, who opposed all this, thus upset the whole registration and sales process, creating immense costs and inconveniencing the government in their plans.”
What if beneficiaries registered their interest en mass meaning the share parcels were then limited to $2000 for each applicant? I noticed on the website when I registered that you have to agree not to assign your shares to an overseas party (or words to that effect).
Q. Could beneficiaries like me assign or presell their share parcel in the above situation slightly above par value without actually paying money??
“It’s not just a matter of walking in and saying I want to sell up today.”
New share investors have to get a Common Shareholder Number (CSN) and a valid Faster Identification Number (FIN) before they can sell any shares as well as providing documentation such as their bank account, tax number and proof of residency.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10869666
Such good thinking ! And this is deliciously provocative from Mai Chen in Herald today on the reality of not a green light for asset sales, but an amber light only .. oh, if only she might be a Prime Ministger or Attorney General one day .. such rare and lovely clarity of mind ..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10869635
Listening to RNZ this morning I heard that IRD are disappointed in the low number of tax cheats who are high income earners ( top tax bracket) coming forward to fess up they are cheating the system. IRD have allowed a grace period for these evaders/dodgers to come forward which ends on the 31st of March. Sounds like they are stepping up their efforts to catch these thieves.
How about sending them to a mandatory jail sentence to stop this rort?
I’ve alwasy thought that the tax payer should be accountable for the tx they avoided, and that all epanlty payments should be split 50/50 between the tax payer and their accountant.
Are accountants held accountable at all for the schemes they invent? There is an implicit assumption that an accountants job is to minimise tax for their client, when it should be to get it right.
“Are accountants held accountable at all for the schemes they invent?”
Nope, it’s all care and no responsibility. If they make a mistake in your tax return it’s you that has to pay & who gets hit with the penalties. There is the tort of negligence but that’s often a hard one to win and very costly to pursue unless the sums are small.
[citation needed]
Just check all those extra ‘front line’ service resources the NACT gave them at it.
Now is the time to dob in all those ex brothers in law who don’t pay child support.
QOT if you are out there, as I feel you may have good contacts in this area, put the word out to all who have gone for an admin review to raise the point with the IRD tipline – that should net the first 10,000 dodgers.
And all the well off in your area whose kids are getting student allowances – show social responsibility towards these people.
Good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_r97c_Oc6c&feature=share
Yes repost (it was buried)
Another disability fail: Blind unable to use rail ticketing machines
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869641
The rail system is pretty much a fail for the disabled, watched a person in a wheelchair getting left at a station beacuse the conductor never came down with the ramp, so the driver just left.
Then there’s all those level crossings without pedestrian gates that should operate with the barrier arms, 2 in Mt eden spring to mind. Kingdon St in newmarket should be the template for them all.
It’s a poor system, and definitely a fail for those with disabilities. The ticketing machines are not self explanatory to first time users with good vision. First time I attempted to load money on my Hop card, I gave up as the train was due, and ended up buying a ticket on the train.
The last time I took a train from my local station, 2 or 3 others were struggling trying to work out how to pay for a ticket.
Not the same response as other people.
I’ll have to point out that I haven’t used them yet myself as i hardly ever use trains and I’ve still got the Snapper/Hop card and not the proper AT Hop card.
The Artist Taxi Driver comments on the death of Hugo Chavez.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJCkHM7L9A&list=UUGThM-ZZBba1Zl9rU-XeR-A&index=2
The U$ and U$K will be eyeing Venezuela’s oil wealth probably by supporting elites to take over the country.
And so Nick Smith wants to “smash” Auckland’s metropolitan urban limit even though it is shortly to be replaced by the “rural urban boundary” which he seems ok with.
And the difference between the two?
The MUL is slightly stronger and permits less development outside it’s boundary whereas the RUB will be slightly more permissive.
But they are both designed to change Auckland into a compact urban form.
The repercussions of not having a MUL are clear through experience throughout the world, more sprawl, more need to rely on a car for transport, a less economically viable city and destruction of fertile land as the city expands. Development becomes more expensive and environmental damage increases.
Smith is using violent language to try and deflect criticism of the Government for not doing anything about housing affordability. Now they can blame Auckland Council.
It was good for Len Brown to stand up to Smith this morning. But stand by as National gets ready to undermine environmental protection and Auckland’s right to design a unitary plan so that Auckland grows the way that locals want it to.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2548392/housing-minister's-focus-is-to-open-up-land-supply.asx
Smith was brought back specifically to bully and shout his way through the hollowman script, Heatley was way too soft.
On a related matter I see Granny reporting a likely $28m windfall for the developers on housing corp land being flogged in sandringham so more affoprdable stock can be built.
Affordable and auckland in the same sentence…..mmmmm.
Actually, it’s more the $28m windfall and affordable in the same sentence that’s the problem. It’s another proof of the dead weight loss of profit and most won’t see it.
“On a related matter I see Granny reporting a likely $28m windfall for the developers on housing corp land being flogged in sandringham so more affoprdable stock can be built.”
I was just reading that article. Terrible reporting, writer doesn’t know the difference between nett & gross. The $28m is what they’d expect to sell all the houses for, not how much profit they’d make on them.
I’d have thought a site like that would be a good start on medium/high density housing, building town houses looks to be a waste of good land really.
Article here;
“Developers picked to net $28m from Crown land selloff”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869717
Yes and all those 100,s of HousingNZ ‘new affordable houses’ will be built in ummm aaah ummm,
Just another CON by the Slippery lead National Government, it’s flog it off to the developers as far as the land goes with a promise of ‘more affordable houses’ that has yet to materialize and undoubtedly wont…
micky, I was thinking to post about this issue this morning. Do you mind if I copy and paste your comment in full?
With pleasure Karol.
Thanks
I wonder how far Smith would get if he stood up in Wellington and demanded housing development in their Green belt? Hopefully he would be run out out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered or both. I suspect a few of the NACT mates want to build in the Waitakeres, and so why not, the Kauri are dying and they are not going to spend any more money on that, once they have all died out, then they can build up there. They will run right over Len.
Re: Anna Guy.
Would a Maori woman without the blue eyed and blond “cute” factor get this much cover for any of the extreme life crisis situations she goes through, arguably more than being the wife of someone suspected of murder but not found guilty.
Like to see how she goes hosting a show like ” So you think you know your husband..’ or ‘ Guilty ? you be the judge.”
Her continued exposure in the mag’s etc I find just a bizzarre indicator of modern society.
Further to my comments on deficiencies in the census enquiries. The interview this morning with the head of NZ ambulance service at St Johns made the point that they rely heavily on volunteers in the smaller towns, rural etc. The fire fighter volunteers were referred to as essential but he voiced the worry that this didn’t get so taken for granted that they were further loaded with being pseudo-ambulance workers replacing some of the ambulance services now provided.
Where in the census did it ask about this type of volunteering? The wording seemed to be slanted towards those looking after elderly or disabled others. A true picture of the volunteer work put into the nation would amaze I believe. Those providing national service like firefighters should have a special place with their own numbered question.
But for all volunteers needed is more information over an average week’s activity, not four weeks (need to zoom in). Then with daily hours indicated, and particulars about the work involved and how often during the year this occurs would organise the data into usable information.
Hello Prism, nice to see you.
Hello ER hope you’re over you’re stomach bug. Oh wait, that’s the other one. You’re the one who never gets boring. I don’t think we’ll have time for boredom this year.
Rio Tinto – aussies biggest employer of indigenous people – no wonder walsh is smiling
The spin
The truth
Smile why you destroy the earth, make money for yourself and your mates and oh, while you create a supply of people to carry out maintenance and repairs.
woops http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/8394064/RIO-CEO-is-minings-smiling-face
Legal ruling: Dotcom can sue the government.
The Dotcom case just gets more and more interesting – the April court hearings certainly will be!
Here is the Herald article on today’s Court of Appeal hearing, although it is almost word for word the same as the Stuff one.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869764
There does not appear to have been any further reporting on the very secret two day High Court hearing which started on Tuesday relating to the search and seizure of evidence.
http://t.co/ZPyMlK4vVO
A secret hearing regarding evidence in the Kim Dotcom extradition case is underway at the High Court in Auckland, with lawyers likely to be locked inside for two days.
The material under discussion is so confidential that even Dotcom’s lawyers are not allowed in the courtroom, with an amicus, or “friend of the court”, instead acting as an intermediary.
Justice Helen Winkelmann will oversee the discussion, which is believed to centre on evidence regarding police actions on the day of the helicopter raid on Dotcom’s Coatesville mansion last January.
A person would not want to be the Attorney General as the out come was unfavourable. I bet the phone has been running red hot from the beehive to Mexico.
GCSB and Police can both be sued.
Wonder what Dotcom has tweeted on twitter!
The copyright industry is corrupt to the core. Affiliates of media corporations like Warner Brothers distributed file sharing software which in turn drove the copyright infringement allegations used by the corporations to argue for legislation like SOPA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc
What is wrong with this situation……..
On te radio this morning there was a farmer describing the ‘drought’ conditions and indicators. One of the indicators he said was that one of the river catchments was at its lowest in five years! Five whole years!
He’s probably doubled his watertake since 2008 so yes its a real crisis…
indeed, it’s such a shame that he can’t run twice as many cows as he used to…
Bennett recently came out with the shocking news that a man had been on a benefit for 25 years, her entirely inappropriate apology for the failure of MSD to help this citizen to find gainful employment, seem to leave me with the impression that he should have been thrown off the benefit and starved to death by now as it was not her problem, her ministry’s problem. I would suggest that government should be fined when people have not been helped by WINZ, and where WINZ cannot help, government step in and help create jobs when the unemployed languish in perpetual dependency.
Oh, wait, that what Labour did do, and got many (not all obviously) people into work.
Someone who’s been on the UB for 25 years has other issues. Getting a job may help but probably not.
To simply concentrate on this one individuals length of time on ‘the dole’ is ludicrous, until such time as unemployment in the Gisborne region becomes a factor of 1 person then the individual is simply fulfilling a useful social function,
He is surviving upon the least amount possible over a long period thus allowing others to gain employment and a higher standard of living,(perhaps),
The real question here is: if this particular individual in Gisborne found employment in the economy would this lower the amount of unemployed in Gisborne or for that matter the New Zealand economy???,
The answer to that is a big NO,under the auspices of the Neo-liberal economic paradigm THERE WILL BE BETWEEN 2-6% OF THE WORKFORCE ABLE TO WORK UNEMPLOYED, full stop,
There are NO ifs or buts to that little equation and given such economics it is pointless to be chasing people around over the length of time that they are unemployed…
Yes and No. The state failed to address the employment problem, maybe there is a job for this individual. You are correct though, its pointless expecting government to say sorry, and then do the right thing, instead government gets out and dictates that the outlier is somehow a representative sample, and means they can roll out a program of onerous costly coercive intervention on all which will just move the problem on that insecurity for some is a necessary part of our culture (as long as its hidden and tax payers pay to hide it!).
Mai Chen’s article in the Herald online this morning on the Supreme Court decision on Maori water rights vis a vis the partial sale of Mighty River is well worth reading – “Amber light flashing over sales”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10869635
Mai discusses the possible implications of the Court decision further down the track
…The court has also left it open over what may happen should the Crown fail to honour the commitment it made during the hearing that the sale process would not be relied upon to argue against Maori rights in water, or if the current reforms are seen to be an empty exercise. It may be that in enabling the part sale of the company to proceed, the court has also created a leverage point for claimants further down the track. …
On a related note, FYI Penny Bright – yesterday I had a call from Genesis Energy with a good one year deal which meant that all things going to plan, I am about to become an ex-customer of Mercury Energy. Once the Supreme Court decision was out, I had decided to move from Mercury anyway, but being somewhat of a procrastinator had not yet done anything about it. I was one of the many thousands who left Contact a few years ago when they or rather their directors became too greedy.
Yes, I know, Genesis is also on the starting blocks to go to partial sale; but if this happens during the one year deal or is about to, I will just move to someone else at the end of the one year contract.
“Prime minister John Key has made a lasting impression on Colombia – donning a sombrero at a joint press conference with President Juan Manuel Santos.”
jesus wept andrea vance, ive seen some pathetic reporting in my time, but “prat puts on hat” is a new low
The Herald is no better. In an otherwise serious article, Claire Trevett chimes in with a question about how hot John Key thinks the Mexican President’s wife is:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869703
Serious question here – does this sort of crap serve any legitimate purpose in political reporting?
At best it’s ‘entertainment’ for idiots, at worst it is promoting Key’s ‘great Kiwi bloke’ image for free.
Check out this cozy little deal:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10815746
It’s about the directors of MRP getting some extra money to do the job that they signed up for, but this bit:
That’s talking about their ‘expectation’ of fees increasing post float.
They want the government to do it now so they won’t have to get the approval of shareholders. That kind of implies that asking the shareholders would be awkward, or undignified, or something.
But hang on a second, the govt is retaining 51%.
So asking the government now, or asking the shareholders after listing is of no material difference. Except for the look of the thing, for all concerned.
snakes, the lot of them.
soz, didn’t mean to put that in a reply.
“The New Zealand media will love this. Can’t wait to watch this back home.”
that is not rain on your neck
I suspect Key just insulted the entire population of Colombia and showed them what a moron he is.
Claire Trevett would have insulted Mexico if anyone there knew who she was.
Bloody schoolkids, the lot of them. Emotionally stunted retards who know nothing except hero worship and allegiance to a bullshit neoliberal bankruptcy.
My goodness I didn’t think tuna could get that big – I wonder how old it was.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869767
We know very little about the oceans and seas – I wonder if we’ll ever learn…
The privatisation of power is proving to be the catalyst for a popular uprising in Bulgaria.
Escalating power prices by privatised power corps have become the last straw.
The right wing regime has been forced to resign.
The question is: will the people be fooled into handing over there newly won power to a bunch of political crooks or not.
They are demanding that the people directly vote for MPs without party intermediaries.
This is halfway to forming their own socialist government based on local, regional and national democratic councils, as this revolutionary left article points out.
http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/councils-in-bulgaria/
Rand Paul talking for 9 hours. Impressive, considering he’s never said anything that’s worth listening to. http://israndpaulstilltalking.com/
another stream here http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN2/
regardless of your views of the man, what he is speaking on is essential, your right to live as a free person, that is what is at stake, that is what the future is about, not your bank balance
He’s gone Godwin too.
Rand Paul Invokes Hitler in Opposing Obama’s Nomination http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a8a_1362593448 … #tcot #tgdn #p2 #filibuster #RandPaul
http://t.co/Dm0Gw1l4wK
Look out for this tomorrow – copied from Hot Topic
Symptoms too serious to ignore: a call to face up to NZ’s critical risks
Gareth Renowden
This post is syndicated from Hot Topic » Gareth – Original Post
A loose affiliation of New Zealand’s great and good will launch an appeal to parliament next week, asking for a dispassionate and non-partisan risk assessment of the “unprecedented threats to our collective security” facing the country as a result of climate change, fossil fuel extraction and economic uncertainty. The Wise Response group features poets, writers, All Blacks, academics, surgeons and scientists amongst its first 100 supporters1, and will launch its appeal at a public meeting in Dunedin on March 8th.
In its appeal the group identifies critical risks in five areas:
1. Economic security: the risk of a sudden, deepening, or prolonged financial crisis. Such a crisis could adversely impact upon our society’s ability to provide for the essentials, including local access to resources, reliable supply chains, and a resilient infrastructure.
2. Energy and climate security: the risk of continuing our heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Progressively restricting their extraction, importation and use could promote a switch to genuine renewables and encourage smarter use of existing energy and energy systems while creating better public transportation. Such responses would simultaneously lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
3. Business continuity: the risk exposure of all New Zealand business, including farming, to a lower carbon economy. To mitigate this risk, all businesses could explore both market and job opportunities in reducing the human ecological footprint, finding substitutes for petroleum-based goods and services, increasing efficiencies and reducing waste in food and resources. This would position New Zealand as a market leader in low-carbon technologies and living arrangements.
4. Ecological security: the risks associated with failing to genuinely protect both land-based and marine ecosystems and their natural processes. We believe that such protection is essential for both the maintenance of indigenous biodiversity and ultimately, all human welfare.
5. Genuine well-being: the risk of persisting with a subsidised, debt-based economy, preoccupied with maximising consumption and GDP. An alternative is to measure progress by means of indicators of community sustainability, human well-being, more equitable wealth-sharing and environmental resilience, and to incorporate full-cost pricing of harmful environmental impacts.
The group is looking to build support both inside and outside parliament for a detailed risk assessment of how these issues might impact New Zealand, and is hoping this will lead to:
…robust cross-party strategies and policies to avert these risks and give future generations the very best chance of security, peace, social justice and opportunity for all.
There’s much to like in the group’s appeal statement, but what I find most encouraging is that a diverse group of prominent New Zealanders is looking to make our politicians face up to the harsh realities of the modern world. I don’t imagine that John Key and his government will pay much attention — they’re too wedded to the all growth, all the time dogma for that — but with luck and persistence, the group may be able to start building a consensus around the things that we really need to do as a nation. That’s something I’m only too happy to support.
The Otago Daily Times lists Brian Turner, Wayne Smith, Fiona Kidman, Glenn Turner, David Thom, Philip Temple, Anne Salmond, Julian Dean, Owen Marshall, Morgan Williams, Chris Trotter, Bruce Burns, Richard Langston and Anton Oliver amongst others.
Stephen Franks loses it when he hears the dread word: “democracy”
“The Panel”, Radio New Zealand National, Thursday 7 March 2013
Jim Mora, Stephen Franks, Ali Jones
A group of prominent southerners has called for a risk assessment for the whole of New Zealand. They are concerned about the environment, and the government’s attacks against local democracy. Of course, Stephen Franks, ACT lawyer, lawyer for the S.S. Trust and general far right whacko, is not impressed by all this outrageous talk about democracy….
JIM MORA: A group of prominent southerners has called for a risk assessment for the whole of New Zealand. They are concerned about the environment,
JIM MORA: Professor Sir Alan Mark joins us. Professor Mark, good afternoon.
PROFESSOR SIR ALAN MARK: Good afternoon.
MORA: Stephen Franks has compared this campaign to the ill-fated Citizens for Rowling in 1975.
PROF. ALAN MARK: It’s actually far more like the Save Manapouri campaign, and the anti-nuclear ships campaigns.
STEPHEN FRANKS: [spluttering] They were all ABSOLUTELY USELESS! Utterly useless! You couldn’t PAY me to go to this. I see it as Morning Report crystallized!
ALI JONES: I see it a real lack of democracy in Christchurch. It is a real problem. And I complained about the last government too, so it’s not narrowly political.
PROF. ALAN MARK: The Resource Management Act is being gutted.
STEPHEN FRANKS: That was a DEMOCRATIC DECISION! The government is responding to what the people want! I’m just concerned that there are these SLOGANS! Where are the new ideas?
ALI JONES: I think it’s really spurious for Stephen to suggest that democracy is an excuse.
FRANKS: Oh, it’s just a big MOAN. Whining without producing solutions!
[Franks continues to drool, spit, snarl, slobber and yelp for several minutes while his interlocutors maintain a horrified silence….]
Those who want to move past Franks’s ranting denunciations and see what Professor Mark’s group are on about might like to look at this….
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/247834/what-are-risks
I think Steve may have his knife into the RMA. Thre was a electoral meeting in Wellington a while back when he was standing as a candidate for something or other and most of his spiel consisted of telling the audience how the RMA consent from the Council for his driveway/garage? had cost $35000. Real man of the people stuff, a lot of people don’t even earn that much in a year.
Frankly, (sorry), Stephen Franks is one of your “came-to-it-later-in life-after-shades-of-parading-as-a-lefty”, right-wing nutbars. Douglas, Moore, Caygill et al. I was at VUW 33-37 years ago. Focused on the same “discipline” as said Stephen.
Kia Ora re the train trip through the Soviet Union Stevo. Authorities stopped the train for hours at western border ??? A mate of mine travelled with you.
I know.
I love this small, tight knit country.
I’m enjoying these reviews, Morrissey, keep em coming. It’s actually much better than listening to the show. Sorry if that sounds like faint praise.
John Key’s Bad Will Tour.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/03/07/go-to-hugo-chavezs-funeral-john/
I thought the main reason John Key was going to Latin America was to drum up support for our bid for the revolving seat on the UN security council.
Way to shoot yourself in the foot, John.
FYI folks!
This is a significant legal victory, locally, nationally and internationally>
Statement by one of the successful Appellants, Penny Bright.
OCCUPY AUCKLAND WINS HIGH COURT APPEAL!
Mainstream media coverage:
Occupy Auckland barrister Ron Mansfield explains the ruling of Judge Ellis:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2548345/court-ruling-paves-way-for-more-action-by-occupy-movement.asx
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869644
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/occupy-auckland-protesters-win-appeal-against-eviction-ruling-5361876
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/occupy-auckland-protesters-win-appeal-against-eviction-ruling-5361876/video
http://www.3news.co.nz/Occupy-eviction-went-too-far—ruling/tabid/423/articleID/289259/Default.aspx
http://www.3news.co.nz/Legal-victory-for-Occupy-Auckland/tabid/423/articleID/289280/Default.aspx
http://www.bizbilak.com/news/occupy-auckland-protesters-win-appeal-against-eviction-ruling-tvnz
Please be advised, that as an Appellant in my own name, at no time did I express an opinion as a ‘Spokesperson’ for Occupy Auckland.
A copy of the Appeal decision of High Court Justice Ellis is available on
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
a website for which I take full personal responsibility for content.
Also on this above-mentioned website are copies of my key legal submissions, as an Appellant in my own name, so people can read them for themselves.
The main reason I organised the setting up of this website, was to counter the defamatory lies about myself being spread by Suzette Maree Dawson, which she has published on her own private websitehttp://occupysavvy.com
Suzette Maree Dawson published on her above-mentioned private website a statement by Ben Cooney (‘Redstar’) during his livestream video coverage of the protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) protest on 8 December 2012:
“There’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”.
The FACTS are, that I was one of 12 people responsible for organising Auckland anti-Springbok Tour protests in 1981, I was named in Muldoon’s SIS list as a ‘subversive’, and have never been able to get a copy of my SIS file.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0711/S00086.htm
If people think I’m going to put up with these sorts of filthy defamatory lies, when I have had a proven track record going back over 40 years as an activist – think again.
I strongly recommend that those involved in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, exercise commonsense and due diligence?
If people come from nowhere, with no proven track record in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, and make a beeline for controlling the message, or means of getting the message out – act in ways which cause dissension or conflict within the group, spread misinformation / disinformation about people, without facts and evidence to back it up – BEWARE!!!
Being involved in ‘media’ gives such people the ability to mix and mingle and take photos from inside the ranks of the ‘protest’ movement.
Where exactly are those photos going?
BEWARE of those who act like the 1%, without openness, transparency or democratic accountability.
Why is it that as a (successful) Appellant in the Occupy Auckland Appeal, I cannot post this information up on the Occupy Auckland facebook page?
WHO are ‘Admin’ currently responsible for the Occupy Auckland facebook page, and why am I being blocked?
I note a Press Release up on Scoop – in the name of Occupy Auckland.
Who put out this Press Release?
On whose authority?
As a NAMED APPELLENT in this Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal – I for one was never contacted by this now mysterious, anonymous and apparently secretive ‘Occupy Auckland’ – who do NOT have permission or any authority to speak on my behalf.
http://auckland.scoop.co.nz/2013/03/vindication-for-occupy-auckland/
WHO now are ‘Occupy Auckland’?
Without transparency – there is no accountability.
When / where was the Occupy Auckland General Assembly that discussed the Appeal, and authorised this Press Release?
I note that Suzette Maree Dawson and her private website ‘occupy savvy’ did NOT attend the hearing of the Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal, and did not publish any of my legal documents, which arguably played a role in helping achieve this significant victory for Occupy Auckland, both locally, nationally and internationally?
Remember Rob Gilchrist – the Police informant who infiltrated the animal rights movement?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/760466/The-activist-who-turned-police-informer
Learn the lessons folks!
I for one, am not interested in working with ‘idiots, sheep, amateurs, saboteurs or provocateurs’.
Decent people, with good hearts, brains, guts and a basic understanding of the principles of natural justice, are those with whom I will work, on an issue by issue basis, where we have common cause.
In New Zealand, we have the basic human right to ‘freedom of association’.
Those who choose to associate with Suzette Maree Dawson and/or Ben Cooney – that is your right and your choice.
But – please be advised that if you choose to associate with Suzette Maree Dawson and/or Ben Cooney, I will choose not to associate with you.
(The same applies to Linda Anne Wright – but that’s another story – update coming soon….)
FYI – here are ‘Minutes’ of Occupy Auckland General Assemblies – 1 February 2012 and 15 February 2012, which record agreed decisions on a number of matters:
MINUTES OF OCCUPY AUCKLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEDNESDAY
1 FEBRUARY 2012
RESOLVED BY CONSENSUS:
“That Occupy Auckland endorse/support the PRINCIPLE of a draft Action Plan to prevent ‘White Collar crime, corruption and corporate welfare.”
OCCUPY AUCKLAND (General Assembly 1/2/2012) SUPPORTS THE PRINCIPLE OF A DRAFT ACTION PLAN TO PREVENT CORRUPTION – ‘WHITE COLLAR’ CRIME & ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ IN NEW ZEALAND [DRAFT DISCUSSION DOCUMENT ONLY]
1. Get our anti-corruption domestic legislative framework in place so NZ can ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption.
2. Set up an NZ independent anti-corruption body tasked with educating the public and PREVENTING corruption.
3. Change NZ laws to ensure genuine transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office and political parties at central government level
4. Legislate for an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the rules for everyone else).
5. Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002 for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
6. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government elected representatives.
7. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Central Government staff responsible for property and procurement, (including the Ministry of Health), in order to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
8. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government staff, and Directors and staff employed by ‘Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) responsible for property and procurement.
9. Make it a lawful requirement for details of ‘contracts issued’ – including the name of the contractor; scope, term and value of the contract to be published in NZ Central Government Public Sector, and Local Government (Council), and ‘Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) Annual Reports so that they are available for public scrutiny.
10. Make it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government, and Local Government public finances be undertaken to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority. If not – then return public service provision to staff directly employed ‘in-house’ and cut out these private contractors who are effectively dependent on ‘corporate welfare’.
11. Legislate for a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
12. Ensure that ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them.
13. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
14. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ at Central Government Ministerial level.
15. Make it a lawful requirement at NZ Central and Local Government level for a ‘post-separation employment quarantine’ period from the time officials leave the public service to take up a similar role in the private sector. (Help stop the ‘revolving door’).
16. Make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ Central or Local Government level are sold; or long-term leased via Public-Private –Partnerships (PPPs).
17. Make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to election at central or local government level.
18. Make laws to protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations who are ‘whistleblowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
19. Legislate to help stop ‘State Capture’, a form of ‘grand corruption’ arguably endemic in NZ – where vested interests get their way at the ‘policy level’ before legislation is passed which serves their interests.
[Feedback to Occupy Auckland can be sent c/- Penny Bright waterpressure@gmail.com to assist further debate/discussion/workshopping ]
____________________________________________________________________________
MINUTES OF OCCUPY AUCKLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2012
Minute-taker: Penny Bright
MINUTES OF THE OCCUPY AUCKLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY HELD ON SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2012 WERE AGREED BY CONSENSUS OF THOSE WHO WERE PRESENT AT THAT MEETING TO BE A TRUE AND ACCURATE ACCOUNT:
……
ANNOUNCEMENTS: 15 FEBRUARY 2012 NEW EVENTS:
1) ‘AOTEAROA IS NOT FOR SALE’ PUBLIC MEETING:
DATE: Friday, 17 February 2012TIME: 7pm VENUE: Trades Hall, 147 Great Nth Rd, Grey Lynn
GA (General Assembly) agreed that Penny, on behalf of Occupy Auckland to take the following proposal (passed by unanimous consensus at the Occupy Auckland GA, Sunday 12 February 2012), to the above-mentioned ‘AOTEAROA IS NOT FOR SALE’ PUBLIC MEETING:
1) That Occupy Auckland support the new group that was formed on Thursday 9 February 2012, at the Unite Office 6A Western Springs Rd, Kingsland – ‘Aotearoa is not for sale’, particularly focusing on opposing the proposed ‘partial privatisation’ of State-owned assets.
2) That Occupy Auckland help organize opposition to proposed State-Owned asset sales, by making available to the public, hard copy ‘submission’ forms which can be sent to Treasury, who are organizing the ‘consultation’, (‘submissions must be in by 5pm 22 February, 2012).
3) That Occupy Auckland concentrate on public ‘outreach’ activities, co-ordinating with as many other interested parties / groups as possible, preferably on a daily basis, including, but not limited to publicizing:
a. Opposition to State-Owned asset sales.
b. Opposition to the NZ Food Bill.
c. Support for the Ports of Auckland workers.
d. Support for the Tamaki Housing Group.
e. Collecting signatures for the petition for an inquiry into the Huljich Kiwisaver prosecutions.
f. Collecting submission forms opposing the sale of State-Owned assets.
That the suggested public ‘outreach’ point be opposite the Auckland Town Hall on Queen Street, but if there are other events on at that time we go there.
That the form of this public ‘outreach’ be, banners on fence, fold-up table and chairs, clip boards, and ‘protest ponchos’. Penny is prepared to help organise this activity. …..”
______________________________________________________
Penny Bright
Occupy Auckland Appellant (in my own name).
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate
[lprent: Good win. Too long.. ]
Just looking at the Chavez RIP column got me thinking: for the Left Chavez was a real hero, flaws and all. On the news tonight people in Caracas were crying, wailing for their “Hero”. Like our own Michael Joseph.
Shearer??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Not much chance that Shearer is going to be PM for 2 terms let alone 4.
Something to watch.
http://billmoyers.com/content/watch-the-lord-is-not-on-trial-here-today-for-a-limited-time/
I see Keith Locke saying that Key should go to Chavez’ funeral. And that he’s screwed up not doing so (or at least that’s how it’s reported on Stuff where it’s highlighted as a snub).
Yeah, I see that. Possibility of impressing Latin America etc, and that’s Locke’s reported line.
Well actually, to be fair, if he did contrive to go, I’d lash him as a showboat prick.
John Key whose heart beats for Wall Street is not fit to attend the funeral of a man whose heart beat for his people.