Well of course, they don’t have tame little guinea pigs mascarading as Press over there!!! They tell it like it is, and boy, how humiliating and beyond embarrassing to be known as a weird little fetish-creep, right John?? Wonder if the Queen will invite him back to Balmoral again – she must be wondering what he got up to the last time he was there??
How tragic. You obviously have not been following the rabid anti-Milliban stuff the Sun et al have been running these last few weeks. Filthy Murdoch media and other Tory press
Interestingly recently on the British Show “Pointless” John Key was an answer, but not a pointless one. They asked 100 people to identify as many world leaders as they knew in 100 seconds. From memory over 10% of them named John Key of New Zealand.
But how many Brits currently think John Key is a clown (irrespective of whether or not they know the country of which he is PM)?
And of the 10% who you suspect do know he is New Zealand’s Prime Minister the vast majority will presumably only know that from the fact that he is being mocked?
If there happens to be any future case in which John Key – as NZ PM – makes some serious appeal to the British people (e.g., to buy our products, help us with a natural disaster, support our economic and foreign policy interests, etc.) we can guess that their first dawning reaction will not be sympathy and support but, instead … ‘Oh, so that’s the country that voted in that clown??’
You seem to be implying that this current ‘anonymity’ concerning Key’s nationality is ‘reassuring’ when it is actually a ticking ‘join the dots’ time bomb (involving, as you imply, far more than 10% of Brits) that, when it goes off, is likely to dampen and subtract from the British people’s support for us in the future.
And, more importantly, that reaction amongst the British public will embolden those in Britain who might oppose our interests (for political or economic reasons).
Key has, no doubt unthinkingly, delivered rhetorical ammunition for anyone in Britain – or elsewhere – to use to undermine our interests.
Rightly or wrongly, that in future will be the public reaction overseas and those will be the uses made of that reaction. (e.g., think about how Fox News might now frame our Prime Minister should he, on a visit there, publicly argue to reduce US agricultural subsidies).
As right wingers here so often point out when they use Key’s electoral popularity as his ultimate defence against criticism: Irrespective of the reality, perception is everything.
Unfortunately, the same argument also works negatively – when, on the world stage, Key is associated not with a blokey ‘popularity’ but with idiocy and weirdness.
Big day for Auckland Council and Auckland’s future. Two related themes.
Firstly, the proposed rates hike – particularly for transport purposes – is steeper than expected. Government will likely not recognize the political blowback Mayor Brown will get from the public.
Secondly, the housing crisis is not reflected in Council’s Auckland Development Company proposal. It’s going to be a fairly neutered beast. Back in the day, Auckland Council was the second-biggest housing owner in the country. The days of intervention at scale appear gone.
Join these two together: can Key, Bennett, and Bridges as pro-Auckland Cabinet Ministers, overcome the anti-Auckland sentiments of Brownlee, Smith, and English? That is, can central government form a stronger and more direct governance instrument for prioritizing transport investment that leads to more affordable housing being built?
Particularly because this government is demanding more homes be built, by necessity they have to be on the outskirts, but won’t put its hand in its collective pocket to fund the infrastructure (particularly transport) required to make it practical for dwellers…
They also effectively cut the developers cost… so who take sup the shortfall if this is generally used to fund infrastructure for the new properties and research?
My home has gone up in paper value over 300,000 since October last year…
Something needs to be pointed out about rate hikes all over the country. The basic cause of rate hikes by councils is that the central government is not sufficiently funding these regional councils. This is the underlying reason councils are looking to put rates up or are looking to raise revenue in other ways, or in some cases moth balling development projects. Where we as a country want these projects to go ahead, but rate payers increases would be too steep, the government should simply fund these projects.
But the tricky thing is that councils funding also adjusts to the economy, when economic activity falls then their rates and other payments (income) fall as well. It can be tricky to understand that due to the recession if the council is going to maintain previous levels of investment in regional development, then either rates need to go up a lot or central government needs to step in and provide the funds and a larger portion of the councils budget. At present the central government is significantly under-funding councils all over the country.
It’s comments like this that prove that you, and other RWNJs, are a fucken idiot.
We need the services that taxes provide and we can’t get them for less than they physically cost no matter what National Act tell us.
Of course, a large part of your idiocy is due to the fact that we’ve been taught to see our finances backwards. We see taxes as providing an income for government when we should be seeing government spending as the foundation which holds up the economy – especially the private sector.
Why should central government tell local government where people can build houses without providing infrastructure to support their (central government) decisions.
Because they refuse to let local government charge the level of rates that would provide an appropriate level of services, in particular the overarching infrastructure needed to support communities and economic activity.
“Why should central government fund local government?”
Because local government can’t afford to raise the necessary funds (It would depress the local economy of Auckland to much if Auckland rates, and other council service charges, were that high) needed to support their local government economy. Duh!
One of the reasons central government should fund local government is that central government make up the laws that local government have to enact, implement, monitor and enforce…….e.g. Building Act, RMA, Health and Safety Act, Weathertight homes resolution services Act, Local Government Act etc etc.
It’s fine for Councils to pay for bylaws and services that communities want (democratic choice), but why is the burden of cost placed exclusively on rate payers (particularly for expensive infrastructure) when that change comes from central government?
NZ needs regional development, and significant funding to support regional development.
Auckland Council had little choice but pay for the changes that were required by the Local Government Auckland Council and Local Government Auckland Transition Acts that were foisted on them by Mr Hyde…….and look at what that is going to cost Aucklanders……possibly their harbour, given the dysfunctionality of the governance that were set up between the Council and their subsidiary entities (Ports of Auckland, Auckland Transport).
And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking 🙂
This is typical NZ, perhaps thoughout the world,where few if any consider the holistic cost as they work out the costs and benefits to their group and their group only … urrrgh!
I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking
Of course it doesn’t. Private banks create 97% of it ex nihilo.
This is typical NZ, perhaps thoughout the world,where few if any consider the holistic cost as they work out the costs and benefits to their group and their group only
Actually, the problem is that we’ve 30+ years of the RWNJs saying that we don’t need to pay for anything and the majority of people seem to have believed that lie. Now our infrastructure is collapsing, our government services are sub par and taxes are having to go up to pay for fixing all the damage that 30 years of neo-liberalism have done and the RWNJs are complaining about it.
“And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking”
From the NZ central governments point of view, it does. All they need to do is write into the budget the amount they are providing to local government and the money is then issued into the economy as it is spent.
From the point of view of an economist its never a question of funding, but a question of how much this might put pressure on inflation. However there is no threat of an impact on inflation from this until the economy is operating at full capacity (which you will probably observe it isn’t presently). Until such a time the government can simply spend more, creating more real wealth (both goods and services) for NZers to enjoy and income for businesses and their employees at the same time, effectively for free.
The opportunity cost of not doing this can never be recovered, its clearly a pretty bone headed move by the government to simply leave the additional real wealth available to the NZ economy (at no cost) on the table!
As an investor the author knows full well that the value of an asset is directly proportionate to its yield and that Auckland houses are in a bubble phase.
Rental properties in areas of NZ with low or no housing inflation, such as the provinces, are returning investors 6-7% from rents. Based on existing interest rates that’s currently about the right return if you’re an investor, you must get at least that much else you won’t invest. You’d be better off putting your cash in the bank if you got any less.
Auckland properties are lucky to return 4-5% from rents which is well below the return any investor would require. You can’t borrow at 6% and make a buck when rents are only returning 4%. It’s not possible…. unless there’s capital gain or rent increases. That’s a bubble, the income from the asset is not supporting the price.
Economists & politicians keep bleating about house prices when the real issue isn’t houses. It’s rents. Without rental income an investment property has no value whatsoever. The higher the rent… the higher the value of the property. If rents don’t go up house prices will always fall back to when the bubble started.
What King has neglected to tell people there is that the longer term investors buy with the intention of increasing rents. An investment bubble can only be deflated if the income from the investment rises to match the bubble price. A higher house price can only be sustained if the underlying rent increases to support it.
My point in this spiel is that low income Aucklanders can look forward to more grinding poverty with their landlords constantly holding out their hands for more & more filthy lucre. The ‘proper’ rent on a $500k property is over $600 per week and investors who own those $500k properties plan on getting their $600.
at that rate pretty much anyone in Auckland is going to be a low income Aucklander, but i guess that is then mission accomplished and we are one step closer to third country status.
and there is. Lord knows I don’t want to be seen as standing up for landlords, but the picture you offer is not quite so watertight. The idea of “proper rent” for a 500K property being $600pw just doesn’t match reality. Rents, depending on area, are closer to half the rate you say they are. Rents here are high, as a percentage of average gross income, no doubt. Neither does the image of landlords being highly intelligent scammers and sharks reconcile with close inspection. Those types exist, but if they were the only type around, there’d be a lot of people, hundreds of thousands, living on the street. The flattering idea of being an “investor” just because someone owns a rental property, isn’t true. Luckily, landlords have as many colours of nutty as anyone else, so a tolerable deal can still be found.
Cheer up old bean, having to move house because the landlord has an aspirational brain-fart is infuriating, highly stressfull and expensive, and potentially financially crippling, but shit happens, so don’t focus on the shit because it only makes things worse.
Miliband still on target to become British PM according to most pundits. General consensus (give or take a little variation) seems to be:
– Tories will probably win the popular vote by 1-3 percentage points
– Tories probably around 10 seats ahead of Labour (but a lot of uncertainty due to very close contest in some of the key marginals according to the Ashcroft Polls)
– None of which, according to the majority view, will be enough to prevent an Anti-Tory majority (see May2015 website and my comment here…http://thestandard.org.nz/miliband-kos-johnson/#comment-1006991)
The only concern:
– Traditional inaccuracy of UK pre-Election polls. Most notoriously, of course, in 1992 when polls grossly overstated Labour support and under-estimated the Tory vote. Same in a few other Elections – I’ve recently watched a fascinating 6 hours of the 1970 UK Election coverage (complete with some quite extraordinary comb-overs – particularly from the middle-aged political scientists – we’re talking on a Donald Trump scale of grandeur) and most of the polls then wrongly indicated a return of Harold Wilson’s Government.
Anyone who has been following the New Statesman’s excellent May2015 site will know that, over recent weeks, there has been a serious divide between the on-line and phone polls – the former consistently suggesting a neck-and-neck race, the latter a fairly clear Tory lead. Nerve-wracking – although I see the most recent phone-based polls have mostly re-aligned with the on-line ones, all except the Com Res/Daily Mail now calling a close race.
Letter to my local Gisborne Herald – they may not publish – being rather chummy with the Tolley. Or at least will hack out the stomach staples to protect her modesty and her image of self responsibility and self-control.
This paper’s editor considers my letters to be ‘attacks’. So be it.
Here’s an ‘attack’.
The Minister of Social Development is now banning beneficiaries – whose care she is responsible for – from getting loans for emergency dental treatment. Loans.
This is vicious.
Any dentist or technician or maxillofacial surgeon will tell you those with serious gum disease are 40% more likely to have a chronic condition on top.
Diabetes, heart disease/stroke risk – infections in the gums release inflammatory substances which in turn increase brain inflammation that can cause neuronal (brain cell) death.
Bacteria from periodontal disease can travel through the bloodstream to the lungs where it can aggravate respiratory systems.
Men with gum disease – 49% more likely to develop kidney cancer, 54% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, and 30% more likely to develop blood cancers.
Women with gum disease took an average of seven months to conceive, compared to five months among their peers without gum disease.
My surgeon told me I could of died before I spent $4 000 to get the help I needed. I require 3x a year maintenance work. I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t need to go to a loan shark.
So Tolley has enough clues about the dangers of obesity to spend up to $30 000 to have her stomach stapled (that took some guts) so I assume she is aware of the dangers of poor dental health. Enough to have top-notch dental care for her winning smile – but the section of society that can only dream of her wealth and privilege – and the rude good health it affords her – will now be in pain. They will be in chronic pain and distress and under Anne Tolleys care and on her watch.
This latest attack – by this government – on the most vulnerable of our community is just vicious.
1) Apply for the dollar amount you need regardless of cost (yes, I know…stress, $, and possible humiliation from the dentist who hates beneficiaries). The legislation doesn’t limit it to $300, that is done through policy and they can and do go higher.
2) Review the decision, and continue the appeal to the SSAA
An increase in reviews may be more costly than providing the loan in the first place. Good luck.
from her wiki
Personal[edit]
It emerged in 2010 that Tolley had undergone gastric bypass (stomach stapling) surgery in order to lose weight.[14] Tolley joins other current and former New Zealand politicians including Rahui Katene, David Lange, Chester Borrows, Donna Awatere-Huata and Tariana Turia to have had gastric bypass surgery at some point in the past.
Hers one I sent in which the editor took-out the stomach staples reference – completely ruining the gag I set up – (to protect Anne Tolleys modesty?)
Dear Sir,
Fresh from the regular ordeal of dry-retching at the horror of witnessing – day after day – people parading massive marlins that they’ve tortured and dragged around with their launches and then murdered, gutted and strung up on the wharf to be photographed for the pages of the Gisborne Herald; I am now implored by John Key, local M.P Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald editorial to ‘Get some Guts and get on the right side”, “roll up our sleeves and get stuck in” because “Something has to be done..”.
So Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald Editor got some guts. To drag N.Z onto John Keys sick selfie adventure into Iraq takes guts of steel. über-guts. Tolleys got the stomach staples so she’s got $30 000 armoured guts. The Herald Editor has barrels of ink guts. The printed word handing up to the mighty – the sword.
So, potentially, Gisborne-born guts will be spilt for John Keys photo-ops in the ‘middle east’ to come but more importantly – what desert-chic number has Anne Tolley picked for her inspection tour in Iraq? Her designers will have such fun with the flak-jackets and bullet proof helmets!
“Get Some Guts”? If the Islamic Caliphate want to really stick it to N.Z for the National and Act Party’s desire to have our “club” membership validated then any Kiwis they capture for their propaganda murders may well be – gutted.
Joe .. a retraction was published for this change in loans announcement .. it was a mikstake. Will try to find the correction link from a day or so ago … brb … but great letter !!
From Jan Logie on Tuesday: curious and curiouser ….
“So it turns out yesterday’s story about WINZ cuts to dental care loans was wrong, and through no fault of Radio New Zealand who ran it.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has today corrected the Official Information Act release the story was based on. The corrected numbers now show fairly steady dispersal of loans and grants for emergency dental care since 2010.
While this is good news, the situation is still very confusing. I continue to hear stories of people being told they can only get money for extractions, not things like root canals or crowns. I have also heard people being told not to bother applying.
It’s strange that this doesn’t seem to show up in the statistics. It’s hard to have confidence in the statistics when the Ministry can apparently get them so wrong themselves.
Beyond this, I must say I think it is just bizarre that alarms bells did not go off in MSD when they found there had apparently been a 99% decline in advance payments for dental care.
It is even more bizarre that MSD initially sought to explain that drop, in an email copied to me, by saying there had been a policy change in 2012 that precluded the payment of advances for emergency dental care.
There wasn’t a policy change, so that bit was made up. A policy change of that magnitude would actually have been unlawful, as it would have unreasonably restrained MSD case managers from exercising their statutory discretion to grant advance payments of benefit, but no one involved with this at MSD seemed to realise that.
Furthermore, MSD has now effectively told the entire country via yesterday’s Radio New Zealand story that beneficiaries can’t get loans for dental care, and have not corrected that publicly.
The National Government’s welfare reforms have been overwhelming for staff and beneficiaries alike, and the cuts to back room MSD staff significant, but quality of information informs decision making. Mistakes like this matter.”
Don’t forget that TRNZ are getting a comment option going. Look for comment under the particular items that have been chosen. They are tryng a range.
Eventually I get to where they have RNZtalk and that takes you past the stats to the cent
Stephen Franks voices concern over the two-tier justice system. I find myself in the strange position of agreeing with someone from the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
He also appears to gently hint at recent ‘prominent NZer’ cases.
I thought you got the memo – the SST is there for scared white people to vent their spleen about brown people doing crime. Because it’s so scary being white.
Lucretia Seales who is terminally ill with a brain tumour, is fighting in the courts to have the right to decide when she dies. The courts have allowed two ‘interested’ parties to join the case. One is the Human Right Commision and the other a group by the name of Care Alliance.
I was curious who they were and a little googling shows that the alliance which seems to be a grouping of organisations all opposed to euthanasia, including some groups that appear to have a vested interest in keeping people alive.
The group appears to traces back to another organisation called The Nathaniel Centre which turns about to be an offshoot of The Roman Catholic Church and is listed as their Bioethics Centre.
The Care Alliance was co-founded by one Maggie Barry MP. No prizes for guessing her religion. Its web site has no real details of who they are but refer contact details to one Matthew Jansen, one would could only wonder if this is the same Matthew Jansen on the Board of Saint Catherines College Wellington Ltd? http://www.csbl.co.nz/about/shareholders-and-directors
Is this a case once again of right wing church groups forming defacto front groups to push their narrow view of society. http://www.carealliance.org.nz/
“The six cops who killed Freddie Gray in Baltimore have been charged.
“Freddie Gray isn’t the first person that cops put in the back of a van, expressly to injure him. No seat belt, hands cuffed behind his back, feet shackled, he was left to bounce off the van’s walls. Others have been gravely injured, even paralyzed. And Freddie Gray is not the first man to die in Baltimore like this.
“Protests lead to first cops in Baltimore ever being charged for such killing
“And yet, this is the first time any Baltimore cop has been charged for the crime.
“Isn’t it obvious? If young people hadn’t gone out into the streets on Monday night, the cops would not have been charged. . .
As was true in a spate of recent death-in-custody cases, the Baltimore police department’s seeming reluctance (or inability) to mount a prompt, thorough investigation of its own officers has generated escalating protests, fueled by existing distrust of the police and suggestions of a cover-up.
But in this case it wasn’t just the thin blue line of solidarity shielding the cops involved from having to testify against themselves or each other.
The problem, said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, is that city officials were unable to “fully engage” with the officers “because of our Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.”
On paper, this country still has one of the most reactionary abortion laws in the world. There are enough liberal doctors that the reality is rather different, so the actual law isn’t especially effective or closely enforced. However it’s still there and the criminalisation of abortion still takes a psychological toll on women who choose to terminate pregnancies.
Once upon a time there was an active campaign for women’s right to choose; isn’t there still a need for one?
Australian reality show taking the piss out of poor people, surprisingly being shown on the SBS channel (I thought they had a bit more class than that). How long till we get the NZ version, giving the middle-classes a good chuckle and reinforcing what they always thought about the poor.
hola unblocker is the answer, Phil. It’s an add on/extension that sets up a VPN. Also good for UK telly (ie watching the election results tomorrow etc.).
unblock-us.com this one is good to unblock Netflix, you can even change the region worldwide to view were you wish, Netflix US seems the best too me though, massive content.
The SDHB public meeting was a bit of fiasco, the Chairman Butterfield was clearly opposed to the idea of public input. There were no microphones, or PA (at a monthly public meeting), which made much of the talk inaudible to those at the back. So after half an hour when it had devolved into the crowd talking over the board to try get their points across he called a recess so the room would clear out. There was another half hour of “public” meeting after that; mainly the board going through the agenda as fast as possible while avoiding eye contact with those members of the public who had stuck around. Then we were turfed out while the board went to the cafe in preparation for the public-excluded session in which they’d record the decisions they had already made.
Two elected Board Member were good though:
Some reacted angrily when a bid by board member Mary Gamble to shift the decision into the public part of the meeting was rejected by other board members… Her motion found only one supporter, fellow elected board member Dr John Chambers.
”What have we got to hide?” Mrs Gamble asked.
Some members of the public fired irate comments at the board before filing out of the meeting.
This one exchange from the second half was worth jotting down (may not be an exact transcription, but as close as I could get):
Board Member Mary Gamble: “…are we ever going to open the books and see that we are within budget?”
CEO Carole Heatley: “We have a lot of tough decisions, and not all will be popular; as we have seen this morning”
…
Chairman Butterfield: “the 5% cuts are only the start.”
All this heartache to save a measly $5million over 7 years and serve pre-cooked frozen- to-be-microwaved food to very sick people ?? ( it’s about $13,500 pw which is likely less than redundancies and Winz benefits will cost them.) And of course, any profit will be leaving the country courtesy of Compass — and where in any universe can you write profit and hospital food in the same sentence and not be ridiculed ? Yep. Auckland and Dunedin.
Where or where are we headed ?? Toxic food by a compromised toxic British
company.
Tony Ryall jumped ship .. or was he pushed for this debacle and the millions that disappeared under his medical revolution? To this day, never accounted for.
That makes $3.5m over 7.5 years, your figure wasn’t nearly measly enough. Especially considering that HBL spent over $4m devloping the business plan! The money seems to be the justification, not the reason, for the likely adoption of this shortsighted scheme:
Mary Gamble, of Central Otago, says she is voting against the controversial 15-year deal today, but does not expect much support around the table.
Board member Dr John Chambers said he was voting against it, and was also pessimistic about the likely outcome…
‘‘My main reason is I’m not convinced that we will see the savings promised. I don’t believe Compass is incentivised, the whole way it’s set up . . . to deliver savings to us,” Mrs Gamble said.
‘‘My feeling is the majority of [board members] will vote for [outsourcing].”
When it comes time for council elections next year, I will make a point to proclaim the names of those elected board members who vote for this outsourcing as loud as I possibly can.
However, from looking about today, it seemed that the; 8 elected Board Members, were outnumbered by the; 6 Executive Directors, plus; CEO, Chairman, & Deputy (plus Board Secretary, but she probably doesn’t have voting rights). I don’t think the Chairman is an elected position (in fact I think Butterfield’s already retired, but is filling in until someone else is appointed – only no one wants the job), I’m not sure about the deputy. So that seems to make 8 elected representatives to 9 appointed, which makes public accountability a farce.
it is a farce, isn’t it ? and I thought on the figures I quoted !! How are they falling for this? Is to just to save face on having spent $4 million on a business plan ?
( Isn’t that more than the equivalent of the first 7.5 years savings ???)
have you seen this report from Oz on the multiple serious failings of Compass … needs to be thrown around the DHB offices asap …
The Southern District Health Board has announced it is going ahead with a plan to outsource its hospital kitchens.
The move will see up to 20% of food workers lose their job.
The board was not swayed by the strong public presence at today’s meeting, at which Grey Power, unions, workers and members of the public implored the board to rethink the proposal…
A petition with more than 7000 signatures opposing the outsourcing of hospital kitchens was presented at a crowded Southern District Health Board meeting this morning.
As soon as most of the public left during the 5min recess, Chairman Butterfield immediately stowed the boxes containing the petition under the table unread where no board member could be reminded of their presence. I remember hearing someone call out; “what is it too far to walk to the waste-paper bin?”.
Next step is legal action:
National secretary John Ryall said the union would lodge the a similar case against Southern to the one it is fighting with the Auckland DHB over outsourcing…
”We think that there’s major legal issues around pushing people over to a contractor under Part 6A [of the Employment Relations Act], which is meant to protect vulnerable workers, when you know that as soon as they move over they’re going to have their hours and jobs cut.
”If Southern go ahead with the proposal to contract out all the work and privatise the services a similar sort of legal action will be taking place in Southern,” Mr Ryall said.
BTW/ Thanks to rs-yh for the link, though it’s taking me a while to go through all the relevant footnotes. Page 17 of this ruling has some disturbing instances of Compass/ Medirest being incompetent about freezer storage and out of date food:
What bites my balls is that the union reckon they can put together a plan that will generate much more revenue than the privatisation will save, but the board in its wisdom decided to consider compass without looking for any alternatives.
Joe Butterfield is a chartered accountant who has spent his working life as a partner/director of the accounting firm Footes Ltd Chartered Accountants (and its predecessors) to which he is now a consultant. Joe, who is from Timaru, is in his second term as Chair of the Southern Board and has a strong interest in health and welfare matters. He is also Chair of Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee and the Appointments and Remuneration Advisory Committee. He was Chairman of South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) from 2000-2009, until he stood down after his term had expired. He was a member of Health South Canterbury (the predecessor to SCDHB) and served as its Chairman from 1996 until 2000. He has also served on the Ministry of Health National Capital Committee and District Health Boards New Zealand.
As well as roles in health and finance, Joe has extensive experience in the transport and agricultural sector and has held directorships in companies including Intercity Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries, Ritchie’s Transport Holdings, the Port of Timaru and the South Canterbury Regional Development Board. Joe is also a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. A lifetime yachtsman, Joe was a member of Yachting NZ’s governance board from 1986-95 and its president 92/95. He was its representative on the sport’s international body 1994-2008 and was an international umpire 1989/05 and is still an international judge.”
Mrs Mary Gamble, SRM, SCM, B.Sc, M.Sc
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Mrs Gamble is a retired midwife who worked for many years helping hundreds of Otago women to deliver their babies. She also has a strong background in health management and governance.
In 2005 Mary wound up her high profile midwifery practice and was recruited as a Research Manager at the University of Otago’s faculty of Health Sciences. After two years she was appointed to the foundation team charged with the establishment of a new medical school at the University of Limerick, Ireland. By July 2011 the Medical School had graduated its first Medical Doctors and Mrs Gamble fulfilled the roles of Research Development Manager and then as the Clinical Liaison Manager ensuring that students were appropriately placed for their clinical training both in hospitals and in GP practices.
Prior to returning to Ireland, Mrs Gamble was twice elected to the Otago DHB in 2001 and 2007 and so has six years health governance experience prior to her recent election to the Southern District Health Board. She is also serving on the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John Chambers, FRCS (Ed), FACEM
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Dr John Chambers is a Dunedin-based Senior Emergency Medical Officer who has worked in Dunedin Hospital for over 20 years. John is an active member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and a member of New Zealand Faculty Board of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and a member of the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John is also is the Director of a small business Chambers Consultancy (2007) Ltd, and health services consultancy, and is employed 0.05 FTE as an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer of the Dunedin Medical School, University of Otago. He continues to work full time as an emergency specialist seeing and treating a wide variety of patients and has a particular interest in the use of ultrasound in emergency diagnosis and care.
I don’t know the answer but I do know that they do not need to enter a 15 year contract. Why not a two or three year contract to see if Compass deliver on what it has promised?
Seems they’re using a system called Steamplicity where meals are prepared and packaged using cooked, partially cooked, and raw components, chilled, with a shelf life of around four days, and reheated cooking the raw and finishing the partially cooked components.
One of the most radical developments in hospital catering in recent years is the
introduction of this new technology which relies on a sealed pack incorporating a valve.
The food, both raw and partially cooked, is plated in a centralised production unit,
chilled (<5°C) and distributed to satellite kitchens where it remains chilled with an
expiry date currently of four days.
Inside jobs (Economist link so need to register to read)
Research suggests that government cronyism may cripple Spain’s economy
Blame has traditionally been pinned on a housing bubble that fostered distorted growth in the construction industry. But a recent paper by a team headed by Manuel García-Santana of the Université Libre de Bruxelles finds that the productivity fall was spread more evenly across all sectors. It had little to do with skills, innovation or debt. “We found that bad [less productive] companies grew faster than the good ones,” says one of the co-authors, Enrique Moral-Benito. Productivity falls were greater when the government was heavily involved, through contracts, licences or regulations. Luis Garicano, the economics adviser of the liberal Ciudadanos party, says this points to an economy dependent on contacts, corruption and cronyism.
These aren’t the government doing things themselves but the government contracting out the work that the government should be doing directly. Such a system produces a massive opportunity for graft and corruption that the government doing things directly won’t as they’re actually publicly accountable.
In many of these countries the differentiation between the top levels of government and the top levels of corporations is simply arbitrary. Welcome to the age of corporate rule.
This article on NRT has a new Registrar of New Zealand Business Numbers being created and the creation excluding it from the OIA as is expected under this guideline:
All public bodies should be subject to the Ombudsmen Act 1975, the Public Audit Act 2001, the Public Records Act 2005, the Official Information Act 1982 (or the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987)
But that is a guideline and not a legal requirement. Obviously it needs to be changed to an actual law so that government departments are automatically included under the OIA. Exclusions would have to be specifically written into the legal framework with reasons for the exclusion.
Such needs to happen so that we’re not left wondering if an exclusion is incompetence or malicious intent by the people writing up the legislation.
Trevette back to her ‘soothing-balm’ styles re Key in The Herald this morning. Warning against peurile motive and spite. Projection-by-proxy of the past and present peurile motives underlying this flag stunt methinks:
” ………. trying to influence people’s votes out of puerile political spite is a different matter. It may be true that Key is keen on a legacy, but it should be irrelevant. The referendums are on the flag, not on the political parties or personalities.
Regulation Trevette – “Time to leave John Key alone now I think……”
History channel on Sky has been screening Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of ’45’ this week. Highly recommended and with many parallels with the political changes in that period in our own country.
Abbott acts on foreign RE buyers..Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced tough new laws for foreign property investors in an effort to ‘level the playing field’ for Australian buyers.
The changes will see foreign buyers charged a $5000 fee to enter the Australian market, as well as increased fines and possible jail terms for investors who breach foreign ownership laws – and the agents who help them do so.
The stricter laws follow an investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board into housing affordability in Australia, which partly blamed foreign buyers for inflated domestic prices.
‘The new regime will maximise opportunities for Australians, give Australian home owners confidence and a level playing field,’ Mr Abbott told reporters at a press conference in Sydney on Saturday.
ONE News has learned that the Government has spent $6 million air freighting 900 pregnant ewes and farming equipment to Hamood Al Ali Khalaf’s farm in Saudi Arabia.
According to Mr Al Ali Khalaf’s business partner, Sydney-based George Assaf, everything from the fencing to “the shed and the wool shed and the yards and the drafting machines, the weighing, the scales, you mention it, it’s all from New Zealand”.
Mr Assaf says the deal was done to “compensate” the pair over a six-year-old ban of live sheep exports in which they say they lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
He says New Zealand was told “unless you fix that part of it, we won’t sign” the free trade deal between New Zealand and the Gulf States.
I’m sure that with a law in place to ensure that this type of bribery is legal it’ll just get worse.
New Zealand will receive no profit from the Saudi farm, which Mr Assaf claims is worth $80 million.
But, it provides New Zealand businesses with the opportunity to showcase their wares, according to Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
Asked what return the country should expect from the farm, Mr Guy replied: “Ultimately it may help us land the free trade agreement.”
Actually, it’s going to help put NZ sheep farms out of the export business.
Campbell Live tonight…….ChCh volunteer whose Good Samaritanism has come back on his very soul. With no ACC back-up because the damage ain’t physical. Wasn’t there the noted example of the built young Maori or Polynesian guy who leapt in lustily heaving heavy lumps of concrete off trapped people ? Who was honoured with an award ?
All the proof you need that the editorial of Campbell Live is indispensable !
Mediaworks should be proud that it’s happening under their banner !
For fuck’s sake…….what has happened to New Zealand ?
Campbell Live next clip……the rental-rape of Filipino ChCh reconstruction workers ???
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
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 ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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 ...
Just arrived in London, working for a couple of months
Here, John Key is a figure of fun and ridicule. it is very embarrassing.
in the media there – we have moved from ponytail-pulling prime minister – to dentistry during sex..
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/06/new-zealand-man-found-guilty-of-pulling-out-lovers-teeth-during-sex
Well of course, they don’t have tame little guinea pigs mascarading as Press over there!!! They tell it like it is, and boy, how humiliating and beyond embarrassing to be known as a weird little fetish-creep, right John?? Wonder if the Queen will invite him back to Balmoral again – she must be wondering what he got up to the last time he was there??
How tragic. You obviously have not been following the rabid anti-Milliban stuff the Sun et al have been running these last few weeks. Filthy Murdoch media and other Tory press
People in London know who John Key is ?
Tugger Key? Are you unaware that he has been fodder for “odd” news and comedy pieces around the world?
I expect if you asked 100 people in the UK which country John Key was the PM of less than 10% would have any idea.
Interestingly recently on the British Show “Pointless” John Key was an answer, but not a pointless one. They asked 100 people to identify as many world leaders as they knew in 100 seconds. From memory over 10% of them named John Key of New Zealand.
I missed that one…..another brit show that as quite interesting (no pun intended)
I enjoy it. I note how different it is to US quiz shows. The questions are hard and the prize money is low..
Agreed I couldn’t bring myself to watch a US quiz show.
That would be quite an interesting post,. Questions to which the answer is John Key.
Mine is, “Who is New Zealand’s most publicly ridiculed PM internationally?”
I don’t think that even Peter Fraser got such a press from Lord Haw Haw.
Clark would probably beat key as “globally most famous NZ PM”, but that might be reversed if we added “for actions performed whilst NZ PM”.
Who wanted to be Prime Minister since he was a child but had no political awareness or consciousness?
But how many Brits currently think John Key is a clown (irrespective of whether or not they know the country of which he is PM)?
And of the 10% who you suspect do know he is New Zealand’s Prime Minister the vast majority will presumably only know that from the fact that he is being mocked?
If there happens to be any future case in which John Key – as NZ PM – makes some serious appeal to the British people (e.g., to buy our products, help us with a natural disaster, support our economic and foreign policy interests, etc.) we can guess that their first dawning reaction will not be sympathy and support but, instead … ‘Oh, so that’s the country that voted in that clown??’
You seem to be implying that this current ‘anonymity’ concerning Key’s nationality is ‘reassuring’ when it is actually a ticking ‘join the dots’ time bomb (involving, as you imply, far more than 10% of Brits) that, when it goes off, is likely to dampen and subtract from the British people’s support for us in the future.
And, more importantly, that reaction amongst the British public will embolden those in Britain who might oppose our interests (for political or economic reasons).
Key has, no doubt unthinkingly, delivered rhetorical ammunition for anyone in Britain – or elsewhere – to use to undermine our interests.
Rightly or wrongly, that in future will be the public reaction overseas and those will be the uses made of that reaction. (e.g., think about how Fox News might now frame our Prime Minister should he, on a visit there, publicly argue to reduce US agricultural subsidies).
As right wingers here so often point out when they use Key’s electoral popularity as his ultimate defence against criticism: Irrespective of the reality, perception is everything.
Unfortunately, the same argument also works negatively – when, on the world stage, Key is associated not with a blokey ‘popularity’ but with idiocy and weirdness.
Whatever, the only thing in the British Media at the moment is the election.
It is hard to ridicule someone who no one notices.
Big day for Auckland Council and Auckland’s future. Two related themes.
Firstly, the proposed rates hike – particularly for transport purposes – is steeper than expected. Government will likely not recognize the political blowback Mayor Brown will get from the public.
Secondly, the housing crisis is not reflected in Council’s Auckland Development Company proposal. It’s going to be a fairly neutered beast. Back in the day, Auckland Council was the second-biggest housing owner in the country. The days of intervention at scale appear gone.
Join these two together: can Key, Bennett, and Bridges as pro-Auckland Cabinet Ministers, overcome the anti-Auckland sentiments of Brownlee, Smith, and English? That is, can central government form a stronger and more direct governance instrument for prioritizing transport investment that leads to more affordable housing being built?
Couple of weeks will tell.
Interesting times indeed…
Particularly because this government is demanding more homes be built, by necessity they have to be on the outskirts, but won’t put its hand in its collective pocket to fund the infrastructure (particularly transport) required to make it practical for dwellers…
They also effectively cut the developers cost… so who take sup the shortfall if this is generally used to fund infrastructure for the new properties and research?
My home has gone up in paper value over 300,000 since October last year…
Something needs to be pointed out about rate hikes all over the country. The basic cause of rate hikes by councils is that the central government is not sufficiently funding these regional councils. This is the underlying reason councils are looking to put rates up or are looking to raise revenue in other ways, or in some cases moth balling development projects. Where we as a country want these projects to go ahead, but rate payers increases would be too steep, the government should simply fund these projects.
But the tricky thing is that councils funding also adjusts to the economy, when economic activity falls then their rates and other payments (income) fall as well. It can be tricky to understand that due to the recession if the council is going to maintain previous levels of investment in regional development, then either rates need to go up a lot or central government needs to step in and provide the funds and a larger portion of the councils budget. At present the central government is significantly under-funding councils all over the country.
Why should central government fund local government?
For that matter why shouldn’t local government fund central government ?
Or alternatively why don’t they all fuck off and stop picking our pockets ad infinitum.
seasteader much?
It’s comments like this that prove that you, and other RWNJs, are a fucken idiot.
We need the services that taxes provide and we can’t get them for less than they physically cost no matter what National Act tell us.
Of course, a large part of your idiocy is due to the fact that we’ve been taught to see our finances backwards. We see taxes as providing an income for government when we should be seeing government spending as the foundation which holds up the economy – especially the private sector.
Why should central government tell local government where people can build houses without providing infrastructure to support their (central government) decisions.
Because they refuse to let local government charge the level of rates that would provide an appropriate level of services, in particular the overarching infrastructure needed to support communities and economic activity.
“Why should central government fund local government?”
Because local government can’t afford to raise the necessary funds (It would depress the local economy of Auckland to much if Auckland rates, and other council service charges, were that high) needed to support their local government economy. Duh!
One of the reasons central government should fund local government is that central government make up the laws that local government have to enact, implement, monitor and enforce…….e.g. Building Act, RMA, Health and Safety Act, Weathertight homes resolution services Act, Local Government Act etc etc.
It’s fine for Councils to pay for bylaws and services that communities want (democratic choice), but why is the burden of cost placed exclusively on rate payers (particularly for expensive infrastructure) when that change comes from central government?
NZ needs regional development, and significant funding to support regional development.
Auckland Council had little choice but pay for the changes that were required by the Local Government Auckland Council and Local Government Auckland Transition Acts that were foisted on them by Mr Hyde…….and look at what that is going to cost Aucklanders……possibly their harbour, given the dysfunctionality of the governance that were set up between the Council and their subsidiary entities (Ports of Auckland, Auckland Transport).
And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking 🙂
This is typical NZ, perhaps thoughout the world,where few if any consider the holistic cost as they work out the costs and benefits to their group and their group only … urrrgh!
Maybe from the real estate agents and developers they are assisting in Auckland?
Of course it doesn’t. Private banks create 97% of it ex nihilo.
Actually, the problem is that we’ve 30+ years of the RWNJs saying that we don’t need to pay for anything and the majority of people seem to have believed that lie. Now our infrastructure is collapsing, our government services are sub par and taxes are having to go up to pay for fixing all the damage that 30 years of neo-liberalism have done and the RWNJs are complaining about it.
“And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking”
From the NZ central governments point of view, it does. All they need to do is write into the budget the amount they are providing to local government and the money is then issued into the economy as it is spent.
From the point of view of an economist its never a question of funding, but a question of how much this might put pressure on inflation. However there is no threat of an impact on inflation from this until the economy is operating at full capacity (which you will probably observe it isn’t presently). Until such a time the government can simply spend more, creating more real wealth (both goods and services) for NZers to enjoy and income for businesses and their employees at the same time, effectively for free.
The opportunity cost of not doing this can never be recovered, its clearly a pretty bone headed move by the government to simply leave the additional real wealth available to the NZ economy (at no cost) on the table!
[And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking :)]
They should pluck it out of thin air, same as the banks do.
A closer look at big donations to the National Party where Winston Peters sums things up perfectly ” for every thousand dollar donated one hundred thousand is returned.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/rich-listers-dig-deep-for-national-2015050707#axzz3ZO8tYPMN
National doesn’t have donors. It has business partners.
Yes and countering the bosses are the workers who donated 900 k to Labour.
This article in the NZH shows how we’re being manipulated by the self-interested when it comes to housing.
“Andrew King: Why I think there’s no housing bubble in Auckland”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11444119
As an investor the author knows full well that the value of an asset is directly proportionate to its yield and that Auckland houses are in a bubble phase.
Rental properties in areas of NZ with low or no housing inflation, such as the provinces, are returning investors 6-7% from rents. Based on existing interest rates that’s currently about the right return if you’re an investor, you must get at least that much else you won’t invest. You’d be better off putting your cash in the bank if you got any less.
Auckland properties are lucky to return 4-5% from rents which is well below the return any investor would require. You can’t borrow at 6% and make a buck when rents are only returning 4%. It’s not possible…. unless there’s capital gain or rent increases. That’s a bubble, the income from the asset is not supporting the price.
Economists & politicians keep bleating about house prices when the real issue isn’t houses. It’s rents. Without rental income an investment property has no value whatsoever. The higher the rent… the higher the value of the property. If rents don’t go up house prices will always fall back to when the bubble started.
What King has neglected to tell people there is that the longer term investors buy with the intention of increasing rents. An investment bubble can only be deflated if the income from the investment rises to match the bubble price. A higher house price can only be sustained if the underlying rent increases to support it.
My point in this spiel is that low income Aucklanders can look forward to more grinding poverty with their landlords constantly holding out their hands for more & more filthy lucre. The ‘proper’ rent on a $500k property is over $600 per week and investors who own those $500k properties plan on getting their $600.
at that rate pretty much anyone in Auckland is going to be a low income Aucklander, but i guess that is then mission accomplished and we are one step closer to third country status.
bridges we need to build shacks underneath…
“…unless there’s capital gain…”
and there is. Lord knows I don’t want to be seen as standing up for landlords, but the picture you offer is not quite so watertight. The idea of “proper rent” for a 500K property being $600pw just doesn’t match reality. Rents, depending on area, are closer to half the rate you say they are. Rents here are high, as a percentage of average gross income, no doubt. Neither does the image of landlords being highly intelligent scammers and sharks reconcile with close inspection. Those types exist, but if they were the only type around, there’d be a lot of people, hundreds of thousands, living on the street. The flattering idea of being an “investor” just because someone owns a rental property, isn’t true. Luckily, landlords have as many colours of nutty as anyone else, so a tolerable deal can still be found.
Cheer up old bean, having to move house because the landlord has an aspirational brain-fart is infuriating, highly stressfull and expensive, and potentially financially crippling, but shit happens, so don’t focus on the shit because it only makes things worse.
Your epistle, Charles, says a lot about you and little about the subject in question.
It wouldn’t take a stretch of the imagination to conclude you’re an investor and a little bit sensitive about it too huh.
Miliband still on target to become British PM according to most pundits. General consensus (give or take a little variation) seems to be:
– Tories will probably win the popular vote by 1-3 percentage points
– Tories probably around 10 seats ahead of Labour (but a lot of uncertainty due to very close contest in some of the key marginals according to the Ashcroft Polls)
– None of which, according to the majority view, will be enough to prevent an Anti-Tory majority (see May2015 website and my comment here…http://thestandard.org.nz/miliband-kos-johnson/#comment-1006991)
The only concern:
– Traditional inaccuracy of UK pre-Election polls. Most notoriously, of course, in 1992 when polls grossly overstated Labour support and under-estimated the Tory vote. Same in a few other Elections – I’ve recently watched a fascinating 6 hours of the 1970 UK Election coverage (complete with some quite extraordinary comb-overs – particularly from the middle-aged political scientists – we’re talking on a Donald Trump scale of grandeur) and most of the polls then wrongly indicated a return of Harold Wilson’s Government.
Anyone who has been following the New Statesman’s excellent May2015 site will know that, over recent weeks, there has been a serious divide between the on-line and phone polls – the former consistently suggesting a neck-and-neck race, the latter a fairly clear Tory lead. Nerve-wracking – although I see the most recent phone-based polls have mostly re-aligned with the on-line ones, all except the Com Res/Daily Mail now calling a close race.
Thanks for this fish. I wonder what happened in 1970 that led to the first poll?
Letter to my local Gisborne Herald – they may not publish – being rather chummy with the Tolley. Or at least will hack out the stomach staples to protect her modesty and her image of self responsibility and self-control.
This paper’s editor considers my letters to be ‘attacks’. So be it.
Here’s an ‘attack’.
The Minister of Social Development is now banning beneficiaries – whose care she is responsible for – from getting loans for emergency dental treatment. Loans.
This is vicious.
Any dentist or technician or maxillofacial surgeon will tell you those with serious gum disease are 40% more likely to have a chronic condition on top.
Diabetes, heart disease/stroke risk – infections in the gums release inflammatory substances which in turn increase brain inflammation that can cause neuronal (brain cell) death.
Bacteria from periodontal disease can travel through the bloodstream to the lungs where it can aggravate respiratory systems.
Men with gum disease – 49% more likely to develop kidney cancer, 54% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, and 30% more likely to develop blood cancers.
Women with gum disease took an average of seven months to conceive, compared to five months among their peers without gum disease.
My surgeon told me I could of died before I spent $4 000 to get the help I needed. I require 3x a year maintenance work. I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t need to go to a loan shark.
So Tolley has enough clues about the dangers of obesity to spend up to $30 000 to have her stomach stapled (that took some guts) so I assume she is aware of the dangers of poor dental health. Enough to have top-notch dental care for her winning smile – but the section of society that can only dream of her wealth and privilege – and the rude good health it affords her – will now be in pain. They will be in chronic pain and distress and under Anne Tolleys care and on her watch.
This latest attack – by this government – on the most vulnerable of our community is just vicious.
Good letter Joe, thanks.
Here’s how to fix it:
1) Apply for the dollar amount you need regardless of cost (yes, I know…stress, $, and possible humiliation from the dentist who hates beneficiaries). The legislation doesn’t limit it to $300, that is done through policy and they can and do go higher.
2) Review the decision, and continue the appeal to the SSAA
An increase in reviews may be more costly than providing the loan in the first place. Good luck.
Good on ya, let us know if it publishes…
PS
I didn;t know Tolley had a staple op?
shes in this story
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3260435/Stomach-stapled-MPs-put-weight-behind-Turia
from her wiki
Personal[edit]
It emerged in 2010 that Tolley had undergone gastric bypass (stomach stapling) surgery in order to lose weight.[14] Tolley joins other current and former New Zealand politicians including Rahui Katene, David Lange, Chester Borrows, Donna Awatere-Huata and Tariana Turia to have had gastric bypass surgery at some point in the past.
Hers one I sent in which the editor took-out the stomach staples reference – completely ruining the gag I set up – (to protect Anne Tolleys modesty?)
Dear Sir,
Fresh from the regular ordeal of dry-retching at the horror of witnessing – day after day – people parading massive marlins that they’ve tortured and dragged around with their launches and then murdered, gutted and strung up on the wharf to be photographed for the pages of the Gisborne Herald; I am now implored by John Key, local M.P Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald editorial to ‘Get some Guts and get on the right side”, “roll up our sleeves and get stuck in” because “Something has to be done..”.
So Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald Editor got some guts. To drag N.Z onto John Keys sick selfie adventure into Iraq takes guts of steel. über-guts. Tolleys got the stomach staples so she’s got $30 000 armoured guts. The Herald Editor has barrels of ink guts. The printed word handing up to the mighty – the sword.
So, potentially, Gisborne-born guts will be spilt for John Keys photo-ops in the ‘middle east’ to come but more importantly – what desert-chic number has Anne Tolley picked for her inspection tour in Iraq? Her designers will have such fun with the flak-jackets and bullet proof helmets!
“Get Some Guts”? If the Islamic Caliphate want to really stick it to N.Z for the National and Act Party’s desire to have our “club” membership validated then any Kiwis they capture for their propaganda murders may well be – gutted.
Joe .. a retraction was published for this change in loans announcement .. it was a mikstake. Will try to find the correction link from a day or so ago … brb … but great letter !!
From Jan Logie on Tuesday: curious and curiouser ….
“So it turns out yesterday’s story about WINZ cuts to dental care loans was wrong, and through no fault of Radio New Zealand who ran it.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has today corrected the Official Information Act release the story was based on. The corrected numbers now show fairly steady dispersal of loans and grants for emergency dental care since 2010.
While this is good news, the situation is still very confusing. I continue to hear stories of people being told they can only get money for extractions, not things like root canals or crowns. I have also heard people being told not to bother applying.
It’s strange that this doesn’t seem to show up in the statistics. It’s hard to have confidence in the statistics when the Ministry can apparently get them so wrong themselves.
Beyond this, I must say I think it is just bizarre that alarms bells did not go off in MSD when they found there had apparently been a 99% decline in advance payments for dental care.
It is even more bizarre that MSD initially sought to explain that drop, in an email copied to me, by saying there had been a policy change in 2012 that precluded the payment of advances for emergency dental care.
There wasn’t a policy change, so that bit was made up. A policy change of that magnitude would actually have been unlawful, as it would have unreasonably restrained MSD case managers from exercising their statutory discretion to grant advance payments of benefit, but no one involved with this at MSD seemed to realise that.
Furthermore, MSD has now effectively told the entire country via yesterday’s Radio New Zealand story that beneficiaries can’t get loans for dental care, and have not corrected that publicly.
The National Government’s welfare reforms have been overwhelming for staff and beneficiaries alike, and the cuts to back room MSD staff significant, but quality of information informs decision making. Mistakes like this matter.”
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2015/05/06/oia-chaos-in-the-ministry-of-social-development
Hey thanks. Whenever was I going to hear this. On R.N.Z?
maybe it serves a better AND LIKELY more profitable purpose not to correct it ?? bstds.
but it’s been there on our right hand links since tuesday which is where I first read it …
maybe ring RNZ and ask why no correction .. maybe they don’t know either?
we are ruled by Kaos agents 😥
Don’t forget that TRNZ are getting a comment option going. Look for comment under the particular items that have been chosen. They are tryng a range.
Eventually I get to where they have RNZtalk and that takes you past the stats to the cent
are you thc-deficient..?
i know i am..
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/am-thc-deficient
Stephen Franks voices concern over the two-tier justice system. I find myself in the strange position of agreeing with someone from the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
He also appears to gently hint at recent ‘prominent NZer’ cases.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/273027/ex-mp-claims-two-tier-justice-system
3 tier, IMHO, politicians with name suppression, rugby players, the rest of us.
The name suppression comments have been removed from the article.
He prefers a 1 tier system where every decision he agrees with is the one that matters.
Yes, I really loathe the SST and their inconsistent advocacy.
What inconsistency arkie?
I thought you got the memo – the SST is there for scared white people to vent their spleen about brown people doing crime. Because it’s so scary being white.
+111
😈
Lucretia Seales who is terminally ill with a brain tumour, is fighting in the courts to have the right to decide when she dies. The courts have allowed two ‘interested’ parties to join the case. One is the Human Right Commision and the other a group by the name of Care Alliance.
I was curious who they were and a little googling shows that the alliance which seems to be a grouping of organisations all opposed to euthanasia, including some groups that appear to have a vested interest in keeping people alive.
The group appears to traces back to another organisation called The Nathaniel Centre which turns about to be an offshoot of The Roman Catholic Church and is listed as their Bioethics Centre.
The Care Alliance was co-founded by one Maggie Barry MP. No prizes for guessing her religion. Its web site has no real details of who they are but refer contact details to one Matthew Jansen, one would could only wonder if this is the same Matthew Jansen on the Board of Saint Catherines College Wellington Ltd?
http://www.csbl.co.nz/about/shareholders-and-directors
“The Alliance was established in 2012 in opposition to the poorly written, confusing and flawed End of Life Choice Bill proposed by a Labour List MP which has since been withdrawn following political pressure.”
http://www.nathaniel.org.nz/component/content/article/19-homepage-slider-articles/330-broad-alliance-launches-to-oppose-legalising-euthanasia
Is this a case once again of right wing church groups forming defacto front groups to push their narrow view of society.
http://www.carealliance.org.nz/
I ams ure they will be very upfront about their real driving principles in Court 😉
a heads-up on ancestry.com
whoar..!
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/ancestrycom-caught-sharing-customer-dna-data-police
“The six cops who killed Freddie Gray in Baltimore have been charged.
“Freddie Gray isn’t the first person that cops put in the back of a van, expressly to injure him. No seat belt, hands cuffed behind his back, feet shackled, he was left to bounce off the van’s walls. Others have been gravely injured, even paralyzed. And Freddie Gray is not the first man to die in Baltimore like this.
“Protests lead to first cops in Baltimore ever being charged for such killing
“And yet, this is the first time any Baltimore cop has been charged for the crime.
“Isn’t it obvious? If young people hadn’t gone out into the streets on Monday night, the cops would not have been charged. . .
report from Baltimore: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/the-anger-in-baltimore/
It has happened before that though police charged, which takes the pressure off, but the outcome was not guilty. This case will be pretty important.
Special treatment for special people.
/
As was true in a spate of recent death-in-custody cases, the Baltimore police department’s seeming reluctance (or inability) to mount a prompt, thorough investigation of its own officers has generated escalating protests, fueled by existing distrust of the police and suggestions of a cover-up.
But in this case it wasn’t just the thin blue line of solidarity shielding the cops involved from having to testify against themselves or each other.
The problem, said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, is that city officials were unable to “fully engage” with the officers “because of our Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.”
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/27/blue-shield
On paper, this country still has one of the most reactionary abortion laws in the world. There are enough liberal doctors that the reality is rather different, so the actual law isn’t especially effective or closely enforced. However it’s still there and the criminalisation of abortion still takes a psychological toll on women who choose to terminate pregnancies.
Once upon a time there was an active campaign for women’s right to choose; isn’t there still a need for one?
Abortion: remaking the case for the right to choose: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/ann-furedi-on-pro-choice/
Getting abortion out the Crimes Act: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/getting-abortion-out-of-the-crimes-act/
Australian reality show taking the piss out of poor people, surprisingly being shown on the SBS channel (I thought they had a bit more class than that). How long till we get the NZ version, giving the middle-classes a good chuckle and reinforcing what they always thought about the poor.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/68341317/struggle-street-reality-tv-show-has-sydney-up-in-arms
does anyone know how to get around the regional restrictions on aust. tv..?
i wanna watch ‘struggle street’..
..but computer/sbs says ‘no’…
hola unblocker is the answer, Phil. It’s an add on/extension that sets up a VPN. Also good for UK telly (ie watching the election results tomorrow etc.).
chrs..
kewl 😀
unblock-us.com this one is good to unblock Netflix, you can even change the region worldwide to view were you wish, Netflix US seems the best too me though, massive content.
State broadcasting at its best…
Nate Silver inspired result prediction, updated for 6 May.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/uk-general-election-predictions/
Also see more related info here:
http://thestandard.org.nz/uk-election-2/#comment-1011060
The SDHB public meeting was a bit of fiasco, the Chairman Butterfield was clearly opposed to the idea of public input. There were no microphones, or PA (at a monthly public meeting), which made much of the talk inaudible to those at the back. So after half an hour when it had devolved into the crowd talking over the board to try get their points across he called a recess so the room would clear out. There was another half hour of “public” meeting after that; mainly the board going through the agenda as fast as possible while avoiding eye contact with those members of the public who had stuck around. Then we were turfed out while the board went to the cafe in preparation for the public-excluded session in which they’d record the decisions they had already made.
Two elected Board Member were good though:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341408/heat-food-outsourcing-meeting
Yesterday, I thought that the Union’s offer of matching the Compass Group’s terms (whilst humiliating) would be enough to save the kitchens:
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052015/#comment-1010671
Now I’m very pessimistic.
This one exchange from the second half was worth jotting down (may not be an exact transcription, but as close as I could get):
Board Member Mary Gamble: “…are we ever going to open the books and see that we are within budget?”
CEO Carole Heatley: “We have a lot of tough decisions, and not all will be popular; as we have seen this morning”
…
Chairman Butterfield: “the 5% cuts are only the start.”
All this heartache to save a measly $5million over 7 years and serve pre-cooked frozen- to-be-microwaved food to very sick people ?? ( it’s about $13,500 pw which is likely less than redundancies and Winz benefits will cost them.) And of course, any profit will be leaving the country courtesy of Compass — and where in any universe can you write profit and hospital food in the same sentence and not be ridiculed ? Yep. Auckland and Dunedin.
Where or where are we headed ?? Toxic food by a compromised toxic British
company.
Tony Ryall jumped ship .. or was he pushed for this debacle and the millions that disappeared under his medical revolution? To this day, never accounted for.
rawshark-y
That makes $3.5m over 7.5 years, your figure wasn’t nearly measly enough. Especially considering that HBL spent over $4m devloping the business plan! The money seems to be the justification, not the reason, for the likely adoption of this shortsighted scheme:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341376/dhb-member-speaks-out-over-outsourcing-plan
When it comes time for council elections next year, I will make a point to proclaim the names of those elected board members who vote for this outsourcing as loud as I possibly can.
However, from looking about today, it seemed that the; 8 elected Board Members, were outnumbered by the; 6 Executive Directors, plus; CEO, Chairman, & Deputy (plus Board Secretary, but she probably doesn’t have voting rights). I don’t think the Chairman is an elected position (in fact I think Butterfield’s already retired, but is filling in until someone else is appointed – only no one wants the job), I’m not sure about the deputy. So that seems to make 8 elected representatives to 9 appointed, which makes public accountability a farce.
it is a farce, isn’t it ? and I thought on the figures I quoted !! How are they falling for this? Is to just to save face on having spent $4 million on a business plan ?
( Isn’t that more than the equivalent of the first 7.5 years savings ???)
have you seen this report from Oz on the multiple serious failings of Compass … needs to be thrown around the DHB offices asap …
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/awuqld/pages/326/attachments/original/1415324859/Compass_group_and_medirest_track_record.pdf?1415324859
please let us have updates if you can bear to do it …
Update:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341408/heat-food-outsourcing-meeting
As soon as most of the public left during the 5min recess, Chairman Butterfield immediately stowed the boxes containing the petition under the table unread where no board member could be reminded of their presence. I remember hearing someone call out; “what is it too far to walk to the waste-paper bin?”.
Next step is legal action:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/340039/union-warns-sdhb-legal-action
BTW/ Thanks to rs-yh for the link, though it’s taking me a while to go through all the relevant footnotes. Page 17 of this ruling has some disturbing instances of Compass/ Medirest being incompetent about freezer storage and out of date food:
http://www.nzdrc.co.nz/site/commercialdisputes/files/Court%20Decisions/Compass%20Group%20UK%20and%20Ireland%20Ltd%20v%20Mid%20Essex%20Hospital%20Services%20NHS%20Trust%20%5B2012%5D%20EWHC%20781%20_QB_.pdf
What bites my balls is that the union reckon they can put together a plan that will generate much more revenue than the privatisation will save, but the board in its wisdom decided to consider compass without looking for any alternatives.
Thanks for reporting back on this.
http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/pages/boardmembers/
”
Joe Butterfield, MNZM, FCA, FinstD, CMILT
Chairman
Joe Butterfield is a chartered accountant who has spent his working life as a partner/director of the accounting firm Footes Ltd Chartered Accountants (and its predecessors) to which he is now a consultant. Joe, who is from Timaru, is in his second term as Chair of the Southern Board and has a strong interest in health and welfare matters. He is also Chair of Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee and the Appointments and Remuneration Advisory Committee. He was Chairman of South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) from 2000-2009, until he stood down after his term had expired. He was a member of Health South Canterbury (the predecessor to SCDHB) and served as its Chairman from 1996 until 2000. He has also served on the Ministry of Health National Capital Committee and District Health Boards New Zealand.
As well as roles in health and finance, Joe has extensive experience in the transport and agricultural sector and has held directorships in companies including Intercity Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries, Ritchie’s Transport Holdings, the Port of Timaru and the South Canterbury Regional Development Board. Joe is also a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. A lifetime yachtsman, Joe was a member of Yachting NZ’s governance board from 1986-95 and its president 92/95. He was its representative on the sport’s international body 1994-2008 and was an international umpire 1989/05 and is still an international judge.”
Mrs Mary Gamble, SRM, SCM, B.Sc, M.Sc
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Mrs Gamble is a retired midwife who worked for many years helping hundreds of Otago women to deliver their babies. She also has a strong background in health management and governance.
In 2005 Mary wound up her high profile midwifery practice and was recruited as a Research Manager at the University of Otago’s faculty of Health Sciences. After two years she was appointed to the foundation team charged with the establishment of a new medical school at the University of Limerick, Ireland. By July 2011 the Medical School had graduated its first Medical Doctors and Mrs Gamble fulfilled the roles of Research Development Manager and then as the Clinical Liaison Manager ensuring that students were appropriately placed for their clinical training both in hospitals and in GP practices.
Prior to returning to Ireland, Mrs Gamble was twice elected to the Otago DHB in 2001 and 2007 and so has six years health governance experience prior to her recent election to the Southern District Health Board. She is also serving on the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John Chambers, FRCS (Ed), FACEM
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Dr John Chambers is a Dunedin-based Senior Emergency Medical Officer who has worked in Dunedin Hospital for over 20 years. John is an active member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and a member of New Zealand Faculty Board of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and a member of the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John is also is the Director of a small business Chambers Consultancy (2007) Ltd, and health services consultancy, and is employed 0.05 FTE as an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer of the Dunedin Medical School, University of Otago. He continues to work full time as an emergency specialist seeing and treating a wide variety of patients and has a particular interest in the use of ultrasound in emergency diagnosis and care.
i understand mid central health are opting in on this frozen cuisine scheme as well.
It arrives frozen? Has to be thawed and cooked/warmed by recipient, is that right?
microwaved from frozen …
Bet you it’s the same food which is going into prisons/about to go into prisons.
also by Compass ?
I don’t know the answer but I do know that they do not need to enter a 15 year contract. Why not a two or three year contract to see if Compass deliver on what it has promised?
“15-year deal today…”
This is so Labour can’t do fuck all about fuck all when they are next in Govt.
so, for those unable to tear off the covers, are bed-ridden or otherwise disabled in such a way as to not be able to prepare the meal from frozen?
ive just heard the chair of the board say they are pleased because they have secured a nutrituoius meal!
Seems they’re using a system called Steamplicity where meals are prepared and packaged using cooked, partially cooked, and raw components, chilled, with a shelf life of around four days, and reheated cooking the raw and finishing the partially cooked components.
http://compass-group.co.nz/our-brands/medirest/
One of the most radical developments in hospital catering in recent years is the
introduction of this new technology which relies on a sealed pack incorporating a valve.
The food, both raw and partially cooked, is plated in a centralised production unit,
chilled (<5°C) and distributed to satellite kitchens where it remains chilled with an
expiry date currently of four days.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aGPyXIf36XcJ:core.ac.uk/download/pdf/75009.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz
So the volunteers will do the tear-off, partial cook/reheat for those unable to?
It’s kind of funny reading their website about their catering expertise and then
by the way we also do security…
Among other things – bribery, listeria and horse meat.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/oct/16/money.internationalnews
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/possible-listeria-exposure-in-ontario-jails-1.702077
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21476736
thx Joe .. I knew there was more ..
Giant hotel chain sends small town sent C&D letter for continuing to use the name “Copthorne” for at least 5000 years:
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/05/06/trademark-terrorism-hotel-chain-sends-cease-and-desist-letter-to-1000-year-old-village-for-using-its-own-name/
just imagine what will happen under the TPPA then !
Pity the village of Copthorne cannot sue the hotel company for stealing the village name which they have owned for a thousand years. Justice!
Nasty twist on “Rule for a thousand years……….”
I tell you…….it’s a sign.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/205289/two-senate-dems-challenge-obama-release-tpp-text
Senate Democrats write open letter demanding that Obama release the TPP text.
Inside jobs (Economist link so need to register to read)
Can anyone say Talent2? How about other contracts that have government funding and close relationships with MPs?
These aren’t the government doing things themselves but the government contracting out the work that the government should be doing directly. Such a system produces a massive opportunity for graft and corruption that the government doing things directly won’t as they’re actually publicly accountable.
In many of these countries the differentiation between the top levels of government and the top levels of corporations is simply arbitrary. Welcome to the age of corporate rule.
robertson just did the best i have seen him do up against english..
..english just came out of it looking like a total clown..
..and nanaia mahuta did well up against flavell..
..getting him squirming over whanau ora..
I want to personally thank Len Brown for allowing me to increase my rents irrespective of what the market rates currently are.
In other words, you were going to raise rents anyway but you can now shift the blame onto someone else.
EXACTLY.
This article on NRT has a new Registrar of New Zealand Business Numbers being created and the creation excluding it from the OIA as is expected under this guideline:
But that is a guideline and not a legal requirement. Obviously it needs to be changed to an actual law so that government departments are automatically included under the OIA. Exclusions would have to be specifically written into the legal framework with reasons for the exclusion.
Such needs to happen so that we’re not left wondering if an exclusion is incompetence or malicious intent by the people writing up the legislation.
Despite 3 major banks announcing increased profits, they will pass on their tax evasion costs to… their customers…
A GREAT Ad for co-op banks
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/68346946/multinationals-tried-to-defeat-tax-rules
Trevette back to her ‘soothing-balm’ styles re Key in The Herald this morning. Warning against peurile motive and spite. Projection-by-proxy of the past and present peurile motives underlying this flag stunt methinks:
” ………. trying to influence people’s votes out of puerile political spite is a different matter. It may be true that Key is keen on a legacy, but it should be irrelevant. The referendums are on the flag, not on the political parties or personalities.
Regulation Trevette – “Time to leave John Key alone now I think……”
As for “legacy” there is alhairdy a legacy.
History channel on Sky has been screening Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of ’45’ this week. Highly recommended and with many parallels with the political changes in that period in our own country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_%2745
Abbott acts on foreign RE buyers..Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced tough new laws for foreign property investors in an effort to ‘level the playing field’ for Australian buyers.
The changes will see foreign buyers charged a $5000 fee to enter the Australian market, as well as increased fines and possible jail terms for investors who breach foreign ownership laws – and the agents who help them do so.
The stricter laws follow an investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board into housing affordability in Australia, which partly blamed foreign buyers for inflated domestic prices.
‘The new regime will maximise opportunities for Australians, give Australian home owners confidence and a level playing field,’ Mr Abbott told reporters at a press conference in Sydney on Saturday.
‘It’s about giving locals a fair go.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3064941/Australia-crack-foreign-investors-buying-property-revealed-Chinese-owner-buyer-forced-sell-one-Australias-expensive-mansions.html#ixzz3ZQVnid9w
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Investor/State dispute settled Key style:
I’m sure that with a law in place to ensure that this type of bribery is legal it’ll just get worse.
Actually, it’s going to help put NZ sheep farms out of the export business.
Look at Cameron……..he’s a Key with lashings of Hoorah Henry.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/06/lord-odonnell-leader-of-largest-party-does-not-automatically-become-pmhttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/06/lord-odonnell-leader-of-largest-party-does-not-automatically-become-pm
Then Boris is a weird amalgam of JoKeyHen, Farrar, Hide, and Gerry Brownlee after the Swiss Clinic.
Campbell Live tonight…….ChCh volunteer whose Good Samaritanism has come back on his very soul. With no ACC back-up because the damage ain’t physical. Wasn’t there the noted example of the built young Maori or Polynesian guy who leapt in lustily heaving heavy lumps of concrete off trapped people ? Who was honoured with an award ?
All the proof you need that the editorial of Campbell Live is indispensable !
Mediaworks should be proud that it’s happening under their banner !
For fuck’s sake…….what has happened to New Zealand ?
Campbell Live next clip……the rental-rape of Filipino ChCh reconstruction workers ???