Until we see the text of the TPPA, we won’t know the extent of its impact on our health, environment and sovereignty.
However, we do know we didn’t get any magic beans for our cow.
Thats true Paul. And without knowing any of the details of the deal, in full, we can’t organise protest and action around the very worst aspects of the deal.
Mind you, will a political shitstorm in the States while they are full swing into election campaigning, actually provide the people of the 12 nations with a glimmer of hope that the deal won’t be ratified? (See TPP Roundup post).
The lives of NZer’s and the protections of our environment are beyond our control and are now in the hands of the Americans. They decide, not us. We are now at their mercy.
“Thats true Paul. And without knowing any of the details of the deal, in full, we can’t organise protest and action around the very worst aspects of the deal.”
Without knowing the details – how will you know there is anything to protest about?
Oh thats right. The TPP is a totally benign deal that will in no way affect the citizens of the countries involved in any detrimental way at all.
Thats why we don’t have groups like Doctors For Healthy Trade, It’s Our Future and Action Stations and respected academics like Jane Kelsey spending the last few years…………..oh yeah, there might be a problem with the TPP. And those thousands that tuned out in the streets to protest. Just “rent a crowd” eh?
Well one thing we know already James is that under the TPP NZ can’t ban the sale of NZ property to investors from any of the countries signed to the TPP. So, the action that the OIO took in blocking the sale of the Lochivar Station to overseas buyers wouldn’t be allowed to happen once the TPP is ratified.
A massive free for all NZ land grab by wealthy overseas investors. You OK with that? that whole “tenant in our own land” buzz?
Hi Rosie, could you please give me specific examples of how my life and the protection of my environment is no longer to be within my control? How am I personally now to be at the mercy of the Americans?
Groan. I can’t give you specific examples of how your life will be affected because as yet, we don’t have access to the full text of the deal. Hence my initial comment to Paul re planning protest and action. No plans without knowledge of the text.
Our future as NZer’s is at the mercy of the Americans as they are the ones that trigger the TPP being signed off once they ratify it. It’s out of our hands.
In the meantime maybe don’t plan to buy a house in Auckland or get cancer in the next few years.
Yes, I read it that way too. I was winding music4menz up – the comment made was kind of a smart ar*e one. He/she is asking for definites when there aren’t any, especially without knowing what part of the social hierarchy they fit into, and how vulnerable or not they may be the effects of the TPP, further down the track, should it be ratified.
Also, everyone I know who is into music is a lot cooler than that.
Farrell: “this ruling will lead to new pressures to limit the kinds of indiscriminate surveillance against citizens that many countries — not just the United States — have engaged in over the last 15 years. “
Guyon Espiner this morning has gone up in my estimation. Wouldn’t let Joyce away with turning a TPP interview into an anti labour (‘it’s their fault) rant or trying ‘Look!-The point is…blah blah….’diversions. (Only just stopped short of calling him a liar.)
Or how novopay is going….relax he’ll be back to giving him a spongebath and shaitsu in a few months as Gluon’s just a more subtle govt cheerleader than the likes of Hoskins/Henry etc
@Rodel Agreed. Espiner can be very good with his questioning despite his right-leaning views.
The best part was when he got Joyce to admit that the policy that is in force in Australia, where only permanent residents can buy a house and where overseas people investing in housing must build a house, is allowable under TPPA. So Labour can stick to this policy.
My understanding is a new government can renegotiate the whole thing. Labour has said it will not be bound by some parts of the agreement, if it ever comes into force.
@Pat Not quite that simple. Grant Robertson has explained Labour’s position here (from the Herald today):
“The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes a non-discrimination provision which would prevent the New Zealand Government banning foreign nations from buying property in New Zealand.
This provision went against of Labour’s bottom lines for supporting the deal.
Mr Robertson said: “We will take a good look at the agreement and we are reserving the right to review and renegotiate.
“There is always the scope to review them, there are just consequences if we make a law, there are consequences if we go against the agreement.
“We will have to look into what all of those are and balance that up.”
The TPP also includes provisions which allow investors to seek compensation from the Government if it breaches its investment obligations.
This meant if a Government banned foreign investment in housing it could face a legal challenge from overseas investors or companies.”
Any legal challenge to a law made by Parliament would take years.
It’s a trade agreement rather than a treaty. Not sure if they have the same status. But if other signatories have get-outs, as Australia appears to have on housing, then would NZ not be able to argue that should apply here too?
Who exactly would sue NZ in the situation where it changed legislation on housing?
Australia have EXISTING restrictions….it is the change that opens the possibility of the ISDS provisions being enacted.
Am not a lawyer but i imagine a case could be made by say a large real estate company ( or even an investment fund) that has a substantial proportion of its commissions (or portfolio) paid by overseas investors in say the Auckland market if offshore investment in the NZ property market was banned……whether this would be successful or not is irrelevant as it would cost the Gov to defend and even before the policy was made the possibility would have to be considered…am sure sharper minds than mine could come up with a myriad of potential scenarios.
Attention all aficionados of mondo bizarro television:
Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte is on Paul Henry this morning!
TV3, Wednesday 7 October 2015
At 7:55 this morning, after a ridiculous interview with “Boobs on Bikes” organiser Steve Crow, Paul Henry made an ominous announcement: “Coming up after the news, the daily panel, today featuring Mary Lambie and Jamie Whyte.”
Mary Lambie is Jim Mora’s wife, and can be relied on for saying something anodyne and unmemorable. So she is about as dependable a guest as it is possible to get.
Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte, however, is another can of worms entirely. He is the disgraced former ACT leader who managed in his brief few months in that rôle to come across as the worst ACT leader of them all, displaying an embarrassing level of ignorance about nearly everything and, memorably, positioning ACT as the pro-incest party.
So it’s high quality commentary as usual on Paul Henry’s show!
How does Mary Lambie get a spot on a political panel?
Because she is Mora’s wife?
The fact she is seen as a welcome guest on Henry’s show demonstrates the political bias within the Mora household.
No wonder he gets away with hat awful show the Panel. The Tories must love him.
And hasn’t he ruined Checkpoint?
I agree but hopefully he will be almost gone soon. Once the new programme format starts Mora will be reduced to 1 hour 3-4 pm. Which sort of suits me I do not like the current host/format of 1-4 so switch to BBC. I am in a little quandy with Checkpoint as by taking Campbell on board we lose Mary who IMHO is one of the best talents RNZ have. I don’t see Campbell ever being a strong interviewer and as much as I like him for the Human Interest story we need strong personalities when interviewing people that need to be held to account. Checkpoint is not necessarily the best use of his talent. Which is probably why he got the job.
This past fortnight makes me realise just how good it is to have Kim available she can actually think on her feet and if the subject tries to fluff around she zeros in and kills them.
No wonder he gets away with that awful show the Panel. The Tories must love him.
And hasn’t he ruined Checkpoint?
No, there’s a difference. David Cundliffe was without any doubt, for whatever reason, a failure. By contrast, Whyte’s catastrophic command of ACT, that doomed ferry of the damned, was a disgrace. Someone who progresses instantly from anonymity to being the butt of public ridicule, without achieving even a modicum of respect in between, has been disgraced.
Right from his disastrously inept first public appearance last year, Whyte was obviously the least eloquent and the least informed of all the political leaders on display. He then, almost incredibly, compounded his dire public image by stating his tolerance for incest.
Only the sort of bewildered souls who voted for ACT would countenance “philosophical exploration” about incest.*
Whyte’s performance on Paul Henry this morning confirmed that impression of intellectual mediocrity. He even, foolishly, quoted Margaret Thatcher’s ideological quip about any man of thirty who travels on public transport being a failure, then undermined himself by admitting he travelled by train in London.
* The question must be asked: how far have the people who propound and/or defend such “philosophical explorations” of incest taken these “philosophical explorations”?
Well, I have to admit that I haven’t ever seriously contemplated taking my sister or my mother as a wife. That sort of philosophical exploration is best left to the broader, subtler, more refined type of intellect that is instinctually drawn to the party of Hide, Garrett, Whyte and Seymour.
For God’s sake why do you waste your time. Stop watching/listening to anything on MediaWorks. Choose something with a modicum of intelligence to follow.
I stopped the day Campbell left. And when RNZ start doing much the same on some of their programmes I limit my time there. Thanks goodness for the BBC World Service.
At 7:55 this morning, after a ridiculous interview with “Boobs on Bikes” organiser Steve Crow, Paul Henry made an ominous announcement: “Coming up after the news, the daily panel, today featuring Mary Lambie and Jamie Whyte.”
Sorry, Ron, but the BBC is even worse, more ideologically biased and politically controlled, than TV3 and Radio New Zealand.
You perhaps are thinking of the good BBC, which brought us such gems as Dad’s Army. Since Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair took an axe to it when it dared to tell the truth, briefly, in 2004, it has more than ever become the British state broadcaster—about as trustworthy and independent as Pravda, XinWa or Fox News.
Nope I was thinking of the BBC World Service that is broadcast in Auckland.
I am not worrying about the political side of things but the articles on World Service are very good. Way ahead of anything we get on RNZ.
Morrissey. I worry about you watching Henry. Its pollutant stuff.
Hope you’re taking medication or preventative therapy.
I cant grab the remote fast enough when he appears.
Actually yes I can with practice, but I did hear his manic
child-cackle for a millisecond last night… couldn’t sleep for hours.
so now jonkey nact has signed the corporate takeover of New Zealand via TPPA… (unless good Americans with a social conscience stop TPPA in its tracks)
….i guess we need an new corporate flag to match our new corporate controlled country …Red Peak anyone? ( afterall this is jonkey’s and James Shaw’s favourite choice)
“the Red Peak flag was created by a Xero product design director (Dustin), has had its online campaign coordinated by another Xero associate (Simpson), and was included in the top 40 while the Xero CEO (Drury) was one of the dozen on the selection panel; perhaps we should ask how has the Greens relationship with that company changed recently?
Two years ago:
Norman issued a media release yesterday questioning whether Palantir, a firm co-founded by wealthy US technology investor and Xero shareholder Peter Thiel, had been hired by the Government to spy on New Zealanders…”
LOL’s the ultimate slap down of NZ citizens, to have an electronic security and surveillance company logo as it’s own branded flag.
I never got excited about the red peak design. I could never see it as something real and meaningful to consider as long as Key was in control of the flag “process”. Maybe if the flag process had been led by the people instead, it might have been different.
I also couldn’t take it seriously when I spend days staring out the window to a sea of new buildings that make up the relentless suburban sprawl of North Wellington, and all I see is the red peak design in the Tekton logo on the building wrap:
I know it’s not the same but it blurs together if you let your mind enter a numb zone, a zone that lets you slip away from the pain of what has become of our country in recent years.
+100 Rosie…and not another vacuous , ubiquitous Red Peak!..maybe you could take up stained glass window making( books in the library, also do- it- yourself kits)…and design yourself a beautiful colourful window to block the bloody thing out …a maidenhair fern in front of a stained glass window which lets in the refracted light could be just the thing to block out the Tekton red peak logo
Gosh that description of the stain glass window with the maidenhair fern on the windowsill took me right back to the memory of sitting in someones villa restoration in the eighties. A pleasant enough memory 🙂
It’s an environmental wasteland up here on The Development. We have responded by planting native trees and shrubs on our borders. That should block out the sight of the sprawl in a few years and bring life to the area by attracting birds and insects. (+ purple flowers to attract the bees)
If Morning Report is going to discuss significant topics, such as a difference in pay between men and women, why can’t they interview people who are actually talking about the subject rather than an entirely different matter?
This morning the first person spoken to about lower pay for women than men came out with the following –
“A school librarian, who asked not to be identified, said gender bias was unmistakable at her work.
“I have been employed as a teacher in a school and I’m now employed as support staff at a school – I feel like I’m the same person with the same abilities and skills and qualifications and work ethic, but the way I’m treated is significantly different.””
What on earth does her complaint have to do with gender bias? It is solely about the fact that in a school the frontline, teaching, staff were treated differently than people in support roles. It doesn’t have anything at all to do with her sex. If it had we wouldn’t be this complaint at all as she wouldn’t be treated any differently as a female support worker than she was as a female teacher.
Don’t the people trying to produce Morning Report understand that interviews on a topic should have something to do with that topic?
+100…what a hero…enjoyed the tv series Wallander ….must watch out for his books
…”Mankell was known for his rights activisim, and joined the 2010 flotilla trying to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip…
“He said he wanted to create a situation where “Palestinians are not treated like second-class citizens in their own country, a sort of apartheid system.”
Mankell’s collection of dark novels about the Swedish police inspector Wallander brought the author international fame after it was made into a television series by the BBC starring Oscar-nominated actor and director Kenneth Branagh.”
I have just read the front page of the Herald ,Top story the romance of Key’s son Max.No wonder the Herald is giving the paper away free for a few weeks, Wh the hell would pay money for the trash. Once the largest daily paper in NZ it is now reduced to local gossip and Tory propaganda Oh fpo the days when the daily newspaper . was something to look forward too. However at least we have the Standard . Which is not to be missed on any day.
+1 – by the way – my theory is that Max Key (does he even work?) is being groomed to collect the 18 – 29 year old votes next election for Pops. The herald is the propaganda site for the grooming to the public.
( nice for some: thinking here about high suicide rate amongst Maori youth, NZ unemployed and top New Zealand graduates who cant afford to carry on and do university postgrad studies in their own country , even although invited to by their professors , because they are already overburdened with student debt….not to mention the fact that nactional has cut postgrad student loans)
Yeah, and to watch the ejaculate smeared all over TVOne News tonight re The Ponce Key’s top secret trip to Afghanistan…….well, you’d think he’d flown a Tiger Moth low over the mountains of Bamyan, touched down and single-handedly slain 40 baddies……
‘The War-Hero Ponce Key !’ what ? Jeezuz ! TV “Boys’ Own” One !
Just to have ago at Sirdom while we all live in Serfdom
Every time I see JK as initials for the PM i cant help but see Sir John Kirwan in there so to avoid any further unnecessary confusion I propose the PM become the patron of what ever depression group Sir JK is promoting as a way of atoning for his constant alcoholic depressed rhetoric because most of it isnt believed by the real world that the majority of the population live with
Anyone who can smile for the camera and speak the bs he does is really out of it and expect to be believed and if it is the truth well God help us all to 2017
Joins the search…..in a suit ? Hope for the sake of the boy and family and friends we’re not to be reminded of Pike River politics ? Hope it’s not a case of 0800CrosbyTextorDisasterLine. Couldn’t be……there are depths even they wouldn’t plumb, aren’t there ?
“Hope it’s not a case of 0800CrosbyTextorDisasterLine. Couldn’t be……there are depths even they wouldn’t plumb, aren’t there ?”.
Oh God. Quite possibly.
I don’t know a single person in Horowhenua who didn’t vote for Nathan Guy. Then again, I don’t know a single person in Horowhenua who has a good hard think about anything……………… Although I think there is a small smattering of TS readers up that way. No offence intended towards our comrades in the Horowhenua.
Just been talking to a mate of mine in Auckland……senior union office-holder……(constantly having to check him about his ever more frequent sorties into the Koru Club !)……his comment on The Ponce Key War Hero’s vile Americanism, “……a God-Damn awful place !” re Iraq. My mate’s response – “Who made it a God-Damn awful place FFS ? True that !
The Times UK
“The newspaper reported that the soft drinks giant, a major sponsor of the Olympics, the Fifa World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, has financial links to more than a dozen British scientists, including government health advisers and others who cast doubt on the commonly accepted link between sugary drinks and the obesity crisis.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article4581174.ece
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
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Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
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A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
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Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
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Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Until we see the text of the TPPA, we won’t know the extent of its impact on our health, environment and sovereignty.
However, we do know we didn’t get any magic beans for our cow.
Thats true Paul. And without knowing any of the details of the deal, in full, we can’t organise protest and action around the very worst aspects of the deal.
Mind you, will a political shitstorm in the States while they are full swing into election campaigning, actually provide the people of the 12 nations with a glimmer of hope that the deal won’t be ratified? (See TPP Roundup post).
The lives of NZer’s and the protections of our environment are beyond our control and are now in the hands of the Americans. They decide, not us. We are now at their mercy.
and relying on Congress is fraught as the corporates have the deepest pockets
Yep, they’ll be chucking millions of $$$ at targeted candidates to keep their agenda on track.
“Thats true Paul. And without knowing any of the details of the deal, in full, we can’t organise protest and action around the very worst aspects of the deal.”
Without knowing the details – how will you know there is anything to protest about?
Oh thats right. The TPP is a totally benign deal that will in no way affect the citizens of the countries involved in any detrimental way at all.
Thats why we don’t have groups like Doctors For Healthy Trade, It’s Our Future and Action Stations and respected academics like Jane Kelsey spending the last few years…………..oh yeah, there might be a problem with the TPP. And those thousands that tuned out in the streets to protest. Just “rent a crowd” eh?
Well one thing we know already James is that under the TPP NZ can’t ban the sale of NZ property to investors from any of the countries signed to the TPP. So, the action that the OIO took in blocking the sale of the Lochivar Station to overseas buyers wouldn’t be allowed to happen once the TPP is ratified.
A massive free for all NZ land grab by wealthy overseas investors. You OK with that? that whole “tenant in our own land” buzz?
Hi Rosie, could you please give me specific examples of how my life and the protection of my environment is no longer to be within my control? How am I personally now to be at the mercy of the Americans?
Groan. I can’t give you specific examples of how your life will be affected because as yet, we don’t have access to the full text of the deal. Hence my initial comment to Paul re planning protest and action. No plans without knowledge of the text.
Our future as NZer’s is at the mercy of the Americans as they are the ones that trigger the TPP being signed off once they ratify it. It’s out of our hands.
In the meantime maybe don’t plan to buy a house in Auckland or get cancer in the next few years.
No music4womenz?
All a matter of how you read it Rosie. Could be ‘music 4 me nz’.. 🙂
Yes, I read it that way too. I was winding music4menz up – the comment made was kind of a smart ar*e one. He/she is asking for definites when there aren’t any, especially without knowing what part of the social hierarchy they fit into, and how vulnerable or not they may be the effects of the TPP, further down the track, should it be ratified.
Also, everyone I know who is into music is a lot cooler than that.
The European Court of Justice finds that US surveillance breaches the fundamental rights of European citizens: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/10/06/heres-how-the-facebook-case-has-just-transformed-the-surveillance-debate/
Farrell: “this ruling will lead to new pressures to limit the kinds of indiscriminate surveillance against citizens that many countries — not just the United States — have engaged in over the last 15 years. “
+1
Guyon Espiner this morning has gone up in my estimation. Wouldn’t let Joyce away with turning a TPP interview into an anti labour (‘it’s their fault) rant or trying ‘Look!-The point is…blah blah….’diversions. (Only just stopped short of calling him a liar.)
Did he ask Joyce about the loss of our sovereignty?
Or how novopay is going….relax he’ll be back to giving him a spongebath and shaitsu in a few months as Gluon’s just a more subtle govt cheerleader than the likes of Hoskins/Henry etc
@Rodel Agreed. Espiner can be very good with his questioning despite his right-leaning views.
The best part was when he got Joyce to admit that the policy that is in force in Australia, where only permanent residents can buy a house and where overseas people investing in housing must build a house, is allowable under TPPA. So Labour can stick to this policy.
except they cannot as it is not an already in force policy
My understanding is a new government can renegotiate the whole thing. Labour has said it will not be bound by some parts of the agreement, if it ever comes into force.
afraid not…confirmed this morning by a number of international treaty experts….and admitted by joyce this morning
@Pat Not quite that simple. Grant Robertson has explained Labour’s position here (from the Herald today):
“The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes a non-discrimination provision which would prevent the New Zealand Government banning foreign nations from buying property in New Zealand.
This provision went against of Labour’s bottom lines for supporting the deal.
Mr Robertson said: “We will take a good look at the agreement and we are reserving the right to review and renegotiate.
“There is always the scope to review them, there are just consequences if we make a law, there are consequences if we go against the agreement.
“We will have to look into what all of those are and balance that up.”
The TPP also includes provisions which allow investors to seek compensation from the Government if it breaches its investment obligations.
This meant if a Government banned foreign investment in housing it could face a legal challenge from overseas investors or companies.”
Any legal challenge to a law made by Parliament would take years.
[lprent: Use a link please. ]
yes there are consequences…ISDS… http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/286302/labour-told-tpp-property-provision-here-to-stay
It’s a trade agreement rather than a treaty. Not sure if they have the same status. But if other signatories have get-outs, as Australia appears to have on housing, then would NZ not be able to argue that should apply here too?
Who exactly would sue NZ in the situation where it changed legislation on housing?
Australia have EXISTING restrictions….it is the change that opens the possibility of the ISDS provisions being enacted.
Am not a lawyer but i imagine a case could be made by say a large real estate company ( or even an investment fund) that has a substantial proportion of its commissions (or portfolio) paid by overseas investors in say the Auckland market if offshore investment in the NZ property market was banned……whether this would be successful or not is irrelevant as it would cost the Gov to defend and even before the policy was made the possibility would have to be considered…am sure sharper minds than mine could come up with a myriad of potential scenarios.
Attention all aficionados of mondo bizarro television:
Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte is on Paul Henry this morning!
TV3, Wednesday 7 October 2015
At 7:55 this morning, after a ridiculous interview with “Boobs on Bikes” organiser Steve Crow, Paul Henry made an ominous announcement: “Coming up after the news, the daily panel, today featuring Mary Lambie and Jamie Whyte.”
Mary Lambie is Jim Mora’s wife, and can be relied on for saying something anodyne and unmemorable. So she is about as dependable a guest as it is possible to get.
Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte, however, is another can of worms entirely. He is the disgraced former ACT leader who managed in his brief few months in that rôle to come across as the worst ACT leader of them all, displaying an embarrassing level of ignorance about nearly everything and, memorably, positioning ACT as the pro-incest party.
So it’s high quality commentary as usual on Paul Henry’s show!
How does Mary Lambie get a spot on a political panel?
Because she is Mora’s wife?
The fact she is seen as a welcome guest on Henry’s show demonstrates the political bias within the Mora household.
No wonder he gets away with hat awful show the Panel. The Tories must love him.
And hasn’t he ruined Checkpoint?
I agree but hopefully he will be almost gone soon. Once the new programme format starts Mora will be reduced to 1 hour 3-4 pm. Which sort of suits me I do not like the current host/format of 1-4 so switch to BBC. I am in a little quandy with Checkpoint as by taking Campbell on board we lose Mary who IMHO is one of the best talents RNZ have. I don’t see Campbell ever being a strong interviewer and as much as I like him for the Human Interest story we need strong personalities when interviewing people that need to be held to account. Checkpoint is not necessarily the best use of his talent. Which is probably why he got the job.
This past fortnight makes me realise just how good it is to have Kim available she can actually think on her feet and if the subject tries to fluff around she zeros in and kills them.
Its all very utterly utter, pip pip, what what,and please dont get upset Fuck MARYS LEAVING now we really are in the last days
Can’t tell if you’re being satirical or actually showing that level of rabid ignorance.
Whyte was never “disgraced” as far as i know. “Failed” perhaps.
And i would hope you can tell the difference between a philosophical exploration of an idea, and an actual policy platform.
Yes, you’re quite right. Poor hopeless ignorant delusional Jamie is just misunderstood.
No, there’s a difference. David Cundliffe was without any doubt, for whatever reason, a failure. By contrast, Whyte’s catastrophic command of ACT, that doomed ferry of the damned, was a disgrace. Someone who progresses instantly from anonymity to being the butt of public ridicule, without achieving even a modicum of respect in between, has been disgraced.
Right from his disastrously inept first public appearance last year, Whyte was obviously the least eloquent and the least informed of all the political leaders on display. He then, almost incredibly, compounded his dire public image by stating his tolerance for incest.
Only the sort of bewildered souls who voted for ACT would countenance “philosophical exploration” about incest.*
Whyte’s performance on Paul Henry this morning confirmed that impression of intellectual mediocrity. He even, foolishly, quoted Margaret Thatcher’s ideological quip about any man of thirty who travels on public transport being a failure, then undermined himself by admitting he travelled by train in London.
* The question must be asked: how far have the people who propound and/or defend such “philosophical explorations” of incest taken these “philosophical explorations”?
Shit politician perhaps. But he has a broader mind than yours.
Shit politician perhaps.
Shit politician, shit thinker, shit philosopher.
But he has a broader mind than yours.
Well, I have to admit that I haven’t ever seriously contemplated taking my sister or my mother as a wife. That sort of philosophical exploration is best left to the broader, subtler, more refined type of intellect that is instinctually drawn to the party of Hide, Garrett, Whyte and Seymour.
Small things amuse and misuse a small mind a right ridiculous and waste of time and space
For God’s sake why do you waste your time. Stop watching/listening to anything on MediaWorks. Choose something with a modicum of intelligence to follow.
I stopped the day Campbell left. And when RNZ start doing much the same on some of their programmes I limit my time there. Thanks goodness for the BBC World Service.
Sorry, Ron, but the BBC is even worse, more ideologically biased and politically controlled, than TV3 and Radio New Zealand.
You perhaps are thinking of the good BBC, which brought us such gems as Dad’s Army. Since Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair took an axe to it when it dared to tell the truth, briefly, in 2004, it has more than ever become the British state broadcaster—about as trustworthy and independent as Pravda, XinWa or Fox News.
Nope I was thinking of the BBC World Service that is broadcast in Auckland.
I am not worrying about the political side of things but the articles on World Service are very good. Way ahead of anything we get on RNZ.
Morrissey. I worry about you watching Henry. Its pollutant stuff.
Hope you’re taking medication or preventative therapy.
I cant grab the remote fast enough when he appears.
Actually yes I can with practice, but I did hear his manic
child-cackle for a millisecond last night… couldn’t sleep for hours.
so now jonkey nact has signed the corporate takeover of New Zealand via TPPA… (unless good Americans with a social conscience stop TPPA in its tracks)
….i guess we need an new corporate flag to match our new corporate controlled country …Red Peak anyone? ( afterall this is jonkey’s and James Shaw’s favourite choice)
RED PEAK the logo for Active Security Group
http://www.activesecuritygroup.co.uk/
“the Red Peak flag was created by a Xero product design director (Dustin), has had its online campaign coordinated by another Xero associate (Simpson), and was included in the top 40 while the Xero CEO (Drury) was one of the dozen on the selection panel; perhaps we should ask how has the Greens relationship with that company changed recently?
Two years ago:
Norman issued a media release yesterday questioning whether Palantir, a firm co-founded by wealthy US technology investor and Xero shareholder Peter Thiel, had been hired by the Government to spy on New Zealanders…”
Sharp observation Chooky!!!
LOL’s the ultimate slap down of NZ citizens, to have an electronic security and surveillance company logo as it’s own branded flag.
I never got excited about the red peak design. I could never see it as something real and meaningful to consider as long as Key was in control of the flag “process”. Maybe if the flag process had been led by the people instead, it might have been different.
I also couldn’t take it seriously when I spend days staring out the window to a sea of new buildings that make up the relentless suburban sprawl of North Wellington, and all I see is the red peak design in the Tekton logo on the building wrap:
http://tektonproducts.com/images/Tekton-WPS-Logo-333×99.png
I know it’s not the same but it blurs together if you let your mind enter a numb zone, a zone that lets you slip away from the pain of what has become of our country in recent years.
+100 Rosie…and not another vacuous , ubiquitous Red Peak!..maybe you could take up stained glass window making( books in the library, also do- it- yourself kits)…and design yourself a beautiful colourful window to block the bloody thing out …a maidenhair fern in front of a stained glass window which lets in the refracted light could be just the thing to block out the Tekton red peak logo
Gosh that description of the stain glass window with the maidenhair fern on the windowsill took me right back to the memory of sitting in someones villa restoration in the eighties. A pleasant enough memory 🙂
It’s an environmental wasteland up here on The Development. We have responded by planting native trees and shrubs on our borders. That should block out the sight of the sprawl in a few years and bring life to the area by attracting birds and insects. (+ purple flowers to attract the bees)
good on you Rosie…hope those native trees and shrubs grow fast for you
Yes what say should be highlighted to the max more corporate abuse of our democracy
If Morning Report is going to discuss significant topics, such as a difference in pay between men and women, why can’t they interview people who are actually talking about the subject rather than an entirely different matter?
This morning the first person spoken to about lower pay for women than men came out with the following –
“A school librarian, who asked not to be identified, said gender bias was unmistakable at her work.
“I have been employed as a teacher in a school and I’m now employed as support staff at a school – I feel like I’m the same person with the same abilities and skills and qualifications and work ethic, but the way I’m treated is significantly different.””
What on earth does her complaint have to do with gender bias? It is solely about the fact that in a school the frontline, teaching, staff were treated differently than people in support roles. It doesn’t have anything at all to do with her sex. If it had we wouldn’t be this complaint at all as she wouldn’t be treated any differently as a female support worker than she was as a female teacher.
Don’t the people trying to produce Morning Report understand that interviews on a topic should have something to do with that topic?
The Herald seems to have removed all signs of John Armstrong. I had heard that he has been unwell but…
[lprent: He is quite unwell at present. ]
Okay MS. Wish him well.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/06/worried-imf-world-economic-outlook-report
…no mystery here…too much in the hands of too few
Following on from our low business confidence and our record suicide rates comes the GOOD NEWS.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/72767992/nz-third-best-place-to-die
NZ Third Best Place To Die!!!!!
Thirds good. Gets a medal.
+1
Jeremy Corbyn is not the only decent man to draw the ire of the haters
This sneering piece in the far right wing Times of Israel tries but fails to denigrate the late, great Henning Mankell…..
http://www.timesofisrael.com/swedish-crime-writer-henning-mankell-dies-at-67/
+100…what a hero…enjoyed the tv series Wallander ….must watch out for his books
…”Mankell was known for his rights activisim, and joined the 2010 flotilla trying to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip…
“He said he wanted to create a situation where “Palestinians are not treated like second-class citizens in their own country, a sort of apartheid system.”
Mankell’s collection of dark novels about the Swedish police inspector Wallander brought the author international fame after it was made into a television series by the BBC starring Oscar-nominated actor and director Kenneth Branagh.”
Great news about soft drinks: they’re good for you.
According to the General Manager of Coca-Cola New Zealand
“We need to stop demonizing sugar, and Coca Cola can be part of a balanced lifestyle.”
—-Paul Fitzgerald, General Manager of Coca-Cola New Zealand
Balanced in favour of increasing CocA-Colas profits is about all it will do to you
David Cameron being roasted in an interview over human rights here (1min 22s).
https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10153264721241939/
Why oh why have we not got a journalist in NZ who will hold Key to account in the same way?
Because all the ones that are left in the MSM support everything that Key and National do no psychopathic it is.
Greatest trademe auction in history.
October 21 2015 (usa) October 22 2015 (Nzl)
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=960950905&permanent=0
Pledge to march
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/72767069/prices-up-99-per-cent-at-fonterra-globaldairytrade-auction
Thats 9.9% not 99% but still not bad, thats four increases in a row since Mr Andrew Little declared a crisis
And are volumes up as well?
I have just read the front page of the Herald ,Top story the romance of Key’s son Max.No wonder the Herald is giving the paper away free for a few weeks, Wh the hell would pay money for the trash. Once the largest daily paper in NZ it is now reduced to local gossip and Tory propaganda Oh fpo the days when the daily newspaper . was something to look forward too. However at least we have the Standard . Which is not to be missed on any day.
The media has gotten so bad you have to wonder if its end days are not far away.
+1 – by the way – my theory is that Max Key (does he even work?) is being groomed to collect the 18 – 29 year old votes next election for Pops. The herald is the propaganda site for the grooming to the public.
re “Max Key (does he even work?)”…this is what he does:
‘Max Key – I’ll get you into Harvard: Prime Minister’s son gets top consulting role’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11513568
http://www.scout.co.nz/Max-Key-grooms-students-for-Ivy-League/tabid/511/articleID/5617/Default.aspx
‘Auckland’s extravagant, young, elite society you need to know about’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11471687
( nice for some: thinking here about high suicide rate amongst Maori youth, NZ unemployed and top New Zealand graduates who cant afford to carry on and do university postgrad studies in their own country , even although invited to by their professors , because they are already overburdened with student debt….not to mention the fact that nactional has cut postgrad student loans)
hear hear
Yeah, and to watch the ejaculate smeared all over TVOne News tonight re The Ponce Key’s top secret trip to Afghanistan…….well, you’d think he’d flown a Tiger Moth low over the mountains of Bamyan, touched down and single-handedly slain 40 baddies……
‘The War-Hero Ponce Key !’ what ? Jeezuz ! TV “Boys’ Own” One !
John Key has just been so brave. “Prime Minister John Key’s secret trip to Iraq.”
Was he looking for pandas?
Weird story here, but some great journalism, http://thespinoff.co.nz/07-10-2015/media-a-bargain-from-the-block-the-curious-case-of-julie-christies-mansion/
+1
Why did Dan News have to get involved with Glucinas new outfit? I used to like Dan news…
5:07 and all’s well.
Yeah.
My pet theory is that it was a ploy by someone to get easier access to high-demand books held on close reserve 🙂
Fiendish! So all we have to do is round up everyone who borrowed a book yesterday…
Just to have ago at Sirdom while we all live in Serfdom
Every time I see JK as initials for the PM i cant help but see Sir John Kirwan in there so to avoid any further unnecessary confusion I propose the PM become the patron of what ever depression group Sir JK is promoting as a way of atoning for his constant alcoholic depressed rhetoric because most of it isnt believed by the real world that the majority of the population live with
Anyone who can smile for the camera and speak the bs he does is really out of it and expect to be believed and if it is the truth well God help us all to 2017
Missing boy in Levin has National MP, Nathan Guy, joining the search.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/search-for-missing-boy-continues-near-levin-2015100707?ref=video#axzz3nr5UtXfc
Nathan Guy being there will go down well with locals.
Where is Rob McCann?
Joins the search…..in a suit ? Hope for the sake of the boy and family and friends we’re not to be reminded of Pike River politics ? Hope it’s not a case of 0800CrosbyTextorDisasterLine. Couldn’t be……there are depths even they wouldn’t plumb, aren’t there ?
No. In his running gear.
“Hope it’s not a case of 0800CrosbyTextorDisasterLine. Couldn’t be……there are depths even they wouldn’t plumb, aren’t there ?”.
Oh God. Quite possibly.
I don’t know a single person in Horowhenua who didn’t vote for Nathan Guy. Then again, I don’t know a single person in Horowhenua who has a good hard think about anything……………… Although I think there is a small smattering of TS readers up that way. No offence intended towards our comrades in the Horowhenua.
Just been talking to a mate of mine in Auckland……senior union office-holder……(constantly having to check him about his ever more frequent sorties into the Koru Club !)……his comment on The Ponce Key War Hero’s vile Americanism, “……a God-Damn awful place !” re Iraq. My mate’s response – “Who made it a God-Damn awful place FFS ? True that !
+100
The Times UK
“The newspaper reported that the soft drinks giant, a major sponsor of the Olympics, the Fifa World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, has financial links to more than a dozen British scientists, including government health advisers and others who cast doubt on the commonly accepted link between sugary drinks and the obesity crisis.”
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article4581174.ece