Unfortunately Bene basher Bennet will get back in on the list anyway. But what price a deal with lots of spoils for the Maori Party to let them continue to do their dirty work?? But it would be the end of them, I think.
Jeez, its Friday, thank God for that. The wheels of commerce are harder to pump, everyone is demanding more and delivering less. Stress everywhere, the standard response more speed, more power, but we are running on empty. Sign of the times?
Any of you guys feeling the heat? The Nats ripping your public service job away, or the contracts with the public sector you rely upon? Or some idiot National minister demanding more of you teaching staff or similar for less money? Or some sales manager demanding you close the deals faster because corporate profits are down?
Christmas coming, time to think about your response to pump priming, what it all means and whether it is worth it.
Something a friend sent me on FB, seemed relevant to the heart of your comment,
Christmas 2011 — Birth of a New Tradition
As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Kiwis with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods –merchandise that has been produced at the expense of Kiwi labour.
This year will be different. This year Kiwis will give the gift of genuine concern for other Kiwis. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by Kiwi hands. Yes there is!
It’s time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?
Everyone — yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local hair salon?
Gym membership? It’s appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.
Who wouldn’t appreciate getting their car detailed? Small owned detail shops & car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates. For the Gardeners on your list – how about some lovely healthy pot plants or plants for the garden or even a gift certificate from the local lawnmowing man.
Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plunking down the Panasonic of a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or games at the local golf course.
There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants — all offering gift certificates. If your intended isn’t the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local cafe. Remember, folks this isn’t about big National chains — this is about supporting your home town with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.
How many people couldn’t use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the Kiwi working guy?
What about a gift certificate from a local home handyman for some chores to be done around the home?
Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mum? Mum would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.
Someone’s computer could use a tune-up, & I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up & running.
OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool & knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, & pottery & beautiful wooden boxes.
Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip. How about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre.
Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.
Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another 10,000 Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a $5.00 string of light, about 50 cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of to bucks burn, leave the postman, or babysitter a nice BIG tip.
You see, Christmas is no longer about draining Kiwi pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about New Zealand, encouraging our small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. When we care about other Kiwis, we care about our communities, & the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn’t imagine.
But you also need to be careful about giving gift vouchers for a company that might go bust. I lost out with one for a DVD/CD for one of those companies that went bust before I got around to redeeming the voucher.
To the youngsters in my Whanau, I just give a bit of money now, and let them choose how to spend it. I give nothing to the adults, but will probably make another Christmas donation or two to causes like the Auckland City Mission.
Wouldn’t it be ironic that the woman who was the most critical of the Petulant Bean, were to be the difference between Bennett winning or losing her electorate seat of Waitakere. Bradford and her ego … don’t you love it?
Yup a bitter irony, she’s shown it’s all about her and not the cause pursuing votes in an electorate that labour had every chance of winning back from the basher and she was never going to win.
The left just can’t seem to practice what it preaches….collaboration.
I thought Sue was only after the party vote. She said she wanted to help Carmel win, didn’t she?
Whether you assume that’s true or not, who’s to say that if Sue hadn’t campaigned Carmel would’ve got more or fewer votes? What if Sue won more votes for Carmel than for herself? There’s just no way of knowing.
What is it with our islands? Pike River and nobody will take responsibility, South Canterbury Finance and the powers that be run and hide in the cupboard like cowards.
I truly despair. And further, we are smug in our isolated contentedness that none of that violence and anarchy that prevails overseas passes on our shores. But I tells ya – the attitudes displayed by all of the above (and then throw in arson on Karikari Peninsula last week, Hone Harawira’s statement re guns and their use a few years back, and the Urerewas) tell me that if anarchic behaviour even remotely starts to break out it will be at least as ugly as any mankind has ever unleashed.
Our isolation changes from our protection to our downfall.
I’m surprised that she has not taken out ann harrassment order, all she needs is two incidents, like him staring at her home and any reasonable person (made aware of his past offending) would immediatelty agree it was harassment. So I wondering, is this anothe rof the far rightwing media need for a emotional outrage stroy to cover the biggest fraud in NZ history? Moving in next door knowing she lives there should count as one ‘incidient’.
I’m of course am outraged. seriously though can’t you see the Charter Schools, the limit on government spending, all just as manufactured stories – this is a political blog after all.
Housing prices become a issue, don’t know why, the housing stock is poor so of course homes are in demand. Add in ChCh demand. add in natural growth of pop. and housing will always increase.
We dont need housing affordability in NZ, when those who can afford them do enter the market its because they’ve earn the money working overseas. How are Kiwis to make a living if they can’t gouge returning expats of their hard earned hard currency?
“add in natural growth of pop. and housing will always increase.”
When you factor in the baby boomers having bought up rental properties over the past 15-20 yesterday to build up their retirement nest eggs, these houses are going to start coming onto the market within the next 5-15 years as they cash out to fund their retirement. This will cause a glut in supply and drop in housing prices.
The Nats were only critical of Labour after the collapse of the global financial economy when it became obvious that our economy and that of the rest of the world had been powered by bubbles for the previous decade. Before then, they didn’t say a thing except to whinge about the high interest rates which is actually the result of the Reserve Bank Act, independent of the government and which they don’t want to change.
Be very very very wary of house prices going up: they just have not fallen yet according to my calculations. Read http://www.automaticearth.blogspot.com if you want a very contrarian viewpoint. My take is that they will fall relative to the value of money very fast very soon.
Cabinet minister Paula Bennett is on the verge of losing her Waitakere electorate seat.
Sources report that Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni is ahead by fewer than 10 votes after the counting of special votes.
I really do hope this is true. Carmel Sepuloni is a great MP and what many consider one of Labours new faces. She stands for equality and a fairer system and deserves to win.
A recount is probably automatic when things are so close. I wouldn’t think that a recount would be different… if it is there needs to be some questions asked. You know the old saying though… don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
If Ms Sepuloni and Mr Burns win their electorate seats, list MPs Raymond Huo and Rajen Prasad will not get back into Parliament. If only one of the two wins Mr Huo will be out.
Can someone explain to me why a Labour electorate gain would result in a list loss? Would Carmel’s gain reflect the overall total of seats for National/Labour?
“Can someone explain to me why a Labour electorate gain would result in a list loss?”
The party vote percentage determines the overall number of seats for a party (with the exception of overhang situations, taking account of ‘wasted’ votes and a few other technical issues). But, everyone who wins an electorate automatically gets into parliament. That means that the electorate seats won by a party take preference over use of the list.
Hence, gaining an electorate after the specials means that someone from the list is bumped out to maintain the overall percentage entitlement of parliamentary seats for a party. Of course, if a party’s overall percentage of the party vote improves sufficiently after specials it is theoretically possible that no-one who now thinks they would go into parliament would miss out from someone else winning an electorate on the specials.
Another technical possibility, given the privileging of electorate MPs, is a 180 seat parliament (i.e., a 60 seat overhang), in the unlikely event that a party wins all the electorate seats but no percentage of the party vote.
Can someone explain to me why a Labour electorate gain would result in a list loss? Would Carmel’s gain reflect the overall total of seats for National/Labour?
Yes. The overall percentage of votes that Labour received entitles it to have a certain number of MPs. If an electorate seat is lost on election night and regained after specials have been counted, then the last person on the list who won a place would have to drop off.
Already been answered, but didn’t actually mention the list placings which is really what matters here.
If Labour have won enough of the party vote so that on current electorate wins they get up to list member #22 into the house, if people who are placed at #23 or higher win their electorates then the total number in the house remains the same, but the list threshold reduces down to #21 or #20, and therefore the people who were #21 or #22 on the list no longer get their seats.
In this case I believe Carmel is #24 or so and Kelvin Davis isn’t much behind her.
Megan Woods, who is #57 on the list won Wigram, and so she gets her seat at the expense of whoever was #23rd on the list.
Where someone wins their electorate and is within the first bloc of the party list, for example Phil Goff winning and being #1 on the list, it effectively doesn’t change the last marginal seats on the list.
Ranking matters both in absolute terms (i.e., whether you are number 1 or number 60) but it also matters where those who are likely to win electorates are also the list (if they are on the list).
Please let it be true – Paula ‘guacamole’ Bennett makes a mockery of all that is good about the west – from beneficiary bashing, intimidation of winz clients to removal of training incentives that she had utilized when a beneficiary herself – her time as the MP for west Auckland is a litany of betrayal.
Thanks to a lot of you lefties who voted NZ First, Winston will probably be able to fix that with the xenephobic repatriation of all foreigners as part of a coalition deal with the next Labour Govenment.
Yeah Labour’s sure to go for that. In the meantime I have no problem with repatriating whiny ginger-haired Australian politicians. He doesn’t even have a beard FFS.
Perhaps you could have a word to one of the bigots who’s actually in govt about that? Banks would be a good place to start.
MJSavage wasn’t either but but he turned NZ from being a bankrupt country into a power house and took everybody with him .The greens policy is similar.
If it hadn’t been for Sue Bradford entering the electorate race I suspect Carmel would have won with a reasonably comfortable majority. As a rising star, the Labour list hierarchy must also shoulder some of the blame for not giving her a higher list placing.
Nah, was always going to be close. A problem for the electorate candidates who are mainly trying to raise their party profile for getting party votes is that if your name is on the ballot paper people are able to and may well, bloody vote for you. The extent to which people “know” whether they should or should not seems an inexact science even in Epsom. You could easily make a case for David Parker not having stood for the electorate to help bury ACT.
It was not a good idea to stand Sue in Waitakere in the first place, and definitely not in hindsight because Bennett would not front up at debates to be exposed. So Sue did not get the chance to raise issues and policy and say “don’t vote for me, vote for Mana”. More left coordination is needed.
Some recent tweets from Sue Bradford on the NAct deal, which provide food for thought, especially the bit about needing to focus more critically on the Rebstockian welfare reforms:
“Anyone else find it striking that so much attention hs been paid to charter schools part of Nat/ACT agreem’t, & so little to welfare aspect?”
And little attention on the spending cap – which quite clearly interacts with the “welfare aspect”.
I think the reason is (a) the NZEI and Principals were quick off the mark on responding to the prospect of charter schools; and, (b) schools affect ‘middle New Zealand’.
‘Middle New Zealand’ doesn’t think that welfare reform will affect it.
‘Middle New Zealand’ doesn’t think that welfare reform will affect it.
Middle NZ i.e. people earning $60,000 to $100,000 pa i.e. roughly 20% of the population, have (in the main) no fucking idea the trouble which is coming down the pike.
Yes, although when what’s “coming down the pike” does arrive, that demographic may well reach for fascistic ‘remedies’, at least in the first instance, rather than anything more uplifting.
Isn’t overpopulation a real problem? That part of the film suggests that it is criminal to suggest that we have smaller families yet the pressure on resources must grow and grow with excessive population growth. The problem would be the How and When to halt that growth.
William Catton postulated that the world went into population overshoot around 1860 on the back of the use of coal.
Increased use of coal and then widespread use of petroleum have allowed the population overshoot to magnify immensely.
Few informed analysts put a sustainable population for the Earth at above 2 billion.
Continued drawdown of capital (forests, jungles, deep’sea fish etc. ) may hold off population collapse for a short time but now that were are past the peak of most things that keep people alive the long term implications are obvious.
Gets worse AFKTT, with global warming my cabbages are going to seed faster than I can draw them down. Bloody friends wont even take them cos they are not processed or in cans.
I think sometime next year or so they will reflect, hmm my mate Bored was offering me cabbages…now how did he do that?
Was watching the news tonight; by 2015 they think they may have a cure for Alzheimer’s – so instead of 50, 60, 70 y. olds needing care (sorry the next bit will sound callous), we’ll have a batch of people whose life expectancy will be increased, who will all want to eat, drink and be merry, travel, work, etc, again with finite resources.
Just saying, we keep researching and prolonging life, but dying is the only inevitable we share.
Some clever person reckoned that if all the food produced in the World was spread around all the people in the World, we would all be close to starvation. Haves v Have nots? And when the population reaches 7, 8, 9 billion?
‘Cept there’s no chance of that happening! I have observed that many people who want to reduce the population want to start with 3rd-world brown people… 🙁
Not so sure of that – Jared Diamond makes a good case for the Japanese having managed their limited land and resources very wisely over the past millenium. Japan is still predominantly forested, for instance. Of course, nuclear power etc. is a bit of a game changer.
I should say, its the Japanese economy which goes under first, due to debt defaults. At that time Japan is going to quickly run out of the foreign currency needed to import the raw materials and energy that it needs.
Council hire contracters ot build road calming. But what councils shoudl realize is that many who work for road builders love to race their powerful cars through residential areas, that causes residents to force council to put in calming measures.
Are you saying that if councils don’t build speed bumps the road building companies will not hire the workers (who love to race their powerful cars through residential areas) therefore they will be unemployed and unable to afford the powerful cars?
I think where aerobubble might be misreading the situation is that ‘boy racing’ has gone mainstream.
I walk to the bus stop (and back) each day through an area of town that is prone to drivers who are keen to accelerate rapidly in low slung cars or sleek utes (all with large exhaust pipes and very noisy).
My sense of who I see driving these cars is:
40% middle aged white men – short hair, chubby arms, classic male, small businessman/tradesman
40% young women, reasonably made up – could be driving the ‘boyfriends” car, I suppose, but they look pretty confident and don’t seem averse to speed
20% the ‘classic boy racer’ – young male wearing a hoodie (up) or cap on backwards inside the car, often with ‘mates’ alongside and booming music.
In short, I think it’s not just those who ‘work for road builders’ who do the boy racing, but the ‘road builders’ themselves (and their kind).
Just been sat at home listening to very old CD’s and listened to this by New Order http://youtu.be/2KO0zeP6ftY
The lyrics seem pretty poignant for much of the world!
At the end of the day
There’s no food on our plate
So we beg and we steal
For we know love is real
And if we don’t take a chance
In a spare sideways glance
These are all the chains I wanted
To justify the things I do
And when we kiss we speak as one
And in a single breath this world is gone
And when we kiss we speak as one
With a single breath this world is gone
It’s a crisis I know
At the end of the show
People change but we don’t falter
Cause we know love is real
This is no place to shiver
So get up off the grass
You were once the main attraction
but all that’s in the past
How much is free
For me and you
I’m on my knees
I am a fool
But when we kiss we speak as one
With a single breath this world is gone
(this world is gone)
How could I fail to give her
When she cried such a lot
People change but we don’t falter
Cause we use what we’ve got
And when we kiss we speak as one
With a single breath this world is gone
And when we kiss we speak as one
With a single breath this world is gone
(this world is gone)
(this world is gone)
The question is whether you believe that Maori are born bad because of their genes, or that social conditioning gives rise to increased crime or that the justice system is geared against Maori?
[…]
So they were convicted of conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm but the actual law that applies concerns constructive malice, whereby the malicious intent inherent in the commission of a crime is considered to apply to the consequences of that crime.
Crikey Jackal. This couldn’t happen in NZ “But many families in need of government aid often have difficulty getting it as more and more obstacles are erected.”
Funny that there is a prelude where beneficiaries are denigrated and maligned to justify enacting “difficulties”. Thank god that won’t happen in NZ!
Rachelle Grimmer and her two children were a struggling family living in a rundown trailer park. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services denied her application for food stamps, saying that she did not submit enough information. Grimmer went to a welfare office in Laredo to discuss her case.
What happened next was nothing short of horrific — after a seven-hour standoff with police, Grimmer shot her two children and then herself:
Gulag USA, its all done without the wire and camps, the goons drive cars with flashing lights. The TV does the show trials by proxy. You don’t even have to administer the numbered persons or do the deed, they do it for you. RIP.
Unfortunately they’re modeling the privatization of New Zealand’s prisons on the American system… which is proven to be a complete rehabilitation failure.
The current feeling of sadness is compounded by the fact that it doesn’t need to be this way. People could have fought against the Welfare Reform Bill but they chose not to. I’ve always been acutely aware of how much society hates me because I’m disabled; the disablist-motivated abuse when I was in primary school made sure I had it drummed into me for life that I am a second-class citizen. I had thought things were getting better in recent years with things like the Disability Discrimination Act, but clearly I was a gullible fool.
A controversial method of drilling for oil and natural gas appears to be the cause of groundwater pollution in a central Wyoming town, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
The EPA last month said it had found compounds associated with chemicals used in the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the groundwater beneath Pavillion. Many residents say their well water has reeked of chemicals since the drilling began there and first complained to the EPA in 2008.
Yesterday in Court I provided evidence to support my claim that the real reason behind Auckland Council’s attempt to remove Occupy Auckland from Aotea Square was because of unlawful discrimination on the grounds of political opinion.
I held up in Court, as ‘exhibits’ banners that I had made, which have been used on many Occupy Auckland protests, which proved that many protestors were opposed to the re-election of a National/ACT government, and complaints from some Auckland Councillors to the Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay against Occupy Auckland, had come from National Party member Cameron Brewer, ex National Party MP Christine Fletcher, and C & R Councillors including Des Morrison and Dick Quax….
CEO of Auckland Council, Doug McKay is a member of the Committtee for Auckland – a lobby group for the ‘1% ers’ that played a significant role in helping to achieve the railroaded corporate takeover of the Auckland region through the setting up of the Auckland $UPERCITY.
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“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 to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
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 ...
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 ...
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Congratulations Carmel (hopefully). And good riddance to the Bene Basher
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10772014
Go Carmel! will be awesome for her to be back in!
werd !!!
Unfortunately Bene basher Bennet will get back in on the list anyway. But what price a deal with lots of spoils for the Maori Party to let them continue to do their dirty work?? But it would be the end of them, I think.
Wait till the votes are in and the results are out before popping that champers just yet, darling…
Jeez, its Friday, thank God for that. The wheels of commerce are harder to pump, everyone is demanding more and delivering less. Stress everywhere, the standard response more speed, more power, but we are running on empty. Sign of the times?
Any of you guys feeling the heat? The Nats ripping your public service job away, or the contracts with the public sector you rely upon? Or some idiot National minister demanding more of you teaching staff or similar for less money? Or some sales manager demanding you close the deals faster because corporate profits are down?
Christmas coming, time to think about your response to pump priming, what it all means and whether it is worth it.
Something a friend sent me on FB, seemed relevant to the heart of your comment,
But you also need to be careful about giving gift vouchers for a company that might go bust. I lost out with one for a DVD/CD for one of those companies that went bust before I got around to redeeming the voucher.
To the youngsters in my Whanau, I just give a bit of money now, and let them choose how to spend it. I give nothing to the adults, but will probably make another Christmas donation or two to causes like the Auckland City Mission.
Bloody hell, not only is it tough, we get short changed chasing our tails…..cant wait for beer oclock.
Wouldn’t it be ironic that the woman who was the most critical of the Petulant Bean, were to be the difference between Bennett winning or losing her electorate seat of Waitakere. Bradford and her ego … don’t you love it?
Yup a bitter irony, she’s shown it’s all about her and not the cause pursuing votes in an electorate that labour had every chance of winning back from the basher and she was never going to win.
The left just can’t seem to practice what it preaches….collaboration.
The Right Wing do collaboration and socialism better than the Left does these days.
I thought Sue was only after the party vote. She said she wanted to help Carmel win, didn’t she?
Whether you assume that’s true or not, who’s to say that if Sue hadn’t campaigned Carmel would’ve got more or fewer votes? What if Sue won more votes for Carmel than for herself? There’s just no way of knowing.
How does this sort of thing happen? It simply would not be allowed to continue in many countries. Yet here in NZ….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6112403/Rape-victim-harassed-for-years
What is it with our islands? Pike River and nobody will take responsibility, South Canterbury Finance and the powers that be run and hide in the cupboard like cowards.
I truly despair. And further, we are smug in our isolated contentedness that none of that violence and anarchy that prevails overseas passes on our shores. But I tells ya – the attitudes displayed by all of the above (and then throw in arson on Karikari Peninsula last week, Hone Harawira’s statement re guns and their use a few years back, and the Urerewas) tell me that if anarchic behaviour even remotely starts to break out it will be at least as ugly as any mankind has ever unleashed.
Our isolation changes from our protection to our downfall.
ugly ugly ugly ugly
totally agree Vto.This is disgusting
I’m surprised that she has not taken out ann harrassment order, all she needs is two incidents, like him staring at her home and any reasonable person (made aware of his past offending) would immediatelty agree it was harassment. So I wondering, is this anothe rof the far rightwing media need for a emotional outrage stroy to cover the biggest fraud in NZ history? Moving in next door knowing she lives there should count as one ‘incidient’.
I’m of course am outraged. seriously though can’t you see the Charter Schools, the limit on government spending, all just as manufactured stories – this is a political blog after all.
See that house prices could be on the way up again.
So the NATS have the opportunity to sort that out all by themselves.
(They were very critical of the inaction of LAB)
Housing prices become a issue, don’t know why, the housing stock is poor so of course homes are in demand. Add in ChCh demand. add in natural growth of pop. and housing will always increase.
We dont need housing affordability in NZ, when those who can afford them do enter the market its because they’ve earn the money working overseas. How are Kiwis to make a living if they can’t gouge returning expats of their hard earned hard currency?
“add in natural growth of pop. and housing will always increase.”
When you factor in the baby boomers having bought up rental properties over the past 15-20 yesterday to build up their retirement nest eggs, these houses are going to start coming onto the market within the next 5-15 years as they cash out to fund their retirement. This will cause a glut in supply and drop in housing prices.
The Nats were only critical of Labour after the collapse of the global financial economy when it became obvious that our economy and that of the rest of the world had been powered by bubbles for the previous decade. Before then, they didn’t say a thing except to whinge about the high interest rates which is actually the result of the Reserve Bank Act, independent of the government and which they don’t want to change.
Be very very very wary of house prices going up: they just have not fallen yet according to my calculations. Read http://www.automaticearth.blogspot.com if you want a very contrarian viewpoint. My take is that they will fall relative to the value of money very fast very soon.
Not sure exactly what insights you expect me to glean from that link, Bored, but it’s definitely a contrarian viewpoint.
lol.
Oh yeah, don’t buy a house, they’re pretty useless and are on the way to becoming consumable commodities (except in Auckland). Buy a farm.
You got all that from the word “turdwrangler”? I’m impressed!
It was ‘turdwangler’ (not ‘turdwrangler’) so that gives it a much more suggestive content (in the context of the thread).
😀
Just delighted to see the result of that cock up, Turdwrangler great name…the link is actually http://www.theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/
Must be Friday……..
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
I really do hope this is true. Carmel Sepuloni is a great MP and what many consider one of Labours new faces. She stands for equality and a fairer system and deserves to win.
Ple
Go Carmel!
Do you think National would ask for a recount?
A recount is probably automatic when things are so close. I wouldn’t think that a recount would be different… if it is there needs to be some questions asked. You know the old saying though… don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
I don’t think it is automatic, but when it is this close whoever lost would ask for a recount.
Out of interest who would Labour lose if Carmel got in?
From the NZH link above :
Can someone explain to me why a Labour electorate gain would result in a list loss? Would Carmel’s gain reflect the overall total of seats for National/Labour?
“Can someone explain to me why a Labour electorate gain would result in a list loss?”
The party vote percentage determines the overall number of seats for a party (with the exception of overhang situations, taking account of ‘wasted’ votes and a few other technical issues). But, everyone who wins an electorate automatically gets into parliament. That means that the electorate seats won by a party take preference over use of the list.
Hence, gaining an electorate after the specials means that someone from the list is bumped out to maintain the overall percentage entitlement of parliamentary seats for a party. Of course, if a party’s overall percentage of the party vote improves sufficiently after specials it is theoretically possible that no-one who now thinks they would go into parliament would miss out from someone else winning an electorate on the specials.
Another technical possibility, given the privileging of electorate MPs, is a 180 seat parliament (i.e., a 60 seat overhang), in the unlikely event that a party wins all the electorate seats but no percentage of the party vote.
I think that’s how it goes.
Thanks, Puddleglum & Anne.
Can someone explain to me why a Labour electorate gain would result in a list loss? Would Carmel’s gain reflect the overall total of seats for National/Labour?
Yes. The overall percentage of votes that Labour received entitles it to have a certain number of MPs. If an electorate seat is lost on election night and regained after specials have been counted, then the last person on the list who won a place would have to drop off.
Thanks Carol didn’t see that paragraph.
Already been answered, but didn’t actually mention the list placings which is really what matters here.
If Labour have won enough of the party vote so that on current electorate wins they get up to list member #22 into the house, if people who are placed at #23 or higher win their electorates then the total number in the house remains the same, but the list threshold reduces down to #21 or #20, and therefore the people who were #21 or #22 on the list no longer get their seats.
In this case I believe Carmel is #24 or so and Kelvin Davis isn’t much behind her.
Megan Woods, who is #57 on the list won Wigram, and so she gets her seat at the expense of whoever was #23rd on the list.
Where someone wins their electorate and is within the first bloc of the party list, for example Phil Goff winning and being #1 on the list, it effectively doesn’t change the last marginal seats on the list.
Good additional detail.
Ranking matters both in absolute terms (i.e., whether you are number 1 or number 60) but it also matters where those who are likely to win electorates are also the list (if they are on the list).
Which is why I reckon MP’s like Damien O’Connor and Lianne Dalziel deserve extra kudos for going the electorate route only.
AFAIK, Bennett has said she will… 🙁
damm u bet me- facebook is goin off on this news hahhaha
Please let it be true – Paula ‘guacamole’ Bennett makes a mockery of all that is good about the west – from beneficiary bashing, intimidation of winz clients to removal of training incentives that she had utilized when a beneficiary herself – her time as the MP for west Auckland is a litany of betrayal.
And she’s not even a westie, the patronising phoney.
So would this be a victory for Waitakere woman and/or Waitakere man?
*fingers crossed, breath held*
Be careful playing that game Felix. Russell Norman is not even a New Zealander.
Russel Norman has New Zealand nationality/citizenship, according to the wikipedia entry. He also has Australian nationality/citizenship.
Then he can be the Prime Minister of New Stralia…
KK,
Can we send him back to Aussie then? Sweet.
PG,
Oh bugger, we can’t.
Thanks to a lot of you lefties who voted NZ First, Winston will probably be able to fix that with the xenephobic repatriation of all foreigners as part of a coalition deal with the next Labour Govenment.
Yeah Labour’s sure to go for that. In the meantime I have no problem with repatriating whiny ginger-haired Australian politicians. He doesn’t even have a beard FFS.
Perhaps you could have a word to one of the bigots who’s actually in govt about that? Banks would be a good place to start.
If he had a beard as well his existence would become a capital crime.
I can’t trust a man without a beard who claims to be an environmentalist. Is that shallow of me?
I completely understand.
I can’t get turned on by strippers who dont have tattoos.
Winnie will probably start with oversize gorillas
MJSavage wasn’t either but but he turned NZ from being a bankrupt country into a power house and took everybody with him .The greens policy is similar.
If it hadn’t been for Sue Bradford entering the electorate race I suspect Carmel would have won with a reasonably comfortable majority. As a rising star, the Labour list hierarchy must also shoulder some of the blame for not giving her a higher list placing.
Nah, was always going to be close. A problem for the electorate candidates who are mainly trying to raise their party profile for getting party votes is that if your name is on the ballot paper people are able to and may well, bloody vote for you. The extent to which people “know” whether they should or should not seems an inexact science even in Epsom. You could easily make a case for David Parker not having stood for the electorate to help bury ACT.
It was not a good idea to stand Sue in Waitakere in the first place, and definitely not in hindsight because Bennett would not front up at debates to be exposed. So Sue did not get the chance to raise issues and policy and say “don’t vote for me, vote for Mana”. More left coordination is needed.
Some recent tweets from Sue Bradford on the NAct deal, which provide food for thought, especially the bit about needing to focus more critically on the Rebstockian welfare reforms:
http://twitter.com/#!/suebr
“Anyone else find it striking that so much attention hs been paid to charter schools part of Nat/ACT agreem’t, & so little to welfare aspect?”
And little attention on the spending cap – which quite clearly interacts with the “welfare aspect”.
I think the reason is (a) the NZEI and Principals were quick off the mark on responding to the prospect of charter schools; and, (b) schools affect ‘middle New Zealand’.
‘Middle New Zealand’ doesn’t think that welfare reform will affect it.
Middle NZ i.e. people earning $60,000 to $100,000 pa i.e. roughly 20% of the population, have (in the main) no fucking idea the trouble which is coming down the pike.
Yes, although when what’s “coming down the pike” does arrive, that demographic may well reach for fascistic ‘remedies’, at least in the first instance, rather than anything more uplifting.
Ah but history never repeats does it? Thats what market fundamentalists keep telling me….
For those of you interested in the powers behind the throne here is Invisible empire:
http://youtu.be/NO24XmP1c5E
Isn’t overpopulation a real problem? That part of the film suggests that it is criminal to suggest that we have smaller families yet the pressure on resources must grow and grow with excessive population growth. The problem would be the How and When to halt that growth.
iamac
William Catton postulated that the world went into population overshoot around 1860 on the back of the use of coal.
Increased use of coal and then widespread use of petroleum have allowed the population overshoot to magnify immensely.
Few informed analysts put a sustainable population for the Earth at above 2 billion.
Continued drawdown of capital (forests, jungles, deep’sea fish etc. ) may hold off population collapse for a short time but now that were are past the peak of most things that keep people alive the long term implications are obvious.
Gets worse AFKTT, with global warming my cabbages are going to seed faster than I can draw them down. Bloody friends wont even take them cos they are not processed or in cans.
I think sometime next year or so they will reflect, hmm my mate Bored was offering me cabbages…now how did he do that?
Was watching the news tonight; by 2015 they think they may have a cure for Alzheimer’s – so instead of 50, 60, 70 y. olds needing care (sorry the next bit will sound callous), we’ll have a batch of people whose life expectancy will be increased, who will all want to eat, drink and be merry, travel, work, etc, again with finite resources.
Just saying, we keep researching and prolonging life, but dying is the only inevitable we share.
The when was back in the 1950s at the absolute latest, the how would be through education and raising all people out of poverty.
Some clever person reckoned that if all the food produced in the World was spread around all the people in the World, we would all be close to starvation. Haves v Have nots? And when the population reaches 7, 8, 9 billion?
‘Cept there’s no chance of that happening! I have observed that many people who want to reduce the population want to start with 3rd-world brown people… 🙁
Start where the problem is most acute.
Population aging and decline is going to bring an end to the western economic system, even as it is needed to salvage a livable environment.
This is going to be an interesting decade,
Japan goes under first.
Not so sure of that – Jared Diamond makes a good case for the Japanese having managed their limited land and resources very wisely over the past millenium. Japan is still predominantly forested, for instance. Of course, nuclear power etc. is a bit of a game changer.
I should say, its the Japanese economy which goes under first, due to debt defaults. At that time Japan is going to quickly run out of the foreign currency needed to import the raw materials and energy that it needs.
Most of Japan’s debt is owed to it’s own domestic populace.
Sounds decidedly Ponzi to me.
Council hire contracters ot build road calming. But what councils shoudl realize is that many who work for road builders love to race their powerful cars through residential areas, that causes residents to force council to put in calming measures.
I’m not quite sure I am following your logic.
Are you saying that if councils don’t build speed bumps the road building companies will not hire the workers (who love to race their powerful cars through residential areas) therefore they will be unemployed and unable to afford the powerful cars?
Yes, I think that’s the logic King Kong.
I think where aerobubble might be misreading the situation is that ‘boy racing’ has gone mainstream.
I walk to the bus stop (and back) each day through an area of town that is prone to drivers who are keen to accelerate rapidly in low slung cars or sleek utes (all with large exhaust pipes and very noisy).
My sense of who I see driving these cars is:
40% middle aged white men – short hair, chubby arms, classic male, small businessman/tradesman
40% young women, reasonably made up – could be driving the ‘boyfriends” car, I suppose, but they look pretty confident and don’t seem averse to speed
20% the ‘classic boy racer’ – young male wearing a hoodie (up) or cap on backwards inside the car, often with ‘mates’ alongside and booming music.
In short, I think it’s not just those who ‘work for road builders’ who do the boy racing, but the ‘road builders’ themselves (and their kind).
Just been sat at home listening to very old CD’s and listened to this by New Order http://youtu.be/2KO0zeP6ftY
The lyrics seem pretty poignant for much of the world!
Injustice system
The question is whether you believe that Maori are born bad because of their genes, or that social conditioning gives rise to increased crime or that the justice system is geared against Maori?
[…]
So they were convicted of conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm but the actual law that applies concerns constructive malice, whereby the malicious intent inherent in the commission of a crime is considered to apply to the consequences of that crime.
Crikey Jackal. This couldn’t happen in NZ “But many families in need of government aid often have difficulty getting it as more and more obstacles are erected.”
Funny that there is a prelude where beneficiaries are denigrated and maligned to justify enacting “difficulties”. Thank god that won’t happen in NZ!
Google the Inverse Care Law – yes I know it is health, but relates to justice and education equally.
Billabong Pipe Masters live webcast
Waves: 12-15 ft
Weather: Sunny
Wind: Light .
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/12/08/384922/food-stamps-mother-shoots-texas/
Rachelle Grimmer and her two children were a struggling family living in a rundown trailer park. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services denied her application for food stamps, saying that she did not submit enough information. Grimmer went to a welfare office in Laredo to discuss her case.
What happened next was nothing short of horrific — after a seven-hour standoff with police, Grimmer shot her two children and then herself:
See Jackal @ 13
Gulag USA, its all done without the wire and camps, the goons drive cars with flashing lights. The TV does the show trials by proxy. You don’t even have to administer the numbered persons or do the deed, they do it for you. RIP.
Unfortunately they’re modeling the privatization of New Zealand’s prisons on the American system… which is proven to be a complete rehabilitation failure.
A disabled woman writes about her despair as she faces the UK governments plans to reform the benefit system.
http://wheresthebenefit.blogspot.com/2011/12/not-ok-triggerwarning.html
The current feeling of sadness is compounded by the fact that it doesn’t need to be this way. People could have fought against the Welfare Reform Bill but they chose not to. I’ve always been acutely aware of how much society hates me because I’m disabled; the disablist-motivated abuse when I was in primary school made sure I had it drummed into me for life that I am a second-class citizen. I had thought things were getting better in recent years with things like the Disability Discrimination Act, but clearly I was a gullible fool.
That poor woman! Obviously, she thought she had no choice…
EPA: ‘Fracking’ likely polluted town’s water.
A controversial method of drilling for oil and natural gas appears to be the cause of groundwater pollution in a central Wyoming town, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
The EPA last month said it had found compounds associated with chemicals used in the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the groundwater beneath Pavillion. Many residents say their well water has reeked of chemicals since the drilling began there and first complained to the EPA in 2008.
Yesterday in Court I provided evidence to support my claim that the real reason behind Auckland Council’s attempt to remove Occupy Auckland from Aotea Square was because of unlawful discrimination on the grounds of political opinion.
I held up in Court, as ‘exhibits’ banners that I had made, which have been used on many Occupy Auckland protests, which proved that many protestors were opposed to the re-election of a National/ACT government, and complaints from some Auckland Councillors to the Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay against Occupy Auckland, had come from National Party member Cameron Brewer, ex National Party MP Christine Fletcher, and C & R Councillors including Des Morrison and Dick Quax….
CEO of Auckland Council, Doug McKay is a member of the Committtee for Auckland – a lobby group for the ‘1% ers’ that played a significant role in helping to achieve the railroaded corporate takeover of the Auckland region through the setting up of the Auckland $UPERCITY.
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/membership/member-organisations
Wonder if the Committee for Auckland ever discussed ‘Occupy Auckland’?
Wonder how supportive of Occupy Auckland were the (UNELECTED) Committee for Auckland?
Wonder if Auckland Council ratepayers paid Doug McKay’s Committee for Auckland membership fee?
If so – on what lawful basis?
Of course this private ‘invitation only’ lobby group for the ‘1% ers’, is not subject to the Official Information Act.
(For more information about the Auckland SUPER corporate takeover of the Auckland region via the Auckland ‘$UPERCITY’
check out http://www.stopthe supercity.org.nz and http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz )
Cheers!
Penny Bright
[email deleted]