The Nats are just short of camping and sleeping with the Oravida staff – but according to Bryce Edwards, the Govt is being “pragmatic”, which must be a Right Wingers’ synonym for “cronyism” or “corruption”.
If it was Labour doing this, the public would be asking for heads to roll.
A beautiful example of PR front footing – power bills rise, John Key points at up grades to national grid, Transpower say isn’t us, for some reason it comes across as David Shearer is supporting the PM with his Private Members Bill…. nothing is said at all about recent power asset sell off!
And the latest rort from John Key’s privatising profiteers at Genesis….. The account arrives and is to be paid within four days or the 10% late payment tax is imposed.
Electricity has become like water to people. Water is an essential life source and is provided at no (well, ratepayers mostly) cost. Imagine if people started drinking less water because it cost too much….. there would be all manner of uproar.
Well, electricity has become the same. In many places we are not allowed to burn wood etc for heating and cooking. So to warm ourselves and feed ourselves we are required to use electricity. This is the place that electricity has taken in society – an essential. Absolutely essential for survival.
As such, electricity cannot be left to the vagaries of the “free market” to supply such, like plastic buckets and undies can be. Lack of plastic buckets and undies are not threatening to life, so they can stay with the slave labour suppliers in the east. But not electricity.
Electricity is an essential to life survival in Aotearoa and as such must be supplied in the appropriate manner to us. Free market supply is utterly wrong for this reason.
Thanks for the access to the interviews. Cunliffe did well to not dwell on the media beatups of him in the last week or so, and to not accept the untrustworthy smear.
… but i do wish Morning Report would not waste time on the flag issue….it is such a USA Republican Party red herring and diversion by John Key from the real issues facing this country
….Simon Mercep should not be buying into this and giving it air time….we want the real issues!…
The perception of a conflict of interest, Judith Collins acting in Her capacity as the Minister of Justice visits Oravida in China later claiming under questioning that this was simply a spur of the moment decision to drop in for a cuppa,
Lies???, you bet, a letter released under the Official Information Act shows the visit was not one of a spur of the moment nature which leaves Collins open to accusations of Ministerial conflicts of interest and having deliberately mislead the Parliament,
Spin???, so fast your eyeballs will nearly roll out of your head trying to follow the trajectory, up pops the Herald’s David Fisher a veritable unknown who appears to have the dubious ‘honor’ of being that in-august ‘rags’ senior reporter of the year,
In a piece in today’s Herald online Fisher gives every impression of a display that would have the ‘senior reporter of the year’ title replaced with ‘well past His used by date’ and i have to wonder if the story as presented to the public is a verbatim copy of the words of Steven Joyce or simply a precis of an earlier phone call,
Prevaricate, by spreading Collins’s shit in a wide arc across the National Party listing every man and his dog as having ‘visited’ Oravida in Auckland,(do not muse aloud about the depth of this particular companies pockets with what appears to be the whole spectrum of the ‘Right’ lining up with their hands out),
Disregard, the intelligence of everybody by attempting to cover Collins tracks by not mentioning that it is Her actions while on an official visit to another country that are in question,
Wheel out, a tame ‘expert’ in the form of Dr Bryce Edwards ‘a political scientist’ to pronounce over the corpse of the National Government ‘pragmatism’ in the vein of a priest giving the rites of absolution,
Lie by omission, treat the readers as if their intellectual level has been seriously devalued by previous readings of the Herald by not including the ‘fact’ that the wheeled out ‘political scientist’ in the form of Edwards is a paid hack for the ‘rag’,
Can the Herald stoop much lower looking for excuses for Collins and National’s ‘pragmatic’ Hands Out political management in what gives every appearance of a ‘grease my palm with ten pieces of silver and all your fortunes will bask in the warmth of the Sun’ explanation which paints all of them in the same light,
You bet, the Herald jonolists have barely scratched the surface in their attempts to paint the innocent actions of one simply helping a friend into something far darker than that while painting the ‘Hands Out’ politics in the National Parties approach to business as simple pragmatism…
Probably been invited to a few more clever dinner parties of late. Seems they all go that way. Look at Edwards the Elder. No more analysis. Just commentary on the “game” and declaration of “winners” – effective congratulations to the the winners they declare. No matter how scurvy.
When change comes (of neccesity it will…….or choose civil unrest) there are going to be some worried yuppies……….
Winston’s the only one who really calls them for what they are.
Flag referendum. Classic boycott material on the basis that it’s an expensive piece of patently unnecessary bullshit devised by ShonKey Python to distract in election year. Since it’s for his benefit alone let him pay for it alone – he’s got 50 mill’ – a drop in the bucket to him. Maybe an Antoine’s coffee and muffin would spread the burden……..update the already bestowed honour to “Sir…….whatever-his-name-is”.
I really cannot see why we need to change the goddamn thing. I like our current flag. I am not all that worried about the Union Jack — after all, rightly or wrongly, that is our heritage. The Hawaiian flag also has UJ on it, and it had much looser links with the Empire, I dont see anyone there jumping up and down.
As for people getting our flag mixed up, I dont think it bothers the people of Poland, Indonesia, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Senegal and Cameroon that much?
Though, if there has to be a change, the United Tribes flag seems the most appropriate choice, given that it was the flag of a truly independent New Zealand.
Xox. I’ve been disappointed that Bryce Edwards has leant more to the right as he gets more mainstream media coverage. I suppose this is how the MSM works. You give them what they want and they ask you back. You scratch my back…
Ianmac, you mean the flag is not more important as fairness, employment, better wages and working conditions, freedom and opportunity, education, health and social inclusion, peace and shared prosperity?
I wonder whether a nice nationalist issue like flag-waving is not a cunning plan to get right wing voters into the polling booth and voting?
Interesting. Patrick Gower has a whole column on Scoop (Politics) transcribing his interview with John Key on The Nation. Haven’t seen that before. Could it possibly be because there were complaints about is interview with Cunliffe on The Nation ? ? I haven’t bothered to include the link – its easy enough to find on Scoop – because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of having something up on The Standard.
JK, perhaps tho people, even the Alfred E. Nuemann of televised political jonolism, can change, the proof of such of course can only be found in Gowers future reporting,
If Gower can find ‘political balance’, a fine line to have to walk daily, then i think He deserves a small modicum of applause,
Gower’s setting of Slippery the Prime Ministers feet on fire with the interview on the Nation was possibly the most telling against the PM in His 5 odd years of holding the office, all the more so because i don’t for a moment believe that the PM could believe Gower had the temerity to pull Him apart in such a manner,
Credit where credit is due, IF Gower can stick to the facts while reporting the politics then i would suggest He may become the working man’s Kim Hill of political reporting, the deep intellect may not be apparent but the ability to slice and dice, using the truth to do so, are certainly evident…
I cant believe the nonsense coming out of Radio NZ this morning about changing the flag. why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag. The answer is none. all the pretentious greybeards trying to sound like constituional intellectuals when they are more like tired old sots.This is a bigger red herring than 1981 and the country is just sitting back and swallowing it. I just about give up when this stuff is paraded as a serious question. An old chinese confucian saying is that choice cases confusion and shifty key and his minions are in the business of creating confusion so their neo-liberal agenda slips past while the ninnies run around debating crap.
We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.
It can just as easily result in separatist or other reactionary views, depending on national values, current events, and even flag culture. The flags of USA, France, and Denmark represent different ideals to their citizens.
The NZE doesn’t really stand for much in the public consciousness — certainly nothing that suggests clear political leanings.
Provoking the debate however, with it’s predictable divisiveness and unpredictable consequences, purely as a convenient distraction, is egregiously cynical enough without need for any bonus conspiracy.
[P.S. lprent — The post-with-edit-timer is brilliant. Perfect.]
+100 captain hook….. flag issue is John Keys ‘Red Herring Flag’….but stupid commentators are buying into this RED HERRING and treating it as if it is a serious issue for New Zealand voters ……they need to get their priorities sorted
Mr Pop are you talking to me ?…Calling me Simple little Chooky!?….if so …go get popped or poped or chicken pooped on! ….you are a Red Herring!
…the Flag issue is the least of NZ’s problems !……and surveys have shown most NZers want to keep the flag! ……it is a NON ISSUE…for msm simpletons to be taken in with and to dupe the population with !…it is a waste of time……..a Trickster diversion by Mr TricKey himself straight out of the right wing Republicans manual for subversion of genuine dialogue, dialectic, and democracy!
It is very important we hold the media to account. This election must be held on the debate of real issues…and not subverted by red herrings
Nah chooky don’t it too personally. Pop’s just not afraid to be catty. I’d like to see the flag change. It’s certainly a cunning move by Key, though. He’s a slippery dude all right.
@ Arfamo ..i didnt take it personally…he is a silly old Pop
….at least the Left leaders are seeing the flag issue for what it is ….a red herring … and are not falling for the Bait….just wish the media would do the same
….we dont want this election diverted by Trickey’s cunning machinations away from the REAL issues
“..Colorado Recreational Weed Sales Top $14 Million In First Month..”
“..During the first month of recreational marijuana sales –
Colorado’s licensed dispensaries generated a total of more than $14 million –
putting about $2 million of tax revenue into state coffers in the process..”
Even with that, the Department of Transportation in Texas did this analysis and said, “Fracking is doing about four billion dollars of damage to our road surfaces and bridges on a yearly basis. These eighty-thousand-pound trucks, of which it might take as many as almost twelve hundred to complete a single well—six hundred if you want to re-frack it—and those twelve hundred trucks weighting eighty thousand pounds filled with sand and water and fracking fluid and who knows what and giant diesels…
A local story here in Dunedin is a businessman who was all flash, owned three or four businesses, had great plans, etc. Now he’s skipped town owing large amounts of cash to staff and suppliers. And apparently he’s done it before elsewhere.
Key reminds me of this guy – he’s not going to be shiny forever, the media have been getting tetchy with him, and when they sense blood the fall will be sudden. And he’s the nact’s only pony, what with “conflict of interest” collins and “didn’t fix it” joyce and “didn’t even try to fix it” brownlee. And the rest of them are even worse.
we shall see. Confident that he won’t preside over the first national government that fails to win three elections? He’s not. He’s more “derp” than grin these days.
No, it’s a “win-double lose” situation: nact govt and you being insufferable, versus a leftish govt. Unless the supporters of people who want to reduce the rate of sick babies are as shallow as the supporters of people who increase the rate of sick babies, in which case it would be “double win-double lose”.
What a bunch of cry babies…myself, Shane Jones and Helen Clark all agree that the Greens should be nowhere near the levers of power so read into that what you will
Jones is following cullens shoes… really shld be in the national party.
Unlike you I understand that if we keep doing stuff the way we have for the last 30 years our children and grand children will have nothing to smile about unless they ARE amongst the 1%. You focus on winning at all costs and the rest of us will struggle thru the cost you burden us with.
Yes it’s a great site I agree, but can you link to the part where it made you “appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power” please.
‘cept she didn’t do anything to the Greens, so your comments are just a wee bit odd. In fact HC came to have a good working relationship with the previous Greens leadership and was instrumental in getting them to give her Government confidence and supply in 2005 in exchange for the active promotion of some of their policies on energy and transport.
Here’s a piece from The Press for last weekend on money and ACT and money and John Whyte. And satire and the rich. From Martin van Beynen – I like this bit.
Let us look at the empirical basis for the contention that wealth does not make you happy. Show me a rich person who is unhappy. OK but they have lost their minds. If money did not make you happy, do you think the ACT party would exist? It exists because rich people want everyone to be rich as long as rich people don’t have to pay for it…
There is only one circumstance that justifies the Government intervening in the market. This is when the market is unkind to rich people. Then the Government must step in to prop up the happiness of rich people using the money of poor people if necessary.
George, the article you link to explains everything pretty well. Waters being tested and lines being drawn. Thanks, because that’s the clearest example I’ve seen of how the Labout/Gp relationship is going. Bodes well.
Propaganda: “The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Time”
by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 27 January 2014
‘Propaganda’ sounds like an old-fashioned word from a bygone era. It evokes images of the Nazis in WW2, particularly Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, or Soviet leaders in the Cold War and dictators in ‘Third World’ countries. Propaganda is something spewed out by official enemies of the West, and surely not a vile practice indulged by ‘our’ politicians and business leaders. This is a convenient illusion that serves powerful Western elites very well indeed.
The Russian-born filmmaker Andre Vltchek, who has travelled the world extensively in making his documentaries, relates his experience of appearing in the media in different countries. He observes that when he speaks in China, he does so uncensored: “I was on CCTV – their National TV – and for half an hour I was talking about very sensitive issues. And I felt much freer in Beijing than when the BBC interviews me, because the BBC doesn’t even let me speak, without demanding a full account of what exactly I am intending to say.” (Noam Chomsky and Andre Vltchek, On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Pluto Press, London, 2013, p. 31)
Vltchek continued: “People in the West are so used to thinking that we are so democratic in terms of the way our media is run and covers the stories. Even if we know it’s not the case, we still, subconsciously, expect that it’s still somehow better than in other places and it is actually shocking when we realize that a place like China or Turkey or Iran would run more unedited or uncensored pieces than our own mainstream media outlets. Let me put it this way: Chinese television and newspapers are much more critical of their economic and political system than our television stations or newspapers are of ours. Imagine ABC, CBS, or NBC coming on air and beginning to question the basics of capitalism or the Western parliamentary system.” (Ibid., p. 32)
A vanishingly rare example of the BBC propaganda system being blasted open was the special edition of the Radio 4 Today programme edited by the English musician PJ Harvey on January 2, 2014. In her opening statement, Harvey explained that she wanted to “do something unusual with the format and content of the programme.” She invited people whom she considers “to be highly articulate, stimulating and extremely interesting to listen to – people who challenge us and move us to examine our deepest beliefs and feelings.”
Harvey’s guests included John Pilger talking about the propaganda role of the corporate media; Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, on the urgent need to democratise the warmongering UN Security Council (here at around 49 mins); Ian Cobain and Phil Shiner on torture committed by UK forces (here at around 2 hrs : 34 mins); and Mark Curtis on how Britain’s arms trade fuels oppression around the world.
Harvey wanted her contributors to be unrestricted in what they could say, and she had asked the Today programme to agree to this before accepting the invitation to be a guest editor. She rightly noted that ‘a great deal’ of her edition of the programme was ‘about censorship in one way or another.’
Predictably, reactionary voices bewailed afterwards that the BBC had broadcast”‘left-wing tosh” and “liberal drivel”. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s “impartial” political editor, took particular exception to….
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States’ spy agency has helped find or create loopholes in New Zealand law to enable widespread spying.
In testimony to the European Parliament, the exiled former NSA worker said the agency’s Foreign Affairs Division put pressure on other countries to change laws to create legal gaps through which mass surveillance could be carried out.
He said lawyers at the United Kingdom’s GCHQ were also engaged in finding loopholes and both agencies slipped changes past unwitting politicians.
“In recent public memory, we have seen these FAD ‘legal guidance’ operations occur in both Sweden and the Netherlands, and also faraway New Zealand.”
Mr Snowden offered no further detail in his testimony about pressure placed on New Zealand. His written testimony was sent ahead of a EU debate on freezing data agreements with the US.
It has been linked to new legislation passed in New Zealand last year which changed the laws governing the electronic spying agency, the GCSB, to allow it to spy on Kiwis. The government also passed legislation which extended the bureau’s powers over intercepting information sent and received in New Zealand.
Mr Snowden told the EU: “One of the foremost activities of the NSA’s FAD, or Foreign Affairs Division, is to pressure or incentivise EU member states to change their laws to enable mass surveillance.
“These efforts to interpret new powers out of vague laws is an intentional strategy to avoid public opposition and lawmakers’ insistence that legal limits be respected, effects the GCHQ internally described in its own documents as ‘damaging public debate’.”
The changes were used to “justify indiscriminate, dragnet surveillance operations”, he said.
In listing New Zealand among countries targeted, he said: “Each of these countries received instruction from the NSA, sometimes under the guise of the US Department of Defense and other bodies, on how to degrade the legal protections of their countries’ communications.”
Cyber rights group Tech Liberty’s spokesman Thomas Beagle said the new laws introduced in New Zealand last year appeared surprisingly quickly.
“It was like someone had it sitting in a drawer ready to go. Who is really writing these laws.”
He said the greater concern was the lack of oversight. “It’s never being able to test what they are doing what they say.”
David Cunliffe’s youtube message just up. Kind of direct and low tech. Not so inspirational though. But some good points about “the big end of town” etc.
Slippery the Prime Minister gets caught showing that He and speaking the truth are at best only known to each other on a fleeting basis,
Caught out again, by none other than TV3’s Alfred E. Nuemann, after slicing and dicing the Prime Minister on the Nation on the weekend Patrick Gower seems to have got a taste for a spot of ‘real Journalism’,
How long this will last and whether or not Gower’s new found enthusiasm will spread among His peers in the industry is yet to be seen, but, Gower in my estimation has just risen from sitting at the kerb to having a pew at the bus stop,
Slippery’s claim that the Cabinet Office had had translated the endorsement/promotion of Orivada’s products in their Chinese language magazine which allowed that Office to clear Collins of any supposed conflict of interest from such an endorsement/promotion while on offical Government business turns out to have been Utter Bullshit,
Just another lie from the Prime Minister and Gower proved such by asking the Cabinet Office a simple question,
Did they get an English language translation of the Chinese language magazine???, NO, definitely not said the Office of the Cabinet,
Gower is making easy work of making Slippery the Prime Minister look every bit the Liar and hypocrite that we all believe Him to be, in doing so He,(Gower), is starting to show, after an abysmal start, that he could become one of the greats in a thin field of political journalists in this country,
Scoring 2 direct hits on Slippery in a week is more than any other journalist has accomplished in 5 years,
Gower again goes up in my estimation, it’s the truth which we want Paddy, and, it’s pretty easy with a small amount of digging to expose the fact that our Prime Minister on any given day plays fast and loose with that truth…
Rt Hon John Key: Is the Minister aware of whether the Cabinet Office has provided any advice on whether the Minister’s visit to Oravida’s premises in China is in any way a breach of the Cabinet Manual?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Yes, the Cabinet Office, I understand, has advised the Prime Minister that my visit in no way contravened the Cabinet Manual.
The devious way of misleading here is staggering!..
On Monday Key told media the Cabinet Office had cleared Collins of a conflict of interest after translating comments on Oravida’s website which stated that she had praised its products.
But today Key’s office confirmed that the Cabinet office had only read the English language version on the website, which did not contain those references.
A spokesperson for Key said the Cabinet Office had been asked for guidance on the issue and its advice was clear that there was no conflict of interest and no endorsement.
“As the advice referred to the material on the company’s website, the prime minister took that advice to apply to both the English and the Chinese translation.”
He had become aware last night, however, that was not the case.
Exactly. But they way it was done in the House, without Key actually stating the lie himself, strongly suggests an intent to deceive, – without either actually directly stating the untruth the House. ie, based on a verbal technicality, they both cannot be reprimanded for misleading the House.
I caught a bit of the PM’s flag speech at Vic Uni today on the replay of the news tonight. Jeez, is it me or is he the just the most god-awful public speaker in history?
It is about time that members of the MSM when asking questions of John Key, and he includes the words “it’s in the rules”, they should respond with, “Ah yes, Prime Minister, it might be playing by the rules but is it ethical?”
Ah but Crosby Fester has anticipated the logistic of such wild card probing on the part of one or two in the popular fiction creating/embracing and generally biddable Fart Estate.
The answer, delivered with the dreadfully dead eyes of the rote learner, would be a sour little homily about an ordered society and The Rule of Law completely supported and advanced by every member of the National Party whom of course observe all the rules put in place in such a society and endorsed by all New Zealanders. Or some such effete shit. Then turn and light-foot /mince his way out.
The only real zap in that vein that I’ve ever seen was on the occasion of the recreational fisher schnapper quota stunt. Forget whom it was but a female reporter at the press conference pressed it just that bit further questioning that New Zealanders were more worried about schnapper than the GCSB – blow me down – there for all to see ShonKey Python shitting his pants and looking a complete and utter prize dork.
Typical of the ShonKey National Party and much in the vein of the “privatise the profits and socialise the losses” (non) ethics of the same.
‘Fia palagi’ (a preening wannabee caucasian) Peseta Sam Lotu-I’iga, ShonKey’s Minister of Pacific Island Affairs – you know the one, the shining lawyer boy dick who fantastically claimed on TV 3’s The Vote that $130,000 as a first home buyer’s 20% deposit on your more or less average Auckland house was more or less within reach – here he is putting out an official ‘Office of the Minister…..’ press statement claiming credit for a “new” Pasefika Anti-Violence prison programme.
Except that it’s been on foot for 10 years and he and the National Party had nothing to do with it. It was down to NZ First MP Anetasi and a number of other inspired, caring, Pacific Island people. Not Sammy nor ShonKey. But here he is taking the credit and steering it the way of ShonKey by implication.
Interesting to listen to Pasefika people when they hear some fia palagi claiming the credit for stuff they never were involved with. Very upfront and unforgiving in my experience. Tune in to their talkback.
Maybe fia palagi Sammy should pay attention to the comments of members of his own aiga (which I’ve personally witnessed) about the woeful state of his own (now deceased I recall) grandfather’s house in the village of Fasito’o-Uta on the coast road between Faleolo Airport and Apia town.
Not the shining boy he and ShonKey try to make out. Just a mainchance fia palagi really.
Liar Liar TricKEY’s pants are on fire. And somehow I don’t think that it’s just the media that he’s been lying to. Hmmm TricKEY being TricKEY with the truth.
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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New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
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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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TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
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 ...
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 ...
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The Nats are just short of camping and sleeping with the Oravida staff – but according to Bryce Edwards, the Govt is being “pragmatic”, which must be a Right Wingers’ synonym for “cronyism” or “corruption”.
If it was Labour doing this, the public would be asking for heads to roll.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217337
that column from (acceptable-gatekeeper-wannabe) edwards-the-younger –
..he has basically become a mouthpiece/apologist for the right..
..and as such..
..should be studiously ignored/denigrated at will..
..(and him an ‘academic’..eh..?
..is he dunedin university’ steve hoadley..?..)
phillip ure..
Yeah – I reckon, Phil.
Well, National and the MSM would be screaming from the roof tops for heads to roll anyway.
this is what pete george/farrar/williams/edwards-the-younger/politicheck/the taxpayers union –
are up to/attempting to do..
“..China to train leaders to manage online public opinion..”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/china-online-opinion-training-programme-sina-weibo
phillip ure..
this is what we need here..
“..Mythopedia: The Website To Debunk Right-Wing Lies
“..Watchdog group Media Matters has launched a website –
cataloguing conservative propaganda..”
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mythopedia-website-debunk-right-wing-lies
(and the first entry for a local version..could be edwards-the-youngers’ latest rightwing-roundup/exercise in slanting/opinion-managing..)
phillip ure..
A beautiful example of PR front footing – power bills rise, John Key points at up grades to national grid, Transpower say isn’t us, for some reason it comes across as David Shearer is supporting the PM with his Private Members Bill…. nothing is said at all about recent power asset sell off!
And the latest rort from John Key’s privatising profiteers at Genesis….. The account arrives and is to be paid within four days or the 10% late payment tax is imposed.
and no real reaction to the news yesterday..
..that the poorest..(forced into pre-paid power-payments by their suppliers..)..
..are then forced to pay up to 60% more for their electricity..
..how is this..in any way..fair/’a level playing field’ (that claimed-destination of the right/free-market..)
..the market is ‘free’ alright..
..’free’ for these scumbag power-companies to cruelly exploit/profiteer off..the poorest/sickest/weakest in our country..
..am i the only one enraged by this..?
..what are lab/grns going to do about this..?
..about this ‘specifically’..?
..(and why not a class-action-suit..?..to force these scumbags to pay back what they have stolen..
..from the poorest..)
..phillip ure..
Electricity has become like water to people. Water is an essential life source and is provided at no (well, ratepayers mostly) cost. Imagine if people started drinking less water because it cost too much….. there would be all manner of uproar.
Well, electricity has become the same. In many places we are not allowed to burn wood etc for heating and cooking. So to warm ourselves and feed ourselves we are required to use electricity. This is the place that electricity has taken in society – an essential. Absolutely essential for survival.
As such, electricity cannot be left to the vagaries of the “free market” to supply such, like plastic buckets and undies can be. Lack of plastic buckets and undies are not threatening to life, so they can stay with the slave labour suppliers in the east. But not electricity.
Electricity is an essential to life survival in Aotearoa and as such must be supplied in the appropriate manner to us. Free market supply is utterly wrong for this reason.
+1 vto
+1111
Russell Norman & Dave Cunliffe on radio nz this, both sounding really good!
Go Left!
Russ:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140311-0640-election_2014_the_green_party_says_spring_is_a_time_for_change-048.mp3
Dave:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140311-0709-labour_says_it_can_turn_around_support_in_time_for_election-048.mp3
And right now Winston just let loose a great tirade on phony John Key!
Thanks for the access to the interviews. Cunliffe did well to not dwell on the media beatups of him in the last week or so, and to not accept the untrustworthy smear.
Sounding positive.
+100….both Cunliffe and Peters sounding great!
… but i do wish Morning Report would not waste time on the flag issue….it is such a USA Republican Party red herring and diversion by John Key from the real issues facing this country
….Simon Mercep should not be buying into this and giving it air time….we want the real issues!…
Mercep is useless
National is proposing a water standard that would allow 4 times the level of nitrates in our rivers that are in the Yangtze River in China??
Oh joy 2 headed fish territory. Oh TricKEY TricKEY TricKEY
Hmm TricKey what a good name that is – I have already started using it since reading your comment, thanx
Be my guest.
The perception of a conflict of interest, Judith Collins acting in Her capacity as the Minister of Justice visits Oravida in China later claiming under questioning that this was simply a spur of the moment decision to drop in for a cuppa,
Lies???, you bet, a letter released under the Official Information Act shows the visit was not one of a spur of the moment nature which leaves Collins open to accusations of Ministerial conflicts of interest and having deliberately mislead the Parliament,
Spin???, so fast your eyeballs will nearly roll out of your head trying to follow the trajectory, up pops the Herald’s David Fisher a veritable unknown who appears to have the dubious ‘honor’ of being that in-august ‘rags’ senior reporter of the year,
In a piece in today’s Herald online Fisher gives every impression of a display that would have the ‘senior reporter of the year’ title replaced with ‘well past His used by date’ and i have to wonder if the story as presented to the public is a verbatim copy of the words of Steven Joyce or simply a precis of an earlier phone call,
Prevaricate, by spreading Collins’s shit in a wide arc across the National Party listing every man and his dog as having ‘visited’ Oravida in Auckland,(do not muse aloud about the depth of this particular companies pockets with what appears to be the whole spectrum of the ‘Right’ lining up with their hands out),
Disregard, the intelligence of everybody by attempting to cover Collins tracks by not mentioning that it is Her actions while on an official visit to another country that are in question,
Wheel out, a tame ‘expert’ in the form of Dr Bryce Edwards ‘a political scientist’ to pronounce over the corpse of the National Government ‘pragmatism’ in the vein of a priest giving the rites of absolution,
Lie by omission, treat the readers as if their intellectual level has been seriously devalued by previous readings of the Herald by not including the ‘fact’ that the wheeled out ‘political scientist’ in the form of Edwards is a paid hack for the ‘rag’,
Can the Herald stoop much lower looking for excuses for Collins and National’s ‘pragmatic’ Hands Out political management in what gives every appearance of a ‘grease my palm with ten pieces of silver and all your fortunes will bask in the warmth of the Sun’ explanation which paints all of them in the same light,
You bet, the Herald jonolists have barely scratched the surface in their attempts to paint the innocent actions of one simply helping a friend into something far darker than that while painting the ‘Hands Out’ politics in the National Parties approach to business as simple pragmatism…
I’m sure that they will find away to do so.
radio just said key is gonna announce a ref regarding changing the flag…. WOW im so excited= NOT!
what a waste of $
Probably been invited to a few more clever dinner parties of late. Seems they all go that way. Look at Edwards the Elder. No more analysis. Just commentary on the “game” and declaration of “winners” – effective congratulations to the the winners they declare. No matter how scurvy.
When change comes (of neccesity it will…….or choose civil unrest) there are going to be some worried yuppies……….
Winston’s the only one who really calls them for what they are.
Flag referendum. Classic boycott material on the basis that it’s an expensive piece of patently unnecessary bullshit devised by ShonKey Python to distract in election year. Since it’s for his benefit alone let him pay for it alone – he’s got 50 mill’ – a drop in the bucket to him. Maybe an Antoine’s coffee and muffin would spread the burden……..update the already bestowed honour to “Sir…….whatever-his-name-is”.
Starting now – Boycott Boycott Boycott !
Can we have a flag issue ban on the Standard from today please?
Such a waste of this blog-National’s game is to make us talk about the flag not the real issues.
“I wanna bit o’ cloff vat will show my values” . How about a pic of a toilet on a shit brown background TricKEY. That’ll show your values
Some cheesy corporate logo.
I really cannot see why we need to change the goddamn thing. I like our current flag. I am not all that worried about the Union Jack — after all, rightly or wrongly, that is our heritage. The Hawaiian flag also has UJ on it, and it had much looser links with the Empire, I dont see anyone there jumping up and down.
As for people getting our flag mixed up, I dont think it bothers the people of Poland, Indonesia, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Senegal and Cameroon that much?
Though, if there has to be a change, the United Tribes flag seems the most appropriate choice, given that it was the flag of a truly independent New Zealand.
Xox. I’ve been disappointed that Bryce Edwards has leant more to the right as he gets more mainstream media coverage. I suppose this is how the MSM works. You give them what they want and they ask you back. You scratch my back…
Used to read him.
Gave up when he joined the Herald.
New Zealans does not need a new flag it needs new prime minister.
something seriously wrong is happening in this country.
+100
Of course the flag debate is not meant as a deflection from the important issues is it? Surely not!
Ianmac, you mean the flag is not more important as fairness, employment, better wages and working conditions, freedom and opportunity, education, health and social inclusion, peace and shared prosperity?
I wonder whether a nice nationalist issue like flag-waving is not a cunning plan to get right wing voters into the polling booth and voting?
Interesting. Patrick Gower has a whole column on Scoop (Politics) transcribing his interview with John Key on The Nation. Haven’t seen that before. Could it possibly be because there were complaints about is interview with Cunliffe on The Nation ? ? I haven’t bothered to include the link – its easy enough to find on Scoop – because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of having something up on The Standard.
JK, perhaps tho people, even the Alfred E. Nuemann of televised political jonolism, can change, the proof of such of course can only be found in Gowers future reporting,
If Gower can find ‘political balance’, a fine line to have to walk daily, then i think He deserves a small modicum of applause,
Gower’s setting of Slippery the Prime Ministers feet on fire with the interview on the Nation was possibly the most telling against the PM in His 5 odd years of holding the office, all the more so because i don’t for a moment believe that the PM could believe Gower had the temerity to pull Him apart in such a manner,
Credit where credit is due, IF Gower can stick to the facts while reporting the politics then i would suggest He may become the working man’s Kim Hill of political reporting, the deep intellect may not be apparent but the ability to slice and dice, using the truth to do so, are certainly evident…
Smart politics that would probably swing the vote Labour’s way 1#,
Announce in the middle of the first televised leaders debate the refining of the plan to raise the age of entitlement to superannuation,
Point out the three favored options, raise the age, means test the entitlement against income from all sources, or, leave the entitlement as it is,
Promise a referendum at the 2017 election to decide the issue,
The current Labour superannuation policy was a vote loser in 2011 and it still is…
+100…agreed.. “The current Labour superannuation policy was a vote loser in 2011 and it still is”…
Labour does not need to go there …and it can not afford to go there if it wants to win this election!
And if you think the TPP is a good idea. This from the country who is the main driver and whose corporations want us.
http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2014/3/6/nun-the-wiser
I cant believe the nonsense coming out of Radio NZ this morning about changing the flag. why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag. The answer is none. all the pretentious greybeards trying to sound like constituional intellectuals when they are more like tired old sots.This is a bigger red herring than 1981 and the country is just sitting back and swallowing it. I just about give up when this stuff is paraded as a serious question. An old chinese confucian saying is that choice cases confusion and shifty key and his minions are in the business of creating confusion so their neo-liberal agenda slips past while the ninnies run around debating crap.
why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag
Canada, for one.
Anyway all the flag talk is due to this, I reckon… flag talk = conservative views
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/07/08/0956797611414726
(Abstract – article is paywalled, but if you google flag + voter intentions there are plenty of reports on this study).
Who’s to say that the same exposure here may mean people vote for fairness and the left. What NZ really stands for, not get rich quick.
It can just as easily result in separatist or other reactionary views, depending on national values, current events, and even flag culture. The flags of USA, France, and Denmark represent different ideals to their citizens.
The NZE doesn’t really stand for much in the public consciousness — certainly nothing that suggests clear political leanings.
Provoking the debate however, with it’s predictable divisiveness and unpredictable consequences, purely as a convenient distraction, is egregiously cynical enough without need for any bonus conspiracy.
[P.S. lprent — The post-with-edit-timer is brilliant. Perfect.]
Are you serious? Countries change their flags all the time.
+100 captain hook….. flag issue is John Keys ‘Red Herring Flag’….but stupid commentators are buying into this RED HERRING and treating it as if it is a serious issue for New Zealand voters ……they need to get their priorities sorted
Most of us have brains complex enough to thnk about more than one thing at a time – I’m sorry if you don’t
Mr Pop are you talking to me ?…Calling me Simple little Chooky!?….if so …go get popped or poped or chicken pooped on! ….you are a Red Herring!
…the Flag issue is the least of NZ’s problems !……and surveys have shown most NZers want to keep the flag! ……it is a NON ISSUE…for msm simpletons to be taken in with and to dupe the population with !…it is a waste of time……..a Trickster diversion by Mr TricKey himself straight out of the right wing Republicans manual for subversion of genuine dialogue, dialectic, and democracy!
It is very important we hold the media to account. This election must be held on the debate of real issues…and not subverted by red herrings
Nah chooky don’t it too personally. Pop’s just not afraid to be catty. I’d like to see the flag change. It’s certainly a cunning move by Key, though. He’s a slippery dude all right.
@ Arfamo ..i didnt take it personally…he is a silly old Pop
….at least the Left leaders are seeing the flag issue for what it is ….a red herring … and are not falling for the Bait….just wish the media would do the same
….we dont want this election diverted by Trickey’s cunning machinations away from the REAL issues
https://www.greens.org.nz/
for anyone wanting to help the Greens in their electioneering delivering pamphlets etc etc etc
🙂
“..Colorado Recreational Weed Sales Top $14 Million In First Month..”
“..During the first month of recreational marijuana sales –
Colorado’s licensed dispensaries generated a total of more than $14 million –
putting about $2 million of tax revenue into state coffers in the process..”
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue_n_4936223.html
phillip ure..
Frikkin Fracking….just been reading http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-03-10/the-oil-revolution-story-is-dead-wrong and wondered about the real cost of fracking in NZ, the things that the frakkers don’t actually pay for……
Even with that, the Department of Transportation in Texas did this analysis and said, “Fracking is doing about four billion dollars of damage to our road surfaces and bridges on a yearly basis. These eighty-thousand-pound trucks, of which it might take as many as almost twelve hundred to complete a single well—six hundred if you want to re-frack it—and those twelve hundred trucks weighting eighty thousand pounds filled with sand and water and fracking fluid and who knows what and giant diesels…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9810796/Hughes-a-mollyhawk-Jones
Jones is doing very well at the moment
Whereas Key/English are doing very poorly
I guess that explains why Keys popularity is dropping and cunliffes is rising…no wait hang on its not
Yeah the boy next door popularity contest will trump the over-hyped rock-star that failed to make it to the concert venue.
I guess we’ll not see you again after 20 Sept 🙁
Oh you’ll be seeing me alright, gotta come back and gloat after all
On the flipside, your sulking absence would add a certain icing to a labour victory
Look at the polls. People like key…
Takes the mind off
Growing deficits
Shrinking tax takes
interest on way up and
rising govt debt
earthquake rebuild is masking a great deal about this elvis impersonator economy
A local story here in Dunedin is a businessman who was all flash, owned three or four businesses, had great plans, etc. Now he’s skipped town owing large amounts of cash to staff and suppliers. And apparently he’s done it before elsewhere.
Key reminds me of this guy – he’s not going to be shiny forever, the media have been getting tetchy with him, and when they sense blood the fall will be sudden. And he’s the nact’s only pony, what with “conflict of interest” collins and “didn’t fix it” joyce and “didn’t even try to fix it” brownlee. And the rest of them are even worse.
“he’s not going to be shiny forever”
yeah keep running that line as its worked out so well for the left so far
we shall see. Confident that he won’t preside over the first national government that fails to win three elections? He’s not. He’s more “derp” than grin these days.
So no matter what its a win-win when I come back 🙂
No, it’s a “win-double lose” situation: nact govt and you being insufferable, versus a leftish govt. Unless the supporters of people who want to reduce the rate of sick babies are as shallow as the supporters of people who increase the rate of sick babies, in which case it would be “double win-double lose”.
Well it’s good to hear you will be voting Lab/Green in order to ‘gloat’.
One thing about this site is its made me appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power
That you are paranoidically scared of the greens makes me more certain voting for them is the right thing to do.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9814728/Greens-complain-about-Jones-attack
What a bunch of cry babies…myself, Shane Jones and Helen Clark all agree that the Greens should be nowhere near the levers of power so read into that what you will
I dont know where you get that I am crying.
Jones is following cullens shoes… really shld be in the national party.
Unlike you I understand that if we keep doing stuff the way we have for the last 30 years our children and grand children will have nothing to smile about unless they ARE amongst the 1%. You focus on winning at all costs and the rest of us will struggle thru the cost you burden us with.
You’re not the cry baby but the Greens are
Yes it’s a great site I agree, but can you link to the part where it made you “appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power” please.
Its not in the link, its just a realization (on my part) that she was a better leader then I gave her credit for…
Cunliffe should take note of what she did to the Greens and follow suit
‘cept she didn’t do anything to the Greens, so your comments are just a wee bit odd. In fact HC came to have a good working relationship with the previous Greens leadership and was instrumental in getting them to give her Government confidence and supply in 2005 in exchange for the active promotion of some of their policies on energy and transport.
And IRD redundancies costly for Kiwis where “in 2012-13, IRD spent about $53m on contractors and consultants, down from $59m in 2008-09”.
Downward tracking is all good
BEST and I mean the Best damn opinion piece I have seen in ever – period.
Oh and if can’t handle swearing – don’t follow the link.
https://www.tytnetwork.com/2014/03/09/open-letter-middle-class-spoiler-alert-fck/
Here’s a piece from The Press for last weekend on money and ACT and money and John Whyte. And satire and the rich. From Martin van Beynen – I like this bit.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/9805315/Money-makes-us-happy-so-we-exist
questiontime commentary..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answer-tuesday-11-march-2014/
(excerpt..)
“..summary:..as i noted above..the encounter between key/cunnliffe should be mandatory-viewing for all in labour..
..as this could not be more of a rehearsal of how the upcoming leaders’-debates will go…
..if cunnliffe/labour do not denounce the neo-lib policies of that labour govt..(and present a strong progressive-alternative-vision..)
..they will be hung out to dry..on the record of that govt..
..and on that interaction i have to give key the performer-of-the-day accolade..
..for the ease in which he batted away the questions from cunnliffe/labour..”
and i can’t emphasise enough that question one from q-time today must be a wake-up and smell the future election-leaders-debates..for labour..
..you will ignore this warning at yr peril..
..phillip ure..
so..has anyone watched the replay..?
..am i right..?
..or am i right..?
..phillip ure..
Shane Jones is right. Why are the Greens so precious?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9814728/Shane-Jones-slams-Greens
The Greens have lodged a formal complaint with Labour over outspoken MP Shane Jones’ attacks on the party.
isn’t the question more why is jones such a douchebag/promoter of continuing to screw over the environment..?
phillip ure..
George, the article you link to explains everything pretty well. Waters being tested and lines being drawn. Thanks, because that’s the clearest example I’ve seen of how the Labout/Gp relationship is going. Bodes well.
Isn’t it ironic.
Propaganda: “The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Time”
by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 27 January 2014
‘Propaganda’ sounds like an old-fashioned word from a bygone era. It evokes images of the Nazis in WW2, particularly Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, or Soviet leaders in the Cold War and dictators in ‘Third World’ countries. Propaganda is something spewed out by official enemies of the West, and surely not a vile practice indulged by ‘our’ politicians and business leaders. This is a convenient illusion that serves powerful Western elites very well indeed.
The Russian-born filmmaker Andre Vltchek, who has travelled the world extensively in making his documentaries, relates his experience of appearing in the media in different countries. He observes that when he speaks in China, he does so uncensored: “I was on CCTV – their National TV – and for half an hour I was talking about very sensitive issues. And I felt much freer in Beijing than when the BBC interviews me, because the BBC doesn’t even let me speak, without demanding a full account of what exactly I am intending to say.” (Noam Chomsky and Andre Vltchek, On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Pluto Press, London, 2013, p. 31)
Vltchek continued: “People in the West are so used to thinking that we are so democratic in terms of the way our media is run and covers the stories. Even if we know it’s not the case, we still, subconsciously, expect that it’s still somehow better than in other places and it is actually shocking when we realize that a place like China or Turkey or Iran would run more unedited or uncensored pieces than our own mainstream media outlets. Let me put it this way: Chinese television and newspapers are much more critical of their economic and political system than our television stations or newspapers are of ours. Imagine ABC, CBS, or NBC coming on air and beginning to question the basics of capitalism or the Western parliamentary system.” (Ibid., p. 32)
A vanishingly rare example of the BBC propaganda system being blasted open was the special edition of the Radio 4 Today programme edited by the English musician PJ Harvey on January 2, 2014. In her opening statement, Harvey explained that she wanted to “do something unusual with the format and content of the programme.” She invited people whom she considers “to be highly articulate, stimulating and extremely interesting to listen to – people who challenge us and move us to examine our deepest beliefs and feelings.”
Harvey’s guests included John Pilger talking about the propaganda role of the corporate media; Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, on the urgent need to democratise the warmongering UN Security Council (here at around 49 mins); Ian Cobain and Phil Shiner on torture committed by UK forces (here at around 2 hrs : 34 mins); and Mark Curtis on how Britain’s arms trade fuels oppression around the world.
Harvey wanted her contributors to be unrestricted in what they could say, and she had asked the Today programme to agree to this before accepting the invitation to be a guest editor. She rightly noted that ‘a great deal’ of her edition of the programme was ‘about censorship in one way or another.’
Predictably, reactionary voices bewailed afterwards that the BBC had broadcast”‘left-wing tosh” and “liberal drivel”. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s “impartial” political editor, took particular exception to….
Read more….
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/753-propaganda-the-dominant-grand-narrative-of-our-time.html
Snowden: US helped create loopholes in New Zealand law
by DAVID FISHER, New Zealand Herald, Tuesday Mar 11, 2014
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217797
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States’ spy agency has helped find or create loopholes in New Zealand law to enable widespread spying.
In testimony to the European Parliament, the exiled former NSA worker said the agency’s Foreign Affairs Division put pressure on other countries to change laws to create legal gaps through which mass surveillance could be carried out.
He said lawyers at the United Kingdom’s GCHQ were also engaged in finding loopholes and both agencies slipped changes past unwitting politicians.
“In recent public memory, we have seen these FAD ‘legal guidance’ operations occur in both Sweden and the Netherlands, and also faraway New Zealand.”
Mr Snowden offered no further detail in his testimony about pressure placed on New Zealand. His written testimony was sent ahead of a EU debate on freezing data agreements with the US.
It has been linked to new legislation passed in New Zealand last year which changed the laws governing the electronic spying agency, the GCSB, to allow it to spy on Kiwis. The government also passed legislation which extended the bureau’s powers over intercepting information sent and received in New Zealand.
Mr Snowden told the EU: “One of the foremost activities of the NSA’s FAD, or Foreign Affairs Division, is to pressure or incentivise EU member states to change their laws to enable mass surveillance.
“These efforts to interpret new powers out of vague laws is an intentional strategy to avoid public opposition and lawmakers’ insistence that legal limits be respected, effects the GCHQ internally described in its own documents as ‘damaging public debate’.”
The changes were used to “justify indiscriminate, dragnet surveillance operations”, he said.
In listing New Zealand among countries targeted, he said: “Each of these countries received instruction from the NSA, sometimes under the guise of the US Department of Defense and other bodies, on how to degrade the legal protections of their countries’ communications.”
Cyber rights group Tech Liberty’s spokesman Thomas Beagle said the new laws introduced in New Zealand last year appeared surprisingly quickly.
“It was like someone had it sitting in a drawer ready to go. Who is really writing these laws.”
He said the greater concern was the lack of oversight. “It’s never being able to test what they are doing what they say.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217797
Article in The Guardian on the flag referendum has Key with the Australian flag. Ironic or intentional?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/new-zealand-to-hold-referendum-on-new-post-colonial-flag
Well spotted. It’s from here.
David Cunliffe’s youtube message just up. Kind of direct and low tech. Not so inspirational though. But some good points about “the big end of town” etc.
Be part of the movement to change the government.
Also Cunliffe is asking people to tell Labour “My EQC story”.
Slippery the Prime Minister gets caught showing that He and speaking the truth are at best only known to each other on a fleeting basis,
Caught out again, by none other than TV3’s Alfred E. Nuemann, after slicing and dicing the Prime Minister on the Nation on the weekend Patrick Gower seems to have got a taste for a spot of ‘real Journalism’,
How long this will last and whether or not Gower’s new found enthusiasm will spread among His peers in the industry is yet to be seen, but, Gower in my estimation has just risen from sitting at the kerb to having a pew at the bus stop,
Slippery’s claim that the Cabinet Office had had translated the endorsement/promotion of Orivada’s products in their Chinese language magazine which allowed that Office to clear Collins of any supposed conflict of interest from such an endorsement/promotion while on offical Government business turns out to have been Utter Bullshit,
Just another lie from the Prime Minister and Gower proved such by asking the Cabinet Office a simple question,
Did they get an English language translation of the Chinese language magazine???, NO, definitely not said the Office of the Cabinet,
Gower is making easy work of making Slippery the Prime Minister look every bit the Liar and hypocrite that we all believe Him to be, in doing so He,(Gower), is starting to show, after an abysmal start, that he could become one of the greats in a thin field of political journalists in this country,
Scoring 2 direct hits on Slippery in a week is more than any other journalist has accomplished in 5 years,
Gower again goes up in my estimation, it’s the truth which we want Paddy, and, it’s pretty easy with a small amount of digging to expose the fact that our Prime Minister on any given day plays fast and loose with that truth…
What is interesting is the level of duplicity. Key made statements to the media, but avoided saying the same in the House.
Collins answered for him, kind of supporting Key’s statements to the media. Last Wednesday, Grant Robertson questioned Collins in Question Time: John Key jumped in with a supplementary.
The devious way of misleading here is staggering!..
Stuff’s report on it tonight:
A lie based on a lie!
Exactly. But they way it was done in the House, without Key actually stating the lie himself, strongly suggests an intent to deceive, – without either actually directly stating the untruth the House. ie, based on a verbal technicality, they both cannot be reprimanded for misleading the House.
PS, feel free to use the Hansard quote, micky – or anyone else. I don’t have the energy to do a post on it.
I caught a bit of the PM’s flag speech at Vic Uni today on the replay of the news tonight. Jeez, is it me or is he the just the most god-awful public speaker in history?
Yes. Makes you wonder how he got to be PM, or registers any kind od popularity.
It is about time that members of the MSM when asking questions of John Key, and he includes the words “it’s in the rules”, they should respond with, “Ah yes, Prime Minister, it might be playing by the rules but is it ethical?”
Has John Key a conscience?
Ah but Crosby Fester has anticipated the logistic of such wild card probing on the part of one or two in the popular fiction creating/embracing and generally biddable Fart Estate.
The answer, delivered with the dreadfully dead eyes of the rote learner, would be a sour little homily about an ordered society and The Rule of Law completely supported and advanced by every member of the National Party whom of course observe all the rules put in place in such a society and endorsed by all New Zealanders. Or some such effete shit. Then turn and light-foot /mince his way out.
The only real zap in that vein that I’ve ever seen was on the occasion of the recreational fisher schnapper quota stunt. Forget whom it was but a female reporter at the press conference pressed it just that bit further questioning that New Zealanders were more worried about schnapper than the GCSB – blow me down – there for all to see ShonKey Python shitting his pants and looking a complete and utter prize dork.
Who was that real journalist ?
This is interesting:
http://pacificguardians.org/2014/03/11/accused-govt-exploit-pacific-prisoners-for-political-gain/.html
Typical of the ShonKey National Party and much in the vein of the “privatise the profits and socialise the losses” (non) ethics of the same.
‘Fia palagi’ (a preening wannabee caucasian) Peseta Sam Lotu-I’iga, ShonKey’s Minister of Pacific Island Affairs – you know the one, the shining lawyer boy dick who fantastically claimed on TV 3’s The Vote that $130,000 as a first home buyer’s 20% deposit on your more or less average Auckland house was more or less within reach – here he is putting out an official ‘Office of the Minister…..’ press statement claiming credit for a “new” Pasefika Anti-Violence prison programme.
Except that it’s been on foot for 10 years and he and the National Party had nothing to do with it. It was down to NZ First MP Anetasi and a number of other inspired, caring, Pacific Island people. Not Sammy nor ShonKey. But here he is taking the credit and steering it the way of ShonKey by implication.
Interesting to listen to Pasefika people when they hear some fia palagi claiming the credit for stuff they never were involved with. Very upfront and unforgiving in my experience. Tune in to their talkback.
Maybe fia palagi Sammy should pay attention to the comments of members of his own aiga (which I’ve personally witnessed) about the woeful state of his own (now deceased I recall) grandfather’s house in the village of Fasito’o-Uta on the coast road between Faleolo Airport and Apia town.
Not the shining boy he and ShonKey try to make out. Just a mainchance fia palagi really.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9816335/Key-misled-media-over-Collins-Chinese-link
Liar Liar TricKEY’s pants are on fire. And somehow I don’t think that it’s just the media that he’s been lying to. Hmmm TricKEY being TricKEY with the truth.