Thanks Tautoko Manga Mata. I tried to make sense of what I read but it is too hard and now my brain hurts. It does need interpretation by some clever people so that I can tell whether to be for or against TPP.
Wonder how others feel?
My father fought in World War II with the 20th Battalion, in Greece and Crete and North Africa. He fought for a democratic way of life then sacred in this country. Many New Zealanders paid a high price, the highest price, for that democracy.
All of the above is sentimental crap perhaps, and also perhaps has no place in our me/me society. But it still remains a strong motivation for me and, I hope, for many others of my generation, the baby boomers born just after the war.
I have been decidedly middle class all my working life but, unlike Key, I haven’t forgotten my origins, nor the enormous debt I owe my society for making my transition from a working class family to university and a professional life so easy and so possible.
We MUST stop this TPP crap before it becomes so cemented into place in our society that escape is almost impossible. This will be, in our history, one of the defining moments – whether we retain our ability to govern ourselves or whether we tamely hand our rights over to the big corporates.
And as a white, middle-class male, I’ve got to say, we need to get behind the Treaty of Waitangi. That remarkable document, which can mean so much to so many different people, could be the way to save this country. Prove the TPP violates the treaty and it’s history! We need the Maori people to organise Hikoi to rally the great mass of people against this damned document.
I will be out on the streets in any and all protests over the next few months!
Rather an extreme reaction to my stating how unqualified I am to be spouting on about the Treaty. Perhaps it’s my fault for assuming that white middle-class males would not normally support the treaty – in which case I am admitting to a certain amount of bigotry. But, that aside, the treaty could assume a huge importance for this country – far beyond what the original drafters ever envisioned.
Don’t worry Tony, its just vto’s usual tangent about how any mention of white, middle class, male is bigotry because white dudes are as put upon as anyone else (and no, that doesn’t make any kind of sense).
Tony, I am female and have worked for 35 years to buy a house and provide for my children, I am not offended by your words. I take heart that many people from all demographics realise what what previous generations have sacrificed for, is being squandered. Leaving the next generation without any hope of living a debt free life and losing the health service and secure jobs etc does not make sense to me, like John Key, I would like to see my children (and others) be able to enjoy at least the same security we had.
The wealth gap is reflected in our children, and some have far more than they can appreciate, whilst so many more have to struggle constantly just to hope for an education, living wage and a secure home.
Why be so negative about a person making comments from the position of a middle class white male.
If more middle class white men thought and acted as Tony there would be no need for women, the poor, and the non-white to hit the pavements in protest.
Hi Adele, because it bore no relation to the points being made.
Lumping in the hoary old “white middle male” when it doesn’t apply simply reflects unthinking prejudice – in this against himself in klassic kiwi kringe fashion.
You last paragraph is an interesting one for another day.
“If more middle class white men thought and acted as Tony there would be no need for women, the poor, and the non-white to hit the pavements in protest.”
that doesn’t make any sense either vto, and I suspect you are being deliberately obtuse.
Tony expressed something important from his own identity. You’ve almost completely ignored what he was talking about and instead have deliberately misconstrued a whole bunch of stuff about how he identified. Sorry but you don’t get to say how other people identify.
You are now appropriating this conversation away from the important issues that Tony raised about the TPP and Te Tiriti and instead making it all about your own personal antipathy and agenda about certain kinds of identity politics. I wouldn’t mind so much if your argument had any kind of logic to it, but what you’ve just said shows that it’s nonesense. You’ve taken an implication that no-one else has and you’re skewing what is being said here. I think that’s really off tbh.
No weka, completely disagree, re-read my point about his point about being white male and middle and how it relates to the issues – it doesn’t, that was the whole point.
It is this continual knee-jerk around anything and everything white middle and male that is off. It is bullshit. Total bullshit.
example – why does his gender disqualify or affect his comment on te tiriti?
further example – why would middle class people need to do more re those matters than rich people?
I would be interested in your answer to those two examples
“example – why does his gender disqualify or affect his comment on te tiriti?”
false question. He didn’t say that as a man he wasn’t qualified.
“further example – why would middle class people need to do more re those matters than rich people?”
Another false question. He didn’t say that middle class people need to do more than rich people. You just made that up
Like I said, you are the one making inferences that nobody else is and then you are expecting other people to defend your own (quite frankly ridiculous) propositions.
Just to make it really clear. White middle class men hold certain priviliges in this society, and there is a conflict between doing right and retaining those privilges. But don’t take that to mean that other classes of people don’t also have privilge and conflicts of their own. We all do.
When white middle class men start to take responsibility for how their privilege affects other people, that’s a good thing.
“false question. He didn’t say that as a man he wasn’t qualified. ”
Yes he did. Read again. He said “as a white, middle-class male” and ” my stating how unqualified I am to be spouting on ”
“He didn’t say that middle class people need to do more than rich people.”
Yes he did. Read again. Same thing.
Read the detail weka. It is you who has fired off on your own bandwagon. Evidence – “White middle class men hold certain priviliges in this society, and there is a conflict between doing right and retaining those privilges. ” The points were nothing to do with this subject. The fact you infer they do reflects on you and your world view. Read again.
I know you don’t get this but there is a difference between saying something as a man, and saying something as a white middle class man. When YOU take his statement to be about being a man, you are misrepresenting what he was talking about (IMO, he can clarify).
I’ve engaged in trying to respond to your statements but they just don’t make sense, and instead of you talking about what what you actually mean you keep asking others if they get what you mean or keep putting it back onto others to agree with your basic premises.
I have read what Tony said, multiple times now. I’ve also reread what you have said. My suggestion is that you take a step back and think about how to present your argument coherently because at the moment you are making statements based on lots of mistaken inferences and you’re not making a lot of sense. The onus is on you to make your case clearly, otherwise I’ll feel free to just write it off as a white man feeling sorry for himself and trying to undermine good class analysis to bolster his own shit.
Oh weka, that is your classic way of avoiding and dancing on a pinhead. Lets go to the specifics rather than the wafty general..
to repeat: example – why does his gender disqualify or affect his comment on te tiriti?
You claimed this is a false question and that Tony didn’t say this. I have shown where he did say it. Can you provide evidence to support your contention?
Here it is in another way;
Does gender disqualify or affect comment on te tiriti?
My gender alone does not disqualify me from having an informed opinion about the Treaty. However, all else being equal it does mean that my gender does not really give me a frame of reference from which to empathise with issues of diminished power, denied self determination, or socioeconomic marginalisation, among other things.
My ethnicity alone does not disqualify me from having an informed opinion about the Treaty. However, all else being equal it does mean that my gender does not really give me a frame of reference from which to empathise with issues of diminished power, denied self determination, or socioeconomic marginalisation, among other things.
My class alone does not disqualify me from having an informed opinion about the Treaty. However, all else being equal it does mean that my gender does not really give me a frame of reference from which to empathise with issues of diminished power, denied self determination, or socioeconomic marginalisation, among other things.
But all of those together mean that I have no real frame of reference for truly empathising with people disadvantaged by the Treaty. Its effects were only good for me. I can rationally say “oh, this land was taken, these people were killed, these wrongs have flowed down through the generations”, but I’ll never “get” it. Just as I’ll probably never “get” what it means to be imprisoned, or whatever. Some experiences you need to live to truly understand how life-changing they can be.
So pretty much all of my comments on the Treaty will be the equivalent of a virgin critiquing a brothel.
Yes McFlock, well done you have made the exact same mistake as your peers. All of that is well understood and has been countlessly acknowledged at many threads.
But that was not the point of the point was it.
It was not about the treaty failures and white privilege and institutional racism and all of that.
It was about the relevancy of Tony’s link between his gender, middleness and whiteness, to how the treaty may relate to TPP.
a very specific matter
But you have backed up my hobby horse that the words “white, middle, male” elicit kneejerk responses that have nowt to do with the specific question at hand. Weka has done it too – rambled off onto a long-winded rant about some other wider issues that weren’t part of the issue, mussed it all up and thrown in “you don’t make sense” in her usual fashion when questions get refused.
Just to repeat: It was about the relevancy of Tony’s link between his gender, middleness and whiteness, to how the treaty may relate to the TPP.
This is your typical attempt at a ‘get out of jail free’ card’ by claiming confusion when none exists, by claiming the writer hasn’t explained, by adding in all sorts of other wider and non-related issues to attempt to muss it all up. You wouldn’t happen to be a white middle-aged woman would you?
The issue is pinpointed and there.
When you get a question you struggle to answer you claim confusion. The confusion is yours and your failure to answer the question is the exact same as for the similar recent issue around opinionist Beck Eleven – which in the end was slam-dunked.
Thanks for proof to the point.
“white middle male” has become a kneejerk bucket into which any bullshit can be tossed willy-nilly… the onus is on the accusers such as yourself
Let’s concentrate on the target: TPP. This agreement affects us all, whatever race, gender and socio-economic strata we come from in NZ. We also need to look even further than that and see how it will affect the environment and the cost of medicines in developing countries. Regardless of our income, race or gender our unifying common factor is that we have empathy and compassion for our fellow human beings unlike those who run the big corporates driving this scummy TPP.
Wow! Strike out the white middle class etc bit. As a citizen of New Zealand I think we need to look to the Treaty as a means of saving us from the TPP crap we’re being subjected to. Is that better?
Actually, I don’t give a damn how we do it, so long as we don’t allow the National Party, on behalf of it’s corporate mates, to impose this agreement on the country. But I really do think that the Treaty will play a hugely significant part in that process.
Don’t worry about me Tony, this is an old sawhorse of mine, as you can see … I bore everybody with it too often and likely will continue to for some long time yet.
Time to get out in the garden and separate the dog and chook …. later
+1 Tony Veitch – don’t get drawn on the side issues from Vto.
The small pox infested blankets are still alive and well abet in a more modern form of ‘special interests funding’ in return for compliance. Look at Charter schools etc.
TPP is a threat to pretty much everyones sovereignty in this country, including the white middle class, working poor and local business and government and even the big multinationals themselves who some of are currently providing decent jobs in this country but stand to be replaced by the lowest common denominator’s like Serco style organisations who in back room deals with government deliver horrible results with public funds with zero enforcement of standards.
TPP stands for greed and protectionism not internationalism. It is an agreement to maintain the most dominant status quo without morals and there are plenty of examples of this from similar agreements that show the downfalls.
“We need the Maori people to organise Hikoi to rally the great mass of people against this damned document.”
Why should Māori do that? – So that others can not have their sovereignty ripped from under their feet, so that others don’t have to suffer as Māori have suffered and continue to suffer – is that the reason?
reminds me a bit of the tour – so great having Māori in the front taking the hits for others – not a thought in the world about why Māori individually were there and now the same with why Māori may oppose the TPPA – hint – it’s not to protect the lifestyles of the big middle.
The TPP I think is certainly bringing to the fore for many how it must be for Maori to have suffered after the last world power came to dominate these lands and impose their sovereignty on the people living here …
it is absolutely NOTHING like it – colonisation is a specific process – this TPPA is not colonisation – it is horrible, unnecessary and bogus but it is not the same as what has happened to Māori and other indigenous peoples around this world.
The sticky point for you is the same as your comments above – privilege and power and how they intersect to dominate defined groups.
Well that’s not right marty mars, as there are indeed similarities.
Gotta run, but perhaps you could think of signing the TPP being similar to all the promises made to placate Maori around the signing of Te Tiriti in 1840. Lets check where NZ is in another 50 years on the basis of signing this 2015 treaty with foreign powers…
similarity one: 1840 a treaty was signed between people living in these lands and the world’s largest power. 2015: a treaty is to be signed between people living in these lands and a group of nations led by the world’s largest power.
similarity two: the 1840 treaty dealt with issues of sovereignty. The 2015 treaty deals with issues of sovereignty.
future similarity?: 50 years after the 1840 treaty the large signing power had stomped all over the local party on the basis of the treaty. In 50 years from now, will we find that the large signing power has stomped all over the local party on the basis of the treaty? (example might be virtually all land owned offshore by then).
I apologise – I was being too black and white about it – of course there are similarities from the high view. The ones you mention could be argued I think but I’m disinclined to do that especially in the way you’ve framed them. Certainly, when I think about it, the fact that people are gaining more chaos, in that uncertainty has increased, is a universal between the two situations. I cannot see any good from the TPPA and, well, you know my views on the Treaty and subsequent events.
Again, you’re right, there is no connection between being Maori and opposing the TPP. I think it was just an association of ideas in my mind – hikoi and Maori. WE, the collective pronoun, the people of this country, need to get off our backsides and organise mass rallies against this abomination.
And now we wait for the Maori Party to take some strong action re the TPPA!
I won’t be holding my breath though, because they are all for breathing life into NatzKEY’s backside to keep it going, regardless of the negative effects the deal will have on the already impoverished, of which a considerable amount of Maori represent.
The Maori Party = a bunch of cheap, self serving quislings!
It’s not the Palestinians that are violent but the Israelis. Of course, Israel itself is an invasion of Palestine and thus the only people who have a claim of self-defence is the Palestinians.
‘Israeli troops have opened fire on Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border fence, killing at least six of them, while a Hamas leader proclaimed the start of a new intifada uprising and the two sides braced for protracted confrontation.’
Jerusalem has remained tense now for almost a year. Most analysts blame the recent heightened tension on several factors. Key among them has been the issue of the religious site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and Jews as the Temple Mount.
‘A long-running campaign by some fundamentalist Jews and their supporters for expanding their rights to worship in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount, supported by rightwing members of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s own cabinet, has raised the suspicion – despite repeated Israeli denials – that Israel intends to change the precarious status quo for the site, which has been governed under the auspices of the Jordanian monarchy since 1967.
Jerusalem at boiling point of polarisation and violence – EU report
Read more
Recent Israeli police actions at the site scandalised the Muslim world and raised tensions. Israel has also banned two volunteer Islamic watch groups – male and female – accusing them of harassing Jews during the hours they are allowed to visit.
That has combined with the lack of a peace process and growing resentment and frustration in Palestinian society aimed at both Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian Authority.’
hah, download, chrome, install hola, get a chromecast and watch ITV live coverage for free.
no need to be subjected to nissssbo and smiiiithy.
the subjective commentary is quite interesting as well.
Banter has its place—but Smith’s is of such a low and witless standard it affects the enjoyment of the broadcast. He’s the worst football broadcaster of any kind; the only one I can think of who is comparably bad is Rush Limbaugh, who was appointed, after someone at ABC had a brain explosion, to the Monday Night Football commentary team.
The Americans do, however, have some standards, and Limbaugh was soon shown the door. New Zealanders, on the other hand, are infinitely generous, and prepared to suffer a fool. Smith has been stinking up rugby broadcasts for years and seems to be ensconced.
You’re a bit liverish and unpleasant this a.m. VTO. Tony hardly deserves that sort of reaction from what was a heartfelt and reasonable contribution to this forum.
It’s not your writing habit or style; it’s your inability to recognise systemic privilege and its general effects and then your attempts to flip the whole phenomenon on its head and suggest some form of victimhood.
I can’t get why you’re unable to comprehend that even the most done over and rubbed out ‘white’ middle class male occupies a space of cultural and political privilege in this society – and that persists regardless of their particular/ individual experience or what may have come to pass for them.
I can’t comprehend why you misinterpret what I have written. Most people do though because the “white middle class male” has become such a knee-jerk dump for whatever people wish to toss into it.
I think you and others need to look more closely at the detail of what is written and stop the wholesale instant assumptions. You come across like the white middle class male from the 1950’s unable to understand what the women are complaining about. In reverse. Get it?
sounds a bit like contrition. I hope so. If not, I could break my own rules (as I’m doing now), and come in every day to tell you just how gorgeous you are – backed by a cast of thousands. That’d be a bit of a shame though – if that was what was required to coax your better side.
Anyway, you’re gorgeous darling! Keep commenting, but make sure your briefs are starched, stiffened and ironed in all the appropriate places. And always make sure you get out on the left side of the bed.
Interview with Michael Hudson on the neoliberal predatory financialisation con which impoverishes ordinary citizens. Based on his book ” Killing the Host, How financial parasites and debt bondage destroy the global economy ”
This interview particularly relates to NZ especially our obscene housing cost bubble that enriches speculators while making our homes unaffordable for our young couples. plus the privatisation of public income producing assets to enrich overseas investers/speculators Key represents this neoliberal rot to the extreme, this money trader didn’t make his millions by a fair day’s graft, yet so many are bamboozled by his easy going smooth persona: all show and no guts except to make his parasite class richer.
Some headings from the interview:
Democratic vs. oligarchic government and their respective economic doctrines
The concept and theory of economic rent
The Austrian School vs. government regulation and pro-labor policies
The case of Latvia: Is it a success story, or a neoliberal disaster?
The Troika and IMF doctrine of austerity and privatization
Financialization of pension plans and retirement savings
Obama’s demagogic role as Wall Street shill for the Rubinomics gang
Early Childhood Education…has come under a fair amount of scrutiny of late in MSM.
Any industry reliant on Government Funding is going to do all in its power to ensure that the $$$ coming from the taxpayer are channeled through its accounts.
Whether or not they are providing an adequate service.
Whether or not the clients are safe.
I have grown children and as yet no mokos, so I’m not within this arena, but I would be interested to hear the opinions of others on this issue.
I am an early childhood teacher. Previously I was involved in Playcentre for eleven years. I am fortunate to work at a small centre with a low staff turnover so we really know our children and families. I believe that we have all got very messed up about what sort of education young children need. They need to be loved, to have a sense of self and know who they are, they need to learn social skills and physical skills, to be able to explore and make sense of the world and very importantly they need to learn language preferably their mother tongue. I believe that these things are best taught by parents and whanau, the people who really know and love a child.
The Te Whaariki curriculum has four principles, holistic development, family and community, relationships and empowerment. It has four strands: well being, belonging, contribution, communication and exploration. I think that what it points to is getting the early childhood centre to be as much as possible like a good caring home. Unfortunately a lot of people are very messed up about early childhood education and think it is about literacy and numeracy so they are quite attracted to the idea of structured school-like centres. Parents lose confidence and think they are not enough for their young children. When you couple that with low ratios such as one teacher per five children who are under two and one adult to 10 children with over two children you can see how children won’t be getting the stuff they need which their families can give them.
Some centres have huge group sizes – my centre has only 20 children. Licensing changes by this government have allowed as many as 75 under two children in a group or 150 over two children. Can you imagine the noise and the chaos. Many centres in low income areas pick the children up in vans and a consequence of this is that the parents don’t see what is going on in the centre. An excellent book if someone wants to read the opinion of an ECE teacher in New Zealand is “Suffer the Little Children” by David Smith. The child forum website childforum.com has a range of articles if you want more information.
I think the real tragedy is a lot of this is caused by governments believing it is better that parents be out in the workforce than caring for their infants and young children. They are prepared to pay big money to centres for instance they will pay $12.33 an hour for an under two child for up to 30 hours per week if the centre has at least 80% qualified staff which works out at $369. http://www.education.govt.nz/early-childhood/running-an-ece-service/funding/ece-funding-handbook/appendix-one/
This is before we start with possible winz subsidies and the fees parents pay on top of that. I have always wondered why parents don’t have the option of taking the money themselves in the form of a parental leave benefit if they would prefer to do so. I guess it comes down to the government being happy to give benefits to corporations and not families. This is a discussion that really needs to be had.
Not only because I agree 100% with all you say…especially your last paragraph…but because you have given a full and considered reply.
My area of expertise is MOH:DSS disability supports.
I see many parallels between the two industries.
If someone else is providing the nurturing (care) the nurturing (care) has a $$$ value. And the corporations win.
If the SAME nurturing (care) is provided by family….it is worth nothing….even though providing that nurturing (care) keeps the nurturer (carer) out of the paid workforce.
Thank you Rosemary MacDonald for raising this issue. A lot of early childhood teachers won’t speak up out of fear for their jobs. I am fortunate to work in a centre with a collective agreement with a union many ece teachers are not unionised. There are all sorts of staffing issues as well, such as teachers not taking breaks because no relievers are provided and the teachers don’t want to put children at risk. Also staff who are doing non-contact are sometimes counted in the ratio.
I think there are also issues around women in caring roles in the workforce sacrificing their personal needs for the the people they care for a bit like what mothers do in families.
And you know what TFG…I am so over hearing about people being too scared to speak up for fear of their jobs.
I know this is a very real issue and I do sympathise…but there MUST be a way to get round this.
General question to all….has anyone been fired for speaking up, and then taken a case to the ET?
“I think there are also issues around women in caring roles in the workforce sacrificing their personal needs for the the people they care for a bit like what mothers do in families.”
Marylin Waring (hero, IMB) wrote a book called “Counting For Nothing”
The other thing I would like to mention is the change of emphasis from care to education which has happened as a result of the move from childcare from social welfate dept to education ministry in the 90s. Originally you used to see a lot of places with care in the name eg childcare daycare. Then the names changed to educare or care and education centres. Now they seem to be early learning centres. Care has gone from the names. Care is what little kids need most and it is what families do best. Our society doesn’t seem to value it
“Care is what little kids need most and it is what families do best. Our society doesn’t seem to value it”
No, because it is ‘women’s work’. It is ‘natural’.
BUT…if you change the name of it to something that sounds, well, more professional….all of a sudden you have a skill, a marketable commodity.,.
And you can open up the ‘market’ to private enterprise…because we all know the private sector does SO much better.
What mothers do is “natural support”.
The Atkinson case ( family carers and adult disabled went to the Human Rights Review Tribunal claiming the Govt. was discriminatory for not allowing family carers to be paid)
The Misery of Health claimed that family care was “natural support”, part of the (unwritten) social contract that family do not get paid for caring for family.
Family who could not or would not provide the care that their adult disabled family member had been assessed as needing were not penalised in any way. They could go out to work, earn a living, pay the mortgage, save for their retirement and make no further financial contribution towards the care of their disabled family member other than the usual PAYE.
Those (like myself) who do provide some or all of the care that family member has been assessed as needing are not paid (other than the benefit) because we are ‘not providing the same type of care that a contracted provider would be providing.’ In many cases, family provide the care because the needs of the disabled family member are too high and complex for the ‘professionals’ to provide safely. We are providing “natural support”.
The Miserly of Health concept of “natural support” was pretty much debunked by the HRRT.
This case was about the care needed by over 18 year olds. Adults.
Under that age….considered parents duty to provide care….even if providing that care prevents one or both parents from participating in paid work.
Likewise with childcare….back when mine were little (27 years ago) the economy was just getting to the stage when if you wanted to ‘get ahead’ (mortgage interest up at 18%!) both Mum and Dad had to work.
We juggled jobs and childcare duties, only those on high incomes could afford fulltime childcare.
How much has changed since then!
You quoted a government spend of over $350 per week for under twos????
And to my knowledge, the primary caregiver does not have to be in work or study to qualify for this ‘subsidy’.
So why?
To be honest, i don’t get why that same amount cannot be paid to a parent to chooses not to factory farm their child.
When, (hah!), the review of Charter Schools supports the theory that lower child to adult ratios in learning environments have better ‘outcomes’ for the child.
This is all very confusing.
Well, not really, but getting one’s head around the inconsistencies is brain boggling.
It would make an interesting case for the CPAG…trying to get the ECE subsidy paid to parents who choose not to put their kids in ECE care.
What you said about young children ” …need to be loved, to have a sense of self and know who they are, they need to learn social skills and physical skills, to be able to explore and make sense of the world and very importantly they need to learn language …”
Young children are constantly asking questions. CONSTANTLY.
“Mum, why?” “Mum, what?” “Mum, where?”
How are these questing minds supposed to be satisfied in the ECE environment.?
They won’t be.
So the child will stop asking questions.
And they will grow to be adults who don’t ask questions.
Adults that simply accept the pap and drivel that is fed to them.
It is the institutionalization that means that the kind of attention to individual needs like encouraging a child’s questions or curiosity gets lost. Of course teachers will be running around taking photos and writing learning stories to prove children are learning but even that takes away the time that they could be spending with children. This is another whole issue – the issue of accountability versus responsibility. If you are accountable the concern is covering your butt. If you are responsible you are a professional and you will be respected and act as an advocate for children. Pasi Sahlberg the Finnish educator who recently visited New Zealand has some good stuff on this and how different the Finnish education system is where teachers are respected and there is minimal testing.
The institutionalization means that children sometimes have to follow routines for the adults i.e eating at certain times or sleeping at certain times. Some centres are better than that but not all. Also parents with no sick leave left or perhaps no sick leave at all will take their children in sick dosed up with pamol meaning germs get spread to other children. Children under the care of their families can have much more flexibility – stay home in bed if they are sick.
There are some centres with good ratios where children do get an ok deal. Often these are ones that also charge parents high fees. I am very concerned that children of beneficiaries are being pushed into ece because the centres they may be pushed into are not always the good quality ones.
” am very concerned that children of beneficiaries are being pushed into ece because the centres they may be pushed into are not always the good quality ones.”
Me too, I have seen this. Parent is not necessarily using that child free time to train or upskill. How much better the old Playcentre thing, only pay parent helpers/participants?
perhaps there is a ‘gold standard’?
Every morning I wake up and thank the Deity that I no longer have to deal with the education system via my children.
Yes the good old days of Playcentre. This uniquely New Zealand organisation is now struggling and numbers are going down. Many parents who use Playcentre also put their children in care so they can work part-time. The 20 hours free system had the effect of most ECE centres going to the full day model including kindergartens so they could maximise funding so the option of sessional kindergarten is also largely gone.
ah something to be grateful for then. Can’t hear an leaf blowers this morning, although it’s hard to tell above the noise of at least 2 lawnmowers and 2 weedeaters (didn’t think I had that many neighbours).
Well I had my own back this Saturday morning. I had the house washers on site to give my place a once in two years clean. Complete with ear-splitting machines, they started shortly after the AB match started, and finished shortly before the match finished.
More propaganda.
That makes about 20 articles pumped out by New Zealand Pravda to tell the people how amazing the TPP is.
And only Bryan Gould’s piece to counter this.
The North Korean Herald. Pimping for transnational corporations.
David Snell is another vested interest.
He is an executive director at Ernst & Young.
Ernst & Young (trading as EY) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the “Big Four” audit firms and is the third largest professional services firm in the world by aggregated revenue in 2014, after PwC and Deloitte.
Pity the Herald/Pravda does not show up these conflicts of interest.
So how do we create a stronger, fairer, and more sustainable economic model in
which the many and not just the few benefit from rising prosperity now and into
the future? This is not just a question for governments but for companies and
citizens as well.
While some on the left seek to turn away from globalization and technology, that
is not a realistic option. No country can prosper in isolation. And firms that stand
still and do not adapt to new technology inevitably lose out in global competition.
Without successful entrepreneurs and wealth creation that finances investment,
there is no possibility for progress. But if successful businesses are necessary for
economic success, they are far from sufficient.
Those on the right who argue for a return to laissez-faire, trickle-down economics—cutting taxes at the top, stripping out regulation, and making deep cuts to public services—do not provide a viable alternative. Developed countries cannot
succeed through a race to the bottom in which companies simply compete on cost
as workers see their job security erode and their living standards decline.
According to world famous physicist Stephen Hawking, the rising use of automated machines may mean the end of human rights – not just jobs. But he’s not talking about robots with artificial intelligence taking over the world, he’s talking about the current capitalist political system and its major players.
If we do not take this warning seriously, we may face unfathomable corporate domination. If we let the same people who buy and sell our political system and resources maintain control of automated technology, then we’ll be heading towards a very harsh reality.
+1, and news today that NASA plans on colonising Mars in the next 20 years sound like complete science fiction. Resources and money are going to be completely stretched on planet earth without being siphoned off onto another planet.
But more than that. It is not using the modern skills and the money that has been created to maintain and refurbish the advanced society we have created. The wealthy can’t cut corners squeeze money out of the society and still have a vibrant world to live in.
And they can’t throw cold-blooded hissy fits when they don’t get their own way and cut their servants’ arms off.
“In his latest book, ‘Light It Up: The Marine Eye for Battle in the War for Iraq ‘ historian John Pettegrew takes a look at the crucial role visual culture has played in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He examines the effects of ‘war porn’, and popular images of battle, in video games and on TV, as well as how military technologies of seeing have determined the killing power of the American war effort.”
I am wondering what Steve Braunias is up to with his turning to matter of the lost papers in the dotcom case on its head, he obviously knows that it was the crown who mmisplaced its documents. Is it that he is making a point about just how much deceit media and the herald get away with?
just watching Hollow Men again – still disgusting, still shocking – I REFUSE to forget these gnat scum and their hideous agenda and yes I mean you too dirtymat.
I am having trouble with the site. My comments aren’t coming through, when I refresh by pressing Home still nothing, then F5 still nothing, then F5 again and get time-outed. So I can’t participate. What’s happening?
[r0b: Sorry, not sure why your last 3 comments were caught. All released now.]
Thanks r0b I hope that doesn’t happen again. (Just checked – the latest one I just put on this morning hasn’t come up. Has the gill net got smaller sized and catching the small fry now?)
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
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. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
RELEASE: #TPP final negotiated text covering the internet, copyrights, patents, drugs https://wikileaks.org/tpp-ip3/
Wikileaks release of TPP deal text confirms ‘freedom of expression’ fears
Intellectual property rights chapter appears to give Trans-Pacific Partnership countries’ countries greater power to stop information from going public
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/09/wikileaks-releases-tpp-intellectual-property-rights-chapter
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/internet-providers-would-be-forced-to-block-filesharing-sites-under-tpp
Thanks Tautoko Manga Mata. I tried to make sense of what I read but it is too hard and now my brain hurts. It does need interpretation by some clever people so that I can tell whether to be for or against TPP.
Wonder how others feel?
My father fought in World War II with the 20th Battalion, in Greece and Crete and North Africa. He fought for a democratic way of life then sacred in this country. Many New Zealanders paid a high price, the highest price, for that democracy.
All of the above is sentimental crap perhaps, and also perhaps has no place in our me/me society. But it still remains a strong motivation for me and, I hope, for many others of my generation, the baby boomers born just after the war.
I have been decidedly middle class all my working life but, unlike Key, I haven’t forgotten my origins, nor the enormous debt I owe my society for making my transition from a working class family to university and a professional life so easy and so possible.
We MUST stop this TPP crap before it becomes so cemented into place in our society that escape is almost impossible. This will be, in our history, one of the defining moments – whether we retain our ability to govern ourselves or whether we tamely hand our rights over to the big corporates.
And as a white, middle-class male, I’ve got to say, we need to get behind the Treaty of Waitangi. That remarkable document, which can mean so much to so many different people, could be the way to save this country. Prove the TPP violates the treaty and it’s history! We need the Maori people to organise Hikoi to rally the great mass of people against this damned document.
I will be out on the streets in any and all protests over the next few months!
“And as a white, middle-class male, I’ve got to say, we need to get behind the Treaty of Waitangi.”
Good grief
As opposed to being female?
As opposed to being rich or poor?
As opposed to being non-white?
ffs, some shit gets dropped into that boring old crockpot of bigotry
Rather an extreme reaction to my stating how unqualified I am to be spouting on about the Treaty. Perhaps it’s my fault for assuming that white middle-class males would not normally support the treaty – in which case I am admitting to a certain amount of bigotry. But, that aside, the treaty could assume a huge importance for this country – far beyond what the original drafters ever envisioned.
Do you seriously believe you are unqualified because you are white, middle and male?
Do you imagine non-whites are more qualified?
Do you imagine women are more qualified?
Do you imagine rich people are more qualified?
confused and cringed
edit: I actually agree on your point about the treaty and its position of strength in dealing with the TPP
Don’t worry Tony, its just vto’s usual tangent about how any mention of white, middle class, male is bigotry because white dudes are as put upon as anyone else (and no, that doesn’t make any kind of sense).
good comment from you btw.
No, it doesn’t, you’re right
Tony, I am female and have worked for 35 years to buy a house and provide for my children, I am not offended by your words. I take heart that many people from all demographics realise what what previous generations have sacrificed for, is being squandered. Leaving the next generation without any hope of living a debt free life and losing the health service and secure jobs etc does not make sense to me, like John Key, I would like to see my children (and others) be able to enjoy at least the same security we had.
The wealth gap is reflected in our children, and some have far more than they can appreciate, whilst so many more have to struggle constantly just to hope for an education, living wage and a secure home.
Kiaora VTO
Why be so negative about a person making comments from the position of a middle class white male.
If more middle class white men thought and acted as Tony there would be no need for women, the poor, and the non-white to hit the pavements in protest.
Hi Adele, because it bore no relation to the points being made.
Lumping in the hoary old “white middle male” when it doesn’t apply simply reflects unthinking prejudice – in this against himself in klassic kiwi kringe fashion.
You last paragraph is an interesting one for another day.
“If more middle class white men thought and acted as Tony there would be no need for women, the poor, and the non-white to hit the pavements in protest.”
Plus a zillion.
Oh. So the implication from that is that rich men do enough, and poor men do enough. Do you see where this old clanger always falls apart?
that doesn’t make any sense either vto, and I suspect you are being deliberately obtuse.
Tony expressed something important from his own identity. You’ve almost completely ignored what he was talking about and instead have deliberately misconstrued a whole bunch of stuff about how he identified. Sorry but you don’t get to say how other people identify.
You are now appropriating this conversation away from the important issues that Tony raised about the TPP and Te Tiriti and instead making it all about your own personal antipathy and agenda about certain kinds of identity politics. I wouldn’t mind so much if your argument had any kind of logic to it, but what you’ve just said shows that it’s nonesense. You’ve taken an implication that no-one else has and you’re skewing what is being said here. I think that’s really off tbh.
No weka, completely disagree, re-read my point about his point about being white male and middle and how it relates to the issues – it doesn’t, that was the whole point.
It is this continual knee-jerk around anything and everything white middle and male that is off. It is bullshit. Total bullshit.
example – why does his gender disqualify or affect his comment on te tiriti?
further example – why would middle class people need to do more re those matters than rich people?
I would be interested in your answer to those two examples
“example – why does his gender disqualify or affect his comment on te tiriti?”
false question. He didn’t say that as a man he wasn’t qualified.
“further example – why would middle class people need to do more re those matters than rich people?”
Another false question. He didn’t say that middle class people need to do more than rich people. You just made that up
Like I said, you are the one making inferences that nobody else is and then you are expecting other people to defend your own (quite frankly ridiculous) propositions.
Just to make it really clear. White middle class men hold certain priviliges in this society, and there is a conflict between doing right and retaining those privilges. But don’t take that to mean that other classes of people don’t also have privilge and conflicts of their own. We all do.
When white middle class men start to take responsibility for how their privilege affects other people, that’s a good thing.
“false question. He didn’t say that as a man he wasn’t qualified. ”
Yes he did. Read again. He said “as a white, middle-class male” and ” my stating how unqualified I am to be spouting on ”
“He didn’t say that middle class people need to do more than rich people.”
Yes he did. Read again. Same thing.
Read the detail weka. It is you who has fired off on your own bandwagon. Evidence – “White middle class men hold certain priviliges in this society, and there is a conflict between doing right and retaining those privilges. ” The points were nothing to do with this subject. The fact you infer they do reflects on you and your world view. Read again.
I know you don’t get this but there is a difference between saying something as a man, and saying something as a white middle class man. When YOU take his statement to be about being a man, you are misrepresenting what he was talking about (IMO, he can clarify).
I’ve engaged in trying to respond to your statements but they just don’t make sense, and instead of you talking about what what you actually mean you keep asking others if they get what you mean or keep putting it back onto others to agree with your basic premises.
I have read what Tony said, multiple times now. I’ve also reread what you have said. My suggestion is that you take a step back and think about how to present your argument coherently because at the moment you are making statements based on lots of mistaken inferences and you’re not making a lot of sense. The onus is on you to make your case clearly, otherwise I’ll feel free to just write it off as a white man feeling sorry for himself and trying to undermine good class analysis to bolster his own shit.
Oh weka, that is your classic way of avoiding and dancing on a pinhead. Lets go to the specifics rather than the wafty general..
to repeat: example – why does his gender disqualify or affect his comment on te tiriti?
You claimed this is a false question and that Tony didn’t say this. I have shown where he did say it. Can you provide evidence to support your contention?
Here it is in another way;
Does gender disqualify or affect comment on te tiriti?
VTO, I’m another white, middle class male.
My gender alone does not disqualify me from having an informed opinion about the Treaty. However, all else being equal it does mean that my gender does not really give me a frame of reference from which to empathise with issues of diminished power, denied self determination, or socioeconomic marginalisation, among other things.
My ethnicity alone does not disqualify me from having an informed opinion about the Treaty. However, all else being equal it does mean that my gender does not really give me a frame of reference from which to empathise with issues of diminished power, denied self determination, or socioeconomic marginalisation, among other things.
My class alone does not disqualify me from having an informed opinion about the Treaty. However, all else being equal it does mean that my gender does not really give me a frame of reference from which to empathise with issues of diminished power, denied self determination, or socioeconomic marginalisation, among other things.
But all of those together mean that I have no real frame of reference for truly empathising with people disadvantaged by the Treaty. Its effects were only good for me. I can rationally say “oh, this land was taken, these people were killed, these wrongs have flowed down through the generations”, but I’ll never “get” it. Just as I’ll probably never “get” what it means to be imprisoned, or whatever. Some experiences you need to live to truly understand how life-changing they can be.
So pretty much all of my comments on the Treaty will be the equivalent of a virgin critiquing a brothel.
Yes McFlock, well done you have made the exact same mistake as your peers. All of that is well understood and has been countlessly acknowledged at many threads.
But that was not the point of the point was it.
It was not about the treaty failures and white privilege and institutional racism and all of that.
It was about the relevancy of Tony’s link between his gender, middleness and whiteness, to how the treaty may relate to TPP.
a very specific matter
But you have backed up my hobby horse that the words “white, middle, male” elicit kneejerk responses that have nowt to do with the specific question at hand. Weka has done it too – rambled off onto a long-winded rant about some other wider issues that weren’t part of the issue, mussed it all up and thrown in “you don’t make sense” in her usual fashion when questions get refused.
Just to repeat: It was about the relevancy of Tony’s link between his gender, middleness and whiteness, to how the treaty may relate to the TPP.
I notice you still haven’t explained your own position apart from the fact that you don’t like Tony’s identifying as white, male and middle class.
Full of air vto, no substance. Well done on the distraction though.
Bullshit weka you’re full of it.
This is your typical attempt at a ‘get out of jail free’ card’ by claiming confusion when none exists, by claiming the writer hasn’t explained, by adding in all sorts of other wider and non-related issues to attempt to muss it all up. You wouldn’t happen to be a white middle-aged woman would you?
The issue is pinpointed and there.
When you get a question you struggle to answer you claim confusion. The confusion is yours and your failure to answer the question is the exact same as for the similar recent issue around opinionist Beck Eleven – which in the end was slam-dunked.
Thanks for proof to the point.
“white middle male” has become a kneejerk bucket into which any bullshit can be tossed willy-nilly… the onus is on the accusers such as yourself
Let’s concentrate on the target: TPP. This agreement affects us all, whatever race, gender and socio-economic strata we come from in NZ. We also need to look even further than that and see how it will affect the environment and the cost of medicines in developing countries. Regardless of our income, race or gender our unifying common factor is that we have empathy and compassion for our fellow human beings unlike those who run the big corporates driving this scummy TPP.
Exactly exactly
Wow! Strike out the white middle class etc bit. As a citizen of New Zealand I think we need to look to the Treaty as a means of saving us from the TPP crap we’re being subjected to. Is that better?
Actually, I don’t give a damn how we do it, so long as we don’t allow the National Party, on behalf of it’s corporate mates, to impose this agreement on the country. But I really do think that the Treaty will play a hugely significant part in that process.
Agree completely
Don’t worry about me Tony, this is an old sawhorse of mine, as you can see … I bore everybody with it too often and likely will continue to for some long time yet.
Time to get out in the garden and separate the dog and chook …. later
bang on the nail Adele
Thinking the same thing! 🙄
I’ll be there too… and with others ka whawhai tonu mātou.
+1
Count this ‘white’ and working class foreigner in. 😉
+1 Tony Veitch – don’t get drawn on the side issues from Vto.
The small pox infested blankets are still alive and well abet in a more modern form of ‘special interests funding’ in return for compliance. Look at Charter schools etc.
TPP is a threat to pretty much everyones sovereignty in this country, including the white middle class, working poor and local business and government and even the big multinationals themselves who some of are currently providing decent jobs in this country but stand to be replaced by the lowest common denominator’s like Serco style organisations who in back room deals with government deliver horrible results with public funds with zero enforcement of standards.
TPP stands for greed and protectionism not internationalism. It is an agreement to maintain the most dominant status quo without morals and there are plenty of examples of this from similar agreements that show the downfalls.
Yep.
“We need the Maori people to organise Hikoi to rally the great mass of people against this damned document.”
Why should Māori do that? – So that others can not have their sovereignty ripped from under their feet, so that others don’t have to suffer as Māori have suffered and continue to suffer – is that the reason?
reminds me a bit of the tour – so great having Māori in the front taking the hits for others – not a thought in the world about why Māori individually were there and now the same with why Māori may oppose the TPPA – hint – it’s not to protect the lifestyles of the big middle.
The TPP I think is certainly bringing to the fore for many how it must be for Maori to have suffered after the last world power came to dominate these lands and impose their sovereignty on the people living here …
it sucks
it is absolutely NOTHING like it – colonisation is a specific process – this TPPA is not colonisation – it is horrible, unnecessary and bogus but it is not the same as what has happened to Māori and other indigenous peoples around this world.
The sticky point for you is the same as your comments above – privilege and power and how they intersect to dominate defined groups.
Well that’s not right marty mars, as there are indeed similarities.
Gotta run, but perhaps you could think of signing the TPP being similar to all the promises made to placate Maori around the signing of Te Tiriti in 1840. Lets check where NZ is in another 50 years on the basis of signing this 2015 treaty with foreign powers…
you don’t know what you are talking about
Oh right. I would suggest you are too conflicted to see clearly
sure maybe – put up a couple of similarities and I’ll explain what i mean.
similarity one: 1840 a treaty was signed between people living in these lands and the world’s largest power. 2015: a treaty is to be signed between people living in these lands and a group of nations led by the world’s largest power.
similarity two: the 1840 treaty dealt with issues of sovereignty. The 2015 treaty deals with issues of sovereignty.
future similarity?: 50 years after the 1840 treaty the large signing power had stomped all over the local party on the basis of the treaty. In 50 years from now, will we find that the large signing power has stomped all over the local party on the basis of the treaty? (example might be virtually all land owned offshore by then).
it’s a high view picture
I apologise – I was being too black and white about it – of course there are similarities from the high view. The ones you mention could be argued I think but I’m disinclined to do that especially in the way you’ve framed them. Certainly, when I think about it, the fact that people are gaining more chaos, in that uncertainty has increased, is a universal between the two situations. I cannot see any good from the TPPA and, well, you know my views on the Treaty and subsequent events.
Again, you’re right, there is no connection between being Maori and opposing the TPP. I think it was just an association of ideas in my mind – hikoi and Maori. WE, the collective pronoun, the people of this country, need to get off our backsides and organise mass rallies against this abomination.
+1
We’re all being shafted by the corporations and it needs to be stopped and we need to work together to stop it.
+1
(2) – Good one Tony 🙂
And now we wait for the Maori Party to take some strong action re the TPPA!
I won’t be holding my breath though, because they are all for breathing life into NatzKEY’s backside to keep it going, regardless of the negative effects the deal will have on the already impoverished, of which a considerable amount of Maori represent.
The Maori Party = a bunch of cheap, self serving quislings!
Yeah nah the foreign investors were having negligible impact on Auckland’s housing market…..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/72855966/chinese-buyers-desert-auckland-market-brokers-say
Watch the prices now begin to sink…
And the bullshit lies of Key, English and Smith get exposed for the deceptions they were ….
liars
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11921994/Why-is-the-world-ignoring-a-wave-of-terror-in-Israel.html
Because the reporting of Palestinian violence does not suit the agenda of the left
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/israel-opens-fire-palestinians-gaza-border-151009114132806.html
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/27/israel-kills-more-palestinians-2014-than-any-other-year-since-1967
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/israeli-troops-kill-palestinian-west-bank-2014121654947797159.html
It’s not the Palestinians that are violent but the Israelis. Of course, Israel itself is an invasion of Palestine and thus the only people who have a claim of self-defence is the Palestinians.
The Torygraph is not a reliable source.
‘Israeli troops have opened fire on Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border fence, killing at least six of them, while a Hamas leader proclaimed the start of a new intifada uprising and the two sides braced for protracted confrontation.’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-shootings-hamas-pledge-new-intifada-as-day-of-rage-sees-israeli-soldiers-kill-six-palestinian-a6688586.html
Jerusalem has remained tense now for almost a year. Most analysts blame the recent heightened tension on several factors. Key among them has been the issue of the religious site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and Jews as the Temple Mount.
‘A long-running campaign by some fundamentalist Jews and their supporters for expanding their rights to worship in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount, supported by rightwing members of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s own cabinet, has raised the suspicion – despite repeated Israeli denials – that Israel intends to change the precarious status quo for the site, which has been governed under the auspices of the Jordanian monarchy since 1967.
Jerusalem at boiling point of polarisation and violence – EU report
Read more
Recent Israeli police actions at the site scandalised the Muslim world and raised tensions. Israel has also banned two volunteer Islamic watch groups – male and female – accusing them of harassing Jews during the hours they are allowed to visit.
That has combined with the lack of a peace process and growing resentment and frustration in Palestinian society aimed at both Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian Authority.’
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/oct/07/violence-israel-palestinian-territories-guardian-briefing
Because the reporting of
PalestinianIsraeli violence does not suit the agenda of theleftRWNJ’s.http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Suspects-from-extremist-Jewish-group-indicted-for-arson-of-Church-of-Loaves-and-Fishes-410486
Because the reporting of
PalestinianIsraeli violence does not suit the agenda of theleftRWNJ’s.https://twitter.com/lana_palestine/status/652592191332679680
Tory, you’re out of your depth. You need to stop commenting on this topic. You obviously know nothing.
Why is Ian Smith a rugby commentator?
He seems to know nothing about the game, but he’s always the sideline commentator for All Black games.
Why?
Does anybody know?
He seems very good mates with Nisbo. That may have helped.
The quality in commentators has gone downhill in recent years, focusing more an banter than any form of expert analysis.
hah, download, chrome, install hola, get a chromecast and watch ITV live coverage for free.
no need to be subjected to nissssbo and smiiiithy.
the subjective commentary is quite interesting as well.
Banter has its place—but Smith’s is of such a low and witless standard it affects the enjoyment of the broadcast. He’s the worst football broadcaster of any kind; the only one I can think of who is comparably bad is Rush Limbaugh, who was appointed, after someone at ABC had a brain explosion, to the Monday Night Football commentary team.
The Americans do, however, have some standards, and Limbaugh was soon shown the door. New Zealanders, on the other hand, are infinitely generous, and prepared to suffer a fool. Smith has been stinking up rugby broadcasts for years and seems to be ensconced.
You’re a bit liverish and unpleasant this a.m. VTO. Tony hardly deserves that sort of reaction from what was a heartfelt and reasonable contribution to this forum.
yes, I seem to have a writing habit that comes across harder than intended.
It’s not your writing habit or style; it’s your inability to recognise systemic privilege and its general effects and then your attempts to flip the whole phenomenon on its head and suggest some form of victimhood.
I can’t get why you’re unable to comprehend that even the most done over and rubbed out ‘white’ middle class male occupies a space of cultural and political privilege in this society – and that persists regardless of their particular/ individual experience or what may have come to pass for them.
I do comprehend that Bill.
I can’t comprehend why you misinterpret what I have written. Most people do though because the “white middle class male” has become such a knee-jerk dump for whatever people wish to toss into it.
I think you and others need to look more closely at the detail of what is written and stop the wholesale instant assumptions. You come across like the white middle class male from the 1950’s unable to understand what the women are complaining about. In reverse. Get it?
sounds a bit like contrition. I hope so. If not, I could break my own rules (as I’m doing now), and come in every day to tell you just how gorgeous you are – backed by a cast of thousands. That’d be a bit of a shame though – if that was what was required to coax your better side.
Anyway, you’re gorgeous darling! Keep commenting, but make sure your briefs are starched, stiffened and ironed in all the appropriate places. And always make sure you get out on the left side of the bed.
Teenaa koe, Tory
Rather ironic that the linked article has an image of a man using a slingshot.
For me, it kind of brings into focus the power imbalance that exists between the two nation states. A modern day David and Goliath epic.
+1
” Parasites in the Body Economic: the Disasters of Neoliberalism ”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/05/parasites-in-the-body-economic-the-disasters-of-neoliberalism/
Interview with Michael Hudson on the neoliberal predatory financialisation con which impoverishes ordinary citizens. Based on his book ” Killing the Host, How financial parasites and debt bondage destroy the global economy ”
This interview particularly relates to NZ especially our obscene housing cost bubble that enriches speculators while making our homes unaffordable for our young couples. plus the privatisation of public income producing assets to enrich overseas investers/speculators Key represents this neoliberal rot to the extreme, this money trader didn’t make his millions by a fair day’s graft, yet so many are bamboozled by his easy going smooth persona: all show and no guts except to make his parasite class richer.
Some headings from the interview:
Democratic vs. oligarchic government and their respective economic doctrines
The concept and theory of economic rent
The Austrian School vs. government regulation and pro-labor policies
The case of Latvia: Is it a success story, or a neoliberal disaster?
The Troika and IMF doctrine of austerity and privatization
Financialization of pension plans and retirement savings
Obama’s demagogic role as Wall Street shill for the Rubinomics gang
left-wing economic alternative
Early Childhood Education…has come under a fair amount of scrutiny of late in MSM.
Any industry reliant on Government Funding is going to do all in its power to ensure that the $$$ coming from the taxpayer are channeled through its accounts.
Whether or not they are providing an adequate service.
Whether or not the clients are safe.
I have grown children and as yet no mokos, so I’m not within this arena, but I would be interested to hear the opinions of others on this issue.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/72837771/editorial-early-childhood-disquiet-a-wakeup-call
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11525360
And when parents opt out of ‘factory farm’ ECE, there is the inevitable fight back from the ‘professionals’.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11526737
I am an early childhood teacher. Previously I was involved in Playcentre for eleven years. I am fortunate to work at a small centre with a low staff turnover so we really know our children and families. I believe that we have all got very messed up about what sort of education young children need. They need to be loved, to have a sense of self and know who they are, they need to learn social skills and physical skills, to be able to explore and make sense of the world and very importantly they need to learn language preferably their mother tongue. I believe that these things are best taught by parents and whanau, the people who really know and love a child.
The Te Whaariki curriculum has four principles, holistic development, family and community, relationships and empowerment. It has four strands: well being, belonging, contribution, communication and exploration. I think that what it points to is getting the early childhood centre to be as much as possible like a good caring home. Unfortunately a lot of people are very messed up about early childhood education and think it is about literacy and numeracy so they are quite attracted to the idea of structured school-like centres. Parents lose confidence and think they are not enough for their young children. When you couple that with low ratios such as one teacher per five children who are under two and one adult to 10 children with over two children you can see how children won’t be getting the stuff they need which their families can give them.
Some centres have huge group sizes – my centre has only 20 children. Licensing changes by this government have allowed as many as 75 under two children in a group or 150 over two children. Can you imagine the noise and the chaos. Many centres in low income areas pick the children up in vans and a consequence of this is that the parents don’t see what is going on in the centre. An excellent book if someone wants to read the opinion of an ECE teacher in New Zealand is “Suffer the Little Children” by David Smith. The child forum website childforum.com has a range of articles if you want more information.
I think the real tragedy is a lot of this is caused by governments believing it is better that parents be out in the workforce than caring for their infants and young children. They are prepared to pay big money to centres for instance they will pay $12.33 an hour for an under two child for up to 30 hours per week if the centre has at least 80% qualified staff which works out at $369. http://www.education.govt.nz/early-childhood/running-an-ece-service/funding/ece-funding-handbook/appendix-one/
This is before we start with possible winz subsidies and the fees parents pay on top of that. I have always wondered why parents don’t have the option of taking the money themselves in the form of a parental leave benefit if they would prefer to do so. I guess it comes down to the government being happy to give benefits to corporations and not families. This is a discussion that really needs to be had.
Thank you, thank you, The Fairy Godmother.
Not only because I agree 100% with all you say…especially your last paragraph…but because you have given a full and considered reply.
My area of expertise is MOH:DSS disability supports.
I see many parallels between the two industries.
If someone else is providing the nurturing (care) the nurturing (care) has a $$$ value. And the corporations win.
If the SAME nurturing (care) is provided by family….it is worth nothing….even though providing that nurturing (care) keeps the nurturer (carer) out of the paid workforce.
When ECE becomes compulsory….?
As you say…..this discussion NEEDS to be had.
Thank you Rosemary MacDonald for raising this issue. A lot of early childhood teachers won’t speak up out of fear for their jobs. I am fortunate to work in a centre with a collective agreement with a union many ece teachers are not unionised. There are all sorts of staffing issues as well, such as teachers not taking breaks because no relievers are provided and the teachers don’t want to put children at risk. Also staff who are doing non-contact are sometimes counted in the ratio.
I think there are also issues around women in caring roles in the workforce sacrificing their personal needs for the the people they care for a bit like what mothers do in families.
And you know what TFG…I am so over hearing about people being too scared to speak up for fear of their jobs.
I know this is a very real issue and I do sympathise…but there MUST be a way to get round this.
General question to all….has anyone been fired for speaking up, and then taken a case to the ET?
“I think there are also issues around women in caring roles in the workforce sacrificing their personal needs for the the people they care for a bit like what mothers do in families.”
Marylin Waring (hero, IMB) wrote a book called “Counting For Nothing”
Well worth a read.
+1. I agree we should speak out and Marilyn Waring’s book and the documentary are excellent. Wonder if this whole issue would make a good post.
The other thing I would like to mention is the change of emphasis from care to education which has happened as a result of the move from childcare from social welfate dept to education ministry in the 90s. Originally you used to see a lot of places with care in the name eg childcare daycare. Then the names changed to educare or care and education centres. Now they seem to be early learning centres. Care has gone from the names. Care is what little kids need most and it is what families do best. Our society doesn’t seem to value it
“Care is what little kids need most and it is what families do best. Our society doesn’t seem to value it”
No, because it is ‘women’s work’. It is ‘natural’.
BUT…if you change the name of it to something that sounds, well, more professional….all of a sudden you have a skill, a marketable commodity.,.
And you can open up the ‘market’ to private enterprise…because we all know the private sector does SO much better.
What mothers do is “natural support”.
The Atkinson case ( family carers and adult disabled went to the Human Rights Review Tribunal claiming the Govt. was discriminatory for not allowing family carers to be paid)
The Misery of Health claimed that family care was “natural support”, part of the (unwritten) social contract that family do not get paid for caring for family.
Family who could not or would not provide the care that their adult disabled family member had been assessed as needing were not penalised in any way. They could go out to work, earn a living, pay the mortgage, save for their retirement and make no further financial contribution towards the care of their disabled family member other than the usual PAYE.
Those (like myself) who do provide some or all of the care that family member has been assessed as needing are not paid (other than the benefit) because we are ‘not providing the same type of care that a contracted provider would be providing.’ In many cases, family provide the care because the needs of the disabled family member are too high and complex for the ‘professionals’ to provide safely. We are providing “natural support”.
The Miserly of Health concept of “natural support” was pretty much debunked by the HRRT.
This case was about the care needed by over 18 year olds. Adults.
Under that age….considered parents duty to provide care….even if providing that care prevents one or both parents from participating in paid work.
Likewise with childcare….back when mine were little (27 years ago) the economy was just getting to the stage when if you wanted to ‘get ahead’ (mortgage interest up at 18%!) both Mum and Dad had to work.
We juggled jobs and childcare duties, only those on high incomes could afford fulltime childcare.
How much has changed since then!
You quoted a government spend of over $350 per week for under twos????
And to my knowledge, the primary caregiver does not have to be in work or study to qualify for this ‘subsidy’.
So why?
To be honest, i don’t get why that same amount cannot be paid to a parent to chooses not to factory farm their child.
When, (hah!), the review of Charter Schools supports the theory that lower child to adult ratios in learning environments have better ‘outcomes’ for the child.
This is all very confusing.
Well, not really, but getting one’s head around the inconsistencies is brain boggling.
It would make an interesting case for the CPAG…trying to get the ECE subsidy paid to parents who choose not to put their kids in ECE care.
I’d like to add to that.
What you said about young children ” …need to be loved, to have a sense of self and know who they are, they need to learn social skills and physical skills, to be able to explore and make sense of the world and very importantly they need to learn language …”
Young children are constantly asking questions. CONSTANTLY.
“Mum, why?” “Mum, what?” “Mum, where?”
How are these questing minds supposed to be satisfied in the ECE environment.?
They won’t be.
So the child will stop asking questions.
And they will grow to be adults who don’t ask questions.
Adults that simply accept the pap and drivel that is fed to them.
It is the institutionalization that means that the kind of attention to individual needs like encouraging a child’s questions or curiosity gets lost. Of course teachers will be running around taking photos and writing learning stories to prove children are learning but even that takes away the time that they could be spending with children. This is another whole issue – the issue of accountability versus responsibility. If you are accountable the concern is covering your butt. If you are responsible you are a professional and you will be respected and act as an advocate for children. Pasi Sahlberg the Finnish educator who recently visited New Zealand has some good stuff on this and how different the Finnish education system is where teachers are respected and there is minimal testing.
The institutionalization means that children sometimes have to follow routines for the adults i.e eating at certain times or sleeping at certain times. Some centres are better than that but not all. Also parents with no sick leave left or perhaps no sick leave at all will take their children in sick dosed up with pamol meaning germs get spread to other children. Children under the care of their families can have much more flexibility – stay home in bed if they are sick.
There are some centres with good ratios where children do get an ok deal. Often these are ones that also charge parents high fees. I am very concerned that children of beneficiaries are being pushed into ece because the centres they may be pushed into are not always the good quality ones.
Here is a good link about the views of Pasi Sahlberg and the status of teachers in Finland versus other countries such as the US and I believe New Zealand. http://dianeravitch.net/2015/10/09/pasi-sahlberg-teacher-autonomy-matters-more-than-school-autonomy/
” am very concerned that children of beneficiaries are being pushed into ece because the centres they may be pushed into are not always the good quality ones.”
Me too, I have seen this. Parent is not necessarily using that child free time to train or upskill. How much better the old Playcentre thing, only pay parent helpers/participants?
perhaps there is a ‘gold standard’?
Every morning I wake up and thank the Deity that I no longer have to deal with the education system via my children.
Yes the good old days of Playcentre. This uniquely New Zealand organisation is now struggling and numbers are going down. Many parents who use Playcentre also put their children in care so they can work part-time. The 20 hours free system had the effect of most ECE centres going to the full day model including kindergartens so they could maximise funding so the option of sessional kindergarten is also largely gone.
No Weekend Social? Where can I complain about all the friggen Saturday lawnmowers and weedeaters? It’s like a virus.
My personal hate is leaf blowers, is their anything more pointless? Whatever happened to a rake?
ah something to be grateful for then. Can’t hear an leaf blowers this morning, although it’s hard to tell above the noise of at least 2 lawnmowers and 2 weedeaters (didn’t think I had that many neighbours).
Well I had my own back this Saturday morning. I had the house washers on site to give my place a once in two years clean. Complete with ear-splitting machines, they started shortly after the AB match started, and finished shortly before the match finished.
Good one Girl 🙂
rofl. well done!
More propaganda.
That makes about 20 articles pumped out by New Zealand Pravda to tell the people how amazing the TPP is.
And only Bryan Gould’s piece to counter this.
The North Korean Herald. Pimping for transnational corporations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11526982
David Snell is another vested interest.
He is an executive director at Ernst & Young.
Ernst & Young (trading as EY) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the “Big Four” audit firms and is the third largest professional services firm in the world by aggregated revenue in 2014, after PwC and Deloitte.
Pity the Herald/Pravda does not show up these conflicts of interest.
That would require them to tell the truth and they appear fundamentally incapable of doing that.
The Herald has never been good,but it really has plummeted in quality and increased its bias in recent years.
Well Murdoch did take a stake in the Herald. Say’s it all really.
Apparently the herald Journos are all being asked to sign really unfair contracts too.
A Soviet era joke that is probably still pertinent unfortunately, needs a bit of translation:
“Izvestia” means “news” and “Pravda” means “truth”, both are also the titles of Russian newspapers, so, ta-daaaa…
“There is no truth in the news and no news in the truth.”
It’s amazing progress though – now we have our Ministry of Truth to tell us with what to think.
TPP and the IP Leak- some recent links
1. “our analysis here is limited to the copyright and Internet-related provisions of the chapter, but analyses of the impacts of other parts of the chapter have been published by Wikileaks and others.”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/final-leaked-tpp-text-all-we-feared
2
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/09/new-leak-final-tpp-text-confirms-attack-freedom-expression-public-health
3. “Even if it is not perfect, our democracy should not be sold out to foreign investors. The sacrifices of our soldiers who fought for freedom should not be in vain.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/gerard-montpetit/democracy-for-sale_b_8263960.html
and
http://usuncut.com/politics/sanders-battles-drug-companies-as-wikileaks-exposes-how-tpp-is-a-death-sentence-for-patients/
Leaked (final?) TPP Intellectual Property chapter spells doom for free speech online
https://boingboing.net/2015/10/09/leaked-final-tpp-intellectu.html
Thanks for all the updates tmm
+100 Tautoko Mango Mata
Worth a read: Subscription vs Ad support
my comments are going to (it looks like) automatic moderation – not the content of course 🙂
A good reference on global wages
Stephen Hawking Says We Should Really Be Scared Of Capitalism, Not Robots
it really is too late for this kind of thing. “Prosperity” of the human race is not the question of the 21st century; survival of the human race is.
And in that, globalised corporate trade and the encouragement of consumption and consumerism has all the wrong answers.
+1, and news today that NASA plans on colonising Mars in the next 20 years sound like complete science fiction. Resources and money are going to be completely stretched on planet earth without being siphoned off onto another planet.
But more than that. It is not using the modern skills and the money that has been created to maintain and refurbish the advanced society we have created. The wealthy can’t cut corners squeeze money out of the society and still have a vibrant world to live in.
And they can’t throw cold-blooded hissy fits when they don’t get their own way and cut their servants’ arms off.
This is a very good thought provoking interview by Kathryn Ryan on warmongering:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201773948/visions-of-war
“In his latest book, ‘Light It Up: The Marine Eye for Battle in the War for Iraq ‘ historian John Pettegrew takes a look at the crucial role visual culture has played in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He examines the effects of ‘war porn’, and popular images of battle, in video games and on TV, as well as how military technologies of seeing have determined the killing power of the American war effort.”
I am wondering what Steve Braunias is up to with his turning to matter of the lost papers in the dotcom case on its head, he obviously knows that it was the crown who mmisplaced its documents. Is it that he is making a point about just how much deceit media and the herald get away with?
link?
just watching Hollow Men again – still disgusting, still shocking – I REFUSE to forget these gnat scum and their hideous agenda and yes I mean you too dirtymat.
I am having trouble with the site. My comments aren’t coming through, when I refresh by pressing Home still nothing, then F5 still nothing, then F5 again and get time-outed. So I can’t participate. What’s happening?
[r0b: Sorry, not sure why your last 3 comments were caught. All released now.]
Thanks r0b I hope that doesn’t happen again. (Just checked – the latest one I just put on this morning hasn’t come up. Has the gill net got smaller sized and catching the small fry now?)