The charter school movement has been expelled from Washington state’s public education system, with a Supreme Court ruling late Friday that the privately run schools are not public schools under the state’s constitution…
[seems fair]
…Charter school proponents have three options, all of them “long shots,” said Bill Keim, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators. The first would be asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling. The parties have until September 24 to final that motion, before the court ruling becomes final.
The second option was a special legislative session. Third was asking local billionaire Bill Gates, one of the nation’s top charter school benefactors—spending at least $440 million—to write a check to keep the charters open until the legislature acts. “The downside is that would re-enforce that they are private schools,” Keim said.
Mr Gates could always transfer the funds to public schools I guess. But probs the legislative session option will help the private people taking public funds, as always it seems.
No, the Flag Consideration Panel got 4 hours of input from assorted designers.
They will have spent significantly longer than 4 hours to cut the list of 40 down to 4 finalists.
They performed trademark and copyright searches on each of the 40 designs for example, which resulted in 1 of the original 40 shortlisted being ruled invalid and removed from further consideration.
Well, according to the economists it’s all a farce:
Things have not gone to plan. None of the four designs has gripped the public. A fifth design, known as the Red Peak option, composed of triangles and supposed to evoke Maori mythology, has acquired a following on social media. So far the government is having none of it. Mr Key says that he is not going back to Parliament to accommodate the fifth design, though an electoral-law expert has helpfully suggested that all the government need do is substitute it for one of the chosen four.
…and by many voters who find it distasteful that their country is being rebranded like a sagging brand of detergent.
Yeah, I think Key’s ‘bright’ idea of changing the flag probably isn’t bringing him as much joy as he expected it would.
It’s what it says on the tin – contrary to orthodox ‘wisdom’, in the UK, a Labour party that is a real alternative, not an incompetent clone of the tories would resonate with voters. The same is likely true here.
Instead of fuckwits blathering about making the 90-day law “fairer” (for whom?) or getting a TPPA deal that’s “better” (in the way that ebola’s better than leukaemia?), we could have a real Labour Party.
Instead we have frauds like Grant Fucking Robertson who can’t even bring himself to say “socialist” for fear that the Rotarians he sucks up to won’t buy his lattes for him anymore.
Where is the groundswell of support for change within the Labour Party rhino?
Where are the thinkers?
Where are the future leaders?
Do you see any hope of Labour regaining it’s mojo, or do you think it’s fucked, and the Left requires a new political foundation Party to regain government?
The potential groundswell is in exactly the same place as it was in other places prior to quite simple thoughts and ideas being articulated by likely (not certain) future leaders.
NZ Labour has no depth because the legacy of ’84 was break-away parties that ‘died on the vine’….with a little help from ‘liberal’ toxins, courtesy of NZ Labour.
That means that there is no SNP – a major party – capable of occupying ground abandoned by Labour. And there are no Jeremy Corbyn’s who have bided their time on the back benches working for their constituents these past 30 years.
Labour will change – slowly. Mere ‘Johnny come lately’ adopters of what will already have transpired across the left in the English speaking world.
A big part of the problem is capture. If they’re constantly being offered the hospitality of Sky City, then they’re going to feel more of a reflexive concern for Sky City execs than we filthy proles. Sky City knows this and that arsewipe Goff wants their support in his mayoral campaign, so hey-ho, he gets a nice seat in their corporate box to watch allegedly grown adults chase a leather balloon around a field.
Parliament for a lot of MPs is a networking shop where they can scout out positions in corporate boards and their attitude increasingly becomes, to paraphrase JFK, asking not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.
The filthy proles I guess have to keep buttonholing their representatives at least. Invite them to events and then make sure that instead of treating it as another opportunity for self aggrandisement, make sure they sit down, shut up and listen. Remind them who they work for. Remind them who’s going to be knocking on doors for them come election time – or staying at home. Humiliate them for taking favours. Ask them embarrassing questions and publicise their evasions. Never give them a free pass just because they hum a bar of The Red Flag once a year.
Little at least knows it’s “not a good look” to be seen dining with charter school boards, but he’s been pressured by men in suits into stabbing young workers in the back over 90 days fire at will. Someone needs to elbow their way to the front of the queue and remind him whose party he’s in.
We don’t have money and corporate credit cards, but we can keep the pressure on them, tolerate no bullshit, call it out when it gushes.
Over the last couple of months, Corbyn has emerged as the front-runner not only among Labour members/affiliates but also among both Labour voters and the British electorate as a whole (according to all the polls). That extraordinary wave of Corbymania propelling him from outsider to red hot favourite within a space of just a few weeks. It’s been a remarkable revitalisation of Labour’s core values and brilliant (for those of us opposed to tweedledee / tweedledum politics) to see.
But no one should be under any illusion that if he does win the leadership (and the purging of Corbyn-supporters and non-delivery of 10s of thousands of voting papers continues to concern me on that score), then he will come in for a total shitstorm of smears, abuse and ridicule from the MSM and Blairite/Tory Establishment.
We’ve already seen the hysteria from a series of shell-shocked Blairite Grandees paraded before us by a complicit media. And, of course, the all-too-predictable anti-Semitic smears emanating from Britain’s Israel-Right-or-Wrong Lobby and its fellow-travellers, along with New Labour’s US-Right-or-Wrong ”Atlanticists’ (one of whom, you approvingly cited in yesterdays Open Mike).
But you aint seen nothing yet !
It’ll be relentless and may very well destroy the Corbyn leadership. Quite possibly an initial poll bounce over the first few weeks, followed by an all-out campaign of MSM vitriol that sees Labour support fall, possibly even plummet.
Then, again, I’m not entirely ruling out a backlash against the media from Labour supporters and a reasonable slice of the broader public. Particularly (as the Lord Ashcroft poll cited by rhinocrates suggests), from the Labour-leaning faction of Ukip supporters. It’s clear to me from digging deep through UK polls of the last 2 years that Ukip voters (in stark contrast to the Party leadership) are substantially on the Left in terms of public ownership, anti-austerity. Like most NZF voters here, they’re socially-conservative Left.
It’s also clear that an overwhelming majority of Labour voters (and Greens and more than a few Lib Dems) support the sort of policy platform that Corbyn is offering.
If the establishment follows its predictable course of ‘Project Fear’ (redux), then the backlash will be a tsunami.
Yet again, and I’m sorry if this bores peeps, I’m looking at ‘the establishment’ fortunes in Scotland…the SNP, with almost all media continuing to lambast them, are now around 60% with an election about 12 months away.
The only thing that will soften support for the SNP is a UK Labour led by Corbyn.
It’s a good sign that, if anything, the high profile MSM intervention from Blair/Brown/Straw/and the particularly vile Mandelson (admittedly in Blair he’s got some pretty stiff competition for that title)…has served to propel Corbyn even higher in the polls (and among the membership). All the Blairite and MSM hysteria appears to have been counter-productive.
I’m hoping this momentum, this desire for a thorough-going revitalisation of not just the Labour Party but UK politics as a whole, will continue to sweep through the roughly 50% of voters (Labour, Green, Lib Dem, Ukip and even a few Tories) who consider themselves primarily Left-of-Centre on most substantive issues.
But I never discount the ability of the establishment media to influence public opinion. And I remain concerned that the Scots electorate may be unique (within Britain, apart from certain urban enclaves in the North of England, London and the Welsh Valleys) in the sheer strength of its social democratic values (partly forged, certainly reinforced, by the Thatcherite onslaught in the 80s/early 90s).
TPPA has not gone away – it’s merely dropped out of the MSM – the corporate media – surprise, surprise!
There is intense pressure to sign the TPP asap – but why the hurry? It has been on the negotiating table for six years or so. Obama has received ‘fast-track’ powers to push the TPP through before the presidential elections.
The point made in the first of these short videos is that Obama has been bought and paid for by big corporations in the US. To gain funds for his campaigns he made promises to his corporate backers – now he has to deliver on those promises!
Which begs the question – how much did our own PM cost? What promises has he made to corporate backers? What is Groser going to get out of the deal?
The point made in the second short clip is making the legislators ‘own’ the document. It must be debated by parliament – it can’t be modified in any way – but our parliamentarians can be held responsible. We need to be prepared to let them know that we will read the provisions of the TPPA – and if we don’t like them – which we will not – then we will hold them responsible!
Is there anything good about the TPP? Free trade has not been good for New Zealand. We are heading for a low income economy (if it isn’t already here) with a super rich 1 or 2 per-cent and the vast majority the working poor! Free trade hasn’t worked to create jobs in America either – see the short clip below!
Might sound strange but a good poster boy for the anti-TPPA movement could be Donald Trump
He’s been saying quite loudly, and publicly I might add, that US politicians are bought & paid for. He’s often told how he’s donated himself and had pollies at his beck & call. One of his best arguments for nomination is he has his own money and isn’t being bribed or influenced by anyone.
For me, the road to This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate begins in a very specific time and place. The time was exactly ten years ago. The place was New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The road in question was flooded and littered with bodies.
Today I am posting, for the first time, the entire section on Hurricane Katrina from my last book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Rereading the chapter 10 years after the events transpired, I am struck most by this fact: the same military equipment and contractors used against New Orleans’ Black residents have since been used to militarize police across the United States, contributing to the epidemic of murders of unarmed Black men and women. That is one way in which the Disaster Capitalism Complex perpetuates itself and protects its lucrative market.
This material is free for reproduction.
From the Introduction:
I met Jamar Perry in September 2005, at the big Red Cross shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dinner was being doled out by grinning young Scientologists, and he was standing in line. I had just been busted for talking to evacuees without a media escort and was now doing my best to blend in, a white Canadian in a sea of African-American Southerners. I dodged into the food line behind Perry and asked him to talk to me as if we were old friends, which he kindly did.
Born and raised in New Orleans, he’d been out of the flooded city for a week. He looked about seventeen but told me he was twenty-three. He and his family had waited forever for the evacuation buses; when they didn’t arrive, they had walked out in the baking sun. Finally they ended up here, a sprawling convention centre, normally home to pharmaceutical trade shows and “Capital City Carnage: The Ultimate in Steel Cage Fighting,” now jammed with two thousand cots and a mess of angry, exhausted people being patrolled by edgy National Guard soldiers just back from Iraq.
The news racing around the shelter that day was that Richard Baker, a prominent Republican Congressman from this city, had told a group of lobbyists, “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.” Joseph Canizaro, one of New Orleans’ wealthiest developers, had just expressed a similar sentiment: “I think we have a clean sheet to start again. And with that clean sheet we have some very big opportunities.” All that week the Louisiana State Legislature in Baton Rouge had been crawling with corporate lobbyists helping to lock in those big opportunities: lower taxes, fewer regulations, cheaper workers and a “smaller, safer city”—which in practice meant plans to level the public housing projects and replace them with condos. Hearing all the talk of “fresh starts” and “clean sheets,” you could almost forget the toxic stew of rubble, chemical outflows and human remains just a few miles down the highway.
Over at the shelter, Jamar could think of nothing else. “I really don’t see it as cleaning up the city. What I see is that a lot of people got killed uptown. People who shouldn’t have died.”
He was speaking quietly, but an older man in line in front of us overheard and whipped around. “What is wrong with these people in Baton Rouge? This isn’t an opportunity. It’s a goddamned tragedy. Are they blind?”
A mother with two kids chimed in. “No, they’re not blind, they’re evil. They see just fine.”
Klein’s talk last week in Sydney is worth a watch too. This video is an hour, but the actual talk is maybe 30 or 40 mins. She’s talking about climate change and why critiquing capitalism is so important. She also makes the links with the refugee crises.
At the start she calls out some of the people involved in the event organisation’s board and their influence on border policy. A great example of emotional and political intelligence that reminds us that it’s women like Klein who should be in charge of things.
The story is typical of the lop-sided state that Bush built: a weak, underfunded, ineffective public sector on the one hand, and a parallel richly funded corporate infrastructure on the other. When it comes to paying contractors, the sky is the limit; when it comes to financing the basic functions of the state, the coffers are empty.
Sounds just like what National has been and is doing to our own state sector – lot of money for the private corporations to bring in huge profits while the essential services are run down.
Termite, collectively, alter the global climate. Every species on the planet alters the environment around to better suit themselves, though not always for their best. So this gormless old fat of a media mogal, whose business is peddling power, and using wedg issues, no matter how contrived and stupid, goes uncriticized by the free market. Believing as he does the the great unwashed his media empir sells to could not also fundamentally collectively alter the global ecosystem. Its just a crazy idea, humans capable of altering climate, humbug. A communist having recognized the evil of capitalism could have not done more to destroy, ridicule and waste capitalisms good effects.
” One of the Flag Consideration Panel members who helped to pick the final four options sits on a government board where her job is to help promote the Fern Mark logo.
Julie Christie is an advisory board member on New Zealand Story, a NZ Trade and Enterprise body which approves the use of the Fern Mark image used on the black-and-white version of the final four flag options.
She declared a conflict of interest at the same meeting at which the flag panel was told the NZ Story board had cleared the path for the Fern Mark to be used on a new flag. ”
snip……..
“The OIA papers show Ms Christie declared two conflicts of interest at a July 30 meeting of the flag panel. She declared her link to the Fern Mark and as a member of the commercial committee of the NZ Rugby Union.
The minutes said “the panel noted these conflicts of interest as minor”.
Not content to get rid of John Campbell with her personal vendetta and take down TV3 with it, she now has her sights set on NZ – devaluing our country via it’s flag and emblems.
“Finance Minister Bill English says the Auckland housing market is on fire, and people need to be careful not to get burned when prices fall.
“Mr English said when house prices rise as fast as they have in Auckland, they do fall. He said growth may slow down, and some people may have borrowed too much.
“Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said two years ago investors accounted for 33 percent of transactions in the Auckland housing market, but now they made up 41 percent.
Mr Wheeler said in overseas housing markets where there have been large house price corrections, investors have been more likely to default on their loans.
Meanwhile, a leading economist said the Auckland housing market is a growing risk to the country’s economy.
Shamubeel Eaqub told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report programme the Reserve Bank may have to intervene – even though it was not its policies that were inflating the market.
Again this statistic from the RB governor; why is this not being seized upon by opposition parties? Where is it from?
The Government has just announced another $10m for petroleum data to be secured and supplied to the oil industry, paid for by, yes you. If it looks like a subsidy and acts like a subsidy – it is a subsidy. In this case a subsidy to find more oil we can’t afford to burn if we don’t want to cook the climate.
Steven Joyce’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment latest science investment round just announced it will give GNS $2.4m a year over four years to ‘develop new workstation-ready data products for the exploration industry.’ I know the oil industry is facing a low oil price at the moment but it’s hard to believe one of the world’s largest and most profitable industries needs a to go cap in hand to the taxpayer for a hand-out. This comes on top of $25m in previous years, $46m in annual tax breaks and benefiting from the forth-lowest tax plus royalty rate in the world.
The IMF has calculated NZ subsidises the coal, gas and oil sectors to the tune of $US 2.5 billion per year (as of 2013).
The public cost of US$2.5 billion is comprised from such costs as air pollution, lost tax revenue, climate change etc that are all directly attributable to the industry.
All I could find was a global figure of $5.3tn USD, from an IMF working paper published in may. This included both direct subsidies and the indirect costs of externalities such the effects of poor air quality on health and so forth. Estimates were broken down by region, but not by individual country.
I do have/did have. I downloaded the spreadsheet and, of course, it didn’t come with a link. I’ve been mulling a post on it. If/when I do that, I’ll be hunting out the link again.
I believe it came from a link off of another link from here…
Just part of the turnover. The general secretary’s role in Labour is a hard one, the money is crap, the skills required are immense and varied, and the hours are horrendous.
I saw Mike Smith do that role for many years when I was still active in the Labour party, and was always impressed that he didn’t throw up his hands and depart. It is completely underfunded and massively undervalued especially by the Labour staffers and MPs at parliament. The only time they value it is for a short period around the election.
Tim Barnett did a pretty good job of it. He helped to get a lot of the changes required for the Labour party organisation to survive. Who really gives a pigs arse about MPs and staffers anyway? To lose the party base would be to consign the MPs and their staff to a future like United Future or Act have.
And Labour does it without going into virtual slavery to large donors in the way National or Act did.
That would be ideal. However the primary role of the secretary is to deal with the multitudinous details of running a large mainly voluntary organisation. Since that role is fulltime and with a very very limited staff, it doesn’t leave that much time for chasing donors.
The Labour party needs to start treating donor chasing as being a professional activity and set aside some funds to hire people to do that task. You bring the pres, sec, and anyone else in when you close.
But also figuring out how to get more small and repeated funds from smaller donors would help a lot. Again, they have to set that up and run it for the long term with an eye to lowering costs of collection.
MPs in particular see the importance just before the election each time. But lose interest afterwards. Essentially they need to be kicked out from the process because they have screwed up dealing with the party issues for several decades now. Consequently they haven’t gotten fixed.
At the end of his diatribe is this: ‘Jock Anderson has been a journalist for a long time, observing matters from what he describes as a sensible centre-right perspective. He can be contacted at jockanderson123@gmail.com‘
Seems Dr Joe Aitchenson on Radio NZ afternoons (hope I have the name right) ‘gets’ the shit that it seems NZ Labour and a fuck shit pile of people just can’t get their heads around.
Not a bad run down considering the source. He was on between 1 O’Clock and half past.
It took me a couple of days to fall across David Farrar’s comment on the banning of Into the River by the Film and Literature Board of Review:
“Don’t get hysterical and silly. And it isn’t banned as much as suspended – there is a difference.”
Actually it is banned, temporarily, but still banned. Also it’s good to know he thinks the government banning things is acceptable. Let’s take his site off line for a month and see whether he’s so casual about it.
Ha! Waitangi Tribunal has told the government the way they are handling Ngāpuhi claims is unfair. Let’s see how the arrogant Chris Finlayson reacts to this as he loathes being challenged.
I resigned from the Labour Party in 1987 or 8, not sure which year now. I’ve waited 30 years for the appearance of a Jeremy Corbyn or a Bernie Sanders on the New Zealand political scene – someone who will take the party back to the core values of the left and away from the neoliberalism bullshit we’ve had to put up with for years.
Let me tell Labour, you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds! Neoliberalism policies have all but disenfranchised a huge section of the NZ public – but we’re waiting for a truly grass-roots upsurge like what is happening in the UK.
Take this country back to the days before Douglas and Prebble began to demolish it, with inclusive policies – and I could tell you what I mean by these if you wish (see below) – and build a movement for change that will sweep the rich and filthy rich into the dustbin! As someone said, the poor don’t need the rich, but the rich need the poor!
1. Raise the top tax rates and close the company tax loopholes.
2. Nationalise crucial industries and social services which were sold by National – without compensation!
3. Get rid of the SOE business model – allow government departments to do what they are instituted to do without having to pay a dividend.
4. Introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income which allows ALL people to live with dignity and participate fully in society. Introduce a maximum wage!
5. Get private business and the profit motive entirely out of government services! This includes prisons and schools.
6. Restrict foreign investment in land and do an analysis on the benefits of any foreign investment to ensure it is of benefit to New Zealanders.
7. Encourage the growth of unionism and collective bargaining, giving working people a role in management as is done in some other countries.
8. Take climate change seriously – make this country lead the world in green technology. Immediately stop oil exploration around and in New Zealand.
9. Distance this country from American adventurism (and the machinations of other countries for that matter) – pursue a policy of neutrality and leadership for a better, more just and peaceful world.
10. Bring integrity back to politics by government funding 100% of election campaigns.
11. Bring some sanity back into the banking system by regulations on credit creation.
12. Negotiate bilateral free trade agreement which benefit the working people of both countries. Exclude ISDS clauses!
Restrict foreign investment in land do an analysis on the benefits of any foreign investment to ensure it is of benefit to New Zealanders.
That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.
Take climate change seriously – make this country lead the world in green technology.
It’s not so much climate change that we need to take seriously to do that but sustainability. Our present use of scarce resources is unsustainable. Climate change is the result of that unsustainability.
Bring some sanity back into the banking system by regulations on credit creation.
Ban credit creation. Make it so that the only money in the system is what the government creates and spends into the system.
Negotiate bilateral free trade agreement which benefit the working people of both countries.
Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.
“That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.”
“Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.”
Sigh…Draco your passion is admirable but you really do come up with some idiotic statements at times.
Suggesting we stop trade other countries – let’s just look at one area… we get almost all of our medicines from overseas, your suggestion on the face of it would consign thousands of NZers to death.
Also to suggest that all foreign investment in NZ has no benefit is patently absurd.
Also to suggest that all foreign investment in NZ has no benefit is patently absurd.
Well, after many decades of foreign investment we haven’t actually seen any. If anything we’ve seen serious damage to our economy because of it. We see NZ businesses bought out and then shipped offshore complete with the IP – no jobs produced and the loss of the income that the IP and business represented. Foreign ownership of the banks has led to massive outflows of money resulting in even less investment than we would normally have. There’s more evidence of damage to our society from foreign investment on CAFCA’s website.
So, the only thing that’s patently absurd is you as you seem to be incapable of reading what’s written and have an ideological belief in offshore ownership despite the evidence.
Well done Tony – can I suggest that your most natural home is in the Green party rather than Labour, even though they have no plans for several of your points they are more closely aligned with your overall vision than Labour will ever be.
But more likely it will guarantee Labour stays in ‘glorious’ opposition as it did during the 1980s and 1990s – until finally it reached out to voters in the centre and won three elections in a row. But until then Thatcher and the Conservatives ran rampant for 18 years.
Too often we forget that being in government is the objective. Anything else is just academic discussion.
Where he proves, conclusively IMO, that he’s just not original Labour material?
These fucks who think everything is about winning and power and that nothing is about being right…please, don’t anyone mumble anything about lamp-posts.
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
Washington Supreme Court expels charter schools from state public school system
Mr Gates could always transfer the funds to public schools I guess. But probs the legislative session option will help the private people taking public funds, as always it seems.
Flag advisory group has just four hours to give their opinion – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/71941611/panel-advising-on-new-flag-cobbled-together-advice-from-designers
No, the Flag Consideration Panel got 4 hours of input from assorted designers.
They will have spent significantly longer than 4 hours to cut the list of 40 down to 4 finalists.
They performed trademark and copyright searches on each of the 40 designs for example, which resulted in 1 of the original 40 shortlisted being ruled invalid and removed from further consideration.
Well, according to the economists it’s all a farce:
Yeah, I think Key’s ‘bright’ idea of changing the flag probably isn’t bringing him as much joy as he expected it would.
The smug, flat-arsed cowards and careerists who have turned Labour into a beige tory party should take note of this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/most-voters-would-welcome-a-more-radical-socialist-labour-party-new-poll-finds-10494366.html
It’s what it says on the tin – contrary to orthodox ‘wisdom’, in the UK, a Labour party that is a real alternative, not an incompetent clone of the tories would resonate with voters. The same is likely true here.
Instead of fuckwits blathering about making the 90-day law “fairer” (for whom?) or getting a TPPA deal that’s “better” (in the way that ebola’s better than leukaemia?), we could have a real Labour Party.
Instead we have frauds like Grant Fucking Robertson who can’t even bring himself to say “socialist” for fear that the Rotarians he sucks up to won’t buy his lattes for him anymore.
Where is the groundswell of support for change within the Labour Party rhino?
Where are the thinkers?
Where are the future leaders?
Do you see any hope of Labour regaining it’s mojo, or do you think it’s fucked, and the Left requires a new political foundation Party to regain government?
The potential groundswell is in exactly the same place as it was in other places prior to quite simple thoughts and ideas being articulated by likely (not certain) future leaders.
NZ Labour has no depth because the legacy of ’84 was break-away parties that ‘died on the vine’….with a little help from ‘liberal’ toxins, courtesy of NZ Labour.
That means that there is no SNP – a major party – capable of occupying ground abandoned by Labour. And there are no Jeremy Corbyn’s who have bided their time on the back benches working for their constituents these past 30 years.
Labour will change – slowly. Mere ‘Johnny come lately’ adopters of what will already have transpired across the left in the English speaking world.
A big part of the problem is capture. If they’re constantly being offered the hospitality of Sky City, then they’re going to feel more of a reflexive concern for Sky City execs than we filthy proles. Sky City knows this and that arsewipe Goff wants their support in his mayoral campaign, so hey-ho, he gets a nice seat in their corporate box to watch allegedly grown adults chase a leather balloon around a field.
Parliament for a lot of MPs is a networking shop where they can scout out positions in corporate boards and their attitude increasingly becomes, to paraphrase JFK, asking not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.
The filthy proles I guess have to keep buttonholing their representatives at least. Invite them to events and then make sure that instead of treating it as another opportunity for self aggrandisement, make sure they sit down, shut up and listen. Remind them who they work for. Remind them who’s going to be knocking on doors for them come election time – or staying at home. Humiliate them for taking favours. Ask them embarrassing questions and publicise their evasions. Never give them a free pass just because they hum a bar of The Red Flag once a year.
Little at least knows it’s “not a good look” to be seen dining with charter school boards, but he’s been pressured by men in suits into stabbing young workers in the back over 90 days fire at will. Someone needs to elbow their way to the front of the queue and remind him whose party he’s in.
We don’t have money and corporate credit cards, but we can keep the pressure on them, tolerate no bullshit, call it out when it gushes.
Don’t suppose you are looking for a change of career Rhino?
I just wish they’d just finish this fucking British Labour leadership vote.
We can only tell the reality of public opinion once the new leader is in and we have a good tracking poll series.
Over the last couple of months, Corbyn has emerged as the front-runner not only among Labour members/affiliates but also among both Labour voters and the British electorate as a whole (according to all the polls). That extraordinary wave of Corbymania propelling him from outsider to red hot favourite within a space of just a few weeks. It’s been a remarkable revitalisation of Labour’s core values and brilliant (for those of us opposed to tweedledee / tweedledum politics) to see.
But no one should be under any illusion that if he does win the leadership (and the purging of Corbyn-supporters and non-delivery of 10s of thousands of voting papers continues to concern me on that score), then he will come in for a total shitstorm of smears, abuse and ridicule from the MSM and Blairite/Tory Establishment.
We’ve already seen the hysteria from a series of shell-shocked Blairite Grandees paraded before us by a complicit media. And, of course, the all-too-predictable anti-Semitic smears emanating from Britain’s Israel-Right-or-Wrong Lobby and its fellow-travellers, along with New Labour’s US-Right-or-Wrong ”Atlanticists’ (one of whom, you approvingly cited in yesterdays Open Mike).
But you aint seen nothing yet !
It’ll be relentless and may very well destroy the Corbyn leadership. Quite possibly an initial poll bounce over the first few weeks, followed by an all-out campaign of MSM vitriol that sees Labour support fall, possibly even plummet.
Then, again, I’m not entirely ruling out a backlash against the media from Labour supporters and a reasonable slice of the broader public. Particularly (as the Lord Ashcroft poll cited by rhinocrates suggests), from the Labour-leaning faction of Ukip supporters. It’s clear to me from digging deep through UK polls of the last 2 years that Ukip voters (in stark contrast to the Party leadership) are substantially on the Left in terms of public ownership, anti-austerity. Like most NZF voters here, they’re socially-conservative Left.
It’s also clear that an overwhelming majority of Labour voters (and Greens and more than a few Lib Dems) support the sort of policy platform that Corbyn is offering.
If the establishment follows its predictable course of ‘Project Fear’ (redux), then the backlash will be a tsunami.
Yet again, and I’m sorry if this bores peeps, I’m looking at ‘the establishment’ fortunes in Scotland…the SNP, with almost all media continuing to lambast them, are now around 60% with an election about 12 months away.
The only thing that will soften support for the SNP is a UK Labour led by Corbyn.
That’s what I’m hoping, Bill.
It’s a good sign that, if anything, the high profile MSM intervention from Blair/Brown/Straw/and the particularly vile Mandelson (admittedly in Blair he’s got some pretty stiff competition for that title)…has served to propel Corbyn even higher in the polls (and among the membership). All the Blairite and MSM hysteria appears to have been counter-productive.
I’m hoping this momentum, this desire for a thorough-going revitalisation of not just the Labour Party but UK politics as a whole, will continue to sweep through the roughly 50% of voters (Labour, Green, Lib Dem, Ukip and even a few Tories) who consider themselves primarily Left-of-Centre on most substantive issues.
But I never discount the ability of the establishment media to influence public opinion. And I remain concerned that the Scots electorate may be unique (within Britain, apart from certain urban enclaves in the North of England, London and the Welsh Valleys) in the sheer strength of its social democratic values (partly forged, certainly reinforced, by the Thatcherite onslaught in the 80s/early 90s).
TPPA has not gone away – it’s merely dropped out of the MSM – the corporate media – surprise, surprise!
There is intense pressure to sign the TPP asap – but why the hurry? It has been on the negotiating table for six years or so. Obama has received ‘fast-track’ powers to push the TPP through before the presidential elections.
The point made in the first of these short videos is that Obama has been bought and paid for by big corporations in the US. To gain funds for his campaigns he made promises to his corporate backers – now he has to deliver on those promises!
Which begs the question – how much did our own PM cost? What promises has he made to corporate backers? What is Groser going to get out of the deal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPIsjH25GHo
The point made in the second short clip is making the legislators ‘own’ the document. It must be debated by parliament – it can’t be modified in any way – but our parliamentarians can be held responsible. We need to be prepared to let them know that we will read the provisions of the TPPA – and if we don’t like them – which we will not – then we will hold them responsible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgbmR3ERh6o
Is there anything good about the TPP? Free trade has not been good for New Zealand. We are heading for a low income economy (if it isn’t already here) with a super rich 1 or 2 per-cent and the vast majority the working poor! Free trade hasn’t worked to create jobs in America either – see the short clip below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTrPsFTGmYI
We need to keep up the anti-TPPA pressure, and not let this monster slip past us in the grey dawn of a totally neoliberal future!
Tony Veitch ?
I’ve been wondering about that too.
Not the plonker who kicked his girlfriend down the stairs – I had my name long before he disgraced it!
fair enough and thanks for letting us know.
We need to keep the pressure up on the TPPA. Like this:
TPP protesters take to roundabout
About a dozen anti-Trans Pacific Partnership protesters took to a roundabout at the southern entrance to Wanganui this morning.
The protest was to coincide with the arrival of deputy prime minister Bill English to the city.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11511429
We need to keep the TPPA in the forefront of the news as the flag debate is providing the much needed distraction for the Nats.
Tony Veitch (real or pseudonymous) is keeping his eye on the ball.
Also http://whatreallyhappened.com/es/content/japanese-group-sues-stop-tpp-talks-group-citizens-has-sued-japanese-government-arguing-trans#axzz3lNnoYmfp
Might sound strange but a good poster boy for the anti-TPPA movement could be Donald Trump
He’s been saying quite loudly, and publicly I might add, that US politicians are bought & paid for. He’s often told how he’s donated himself and had pollies at his beck & call. One of his best arguments for nomination is he has his own money and isn’t being bribed or influenced by anyone.
Priceless! That’s the selling point! I can’t be bribed because I already own the politicians!
+111
+1
the lack of self awareness is jaw dropping
Take back the news! The new Scoop.
http://takebackthenews.nz/
Alastair Thompson @althecat
http://takebackthenews.nz #takebackthenews
https://twitter.com/althecat/status/641925827634958336
Naomi Klein has made Chapter 20 of her book available for reproduction, and for those who haven’t read “This Changes Everything” it is worth the time.
Just posting the first half of the introduction.
The full introduction might be worth a post in itself… (moderators?)
Naomi Klein: from naomiklein.org 28 August 2015
Apologies. Excerpt is from “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” published in 2007.
Klein’s talk last week in Sydney is worth a watch too. This video is an hour, but the actual talk is maybe 30 or 40 mins. She’s talking about climate change and why critiquing capitalism is so important. She also makes the links with the refugee crises.
At the start she calls out some of the people involved in the event organisation’s board and their influence on border policy. A great example of emotional and political intelligence that reminds us that it’s women like Klein who should be in charge of things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5LuIAJEFUc
Sounds just like what National has been and is doing to our own state sector – lot of money for the private corporations to bring in huge profits while the essential services are run down.
Russel Norman is leaving parliament. Marama Davidson is going to be an MP!
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2015/09/11/introducing-our-newest-green-mp/
Many thanks to Russell Norman for all his hard work under what have been pretty difficult situations at times.
Snap weka! (Deleted duplicate…)
Good news about Marama Davidson though. She is a very articulate and informed person, and will be a welcome addition.
Termite, collectively, alter the global climate. Every species on the planet alters the environment around to better suit themselves, though not always for their best. So this gormless old fat of a media mogal, whose business is peddling power, and using wedg issues, no matter how contrived and stupid, goes uncriticized by the free market. Believing as he does the the great unwashed his media empir sells to could not also fundamentally collectively alter the global ecosystem. Its just a crazy idea, humans capable of altering climate, humbug. A communist having recognized the evil of capitalism could have not done more to destroy, ridicule and waste capitalisms good effects.
pathetic and sad are the words that come to mind to describe this whole sham
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11511139
” One of the Flag Consideration Panel members who helped to pick the final four options sits on a government board where her job is to help promote the Fern Mark logo.
Julie Christie is an advisory board member on New Zealand Story, a NZ Trade and Enterprise body which approves the use of the Fern Mark image used on the black-and-white version of the final four flag options.
She declared a conflict of interest at the same meeting at which the flag panel was told the NZ Story board had cleared the path for the Fern Mark to be used on a new flag. ”
snip……..
“The OIA papers show Ms Christie declared two conflicts of interest at a July 30 meeting of the flag panel. She declared her link to the Fern Mark and as a member of the commercial committee of the NZ Rugby Union.
The minutes said “the panel noted these conflicts of interest as minor”.
“the panel noted these conflicts of interest as minor”.
Minor????
Which is precisely why John Key made sure she was on the panel.
F*&*King Julie Christie.
What a corporate welfare trougher she is!
And no taste to boot!
Not content to get rid of John Campbell with her personal vendetta and take down TV3 with it, she now has her sights set on NZ – devaluing our country via it’s flag and emblems.
i am sure she was able to put her bias aside when it came to the vote 🙄
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/283904/beware-of-akl-house-prices-english
“Finance Minister Bill English says the Auckland housing market is on fire, and people need to be careful not to get burned when prices fall.
“Mr English said when house prices rise as fast as they have in Auckland, they do fall. He said growth may slow down, and some people may have borrowed too much.
“Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said two years ago investors accounted for 33 percent of transactions in the Auckland housing market, but now they made up 41 percent.
Mr Wheeler said in overseas housing markets where there have been large house price corrections, investors have been more likely to default on their loans.
Meanwhile, a leading economist said the Auckland housing market is a growing risk to the country’s economy.
Shamubeel Eaqub told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report programme the Reserve Bank may have to intervene – even though it was not its policies that were inflating the market.
Again this statistic from the RB governor; why is this not being seized upon by opposition parties? Where is it from?
Great article by Gareth Hughes
The Government has just announced another $10m for petroleum data to be secured and supplied to the oil industry, paid for by, yes you. If it looks like a subsidy and acts like a subsidy – it is a subsidy. In this case a subsidy to find more oil we can’t afford to burn if we don’t want to cook the climate.
Steven Joyce’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment latest science investment round just announced it will give GNS $2.4m a year over four years to ‘develop new workstation-ready data products for the exploration industry.’ I know the oil industry is facing a low oil price at the moment but it’s hard to believe one of the world’s largest and most profitable industries needs a to go cap in hand to the taxpayer for a hand-out. This comes on top of $25m in previous years, $46m in annual tax breaks and benefiting from the forth-lowest tax plus royalty rate in the world.
The IMF has calculated NZ subsidises the coal, gas and oil sectors to the tune of $US 2.5 billion per year (as of 2013).
The public cost of US$2.5 billion is comprised from such costs as air pollution, lost tax revenue, climate change etc that are all directly attributable to the industry.
Got a link for that Bill?
All I could find was a global figure of $5.3tn USD, from an IMF working paper published in may. This included both direct subsidies and the indirect costs of externalities such the effects of poor air quality on health and so forth. Estimates were broken down by region, but not by individual country.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2015/wp15105.pdf
I do have/did have. I downloaded the spreadsheet and, of course, it didn’t come with a link. I’ve been mulling a post on it. If/when I do that, I’ll be hunting out the link again.
I believe it came from a link off of another link from here…
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-getting-10m-a-minute-in-subsidies-says-imf
edit. Link is on this page http://www.imf.org/external/np/fad/subsidies/ (an excel spreadsheet)
and extended drilling rights into the maui reserve
Is Tim Barnett’s resignation a good or not so good thing?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11511453
The Labour Party will now have 3 different people in senior positions following the last election.
Can’t see how it could hurt, given how well they all performed at the last election.
Just part of the turnover. The general secretary’s role in Labour is a hard one, the money is crap, the skills required are immense and varied, and the hours are horrendous.
I saw Mike Smith do that role for many years when I was still active in the Labour party, and was always impressed that he didn’t throw up his hands and depart. It is completely underfunded and massively undervalued especially by the Labour staffers and MPs at parliament. The only time they value it is for a short period around the election.
Tim Barnett did a pretty good job of it. He helped to get a lot of the changes required for the Labour party organisation to survive. Who really gives a pigs arse about MPs and staffers anyway? To lose the party base would be to consign the MPs and their staff to a future like United Future or Act have.
And Labour does it without going into virtual slavery to large donors in the way National or Act did.
Thanks for the summary, LP
Ideally replaced by someone who with the President can raise some money.
That would be ideal. However the primary role of the secretary is to deal with the multitudinous details of running a large mainly voluntary organisation. Since that role is fulltime and with a very very limited staff, it doesn’t leave that much time for chasing donors.
The Labour party needs to start treating donor chasing as being a professional activity and set aside some funds to hire people to do that task. You bring the pres, sec, and anyone else in when you close.
But also figuring out how to get more small and repeated funds from smaller donors would help a lot. Again, they have to set that up and run it for the long term with an eye to lowering costs of collection.
MPs in particular see the importance just before the election each time. But lose interest afterwards. Essentially they need to be kicked out from the process because they have screwed up dealing with the party issues for several decades now. Consequently they haven’t gotten fixed.
“figuring out how to get more small and repeated funds from smaller donors would help a lot”
possibly need an Obama to inspire that.
Bloody hell – I see that Jock Anderson fresh from being given the DCM from the Herald has popped up as a commentator at Radio New Zealand. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/283942/opinion-books-shouldn't-promote-swearing
At the end of his diatribe is this: ‘Jock Anderson has been a journalist for a long time, observing matters from what he describes as a sensible centre-right perspective. He can be contacted at jockanderson123@gmail.com‘
Seems Dr Joe Aitchenson on Radio NZ afternoons (hope I have the name right) ‘gets’ the shit that it seems NZ Labour and a fuck shit pile of people just can’t get their heads around.
Not a bad run down considering the source. He was on between 1 O’Clock and half past.
Dr Joe Atkinson
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/aft/aft-20150911-1315-international_politics_-_joe_atkinson-048.mp3
It took me a couple of days to fall across David Farrar’s comment on the banning of Into the River by the Film and Literature Board of Review:
“Don’t get hysterical and silly. And it isn’t banned as much as suspended – there is a difference.”
Actually it is banned, temporarily, but still banned. Also it’s good to know he thinks the government banning things is acceptable. Let’s take his site off line for a month and see whether he’s so casual about it.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/09/into_the_river.html
Ha! Waitangi Tribunal has told the government the way they are handling Ngāpuhi claims is unfair. Let’s see how the arrogant Chris Finlayson reacts to this as he loathes being challenged.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11511469
Talking points: (see 4.1.1.1 for my identity)
I resigned from the Labour Party in 1987 or 8, not sure which year now. I’ve waited 30 years for the appearance of a Jeremy Corbyn or a Bernie Sanders on the New Zealand political scene – someone who will take the party back to the core values of the left and away from the neoliberalism bullshit we’ve had to put up with for years.
Let me tell Labour, you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds! Neoliberalism policies have all but disenfranchised a huge section of the NZ public – but we’re waiting for a truly grass-roots upsurge like what is happening in the UK.
Take this country back to the days before Douglas and Prebble began to demolish it, with inclusive policies – and I could tell you what I mean by these if you wish (see below) – and build a movement for change that will sweep the rich and filthy rich into the dustbin! As someone said, the poor don’t need the rich, but the rich need the poor!
1. Raise the top tax rates and close the company tax loopholes.
2. Nationalise crucial industries and social services which were sold by National – without compensation!
3. Get rid of the SOE business model – allow government departments to do what they are instituted to do without having to pay a dividend.
4. Introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income which allows ALL people to live with dignity and participate fully in society. Introduce a maximum wage!
5. Get private business and the profit motive entirely out of government services! This includes prisons and schools.
6. Restrict foreign investment in land and do an analysis on the benefits of any foreign investment to ensure it is of benefit to New Zealanders.
7. Encourage the growth of unionism and collective bargaining, giving working people a role in management as is done in some other countries.
8. Take climate change seriously – make this country lead the world in green technology. Immediately stop oil exploration around and in New Zealand.
9. Distance this country from American adventurism (and the machinations of other countries for that matter) – pursue a policy of neutrality and leadership for a better, more just and peaceful world.
10. Bring integrity back to politics by government funding 100% of election campaigns.
11. Bring some sanity back into the banking system by regulations on credit creation.
12. Negotiate bilateral free trade agreement which benefit the working people of both countries. Exclude ISDS clauses!
+1 Tony.
Excellent list. Send it to every Labour MP and LEC.
Wow, perfeck.
That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.
It’s not so much climate change that we need to take seriously to do that but sustainability. Our present use of scarce resources is unsustainable. Climate change is the result of that unsustainability.
Ban credit creation. Make it so that the only money in the system is what the government creates and spends into the system.
Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.
“That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.”
“Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.”
Sigh…Draco your passion is admirable but you really do come up with some idiotic statements at times.
So what’s wrong with them or is that you don’t actually know WTF you’re talking about and just wish to cast aspersions?
Suggesting we stop trade other countries – let’s just look at one area… we get almost all of our medicines from overseas, your suggestion on the face of it would consign thousands of NZers to death.
Also to suggest that all foreign investment in NZ has no benefit is patently absurd.
Where’d I say that?
Well, after many decades of foreign investment we haven’t actually seen any. If anything we’ve seen serious damage to our economy because of it. We see NZ businesses bought out and then shipped offshore complete with the IP – no jobs produced and the loss of the income that the IP and business represented. Foreign ownership of the banks has led to massive outflows of money resulting in even less investment than we would normally have. There’s more evidence of damage to our society from foreign investment on CAFCA’s website.
So, the only thing that’s patently absurd is you as you seem to be incapable of reading what’s written and have an ideological belief in offshore ownership despite the evidence.
🙄
QFT
Well done Tony – can I suggest that your most natural home is in the Green party rather than Labour, even though they have no plans for several of your points they are more closely aligned with your overall vision than Labour will ever be.
12. Negotiate fair trade agreements. 🙂
Tony a schoolboy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eAx9YWTwLU
hehehe.
So, anyone else see David Shearers post on FB?
Astonishing. Embarrassing. And actually, really depressing (as a member).
This one?
Where he proves, conclusively IMO, that he’s just not original Labour material?
Yip. Disgraceful.
Yes, I thought I was seeing things!
And NZ Labour still seem unable to enforce basic message discipline on their caucus after losing 3 elections. Hopeless amateurs.
These fucks who think everything is about winning and power and that nothing is about being right…please, don’t anyone mumble anything about lamp-posts.
Donations to the National Party? Just paid for itself…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/71965664/sir-peter-talley-becomes-a-knight-at-government-house
Disgusting.
Wheeler says its dangerous.
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/77548/rbnzs-wheeler-says-auckland-house-price-inflation-over-25-dangerous-territory-when
English says its on fire and some may get burnt.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/283904/beware-of-akl-house-prices-english
Where the hell is OSH?
Here is Mr fix it.
Steven Joyce said buyers needed to understand that interest rates weren’t going to stay low for ever.
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/aucklands-property-market-dangerous-territory-2015091113#ixzz3lPaDrF6Z
With teen idols acting like this:
https://youtu.be/SgBIBlzmrRE?t=1m27s
Is it any surprise we get reports like this:
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/south-auckland-school-student-brawl-investigated-2015091108#axzz3lMJBBnqY