A snippet on the business news that Simon Power’s new job at Westpac involves looking after a few very rich customers looking to enhance their fortunes through state asset sales. Seems to go against the mood of the times as the 1% has already got rich enough from the 99%.
I really wonder if he sniffed electoral defeat in the air 6 moths ago, and figured he’d send himself out to pasture for a term or two, attempting to parachute himself back in when National were in a better position to win.
Realistically when National lose an election and Key buggers off and Power took over, he’d be in as weak a position as Goff was and who would want that? Better to repeat Key’s performance and take over from a weak patsy like Brash.
That answers what trough he’s snouting from next…..how about wodney, how’d they get him to go so quietly. Time will tell. Moods are for the weak Hilary, the nats views don’t bend whatever the climate…..pillage ahoy.
I imagine that once there was a small office in the Ministry of Marine peopled by grey people wearing cardigans. This office’s job was to hold the contingency plans for a vessel stranding on the New Zealand coast. They worked hard keeping their plans up to date with all the latest information about the pros and cons of each dispersant and methods of alleviating the effects of oil spills and debris washing up on the coast. As they were a “back office” they were considered surplus to the requirements of this government and they were sacked and their careful research and files discarded, just like the DoL discarded all the files on pay equity and disestablished the office when the NATS decided they didn’t want to know. Now all that appears to be able to be done is to fly over (Key did it without wings) and observe the destruction that the Rena is causing. That and meetings and briefings that appear to have no resolution. Please note they are keeping smile and wave well away now.
As they were a “back office” they were considered surplus to the requirements of this government and they were sacked and their careful research and files discarded,…
I think you’ll find that any such office was disestablished in the 1990s. It takes awhile, after being a “first world” nation, to silently build down to the level of incompetence that we seem to have achieved.
Please note they are keeping smile and wave well away now.
Of course they are, can’t go round tarnishing the brand by associating it with anything bad.
The Captain of the Rena has now been arrested, this will clearly deter more oil from leaking from the ruptured vessel and stop more containers from sliding overboard.
I find it funny that you post this comment then 4 minutes later post a comment saying that Joyce and Key’s heads need to roll. I guess that is because that will clearly deter more oil from leaking from the ruptured vessel and stop more containers from sliding overboard.
Well, captains don’t generally prang more than one or two ships. But as we’ve seen in the last couple of years, Ministers can foul one thing up after another – and the more capapble ones can organise concurrent foul ups, not just consecutive.
I think the word you are looking for Chris is accountability; those in positions of authority (e.g. being able to send in troops, civil defence, the navy, etc) have a responsibility to act – they didn’t, they are accountable – I assume that is simple enough for you to comprehend?
Where exactly did I say they shouldn’t be held to account? I in no way believe they have done anything right in this situation.
As such I think they should be held to account just as the captain should be for crashing the ship in the first place.
I was merely pointing out the difference in Colonial Viper’s two comments which were posted minutes apart and implied that the captain shouldn’t be held to account because it won’t stop the oil and yet Key and Joyce should be rolled although that wouldn’t stop the oil either.
Yes I am aware that he (sorry assuming Colonial is a guy) thinks Key and Joyce should be rolled for many things and not just this but it looked a bit ridiculous and funny to me in isolation.
I assume that is simple enough for you to comprehend?
The Captain of the Rena has now been arrested, this will clearly deter more oil from leaking from the ruptured vessel and stop more containers from sliding overboard.
Yes, I have thought that myself… But at looks as if something is being done, hey?
I am literally just now hearing John Key saying, while grinning like an idiot, that the Rena costs will have to be borne by “the taxpayer” (as if there’s only one of them.)
It emerged yesterday that on the day the Rena struck the reef, Maritime NZ declined an offer of two inflatable barges which could pump up to 100 tonnes of oil at a time.
The offer was made by Ronald Winstone, of Lancer Industries, who said the two barges would have easily emptied the ship of toxic oil in the four days of clear weather after the Rena ran aground.
“It would have taken them 17 trips to pump all the fuel off the ship and three or four days wouldn’t have been unrealistic for that to have happened.
“It doesn’t make sense why they didn’t start pumping the oil earlier when they had the equipment to do it.”
A Maritime NZ spokesman said Mr Winstone’s offer was logged with its operations division, and “if they needed it they would have followed it up”.
According to the bloke on the radio this morning they needed to heat the oil to pump it and the systems on the ship had failed; the offer was helpful, but they said it wouldn’t work. I would have thought there would have been nothing to be lost in actually trying!
That could also read: “businessman shamelessly takes opportunity of crisis to promote his product, even though it wouldn’t have worked.”
How about a bit of critical thinking? It’s bizarre how you usually see government ownership of everything as the saviour of the country yet now uncritically laud the musings of a filthy capitalist. Even if these things were magicked into the water immediately, it appears the ship was incapable of offloading its fuel. This is not a Mr Suckymoto job.
The rafts would have worked. It’s what they were designed and are used for. Sure, we would also need to get some pumps out there but that shouldn’t have been a problem either.
It’s bizarre how you usually see government ownership of everything as the saviour of the country yet now uncritically laud the musings of a filthy capitalist.
The government should have ensured that plans and capability to respond to these incidents was in place. Generally speaking the best way to do that is to do so through taxes and a government department. That may or may not mean that the government should own the factory that makes the equipment (I tend to think that it should with the creative types working in government funded R&D).
But even that doesn’t mean anything beside the simple fact that we did have the gear to get the fuel-oil off in the first few days while it was still calm – selfish business promotion or not.
Draco I know it sounds easy, but they were dealing with a holed and unstable vessel already leaking fuel, and it is a particulalry difficult fuel to deal with. HFO usually requires pre heating above 38 deg before it can be pumped. Do you know if that facility was available? From what I’ve read it took four days to actually replumb the fuel system to allow offloading. Also, these barges are plastic. How would you reheat the fuel to pump it back off them back at port (I have no idea but it could slow the process significantly as well as risk the barge)?
These barges would have had to have been taken back to Tauranga for unloading. They are like large underwater balloons and I doubt they can do more than a knot or 2 under tow, so that would have been a couple of hours each way at least making each of the 17 trips including loading and unloading multiple hours. So I’d take the quick fix solutions with a pinch of salt.
HFO usually requires pre heating above 38 deg before it can be pumped.
People keep coming up with this but it’s really starting to bug me because I’m sure that they didn’t shovel the fuel to the engines. If the fuel has to be heated to 38 degrees before being pumped and it has to be pumped to the engines then the best way is to keep the fuel stored at 38 degrees. So, wouldn’t the fuel be at or near temperature already?
How would you reheat the fuel to pump it back off them back at port (I have no idea but it could slow the process significantly as well as risk the barge)?
Plastics can actually take quite a high temperature and, as the barges are designed for this type of thing, then I would assume that they’ve already taken such complication into account.
They are like large underwater balloons and I doubt they can do more than a knot or 2 under tow…
What they are is displacement vessels. Flexible admittedly but I’d expect probably closer to 5 or 6 knots. It would still have taken time but 1 or 2 would actually be too slow for them to be effective.
Re heating I agree, but I think the problem is the systems weren’t working. Ianmac confirms that above. If the oil is up to temperature and you can get it off the barge quickly then fine, but if it has to go to Tauranga, it might suffer a loss of heat. Not sure if there is a portable heating unit you can insert like a kettle element.
They are not displacement vessels. They are inflatable uppers with a big para pool slung underneath, more like an iceberg. 100 tonnes of oil in a big bladder with 95% underwater? It sounds like a big sea anchor to me. you can see one here and look at the heavy heavy line and the way the thing is going through the water.
Hmmmm……and no economist owning up to writing the email….looking more and more like a belated “email to self”……rats finally deserting do-nothing Jonah and his slippery sinking ship?
What economist would own up to writing that email?
If you’re offering the PM cute little one liners to use against his political opponents when you are meant to be an independent commentator, then you wouldn’t want to be caught, would you?
Is anyone surprised that Key has as much of a matey, back-slapping relationship with economists as he does with journalists?
I wonder how big a hit in the polls the government will take when the oil starts washing ashore in quantity and the beaches are black. Such images in the media will have a powerful impact.
The government will want to frame the debate around how unprecedented and difficult the salvage is, and how we have the best minds on the job. The enormity of the consequences to hide the initial response failure.
They will also try to use enormity of the consequences to say that we would never be equipped for such a large disaster (which is true) and therefore could not be expected to pay for equipment to just sit in warehouses.
So we should sell all our fire engines and remove all fire hoses from every office building in the country?
The debate has to be around those first few days. The issue is not the “salvage” but the first response and its delay. The government needs to be asked:
Why did the government assure us that
1) We could cope in a timely manner and with worlds best practice (Hekia Parata)
2) We can leave such initial action to private enterprise (Kate Wilkinson)
Why did we not have the resources on hand for an initial response?
If we did, then why did it take so long to quarantine the area and/or unload fuel?
Why did the government not brief the Greens when requested and why did Joyce trash the opposition and lie when he said they had not made a request?
Why did the government not respond to NZdrs who had the products and equipment that, if deployed in the initial response, could have reduced the damage?
Why are we using a dispersant that other countries have banned?
Why didn’t Maritime NZ, when there was time, find eco-friendly alternates to this dispersant?
Why were there no plans to acquire and deploy heavy lift helicopters in the event that a container ship runs into trouble in our waters (a foresee able scenario)?
Why are the booms deployed, as seen on TV, not adequate for estuaries given that we have so many of them in NZ? Could we not have designed our own to protect our coast?
Was the delay in any way created by debates about who was going to pay for it?
Could this explain why the minister responsible has been reluctant to use his sweeping power?
Given that this is such an obvious potential scenario why were we not better prepared to act immediately?
They will also try to use enormity of the consequences to say that we would never be equipped for such a large disaster (which is true) and therefore could not be expected to pay for equipment to just sit in warehouses.
Nope.
See the response from Lancer Industries above. They could have offloaded all the oil from the ship in 17 trips.
Would have been all done in 3 days.
You’re seriously underestimating what we can do as a country should we put as much faith and energy and investment in to ourselves as we do the frakin All Blacks.
I thought it very telling that the language used by Joyce and Smith yesterday changed to describing the spill as ‘inevitable’ – something that was going to happen no matter what.
Being a resident of Mt Maunganui it has been a bit soul destroying to see the half truths and outright lies that have been spread around while very little actually occurs – huge anger and frustration in this community…
The ship has been sitting off the coast like a loaded gun and no one had the wherewithal to get out there and remove the bullet….too late now…all too late
Agreed Their are a lot of very angry people and rightly so .When John Campbell had an international expert on hi show on Thursday saying what had to be done it wasn’t till Monday that Maritime NZ that action was taken.Today on Jim Moras show we had a veteran of the gulf of Mexico oil spill on telling the audience that putting dispersant on the oil only makes it worse because it hides the problem.Key was more interested in getting his mug on TV.
I’m really pissed off with these pricks right now – two daughters fired in three weeks, in both cases the companies had written the fire at will be into their employment contracts because they had so many employees.
1. 90 day trial
2. No excuse required.
3. Can’t take industial action.
4. Can’t take legal action.
The annoying part is that 1 daughter quit a job she had been at for 5 years to upskill.
A lovely quote from new EMA CEO Kim Campbell who is a big fan of Napoleon:
“…make sure you control your supply line, make sure you concentrate your firepower at your enemy’s weakest point and then once you’ve breached the enemy’s line, consolidate,”
The employers and manufacturers association – waging a class war since conception – now preparing for a new assault against the working poor of New Zealand.
Does anyone know if National went ahead with legislating 40 hours sick leave instead of 5 days sick leave?
It’s the sort of submarine issue that doesn’t get any media coverage and most people shrug their shoulders and say “so what”, but for people who work 4×10 days instead of the standard 5×8, it makes a big difference. It’s all about screwing every last dollar out of the benefits businesses are forced to give as entitlements, so such changes fit perfectly with National’s pro-business agenda.
Then there are the 12 hour shifts that my Dad used to work in a factory.
Only having three and a bit days to recover from an illness that probably affects you more because of the long hours you’re working per day is just spiteful.
– two daughters fired in three weeks, in both cases the companies had written the fire at will be into their employment contracts because they had so many employees.
Shocking! Can the one who quit her previous job, go back? I wish them both good luck…
Like many people who care about the environment, I watched in disbelief as New Zealand authorities started spraying the initial 20 to 50 tonnes of heavy oil that had leaked from the grounded ship MV Rena with Corexit 9500…
The Rena story goes on. It straightened up. now its leaning further. They couldn’t pump the oil out to barge containers without heating it, it isn’t a straightforward project. The containers are 40ft, longer than the normal 20ft. and the ship was packed with them but they have started to dislodge and fall into the sea. There is a special crane being brought from Singapore but it will take some time, say a month, to sail here. There is talk about the oil getting into the water column – I understand that is facilitated by using dispersant. It seems that it is better to not further pollute the water and try and deal with the oil as it presents, as a natural earth substance.
Fishermen, fish, seabirds, tourists, the environment etc. all harmed by this shipping company and its choice of management of its ship. Apparently the ship is registered in the notoriously lax Liberia. Are the conditions still prevailing for senior crew which was revealed years ago as buying their certificates without studying and working and passing legitimate examinations? The shipmaster is Filipino and has been in Court granted name suppression also no pictures, and he is going to assist with the salvage work.
We have some small freight shipping, I wonder if we could have more to manage much of the container transfers round the country though we would still need international vessels because of the increased transport required by the globalisation push. It is strange that the global economics approach has resulted in us becoming dependent on others for much of our basic stuff that now has to be shipped to us. If we manufactured for ourselves, that would provide a good base of jobs for many and a financial base for the high-tech and service sector to leverage off.
If we manufactured for ourselves, that would provide a good base of jobs for many and a financial base for the high-tech and service sector to leverage off.
Not in our capitalist socio-economic system we wouldn’t. Increasing productivity must result in less jobs unless the excess people are effectively transferred to other work (R&D, Arts & Culture) but that isn’t what happens as those things aren’t guaranteed profit vehicles.
other work should also include emotional labour e.g. working in rest homes, social work, counselling etc. Employment which is not created to make a buck for a capitalist owner, but for the purposes of looking after other people.
Our shipping was given up to overseas ships in the 80’s for ideological reasons. The resulting effects on the balance of payments, employment, safety and the environment were, of course, not a consideration.
Almost all our export and import cargo and much of our coastal cargo is now carried by overseas ships. Mostly registered in places like Panama or Liberia.
Safety standards have dropped.
MNZ was told not to make too much of a fuss about the standard of overseas ships, as that could be politically embarrassing. Not to mention, the few remaining, NZ ships also being forced to cut costs to compete. Both with overseas ships and subsidised rail and trucking.
Given the quality of investigative journalism we have in our MSM, don’t be surprised if they interview a certain bishop for his perspective, or insight into the Reno’s stranding.
Kiwisaver starts to take off. Just imagine what NZ would be like if we hadn’t had the dancing Cossacks (I still don’t understand what that ad was even supposed to mean, anyway):
The Right in New Zealand at the time believed that there were reds under every bed – Muldoon wanted to snuggle up to the bomb, sporting contacts with South Africa and the links to Walvis Bay, the sense that Rowling was going to invite the Soviet Union to run our foreign policy. Having a huge government super fund available for investment in industry was seen as a potential for rampant socialism. Wilson suffered the same angst in the UK – the city did not want the government to have such a lot of money at its disposal.
Right, I guess that makes a modicum of sense in a paranoid time. I guess the difference here is that Kiwisaver funds are not managed by the government, but by private companies, so This Time It’s Different.
Probably that’s the only thing that prevented National from out-right destroying it this time around, too.
In addition I understand that the bank allocated the worst currency values of the day to the pension funds and kept the best ones for themselves.
In other words if a fund were buying NZD, the bank would sell it to them at the most expensive price point which occurred that day.
The bank could then be on the other side of that transaction, allocating itself the cheapest price point which occured that day.
Free money, ripping off the pension fund.
(And now you know one reason why all these pension funds now appear to be “underfunded” and calls for retirees pensions to be cut are all over the place).
My telephone rang one evening my buddy called for me
Said the bankers are all leaving you better come ‘round and see
It’s a startling revelation they robbed the nation blind
They’re all down at the station no banker left behind.
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find.
They were all down at the station, no banker left behind
Well the bankers called a meetin’ to the White House they went one day
They was going to call on the president in a quiet and a sociable way
The afternoon was sunny and the weather it was fine
They counted all our money and no banker was left behind
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find
They were all down at the White House, no banker was left behind
Well I hear the whistle blowin’, it plays a happy tune
The conductor’s callin’ all aboard we’ll be leavin’ soon
With champagne and shrimp cocktails and that’s not all you’ll find
There’s a billion dollar bonus and no banker left behind
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find.
When the train pulled out next mornin’, no banker was left behind
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find.
When the train pulled out next mornin’, no banker was left behind
logioe97 is right. Tom Scott summed it up at the time with a cartoon of Muldoon tucked up in a dinky little bed looking petrified. Leather booted, fur hatted Rusky commies were hanging from the light shade, clambering through the window, huddled under the bed, peering round the door for… God only knows for what reason.
…the dancing Cossacks (I still don’t understand what that ad was even supposed to mean, anyway):
Height of the Cold War and the capitalists fear that people will realise that working together is better than competing with each other. In other words it was an OMG, Commun1sm scare tactic. It didn’t help that the USSR had become a totalitarian state while still calling themselves commun1st.
My recollection of the dancing Cossacks ad is that it was short hand for ‘Labour’s proposed super scheme will put all the money you saved into the governments hands’, just like the USSR.
Singapore does allright and Australia doe much better than us on that front if Piggy hand’t wrecked the savings scheme NZ wouldn’t be a financial disaster it is today just the tax from invested earnings would be enough to fund government without borrowing the balance of payments would be positive, because the amounts of returns on investment would be bigger than our import bill thank you J90 you little muppet so has john or jerry got his hand operating the strings.Its suck a disaster we are going to need InterNational Rescue joe [Finacial that is IMF ,World Bank]
It seems like we’ve had a rather large influx of new commenters on this site in the past few weeks, and most of them seem to be anti-government.
I wonder how many of these people are simply first-time-commenter-long-time-lurker folks, or new followers of the cause, or even people who voted National in 2008 who are seeing this government in a new light.
Can’t respond for anyone else but for me, I posted a couple of times then went into lurk mode for quite a while. Just recently I’ve started contributing again.
No easy way to tell the mix (the stats engines don’t really break down comments & would you want them to do so?),
But eyeballing it, the number of new people reading the site has jumped by nearly a third over the last two weeks above our average for the last couple of months (which was itself close to double last years average in the same time period), while the total increase in visitors is up by about a quarter.
Of course about half of the new visitors are part of the visit once normality (typically search engine driven), but there are a considerable number that wind up in the other normal peak of 200+ visits per month.
From my previous sampling (SQL on commenting against IP’s on logs), characteristically 10-20% of high hit newbies will write a comment within the first month of arriving (it varies quite a lot depending on what the posts are about and what OpenMike is discussing). So I’d say that the bulk of the new comments are probably lurkers, with a good proportion of newbies because of the numbers that are being referred to us at present.
It has been quiet because of the RWC, but the last couple of weeks have started to look like election time is breaking through.
Good to see John Key is beginning to come under pressure and as he does it will become more clear he does not have hard working NZer’s at heart
.
A ditty for John Key
I’m a millionaire and I’m okay
dont ‘have to’ think about anyone else
I sleep all night
I’m PM by day
and Crosby and Textor tells me what to say
Just last year we introduced
government blockers on the internet
they are only there to stop the porn
so you can ‘trust me’ when I say
we won’t use them for anything else.
We will crush those unions underfoot
and arm the police for their protest
If we push those wages down again
we can ‘indenture, Kiwi workers’ for years and years.
I’m a millionaire and I’m okay
I don’t ‘have to’ think about anyone else
I sleep all night
I’m PM by day
and Crosby and Textor tells me what to say.
Between 2007 and 2010, David Breashears retraced the steps of early photographic pioneers such as Major E O Wheeler, George Mallory and Vittorio Sella – to try to re-take their views of breathtaking glacial vistas.
Drove along the Waikato Expressway yesterday and was surprised at the conspicuous absence of National election billboards, in what should be strong National party country. Only two billboards, compared to 20+ for the previous two elections. And both of those were on properties that previously had ACT billboards. Is this extreme confidence, or are peokple less confident (more ambivalent) in their support for the current governmen?
In the wairarapa you would be excused for thinking that John Keys is running here himself.
Hayes wont even allow his own billboards to be put up.
Oh and the cheapskates are using the same ones they used three years ago.
Hil’ry Berry is in Tauranga, looking at the Rena, and saying in a tone of shocked surprise “It’s now an election issue!” (Well, no sh*t, Sherlock…) She’s nothing if not quick, our Hil’ry… 😀
More asset sales planned? This time in Christchurch.
Press release from Christchurch Central MP Brendon Burns covered on Scoop
12 October 2011
Government’s velvet glove submission to council over asset sales
The Government’s submission to the Christchurch City Council’s draft recovery plan for the central city is an ultimatum framed around forced asset sales, Christchurch Central MP Brendon Burns says.
The 20 page submission includes two references to the likely role of public/private partnerships for existing and new council assets.
“That’s code for selling down council assets – including the Orion lines company, Christchurch International Airport and the Port of Lyttelton – after the election.
“All are currently majority owned by Christchurch City Council and their returns help hold down rates,” Brendon Burns said.
“Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has refused to confirm or deny that the Government is looking at installing commissioners into the council after November 26, forcing the sale of Christchurch assets to help pay for the city’s earthquake recovery.
I guess it’s not just national assets they want to flog.
I wonder what assets the people of the Bay of Plenty will have to sell to pay for their disaster?
Somebody had better tell them that there is more shit out at sea and it’ll come ashore November 27!
The framing has already swung into action – specifically around the supposed liability of the council for issuing consent well building permits – well, its always 20/20 vision in hindsight – quite obviously the incidence of earthquakes that Canterbury experienced and is currently experiencing was unexpected – with earthquakes it’s always a probability equation – just look at Wellington – big quake…f*#ked.
Make no mistake – this is an asset grab, and a continuation of the great earthquake rort in Christchurch.
How is it that costs are unquantifiable and ongoing? If ballooning cost are an issue then surely the first task is accurately chart these and not just put a line in the next five years (or more) budgets that says Ch-Ch Earthquake $$$$$$$$$$?
WTF why doesn’t the taxpayer just write out a blank cheque to Fletchers?
This is totally wrong – first their homes and city are rooted by a large earthquake and now the National government does SFA to help them, implements a dictatorship and then sells their city out from them.
FFS if I was conspiracy minded it would not be unreasonable to conclude that Jabba is really after the oil that is buried under Christchurch (note: unsubstantiated speculation)
Disaster politics, who needs economic policies when you have disasters to blame?
Peter Leitch aka ‘the mad butcher’ will be the subject of the upcoming ‘This is Your Life’
The corporate media is not finished with its (undisclosed) election campaign on behalf of the right. In fact it has hardly begun. I’ll eat my hat if I’m wrong. I may have to bake a chocolate one.
*Apologies if this has already been precdicted elsewhere
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Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
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. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
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. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Stokan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of public funds to your community. ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
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Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
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A snippet on the business news that Simon Power’s new job at Westpac involves looking after a few very rich customers looking to enhance their fortunes through state asset sales. Seems to go against the mood of the times as the 1% has already got rich enough from the 99%.
A natural career path for a tory politician …
I really wonder if he sniffed electoral defeat in the air 6 moths ago, and figured he’d send himself out to pasture for a term or two, attempting to parachute himself back in when National were in a better position to win.
Realistically when National lose an election and Key buggers off and Power took over, he’d be in as weak a position as Goff was and who would want that? Better to repeat Key’s performance and take over from a weak patsy like Brash.
That answers what trough he’s snouting from next…..how about wodney, how’d they get him to go so quietly. Time will tell. Moods are for the weak Hilary, the nats views don’t bend whatever the climate…..pillage ahoy.
I imagine that once there was a small office in the Ministry of Marine peopled by grey people wearing cardigans. This office’s job was to hold the contingency plans for a vessel stranding on the New Zealand coast. They worked hard keeping their plans up to date with all the latest information about the pros and cons of each dispersant and methods of alleviating the effects of oil spills and debris washing up on the coast. As they were a “back office” they were considered surplus to the requirements of this government and they were sacked and their careful research and files discarded, just like the DoL discarded all the files on pay equity and disestablished the office when the NATS decided they didn’t want to know. Now all that appears to be able to be done is to fly over (Key did it without wings) and observe the destruction that the Rena is causing. That and meetings and briefings that appear to have no resolution. Please note they are keeping smile and wave well away now.
I think you’ll find that any such office was disestablished in the 1990s. It takes awhile, after being a “first world” nation, to silently build down to the level of incompetence that we seem to have achieved.
Of course they are, can’t go round tarnishing the brand by associating it with anything bad.
I wouldn’t care if they weren’t “working hard” to keep the plans up to date. Just as long as the plans were kept up to date.
What we’ve had with mines safety and [possibly] marine, next on the list at the very least is health – MoH has been gutted.
The Captain of the Rena has now been arrested, this will clearly deter more oil from leaking from the ruptured vessel and stop more containers from sliding overboard.
I find it funny that you post this comment then 4 minutes later post a comment saying that Joyce and Key’s heads need to roll. I guess that is because that will clearly deter more oil from leaking from the ruptured vessel and stop more containers from sliding overboard.
Well, captains don’t generally prang more than one or two ships. But as we’ve seen in the last couple of years, Ministers can foul one thing up after another – and the more capapble ones can organise concurrent foul ups, not just consecutive.
I think the word you are looking for Chris is accountability; those in positions of authority (e.g. being able to send in troops, civil defence, the navy, etc) have a responsibility to act – they didn’t, they are accountable – I assume that is simple enough for you to comprehend?
Where exactly did I say they shouldn’t be held to account? I in no way believe they have done anything right in this situation.
As such I think they should be held to account just as the captain should be for crashing the ship in the first place.
I was merely pointing out the difference in Colonial Viper’s two comments which were posted minutes apart and implied that the captain shouldn’t be held to account because it won’t stop the oil and yet Key and Joyce should be rolled although that wouldn’t stop the oil either.
Yes I am aware that he (sorry assuming Colonial is a guy) thinks Key and Joyce should be rolled for many things and not just this but it looked a bit ridiculous and funny to me in isolation.
I assume that is simple enough for you to comprehend?
Yes, I have thought that myself… But at looks as if something is being done, hey?
I am literally just now hearing John Key saying, while grinning like an idiot, that the Rena costs will have to be borne by “the taxpayer” (as if there’s only one of them.)
Joyce and Key’s heads should roll. Now.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10758416
Sheesh CV. Crosby Textor are going to have their work cut out trying to explain this.
This disaster is going to climax right around the time of the World Cup semis and finals.
It will make for an interesting toxic stew for National to drink down.
It will bring a new meaning to the phrase “All Black”.
And “Clean Green NZ 100% pure”
What a cock up! and we’re all going to pay for it.
Here, let me spin that for you:
100% pure compared to other countries who have had environmental disasters.
According to the bloke on the radio this morning they needed to heat the oil to pump it and the systems on the ship had failed; the offer was helpful, but they said it wouldn’t work. I would have thought there would have been nothing to be lost in actually trying!
That could also read: “businessman shamelessly takes opportunity of crisis to promote his product, even though it wouldn’t have worked.”
How about a bit of critical thinking? It’s bizarre how you usually see government ownership of everything as the saviour of the country yet now uncritically laud the musings of a filthy capitalist. Even if these things were magicked into the water immediately, it appears the ship was incapable of offloading its fuel. This is not a Mr Suckymoto job.
The rafts would have worked. It’s what they were designed and are used for. Sure, we would also need to get some pumps out there but that shouldn’t have been a problem either.
The government should have ensured that plans and capability to respond to these incidents was in place. Generally speaking the best way to do that is to do so through taxes and a government department. That may or may not mean that the government should own the factory that makes the equipment (I tend to think that it should with the creative types working in government funded R&D).
But even that doesn’t mean anything beside the simple fact that we did have the gear to get the fuel-oil off in the first few days while it was still calm – selfish business promotion or not.
Draco I know it sounds easy, but they were dealing with a holed and unstable vessel already leaking fuel, and it is a particulalry difficult fuel to deal with. HFO usually requires pre heating above 38 deg before it can be pumped. Do you know if that facility was available? From what I’ve read it took four days to actually replumb the fuel system to allow offloading. Also, these barges are plastic. How would you reheat the fuel to pump it back off them back at port (I have no idea but it could slow the process significantly as well as risk the barge)?
These barges would have had to have been taken back to Tauranga for unloading. They are like large underwater balloons and I doubt they can do more than a knot or 2 under tow, so that would have been a couple of hours each way at least making each of the 17 trips including loading and unloading multiple hours. So I’d take the quick fix solutions with a pinch of salt.
People keep coming up with this but it’s really starting to bug me because I’m sure that they didn’t shovel the fuel to the engines. If the fuel has to be heated to 38 degrees before being pumped and it has to be pumped to the engines then the best way is to keep the fuel stored at 38 degrees. So, wouldn’t the fuel be at or near temperature already?
Plastics can actually take quite a high temperature and, as the barges are designed for this type of thing, then I would assume that they’ve already taken such complication into account.
What they are is displacement vessels. Flexible admittedly but I’d expect probably closer to 5 or 6 knots. It would still have taken time but 1 or 2 would actually be too slow for them to be effective.
Re heating I agree, but I think the problem is the systems weren’t working. Ianmac confirms that above. If the oil is up to temperature and you can get it off the barge quickly then fine, but if it has to go to Tauranga, it might suffer a loss of heat. Not sure if there is a portable heating unit you can insert like a kettle element.
They are not displacement vessels. They are inflatable uppers with a big para pool slung underneath, more like an iceberg. 100 tonnes of oil in a big bladder with 95% underwater? It sounds like a big sea anchor to me. you can see one here and look at the heavy heavy line and the way the thing is going through the water.
http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=89356&SRCID=0&ntid=0&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0
PS this is the niche kind of business NZ should be focussing on and exploiting
Ins the barges are flexible designed for this purpose. @ more have been lent to help with the job
Hmmmm……and no economist owning up to writing the email….looking more and more like a belated “email to self”……rats finally deserting do-nothing Jonah and his slippery sinking ship?
What economist would own up to writing that email?
If you’re offering the PM cute little one liners to use against his political opponents when you are meant to be an independent commentator, then you wouldn’t want to be caught, would you?
Is anyone surprised that Key has as much of a matey, back-slapping relationship with economists as he does with journalists?
I wonder how big a hit in the polls the government will take when the oil starts washing ashore in quantity and the beaches are black. Such images in the media will have a powerful impact.
The government will want to frame the debate around how unprecedented and difficult the salvage is, and how we have the best minds on the job. The enormity of the consequences to hide the initial response failure.
They will also try to use enormity of the consequences to say that we would never be equipped for such a large disaster (which is true) and therefore could not be expected to pay for equipment to just sit in warehouses.
So we should sell all our fire engines and remove all fire hoses from every office building in the country?
The debate has to be around those first few days. The issue is not the “salvage” but the first response and its delay. The government needs to be asked:
Why did the government assure us that
1) We could cope in a timely manner and with worlds best practice (Hekia Parata)
2) We can leave such initial action to private enterprise (Kate Wilkinson)
Why did we not have the resources on hand for an initial response?
If we did, then why did it take so long to quarantine the area and/or unload fuel?
Why did the government not brief the Greens when requested and why did Joyce trash the opposition and lie when he said they had not made a request?
Why did the government not respond to NZdrs who had the products and equipment that, if deployed in the initial response, could have reduced the damage?
Why are we using a dispersant that other countries have banned?
Why didn’t Maritime NZ, when there was time, find eco-friendly alternates to this dispersant?
Why were there no plans to acquire and deploy heavy lift helicopters in the event that a container ship runs into trouble in our waters (a foresee able scenario)?
Why are the booms deployed, as seen on TV, not adequate for estuaries given that we have so many of them in NZ? Could we not have designed our own to protect our coast?
Was the delay in any way created by debates about who was going to pay for it?
Could this explain why the minister responsible has been reluctant to use his sweeping power?
Given that this is such an obvious potential scenario why were we not better prepared to act immediately?
Nope.
See the response from Lancer Industries above. They could have offloaded all the oil from the ship in 17 trips.
Would have been all done in 3 days.
You’re seriously underestimating what we can do as a country should we put as much faith and energy and investment in to ourselves as we do the frakin All Blacks.
I’ve got a bridge with only one old lady owner to sell if you believe that
Didn’t know you supplied transport infrastructure, Insider.
Well, now we know who sold the govt the idea of the Holiday Highway.
If only. Imagine the commission on that job.
I thought it very telling that the language used by Joyce and Smith yesterday changed to describing the spill as ‘inevitable’ – something that was going to happen no matter what.
Being a resident of Mt Maunganui it has been a bit soul destroying to see the half truths and outright lies that have been spread around while very little actually occurs – huge anger and frustration in this community…
The ship has been sitting off the coast like a loaded gun and no one had the wherewithal to get out there and remove the bullet….too late now…all too late
Agreed Their are a lot of very angry people and rightly so .When John Campbell had an international expert on hi show on Thursday saying what had to be done it wasn’t till Monday that Maritime NZ that action was taken.Today on Jim Moras show we had a veteran of the gulf of Mexico oil spill on telling the audience that putting dispersant on the oil only makes it worse because it hides the problem.Key was more interested in getting his mug on TV.
Its all the captains fault. everything. put him in the stocks and let the national party candidates throw rotten tomatos at him.
National Government to VETO protection of Antarctic Ross Sea
Fuck these guys
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5768227/NZ-to-veto-total-protection-of-Ross-Sea
Aye. Channel that anger into a donation.
For Labour go here.
For the Greens go here.
Ha I already do that every week. 🙂
National ,fucking up the world near you because they can .
I’m really pissed off with these pricks right now – two daughters fired in three weeks, in both cases the companies had written the fire at will be into their employment contracts because they had so many employees.
1. 90 day trial
2. No excuse required.
3. Can’t take industial action.
4. Can’t take legal action.
The annoying part is that 1 daughter quit a job she had been at for 5 years to upskill.
90 days designed to destroy upward job mobility
I hope your daughters are personally and on social media cursing NATs employment law.
A lovely quote from new EMA CEO Kim Campbell who is a big fan of Napoleon:
“…make sure you control your supply line, make sure you concentrate your firepower at your enemy’s weakest point and then once you’ve breached the enemy’s line, consolidate,”
The employers and manufacturers association – waging a class war since conception – now preparing for a new assault against the working poor of New Zealand.
Does anyone know if National went ahead with legislating 40 hours sick leave instead of 5 days sick leave?
It’s the sort of submarine issue that doesn’t get any media coverage and most people shrug their shoulders and say “so what”, but for people who work 4×10 days instead of the standard 5×8, it makes a big difference. It’s all about screwing every last dollar out of the benefits businesses are forced to give as entitlements, so such changes fit perfectly with National’s pro-business agenda.
Then there are the 12 hour shifts that my Dad used to work in a factory.
Only having three and a bit days to recover from an illness that probably affects you more because of the long hours you’re working per day is just spiteful.
Minimum civilised sick leave is 8-10 days accrued annually. We are way behind Australia.
The weakest point of all these CEO / EMA types is exactly the same as in 18th century France.
The neck.
Shocking! Can the one who quit her previous job, go back? I wish them both good luck…
Dickensonian days are back
this is what happens when you headhunt a wall street bond salesman to run the country.
He runing it all right. straight into the ground!
Corexit Nightmare
Like many people who care about the environment, I watched in disbelief as New Zealand authorities started spraying the initial 20 to 50 tonnes of heavy oil that had leaked from the grounded ship MV Rena with Corexit 9500…
The Rena story goes on. It straightened up. now its leaning further. They couldn’t pump the oil out to barge containers without heating it, it isn’t a straightforward project. The containers are 40ft, longer than the normal 20ft. and the ship was packed with them but they have started to dislodge and fall into the sea. There is a special crane being brought from Singapore but it will take some time, say a month, to sail here. There is talk about the oil getting into the water column – I understand that is facilitated by using dispersant. It seems that it is better to not further pollute the water and try and deal with the oil as it presents, as a natural earth substance.
Fishermen, fish, seabirds, tourists, the environment etc. all harmed by this shipping company and its choice of management of its ship. Apparently the ship is registered in the notoriously lax Liberia. Are the conditions still prevailing for senior crew which was revealed years ago as buying their certificates without studying and working and passing legitimate examinations? The shipmaster is Filipino and has been in Court granted name suppression also no pictures, and he is going to assist with the salvage work.
We have some small freight shipping, I wonder if we could have more to manage much of the container transfers round the country though we would still need international vessels because of the increased transport required by the globalisation push. It is strange that the global economics approach has resulted in us becoming dependent on others for much of our basic stuff that now has to be shipped to us. If we manufactured for ourselves, that would provide a good base of jobs for many and a financial base for the high-tech and service sector to leverage off.
Not in our capitalist socio-economic system we wouldn’t. Increasing productivity must result in less jobs unless the excess people are effectively transferred to other work (R&D, Arts & Culture) but that isn’t what happens as those things aren’t guaranteed profit vehicles.
other work should also include emotional labour e.g. working in rest homes, social work, counselling etc. Employment which is not created to make a buck for a capitalist owner, but for the purposes of looking after other people.
In other words, work that is essential to a fully functioning society.
According to the Wellington Harbour Master the Rena was picking up export cargoes. It’s not just about importing cheap junk for $2 shops
Our shipping was given up to overseas ships in the 80’s for ideological reasons. The resulting effects on the balance of payments, employment, safety and the environment were, of course, not a consideration.
Almost all our export and import cargo and much of our coastal cargo is now carried by overseas ships. Mostly registered in places like Panama or Liberia.
Safety standards have dropped.
MNZ was told not to make too much of a fuss about the standard of overseas ships, as that could be politically embarrassing. Not to mention, the few remaining, NZ ships also being forced to cut costs to compete. Both with overseas ships and subsidised rail and trucking.
These ships have brought expensive poisonousness algae blooms in their ballast tanks .
they have brought seaweed that are taking over our own seaweeds
Given the quality of investigative journalism we have in our MSM, don’t be surprised if they interview a certain bishop for his perspective, or insight into the Reno’s stranding.
[lprent: para deleted by request]
Kiwisaver starts to take off. Just imagine what NZ would be like if we hadn’t had the dancing Cossacks (I still don’t understand what that ad was even supposed to mean, anyway):
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5767904/More-KiwiSaver-cash-injections-on-horizon
The Right in New Zealand at the time believed that there were reds under every bed – Muldoon wanted to snuggle up to the bomb, sporting contacts with South Africa and the links to Walvis Bay, the sense that Rowling was going to invite the Soviet Union to run our foreign policy. Having a huge government super fund available for investment in industry was seen as a potential for rampant socialism. Wilson suffered the same angst in the UK – the city did not want the government to have such a lot of money at its disposal.
Right, I guess that makes a modicum of sense in a paranoid time. I guess the difference here is that Kiwisaver funds are not managed by the government, but by private companies, so This Time It’s Different.
Probably that’s the only thing that prevented National from out-right destroying it this time around, too.
Probably. Kiwisaver delivers a lot of money into the banksters hands for them to make a profit on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/business/new-york-state-says-bank-of-new-york-mellon-cheated-pension-funds.html
In addition I understand that the bank allocated the worst currency values of the day to the pension funds and kept the best ones for themselves.
In other words if a fund were buying NZD, the bank would sell it to them at the most expensive price point which occurred that day.
The bank could then be on the other side of that transaction, allocating itself the cheapest price point which occured that day.
Free money, ripping off the pension fund.
(And now you know one reason why all these pension funds now appear to be “underfunded” and calls for retirees pensions to be cut are all over the place).
Ry Cooder: No Banker Left Behind
My telephone rang one evening my buddy called for me
Said the bankers are all leaving you better come ‘round and see
It’s a startling revelation they robbed the nation blind
They’re all down at the station no banker left behind.
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find.
They were all down at the station, no banker left behind
Well the bankers called a meetin’ to the White House they went one day
They was going to call on the president in a quiet and a sociable way
The afternoon was sunny and the weather it was fine
They counted all our money and no banker was left behind
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find
They were all down at the White House, no banker was left behind
Well I hear the whistle blowin’, it plays a happy tune
The conductor’s callin’ all aboard we’ll be leavin’ soon
With champagne and shrimp cocktails and that’s not all you’ll find
There’s a billion dollar bonus and no banker left behind
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find.
When the train pulled out next mornin’, no banker was left behind
No banker, no banker, no banker could I find.
When the train pulled out next mornin’, no banker was left behind
logioe97 is right. Tom Scott summed it up at the time with a cartoon of Muldoon tucked up in a dinky little bed looking petrified. Leather booted, fur hatted Rusky commies were hanging from the light shade, clambering through the window, huddled under the bed, peering round the door for… God only knows for what reason.
Height of the Cold War and the capitalists fear that people will realise that working together is better than competing with each other. In other words it was an OMG, Commun1sm scare tactic. It didn’t help that the USSR had become a totalitarian state while still calling themselves commun1st.
My recollection of the dancing Cossacks ad is that it was short hand for ‘Labour’s proposed super scheme will put all the money you saved into the governments hands’, just like the USSR.
Singapore does allright and Australia doe much better than us on that front if Piggy hand’t wrecked the savings scheme NZ wouldn’t be a financial disaster it is today just the tax from invested earnings would be enough to fund government without borrowing the balance of payments would be positive, because the amounts of returns on investment would be bigger than our import bill thank you J90 you little muppet so has john or jerry got his hand operating the strings.Its suck a disaster we are going to need InterNational Rescue joe [Finacial that is IMF ,World Bank]
It seems like we’ve had a rather large influx of new commenters on this site in the past few weeks, and most of them seem to be anti-government.
I wonder how many of these people are simply first-time-commenter-long-time-lurker folks, or new followers of the cause, or even people who voted National in 2008 who are seeing this government in a new light.
Can’t respond for anyone else but for me, I posted a couple of times then went into lurk mode for quite a while. Just recently I’ve started contributing again.
No easy way to tell the mix (the stats engines don’t really break down comments & would you want them to do so?),
But eyeballing it, the number of new people reading the site has jumped by nearly a third over the last two weeks above our average for the last couple of months (which was itself close to double last years average in the same time period), while the total increase in visitors is up by about a quarter.
Of course about half of the new visitors are part of the visit once normality (typically search engine driven), but there are a considerable number that wind up in the other normal peak of 200+ visits per month.
From my previous sampling (SQL on commenting against IP’s on logs), characteristically 10-20% of high hit newbies will write a comment within the first month of arriving (it varies quite a lot depending on what the posts are about and what OpenMike is discussing). So I’d say that the bulk of the new comments are probably lurkers, with a good proportion of newbies because of the numbers that are being referred to us at present.
It has been quiet because of the RWC, but the last couple of weeks have started to look like election time is breaking through.
The fact of the matter is that National is a bad luck government and no amount of fiddling with the brand is going to turn it around.
Labour hasn’t exactly been a “good luck” opposition, but it’s more due to self harm rather than natural disasters.
Good to see John Key is beginning to come under pressure and as he does it will become more clear he does not have hard working NZer’s at heart
.
A ditty for John Key
I’m a millionaire and I’m okay
dont ‘have to’ think about anyone else
I sleep all night
I’m PM by day
and Crosby and Textor tells me what to say
Just last year we introduced
government blockers on the internet
they are only there to stop the porn
so you can ‘trust me’ when I say
we won’t use them for anything else.
We will crush those unions underfoot
and arm the police for their protest
If we push those wages down again
we can ‘indenture, Kiwi workers’ for years and years.
I’m a millionaire and I’m okay
I don’t ‘have to’ think about anyone else
I sleep all night
I’m PM by day
and Crosby and Textor tells me what to say.
Rivers of ice: Vanishing glaciers.
Between 2007 and 2010, David Breashears retraced the steps of early photographic pioneers such as Major E O Wheeler, George Mallory and Vittorio Sella – to try to re-take their views of breathtaking glacial vistas.
Also: #GlacierWorks.
3 minutes 59 sec– far too long for the avarage climate denialist troll to invest in saving the planet.
Hang in there, Joe90
Mind you, it did have pretty pictures, which should make it easier for them.
If I believed in portents or divine messages, I’d be taking a hint.
Nine years of Labour: not much, a few unexpected snows for farmers, a few floods, one or two algae blooms, basically the norm.
2 1/2 years of National: Tornados and snow in Auckland, multiple earthquakes, groundings with oilspills, and lethal mine explosions.
Get the impression God is pissed about something? Another term and we’ll have an asteroid strike 😉
Hilarious.
Maybe that could be the lefts campaign slogan for this election…”If you vote National God will punish you”
It is certainly more credible than some of the rubbish I have seen.
[lprent: You should also look at these troll style statements when you can comment again next week – see my previous note. ]
It’s more credible than anything you write, that’s for sure.
Drove along the Waikato Expressway yesterday and was surprised at the conspicuous absence of National election billboards, in what should be strong National party country. Only two billboards, compared to 20+ for the previous two elections. And both of those were on properties that previously had ACT billboards. Is this extreme confidence, or are peokple less confident (more ambivalent) in their support for the current governmen?
In the wairarapa you would be excused for thinking that John Keys is running here himself.
Hayes wont even allow his own billboards to be put up.
Oh and the cheapskates are using the same ones they used three years ago.
It’s called recycling. Most normal people think its a good thing.
Yep. However recycling Brash (and Banks) was definitely a bad thing.
Hil’ry Berry is in Tauranga, looking at the Rena, and saying in a tone of shocked surprise “It’s now an election issue!” (Well, no sh*t, Sherlock…) She’s nothing if not quick, our Hil’ry… 😀
More asset sales planned? This time in Christchurch.
Press release from Christchurch Central MP Brendon Burns covered on Scoop
12 October 2011
I guess it’s not just national assets they want to flog.
I wonder what assets the people of the Bay of Plenty will have to sell to pay for their disaster?
Somebody had better tell them that there is more shit out at sea and it’ll come ashore November 27!
Oh hell no, it’s all of them. If we’re left owning anything then we may be able to get out from under their domination.
The framing has already swung into action – specifically around the supposed liability of the council for issuing consent well building permits – well, its always 20/20 vision in hindsight – quite obviously the incidence of earthquakes that Canterbury experienced and is currently experiencing was unexpected – with earthquakes it’s always a probability equation – just look at Wellington – big quake…f*#ked.
Make no mistake – this is an asset grab, and a continuation of the great earthquake rort in Christchurch.
How is it that costs are unquantifiable and ongoing? If ballooning cost are an issue then surely the first task is accurately chart these and not just put a line in the next five years (or more) budgets that says Ch-Ch Earthquake $$$$$$$$$$?
WTF why doesn’t the taxpayer just write out a blank cheque to Fletchers?
This is totally wrong – first their homes and city are rooted by a large earthquake and now the National government does SFA to help them, implements a dictatorship and then sells their city out from them.
FFS if I was conspiracy minded it would not be unreasonable to conclude that Jabba is really after the oil that is buried under Christchurch (note: unsubstantiated speculation)
Disaster politics, who needs economic policies when you have disasters to blame?
The End of the New Zealand Dream
Loved it!
Prediction:*
Peter Leitch aka ‘the mad butcher’ will be the subject of the upcoming ‘This is Your Life’
The corporate media is not finished with its (undisclosed) election campaign on behalf of the right. In fact it has hardly begun. I’ll eat my hat if I’m wrong. I may have to bake a chocolate one.
*Apologies if this has already been precdicted elsewhere