The party’s announced Coromandel candidate, Caleb Ansell, is a councillor in the Matamata-Piako district and stood for the New Conservatives at the last election.
They stole that slogan from Judith Collins, you realise – she declared it back when she became Nat leader? She ought to remind the media of that. When I saw her say it on the tv news I was amused: `Yeah, you & what army?'
Sounds a lot like Farrage/Boris and the "Take Back Control". The idea that something has been taken from you and that you have a right/obligation to reclaim it is quite powerful politically.
I follow US politics. A marker of the insanity of some aspects of it is Marjorie Taylor Greene. That she can get elected, be supported while being as loopy and limited is of course, astounding.
“At least that could never happen here,” regularly comes to mind.
Murfitt is standing, she could be our version of MTG. Sure the bizarre thinking crazies will support her but let her ‘qualities’ be out there so sane people know what they’re voting for.
Well, if that's what happens, I guess we'll all have to give them credit for their machavellian leaking of it to the Nat deputy leader a month back. Most people wouldn't expect Labour to be that clever.
"If your deliberate-leak theory is correct… it's a shot own foot for labour."
In the past when I was more politically involved, the primary source of most leaks was believed to be a public servant – someone who knows enough to put two and two together… The leaking occurs in a roundabout sort of way so that original source is rarely identified.
Under the Banking Association’s Orderly scenario, decisive climate action would limit the world to 1.4°C temperature rise – and still has the potential to deliver a positive impact to domestic GDP.
"That is completely implausible," says Sandy Trust from EY, the author of a recent report by the UK Institute of Actuaries.
Compare the banks' worst case scenario with the one designed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – one where the world continues to rely intensely on fossil fuels. In a world that assumes 4.4 degrees of warming by 2100, society would be facing an existential risk of collapse, Trust says.
Matt Raeburn, a New Zealand-based climate scenarios specialist with consulting firm WSP, also doesn’t think the banks' scenarios properly reflect the risk.
"To put it colloquially, when I read the NZ Banking Association’s scenarios, I just don’t think they get it yet," he says.
Pleasing to see Stuff investigating some of desperate Winston's weird candidates. High time it was exposed who he is consorting with.
Not surprising now that he made a pilgrimage to the protesters at Parliament last year. There he was, amongst the rag tag unwashed mob, sauntering around in his finely tailored suit and Italian shoes. He was using the occasion to appear relevant, but no way would he camp down among the chaos and rubbish and spend the night there.
'The World Bank has estimated that rebuilding Ukraine after the war could cost as much as $350 billion.
'Beyond the immediate deficit, Ukraine's government has an estimated US$750 billion in direct economic costs from the war, which could be as high as US$1 trillion if indirect costs are added'.
(And the human cost-10 million displaced,100’s of thousands dead and injured.)
I thought it was a good interview, don't agree with everything thing Joyce says but he ain't the worst, of course there's a huge difference between putting a cable under ground, broadband rollout , and putting light rail down the middle of a Auckland rd, maybe the next government should hire him to do it. !!!
A lot of the Chorus fibre in Wellington was installed late in the rollout and is strung overhead between poles. It's a weird hodgepodge of some small sections underground and then up a pole to continue as an aerial cable.
The Greens have announced a clean power payment policy plan:
The Clean Power Payment, which is planned to be part of a broader Zero Carbon Homes upgrade, will allow:
grants of up to $6000 to cover the cost of installing solar power and making energy efficient upgrades,
interest-free loans of up to $30,000 to cover the cost of additional zero carbon home upgrades,
tax deductible zero carbon upgrades for rental homes.
The Zero Carbon Homes upgrade is planned to:
scale up solar on Kainga Ora homes to 30,000 more households in the next three years,
expand Warmer Kiwi Homes to cover more zero carbon upgrades such as replacing gas heaters,
fund Community Energy providers and by Māori, for Māori approaches.
Grants could be used to cover 25 percent of the cost of things like better insulation; replacing fossil-fuel appliances, like gas heaters, with clean alternatives, like heat pumps; and to purchase rooftop solar power
The funding would come from revenue from the Emissions Trading Scheme, through the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
The total operating expenditure for all the initiatives in this area it planned would be about $682 million by the year 2026/27.
The party claims the Clean Power Payment will save households up to $1200 on their energy bills, every year, and slash carbon emissions.
It would be scaled up over three years, with an initial focus on lower-income households.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw said while people struggled with energy challenges, the planet was heating "at frightening speed".
"There is a clear answer staring us in the face: warm homes powered by clean, cheap, low-carbon energy, supplied straight from our roofs," Shaw said.
“The Clean Power Payment will deliver lower bills, more jobs, and cut climate emissions. That is what the Green Party is offering this election.
“We are proving once again that we are the only party with the bold solutions people need right now.
“Our Income Guarantee will ensure everyone has an income of at least $385 per each, so we people always have enough to afford the weekly shop, pay the rent, or cover unexpected costs. Rent controls will put a limit on how much landlords can increase people’s rent each year. And now the Clean Power Payment will cut emissions and power bills, saving people hundreds of dollars a year.
“Everything we need to upgrade our homes exists. However, most of us do not have thousands of dollars spare to pay for things like solar panels, heat pumps, or double-glazing.
“The Clean Power Payment is the obvious answer to that problem.
“Under our plan, people will be able to access grants of up to $6,000 to cover the cost of clean energy upgrades, like putting solar power on their roof, or installing a heat pump. Plus, interest-free loans of up to $30,000 to cover the cost of additional zero carbon home upgrades.
“The Clean Power Payment will help people to upgrade their homes to be warmer, without relying on dirty fuels, so everyone can come home to a warm place which doesn’t pollute the planet,” says Marama Davidson.
Greater energy efficiency is the only way to be less dependent on increasing the power supply (given the resources used to produce equipment for new generation) is to require, or incentivise, such investment.
The key point about the link by SPC to the additions to the insulation grants is that they are Govt policy NOW. They are not part of the election strategy but build on the work done in the Budget 2023 and prior.
This means that you don't have to wait until your favourite party fronts up in the election, becomes a party that the elected govt wants to negotaiate with, is part of what is agreed in a coalition agreement and then is implemented say from 2024…..
Bird in the hand etc.
“The changes mean up to 58,000 more lower-income homeowners will now meet the criteria so I encourage homeowners who think they, or those close to them, might benefit from this programme to check the Warmer Kiwi Homes website. People who have applied previously, may now be eligible,” Megan Wood said.
and
Grants were previously set at 80% of the cost of insulation, and up to 80% for heating, capped at $3,000 for those living in an area with a ‘Deprivation Index’ of 8, 9, or 10. Further top ups from community organisations in some centres have made the cost of insulation even lower or no-cost.
The change means insulation grants have been extended to include level 7. Further, those in levels 9 or 10 – and Community Services Card holders – will now be eligible for a grant that is 90% of the cost of an insulation retrofit.
“Increasing the grant to 90% for insulation will extend the number of potential homeowners, who may be the hardest to reach,” said Megan Woods.
This will mean that people will be able to plan to have insulation and other improvements carried out from now on which is the best time of year to do this.
No interest means there isn't the pressure to service the loan above what is affordable and people will be able to get a grant of $6000 as well as the loan. Did you perhaps overlook all of this in the announcement?
grants of up to $6000 to cover the cost of installing solar power and making energy efficient upgrades,
interest-free loans of up to $30,000 to cover the cost of additional zero carbon home upgrades,
…
Grants could be used to cover 25 percent
…
It would be scaled up over three years, with an initial focus on lower-income households.
No interest doesn't reduce the principal (amounts shown above) and the grant comes nowhere near covering the total amount, as you also pointed out. Thus, no, I didn't overlook them.
You are aware ones income and liabilities are taken into account when seeking a loan, leaving a number unable to service, thus secure a loan.
Furthermore, scaling up solar on Kainga Ora homes doesn't help poor/struggling homeowners.
So it seems those poorer/struggling households (that need the financial relief the most) have been overlooked. Unless you have something else to point too?
If there is no interest on a loan it can be paid off slowly, there is no evidence these are to be means tested beyond having a regular income; the extra money to pay the loan is acquired through power saving from the increased thermal efficiency gained by the improvements.
Who are these poorer/struggling households in your opinion? Not people in social housing?
Then there's their taxation policy with an income guarantee and a $10k threshold. All these policies overlap it's a bizarre claim that the 'poorer/struggling' have been overlooked, there's no one else offering more for the struggling, or for the planet. Party vote Green
That only applies to commercial lending practices which all involve interest. The Climate Emergency Response Fund would be the lender of the interest free loans, not banks.
So when the Greens said: an initial focus on lower-income households. You saw that as overlooking those households on low or fixed income?
Can you show me where the Climate Emergency Response Fund (being the lender) allows them to override the responsible lending rules?
When the Greens said: an initial focus on lower-income households, they overlooked homeowners on low or fixed incomes, as I've been pointing out to you.
We are disagreeing over whether the debt is affordable. You are making the assumption that the savings in power couldn't be used to pay off the loan, that the income guarantee wouldn't improve the lot of those 'poorer/struggling' households that own their own home but somehow have insufficient income to pay off an interest free loan. That's quite a few contra-evidenced assumptions.
It's helping them to have warmer, more energy efficient home for a start. At the end of paying the loan they have a warmer, drier, cheaper-to-run home, have paid no interest and will continue to benefit from the savings.
once the debt is paid off their power costs are lower going forward than they are now.
That largely depends on the repayment rate (how much are the savings) thus time it takes to payoff the loan. Coupled with the longevity of the product.
Most well-made solar panels will have a warranty of 25 years or more. This might make you think this is the point at which they stop generating power. However, that isn’t quite the full story.
The 25-year warranty isn’t an actual product lifetime. After two and a half decades of operation, a solar panel will still produce energy, just at a lower rate.
Estimates on exactly how much less vary, but a 2012 study from the US-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that solar panels lose about 0.8% of their original efficiency every year. By this estimate, after 25 years, a solar panel will still be producing about 82.5% of the power it did when it first started.
Families will be thinking $5 savings per week means one person will be able to get a burger each week – or an extra loaf of bread, or a takeaway coffee. They'll be so excited by this prospect. Next poll will show the effect!
About twenty years ago one newspaper published an article about religious nutters from the USA seeing NZ as a place that was small enough to remake in the image they wanted. They named 50 very well off Americans who were part of a list. Some had already moved here. I've never been able to find the article in recent years.
I'm occasionally reminded of this when something happens eg when Act had to suddenly get citizenship a few years back for five of their candidates who were recent arrivals to NZ, when Thiel was given citizenship, the increasing number of religious people in parties, the rise of Trump, the increase inn religious teaching the secular state schools, etc.
Been watching the documentary about Donald Cline, the fertility doctor who used his own sperm to impregnate his patients. In this is mentioned a group I had not previously heard of – Quiverfall.
Quiverfull is a Christian theological position that sees large families as a blessing from God.It encourages procreation, abstaining from all forms of birth control, natural family planning, and sterilization.
Some sources have referred to the Quiverfull position as providentialism, while other sources have simply referred to it as a manifestation of natalism.
It is most widespread in the United States but it also has adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. One 2006 estimate put the number of families which subscribe to this philosophy as ranging from "the thousands to the low tens of thousands".
Just like outside of home education, there are a variety of different beliefs in the home education families – ranging from the familiar Christian families, to brethrens, but I do recall a couple of meetings with US immigrant families – that followed more fundamental doctrines. (I was point of contact for new families for a couple of committees). It was then I was introduced to the quiverful concept.
(Contact didn't last long, once they realised my last name did not match my children's and I wasn't married, but there were enough to be a noticeable cohort.)
It was so long ago, reading the comment feels like I'm reading someone else but here's what I posted back then:
"In conjunction with this, I also recently complained to our National Council for allowing religious messages Creating a God-Centred family – workshop by to be sent via the secular NCHENZ message loop.
Decided to give the two seconds required to google the advertised speakers with Geoff Botkin mentioned above, and they seem to be well acquainted.
In summary:
– a message on the homeschool loops in 2009 which was tl;dr
– recalled that message after reading Lusks amateur leaked documents
– was able to google that message and read again, which now sounds more credible given some of the recent US families that have moved to NZ, and the workshops that have been offered by the christian support groups in the last couple of years
– found links between the person named in the original (2009) email and those currently doing the rounds within the christian homeschooling groups.
If any of the original email is true, then imagine if this group aligns with funding a hardA-right wing conservative government. The families I have had direct contact with seemed to be middle class, but would also be quite likely to give a significant portion of their income to their church (which may end up including a political lobby group)."
As mentioned, long out of the loop in the home education community. If anyone else is still involved, it'd be good to have an update on whether they have seen any development along these lines.
1. Well I for one can't wait for my discount on fresh veggies, so as long as the poor pay GST on canned Tomatoes and Peas as there is no way they can actually afford fresh food on their income. And fwiw, the Government needs its increased GST take, after all they for sure will not tax the rich and wealthy people such as themselves and their partners/spouses.
2. Why not also no GST on bread, butter, cheese and meat? To fancy for the poor?
3. Why not immediately after the election but only starts in April next year? To hard for the businesses and accoutants?
4. GST is a cost that runs through all steps of production. So would a Farmer be able no pay the GST on his fertilizers, seeds and other cost of production? Or is this only a gift to supermarkets? Or is it a gift to accountants for extra billable hours?
5. Really Labour. That is the fucking best you can do? That is your help to deal with the cost of living? Who told you that? Like what oracle did you consult that came to you with a booming voice " Remove GST of Fresh Fruit/Veggies, the poor can't afford it but it will make you look like you care"?
Far out, never did i think that i would watch the implosion of a lefty party due to arrogance, lack of ideas and incompetence at best, willful arrogance at worst.
The cost of living is ruining peoples live now, so really they should come up with something that has a bit of urgency attached to it. Anything else is really just posturing and rallying the faithful, but otherwise utterly devoid of meaning.
Secondly, they are power, full majority, they need no one to cosign that policy if it is so great. After all, as i stated above, the cost of living crisis has been an issue for a while now.
I mean literally they could bring back the discount on fuel and free public transport for all, immediately, that would have an impact. But maybe that thing is just about grand standing.
Labour, we are just make up and pretense.. please vote for us, cause otherwise we would have to find jobs.
Meanwhile in the real world, people have ran out of money, food, electricity and good faith. Need weekly food parcels and live in cramped emergency housing cause they can't afford to rent a dog kennel.
I know why its going to start in April, everyone knows. What we can not figure out how this is going to fight the rampant and run a way cost of living today, tomorrow and for the next 8 month.
Labour has a full majority, they could have removed GST for a while now literally of all food items, and i am sure they could have done that with the full support of the Greens and TPM.
Yet, they did not. Labour, on record for doing the right things only when they are about to lose an election.
"4. GST is a cost that runs through all steps of production. So would a Farmer be able no pay the GST on his fertilizers, seeds and other cost of production?"
Not so. GST is a transaction that runs through all steps of production, but is only a cost to the final consumer. Farmers pay GST at the time of purchase of seed etc, but, so long as the farming business is registered for GST (because of the level of turnover most have to be), they declare that GST paid by them when they submit their regular GST return to IRD and receive a full refund of that GST paid.
When they sell their veggies to the supermarket (or any intermediaries) they charge GST on the sale price, declare that amount on their GST return and pay that GST collected to IRD.
The supermarket does the same on their GST return.
It's the final consumer who pays the GST charged at time of purchase, cannot register for GST, so cannot claim a refund.
chances are that you sell more product then you buy raw materials to produce. So in essence businesses also pay GST, specially if they make a profit. But they can write of the cost as a business expense.
So can i not pay the GST that i was charged when i bought my raw materials, if it adds to he price of fruit and vegetables? After all that is the point? To make fruit and veggies affordable.
What GST content is removed, only the GST levy where the Supermarket sells a carrot -GST inc -to the end consumer, or the step where the supermarket buys its produce from the farmer GST inc, or the step where the farmer buys fertilizer, land, seeds, water, etc all inc GST? Will the GST content that was accrued by transport be removable? As all these things are part of price setting, i.e. all costs and all accrued GST.
The reason why GST is regressive is that it is charged at every step of production, and while businesses can write of GST as an expense, they still have to pay the difference of GST paid and GST received, ever month, two month or yearly and can only claim it back at the end of the year. The end consumer however pays for ever cent of GST charged on every step of production.
My impression is Grant has had to swallow a few dead rats lately. Sir Michael Cullens tax working group was against this policy and so was Grant some months back.
But Grant is a team player and has done his best here. I don't like the policy personally, I believe there are better, more targeted ways to support kiwis, but this policy is out there now.
Chris Hipkins although a decent man, isn't the leader we need right now. Grant should've stepped up when Dame Jacinda stepped down.
But it is what it is. If we get a third term it will be a miracle.
And that is why the Labour party has a good chance of losing. They collectively have no spine, no guts and no not a single conviction that they would defend and / or uphold
They played their team into being a mockery of a serious political party that can read the room their in.
But my theory is they don't want to win. Now its time for N to come along and finish the job, and N will. They are the two sides of NZ INC and we are just either profit centres or cost centres.
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It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
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 ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
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 ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300945108/chemtrails-911-and-vaccine-nanobots-the-digital-trail-of-nz-firsts-couldbe-mps
Winston's going to the bottom of the barrel for candidates
Well…that pretty much shows his desperation. But good that its now shown. And good on you for linking it.
People on the standard shun the msm but stuff do good stuff , they need support
Yea I read Stuff. And they are ok. Its the same with all Media. You have to apply some critical thinking.
One good thing I see…the nutbar conspiracists are heavily infighting and in disarray (well kinda a given considering ! )
Should be good for us on Left…given ACT arent too keen on NZfirst.
They'll be counting clicks at stuff so reading the good ones and dodging the average ones will help
Oh yea….very valid point ! And..re your other comment, I think a strong Green/Te Pati would indeed be a good thing.
Who would know what goes on in Winston's mind? But you gotta be concerned when some of his new friends are affiliated to making NZ "ungovernable"..
Agree 100% bwaghorn. and PsyclingLeft.Always They produce some thought provoking stuff.
Remember, Stuff also platforms ultra-right wing f-wit, Damien Grant.
Freedom of speech, I read it to see how they think, mostly he reminds me of what lies beneath act
yes he' s a righty.
"Let's take our country back" says the NZF 2023 party slogan.
I ask, "Back from what? Back from whom?"
Mrs Mac1 asks "Back to the Sixties?"
They stole that slogan from Judith Collins, you realise – she declared it back when she became Nat leader? She ought to remind the media of that. When I saw her say it on the tv news I was amused: `Yeah, you & what army?'
Sounds a lot like Farrage/Boris and the "Take Back Control". The idea that something has been taken from you and that you have a right/obligation to reclaim it is quite powerful politically.
It's a racist dog whistle…
And it has a Trump sounding connection too. Bit of a worry considering who NZFirst has attaching themselves….
It is better to be known than not known as a politician.
Even better if you are known to believe in something.
Less than 100 people in NZ can name anyone under the top 20 in Labour, Greens, Act or National, and fewer than that know what any of them stand for.
Of the 120 people in parliament, 99% of NZers only know any of their names when they stuff up or are PM or leader of the opposition.
And despite MMP this Parliament are remarkably bland.
We need more elected weirdos.
100%
I follow US politics. A marker of the insanity of some aspects of it is Marjorie Taylor Greene. That she can get elected, be supported while being as loopy and limited is of course, astounding.
“At least that could never happen here,” regularly comes to mind.
Murfitt is standing, she could be our version of MTG. Sure the bizarre thinking crazies will support her but let her ‘qualities’ be out there so sane people know what they’re voting for.
And there is the making NZ "ungovernable" element. Potentially very dangerous people…..
fresh air and sunlight.
The long rumoured announcement to come today?
http://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/350053627/labour-promise-take-gst-fresh-and-frozen-fruit-and-vegetables
Well, if that's what happens, I guess we'll all have to give them credit for their machavellian leaking of it to the Nat deputy leader a month back. Most people wouldn't expect Labour to be that clever.
If your deliberate-leak theory is correct… it's a shot own foot for labour.
The early leak has taken all the whizz-bang out of it…
(And my previously voiced fears that this is it..is those worst fears realized..)
They could keep it simple and abolish GST altogether. Pay for the move wit a more steeply progressive tax system.
"If your deliberate-leak theory is correct… it's a shot own foot for labour."
In the past when I was more politically involved, the primary source of most leaks was believed to be a public servant – someone who knows enough to put two and two together… The leaking occurs in a roundabout sort of way so that original source is rarely identified.
Just saying.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300949203/labour-to-promise-to-take-gst-off-fresh-and-frozen-fruit-and-vegetables
Looks like it's a go, pathetic tinkering, I've been getting the feeling for a while that chippie is all about chippie, , be greens or tpm for me.
Its awful policy and I hope it never gets enacted.
Screws with the simplicity of the gst system, provides minimal if any benefit where its needed ($5-10 per week) at best.
Far better to leave the system alone and give everyone $10 per week by way of a tax free threshold or something
I cannot understand the thinking, absolutely everyone says it a dog of a policy,
Looking at the calibre of elected representatives of the 'leader of the free world',there's really no cause for alarm.
There are candidates here in NZ of major parties who believe there is an invisible being in the sky…who has 10 things you are not allowed to…do.
The bottom of the barrel must be near empty these days ,when you look at the credentials of political aspirants.ACT is a good example.
Under the Banking Association’s Orderly scenario, decisive climate action would limit the world to 1.4°C temperature rise – and still has the potential to deliver a positive impact to domestic GDP.
"That is completely implausible," says Sandy Trust from EY, the author of a recent report by the UK Institute of Actuaries.
Compare the banks' worst case scenario with the one designed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – one where the world continues to rely intensely on fossil fuels. In a world that assumes 4.4 degrees of warming by 2100, society would be facing an existential risk of collapse, Trust says.
Matt Raeburn, a New Zealand-based climate scenarios specialist with consulting firm WSP, also doesn’t think the banks' scenarios properly reflect the risk.
"To put it colloquially, when I read the NZ Banking Association’s scenarios, I just don’t think they get it yet," he says.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/its-going-to-be-messy-banks-underestimate-threat-of-climate-change
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." Upton Sinclair
Pleasing to see Stuff investigating some of desperate Winston's weird candidates. High time it was exposed who he is consorting with.
Not surprising now that he made a pilgrimage to the protesters at Parliament last year. There he was, amongst the rag tag unwashed mob, sauntering around in his finely tailored suit and Italian shoes. He was using the occasion to appear relevant, but no way would he camp down among the chaos and rubbish and spend the night there.
Isn't there a proverb about if you lie with dogs you end up with fleas?
It's more if you lie with anti-vax loons..you end up with candidates of a similar calibre ..
War….when will the madness..end?
'The World Bank has estimated that rebuilding Ukraine after the war could cost as much as $350 billion.
'Beyond the immediate deficit, Ukraine's government has an estimated US$750 billion in direct economic costs from the war, which could be as high as US$1 trillion if indirect costs are added'.
(And the human cost-10 million displaced,100’s of thousands dead and injured.)
US President asks for NZ$34 billion for Ukraine as counteroffensive sputters | Stuff.co.nz
as high as US$1 trillion
that cost will be way to too small IMO
Watched Jack Tane with Steven Joyce on Q&A this morning. Twenty minutes of free campaign advertising for the National Party. 🙄
I thought it was a good interview, don't agree with everything thing Joyce says but he ain't the worst, of course there's a huge difference between putting a cable under ground, broadband rollout , and putting light rail down the middle of a Auckland rd, maybe the next government should hire him to do it. !!!
The broadband rollout seems to be the go to project when the Nats say they get things done. It was their crowning achievement over 9 years.
As you say, hiring cheap offshore labour to dig a few micro trenches in cities and towns is not a particularly difficult project.
Wasn't Dotcom threatening to do that, then Key got involved and Chorus was born? Is my memory correct?
A lot of the Broadband cables were thrust – only the ends were dug. No need to close the road, no trenching, just the equivalent of "keyhole surgery".
A lot of the Chorus fibre in Wellington was installed late in the rollout and is strung overhead between poles. It's a weird hodgepodge of some small sections underground and then up a pole to continue as an aerial cable.
The Greens have announced a clean power payment policy plan:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/495691/elections-2023-political-parties-announce-major-policies
https://www.greens.org.nz/saving_the_planet_and_saving_money_it_s_as_easy_as_more_green_mps
James Shaw's speech is here: https://www.greens.org.nz/clean_power_payment_james_shaw_speech
The greens deserve credit for this rolling maul of logical/sensible/well thought out/problem solving policies..they have been serving up..
This latest one maintains that quality level…
Greater energy efficiency is the only way to be less dependent on increasing the power supply (given the resources used to produce equipment for new generation) is to require, or incentivise, such investment.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2308/S00070/over-50000-more-kiwis-to-be-eligible-for-insulation-grants.htm
The key point about the link by SPC to the additions to the insulation grants is that they are Govt policy NOW. They are not part of the election strategy but build on the work done in the Budget 2023 and prior.
This means that you don't have to wait until your favourite party fronts up in the election, becomes a party that the elected govt wants to negotaiate with, is part of what is agreed in a coalition agreement and then is implemented say from 2024…..
Bird in the hand etc.
and
This will mean that people will be able to plan to have insulation and other improvements carried out from now on which is the best time of year to do this.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2308/S00070/over-50000-more-kiwis-to-be-eligible-for-insulation-grants.htm
And a link to the programme
https://www.eeca.govt.nz/co-funding/insulation-and-heater-grants/warmer-kiwi-homes-programme/?gclid=CjwKCAjwjYKjBhB5EiwAiFdSfswKecfuB20xR0XoUHGLTBLzTSzXH1-sHTo7USCgWcYT5LQeq6Y0PBoCb_oQAvD_BwE
On average it will cost around $35,000 to double glaze a 100m2 home and around up to $20,000 for solar power and battery setup.
Does the Green's new policy have provisions for households that are deemed unable to service a loan?
Or have those poorer/struggling households (that need the financial relief the most) been overlooked?
No interest means there isn't the pressure to service the loan above what is affordable and people will be able to get a grant of $6000 as well as the loan. Did you perhaps overlook all of this in the announcement?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/495691/elections-2023-political-parties-announce-major-policies
No interest doesn't reduce the principal (amounts shown above) and the grant comes nowhere near covering the total amount, as you also pointed out. Thus, no, I didn't overlook them.
You are aware ones income and liabilities are taken into account when seeking a loan, leaving a number unable to service, thus secure a loan.
Furthermore, scaling up solar on Kainga Ora homes doesn't help poor/struggling homeowners.
So it seems those poorer/struggling households (that need the financial relief the most) have been overlooked. Unless you have something else to point too?
If there is no interest on a loan it can be paid off slowly, there is no evidence these are to be means tested beyond having a regular income; the extra money to pay the loan is acquired through power saving from the increased thermal efficiency gained by the improvements.
Who are these poorer/struggling households in your opinion? Not people in social housing?
Then there's their taxation policy with an income guarantee and a $10k threshold. All these policies overlap it's a bizarre claim that the 'poorer/struggling' have been overlooked, there's no one else offering more for the struggling, or for the planet. Party vote Green
The income guarantee is a very small amount.
A very small amount, that happens to be more that what's currently offered. But no, you say the Greens overlook the ‘poorer/struggling’.
The ability to service a loan results in whether or not people are able to obtain one.
https://www.nzba.org.nz/banking-information/consumer-lending/you-and-consumer-lending-law/
Those on low or fixed incomes. Those that have high debt and little spare income. Therefore, power savings may not help secure the loan.
That only applies to commercial lending practices which all involve interest. The Climate Emergency Response Fund would be the lender of the interest free loans, not banks.
So when the Greens said: an initial focus on lower-income households. You saw that as overlooking those households on low or fixed income?
Can you show me where the Climate Emergency Response Fund (being the lender) allows them to override the responsible lending rules?
When the Greens said: an initial focus on lower-income households, they overlooked homeowners on low or fixed incomes, as I've been pointing out to you.
So does consumer credit law apply to the provision of student loans, another interest free, government funded loan system?
Are you saying instead of helping poorer/struggling households with larger grants, they should be burdened with debt they cannot afford to repay?
Is that your idea of helping them?
We are disagreeing over whether the debt is affordable. You are making the assumption that the savings in power couldn't be used to pay off the loan, that the income guarantee wouldn't improve the lot of those 'poorer/struggling' households that own their own home but somehow have insufficient income to pay off an interest free loan. That's quite a few contra-evidenced assumptions.
If savings in power is going to pay off debt, what savings do they actually gain from the process? Nada. Again, not really helping them, is it?
once the debt is paid off their power costs are lower going forward than they are now.
Additionally, they’ve increased household, community and societal resiliency in the climate crisis as well as helping mitigate.
Single, 25 years or over on a benefit gets $337.74 in the hand. And that is not counting any other top ups.
Sole parent in the hand without any other top ups is $472.79
Single, living alone on a pension gets $496.37 in the hand without any other top up.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/benefit-rates/benefit-rates-april-2023.html
So again, the income guarantee is a very small amount that some benefits already exceed.
It's helping them to have warmer, more energy efficient home for a start. At the end of paying the loan they have a warmer, drier, cheaper-to-run home, have paid no interest and will continue to benefit from the savings.
So a lot more than nothing.
@weka
That largely depends on the repayment rate (how much are the savings) thus time it takes to payoff the loan. Coupled with the longevity of the product.
Teslar power wall warranty is 10 years.
https://www.zenenergy.co.nz/blog/what-is-the-life-expectancy-of-a-solar-panel
90% grants – heating and insulation – CSC holder and those in areas 7-9.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2308/S00070/over-50000-more-kiwis-to-be-eligible-for-insulation-grants.htm
Labour thinks saving $4 a week on veges will win votes means they think voters are just dumb
Fisiani returns after four long years away from The Standard! Nice to see you're still fizzing…..
Moreover, it won't kick in till April.
Once again, showing how out of touch Labour are. Struggling households need far more than $5 a week and they need relief now.
Sadly it appears that the leaks were accurate and Nicola Willis was able to take all the gloss off this policy.
It concerns me that many on the left appear to be opposed to this plan, but I understand why.
I was hoping for something truly transformational to inspire the base and change the lefts fortunes.
I don't think that was it…
And Ffs, sort your microphone out beforehand!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132734668/live-labour-to-cut-gst-on-fresh-and-frozen-fruit-and-vegetables-from-april
Livestream still happening…
Families will be thinking $5 savings per week means one person will be able to get a burger each week – or an extra loaf of bread, or a takeaway coffee. They'll be so excited by this prospect. Next poll will show the effect!
Labours big big announcement was a dud.
A policy that had already leaked to the public.
The Blairite is firmly in save the furniture mode, he doesn't believe or want another term
I hope you're wrong Corey. But fear you aren't.
Labour are going to bleed votes..that much is a given..
I just hope those voters migrate to greens/tmp…
About twenty years ago one newspaper published an article about religious nutters from the USA seeing NZ as a place that was small enough to remake in the image they wanted. They named 50 very well off Americans who were part of a list. Some had already moved here. I've never been able to find the article in recent years.
I'm occasionally reminded of this when something happens eg when Act had to suddenly get citizenship a few years back for five of their candidates who were recent arrivals to NZ, when Thiel was given citizenship, the increasing number of religious people in parties, the rise of Trump, the increase inn religious teaching the secular state schools, etc.
Been watching the documentary about Donald Cline, the fertility doctor who used his own sperm to impregnate his patients. In this is mentioned a group I had not previously heard of – Quiverfall.
Quiverfull is a Christian theological position that sees large families as a blessing from God.It encourages procreation, abstaining from all forms of birth control, natural family planning, and sterilization.
Some sources have referred to the Quiverfull position as providentialism, while other sources have simply referred to it as a manifestation of natalism.
It is most widespread in the United States but it also has adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. One 2006 estimate put the number of families which subscribe to this philosophy as ranging from "the thousands to the low tens of thousands".
Somewhat surprised to find adherents in NZ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull
Posted some musing on this back in 2013, when I was still connected to the home education community:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642343
Just like outside of home education, there are a variety of different beliefs in the home education families – ranging from the familiar Christian families, to brethrens, but I do recall a couple of meetings with US immigrant families – that followed more fundamental doctrines. (I was point of contact for new families for a couple of committees). It was then I was introduced to the quiverful concept.
(Contact didn't last long, once they realised my last name did not match my children's and I wasn't married, but there were enough to be a noticeable cohort.)
It was so long ago, reading the comment feels like I'm reading someone else but here's what I posted back then:
As mentioned, long out of the loop in the home education community. If anyone else is still involved, it'd be good to have an update on whether they have seen any development along these lines.
No GST on fresh produce:
1. Well I for one can't wait for my discount on fresh veggies, so as long as the poor pay GST on canned Tomatoes and Peas as there is no way they can actually afford fresh food on their income. And fwiw, the Government needs its increased GST take, after all they for sure will not tax the rich and wealthy people such as themselves and their partners/spouses.
2. Why not also no GST on bread, butter, cheese and meat? To fancy for the poor?
3. Why not immediately after the election but only starts in April next year? To hard for the businesses and accoutants?
4. GST is a cost that runs through all steps of production. So would a Farmer be able no pay the GST on his fertilizers, seeds and other cost of production? Or is this only a gift to supermarkets? Or is it a gift to accountants for extra billable hours?
5. Really Labour. That is the fucking best you can do? That is your help to deal with the cost of living? Who told you that? Like what oracle did you consult that came to you with a booming voice " Remove GST of Fresh Fruit/Veggies, the poor can't afford it but it will make you look like you care"?
Far out, never did i think that i would watch the implosion of a lefty party due to arrogance, lack of ideas and incompetence at best, willful arrogance at worst.
Because they don't have a magic wand?
The cost of living is ruining peoples live now, so really they should come up with something that has a bit of urgency attached to it. Anything else is really just posturing and rallying the faithful, but otherwise utterly devoid of meaning.
Secondly, they are power, full majority, they need no one to cosign that policy if it is so great. After all, as i stated above, the cost of living crisis has been an issue for a while now.
I mean literally they could bring back the discount on fuel and free public transport for all, immediately, that would have an impact. But maybe that thing is just about grand standing.
Labour, we are just make up and pretense.. please vote for us, cause otherwise we would have to find jobs.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the government has a budget and an election. See if you can figure out why that particular policy would start in April.
Meanwhile in the real world, people have ran out of money, food, electricity and good faith. Need weekly food parcels and live in cramped emergency housing cause they can't afford to rent a dog kennel.
I know why its going to start in April, everyone knows. What we can not figure out how this is going to fight the rampant and run a way cost of living today, tomorrow and for the next 8 month.
Labour has a full majority, they could have removed GST for a while now literally of all food items, and i am sure they could have done that with the full support of the Greens and TPM.
Yet, they did not. Labour, on record for doing the right things only when they are about to lose an election.
"4. GST is a cost that runs through all steps of production. So would a Farmer be able no pay the GST on his fertilizers, seeds and other cost of production?"
Not so. GST is a transaction that runs through all steps of production, but is only a cost to the final consumer. Farmers pay GST at the time of purchase of seed etc, but, so long as the farming business is registered for GST (because of the level of turnover most have to be), they declare that GST paid by them when they submit their regular GST return to IRD and receive a full refund of that GST paid.
When they sell their veggies to the supermarket (or any intermediaries) they charge GST on the sale price, declare that amount on their GST return and pay that GST collected to IRD.
The supermarket does the same on their GST return.
It's the final consumer who pays the GST charged at time of purchase, cannot register for GST, so cannot claim a refund.
well not quite.
chances are that you sell more product then you buy raw materials to produce. So in essence businesses also pay GST, specially if they make a profit. But they can write of the cost as a business expense.
So can i not pay the GST that i was charged when i bought my raw materials, if it adds to he price of fruit and vegetables? After all that is the point? To make fruit and veggies affordable.
What GST content is removed, only the GST levy where the Supermarket sells a carrot -GST inc -to the end consumer, or the step where the supermarket buys its produce from the farmer GST inc, or the step where the farmer buys fertilizer, land, seeds, water, etc all inc GST? Will the GST content that was accrued by transport be removable? As all these things are part of price setting, i.e. all costs and all accrued GST.
The reason why GST is regressive is that it is charged at every step of production, and while businesses can write of GST as an expense, they still have to pay the difference of GST paid and GST received, ever month, two month or yearly and can only claim it back at the end of the year. The end consumer however pays for ever cent of GST charged on every step of production.
"Really Labour. That is the fucking best you can do?"
Yep. Labour – betraying NZ since 1984. We're screwed.
My impression is Grant has had to swallow a few dead rats lately. Sir Michael Cullens tax working group was against this policy and so was Grant some months back.
But Grant is a team player and has done his best here. I don't like the policy personally, I believe there are better, more targeted ways to support kiwis, but this policy is out there now.
Chris Hipkins although a decent man, isn't the leader we need right now. Grant should've stepped up when Dame Jacinda stepped down.
But it is what it is. If we get a third term it will be a miracle.
And that is why the Labour party has a good chance of losing. They collectively have no spine, no guts and no not a single conviction that they would defend and / or uphold
They played their team into being a mockery of a serious political party that can read the room their in.
But my theory is they don't want to win. Now its time for N to come along and finish the job, and N will. They are the two sides of NZ INC and we are just either profit centres or cost centres.