And what, precisely, does a journalism qualification actually bestow upon someone?
It’s obviously not logical thinking or the ability to understand what scientists are saying. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with holding power to account either and, at the end of the day, anybody who’s been to school knows how to write an essay.
Are you saying the Sunday papers are scared and lack confidence, they are the ones printing the facts. Expect Labour to drop even further once everyone realises that they have no chance.
Labour is in an insidious position with friends and foes unfairly undermining its leader and party, left, right and centre and stupidly talking up National at the same time, in spite of Cunliffe running a great campaign and Labour having such excellent policies! What the hell is wrong with the MSM and so many people?
@clemgeopin
Todays Rod Oram has a good summary of Labour’s economic policies versus Nats in the SST, and it clearly shows why Labour’s polices are far superior. It makes me wonder why so few of our media can see what Oram clearly explains. I suspect that National’s concerted #dirty politics campaign over the last 6 years combined with the ABC cabal has wrecked labour for this election, which is why they are struggling. Also National have done a good job of lying to people about the state of the economy, if I think one area where labour strategyin thi election is wrong is they should have attacked National harder around their Economic Management, Labour needed to highlight if you backed out ChCh$40b insurance proceeds and last years dairy proceeds anomaly (both wont exist in the next 2 to 3 years) from GDP we would have had zero growth. One thing is for sure, who ever wins next weekend will have their work cut out for them in the next 3 years, they are going to be tough.
SST hot on mccullum wanting to suppress their article… When they have material from whaledump AND no crowing about their win over slater trying to stop them publishing
So on this poll how many list mps make it back in? Losing Parker, Adern and Little will be very damaging for Labour. Greens the party of opposition I see in the future. And the next Government after this National one.
With Labour at 22.4%, I’m left to wonder how they could have got it so wrong this year. At this % some big names are not going to make it back in. A cleanout might be good, but not an enforced one.
They didn’t get it wrong this year, at least if you mean they did something.
The got it wrong about this time last year when they elected David Cunliffe as leader. Why didn’t Grant get the job?
As you say a cleanout might be good but that isn’t what is going to happen. On the latest poll numbers the Labour Party is going to comprise a bunch of members who go back to last century. A cleanout would get rid of people like Goff, Mallard and King.
It is precisely this indecisive hick hack with some good old backstabbing that is costing labor. None of the voters are interested in this yesteryear Maldoon methods. You just have to blame yourself.
2017 will be a contest between National and the Greens. The Greens won’t be just after the party vote next time they will be out to win seats, and they will be contesting hard in any by-elections of Labour held seats, as Labour tries to rejuvenate their line up.
12 months ago no one could believe Labour’s result would have a two in front of it, now the question is will it have a one and will it be bigger than the Greens?
[lprent: You will have to improve your comments or I’ll ban you as a mindless troll. Maniacal laughing is a sign of boring pointless abuse as far as I’m concerned ]
whohaa, a sentence, hallelujah. If you laugh about something please have us anticipating what is it that is so amusing. Some might have a different point of view, some might be laughing with you and a genuine punter might evolve. 🙂
Party Vote percentages are only based on eligible and decided voters. Respondents who are undecided, do not intend to vote or are ineligible to do so are excluded from the Party Vote.
Biased polling, can’t even report what percentage of people aren’t decided voters.
They did manage to point out that their interpration of results is based on the smaller parties keeping their existing seats.
Today’s must read: Looking at similar NSA documents, the information Key wants to release is likely classified SECRET or TOP SECRET. That means its release would cause “serious” or “exceptionally grave” damage to security or intelligence operations (see p. 55 – 58). You and I may not agree with those operations, or their idea of “national security”, but Key and the GCSB supposedly do – and those concerns don’t disappear simply because the PM decides it would be politically useful to release. Unless of course in their eyes, “national security” means “National’s security”.
Were you one of those who complained about a Nanny State because of lightbulbs and school tuck shop food?
So what’s your view on a surveillance state?
The hypocrisy is unbelievable,
But we have Key going on and on about “I won’t talk about security matters.” Or “It’s not in the public interest” But now that it’s in His interest. The Liar in Chief will even throw the countries security out the window, just to try and prove a point. That alone shows what contempt he holds ordinary Kiwi’s in.
Corruption case to answer and a police investigation must be ordered by the opposition, here are some facts.
A simple search last night of “Polls can be manipulated” – Google
found about 1,400,000 results.
Below leaves us all now with the knowledge of what in New Zealand is actually going on, it is more corruption of our MSM conducting manipulated polling results, and opposition now must call this as it is, corruption of the MSM and manipulation of all polls.
We were contacted Friday 22nd of August at 4pm by Herald Digipoll by a lady who first said we are conducting a poll and could we participate?
We said yes, then she said my supervisor is listening in, is that o/k?
I hesitated but agreed and she went through a ten minute questioning, and then abruptly said we don’t need your input thanks, and hung up!
This left us so disturbed we searched the web and found all 1.4 million cases of poll manipulations globally on Goggle, which include what is called “selective polling”
We believe we were a victim of a Herald Digipoll selective polling strategy.
NZ pols are corrupted, is this a crime?
This is just one case of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle in India which may show what is happening here in NZ.
quote;
New Delhi: Public opinion gathered by leading opinion poll agencies is often tweaked to give misleading results, Operation Prime Minister, a sting operation by a private news network, News Express, has revealed Tuesday. Well-known faces from leading opinion poll agencies have been caught on hidden camera agreeing to such malpractices.
Operation Prime Minister shows how opinion polls are conducted and manipulated at the instance of political parties, their results traded to show a particular party in a favourable position, for a price. Presenting snippets from the sting operation at a press conference, Editor-in-chief of News Express, Vinod Kapri said, “Our motivation behind conducting the sting operation was a letter written by the Election Commission of India to all regional and national parties inviting their views on the publication of opinion polls.
We wanted to investigate the concerns of the Commission.” In its letter dated 4 Oct, 2013, the Election Commission had said, “The Commission has been suggesting to the government that there should be a similar prohibition or restriction on opinion polls also as there could be several manipulated opinion polls which could impact the voting pattern.”
Another motivation behind the sting operation was the mushrooming of opinion polls. “There used to be one or two opinion polls every election. But now, one sees an opinion poll almost every week. Which leads us to the question- how is the data generated so quickly and processed,” said Kapri.
“Operation Prime Minister has exposed eleven opinion poll agencies, whose surveys are published in leading newspapers and magazines besides being broadcast by leading news channels”, it was claimed in the sting opertaion.
It demonstrates how the 810 million voters of our country are duped into believing trends or waves that are manipulated. – See more at:
“Opinion polls seem to have become the latest weapon in the poll campaign.
For a price, the prediction of seats tally can be changed to suit the interests of political parties.
The agencies have no qualms accepting even black money for this purpose”,
News Express claimed. The influence of opinion poll agencies goes beyond mere opinion polls. In some cases, the poll agencies have claimed they can even prop up dummy candidates in the constituencies where the rival candidate is on a strong wicket.
It has also been claimed that some leading editors are hand in glove with these poll agencies.
This is just a few of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle. – See more at:
+100 disturbed …right wing managed PR polls are the arse end of the dog influencing voter perceptions, discouraging people from genuinely voting and corrupting democracy
While looking at figures of the 2011 election I was a bit disheartened by the large National majorities and the smaller Labour majorities until I realized that the so called left vote was often split between Green and Labour.
It does seem to me that party votes and list MPs aside, in some electorates the right wing candidate often slips in between a divided left.
I know some young people who give their electorate vote to a green candidate and their party vote to Labour. They don’t realize that while their party votes are effectual their electorate votes are ineffectual in the immediate election.
I also know of some farm workers who lean to the left but because they live in farmer dominated (National) electorates they believe they can have no influence so don’t bother voting at all, not yet understanding the importance of the party vote.
1.In Waitakere, Bennet with her majority of 9 would have been defeated if just 10 more voters had chosen Sepuloni.
3.In Tamaki Rukaurau 10,592 voted against ,Sharples and 7,120 voted for Sharples. The split ’left’ vote allowed him to win and support National.
4.In Ikaroa- Rawhiti , Labour’s Horomia romped in with a 6541 majority as apart from Mana’s 2484 votes, the left vote was not divided
5.In Te Tai Hauauru the combined vote of Mana, GP and Labour was 8732 and
Turia Tariana got 8433.
6. In Te Tai Tokerau where the vote wasn’t split Kelvin Davis wasn’t far behind the smallish 1165 majority of Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira . (What a magnificent name)
7.In Te Tai Tonga there was a similar smallish majority (1475) for Labour’s Tirikatene and the yet Mana+GP vote was 3906.
8.Waiariki -10123 combined votes of the two purportedly left parties, Mana and Labour were more than Flavell’s 7651.
9.In Coromandel the Nat majority was 12,740 but the combined ‘left’ vote of Green and Labour, nearly 11,500 was hopelessly split at 5000+each.
10.In Ohariu Dunne got 14,357. The Labour and GP vote combined was 15,125.
11.In Waimakariri Cosgrove was beaten by Kate Wilkinson by 642 votes. The GP votes plus Labour votes were 17,342, Wilkinson’s 16,787.
12.In Christchurch Central, Wagner’s majority over Labour’s Brendon Burns was just 47 (yes 47) .Over 2000 went to the GP. (Incidentally ACT got a massive 110).
13. In Epsom it is transparently obvious that if Greens and Labour had voted strategically and voted National, their combined votes( 5991)would have obliterated John Banks false majority of 2261 and we’d never have seen a charter school. I agree that for left leaning people, doing this would probably be too hard to stomach. Dunno if I could do it.
There is also the other elephant.: the thousands and thousands who didn’t vote at all in 2011.
What can be done? Me.. I’ll be door knocking on the day.
If I were running a black ops rainbow alliance election campaign, I’d have adverts on TV promoting tactical voting.
DC appearing in turn with other opposition party leaders, having a cup of tea with them and the nation.
Party vote for either of us, but to get rid of the electorate nat mp or stop act and dunne etc… Vote for this candidate and so on until the message sinks home.
But I’m not running a campaign, so don’t hold your breath.
All it shows is that Maori parties of what ever hue are right leaning, always were. So lets be clear here. If Maori vote right then they have to live with the policies.
For treaty settlements, Maori have done better under National. As far as social policy, labour started well, but then has been slowly down hill. Not to mention the backstabbing by the last labour government. So on balance, both have been as bad as each other – why do you think a majority of maori have gone with NZfirst, the greens, maori party or Mana. The major parties have been, well, bloody awful.
Are you sure about that? Isn’t is a publicity stunt? Labor had also a plan to have all settlements arranged by a certain date. But it wouldn’t have included selling assets that all NZlanders have paid for. Social policy under National certainly is not a highlight given the proportion of Maori and pacific people showing in the statistics of the poorest in the Nation. What it also shows however is, that to my biggest disappointment, the Maori tribal hierarchy is worse than whites. How else can one explain that after decades of multimillion dollar payouts nothing has trickled down? So really there it is the meeting of the minds of the far right and Maoridom.
How can you say Iwi leadership is worse than whites – when the dominant ideological framework is white? How much of Paul Henry are you watching? And why you tethered to an outdated economic concept like trickle down theory?
Or do you want to talk about the Tainui settlement, the land and money – oh wait just under 1% of what was taken and they have your expectation to solve all the problems, with getting less than 1% of what was stolen back. Lets go positive shall we. Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, have done well getting back a mere fraction of a percent of everything taken. Like having the most PHD’s of any Iwi, Yes – they pay fee’s – School support programmes to clothe, feed and provided supplies for all the tamariki. Massive investment into Christchurch after the earthquakes – especially housing.
OK not all good news, the virtual slave labour on board the sealord fleet is a bloody disgrace. But wait, the Iwi leadership is being held to account on that one.
Then why is it that the majority of poverty is in Maori households? Hasn’t the main argument been that the money that was paid back is to be used for an economic base for Maoridom? Decades later and nothing has changed. Sorry, but I am not falling for the political correctness that does not allow a voice of dissent in such matters. And do you mean that Iwi leadership is above reproach and all whites are bad? The framework is surely not white – I can 100%, what do I say 1000% reassure you. Too many people I know have to stay in line or are excluded on the base of race – and this means they are white or asian. All I see is a distribution of wealth within the Maori hierarchy that leaves the National Party with their policies in the dust. Sorry, but someone has to say it and I know it does not look good. But if Maori are serious with their assertion of being all that they have proposed, then somehow the results are not showing. So where are the facts – please no fiction, work in progress or consultants are working on it.
PS.: 1% of all that is there is, is still 100% more than most people in this country have. If Moari want to convert the country back to were it was, please tell us all. More than happy to move on, really.
DTB
Yep I’m thinking that too. Seems to me the one who gets the minority of votes slips through.
Oh I forgot in Auckland central, Jacinta Adern with 14321 votes missed out by 737 and yet the Greens vote was about 2,903.
Nats must be laughing…I’m not.
..but it does show that in spite of the nonsense polls the John Key government can be beaten by people thinking before they vote.
On point three Tāmaki Makaurau Jones never had a chance. And anyway, Shane Jones has proved he was more right wing than Pita. Is this vote labour, because we know best list? Wil labour voters in Waiariki vote for the Mana candidate? It seems to me there is a double standard at play here or is that just me?
I have been reading an article on Clare Robinson in ‘Your Weekend’ (The Press)…and what a contrast she is to Mihi Forbes ( also featured).
Mihi Forbes is widely regarded by professional journalist commentators as a thoughtful listener and very skilled interviewer. An experienced journalist she has some notable interviews and has done investigative journalism into some important and controversial issues …She works for Maori television and heads the programme ‘Maori Affairs’.
In contrast Claire Robinson seems to be a very shallow, self- aggrandising person who just lucked in to being a political commentator…”People would say it didn’t matter what I said as long as I came across as credible”
…She has a PhD in political advertising and a bachelor of design degree…(in this article there is a lot about Robinson’s art design creative abilities, multiple job experiences and her family credentials ( mother a feminist, father a political scientist, ex-husband High Commissioner to Kiribati…marriage breakdown…she took off with the chosen house painter….)
…In essence Claire Robinson is a self -styled right wing political commentator in ” Twitter world”
She met David Cunliffe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs …and her biggest beef against him seems to be that he was ” married, and no one else was “…and he was ambitious in his career and “wasn’t interested in socialising”…Today “We’re friendly to each other. He knows I’ve always given him a hard time.”……”He’s had to learn on the job, which is never a good thing to do…and learn about it in the public eye.”
“If I had to write the perfect job description for me, I would write this sort of job”….(expounding her political views and tinkering with paint and pencils….she doodles in meetings and they’re very stylish doodles)
“Mihi Forbes is widely regarded by professional journalist commentators as a thoughtful listener and very skilled interviewer.”
On National Radio Media Report this morning they talked about a major review of Maori TV but the review will not be released until after the election. It is possible that Mihi’s great Native Affairs program will/might be closed in favour of a magazine type program. Implies that Mihi is too good at her job and has upset some senior Maori leaders.
Maori tv displeases the corporate iwi and hollowmen so they rigged the board and dropped in a new CEO.
This caused a director resignation over the process and his former employer to offer an insight on what this person was let go for but the board declined so they didnt risk his appointment with incovenient facts.
The new chief is a conflict monkey sent in to ‘realign’ and crash into the trouble makers making their tenure unpleasant. Nats want maori tv to be the same subservant outlet that tvnz and rnz are for them.
Act leader Jamie Whyte , in the aftermath of a widely pilloried speech about Maori privilege, went on Mihi Forbes’ ‘Native Affairs’ programme to explain himself ….and had to admit that he had never heard of whanau ora !….
“When you are going to be attacking race–based policies , you should know about the number one policy for the Maori party ,” Forbes says.
Maybe this is why the NACTS and their brown nosers could be keen to get rid of a seriously good journalist and her programme….she asks the questions which expose their arrogance and ignorance and incompetence…and is not a lightweight right wing PR flibbertijibbet …. masquerading as a journalist
A Labour Left coalition simply MUST win this Election !
“once again..confirming that internet/mana and the greens are the only ‘clean’ parties..the only parties able to be trusted to do the reforms needed”
Pu, do list all “the reforms needed” so we can fact check for ourselves.
Make it a conclusive, once and for all type document, and just put it out there.
You may be correct, you might have missed a press release or something and labour (no pun) under misapprehension, or you might just be gassing from your head hole, but at least we’ll have a definitive list to decide who to trust, or not, and for what reasons.
Well at least he admits it. His supporters can now follow his lead, saying he is principled, because honesty is the best policy is it not? And principles are good yes? Therefore he is good in all things. Because good and bad cannot co-exist. That would be unfair otherwise. Honestly admitting to your crimes negates the crime. Yes. That’ll be it. Because 1-1=0 and zero means nothing gained nothing lost = balance.
Actually I want that too – but I’m a greedy bugger. I want more than that. I want my children to have one too. One that is similar to the one only wealthy have (a la Kidzone – commercial free). I also want a channel that provides archive material that has been publicly funded, or that public funds have contributed to – which would otherwise have not been funded (a la Heartland).
And I’m super greedy. I want a channel that provides access to the NZ citizenry for other publicly funded enterprises such as NZSO, NZ Ballet, NZ Opera, live music and culture of all descriptions including new music and any and everything that receives funding through NZ on Air, Te Mangai Paho, Ministry for Culture and Heritage or any other public money, and which reflects local/regional views.
Since I’m super super greedy, I also want another radio channel that provides access to the many, for new music and arts and culture, AND publicly funded networking facilities for local iwi radio and the ability for them to express themselves to a wider audience.
Public Sphere and all that quaint sort of thing that’s relevant to the diversity of 4.5 million people.
+100…Once Was Tim….Yes, Yes, Yes!…maybe you can offer your services to the new Labour Left coalition Govt…sounds like you know what you are talking about!
Discourses of Rumi: a sample taken from Discourse four…
“…This is like the story they tell of a certain king. This king entrusted his son to a team of learned men. In due course they had taught him the sciences of astrology, geomancy and so forth so that he became a complete master, despite his utter dullness of wit and stupidity.
One day the king took a ring in his fist and put his son to the test.
‘Come, tell me what I am holding in my fist.’
‘The thing you are holding is round, yellow and hollow,’ the prince answered.
‘Since you have given all the signs correctly, now pronounce what thing it is,’ the king said.
‘It must be a sieve,’ the prince replied.
‘What?’ cried the king. ‘You gave correctly all the minute signs, such as might well baffle the minds of men. Out of all your powerful learning and knowledge how is it that this small point has escaped you, that a sieve cannot be contained in the fist?’
In the same way the great scholars of the age split hairs on all manner of sciences. They know perfectly and have a complete comprehension of those other matters which do not concern them. But as for what is truly of moment and touches a man more closely than all else, namely his won self, this your great scholar does not know. He pronounces on the legality or otherwise of every thing, saying. ‘This is permitted and that is not permitted, this is lawful and that is unlawful.’ Yet he knows not his own self, whether it is lawful or unlawful, permissible or not permissible, pure or impure.”
Regarding manipulation of polls, please search for this article – The Guardian UK
theguardian.com, Monday 14 July 2014 19.22 BST
GCHQ has tools to manipulate online information, leaked documents show
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal programs to track targets, spread information and manipulate online debates
i guess key can use the word ‘henchmen’ so easily..
..because of his own long history of use of henchmen/women as detailed by/in ‘dirty politics’..
“..It is now used to generally describe any person with subordinate status derisively- while most often used specifically to a hired guard or minion of a villain or master criminal..”
..i thought a good villain-name for key cd be ‘mr smiley’..
capital gains tax. will transfer investment from speculative to productive parts of the economy without destroying wealth (whereas speculation is fantastic for wealth destruction).
broadening the central bank’s mandate so that the government can more directly support export, which has been suffering for yearsnyears.
pumping up the minimum wage. because fuck yes. two names associated with pushing for higher wages – henry ford (look up “fordism”) and marriner eccles, former chairman of the ny fed. which is kind of america’s central bank, in a roundabout way.
Really enjoyed Media watch and interview with Independent Journalist about the need for better independent reporting etc.
Then came the news (note the order)
Sunday RNZ news 10:00
•Murray McCully wants to stop whaling
•Green will be highlighting the spying going on in NZ, Key says they have not been doing Surveillance
•John Kerry USA, soon terrorism will be everywhere
The wheels have come off teamkey since dirty politics, expect the kitchen sink in the 6 days till the only poll that matters.
the MSM will shill their butts off and key will say all sorts of whacky stuff as answering questions and telling the truth has never been demanded of him so he will dig himself a deeper hole.
stay positive and focused as It was always going to be close. I have got as many expats to vote as possible, it was easy once I asked them how the whanau back home were doing under 6years of shonkey.
Lynn have you sorted out some sort of live chat app for election night? Trying to post comments would of course be woeful. IRC is probably the best way to go, with a web-app, so those of us that can can use an IRC client and therefore not need to rely on (or add more load to) the webserver.
There have been comments in the media ( and all that early stuff) about letting the biggest party govern/Key being prepared to run a minority government.
Can anybody tell me is it possible for Key the day after the election to get in a car (sod any negotiating) and go up to the Governor general and go, “I’ll have a warrant to be the next prime Minister and I’ll run a minority government”. The GG then goes “for the sake of National stability I’ll do it” or some like rubbish.
Does this then mean that the other parties have to vote them down when parliament reconvenes and we have another election?
Or do we park Russell or Hone or someone down the end of the GG’s drive and phone them up if Key appears?
That is only possible if all other options have been exhausted. So the various permutations have to be tried/negotiated based on Party votes.
I guess if Labour gathered in Greens, NZF, Internet Mana, Maori Party, United Future, and the Civilians who together gained over 50% of the Party Vote, they can govern regardless of the National 45%, and other odd sods who offer a minority Government.
Yes that is what normally happens but what questions does the GG have to ask. If Key tries some sort of end run like this does GG have to contact Cunliffe Turei Norman and check they don’t have a bigger block?
Not sure I trust some of the leading players here?
The hopeful PM has to confirm they have the support of Parliament, and the GG has to be satisfied that they do (satisfaction can include a broad measure of things, such as whether the election was fair and free – if there are doubts, then the GG may refuse the hopeful PM until such concerns are resolved).
So yes, what you’re proposing is possible if the hopeful PM lied to the GG and the GG simply believed it (ie, ignored all media reporting that the hopeful PM did not in fact have a majority), however would never happen in practice because it would be embarrassing to the GG, the Queen, and the public of NZ to install a government that was subsequently defeated at the first motion of no confidence (which is the first motion voted on at the start of each new government).
So far as I understand things, the conventions are:
1. The PM and his ministers hold their warrants personally until they resign, whether there is an election or not.
2. Post-election, the carry-over govt is regarded as a caretaker administration until new arrangements are made (old ministers resign, new warrants issued to new ministers).
3. The GG “takes advice” from the caretaker PM about who will be the next PM and accepts his/her list of ministers and swears them in (issues their warrants).
4. The GG and the Cabinet, acting as an Executive Council, set the date for the next sitting of Parliament.
5. Parliament convenes, sitting as a Government and an Opposition (the Westminster system is technically only ever a two-party system: the political parties can shift from one side to the other at will without triggering an election).
6. If the Opposition thinks it can overturn the sitting Government, it can bring a Motion of No Confidence, moved by the Leader of the Opposition.
7. If the MNC is passed, the government resigns and the outgoing PM advises the GG to invite the mover of the MNC motion to form a government.
8. And then points 3, 5, 6, 7, repeat until either stability is achieved or it all becomes too much and a new election is called for.
The two flies in the ointment are that, firstly, it’s all done by custom/ convention (UNLESS the Acts establishing MMP set up new rules??), and secondly that the GG usually takes the advice of the PM, whatever it may be. Precedent exists for the GG to discard that advice (eg Whitlam’s dismissal in Aus), but if the PM chooses to gives bad advice for political advantage then the GG will usually follow it.
Generally it all sorts itself out in the wash and doesn’t need a new election, just some discipline and negotiation.
Quite true, Weka, but it’s even more complicated than that. The MMP rules allow individuals, once in Parliament, to change their allegiances – the famous “waka-jumping” rule. It’s based on the old figment of the imagination under FPP that not parties but only individuals may be elected to Parliament, and they may then decide to align themselves with a political party. That’s why in the good old days Winston et al could change parties during a session without resigning, because they held their seats personally. Under MMP successful List candidates were given the same protection resulting in, for example, Brendan Horan being expelled from NZF but retaining his List seat as an individual (a mistake in the MMP List rules, in my opinion).
Even though we get a parliament elected by a tribal/ political party vote, party behaviour is still all by convention. JK raises the many-headed hydra image to frighten the faithful, but the truth is that (a) there are only ever two parties in parliament and (b) there are 120+ individuals who can align themselves whichever way they want to after they are sworn in. The good news is that this usually only happens at the fraying edges of the political parties. So far.
The possibility of a minority grouping reaching across the political party divide and inviting individuals from the other teams to come and play nicely and form a government with them is always a political reality. Depends upon the incentive, I suppose.
Fisheries ambassadorship, anyone? Or lovely baubles of office, perhaps?
It was mooted on either Q and A or Nation this morning – that Winston could do exactly what you refer to in your last para, and become prime minister !
Your para: “The possibility of a minority grouping reaching across the political party divide and inviting individuals from the other teams to come and play nicely and form a government with them is always a political reality. Depends upon the incentive, I suppose”.
Thank god for technological advances, otherwise Tony Abbott’s Liberal Party will have troubles running Parliament with all their members equidistant from each other – and doing it on less government funding: Welfare cut for terror suspects.
Joking aside, Abbott – like Key – continues to astound me when I think nothing that he does will surprise me again.
Like here the average punter in oz has little idea how owned the govt is by business interests as rupert controls a fair slice of media and reinhardt has a solid grip on fairfax ownership should she choose to go all the way.
abotts polling is bad but they dont care, getting the job done etc with turnbull paitently waiting in the wings when they need a new front next election. Expect more from tony he is far from done yet.
the wildcard is PUP, mining magnate clive palmers party who hold sway in the senate with senators like ricky muir and jacquie lambie take a seat and enjoy the show performed by its CT scripted actors.
Canada’s Conservatives have passed a bill giving foreigners the right to sue, in secret tribunals, to overturn Canadian law and First Nation treaties which might interfere their investments.
.
It’s official: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has approved the controversial Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) today.
In a short, two-paragraph news release, International Trade Minister Ed Fast said the deal was now ratified. It will come into force on October 1, 2014, and will be effective for 31 years, until 2045.
The original investment protection deal — which treaty law expert Gus Van Harten said could be in violation of the Canadian Constitution — was quietly signed in 2012 in Vladisvostok, Russia, but was delayed for two years due to public outcry
[…]
First Nations argued that the deal was not valid, as it would violate section 35 of the Constitution requiring consultation over projects that could affect traditional territory. The Hupacasath First Nation in B.C. took the federal government to court last year over the FIPA deal, while citizen advocacy groups Leadnow and SumOfUs delivered 60,000 signatures from across Canada in opposition to the agreement. The court decision on the Hupacasath First Nation’s legal appeal is still pending, despite the ratification.
If as you have stated, the GCSB drew up “mass protection ” programmes for NZers why did you veto it? Are we now “unprotected? And “unprotected” against what/whom?
Yep good questions and it will be interesting to see what they were proposing as these ‘mass protection’ programmes – we are now deep down the rabbit hole and the week ahead will be surreal and sickening as durrkey spins and slides.
If I were the cynical sort, I’d say that the metaphorical ink will still be dry on the documents ‘exonerating’ Key.
I think it was a journalist in Yes Prime Minister who asked “Is it true that the documents have yet to be released because the PM can only type with one finger?”
"It is only totalitarian governments that suppress facts. In
this country we simply take a democratic decision not to publish
them."
"How to discredit an unwelcome report:
Stage One: Refuse to publish in the public interest saying
1. There are security considerations.
2. The findings could be misinterpreted.
3. You are waiting for the results of a wider and more detailed
report which is still in preparation. (If there isn’t one, commission
it; this gives you even more time).
Stage Two: Discredit the evidence you are not publishing, saying
1. It leaves important questions unanswered.
2. Much of the evidence is inconclusive.
3. The figures are open to other interpretations.
4. Certain findings are contradictory.
5. Some of the main conclusions have been questioned. (If they haven’t,
question them yourself; then they have).
Stage Three: Undermine the recommendations. Suggested phrases:
1. ‘Not really a basis for long term decisions’.
2. ‘Not sufficient information on which to base a valid assessment’.
3. ‘No reason for any fundamental rethink of existing policy’.
4. ‘Broadly speaking, it endorses current practice’.
Stage Four: Discredit the person who produced the report. Explain
(off the record) that
1. He is harbouring a grudge against the Department.
2. He is a publicity seeker.
3. He is trying to get a Knighthood/Chair/Vice Chancellorship.
4. He used to be a consultant to a multinational.
5. He wants to be a consultant to a multinational."
"To suppress an internal government report, rewrite it as
official advice to the Minister. Then it is against the rules to
publish it, so you can leak the bits you want to friendly journalists."
It is completely accurate. In context, what Key is saying doesn’t even really make sense. It’s fairly clear what he’s *trying* to say, but as usual his slack speaking, muddled thinking and poor diction let him down.
Corin Dann:
But this was a huge issue at the time of this legislation and at no stage was there any mention that you were, that the GSCB was considering mass surveillance.
Key:
No, well, there’s total, there was total mention…
Seems like another lie from key really because ‘total’ is pretty definitive and in no way, shape or form was there ‘total mention’ that key and the GSCB were considering mass surveillance at the time of the legislation. Roll on Monday – in all its meanings…
Anyone know where I can still find a video of NIcky Hager Publically speaking at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall on the 27th August. Everywhere I go it says it is unavailable. Thanking you
ScottGN I liked this bit and wondered why the 3rd to last sentence isn’t used by David:
Canada: “They are supported by a very traditional market argument that says raising minimum wage results in fewer jobs and is thus bad for the wider economy. Of course, the extension of this argument is that no minimum wage at all would be even better for the economy. If you think that, it is time for you to emigrate. There are many countries with no minimum wage.
On Q&A I thought Key looked serious and fluent and credible when talking to Corrin. Damn I thought!
Tonight on TV3 News he looked petulant, sulky and if one more question was asked of him he would have burst into tears. You know when someone struggles to contain their emotions their face muscles tremble and give you away.
The current issues are hurting him.
John Key does not like being criticised or exposed. He does not like losing. It’s what drives him and, I guess it has brought him “success”: success as he sees it. However, it’s also his Achilles heel. He just will not back down, even when the evidence is clearly against him.
Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck fuck. I was pretty sure I was going to party vote GP, but I just watched Laila Harre interview Greenwald and Amsterdam and now I want to vote for her! She so should be in parliament. My heart says IMP, but my head says GP. I’ve never had a voting dilemma before. Anyone else not know what they are doing?
haha, I did think of that. Bit of a long way for me though.
(I think it’s too late anyway, don’t you have to live in an electorate for a month to be able to vote there?).
Maybe STV would solve the problem. Mostly the dilemma is because I don’t know how everyone else is voting. With STV, it would matter would it? because my preferences would be ordered depending on what other people did too.
STV very much frees up voting for minor parties as your vote for them cannot be “wasted”.
This would also mean ACT and UnitedDunne would almost certainly win their electorates, too.
I think if we end up with 2 large parties on the left and 2 large parties on the right there will be a big appetite to change the way electorate voting works. But IIRC the MMP review recommended no changes, because people having a party vote and a candidate vote is already confusing enough as it is, without making the candidate vote into an STV.
Possibly one compromise would be to just to let people have 2 votes for candidates, with the candidate winning the most votes winning. It avoids a full-on STV ranking confusion, while still allowing more representation.
“I think if we end up with 2 large parties on the left and 2 large parties on the right there will be a big appetite to change the way electorate voting works.”
Because candidate voting is FPP – you just have to get the ‘most votes’, it doesn’t have to be anywhere near 1/2 of them.
If there were 4 roughly even sized parties, there could be some electorates where “the wrong party won” because the other bloc “split the vote”.
We’re already seeing it now with people voting for Greens candidates who realistically have 0 chance of winning, but in doing-so they hand the electorate over to National instead of Labour.
Yip. Her stepping into the leadership of IMP was enough to shake my conviction for voting Labour.
Ultimately I gave up on IMP because they didn’t have any policies announced, and now that I’ve seen them I can’t say I’m super-thrilled with them either. They’ll have a lot more time to mature over this term and I’ll give them another chance next time.
I think party votes with ticks and candidate votes with numbers would be too confusing for a lot of people.
I think a reasonable compromise is 2 ticks for candidates, and 1 tick for party vote. Candidates still remains FPP and only a single candidate can win an electorate.
Either system would mean the phrase “two ticks for X” would no longer make sense, though.
@ CV
This has probably been talked about before. But what would be against local bodies using STV.? In theory it sounds useful for them, does it have fishhooks?
Thanks to you too. I enjoy these ‘Not The Six O Clock News’ from Harre. What a great idea! Not sure how many people watch these. I hope a lot of voters do.
I would love to see Laila Harre as the Governor General or the President of New Zealand one day.
Me too. I am having trouble choosing between Mana and the Greens. Every time I make a decision, the benefitting party says or does something I don’t like. Mana is slightly ahead at the moment.
Just watched the clip below of Susan Wood interviewing RN & MT from the Greens.
I honestly cannot believe the conduct of Susan Wood? At every opportunity she had to point out how badly Labour are doing in the polls, she even said ‘Labour are tanking’ with a smug grin on her face.
Absolutely disgraceful TVNZ! Anyone with half a brain, including Susan Wood, knows that the polls are all over the place, often do not include undecideds and in some cases appear to be complete bullshit. Yet Susan Wood does her best to suggest that National have it in the bag? Bias much!
Yet more evidence that MSM are in need of a serious clean up.
The fact that the polls are crap is the elephant in the room that the MSM are doing their best to avoid.
If the outcome of the election is sufficiently different from what polling suggests, then I think we may see a bit of a wake-up call for the media, as well as calls for the polling companies to explain themselves and reform their methodologies.
You could stop watching the puppets involved with the news as I have done. If you ever caught Thunderbirds you might get a whiff of connection with the actors there. Lady Penelope would be much more lively and stylish than Susan Wood.
This is a link to a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ video of Key before the last election. As he’s asked a very embarrassing question, his smiling face transforms as he looks down into something hateful. It’s the absolute opposite of the charming front he usually strives to effect. Such a pity that few of the Nats’ believers would ever have seen this, the real face, of their golden boy.
The video starts to get interesting from about 1 min 11 secs.
Commenting on a new ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph which puts Yes at 54 per cent and No at 46 per cent – and an Opinium poll for the Observer which puts Yes at 47 per cent and No at 53 per cent – Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland, said: ‘The new ICM poll gives Yes a record eight-point lead, which is hugely encouraging. Meanwhile, Opinium puts Yes behind, but just by six points.
I think in terms of turnout, the YES vote will be more energised and they will have it. And a friend pointed this out to me: we will know the Scottish result as we turnout to vote…if they vote for a change I think it will push us over the line too 🙂
Scottish referendum ,
I feel this has been poorly thought out and what ever happens the result will divide the Scottish people . The polls suggest a close result which will leave large numbers of scott’s in a state of despair which ever way it goes .
The vote to change should require a much higher % of the population to support leaving , imagine if 49% vote to stay , that’s trouble ahead , perhaps civil unrest .
“imagine if 49% vote to stay , that’s trouble ahead , perhaps civil unrest ”
….that view sounds a little like the ‘no’ compaign scare tactics
‘civil unrest’ tends to be associated with people who are poor, powerless, unemployed, marginalised, have nothing to lose, …
If the ‘yes’ vote wins there will still be a democratic election process in Scotland. And you can be sure that most Scots will want Scotland to succeed even if they voted ‘no’
Scots have been thinking and debating the pros and cons of being an independent nation for a very long time and whichever way the vote goes will not turn on each other
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Where did Mr Slater receive his diploma/degree in journalism?
i have never really had any problems with slater claiming he is a journalist..
..’cos he is..
..critiques could be made of his tabloid/’truth’ style of journalism..
..but journalism it is..
.and his blog is a media-outlet..
..these are just basic definitions/facts..
Yes.
I think Slater is pretty much a really nasty person, but it seems to me that he fits all the criteria to be a journalist.
Why do you think someone needs one to become a journalist?
Can you think of any other profession that does not require formal qualifications?
And what, precisely, does a journalism qualification actually bestow upon someone?
It’s obviously not logical thinking or the ability to understand what scientists are saying. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with holding power to account either and, at the end of the day, anybody who’s been to school knows how to write an essay.
Wow National still really high in the Stuff poll, Disappointing they can govern alone. http://www.stuff.co.nz/interactives/polling/
The Sunday papers are all about National being set to win, and there being no chance for Labour.
It really shows how scared they are. Only those who lack confidence will shout loudest.
Are you saying the Sunday papers are scared and lack confidence, they are the ones printing the facts. Expect Labour to drop even further once everyone realises that they have no chance.
Which facts are they?
The current bunch of ‘journalists’ wouldn’t know fact from fiction.
Oh god, please stay on focus. Of cause its not the papers, hallo?
lol. yeah, scared they are.
They should be.
But then again, where there’s no sense, there’s no feeling.
Labour is in an insidious position with friends and foes unfairly undermining its leader and party, left, right and centre and stupidly talking up National at the same time, in spite of Cunliffe running a great campaign and Labour having such excellent policies! What the hell is wrong with the MSM and so many people?
@clemgeopin
Todays Rod Oram has a good summary of Labour’s economic policies versus Nats in the SST, and it clearly shows why Labour’s polices are far superior. It makes me wonder why so few of our media can see what Oram clearly explains. I suspect that National’s concerted #dirty politics campaign over the last 6 years combined with the ABC cabal has wrecked labour for this election, which is why they are struggling. Also National have done a good job of lying to people about the state of the economy, if I think one area where labour strategyin thi election is wrong is they should have attacked National harder around their Economic Management, Labour needed to highlight if you backed out ChCh$40b insurance proceeds and last years dairy proceeds anomaly (both wont exist in the next 2 to 3 years) from GDP we would have had zero growth. One thing is for sure, who ever wins next weekend will have their work cut out for them in the next 3 years, they are going to be tough.
Because the interests that are represented by National are not invested in a fair society. They just want to cash in on slave labor.
SST hot on mccullum wanting to suppress their article… When they have material from whaledump AND no crowing about their win over slater trying to stop them publishing
Slater sending his limitless helpers out early today.
So on this poll how many list mps make it back in? Losing Parker, Adern and Little will be very damaging for Labour. Greens the party of opposition I see in the future. And the next Government after this National one.
Not remotely interested in your attempt to dribble on about this subject.
With Labour at 22.4%, I’m left to wonder how they could have got it so wrong this year. At this % some big names are not going to make it back in. A cleanout might be good, but not an enforced one.
They didn’t get it wrong this year, at least if you mean they did something.
The got it wrong about this time last year when they elected David Cunliffe as leader. Why didn’t Grant get the job?
As you say a cleanout might be good but that isn’t what is going to happen. On the latest poll numbers the Labour Party is going to comprise a bunch of members who go back to last century. A cleanout would get rid of people like Goff, Mallard and King.
Hahahahahaha!
It is precisely this indecisive hick hack with some good old backstabbing that is costing labor. None of the voters are interested in this yesteryear Maldoon methods. You just have to blame yourself.
2017 will be a contest between National and the Greens. The Greens won’t be just after the party vote next time they will be out to win seats, and they will be contesting hard in any by-elections of Labour held seats, as Labour tries to rejuvenate their line up.
12 months ago no one could believe Labour’s result would have a two in front of it, now the question is will it have a one and will it be bigger than the Greens?
Just saw Norman and Turei on Q&A. Looking forward to the Greens in 2017! Very exciting govt. Want them to lead not be a junior coalition party.
Oh look, a brace of ratfuckers interviewing one another. The quintessential embodiment of irrelevance and mendacity.
We need better wingnuts: these ones are shite.
Don’t be silly. THEY were so excited about changing the government next week.
Sorry, but we on the right, predicted this in 2008-2009. You all refused to listen.
Hahahahaha!
[lprent: You will have to improve your comments or I’ll ban you as a mindless troll. Maniacal laughing is a sign of boring pointless abuse as far as I’m concerned ]
Maybe that is all his/her IQ allows lprent? We understand, stress can do this to people 😉
So writing drivel is OK but laughing at drivel is not?
Genuine question.
whohaa, a sentence, hallelujah. If you laugh about something please have us anticipating what is it that is so amusing. Some might have a different point of view, some might be laughing with you and a genuine punter might evolve. 🙂
Party Vote percentages are only based on eligible and decided voters. Respondents who are undecided, do not intend to vote or are ineligible to do so are excluded from the Party Vote.
Biased polling, can’t even report what percentage of people aren’t decided voters.
They did manage to point out that their interpration of results is based on the smaller parties keeping their existing seats.
14% undecided which is unusually high this far out from Sept20!
How about the Stuff poll on National’s tax cuts?
5200 replies so far, 67% say it’s bad, 10% say it’s marginal and 23% say it’s good.
Today’s must read:
Looking at similar NSA documents, the information Key wants to release is likely classified SECRET or TOP SECRET. That means its release would cause “serious” or “exceptionally grave” damage to security or intelligence operations (see p. 55 – 58). You and I may not agree with those operations, or their idea of “national security”, but Key and the GCSB supposedly do – and those concerns don’t disappear simply because the PM decides it would be politically useful to release. Unless of course in their eyes, “national security” means “National’s security”.
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/national-security-or-nationals-security.html
Maybe because Greenwald has already put the “top secret” information in the public domain and the government just gives the context.
… or Greenwald’s take on the misuse and misappropriation of our spy agencies is accurate. And Key is providing an example of it.
Were you one of those who complained about a Nanny State because of lightbulbs and school tuck shop food?
So what’s your view on a surveillance state?
The hypocrisy is unbelievable,
“David Slack @DavidSlack –
PM’s “proof” may turn out to be a single page statement from GCSB. What you might call a puffed up little sheet.”
My view too.
Clever use of words David.
Very amusing.
Who has the power to declassify docs?
But we have Key going on and on about “I won’t talk about security matters.” Or “It’s not in the public interest” But now that it’s in His interest. The Liar in Chief will even throw the countries security out the window, just to try and prove a point. That alone shows what contempt he holds ordinary Kiwi’s in.
key is not fit for office, any office, except his natural david brentishness’s office
Key claimed he knew nothing of the declassification of slaters oia docs, sonot hum.
Cancermole, & other Natz sinners,
NZ polls are manipulated.
Read & learn here.
Corruption case to answer and a police investigation must be ordered by the opposition, here are some facts.
A simple search last night of “Polls can be manipulated” – Google
found about 1,400,000 results.
Below leaves us all now with the knowledge of what in New Zealand is actually going on, it is more corruption of our MSM conducting manipulated polling results, and opposition now must call this as it is, corruption of the MSM and manipulation of all polls.
We were contacted Friday 22nd of August at 4pm by Herald Digipoll by a lady who first said we are conducting a poll and could we participate?
We said yes, then she said my supervisor is listening in, is that o/k?
I hesitated but agreed and she went through a ten minute questioning, and then abruptly said we don’t need your input thanks, and hung up!
This left us so disturbed we searched the web and found all 1.4 million cases of poll manipulations globally on Goggle, which include what is called “selective polling”
We believe we were a victim of a Herald Digipoll selective polling strategy.
NZ pols are corrupted, is this a crime?
This is just one case of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle in India which may show what is happening here in NZ.
quote;
New Delhi: Public opinion gathered by leading opinion poll agencies is often tweaked to give misleading results, Operation Prime Minister, a sting operation by a private news network, News Express, has revealed Tuesday. Well-known faces from leading opinion poll agencies have been caught on hidden camera agreeing to such malpractices.
Operation Prime Minister shows how opinion polls are conducted and manipulated at the instance of political parties, their results traded to show a particular party in a favourable position, for a price. Presenting snippets from the sting operation at a press conference, Editor-in-chief of News Express, Vinod Kapri said, “Our motivation behind conducting the sting operation was a letter written by the Election Commission of India to all regional and national parties inviting their views on the publication of opinion polls.
We wanted to investigate the concerns of the Commission.” In its letter dated 4 Oct, 2013, the Election Commission had said, “The Commission has been suggesting to the government that there should be a similar prohibition or restriction on opinion polls also as there could be several manipulated opinion polls which could impact the voting pattern.”
Another motivation behind the sting operation was the mushrooming of opinion polls. “There used to be one or two opinion polls every election. But now, one sees an opinion poll almost every week. Which leads us to the question- how is the data generated so quickly and processed,” said Kapri.
“Operation Prime Minister has exposed eleven opinion poll agencies, whose surveys are published in leading newspapers and magazines besides being broadcast by leading news channels”, it was claimed in the sting opertaion.
It demonstrates how the 810 million voters of our country are duped into believing trends or waves that are manipulated. – See more at:
“Opinion polls seem to have become the latest weapon in the poll campaign.
For a price, the prediction of seats tally can be changed to suit the interests of political parties.
The agencies have no qualms accepting even black money for this purpose”,
News Express claimed. The influence of opinion poll agencies goes beyond mere opinion polls. In some cases, the poll agencies have claimed they can even prop up dummy candidates in the constituencies where the rival candidate is on a strong wicket.
It has also been claimed that some leading editors are hand in glove with these poll agencies.
This is just a few of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle. – See more at:
http://www.ummid.com/news/2014/February/26.02.2014/opinion-poll-companies-exposed.html#sthash.wqSJ2ylu.dpuf
http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/statistics-16350/
http://www.ummid.com/news/2014/February/26.02.2014/opinion-poll-companies-exposed.html#sthash.h8rTzw8V.dpuf
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/471548/exit-polls-manipulated-modi-will-never-be-pm-samajwadi-party.html
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/general-impression-that-opinion-polls-can-be-manipulated-sibal/20131109.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Many-agencies-manipulating-opinion-poll-projections-claims-sting-operation/articleshow/31013534.cms
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/2764415112001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_statistics
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/mhp-furious-over-opinion-poll-manipulation-claims.aspx?pageID=238&nID=62184&NewsCatID=338
+100 disturbed …right wing managed PR polls are the arse end of the dog influencing voter perceptions, discouraging people from genuinely voting and corrupting democracy
Current polls seem to show that Labour are losers so don’t vote for them. Just seems so wrong. Doesn’t fit with the mood that I see.
Brilliant. Thanks so much for taking the time to put this comment together.
Very disturbing re the experience you had with the pollers!
MMP Strategic voting?
While looking at figures of the 2011 election I was a bit disheartened by the large National majorities and the smaller Labour majorities until I realized that the so called left vote was often split between Green and Labour.
It does seem to me that party votes and list MPs aside, in some electorates the right wing candidate often slips in between a divided left.
I know some young people who give their electorate vote to a green candidate and their party vote to Labour. They don’t realize that while their party votes are effectual their electorate votes are ineffectual in the immediate election.
I also know of some farm workers who lean to the left but because they live in farmer dominated (National) electorates they believe they can have no influence so don’t bother voting at all, not yet understanding the importance of the party vote.
1.In Waitakere, Bennet with her majority of 9 would have been defeated if just 10 more voters had chosen Sepuloni.
3.In Tamaki Rukaurau 10,592 voted against ,Sharples and 7,120 voted for Sharples. The split ’left’ vote allowed him to win and support National.
4.In Ikaroa- Rawhiti , Labour’s Horomia romped in with a 6541 majority as apart from Mana’s 2484 votes, the left vote was not divided
5.In Te Tai Hauauru the combined vote of Mana, GP and Labour was 8732 and
Turia Tariana got 8433.
6. In Te Tai Tokerau where the vote wasn’t split Kelvin Davis wasn’t far behind the smallish 1165 majority of Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira . (What a magnificent name)
7.In Te Tai Tonga there was a similar smallish majority (1475) for Labour’s Tirikatene and the yet Mana+GP vote was 3906.
8.Waiariki -10123 combined votes of the two purportedly left parties, Mana and Labour were more than Flavell’s 7651.
9.In Coromandel the Nat majority was 12,740 but the combined ‘left’ vote of Green and Labour, nearly 11,500 was hopelessly split at 5000+each.
10.In Ohariu Dunne got 14,357. The Labour and GP vote combined was 15,125.
11.In Waimakariri Cosgrove was beaten by Kate Wilkinson by 642 votes. The GP votes plus Labour votes were 17,342, Wilkinson’s 16,787.
12.In Christchurch Central, Wagner’s majority over Labour’s Brendon Burns was just 47 (yes 47) .Over 2000 went to the GP. (Incidentally ACT got a massive 110).
13. In Epsom it is transparently obvious that if Greens and Labour had voted strategically and voted National, their combined votes( 5991)would have obliterated John Banks false majority of 2261 and we’d never have seen a charter school. I agree that for left leaning people, doing this would probably be too hard to stomach. Dunno if I could do it.
There is also the other elephant.: the thousands and thousands who didn’t vote at all in 2011.
What can be done? Me.. I’ll be door knocking on the day.
If I were running a black ops rainbow alliance election campaign, I’d have adverts on TV promoting tactical voting.
DC appearing in turn with other opposition party leaders, having a cup of tea with them and the nation.
Party vote for either of us, but to get rid of the electorate nat mp or stop act and dunne etc… Vote for this candidate and so on until the message sinks home.
But I’m not running a campaign, so don’t hold your breath.
All it shows is that Maori parties of what ever hue are right leaning, always were. So lets be clear here. If Maori vote right then they have to live with the policies.
History has a lot to do with. What are the best gains that Māori MPs have made? Was that under left wing or right wing governments?
For treaty settlements, Maori have done better under National. As far as social policy, labour started well, but then has been slowly down hill. Not to mention the backstabbing by the last labour government. So on balance, both have been as bad as each other – why do you think a majority of maori have gone with NZfirst, the greens, maori party or Mana. The major parties have been, well, bloody awful.
Are you sure about that? Isn’t is a publicity stunt? Labor had also a plan to have all settlements arranged by a certain date. But it wouldn’t have included selling assets that all NZlanders have paid for. Social policy under National certainly is not a highlight given the proportion of Maori and pacific people showing in the statistics of the poorest in the Nation. What it also shows however is, that to my biggest disappointment, the Maori tribal hierarchy is worse than whites. How else can one explain that after decades of multimillion dollar payouts nothing has trickled down? So really there it is the meeting of the minds of the far right and Maoridom.
How can you say Iwi leadership is worse than whites – when the dominant ideological framework is white? How much of Paul Henry are you watching? And why you tethered to an outdated economic concept like trickle down theory?
Or do you want to talk about the Tainui settlement, the land and money – oh wait just under 1% of what was taken and they have your expectation to solve all the problems, with getting less than 1% of what was stolen back. Lets go positive shall we. Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, have done well getting back a mere fraction of a percent of everything taken. Like having the most PHD’s of any Iwi, Yes – they pay fee’s – School support programmes to clothe, feed and provided supplies for all the tamariki. Massive investment into Christchurch after the earthquakes – especially housing.
OK not all good news, the virtual slave labour on board the sealord fleet is a bloody disgrace. But wait, the Iwi leadership is being held to account on that one.
+1 adam
Then why is it that the majority of poverty is in Maori households? Hasn’t the main argument been that the money that was paid back is to be used for an economic base for Maoridom? Decades later and nothing has changed. Sorry, but I am not falling for the political correctness that does not allow a voice of dissent in such matters. And do you mean that Iwi leadership is above reproach and all whites are bad? The framework is surely not white – I can 100%, what do I say 1000% reassure you. Too many people I know have to stay in line or are excluded on the base of race – and this means they are white or asian. All I see is a distribution of wealth within the Maori hierarchy that leaves the National Party with their policies in the dust. Sorry, but someone has to say it and I know it does not look good. But if Maori are serious with their assertion of being all that they have proposed, then somehow the results are not showing. So where are the facts – please no fiction, work in progress or consultants are working on it.
PS.: 1% of all that is there is, is still 100% more than most people in this country have. If Moari want to convert the country back to were it was, please tell us all. More than happy to move on, really.
This is why we need preferential voting in electorates or to get rid of electorates altogether.
DTB
Yep I’m thinking that too. Seems to me the one who gets the minority of votes slips through.
Oh I forgot in Auckland central, Jacinta Adern with 14321 votes missed out by 737 and yet the Greens vote was about 2,903.
Nats must be laughing…I’m not.
..but it does show that in spite of the nonsense polls the John Key government can be beaten by people thinking before they vote.
On point three Tāmaki Makaurau Jones never had a chance. And anyway, Shane Jones has proved he was more right wing than Pita. Is this vote labour, because we know best list? Wil labour voters in Waiariki vote for the Mana candidate? It seems to me there is a double standard at play here or is that just me?
It’s not just you. Labour still tends to act as if they are the left, and the others are at best support parties. It’s an attitude more suited to FPP.
I have been reading an article on Clare Robinson in ‘Your Weekend’ (The Press)…and what a contrast she is to Mihi Forbes ( also featured).
Mihi Forbes is widely regarded by professional journalist commentators as a thoughtful listener and very skilled interviewer. An experienced journalist she has some notable interviews and has done investigative journalism into some important and controversial issues …She works for Maori television and heads the programme ‘Maori Affairs’.
In contrast Claire Robinson seems to be a very shallow, self- aggrandising person who just lucked in to being a political commentator…”People would say it didn’t matter what I said as long as I came across as credible”
…She has a PhD in political advertising and a bachelor of design degree…(in this article there is a lot about Robinson’s art design creative abilities, multiple job experiences and her family credentials ( mother a feminist, father a political scientist, ex-husband High Commissioner to Kiribati…marriage breakdown…she took off with the chosen house painter….)
…In essence Claire Robinson is a self -styled right wing political commentator in ” Twitter world”
She met David Cunliffe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs …and her biggest beef against him seems to be that he was ” married, and no one else was “…and he was ambitious in his career and “wasn’t interested in socialising”…Today “We’re friendly to each other. He knows I’ve always given him a hard time.”……”He’s had to learn on the job, which is never a good thing to do…and learn about it in the public eye.”
“If I had to write the perfect job description for me, I would write this sort of job”….(expounding her political views and tinkering with paint and pencils….she doodles in meetings and they’re very stylish doodles)
“Mihi Forbes is widely regarded by professional journalist commentators as a thoughtful listener and very skilled interviewer.”
On National Radio Media Report this morning they talked about a major review of Maori TV but the review will not be released until after the election. It is possible that Mihi’s great Native Affairs program will/might be closed in favour of a magazine type program. Implies that Mihi is too good at her job and has upset some senior Maori leaders.
Maori tv displeases the corporate iwi and hollowmen so they rigged the board and dropped in a new CEO.
This caused a director resignation over the process and his former employer to offer an insight on what this person was let go for but the board declined so they didnt risk his appointment with incovenient facts.
The new chief is a conflict monkey sent in to ‘realign’ and crash into the trouble makers making their tenure unpleasant. Nats want maori tv to be the same subservant outlet that tvnz and rnz are for them.
Act leader Jamie Whyte , in the aftermath of a widely pilloried speech about Maori privilege, went on Mihi Forbes’ ‘Native Affairs’ programme to explain himself ….and had to admit that he had never heard of whanau ora !….
“When you are going to be attacking race–based policies , you should know about the number one policy for the Maori party ,” Forbes says.
Maybe this is why the NACTS and their brown nosers could be keen to get rid of a seriously good journalist and her programme….she asks the questions which expose their arrogance and ignorance and incompetence…and is not a lightweight right wing PR flibbertijibbet …. masquerading as a journalist
A Labour Left coalition simply MUST win this Election !
Agree with all you say here Ckooky. I have always had the impression that much of the anti Cunliffe rhetoric has stemmed from Claire Robinson.
must-watch key interview on q&a..
(he does a great cornered-rat impersonation..)
..and he claims he is doing nothing more than clark did..
(..once again..confirming that internet/mana and the greens are the only ‘clean’ parties..
..the only parties able to be trusted to do the reforms needed..)
“once again..confirming that internet/mana and the greens are the only ‘clean’ parties..the only parties able to be trusted to do the reforms needed”
Pu, do list all “the reforms needed” so we can fact check for ourselves.
Make it a conclusive, once and for all type document, and just put it out there.
You may be correct, you might have missed a press release or something and labour (no pun) under misapprehension, or you might just be gassing from your head hole, but at least we’ll have a definitive list to decide who to trust, or not, and for what reasons.
lol…”great cornered-rat impersonation”…John Key is on the ropes
If JK is on the ropes, then Cunliffe just got knocked out.
“he does a great cornered-rat impersonation..”
It’s not an impersonation.
Unless he backed it up with documentation then all it proves is that John Key is spinning again.
“…doing nothing more than clark did…”
Well at least he admits it. His supporters can now follow his lead, saying he is principled, because honesty is the best policy is it not? And principles are good yes? Therefore he is good in all things. Because good and bad cannot co-exist. That would be unfair otherwise. Honestly admitting to your crimes negates the crime. Yes. That’ll be it. Because 1-1=0 and zero means nothing gained nothing lost = balance.
On Mediawatch..Labour has said they will establish (re-establish) a public broadcasting TV channel. I want that. Other countries do it easily.
+100
Actually I want that too – but I’m a greedy bugger. I want more than that. I want my children to have one too. One that is similar to the one only wealthy have (a la Kidzone – commercial free). I also want a channel that provides archive material that has been publicly funded, or that public funds have contributed to – which would otherwise have not been funded (a la Heartland).
And I’m super greedy. I want a channel that provides access to the NZ citizenry for other publicly funded enterprises such as NZSO, NZ Ballet, NZ Opera, live music and culture of all descriptions including new music and any and everything that receives funding through NZ on Air, Te Mangai Paho, Ministry for Culture and Heritage or any other public money, and which reflects local/regional views.
Since I’m super super greedy, I also want another radio channel that provides access to the many, for new music and arts and culture, AND publicly funded networking facilities for local iwi radio and the ability for them to express themselves to a wider audience.
Public Sphere and all that quaint sort of thing that’s relevant to the diversity of 4.5 million people.
+100…Once Was Tim….Yes, Yes, Yes!…maybe you can offer your services to the new Labour Left coalition Govt…sounds like you know what you are talking about!
Discourses of Rumi: a sample taken from Discourse four…
“…This is like the story they tell of a certain king. This king entrusted his son to a team of learned men. In due course they had taught him the sciences of astrology, geomancy and so forth so that he became a complete master, despite his utter dullness of wit and stupidity.
One day the king took a ring in his fist and put his son to the test.
‘Come, tell me what I am holding in my fist.’
‘The thing you are holding is round, yellow and hollow,’ the prince answered.
‘Since you have given all the signs correctly, now pronounce what thing it is,’ the king said.
‘It must be a sieve,’ the prince replied.
‘What?’ cried the king. ‘You gave correctly all the minute signs, such as might well baffle the minds of men. Out of all your powerful learning and knowledge how is it that this small point has escaped you, that a sieve cannot be contained in the fist?’
In the same way the great scholars of the age split hairs on all manner of sciences. They know perfectly and have a complete comprehension of those other matters which do not concern them. But as for what is truly of moment and touches a man more closely than all else, namely his won self, this your great scholar does not know. He pronounces on the legality or otherwise of every thing, saying. ‘This is permitted and that is not permitted, this is lawful and that is unlawful.’ Yet he knows not his own self, whether it is lawful or unlawful, permissible or not permissible, pure or impure.”
/facepalm
More ranting against the educated from what is, most likely, an uneducated dweeb.
Regarding manipulation of polls, please search for this article – The Guardian UK
theguardian.com, Monday 14 July 2014 19.22 BST
GCHQ has tools to manipulate online information, leaked documents show
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal programs to track targets, spread information and manipulate online debates
and cunnliffe released the wow!-policy for the last week of the campaign..
..and it’s something dreamed up by parker..a state-investment thingy..
..and it’s probably a good idea..
..but does anyone think it will come within a bulls’ roar of getting the undecideds off the couch..
..and rushing to vote for labour..?
..really..?
Dunno, but it’s probably better than announcing compulsory vegan sausages.
dunno..!…arguable…
..the environment would do a quantum-leap from one of the dirtiest in the world..
..to one of the cleanest..
..’many a true word spoken in jest’..eh..?
or smoking vegan sausages
i guess key can use the word ‘henchmen’ so easily..
..because of his own long history of use of henchmen/women as detailed by/in ‘dirty politics’..
“..It is now used to generally describe any person with subordinate status derisively- while most often used specifically to a hired guard or minion of a villain or master criminal..”
..i thought a good villain-name for key cd be ‘mr smiley’..
..or ‘chuckles’..
Yep ‘henchmen’ seems a little batmanish. He is certainly Mr Durrkey to me.
short political-quizz:..(without running to party website..)
what are the top-three labour policies..?
..the ones that have grabbed yr imagination/attention..?
capital gains tax. will transfer investment from speculative to productive parts of the economy without destroying wealth (whereas speculation is fantastic for wealth destruction).
broadening the central bank’s mandate so that the government can more directly support export, which has been suffering for yearsnyears.
pumping up the minimum wage. because fuck yes. two names associated with pushing for higher wages – henry ford (look up “fordism”) and marriner eccles, former chairman of the ny fed. which is kind of america’s central bank, in a roundabout way.
Thanks. Can you name at least ten more?
Really enjoyed Media watch and interview with Independent Journalist about the need for better independent reporting etc.
Then came the news (note the order)
Sunday RNZ news 10:00
•Murray McCully wants to stop whaling
•Green will be highlighting the spying going on in NZ, Key says they have not been doing Surveillance
•John Kerry USA, soon terrorism will be everywhere
Who scripts the news at RNZ? Is this irony
Rnz was lost to the hollowmens once griffin was appointed, no change there.
The wheels have come off teamkey since dirty politics, expect the kitchen sink in the 6 days till the only poll that matters.
the MSM will shill their butts off and key will say all sorts of whacky stuff as answering questions and telling the truth has never been demanded of him so he will dig himself a deeper hole.
stay positive and focused as It was always going to be close. I have got as many expats to vote as possible, it was easy once I asked them how the whanau back home were doing under 6years of shonkey.
Lynn have you sorted out some sort of live chat app for election night? Trying to post comments would of course be woeful. IRC is probably the best way to go, with a web-app, so those of us that can can use an IRC client and therefore not need to rely on (or add more load to) the webserver.
Wow, IRC is still actually in existence.
Big time.
There have been comments in the media ( and all that early stuff) about letting the biggest party govern/Key being prepared to run a minority government.
Can anybody tell me is it possible for Key the day after the election to get in a car (sod any negotiating) and go up to the Governor general and go, “I’ll have a warrant to be the next prime Minister and I’ll run a minority government”. The GG then goes “for the sake of National stability I’ll do it” or some like rubbish.
Does this then mean that the other parties have to vote them down when parliament reconvenes and we have another election?
Or do we park Russell or Hone or someone down the end of the GG’s drive and phone them up if Key appears?
That is only possible if all other options have been exhausted. So the various permutations have to be tried/negotiated based on Party votes.
I guess if Labour gathered in Greens, NZF, Internet Mana, Maori Party, United Future, and the Civilians who together gained over 50% of the Party Vote, they can govern regardless of the National 45%, and other odd sods who offer a minority Government.
Yes that is what normally happens but what questions does the GG have to ask. If Key tries some sort of end run like this does GG have to contact Cunliffe Turei Norman and check they don’t have a bigger block?
Not sure I trust some of the leading players here?
The hopeful PM has to confirm they have the support of Parliament, and the GG has to be satisfied that they do (satisfaction can include a broad measure of things, such as whether the election was fair and free – if there are doubts, then the GG may refuse the hopeful PM until such concerns are resolved).
So yes, what you’re proposing is possible if the hopeful PM lied to the GG and the GG simply believed it (ie, ignored all media reporting that the hopeful PM did not in fact have a majority), however would never happen in practice because it would be embarrassing to the GG, the Queen, and the public of NZ to install a government that was subsequently defeated at the first motion of no confidence (which is the first motion voted on at the start of each new government).
So far as I understand things, the conventions are:
1. The PM and his ministers hold their warrants personally until they resign, whether there is an election or not.
2. Post-election, the carry-over govt is regarded as a caretaker administration until new arrangements are made (old ministers resign, new warrants issued to new ministers).
3. The GG “takes advice” from the caretaker PM about who will be the next PM and accepts his/her list of ministers and swears them in (issues their warrants).
4. The GG and the Cabinet, acting as an Executive Council, set the date for the next sitting of Parliament.
5. Parliament convenes, sitting as a Government and an Opposition (the Westminster system is technically only ever a two-party system: the political parties can shift from one side to the other at will without triggering an election).
6. If the Opposition thinks it can overturn the sitting Government, it can bring a Motion of No Confidence, moved by the Leader of the Opposition.
7. If the MNC is passed, the government resigns and the outgoing PM advises the GG to invite the mover of the MNC motion to form a government.
8. And then points 3, 5, 6, 7, repeat until either stability is achieved or it all becomes too much and a new election is called for.
The two flies in the ointment are that, firstly, it’s all done by custom/ convention (UNLESS the Acts establishing MMP set up new rules??), and secondly that the GG usually takes the advice of the PM, whatever it may be. Precedent exists for the GG to discard that advice (eg Whitlam’s dismissal in Aus), but if the PM chooses to gives bad advice for political advantage then the GG will usually follow it.
Generally it all sorts itself out in the wash and doesn’t need a new election, just some discipline and negotiation.
Thanks P. Wasn’t sure I trusted some of the leading players here to act ethically.
Won’t it come down to Peters? ie the only way there wouldn’t be a majority on one side or the other would be if NZF declines both of them.
Quite true, Weka, but it’s even more complicated than that. The MMP rules allow individuals, once in Parliament, to change their allegiances – the famous “waka-jumping” rule. It’s based on the old figment of the imagination under FPP that not parties but only individuals may be elected to Parliament, and they may then decide to align themselves with a political party. That’s why in the good old days Winston et al could change parties during a session without resigning, because they held their seats personally. Under MMP successful List candidates were given the same protection resulting in, for example, Brendan Horan being expelled from NZF but retaining his List seat as an individual (a mistake in the MMP List rules, in my opinion).
Even though we get a parliament elected by a tribal/ political party vote, party behaviour is still all by convention. JK raises the many-headed hydra image to frighten the faithful, but the truth is that (a) there are only ever two parties in parliament and (b) there are 120+ individuals who can align themselves whichever way they want to after they are sworn in. The good news is that this usually only happens at the fraying edges of the political parties. So far.
The possibility of a minority grouping reaching across the political party divide and inviting individuals from the other teams to come and play nicely and form a government with them is always a political reality. Depends upon the incentive, I suppose.
Fisheries ambassadorship, anyone? Or lovely baubles of office, perhaps?
It was mooted on either Q and A or Nation this morning – that Winston could do exactly what you refer to in your last para, and become prime minister !
Your para: “The possibility of a minority grouping reaching across the political party divide and inviting individuals from the other teams to come and play nicely and form a government with them is always a political reality. Depends upon the incentive, I suppose”.
I certainly don’t trust National, Act, UF, CCCP, and mP to act ethically.
disingenuous ? of course not, but I don’t think that was who they meant.
Nice photo of John key’s henchman/lackey.
Thank god for technological advances, otherwise Tony Abbott’s Liberal Party will have troubles running Parliament with all their members equidistant from each other – and doing it on less government funding: Welfare cut for terror suspects.
Joking aside, Abbott – like Key – continues to astound me when I think nothing that he does will surprise me again.
Like here the average punter in oz has little idea how owned the govt is by business interests as rupert controls a fair slice of media and reinhardt has a solid grip on fairfax ownership should she choose to go all the way.
abotts polling is bad but they dont care, getting the job done etc with turnbull paitently waiting in the wings when they need a new front next election. Expect more from tony he is far from done yet.
the wildcard is PUP, mining magnate clive palmers party who hold sway in the senate with senators like ricky muir and jacquie lambie take a seat and enjoy the show performed by its CT scripted actors.
Canada’s Conservatives have passed a bill giving foreigners the right to sue, in secret tribunals, to overturn Canadian law and First Nation treaties which might interfere their investments.
.
It’s official: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has approved the controversial Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) today.
In a short, two-paragraph news release, International Trade Minister Ed Fast said the deal was now ratified. It will come into force on October 1, 2014, and will be effective for 31 years, until 2045.
The original investment protection deal — which treaty law expert Gus Van Harten said could be in violation of the Canadian Constitution — was quietly signed in 2012 in Vladisvostok, Russia, but was delayed for two years due to public outcry
[…]
First Nations argued that the deal was not valid, as it would violate section 35 of the Constitution requiring consultation over projects that could affect traditional territory. The Hupacasath First Nation in B.C. took the federal government to court last year over the FIPA deal, while citizen advocacy groups Leadnow and SumOfUs delivered 60,000 signatures from across Canada in opposition to the agreement. The court decision on the Hupacasath First Nation’s legal appeal is still pending, despite the ratification.
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/harper-oks-potentially-unconstitutional-china-canada-fipa-deal-coming-force-october-1
Gives an insight of what will happen if Key is re-elected and the TPP is signed.
Yup.
NSA and GSCB is being used for economic spying.
The new colonialism is based in finances and so that’s to be expected I suppose.
cool story bro.
Three questions for the Prime Minister.
If as you have stated, the GCSB drew up “mass protection ” programmes for NZers why did you veto it? Are we now “unprotected? And “unprotected” against what/whom?
Yep good questions and it will be interesting to see what they were proposing as these ‘mass protection’ programmes – we are now deep down the rabbit hole and the week ahead will be surreal and sickening as durrkey spins and slides.
If I were the cynical sort, I’d say that the metaphorical ink will still be dry on the documents ‘exonerating’ Key.
I think it was a journalist in Yes Prime Minister who asked “Is it true that the documents have yet to be released because the PM can only type with one finger?”
The PM’s manual –
THE GREASY POLE
"It is only totalitarian governments that suppress facts. In
this country we simply take a democratic decision not to publish
them."
"How to discredit an unwelcome report:
Stage One: Refuse to publish in the public interest saying
1. There are security considerations.
2. The findings could be misinterpreted.
3. You are waiting for the results of a wider and more detailed
report which is still in preparation. (If there isn’t one, commission
it; this gives you even more time).
Stage Two: Discredit the evidence you are not publishing, saying
1. It leaves important questions unanswered.
2. Much of the evidence is inconclusive.
3. The figures are open to other interpretations.
4. Certain findings are contradictory.
5. Some of the main conclusions have been questioned. (If they haven’t,
question them yourself; then they have).
Stage Three: Undermine the recommendations. Suggested phrases:
1. ‘Not really a basis for long term decisions’.
2. ‘Not sufficient information on which to base a valid assessment’.
3. ‘No reason for any fundamental rethink of existing policy’.
4. ‘Broadly speaking, it endorses current practice’.
Stage Four: Discredit the person who produced the report. Explain
(off the record) that
1. He is harbouring a grudge against the Department.
2. He is a publicity seeker.
3. He is trying to get a Knighthood/Chair/Vice Chancellorship.
4. He used to be a consultant to a multinational.
5. He wants to be a consultant to a multinational."
"To suppress an internal government report, rewrite it as
official advice to the Minister. Then it is against the rules to
publish it, so you can leak the bits you want to friendly journalists."
http://www.jonathanlynn.com/tv/yes_minister_series/yes_minister_episode_quotes.htm
thx Joe90 .. brilliant.
God stuff joe. Wonder if you have missed anything? Of course Key’s default setting is Stage four. Discredit the messenger.
Brilyant
Talking of henchman and, as he brought up the subject, who is John Key the henchman for?
What does this mean
there is total mention?
of course not but does it do mass surveillance on NZ citizens – that is the question/answer that is going to fuck you up key.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11324452
I presume it’s either typical slack speaking on Key’s part, or a bad transcription (probably both).
Probably what it should say is “there’s totally mention” or “there’s some mention”.
The quote is from this video clip: http://tvnz.co.nz/vote-2014-news/key-says-mass-surveillance-considered-but-rejected-6080078
It is completely accurate. In context, what Key is saying doesn’t even really make sense. It’s fairly clear what he’s *trying* to say, but as usual his slack speaking, muddled thinking and poor diction let him down.
Corin Dann:
But this was a huge issue at the time of this legislation and at no stage was there any mention that you were, that the GSCB was considering mass surveillance.
Key:
No, well, there’s total, there was total mention…
Seems like another lie from key really because ‘total’ is pretty definitive and in no way, shape or form was there ‘total mention’ that key and the GSCB were considering mass surveillance at the time of the legislation. Roll on Monday – in all its meanings…
Did he say who in his office was discussing it cos he does DO actual gcsb business does he, he delegates.
I’m not a crook?.
http://youtu.be/sh163n1lJ4M?t=28s
edit: total mention seems to be a social media tracking term
http://semphonic.blogs.com/semangel/2011/10/sampling-and-social-media.html
good name for a covers-band..
..john key and the henchmen..
John Key and the Total Mention
john key and the protectors..
john key and the ‘ackshully’s..
john key and the end of the day..
Anyone know where I can still find a video of NIcky Hager Publically speaking at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall on the 27th August. Everywhere I go it says it is unavailable. Thanking you
I got a copy from the youtube one which is now gone. Have you tried asking here http://livenews.co.nz/ or asking at the Daily Blog?
Ben Uffindell writing ACT press releases?.
ACT is holding the Balance of Power
Dr Jamie Whyte, ACT Leader
11 am Sunday 14 September
Tasca Café, Newmarket, Auckland
ACT will hold the balance of power after the election on Saturday.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1409/S00316/act-is-holding-the-balance-of-power.htm
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxUV8MTCEAMFbBu.jpg
“Are you completely nuts? If I’d fixed Christchurch CERA would’ve been wound up – I’d’ve had to go back to being a failed woodwork teacher.”
“…and this grouping of events between my hands is your political future…”
😀
“All right … it’s true… I ate Jason Ede (he was delicious, so tender and sweet)… but please, no more of that music.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B8jcKx8H_w
only one more sleep until utu-monday..
Be careful what you wish for, I think utu sunday has arrived
It’s striking how often the four anglophone Commonwealth countries are often having the same conversation at the same time.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/raising-minimum-wage-could-rescue-the-economy-don-pittis-1.2516796
ScottGN I liked this bit and wondered why the 3rd to last sentence isn’t used by David:
Canada: “They are supported by a very traditional market argument that says raising minimum wage results in fewer jobs and is thus bad for the wider economy. Of course, the extension of this argument is that no minimum wage at all would be even better for the economy. If you think that, it is time for you to emigrate. There are many countries with no minimum wage.
And look how well people in those nations do, eh.
On Q&A I thought Key looked serious and fluent and credible when talking to Corrin. Damn I thought!
Tonight on TV3 News he looked petulant, sulky and if one more question was asked of him he would have burst into tears. You know when someone struggles to contain their emotions their face muscles tremble and give you away.
The current issues are hurting him.
John Key does not like being criticised or exposed. He does not like losing. It’s what drives him and, I guess it has brought him “success”: success as he sees it. However, it’s also his Achilles heel. He just will not back down, even when the evidence is clearly against him.
He will keep on inventing lies… And he likes to rope others in… Like tucker…fletcher…
He’s certainly not maintaining the smiley friendly guy front that is part of the two track strategy.
If he is so certain that he is not lying, may be he should simply offer to take a lie detector test devised by Greenwald and be done with it.
‘MOMENT OF TRUTH’ INFO:
http://kim.com/
Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck fuck. I was pretty sure I was going to party vote GP, but I just watched Laila Harre interview Greenwald and Amsterdam and now I want to vote for her! She so should be in parliament. My heart says IMP, but my head says GP. I’ve never had a voting dilemma before. Anyone else not know what they are doing?
Split the difference and vote Labour?
Lolz, I don’t think so. I hope Labour do well, but I think we need a strong GP presence if we want to shift left.
Wishing I lived in a democracy where tactical voting was unecessary.
Quickie move and enrol in Helensville so you can vote for Harre?
haha, I did think of that. Bit of a long way for me though.
(I think it’s too late anyway, don’t you have to live in an electorate for a month to be able to vote there?).
Maybe STV would solve the problem. Mostly the dilemma is because I don’t know how everyone else is voting. With STV, it would matter would it? because my preferences would be ordered depending on what other people did too.
STV very much frees up voting for minor parties as your vote for them cannot be “wasted”.
This would also mean ACT and UnitedDunne would almost certainly win their electorates, too.
I think if we end up with 2 large parties on the left and 2 large parties on the right there will be a big appetite to change the way electorate voting works. But IIRC the MMP review recommended no changes, because people having a party vote and a candidate vote is already confusing enough as it is, without making the candidate vote into an STV.
Possibly one compromise would be to just to let people have 2 votes for candidates, with the candidate winning the most votes winning. It avoids a full-on STV ranking confusion, while still allowing more representation.
“I think if we end up with 2 large parties on the left and 2 large parties on the right there will be a big appetite to change the way electorate voting works.”
How come?
Because candidate voting is FPP – you just have to get the ‘most votes’, it doesn’t have to be anywhere near 1/2 of them.
If there were 4 roughly even sized parties, there could be some electorates where “the wrong party won” because the other bloc “split the vote”.
We’re already seeing it now with people voting for Greens candidates who realistically have 0 chance of winning, but in doing-so they hand the electorate over to National instead of Labour.
Laila Harre is pretty amazing. The senior Cabinet Minister that Labour never had.
Yip. Her stepping into the leadership of IMP was enough to shake my conviction for voting Labour.
Ultimately I gave up on IMP because they didn’t have any policies announced, and now that I’ve seen them I can’t say I’m super-thrilled with them either. They’ll have a lot more time to mature over this term and I’ll give them another chance next time.
+1
Yep STV would be a good move for the electorate vote: just rank your top three candidates 1, 2, 3.
I think party votes with ticks and candidate votes with numbers would be too confusing for a lot of people.
I think a reasonable compromise is 2 ticks for candidates, and 1 tick for party vote. Candidates still remains FPP and only a single candidate can win an electorate.
Either system would mean the phrase “two ticks for X” would no longer make sense, though.
@ CV
This has probably been talked about before. But what would be against local bodies using STV.? In theory it sounds useful for them, does it have fishhooks?
Some local bodies already use STV.
We use STV for a bunch of things down here in the Dunedin local elections, including for Dunedin City Council.
Where did you watch that interview, weka? Any link please?
Probably this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYEdaxbfpYc&feature=youtu.be
Thanks very much. Laila does such a nice interview. Three people of great integrity and intelligence on that episode.
Here you go clem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYEdaxbfpYc
oh snap – great minds and all that 🙂
Ha!
Thanks to you too. I enjoy these ‘Not The Six O Clock News’ from Harre. What a great idea! Not sure how many people watch these. I hope a lot of voters do.
I would love to see Laila Harre as the Governor General or the President of New Zealand one day.
Not bad, but Minister in charge of the SIS and Intelligence Services plz
Me too. I am having trouble choosing between Mana and the Greens. Every time I make a decision, the benefitting party says or does something I don’t like. Mana is slightly ahead at the moment.
I have a neighbour who is not sure if she should vote for Labour or the Greens!
Just watched the clip below of Susan Wood interviewing RN & MT from the Greens.
I honestly cannot believe the conduct of Susan Wood? At every opportunity she had to point out how badly Labour are doing in the polls, she even said ‘Labour are tanking’ with a smug grin on her face.
Absolutely disgraceful TVNZ! Anyone with half a brain, including Susan Wood, knows that the polls are all over the place, often do not include undecideds and in some cases appear to be complete bullshit. Yet Susan Wood does her best to suggest that National have it in the bag? Bias much!
Yet more evidence that MSM are in need of a serious clean up.
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/largest-party-gets-pm-everything-else-table-green-co-leaders-video-6080063
The fact that the polls are crap is the elephant in the room that the MSM are doing their best to avoid.
If the outcome of the election is sufficiently different from what polling suggests, then I think we may see a bit of a wake-up call for the media, as well as calls for the polling companies to explain themselves and reform their methodologies.
You could stop watching the puppets involved with the news as I have done. If you ever caught Thunderbirds you might get a whiff of connection with the actors there. Lady Penelope would be much more lively and stylish than Susan Wood.
I am by no means sure that Susan Woods has half a brain.
This is a link to a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ video of Key before the last election. As he’s asked a very embarrassing question, his smiling face transforms as he looks down into something hateful. It’s the absolute opposite of the charming front he usually strives to effect. Such a pity that few of the Nats’ believers would ever have seen this, the real face, of their golden boy.
The video starts to get interesting from about 1 min 11 secs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxTmebVRh9I
An excellent very short summary of the core allegations in Dirty Politics. h/t @LostArcNZ
https://twitter.com/LostArcNZ/status/511090593879973888/photo/1
Polls huh.
Commenting on a new ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph which puts Yes at 54 per cent and No at 46 per cent – and an Opinium poll for the Observer which puts Yes at 47 per cent and No at 53 per cent – Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland, said: ‘The new ICM poll gives Yes a record eight-point lead, which is hugely encouraging. Meanwhile, Opinium puts Yes behind, but just by six points.
http://www.yesscotland.net/news/new-icm-poll-puts-yes-8-points-ahead-polls-all-show-everything-play-countdown-referendum
I think in terms of turnout, the YES vote will be more energised and they will have it. And a friend pointed this out to me: we will know the Scottish result as we turnout to vote…if they vote for a change I think it will push us over the line too 🙂
The Scottish Vote results will start rolling around noon on Friday NZ time. Get your hoarding removals done first: then start the celebrations!
Scottish referendum ,
I feel this has been poorly thought out and what ever happens the result will divide the Scottish people . The polls suggest a close result which will leave large numbers of scott’s in a state of despair which ever way it goes .
The vote to change should require a much higher % of the population to support leaving , imagine if 49% vote to stay , that’s trouble ahead , perhaps civil unrest .
“imagine if 49% vote to stay , that’s trouble ahead , perhaps civil unrest ”
….that view sounds a little like the ‘no’ compaign scare tactics
‘civil unrest’ tends to be associated with people who are poor, powerless, unemployed, marginalised, have nothing to lose, …
If the ‘yes’ vote wins there will still be a democratic election process in Scotland. And you can be sure that most Scots will want Scotland to succeed even if they voted ‘no’
Scots have been thinking and debating the pros and cons of being an independent nation for a very long time and whichever way the vote goes will not turn on each other