” Nationals’ Boadicea likely to shrug off her week from hell ”
That’s the problem perhaps. Collins will simply shrug it off. Assisted in doing so by essentially congratulatory analysis the like of that from Audrey Young.
The O’Sullivan article contains some fresh details:
On Thursday, she confirmed she had another dinner with Xu during the invitation-only Apec Women Leadership Forum last November. Both Collins and Xu were forum speakers. So too were other prominent New Zealand women including Dame Jenny Shipley – the former National Prime Minister who has long been well connected in China – Auckland City Hospital’s Dr Emma Parry and entrepreneur Dame Wendy Pye.
Collins could have mentioned (but didn’t) that Oravida was also a key sponsor of the leadership forum. The company was one of two Platinum sponsors.
She should now reflect how her lapses have cost Oravida and her friends.
Oravida is a New Zealand based-company that promotes premium products for the Chinese market through direct online sales.
MS, I don’t know what Collins stated at the APEC conference, but I found this TVNZ video report on the connections between National and Oravida particularly enlightening.
Was Slippery the Prime Minister really as angry at the actions of Judith Collins during Her trip as Minister of Justice, along with the drip drip of revelations of what is best described as an incestuous relationship between Oravida and the Minister, as we all have been lead to believe,
My opinion says No, what angered the Prime Minister so was the fact that His Bullshit, usually so glibbly passed by the media into the public domain was within hours proven to be the Lies it actually was,
Slippery doesn’t give a ‘rats’ about Collin’s behavior or lack of it, that’s glaringly apparent with His initial approach to the accusations against Collins, it was only when caught out Lying about the Cabinet Office having obtained a translation of the Oravida literature showing Collins ‘endorsing’ Oravida’s products, a translation that never occurred, that our PM lost His rag….
b12 That is what I think as well. Considering he came out firing to shut things down knowing that he was going to lie to do so he deserves to sink in the bog as far and as quick as he can.
He also changed his rhetoric quite quickly from ‘UNEQUIVOCALLY NO CONFLICT!!!’ from ‘the ministry of guidelines’ or whatever they call themselves, to a hushed ‘no conflict to see here’ you can all go home now. What? No, sorry, I can’t show you the written advice I was given. Why? Because it doesn’t exist, how can I show you something that never existed. Moron.
Yes the final retreat of the compulsive Liar is to be found in the sudden appearance of ’emotion’ in their dialogue where no emotion has thus far been previously perceived,
Collins in what can only be described as ‘bizarre’ acting resorted to ‘Crocodile Tears’ seeking sympathy from the gathered media,
Slippery the Prime Minister not having the option of a public display ‘cry me a river’ in defence of being caught red handed lying to the press and public had only anger as the last refuge,
D grade acting from the pair of them, should the media continue to catch either of them using glib lies in the discourse in coming months i would expect such displays of anger to be directed at the media, a real Muldoonish scrape of the bottom of the barrell…
Gusher Collins is like many bullies who bash others and laugh at their tears but will break down when the truth of their actions is outed.
I don’t know why some MSM think she can come back from this. Her ‘Crusher’ brand is now too damaged and she’s too hard headed to reinvent herself. Justice for the Minister of it.
While news on The Internet Party has been very quiet for some time, this short report on Radio NZ news back on 3 March indicated that it had not died before launch.
The Internet Party of Kim Dotcom is waiting for Electoral Commission approval to gather membership data via online applications, including allowing a member to sign directly on to a computer screen with a finger or using a mouse.
IIRC Dunne and UF had no success in persuading the Electoral Commission to allow them to accept membership applications for the purposes of reregistration of UF.
So, it would seem from the Stuff article in your link that the Internet Party may have had some success in persuading the Commission to allow online membership applications.
KDC has said very little on his Twitter site about the IP of late, but on March 10 tweeted that:
” I welcome the Sept 20 election date. We’re doing our own polls now & the numbers look good. Get ready for our ‘Call for Members’. #InternetParty”
and
“Launching #InternetParty website, mobile apps, call for members and funny short film about my opponents next week. Its on!”
Re my comment re UF’s reregistration, here are a couple of links confirming that the Electoral Commission initially would not accept online/spreadsheet registrations, but then decded to allow this.
‘With a finger or using a mouse’ is delightfully phrased. Yes, Radio NZ, these days people can do things online! Using fingers! It’s like living in the future.
As I said before, Dotcom needs to boot the internet party pretty quickly before people start realising that his C: drive has no operating system loaded.
The IP intrigues me. Depending on its fleshed out form I might vote for it, given that Labour are slow and sluggish and need a good defragging — perhaps a reformat and clean install.
Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline, are interest rate rises a cause of inflation in the economy, my opinion says Yes, raising interest rates is a definite inflationary push,
A further opinion would say that to ‘hide’ this inflationary push that has as a direct cause the Reserve Bank’s raising of the Official Cash Rate ‘the rack’ of a continuing series of rises in the OCR is employed by the Reserve Bank where in the ensuing ‘pain’ and ‘noise’ the fact that part of the inflation the bank is ‘stomping’ upon had as its direct cause the initial raising of the OCR by the Reserve Bank,
A Stuff article attempts to translate the numbers surrounding the raising of the official cash rate and subsequent raising of interest rates charged by the trading banks,
”According to the Reserve Bank the Business sector has $79.1 billion of debt with financial institutions while the Agricultural sector has $51.7 billion of debt”,
”Homeowners, Businesses, and Farmers could be paying an extra $6.3 billion a year in interest if mortgage rates rise as the Reserve Bank expects over the next two years”, unquote Stuff.co.nz,
While Stuff.co has to be applauded for at least making the effort to explain the numbers to the public surrounding the interest rates rises there is room for a far more detailed analysis, breakdown, and publication of the numbers and likely effects, so this article while highlighting the costs to the economy in dollar terms also highlights this countries general lack of in depth economic journalism,
The inflation caused by the Reserve Bank’s raising of the OCR???, its hidden in the $6.3 billion cost to the economy,to you,me, them, of raising those interest rates,
i have no means of ‘shaking the actual numbers out of that $6.3 billion dollar cost to the economy, But, lets apportion 60% of that ‘cost’ to Joe Public the average homeowner with a 300 thousand dollar mortgage, thus we are left with the Business sector and Farming sector, both carrying substantial amounts of debt carrying the can of 40% of that $6.3 billion dollar cost of two years of interest rates rising,
When faced with a rising input cost in any area what do Business as a rule use as the first means of maintaining their profit margins, You guessed it, Put Up The Price Of Their Goods Or Services,
So, the initial moves by the Reserve Bank supposedly with the impetus of clamping down on inflation will have in the first instance the creation of inflation as a direct result, supremely unworried by this inflation spike the Reserve Bank will then justify All it’s later OCR rises on the basis of that inflation spike that it initiated with its initial raising of the OCR,
Putting out the fires with gasoline???, you bet, its the monetary system of a tribe of primitive chimp like people who upon seeing a non-venomous snake enter their territory come down from the trees using heavy blunt clubs to beat the harmless snake to a pulp, only to realize belatedly that such a carcass has called predators of a far more dangerous nature onto their turf…
Anyone or party that rests it’s reputation of inflation rates is only IMO selling its succes based on the lack of our illeracy of economics. Success of inflation is how our non tradables trend. Nz has imported low inflation for all this century whilst paying for this with the exporting of employment and our high dollar.
The OCR rise this week was widely tipped and swap rates had already had most of the 25 pt rise already priced onto it, and we are incessantly being told that the 2 yr swap is the driving force for mortgage rates.
A note that banks make their greatest margins from floating mortgages , not fixed term.
The plethora of links you have supplied make the non-sensical statement originally made just as abstruse as it was,
What exactly are you trying to impart as information here, that the trading banks have already raised their interest rates in anticipation of the movement of the Official Cash Rate,???…
That’s it and that many heres fascination with using inflation as a guide to the failure or success of govts policies is naive at best as this to me just displays how out of touch such comments are with how real households are coping or not.
i would suggest you are being more than a little less than honest then as 3 of the Trading banks have signaled that they will be lifting their interest rates in line with the OCR rise,
ANZ, ASB, and KiwiBank are all raising their rates,
The heavy blunt instrument of the OCR has long been criticized for it’s detrimental effects to the economy and if the current Government continues to rely on taking the wrecking ball to an economy which has not fully recovered from the effects of the GFC by continuing to support use of the OCR when such use is arguably of negative benefit to the economy then that Government deserves all the criticism it gets…
“Labour would also have to distance themselves from the Greens, or give an indication of what Green policy positions they would adopt, and what they would rule out. I like how Cunliffe is talking centrist economic policy, but I have no time for the Greens and would not vote to enable them.”
Without knowing either parties’ policies extensively (have only been through some of each) -I view that Greens and Labour have a lot of compatibility. I find it a bit difficult to know what is so wrong with the Greens that you would take such a stance.
The Greens emphasis on a healthy environment stands to benefit everyone health and ultimately wealth wise. (Taking care today saves a lot of costs in the future).
The Greens have proven themselves to be very disciplined and focused and have good principles when it comes to their party’s organisation, their politicians’ conduct and on aligning their policies and reactions to contemporary issues on research.
Can you please tell me what it is that you find so off putting about the Greens that you would take such a stance?
Would they support bright Kiwi innovation that lead to more productive fracking? How about better oil drilling technology? Somehow, I doubt it. Yet they would, in all likelihood, back some clean-tech farce, even if we have no comparative advantage in such areas. I doubt they even know what that term means.
Fine if we have some advantage in such areas, but if we did, we’d probably already be doing it.
The article you link contains a fair concern – governments investing into trends that then turn out to not be trends. Callaghan, however appears to justify the industries that are big now in NZ by the same logical error that he fears the Greens are falling for. i.e. milk products are big now and therefore we should continue expanding – this despite there are serious problems being caused to our water due to this industry. This despite there are increasing numbers of people moving away from using milk products (another trend that may or may not continue).
The question needs to be asked – considering sourcing drinking water is an increasing and serious problem occurring in many places throughout the world – does the money coming in from selling more and more raw milk products really balance with the risk this is posing to our water system? You can’t buy water once it is ruined throughout the world. Is this the smartest solution for NZ? Could we ‘add value’ to products prior to selling them and therefore require less expansion of cow farming – and all the environment costs this is creating?
Again, fracking is a process that threatens our water systems. What is the priority here? How useful is profit when we haven’t any water to drink? Do you think that wouldn’t happen? There are plenty of documentaries around about this world wide water issue. Specifically fracking – have you seen ‘Gaslands’?
Finally, how likely is it that ‘clean tech’ is a flash in the pan trend – given our universal and absolute human need for a healthy environment and our historic and ongoing use of energy?
He specifically states we cannot scale dairy indefinitely.
Is economic diversification a good idea? Of course. But, like I said, the Greens are bound by their narrow, ideological view that – I feel – is based on a falsehood. They will likely support innovation that is in line with the unproven AGW worst-case scenarios.
It does not follow we’ll have no water to drink if we undertake fracking. Gasland is an activist propaganda movie – possibly worse than “An Inconvenient Truth” – and I’m amazed anyone would take it seriously given court rulings on its depictions.
Clean tech may well be a flash in the pan. It may not. Either way, it doesn’t mean we have a comparative advantage in it. If we did, we’d already be doing it, and I’d be investing in it.
“Denier” is a religious term, not a scientific one. Also a vile attempt to associate someone with holocaust denial.
There is no consensus. Consensus is not science. IPCC are not credible as their guesswork so far has been wrong. They’re also a political organisation, and their politics appears self-serving and alarmist.
The fact is no one knows what is happening with climate long term in terms of warming or cooling. Anyone who claims they do is deluded. Fact.
High degree of complexity, very low degree of certainty.
lol yep the denier denies being a denier – woody is getting quite woolly and all the toys will come out the cot soon – give up justlikewood you are well outgunned and outclassed – too funny and good while waiting for the storm to arrive.
You simply believed what someone told you, like a child believing in Santa Claus. Your position is not evidence based.
Mine is.
The fact is that no one has a clue what is happening with climate. There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years.
None.
If you believe otherwise, you hold an irrational belief.
How do you explain the trend in the atmospheric carbon isotope ratio, little wingnut?
How do you explain the fact that winters have warmed more than summers, nights more than days, the Arctic more than the Antarctic? All predictions made in 1896, incidentally.
“There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years”
Fact.
All the believers can produce is alarmism, speculation and some really bad guesswork.
Only an idiot looks for scientific “proof”. Science deals in probabilities, but we know that CO2 is a greenhouse gas – this can be shown experimentally and is theoretically explained by Quantum Mechanics. We know that the CO2 content of the atmosphere is rising, by observation, and -also by observation – we know that the extra CO2 is anthropogenic in origin.
We know that Svante Arrhenius’ predictions were all correct – by observation. We know that destructive weather events have increased in magnitude and frequency – cf: Munich re cited below.
The fact that you cite Anthony Watts and congressional testimony, rather than peer-reviewed research, demonstrates that as in statistics, you are out of your depth.
Earth to flat-Earther: the IPCC doesn’t do any “guesswork” – it collates and summarises existing research. If you’re going to criticise something you need to learn what it is first.
…the number of weather-related loss events in North America nearly quintupled in the past three decades, compared with an increase factor of four in Asia, 2.5 in Africa, two in Europe and 1.5 in South America.
Lost your mojo jltw.
How come the largest shareholder and chairman of the board of exxon mobil is fighting tooth and nail to prevent any fracking witin 200 miles of his private ranch in Texas.
“Mr. Tillerson does not object to the tower for its potential use for water and gas operations for fracking,” said Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil.
Tillerson’s property is already adjacent to several oil and gas wells and fracking operations, Jeffers added.”
[lprent: Bit pathetic reaching back for a 10 year old link, that has since been proven to be a moronic lie (but still loved by morons like yourself). ]
“Muller: A few years later, McIntyre came out and, indeed, showed that the hockey-stick chart was in fact incorrect. It had been affected by a very serious bug in the way scientists calculated their principal components.”
“Now comes the real shocker. This improper normalization procedure tends to emphasize any data that do have the hockey stick shape, and to suppress all data that do not. To demonstrate this effect, McIntyre and McKitrick created some meaningless test data that had, on average, no trends. This method of generating random data is called Monte Carlo analysis, after the famous casino, and it is widely used in statistical analysis to test procedures. When McIntyre and McKitrick fed these random data into the Mann procedure, out popped a hockey stick shape!”
As for Mann, his court case has reportedly collapsed:
“The fact Mann refused to disclose his ‘hockey stick’ graph metadata in the British Columbia Supreme Court, as he is required to do under Canadian civil rules of procedure, constituted a fatal omission to comply, rendering his lawsuit unwinnable. …….”
Oh, and find a better source of information on Mann vs. National Review et al, you’re being duped, again. The suit has not “collapsed” and will move to discovery unless further appeals are forthcoming. The previous appeal was denied in January of this year.
when fracking companies release detailed information about the chemicals they pump into the ground then you can discuss the pros and cons, till then it is just a con
funny
I always thought the phrase “release detailed information” when discussing something being pumped would involve quantities of the materials being pumped. Guess we have different ideas on what “detailed” means
Interestingly, a Wyoming Supreme Court has recently rejected the fracking industry’s argument to keep what chemicals they use a secret.
JustLikeTigerWoods
Yet they would, in all likelihood, back some clean-tech farce, even if we have no comparative advantage in such areas. I doubt they even know what that term means.
Firstly, the comparative advantage to the government in supporting clean technology instead of outdated polluting industries is easily quantifiable. In financial terms, National’s energy policy states that there is the potential for future royalties from all oil and gas production of $12 billion at the most. In comparison, a PWC reported in 2013 stated that clean technology could be worth $22 billion, plus there is no risk of widespread environmental damage.
It should also be stated that the National Party’s 2011 estimates are likely wrong, being that recent exploration has failed to find any new oil. That means the governments investment and subsidies, amounting to $326.6 million between 2008 and 2012, has been lost. It was in fact a complete waste of taxpayers money that would be better spent on clean technology endeavors that guarantee a return.
You appear to be another right wing idiot JustLikeTigerWoods who just spouts nonsense in the hope that nobody will fact check your gibberish.
Add the half a billion it cost to sell the assets, the various corporate handouts, the loss of dividends from everywhere, mix in plummeting tax takes and that surplus thingy is really starting to get some wonky legs eh! Before long I expect we will hear how the expected surplus was always in the 2015/2016 year and the reporters are just falling for lefty disinfo campaigns and John Key never mentioned a surplus and if Bill did you better ask him as the budget is really an operational matter.
As for the $22b guesswork, will they be advising their clients to invest boots and all? If not, why not? You see, if clean tech was a sure thing, I would already be investing, as would many other people. The reason I don’t is because it is very high risk and the returns, globally, have been abysmal.
It is clear from your response JustLikeTigerWoods that you haven’t bothered to read my comment properly. Nor does it seem that you have read the article you have linked to either.
Here is what the Forbes article states:
There were close to 1,000 companies just in China involved with the solar industry. With crystalline-based module prices dropping by about 35% in 2012 a thinning of the herd had to occur even with increasing demand (partially fueled by the lower prices).
According to the link in the forbes article, last year there were 21 solar company bankruptcies worldwide. However many of those companies listed are mergers or branches of companies not wanting to compete anymore in a very competitive market. They are not actually bankruptcies. In other words the figures the article is based on are incorrect.
Just to make things a bit clearer for you…nobody is arguing that we should be competing to produce solar panels JustLikeTigerWoods. We should however be taking advantage of a competitive solar panel market to future proof our energy requirements.
It’s not either/or.
Unfortunately the current government has refused to help clean tech companies to anywhere near the extent they help the oil and gas industry with our tax dollars.
We’ll take the $12b AS WELL, thanks.
Wrong! The $12 billion was a best case scenario including large finds of new oil. That exploration has failed and it is unlikely that the oil and gas companies will consider further exploration without considerable government funding, investment that has no guarantee of any return at all. That type of investment is therefore not worthwhile, considering there is a viable alternative to simply throwing taxpayers money away on an environmentally damaging sunset industry.
As for the $22b guesswork, will they be advising their clients to invest boots and all?
What makes you think the PWC report is guesswork? Is it simply that their findings don’t fit into your deluded philosophy, so you have dismissed the report out of hand…probably without even reading it?
You see, if clean tech was a sure thing, I would already be investing, as would many other people.
Considering there was approximately $254 billion invested globally last year into clean technologies, it appears that many people thankfully don’t share your defunct viewpoint.
The reason I don’t is because it is very high risk and the returns, globally, have been abysmal.
Do you have any actual figures to show that returns are abysmal? Please don’t link again to your industry driven propaganda.
It is true that investment has been dropping off recently, mainly because of the cost of photovoltaic systems reducing considerably because of competition, and the impact of archaic government policy towards renewable power.
In effect many governments around the world, including New Zealand’s, have failed to hold to any proper CO2 emission reductions because they are corrupted by the oil and gas industry who spend billions on lobbying to try and hold onto their out-dated business models.
Do they perhaps employ you to promote their disinformation JustLikeTigerWoods?
If you’re going to divert money away from areas that do make profits into areas that are pretty much guaranteed to make a loss, as this is the experience globally, then you’re going to harm a lot of people.
Green tech may sound warm, fuzzy and the “right” thing to do, but I would ask you to take a more thorough look at the performance of this sector globally. Keep in mind that areas of performance in this sector are almost entirely reliant on subsidy.
The ironic thing is that white men will now get rich off legal marijuana while whole generations of black men have been criminalised. A cynic might think that the war on drugs had served its purpose of marginalising the most potentially revolutionary force in American society and now it was time to go back to the real business of making a buck.
Thought this was a fucking disgusting depiction of Grant by Aussie Emerson. He has been fantastic in this and this depiction is- he’s gay so he can’t be a serious minister (not like Cunliffe or Key in a suit) but he has to be some kind of pervert…
Angry. Maybe we can role out Shano to get stuck into the almost Aussie monopoly on cartoons in our paper of record?
I don’t think we should regulate cartoonists…craziness. but I’ve never been a big fan of Emmerson’s. He’s an Aussie. You’d think for our one paper we’d manage to find a kiwi. And often he does a cartoon that really offers no insight or opinion it just is some kind of reflection of what’s been going on. There’s no real connection to waterboarding, but it was vaguely topical last year, so it passes for insight into what’s going on. But doesn’t really say anything at all.
And it seems BS that Robertson’s very credible showing in the house over this is turned into this cartoon…it would be interesting to go through (and other than the battle of the babes for Auck Central) it would be interesting to see how sexualised other depictions are. Do we regularly see cartoons of Bennett and Parata as whores or as dominatrixes? No? Because they can be shown a bit of respect, but Grant can’t?
Actually all three cartoons listed by Edwards make intelligent visual points and the Herald cartoon is just a sneaky attack on Grant Robertson.
The others show up Collins hypocrisy, or the persona of her apology. Anyway I guess one bad cartoon doesn’t make the guy a bad cartoonist- he’s had people liking him here before. But as you can guess I really disliked the cartoon. An actually he’s had 2 good cartoons on Oravida this week. Sorry Rod! But this was a shocker
This is beside the point, but it also doesn’t make any sense! If you’re going to make jokes about horrific torture methods shouldn’t you know what you’re talking about?
Over on WhaleOil, that nasty scote is trying to equate Judith Collins’ corruption with a publicly-announced opening of the law office of David Cunliffe’s wife, by PM Helen Clark a few years back. A secret dinner, a forgetting to tell the current PM what went on, an overseas taxpayer funded trip, and an endorsement of the company product your husband is connected with – is hugely different from an office opening which would have been announced publicly beforehand., and is a basic function of the prime ministerial office.
Meanwhile over here at the Standard the usual array of scrotal crabs that regularly appear have all gone into hiding having no defense of their Prime Minister being caught lying along with Justice Minister Collins being seen to have caught the same condition…
my reply to puckish rogue when it was posted here yesterday
an article, six years old no less,
Now the PM opening a NZ business in NZ, even if that business is owned by the wife of a Minister, is not really the same thing as a Minister having a private dinner with the owner of a company her husband is a director of, in the presence of a senior Chinese Government official who has influence over the importation of products supplied by the Minister’s husband’s employer.
Not the same thing at all.
The fact that Helen Clark’s visit was published openly in a legal magazine shows it was a public event and is more than likely clearly on record, as it was an opening of a commercial premises.
Compare this to Collins who despite having vast experience with Cabinet realities, not only decided against all procedural briefs, to consider the dinner not worthy of being recorded in her diaries, the Minister was not forthcoming until pressured by the PM to do so and is now openly stating that she is only allowed to say the words she has been told to say otherwise there may be an issue with China.
oh yeah Puck, I can see how you think they are comparable 🙄 🙄 🙄
wail boil is an expert at disinformation and plainoutright lying which is the national party preferred way of doing things.
they cant lie straight in bed.
But in Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry — using his strongest language to date on the lingering crisis — called for an end to what he called a “terror campaign” by Maduro’s government.
Kerry, speaking before US lawmakers, called on the international community to “focus on Venezuela appropriately.”….
“We are engaged now with trying to find a way to get the Maduro government to engage with their citizens, to treat them respectfully, to end this terror campaign against his own people and to begin to hopefully respect human rights and the appropriate way of treating his people,” he said.
Comment on these insane remarks by Kerry seems unnecessary. I can only attribute them to desperaton on the part of Kerry given the USA’s almost total isolation in the hemiphere as exposed by the rcent OAS resultion on Venezuela…. http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-084/14
having a peep at the succession-jostling within national is interesting..
..you have slater in the collins camp..
..you have joyce-ites with enough reason to give collins that final trip of the ankle..
(..or they leave her there..as a damaged non-opponent..?..easily beatable ‘cos of that hint of corruption..)
..then of course..(as was pointed out to me the other day..)..in the background you have english..
..who may well be looking at these two most unlikable candidates..
..and thinking that he could well be in with a chance..(as a compromise-candidate..for a stalemated party..)
..some are touting bridges and adams..
(but they must be just having a bit of a laff…adams has got upcoming dodgy-dealings/conflict-of-interest allegations of her own..on a slow simmer..and ready to be brought to the boil..)
..and if you were going to have an anti-superhero trio..called the unlikeables..
….you’d have collins/joyce..and bridges as their eager apprentice..
..so english may well be dreaming of a 2nd chance..
..(and if you thought labour leadership battles were ugly..?
..whoar..!..
..those tories get well down and dirty..
..i wd imagine the cabinet-meetings must have some interesting sub-texts/undercurrents going on..
Mr Swain acknow-ledged there was a lot of nostalgia around the network, but said a call had to be made. “They are less reliable overall, and they’re more costly to run.”
An interesting thing to say considering that:
NZ Bus owns the trolley buses, and chief executive Zane Fulljames said it was pointless deciding to get rid of them without deciding what would replace them. “A decision hasn’t been made . . . There needs to be a solid plan in place from trolleys to the next piece of technology.”
They haven’t actually made any comparisons to anything else.
If you like dumping toxic waste so much, then perhaps we should all have it trucked round to your place. Perhaps even pay you for the privilige.
I get sick off all these people who bash the green simply because they want to keep our rivers free of toxic waste. They really need to put their hands up and invite people to dump toxic waste in their own back yard.
Pollution is a crime against humanity and should be treated as such.
Looking at RadioNZ News about David Cunliffe’s speech to NZ Institute.
The heading – ‘Vision for economy short on detail’.
It appears to be inspired by a quote from Mr Key lifted from the last few lines of a 2.46 minute news item. Prime Minister John Key said on Friday that Labour is running out of time to come up with new policies ahead of this year’s election on 20 September.
“The truth is actually, Mr Cunliffe hasn’t said anything new today. The best announcement he’s come out with is he’s gonna make further announcements.
“Well, we are starting to run out of time before we get to an election – so if he had a new idea, it would be interesting to hear it.”
How is it that the heading is negative when there was so much detail in the speech that would have lent itself to a positiveone. Such as, with some hyperbole :
[Labour plans regional industry development with a hint of Think Big.]
from ‘ development of industry in the regions and a focus on more transformative projects’.
But the reporter found it all unsatisfactory because there was no firm detail on other projects!
As if. First Labour would not be releasing these too soon, and secondly it is possible that the reporter wouldn’t understand them anyway, and thirdly that little twist that gets put on (like mine of Think Big) can skew them in people’s minds from the start.
Fourthly, if past elections are anything to go by, Labour will produce detailed and costed policy before the election, National will produce a series of vague press releases, and reporters will apply the double standard.
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Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
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:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
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. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
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 ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
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. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
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Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
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Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
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Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
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Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
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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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
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I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
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While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
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Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11219867
” Nationals’ Boadicea likely to shrug off her week from hell ”
That’s the problem perhaps. Collins will simply shrug it off. Assisted in doing so by essentially congratulatory analysis the like of that from Audrey Young.
Such ‘higher standards’ already.
John Armstrong disagrees.
Fran O’Sullivan says Collins is lucky Key needs to save face.
And David Fisher puts John Key more firmly in the Oravida picture.
So all is not looking that rosy for Collins.
The O’Sullivan article contains some fresh details:
The website for the event is at http://www.apecwomenleadershipforum.com
I would love to see a video of Collins’ comments and what she said about Oravida who were one of the sponsors for the conference.
MS, I don’t know what Collins stated at the APEC conference, but I found this TVNZ video report on the connections between National and Oravida particularly enlightening.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/links-between-oravida-and-video-5863797
And also this TVNZ report which identifies the cost of Collins trip to China at $36,000.
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/key-puts-collins-warning-opposition-calls-sacking-5863577
Robertson mention that women’s leadership forum in Question Time last week.
Julia Xu, director of Oravida and one of the people Collins had dinner with in Beijing, was also a speaker at the leadership forum.
I can’t find any other link between them at the forum.
Steven Joyce was also in China, but I can’t find any link between him and Oravida.
Was Slippery the Prime Minister really as angry at the actions of Judith Collins during Her trip as Minister of Justice, along with the drip drip of revelations of what is best described as an incestuous relationship between Oravida and the Minister, as we all have been lead to believe,
My opinion says No, what angered the Prime Minister so was the fact that His Bullshit, usually so glibbly passed by the media into the public domain was within hours proven to be the Lies it actually was,
Slippery doesn’t give a ‘rats’ about Collin’s behavior or lack of it, that’s glaringly apparent with His initial approach to the accusations against Collins, it was only when caught out Lying about the Cabinet Office having obtained a translation of the Oravida literature showing Collins ‘endorsing’ Oravida’s products, a translation that never occurred, that our PM lost His rag….
b12 That is what I think as well. Considering he came out firing to shut things down knowing that he was going to lie to do so he deserves to sink in the bog as far and as quick as he can.
He also changed his rhetoric quite quickly from ‘UNEQUIVOCALLY NO CONFLICT!!!’ from ‘the ministry of guidelines’ or whatever they call themselves, to a hushed ‘no conflict to see here’ you can all go home now. What? No, sorry, I can’t show you the written advice I was given. Why? Because it doesn’t exist, how can I show you something that never existed. Moron.
Yes the final retreat of the compulsive Liar is to be found in the sudden appearance of ’emotion’ in their dialogue where no emotion has thus far been previously perceived,
Collins in what can only be described as ‘bizarre’ acting resorted to ‘Crocodile Tears’ seeking sympathy from the gathered media,
Slippery the Prime Minister not having the option of a public display ‘cry me a river’ in defence of being caught red handed lying to the press and public had only anger as the last refuge,
D grade acting from the pair of them, should the media continue to catch either of them using glib lies in the discourse in coming months i would expect such displays of anger to be directed at the media, a real Muldoonish scrape of the bottom of the barrell…
Gusher Collins is like many bullies who bash others and laugh at their tears but will break down when the truth of their actions is outed.
I don’t know why some MSM think she can come back from this. Her ‘Crusher’ brand is now too damaged and she’s too hard headed to reinvent herself. Justice for the Minister of it.
lolz @ “Gusher”.
I wonder how Q&A will report on this? Subject it to the same innuendo and digging that Cunliffe got?
I live in hope. Either way we will see how TVNZ is going to behave during this build-up to the election.
I thought the Internet Party had quietly died – it seems not.
that is precisely why anyone making predictions about election outcomes..
..is really just pulling it out of a lower-orifice..
..there are far too many unverifiable/unquantifiable variables..
..for it not to be so..
..and the internet party is one of them..
..and i repeat my claim from before..
..that this elections’ outcomes..more so than any in recent memory..
..will be largely driven by the quality/novelty of the policies on offer..
..this is crucial for labour esp…
..and as for the minnow..this policy-imperative perhaps none more so than for dotcoms’ vehicle..
..their policies will determine how they are viewed..
..and if just a libertarian-wank-fest…(put to a dance-beat..)
..they/the internet party will be largely ignored by most..
..and just seen as a competitor to act/chem-trails-col..
..way out there on the fringe..
..if they come up with big-ideas that grab the publics’ imagination/have broad appeal..
..they could do well..
..and as i say..throw any of the pundits’ current-predictions..
..out the window..
(and confirming the above..)
peters has just jumped-started his vote/support..
..vowing to buy back all the power-companies..
..and to return them under a single authority..
..plus a raft of other populist policies..
..and for those looking at craig/act..with a degree of alarm..
..peters will be looking like a safe pair of hands..
..and of all the leaders’ interviews to date..on the nation..
..peters has pulled one out of his hat..
The Nation was predicting this morning that the chemtrail Conservatives will get 3 MP’s at the next election. I wonder what they’ve been smoking?
While news on The Internet Party has been very quiet for some time, this short report on Radio NZ news back on 3 March indicated that it had not died before launch.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/237705/internet-party-seeks-commission-approval
As it is very short, the report in full
The Internet Party of Kim Dotcom is waiting for Electoral Commission approval to gather membership data via online applications, including allowing a member to sign directly on to a computer screen with a finger or using a mouse.
IIRC Dunne and UF had no success in persuading the Electoral Commission to allow them to accept membership applications for the purposes of reregistration of UF.
So, it would seem from the Stuff article in your link that the Internet Party may have had some success in persuading the Commission to allow online membership applications.
KDC has said very little on his Twitter site about the IP of late, but on March 10 tweeted that:
” I welcome the Sept 20 election date. We’re doing our own polls now & the numbers look good. Get ready for our ‘Call for Members’. #InternetParty”
and
“Launching #InternetParty website, mobile apps, call for members and funny short film about my opponents next week. Its on!”
Re my comment re UF’s reregistration, here are a couple of links confirming that the Electoral Commission initially would not accept online/spreadsheet registrations, but then decded to allow this.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=10891656
http://www.elections.org.nz/news-media/electoral-commission-decision-united-future-request
The Elctoral Commission approved the Internet Party’s logo on 18 February.
http://www.elections.org.nz/news-media/registration-internet-party-logo
‘With a finger or using a mouse’ is delightfully phrased. Yes, Radio NZ, these days people can do things online! Using fingers! It’s like living in the future.
As I said before, Dotcom needs to boot the internet party pretty quickly before people start realising that his C: drive has no operating system loaded.
The IP intrigues me. Depending on its fleshed out form I might vote for it, given that Labour are slow and sluggish and need a good defragging — perhaps a reformat and clean install.
Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline, are interest rate rises a cause of inflation in the economy, my opinion says Yes, raising interest rates is a definite inflationary push,
A further opinion would say that to ‘hide’ this inflationary push that has as a direct cause the Reserve Bank’s raising of the Official Cash Rate ‘the rack’ of a continuing series of rises in the OCR is employed by the Reserve Bank where in the ensuing ‘pain’ and ‘noise’ the fact that part of the inflation the bank is ‘stomping’ upon had as its direct cause the initial raising of the OCR by the Reserve Bank,
A Stuff article attempts to translate the numbers surrounding the raising of the official cash rate and subsequent raising of interest rates charged by the trading banks,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money…/interest-cost-pain-to-slow-spending
”According to the Reserve Bank the Business sector has $79.1 billion of debt with financial institutions while the Agricultural sector has $51.7 billion of debt”,
”Homeowners, Businesses, and Farmers could be paying an extra $6.3 billion a year in interest if mortgage rates rise as the Reserve Bank expects over the next two years”, unquote Stuff.co.nz,
While Stuff.co has to be applauded for at least making the effort to explain the numbers to the public surrounding the interest rates rises there is room for a far more detailed analysis, breakdown, and publication of the numbers and likely effects, so this article while highlighting the costs to the economy in dollar terms also highlights this countries general lack of in depth economic journalism,
The inflation caused by the Reserve Bank’s raising of the OCR???, its hidden in the $6.3 billion cost to the economy,to you,me, them, of raising those interest rates,
i have no means of ‘shaking the actual numbers out of that $6.3 billion dollar cost to the economy, But, lets apportion 60% of that ‘cost’ to Joe Public the average homeowner with a 300 thousand dollar mortgage, thus we are left with the Business sector and Farming sector, both carrying substantial amounts of debt carrying the can of 40% of that $6.3 billion dollar cost of two years of interest rates rising,
When faced with a rising input cost in any area what do Business as a rule use as the first means of maintaining their profit margins, You guessed it, Put Up The Price Of Their Goods Or Services,
So, the initial moves by the Reserve Bank supposedly with the impetus of clamping down on inflation will have in the first instance the creation of inflation as a direct result, supremely unworried by this inflation spike the Reserve Bank will then justify All it’s later OCR rises on the basis of that inflation spike that it initiated with its initial raising of the OCR,
Putting out the fires with gasoline???, you bet, its the monetary system of a tribe of primitive chimp like people who upon seeing a non-venomous snake enter their territory come down from the trees using heavy blunt clubs to beat the harmless snake to a pulp, only to realize belatedly that such a carcass has called predators of a far more dangerous nature onto their turf…
Anyone or party that rests it’s reputation of inflation rates is only IMO selling its succes based on the lack of our illeracy of economics. Success of inflation is how our non tradables trend. Nz has imported low inflation for all this century whilst paying for this with the exporting of employment and our high dollar.
The OCR rise this week was widely tipped and swap rates had already had most of the 25 pt rise already priced onto it, and we are incessantly being told that the 2 yr swap is the driving force for mortgage rates.
A note that banks make their greatest margins from floating mortgages , not fixed term.
A few links to my earlier post ( as I hate to make unsupported comments )
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/238685/interest-rate-rises-where-to-from-here
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/68951/anz-increase-floating-mortgage-rates-25-basis-points-and-flag-ship-savings-account-ra
“The reality is in the last three to five months funding costs have gone up in anticipation of what the Reserve Bank did today. They’ve increased quite differently depending on the term.”
So if the OCR rate increases at a slower pacer or less aggressively will rates charged also be adjusted and under what time frame ??
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/68613/bank-bill-rates-reach-their-highest-28-months-markets-assume-ocr-about-be-hiked
However, bank margins on floating mortgages are considerably higher than on fixed rate terms.
And how the RBNZ models what impacts mortgages.
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research_and_publications/analytical_notes/2012/an2012_10.pdf
And support re non-tradables, because through necessity we cannot escape rises in power, rates etc yet we can and in many cases do defer purchasing cheap TV’s that reduce our reported inflation numbers !!
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/55400/opinion-bernard-hickey-argues-rbnz-should-target-non-tradable-inflation-deal-structura
The plethora of links you have supplied make the non-sensical statement originally made just as abstruse as it was,
What exactly are you trying to impart as information here, that the trading banks have already raised their interest rates in anticipation of the movement of the Official Cash Rate,???…
That’s it and that many heres fascination with using inflation as a guide to the failure or success of govts policies is naive at best as this to me just displays how out of touch such comments are with how real households are coping or not.
i would suggest you are being more than a little less than honest then as 3 of the Trading banks have signaled that they will be lifting their interest rates in line with the OCR rise,
ANZ, ASB, and KiwiBank are all raising their rates,
The heavy blunt instrument of the OCR has long been criticized for it’s detrimental effects to the economy and if the current Government continues to rely on taking the wrecking ball to an economy which has not fully recovered from the effects of the GFC by continuing to support use of the OCR when such use is arguably of negative benefit to the economy then that Government deserves all the criticism it gets…
From Cunliffe’s Speech thread
Reply to Just Like Tiger Woods
“Labour would also have to distance themselves from the Greens, or give an indication of what Green policy positions they would adopt, and what they would rule out. I like how Cunliffe is talking centrist economic policy, but I have no time for the Greens and would not vote to enable them.”
Without knowing either parties’ policies extensively (have only been through some of each) -I view that Greens and Labour have a lot of compatibility. I find it a bit difficult to know what is so wrong with the Greens that you would take such a stance.
The Greens emphasis on a healthy environment stands to benefit everyone health and ultimately wealth wise. (Taking care today saves a lot of costs in the future).
The Greens have proven themselves to be very disciplined and focused and have good principles when it comes to their party’s organisation, their politicians’ conduct and on aligning their policies and reactions to contemporary issues on research.
Can you please tell me what it is that you find so off putting about the Greens that you would take such a stance?
There are many reasons, but here’s just one.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10755089
Would they support bright Kiwi innovation that lead to more productive fracking? How about better oil drilling technology? Somehow, I doubt it. Yet they would, in all likelihood, back some clean-tech farce, even if we have no comparative advantage in such areas. I doubt they even know what that term means.
Fine if we have some advantage in such areas, but if we did, we’d probably already be doing it.
Thanks for the response Just Like Tiger Woods
The article you link contains a fair concern – governments investing into trends that then turn out to not be trends. Callaghan, however appears to justify the industries that are big now in NZ by the same logical error that he fears the Greens are falling for. i.e. milk products are big now and therefore we should continue expanding – this despite there are serious problems being caused to our water due to this industry. This despite there are increasing numbers of people moving away from using milk products (another trend that may or may not continue).
The question needs to be asked – considering sourcing drinking water is an increasing and serious problem occurring in many places throughout the world – does the money coming in from selling more and more raw milk products really balance with the risk this is posing to our water system? You can’t buy water once it is ruined throughout the world. Is this the smartest solution for NZ? Could we ‘add value’ to products prior to selling them and therefore require less expansion of cow farming – and all the environment costs this is creating?
Again, fracking is a process that threatens our water systems. What is the priority here? How useful is profit when we haven’t any water to drink? Do you think that wouldn’t happen? There are plenty of documentaries around about this world wide water issue. Specifically fracking – have you seen ‘Gaslands’?
To Gaslands website: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/
Finally, how likely is it that ‘clean tech’ is a flash in the pan trend – given our universal and absolute human need for a healthy environment and our historic and ongoing use of energy?
He specifically states we cannot scale dairy indefinitely.
Is economic diversification a good idea? Of course. But, like I said, the Greens are bound by their narrow, ideological view that – I feel – is based on a falsehood. They will likely support innovation that is in line with the unproven AGW worst-case scenarios.
It does not follow we’ll have no water to drink if we undertake fracking. Gasland is an activist propaganda movie – possibly worse than “An Inconvenient Truth” – and I’m amazed anyone would take it seriously given court rulings on its depictions.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2013/07/10/fiction-masquerading-as-news-in-the-oil-and-gas-shale-world/
Clean tech may well be a flash in the pan. It may not. Either way, it doesn’t mean we have a comparative advantage in it. If we did, we’d already be doing it, and I’d be investing in it.
No point trying to argue with a climate change denier who rejects scientific consensus.
Even conservative IPCC is now saying 4 deg C warming is possible by the end of the century.
You won’t be around then though so what do you care eh?
“Denier” is a religious term, not a scientific one. Also a vile attempt to associate someone with holocaust denial.
There is no consensus. Consensus is not science. IPCC are not credible as their guesswork so far has been wrong. They’re also a political organisation, and their politics appears self-serving and alarmist.
The fact is no one knows what is happening with climate long term in terms of warming or cooling. Anyone who claims they do is deluded. Fact.
High degree of complexity, very low degree of certainty.
Lol!
Thanks for that……you big ‘ol denier.
Evidence based decision making.
You believe whatever alarmist monster-under-the-bed story you like. Like a child.
Too funny. Are you trying to tick all the wingnut boxes, you innumerate flat-Earther?
I doubt you have any more idea of Climatology than you do of Economics.
lol yep the denier denies being a denier – woody is getting quite woolly and all the toys will come out the cot soon – give up justlikewood you are well outgunned and outclassed – too funny and good while waiting for the storm to arrive.
You simply believed what someone told you, like a child believing in Santa Claus. Your position is not evidence based.
Mine is.
The fact is that no one has a clue what is happening with climate. There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years.
None.
If you believe otherwise, you hold an irrational belief.
How do you explain the trend in the atmospheric carbon isotope ratio, little wingnut?
How do you explain the fact that winters have warmed more than summers, nights more than days, the Arctic more than the Antarctic? All predictions made in 1896, incidentally.
Hey don’t get snotty with me just because you can’t accept scientific facts.
Talk about childish…
Moore’s evidence to the senate committee.
http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=415b9cde-e664-4628-8fb5-ae3951197d03
“There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years”
Fact.
All the believers can produce is alarmism, speculation and some really bad guesswork.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/05/benchmarking-ipccs-warming-predictions/
The sceptics were right. The believers were wrong.
Only an idiot looks for scientific “proof”. Science deals in probabilities, but we know that CO2 is a greenhouse gas – this can be shown experimentally and is theoretically explained by Quantum Mechanics. We know that the CO2 content of the atmosphere is rising, by observation, and -also by observation – we know that the extra CO2 is anthropogenic in origin.
We know that Svante Arrhenius’ predictions were all correct – by observation. We know that destructive weather events have increased in magnitude and frequency – cf: Munich re cited below.
The fact that you cite Anthony Watts and congressional testimony, rather than peer-reviewed research, demonstrates that as in statistics, you are out of your depth.
Even nuttier than I had suspected…
Then produce the proof.
There’s a Nobel prize awaiting the first person to do so.
The proof? Prove things is what Mathematicians do.
Physicists, not so much. Quantum Mechanics is a branch of Physics, not Mathematics.
Before we go any further, please indicate that you understand these simple concepts.
@JLTW Perhaps I’m being too complicated. An example:
How many possible series (n1-nx), with a mean, m, are there where all n>0.6m?
Multiple choice answers:
a. 0
b. ∞
The fact that (in the context of a discussion of the minimum wage) you answered (a) is proof of your innumeracy.
However, it is impossible to prove Quantum Mechanical principles because they rely on probabilities – cf Heisenberg’s Uncertainty.
Do you see the difference?
Earth to flat-Earther: the IPCC doesn’t do any “guesswork” – it collates and summarises existing research. If you’re going to criticise something you need to learn what it is first.
Climate change forecasts vs Treasury forecasts
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/climate-forecasts-setting-the-record-straight
One set of probabilities seems believable.
unproven AGW worst-case scenarios
In strict scientific terms all AGW scenarios are unproven. However all the most probable ones commit us to a greater than 2degC global average rise.
What is most probable is that we are within natural variation. It is a non-problem, although prudent to keep asking questions.
Numerate capitalists disagree.
Please everyone DNFTT
Right on, Paul
Lost your mojo jltw.
How come the largest shareholder and chairman of the board of exxon mobil is fighting tooth and nail to prevent any fracking witin 200 miles of his private ranch in Texas.
Because he doesn’t like the height of a proposed water tower.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/26/us-usa-fracking-tillerson-idUSBREA1P24O20140226
“Mr. Tillerson does not object to the tower for its potential use for water and gas operations for fracking,” said Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil.
Tillerson’s property is already adjacent to several oil and gas wells and fracking operations, Jeffers added.”
And you just proved that you’re not worth listening to as you obviously just parrot the BS that conforms to your inbuilt bias.
Don’t tell me you fell for that as well?
What happened to your hurricanes? And your melted icecaps? And your silly hockey stick? All now proven wrong.
You lack the intellectual honesty to admit you were had by Al “Mansion By The Sea” Gore.
Which hockey stick? Mann et al? Or Huang et al? Or Oerlemans et al? Or Muller et al? Or Smith?
You are out of your depth little wingnut.
PS: and yes, you idiot, the ice is melting.
You just keep believin’ in the c02 scare story. Like a religious nut. Pray for your soul, brother else y’all burn in hell, I tells ya!
I’ll stick to evidence-based decisions.
Each to their own….
That would be rather difficult to do when you’re denying the evidence.
Nah ya see, DTB, evidence is just the sentence that precedes Tiger writing “FACT”
Which hockey stick do you believe is wrong, little wingnut?
Or are you lying when you say you’re all about evidence?
I think you’re lying, and you had no idea that hockey sticks were so abundant, and all from independent lines of evidence, too.
I don’t need to “believe” anything.
Tell me what it means if a Monte Carlo analysis produces a hockey stick shape, too?
On which data set?
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/403256/global-warming-bombshell/
[lprent: Bit pathetic reaching back for a 10 year old link, that has since been proven to be a moronic lie (but still loved by morons like yourself). ]
Show me the Monte Carlo analysis on Muller’s data set.
I suspect Tiger’s meal ticket is tied to the petroleum/gas industry. Which would explain his fringe perspective.
I suspect your “argument” is ad hominem.
I have nothing to do with the oil industry.
“Muller: A few years later, McIntyre came out and, indeed, showed that the hockey-stick chart was in fact incorrect. It had been affected by a very serious bug in the way scientists calculated their principal components.”
Which journal was McIntyre’s rebuttal of the BEST analysis published in?
The hockey stick has been shown to be more or less correct and Mann is now taking people to court over the defamation that he’s received over it.
Incorrect.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/403256/global-warming-bombshell/
“Now comes the real shocker. This improper normalization procedure tends to emphasize any data that do have the hockey stick shape, and to suppress all data that do not. To demonstrate this effect, McIntyre and McKitrick created some meaningless test data that had, on average, no trends. This method of generating random data is called Monte Carlo analysis, after the famous casino, and it is widely used in statistical analysis to test procedures. When McIntyre and McKitrick fed these random data into the Mann procedure, out popped a hockey stick shape!”
As for Mann, his court case has reportedly collapsed:
http://www.principia-scientific.org/michael-mann-faces-bankruptcy-as-his-courtroom-climate-capers-collapse.html
“The fact Mann refused to disclose his ‘hockey stick’ graph metadata in the British Columbia Supreme Court, as he is required to do under Canadian civil rules of procedure, constituted a fatal omission to comply, rendering his lawsuit unwinnable. …….”
What about Huang, Oerlemans, Smith and Muller?
Muller’s the one I like best. Fuckwits like you had him convinced it was all a hoax until his own study confirmed the facts.
Oh, and find a better source of information on Mann vs. National Review et al, you’re being duped, again. The suit has not “collapsed” and will move to discovery unless further appeals are forthcoming. The previous appeal was denied in January of this year.
You really do spout a load of bullshit man!
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2014/02/25/setting-the-record-straight-on-misleading-claims-against-michael-mann/
Read the last paragraph at least..
when fracking companies release detailed information about the chemicals they pump into the ground then you can discuss the pros and cons, till then it is just a con
There you go:
http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used
funny
I always thought the phrase “release detailed information” when discussing something being pumped would involve quantities of the materials being pumped. Guess we have different ideas on what “detailed” means
I guess you didn’t specify quantities. So, you have no issue with the chemicals unless they exceed quantity X?
The fact that you think that would be an unusual position to take on chemicals just shows how utterly illiterate you are.
Interestingly, a Wyoming Supreme Court has recently rejected the fracking industry’s argument to keep what chemicals they use a secret.
JustLikeTigerWoods
Firstly, the comparative advantage to the government in supporting clean technology instead of outdated polluting industries is easily quantifiable. In financial terms, National’s energy policy states that there is the potential for future royalties from all oil and gas production of $12 billion at the most. In comparison, a PWC reported in 2013 stated that clean technology could be worth $22 billion, plus there is no risk of widespread environmental damage.
It should also be stated that the National Party’s 2011 estimates are likely wrong, being that recent exploration has failed to find any new oil. That means the governments investment and subsidies, amounting to $326.6 million between 2008 and 2012, has been lost. It was in fact a complete waste of taxpayers money that would be better spent on clean technology endeavors that guarantee a return.
You appear to be another right wing idiot JustLikeTigerWoods who just spouts nonsense in the hope that nobody will fact check your gibberish.
Add the half a billion it cost to sell the assets, the various corporate handouts, the loss of dividends from everywhere, mix in plummeting tax takes and that surplus thingy is really starting to get some wonky legs eh! Before long I expect we will hear how the expected surplus was always in the 2015/2016 year and the reporters are just falling for lefty disinfo campaigns and John Key never mentioned a surplus and if Bill did you better ask him as the budget is really an operational matter.
It’s not either/or.
We’ll take the $12b AS WELL, thanks.
As for the $22b guesswork, will they be advising their clients to invest boots and all? If not, why not? You see, if clean tech was a sure thing, I would already be investing, as would many other people. The reason I don’t is because it is very high risk and the returns, globally, have been abysmal.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2013/04/09/solar-companies-continue-to-go-bankrupt/
http://live.wsj.com/video/economics-clean-tech-funds-yielding-poor-returns/B80B7F56-55C8-467C-B45F-00DD08817FEF.html#!B80B7F56-55C8-467C-B45F-00DD08817FEF
This is the last thing we should be “investing” in. If the US can’t even do it, after pouring billions into it, then what makes you think we can?
It is clear from your response JustLikeTigerWoods that you haven’t bothered to read my comment properly. Nor does it seem that you have read the article you have linked to either.
Here is what the Forbes article states:
According to the link in the forbes article, last year there were 21 solar company bankruptcies worldwide. However many of those companies listed are mergers or branches of companies not wanting to compete anymore in a very competitive market. They are not actually bankruptcies. In other words the figures the article is based on are incorrect.
Just to make things a bit clearer for you…nobody is arguing that we should be competing to produce solar panels JustLikeTigerWoods. We should however be taking advantage of a competitive solar panel market to future proof our energy requirements.
Unfortunately the current government has refused to help clean tech companies to anywhere near the extent they help the oil and gas industry with our tax dollars.
Wrong! The $12 billion was a best case scenario including large finds of new oil. That exploration has failed and it is unlikely that the oil and gas companies will consider further exploration without considerable government funding, investment that has no guarantee of any return at all. That type of investment is therefore not worthwhile, considering there is a viable alternative to simply throwing taxpayers money away on an environmentally damaging sunset industry.
What makes you think the PWC report is guesswork? Is it simply that their findings don’t fit into your deluded philosophy, so you have dismissed the report out of hand…probably without even reading it?
Considering there was approximately $254 billion invested globally last year into clean technologies, it appears that many people thankfully don’t share your defunct viewpoint.
Do you have any actual figures to show that returns are abysmal? Please don’t link again to your industry driven propaganda.
It is true that investment has been dropping off recently, mainly because of the cost of photovoltaic systems reducing considerably because of competition, and the impact of archaic government policy towards renewable power.
In effect many governments around the world, including New Zealand’s, have failed to hold to any proper CO2 emission reductions because they are corrupted by the oil and gas industry who spend billions on lobbying to try and hold onto their out-dated business models.
Do they perhaps employ you to promote their disinformation JustLikeTigerWoods?
Comparative advantage is a load of bollocks.
No we wouldn’t because the free-market paradigm has worked to destroy our economy.
It’s pretty simple, Draco.
If you’re going to divert money away from areas that do make profits into areas that are pretty much guaranteed to make a loss, as this is the experience globally, then you’re going to harm a lot of people.
Green tech may sound warm, fuzzy and the “right” thing to do, but I would ask you to take a more thorough look at the performance of this sector globally. Keep in mind that areas of performance in this sector are almost entirely reliant on subsidy.
And you can back up this statement with facts?
“..Colbert on Colorado: ‘The Market Has Spoken – and the Market Is Toking’..” (video..)
http://www.alternet.org/colbert-colorado-market-has-spoken-and-market-toking
The ironic thing is that white men will now get rich off legal marijuana while whole generations of black men have been criminalised. A cynic might think that the war on drugs had served its purpose of marginalising the most potentially revolutionary force in American society and now it was time to go back to the real business of making a buck.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11220184
Thought this was a fucking disgusting depiction of Grant by Aussie Emerson. He has been fantastic in this and this depiction is- he’s gay so he can’t be a serious minister (not like Cunliffe or Key in a suit) but he has to be some kind of pervert…
Angry. Maybe we can role out Shano to get stuck into the almost Aussie monopoly on cartoons in our paper of record?
Ick. That’s very off.
Definitely over the very loose line we give cartoonists.
The castle clown is given license no-one else would get away with; but every now and then one of them finishes up feeding the moat-monsters.
I don’t think we should regulate cartoonists…craziness. but I’ve never been a big fan of Emmerson’s. He’s an Aussie. You’d think for our one paper we’d manage to find a kiwi. And often he does a cartoon that really offers no insight or opinion it just is some kind of reflection of what’s been going on. There’s no real connection to waterboarding, but it was vaguely topical last year, so it passes for insight into what’s going on. But doesn’t really say anything at all.
And it seems BS that Robertson’s very credible showing in the house over this is turned into this cartoon…it would be interesting to go through (and other than the battle of the babes for Auck Central) it would be interesting to see how sexualised other depictions are. Do we regularly see cartoons of Bennett and Parata as whores or as dominatrixes? No? Because they can be shown a bit of respect, but Grant can’t?
Send him back to Aussie. Wanker. Grrrr.
like this cartoon mentioned above actually making a point and bringing an actual relevant quote in:
https://twitter.com/bryce_edwards/status/444198339349708800/photo/1/large
Actually all three cartoons listed by Edwards make intelligent visual points and the Herald cartoon is just a sneaky attack on Grant Robertson.
The others show up Collins hypocrisy, or the persona of her apology. Anyway I guess one bad cartoon doesn’t make the guy a bad cartoonist- he’s had people liking him here before. But as you can guess I really disliked the cartoon. An actually he’s had 2 good cartoons on Oravida this week. Sorry Rod! But this was a shocker
This is beside the point, but it also doesn’t make any sense! If you’re going to make jokes about horrific torture methods shouldn’t you know what you’re talking about?
yep – disgusting and sick – tells us more about the cartoonist than most would want to know. Jokes about waterboarding? What a scum.
Over on WhaleOil, that nasty scote is trying to equate Judith Collins’ corruption with a publicly-announced opening of the law office of David Cunliffe’s wife, by PM Helen Clark a few years back. A secret dinner, a forgetting to tell the current PM what went on, an overseas taxpayer funded trip, and an endorsement of the company product your husband is connected with – is hugely different from an office opening which would have been announced publicly beforehand., and is a basic function of the prime ministerial office.
Meanwhile over here at the Standard the usual array of scrotal crabs that regularly appear have all gone into hiding having no defense of their Prime Minister being caught lying along with Justice Minister Collins being seen to have caught the same condition…
my reply to puckish rogue when it was posted here yesterday
wail boil is an expert at disinformation and plainoutright lying which is the national party preferred way of doing things.
they cant lie straight in bed.
John Kerry calls on Venezuela to call off “terror campaign”
from Joe Emersberger, Media Lens, 14 March 2014
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1394797682.html
http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-cracks-down-protests-rage-000008363.html?.tsrc=appleww
excerpt:
But in Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry — using his strongest language to date on the lingering crisis — called for an end to what he called a “terror campaign” by Maduro’s government.
Kerry, speaking before US lawmakers, called on the international community to “focus on Venezuela appropriately.”….
“We are engaged now with trying to find a way to get the Maduro government to engage with their citizens, to treat them respectfully, to end this terror campaign against his own people and to begin to hopefully respect human rights and the appropriate way of treating his people,” he said.
Comment on these insane remarks by Kerry seems unnecessary. I can only attribute them to desperaton on the part of Kerry given the USA’s almost total isolation in the hemiphere as exposed by the rcent OAS resultion on Venezuela….
http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-084/14
having a peep at the succession-jostling within national is interesting..
..you have slater in the collins camp..
..you have joyce-ites with enough reason to give collins that final trip of the ankle..
(..or they leave her there..as a damaged non-opponent..?..easily beatable ‘cos of that hint of corruption..)
..then of course..(as was pointed out to me the other day..)..in the background you have english..
..who may well be looking at these two most unlikable candidates..
..and thinking that he could well be in with a chance..(as a compromise-candidate..for a stalemated party..)
..some are touting bridges and adams..
(but they must be just having a bit of a laff…adams has got upcoming dodgy-dealings/conflict-of-interest allegations of her own..on a slow simmer..and ready to be brought to the boil..)
..and if you were going to have an anti-superhero trio..called the unlikeables..
….you’d have collins/joyce..and bridges as their eager apprentice..
..so english may well be dreaming of a 2nd chance..
..(and if you thought labour leadership battles were ugly..?
..whoar..!..
..those tories get well down and dirty..
..i wd imagine the cabinet-meetings must have some interesting sub-texts/undercurrents going on..
..making things maybe not quite so ‘relaxed’…
..(darting/narrowed eyes to the fore..)
The Stupid, it hurts:
An interesting thing to say considering that:
They haven’t actually made any comparisons to anything else.
Of course Nicky Wagner CHCH MP wasnt in CHCH to help out after the floods….
Her piss ass sad excuse
Her vote was needed in Wgtn hahahahahah
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/9832173/Talkbacks-Chris-Lynch
I think Wagner is in for a whitewash in Sept 2014 election….
bye bye wont be missed…..
I think National as a whole have given up on any ideas they might once have had at holding Chch Central.
what was she supposed to do in CHCH. Heat Jerry Brownlies pies for him.
You are a tugger dude.
“..How to unhook all those apps with access to your data..
..how to kick forgotten corporate eyes out of your Twitter – Facebook – and Google accounts:
‘it’s time to start deleting’..”
http://boingboing.net/2014/03/14/how-to-unhook-all-those-apps-w.html
Hi JustLikeTigerWoods,
If you like dumping toxic waste so much, then perhaps we should all have it trucked round to your place. Perhaps even pay you for the privilige.
I get sick off all these people who bash the green simply because they want to keep our rivers free of toxic waste. They really need to put their hands up and invite people to dump toxic waste in their own back yard.
Pollution is a crime against humanity and should be treated as such.
+1 Millsy
Looking at RadioNZ News about David Cunliffe’s speech to NZ Institute.
The heading – ‘Vision for economy short on detail’.
It appears to be inspired by a quote from Mr Key lifted from the last few lines of a 2.46 minute news item.
Prime Minister John Key said on Friday that Labour is running out of time to come up with new policies ahead of this year’s election on 20 September.
“The truth is actually, Mr Cunliffe hasn’t said anything new today. The best announcement he’s come out with is he’s gonna make further announcements.
“Well, we are starting to run out of time before we get to an election – so if he had a new idea, it would be interesting to hear it.”
How is it that the heading is negative when there was so much detail in the speech that would have lent itself to a positiveone. Such as, with some hyperbole :
[Labour plans regional industry development with a hint of Think Big.]
from ‘ development of industry in the regions and a focus on more transformative projects’.
But the reporter found it all unsatisfactory because there was no firm detail on other projects!
As if. First Labour would not be releasing these too soon, and secondly it is possible that the reporter wouldn’t understand them anyway, and thirdly that little twist that gets put on (like mine of Think Big) can skew them in people’s minds from the start.
+1
Fourthly, if past elections are anything to go by, Labour will produce detailed and costed policy before the election, National will produce a series of vague press releases, and reporters will apply the double standard.
+1 One Anonymous Bloke