It is a well-known truism that those who cannot learn from the lameness of history are doomed to be uncool forever.
39. William Fox, 1856, 1861-1862, 1869-1872, 1873
Confiscated nearly three million acres of Māori land then blamed them for starting the wars, which is a real dick move. Fox cemented his place as the lamest leader in New Zealand history by going on to become a strident campaigner for prohibition.
38. Walter Nash, 1957-1960
A boring old paper-pusher who droned on and on until he was finally shuffled out of office at age 78. His favourite colour was beige, and his biggest thrill was having an occasional gin with his orange juice. The Nash government's 'Black Budget' taxed the shit out of petrol, cigarettes, and beer, which the public was understandably Not Happy About.
The reason for the Black Budget was a big drop off in NZ’s overseas income in that year, due to big dips in the price of wool and meat. Which meant NZ government had an unexpected large deficit. Which meant more taxes from somewhere to cover overseas payments.
Better taxes go up than services go down… The electorate of beer-swilling, chimney-smoking voters didn’t agree, so out Labour went.
I sent a submission in when the govt called for public input into democratic reform some years ago, advocating that the spare room be used for participatory democracy & consensus-building. Looks like Palmer has spotted that opportunity:
He would also run extended public hearings and inquiries inside the Legislative Council Chamber (the empty upper house debating chamber). That would allow combined committees to tackle major issues and legislation and attract more public attention… the problem is the Westminster system is based on adversarial politics, we have to get away from that.
I contributed to his constitutional reform process – maybe a decade back? I bought both his books about it brand new. I'm real tight on that propensity due to already owning around ten thousand. I contributed as a critic, so wasn't surprised that they didn't give me any credit in the second book. Labour, you know, credibility eternally rare.
Not that they performed poorly, him and his sidekick. I carefully acknowledged each of the significant improvements they got right, including my framing of why it was a good idea each time. One could call that an exhibition of leftist solidarity perhaps.
However they also made a bunch of fatal errors. In conceptualising, and also in design. Actual flaws of logic plus various false assumptions. 7/10. Maybe 7.5.
Immaterial since the number of retards in Aotearoa remains stubbornly high, so Palmer's chances of success in his reform project shimmer like a veil of possibilities over our land…
Sir Geoffrey Palmer: I wouldn’t describe it as a contract; I woulddescribe it as a compact. A contract suggests it’s an arrangement between private parties; this is a public thing, and it’s much more than a legal arrangement. It is all about good faith, it’s all about a constitutional position, much of which is not found in the law.
A constitutional position that is not found in law can be found in ethos. This is the Deep Green view of life. Ethos is a strand in social binding that makes community.
In my theory of neo-pythagorean metaphysics, ethos kicks in as a functional element of human groups. Using elemental analysis (to identify key elements) it becomes countable. This technique categorises systems on the basis of key elements within, essential components without which a group cannot operate ecosystemically.
So you different unique factors in situations analysable similarly, using the generic theory. You count them to see how many there are. I recycle ancient greek terms to do that (monad, dyad, triad, tetrad, pentad, hexad, heptad for the first seven categories). The requisite conceptualising to integrate qualia with quanta in the theory comes from seeing labels as identifiers providing a unique quality to each number. The theorist must then ground this abstract system via ecosystemic relations, which requires holism to be expanded into theory.
I've spent the past 40 years doing that legwork, but Deep Green politics must make the social function of ethos more intelligible for the purpose of developing collective resilience. That it provides political activism incorporating communal synchrony of values and aspirations. That it facilitates collaboration. That it teaches conflict resolution via consensus decision-making.
Palmer in his academic silo are doing their best, no doubt, within the confines of their neolib belief system – but it's better to look deeper into motivations. Oh, the other dimension that it's essential to integrate into a deep green view of life is spirituality.
I find it hugely enthusing to read Geoffrey Palmer's thinking on democracy, particularly his suggestions of ways to lessen workload of ministers. The latter must be obvious to any who have seen the strained faces in times of calamities during recent years.
I agree too, that the loss of social cohesion due to the necessity of the life-saving covid-caused restrictions has been a real factor in our lives.
From mainstream comms platform relied on by politicians, businesses, and news outlets around the world to Nazi-infested ponzi scheme with the integrity of a crypto scam.
Heck of a job, Elmo.
/
On Thursday, Twitter said it had expanded its creator monetization fund to share more ad revenue with “creators.” Who is a Twitter creator these days? Well, some of the most politically divisive figures are making the most change in Musk’s new world order.
[…]
So who were these exclusive, eligible accounts? Twitter paid out more than $20,000 to Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist who has been indicted on charges of rape and human trafficking alongside his brother in Romania.
But wait, there’s more. Ian Miles Cheong, a right-wing spin doctor who increasingly has the ear of the great overlord Musk, reported he received $16,259 on Twitter for tweets focused on subjects like fat-shaming people in TikTok videos and promoting former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social takes. Benny Johnson, a failed journalist, plagiarist, and far-right rabble-rouser, made close to $10,000. Ashley St. Clair, a Babylon Bee writer, and former mouthpiece for Turning Point USA, saw just over $7,000 hit her bank account through the Stripe direct payment app. The right-wing junk account @EndWokeness also received a payout north of $10,000.
It makes you wonder why Labour has been so keen to adhere to their neolib culture, eh? They'd likely say `if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'.
Don't hold your breath waiting for the media to go there. Users don't doubt their paradigm that easily! However we could get a rerun of Max Headroom, the suave news presenter with a glitchy verbal style, out of AI quite soon. Would be good. Imagine satirising rightists & leftists in the same episode…
It's a short step from calling him Lux, as Bennett does, to wondering where do pentecostals go when they rapture to watch the world suffer bowls of judgment being poured out upon the earth. Is it planet X?
Lux is a global brand developed by Unilever
Lux pioneered celebrity endorsements for its soap.
Luxon (surely not chosen for his name) worked for Unilever in Canada before taking his cleanliness even closer to God, by being a bald eagle with Air NZ.
. … Lux is marketed primarily in South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
So a party … No it’s a leader release it’s manifesto then what the party stood for under the last leader doesn’t matter, example in point climate change ?? We now have by his actions someone who doesn’t believe all he believes in is vote to win and screw the consequences. 😱 How hollow leadership we have had under labour. How the labour follows can look in the mirror ?? Disgraceful all of you
”This election was the first chance for him to fully set his own agenda for a better future.”you deserve less than National in 2002.
Labour's 1972 election campaign slogan "It's time" can't be beaten for brevity.
"In it for you" is arguably better, albeit wordier than "Let's do this" and "Let's keep moving", but I prefer UK Labour's failed "For the many, not the few".
If only NAct could run on an honest slogan – "For the few, not the many".
In 2009 after winning the election National "reorganised" ACC; thereby shoving over 100 highly specialised OTs out of employment in NZ. My son-in-law was one of them, and the only work for him was in Australia, who were actively recruiting people with his expertise in after-care for people with brain injury at the time. So we waved goodbye to our loved ones. They have been there ever since, and are about to become Australian citizens. He is now managing 3 after care facilities in the Perth area.
At least labour are being honest with half the slogan. They’ve certainly landed NZ “in it” for years to come. Rather they left me out of it with the second part of the slogan … not in my name.
Jack – it has been obvious since your very first comment that you are not here to promote the left. Please tell me something to make me believe that you even understand the socialist perspective. Or just stop commenting in such a boring manner.
In 6 months time we'll be saying, we told ya so. If this NACT government comes in, there won't be the sinking lid approach while things degrade (Key's strategy). NACT will be a government of big change and public sector cuts, because of the ideological pull of ACT.
Look to Britain under the Tories and Oz under LNP – Luxon's been having nice long chats with members of those governments.
There will be degradation of public education, with funding shifted to for-profit academies and charter schools, de facto privatisation of medicine, for-profit prisons and bootcamps, privatisation of MSD services, as in CentreLink, privitisation or dismantling of ACC, gig-economy jobs with zero hours.
NACT are creaming their knickers thinking of all the kickbacks they'll get putting those contracts in place.
[Please correct the mistake in your email address in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
Janet Wilson and Andrea Vance are today’s poison pen hags! Congratulations.
Janet calls Jacinda and Michael Wood insincere in their apology for the Dawn Raids. Then she confuses Muldoon and National’s state sponsored racist campaign against a particular minority with a state department continuing to make some after hours visits against no particular demographic.
Showing her evil that held her close to Judith Collins.
Funnily enough ‘Crusher’ was long touted for being tough, but goodness forbid a Labour minister may have shouted.
Vance manages to put herself first in her column on Chippy, leaving us to wonder if she is a bigger egomaniac than the pollies. And without any complaint being filed she blames Chippy for not putting Allan in the stocks. Then, the long bow and ego working well, she considers this an example of betraying Labour’s principles somehow. Quite spectacular bullshit, which she obviously enjoyed smelling.
His unflinching pragmatism was evident in the last few weeks when he – the leader of a party founded for workers’ rights – sided with his Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allan over allegations she treated staff badly.
While Vance’s piece is certainly a polemic against Labour – I doubt that Ardern, et al were deliberately hypocritical. However, I think it does indicate a tendency towards political theatre, rather than hard policy work.
Which has come up again, and again, in the policy and legislation of the current government.
No- as they are not, and they should be stopped. It’s also quite a mystery as to why Immigration is in MBIE in any case…
But there is a difference between rogue miscommunication which should have been stopped and the racism in the first place.
Yes- I bloody well agree with Carmel.
It’s this poison tongue of a Nats coms operative whose party embody that racism ( watch them in Patu pull in to their function and ‘consider’ their protestors), that hasn’t apologised and that questions the sincerity of those who have.
All hands to the nasty levers. Make NZ nasty again.
Political theatre is important. Symbolism is important. The Prime Minister admitting what the state did to you and your family was wrong is important.
What are you talking about with your bland and vapid statement that it was done instead of ‘hard policy work’ which has come up again and again?
Compared to the opposition whose key justice conference policy was I don’t know I’ll tell you when you’ve all voted for us and I’ll have a guess. On something that has been conclusively shown to be a failure across the board?
Well, it very clearly wasn't supported by the required detailed policy work in the Immigration department. Take a bow: Kris Faafoi (the Minister who wanted to retire); and Michael Wood (the Minister who doesn't seem to be across detail either in his private life or, as we see now, in his job),
Political symbolism which is *not* supported by policy, ministerial direction and/or legislation – is just 'theatre' and leaves the government wide open to charges of hypocrisy.
Saying, effectively, 'the other guys are worse' doesn't do much to inspire confidence in (or willingness to vote for), the current government.
Equally just repeating your argument doesn’t make it any truer.
I would stake the integrity of both Jacinda Ardern and Michael Wood against yours any day.
That they are not perfect people or politicians are true. But also they are not on The Standard for whatever reason joining the National party poison pen club in calling an apology insincere, in the rather cowardly manner of attacking ‘political theatre’ in general.
It is for the victims and recipients of the apology to deem the their satisfaction.
So if you have a fight with your partner making assumptions- you must buy them something or any apology is insincere? It would fit the vanity of the moniker.
Their lack of compassion is evident. Kiri is not allowed to be upset by the destruction of her area, nor is she meant to be hurt by being in a failed relationship. She is supposed to be endlessly patient in the face of half complaints, whispers to the media and digs by the National Party DP. She is apologising for any hurt caused. Still the vicious tongues want Chippy to dismiss Kiri, as according to these founts of "information" she is not "being fair to workers". Their nastiness is clearly displayed.
Property was seen differently by politicians, [Bernard] Hickey said.
As if to make the point, the prime minister ruled out a Capital Gains Tax last Wednesday.
That won't dissuade people from putting their money into houses in future – possibly boosting the size of the mortgages people are prepared to take on, even at the risk of higher repayments making them even more unaffordable.
And on and on it goes. Everybody is banking on house prices increasing and capital gains to stay untaxed. Too bad for renters, first-home buyers and the next generation of Kiwis whose parents are not firmly established on the property ladder. Some folks suggest a death tax could be a solution – après moi le deluge aka over my dead body.
There is already an cgt on rentals in the brightline, add that to no tax offsetting on mortgage payments unless it's a new build, I've had anicdata of atleast one scumlord selling 10 homes due to the healthy homes rules , I reckon labours going ok on housing,
Of course 7 homes wants to change all the rules so he and his grubby mates can can prosper, they're the baddies in this show.
I agree bwaghorn. There have been more homes built of all types in Rotorua, since the last burst in 1973… 50 years ago. Our shops are open, our people are working, unlike2008 and 9.
The more new houses built – the greater the downward pressure on house prices – pulling them back into the affordable range for 'ordinary' families (we can debate 'til the cows come home on what's 'ordinary').
Increased housing availability (i.e. more houses, total) also puts downward pressure on rents – for those for whom home ownership isn't a reality (or doesn't make sense, right now).
The most important thing the government (any government) in NZ can do is pull every lever available to increase the numbers of houses being built. The drivers of poverty (both actual and comparative) all come back to housing costs….
Lovely in a purely theoretical way, but the sad thing is that current prices limit home ownership to only a small portion of society.
You seem to perfectly understand the predicament of this privileged portion.
I am a single home owner (mortgage paid off) but I have nothing but contempt for those who believe that they have done well in a 'fair' system by owning multiple properties.
Our system is not fair. It is an anti-social practice to buy properties, rent them out to poor people, then use faith in a 'fair' system to raise rents on the poor tenants, and profit-gouge them despite their obvious desperation.
Strange that the status quo is seen as fair by landlords, who all seem to be gifted with Nelsonian eyes.
Could you possibly envisage a system where rent increases were related to no more than the increase in the tenants' income?
After all, bosses’ negotiators always deny workers increases in pay by arguing that times are hard and the firm can't afford it.. And it would be – gasp – inflationary!
Yet landlords never seem to see rent increases as inflationary.
No such easy way out for poor tenants that I am aware of.
Sorry Belladonna, but the nice balance that your post portrays does not seem to stretch very far past the realm of the wealthy.
Just read your post while up for a bit InVino.
I would ad AirB&B and empty houses also work against rental the market. Commercial tax rates and rules about insurance for empty homes may help Plus a fee for each week over 6 in a year if the house is habitable. If houses are being used totally for commercial use, different tax rules should apply. imo.
The built for rent market has begun by the Govt and partners. That is a great help, as they are let at lesser rates and pressure the market downward.
When Key got rid of the gift tax, he misleadingly justified it by saying 'it collects very little tax' – ignoring the fact that its purpose was to prevent the wealthy from avoiding other taxes, not to collect tax itself.
National did this in Key’s first term – indicating what a priority it was for wealth worshippers like him.
If we are concerned about wealth why are we not concerned about it when it transfers by will or a trust to others?
Many lefties/socialists are against intergenerational wealth transfer.
That is why I suggested death duties.
I see no link between a totting up and payment of death duties at the death of a person and gift duty?
If the govt needed a belts and braces approach they could tighten up on gifts during the life of the person. I know there used to be a provision for gifting but it was explicit ie advice to IRD.
My idea is for death duties to be paid but if there is a provision for gifting still round then duties on this too. I think it used to be $27,000 pa.
If the sale and purchase agreement became binding:
on or after 27 March 2021, the bright-line period is 5 years to the extent the property has a qualifying new build on it and 10 years for all other properties
between 29 March 2018 and 26 March 2021, the bright-line period is 5 years
between 1 October 2015 and 28 March 2018, the bright-line period is 2 years.
Which Nat MP would like to become the Minister of Pothole Repairs? They can pour $500M into holes and as soon as a hole opens it will be ‘fixed’ in no time. Potty as it may sound, I think this will go a long way to getting NZ back on track and there’s no smoke & mirrors here at all. I suggest a 24-hour Pothole Hotline staffed by fully-trained bilingual staff and the first pothole reporter receives a free petrol voucher.
Thought my ears were deceiving me when I heard Lux (on pothole patrol with SB) respond to an awkward question by saying National is focussed on how to "fund tax."
Thought I'd check out Prime News a second time, on Sky channel 514, and there it was:
What I'm focussed on is that the National party is very clear about how we will fund tax. – Luxon (@5:47 pm on Prime News)
No link (sorry) – will keep looking. What might Lux mean? Anyone? Makes you think?
You're onto it. Freudian slip?? An oblique reference to the sovereign power of govts to customise the financial system in their domain.
An in-crowd phrase we can only guess at? Keep in mind the basis of quantitative easing: creation of money via design of credit system. Inventive finagling.
Nobody in National clever enough to do financial alchemy but can't rule out instructions from further up the global hierarchy. But hey, you never know, he may explain himself at some point in the campaign. A journalist may ponder his lingo & quiz him at a press conference. You could try asking Brian Easton (@ Pundit).
Can I call you that? Do you mind? Well, it its the arse end of your name which of course fits well with your policies, what few of them you seen fit to release. Are you waiting till the arse end of the campaign to flood us with more ill thought out garbage masquerading as policy? I refer particularly to your latest piece of stupid, juvenile, bone-headed and utterly useless idea for a Ministry of Potholes. I know who you want to be in charge of that. We all know who you want to run that outfit – Slimeon Brown. He's your current expert on everything and nothing, right?
Just thought I might put a bit of perspective on this travesty of discombobulation. Sorry, big words! Translation – here's my view on this idiocy.
1. This is already being looked after by the Transport Ministry.
2. Labour has spent 65% more than your lot did.
3. Separating out pot holes is childish, petulant, short-sighted and desperate.
4. National spent 9 years ignoring road maintenance.
5. National prioritised their mates in the trucking industry, which has been hammering our roads into oblivion ever since.
6. National let rail fall into decline, to the point where it is almost too expensive to now fix it.
If this is the best of your policies, then you need to know that running the country is not all about holes in the road. We could probably find you a corner shop to manage. It's not an airline, but, how well did you really do with that one? This policy on road holes is utterly ironic – this means that . . . . oh, never mind, it's not worth educating you.
You may well be a Labour voter but maybe you should admit the the Opposition are right on roading.
The Ministry of Transport is not in charge of filling potholes in roads.
211,000 potholes were reported under Labour 25% of those were in 2022 alone. Parker is a joke for trying to offload responsibility to National 6 years ago.
Pot holes are the actual road degrading. For domestic and freight traffic alike, hitting them is a real expense, and you need to show actual empathy for that cost. NZTA is on record about how weak their system now is.
Labour spend most of it transport money on City Rail Link, Eastern Busway, passenger subsidies, and finishing the big National expressways. Labour would not be vulnerable on transport if it hadn't spent its capex on flashy projects.
Labour did not reverse the National regulations on oversized trucks.
Labour spent dumptrucks on rail but its ferries failed, its Auckland system failed, its Te Huia regional passenger service failed, and its South Island system is shrinking very fast.
Go right ahead vote Labour, but do it with your eyes open about the failing motorway system they alone have delivered.
Not Labour alone, Ad – the failing motorway that needs constant repair just North of Hamilton was not started under Labour. Don't exaggerate -it diminishes credibility.
There is a big failing in the contracting out system.
I suppose it could be said the oppo is right about roading, but they are wrong about the reasons and very wrong about the solution. Anyway, in their plan it's not 500 mill in new money, they will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. Your responses –
1. Details: The MOT is the umbrella and LTSA is under their purview.
2. Look at who's been in power since 1950 – Natz 48 years, Labour 28 years
3. Right on! Natz and their long haul truckie mates. As to a weak system – well, how much do you trust civil servants? Half of them could be Nat supporters and consequently drag the chain on projects. I've heard it said.
4. Not vanity projects – needed expansion to services. If they'd only listened to Robbie all those years ago . . . .
5. Yep, and there we have it. Can imagine the knock down drag 'em out fight Labour would have had rolling back an established set up like that? Trucks are so established now as the default transport option. There would have been ramifications and repercussions of almost unmanageable proportions.
6. They did, and it was still not enough, and it would still never be enough because a certain government sold the railways, who then bought cheap and nasty rolling stock, closed the railway workshops and downgraded the support services.
Not sure who you'll be voting for but when I step back and take a long look at the 2 options available I sure know who's gonna do the mahi for the good of us all.
And finally, the apology that Kiri Allen should have made in the first place, smoothed over with the thick icing of Hipkins trying not to lose another Minister:
"Kiri is a talented Minister who makes a huge contribution to our government. It's important we have a diversity of views, voices and experiences around the Cabinet table and Kiri's recent experiences only adds to that," he said.
"In our discussions, Kiri did acknowledge that in her passion for her work she sets high standards and high expectations of herself and her staff, but staff and officials must be treated with respect, and there is clear guidance for MPs around that.
"Kiri agrees with me on that."
Hipkins also pointed to Allan's recent health struggles.
"When you add the fact Kiri has battled and overcome cancer in that time plus some personal challenges it's understandable that she was feeling under pressure," he said.
"Regardless, I've made my expectations to Ministers around their conduct crystal clear and Kiri has agreed to focus on the way she interacts with those around her and make improvements where necessary.
"When she returns to work Kiri will receive extra coaching to support her to create the positive working environment both of us are committed to."
It would be great to see, finally, public servants treated with respect and assholes who are also ministers stop being assholes in the first place and enable public servants to get on with the job without massive media coverage, mental health leave, and the Prime Minister having to repeatedly step in.
This saga was different in that a PS did go public.
Usually they just have to put up with it and cover up so that their staff do not get disenchanted and stop working the 60 hour weeks that some do, to get stuff up the line and then to the Minister.
If a public servant (other than a CEO) is named by a Minister, the Minister should be fired. Public servants have the right not to be doxxed by the political order – even if they are married to them.
For me, as a long term public servant, it was significant enough that they made a comment unnamed, bearing in mind this is not done. Not sure I would have done this but I accept that things must have been pretty bad and in danger of being slotted into the usual 'blame the PS' for this to happen.
The moral of the story is that people need to be considerate towards each other in the work-place. Natural justice must be applied to the situation when a transgression occurs. I see no evidence that the govt does this routinely.
Therefore there is systemic dysfunction in how the govt of the day & the public service interact. That is untenable. Both Labour & National have been delinquent in creating this over the long-term and both are responsible for the ongoing harm done to participants. As long as they maintain their lack of transparency folks won't have confidence that they are getting it right.
Ultimately the whistleblower law is available to victims but only if the offending ascends to trigger the threshold. Until then the coercion is effective in keeping the victim silent. Maintaining this status quo is unethical. Naughty, even.
I agree with Ad that Hipkins did okay trying to clean up the mess. If he's on the ball he'll tell voters that Labour will rectify the procedural problem. Unlikely.
As someone who helps people survive public servants, I want more Minsters keeping these people in line, so they are not fucking with peoples lives. Not this free hand to make shit up, as they seem to do on a weekly basis.
Also the amount of undermining of this government from public servants has gone right into the realms of utter fucking bullshit.
We don;t have a public service, we have ideological hacks working in government departments pushing unelected agendas.
Also the amount of undermining of this government from public servants has gone right into the realms of utter fucking bullshit.
We don;t have a public service, we have ideological hacks working in government departments pushing unelected agendas.
But do you have any proof or are these just reckons?
Proof is fine but reckons are just that 'reckons'. Many people don't realise how the process of Govt works with Govt Depts working to their Minister. Some people get confused when a Govt Dept has an authority under legislation and in most of these cases the Minister cannot/should not intervene. Some legislation does have an ability for the Minister to direct but most avoid getting into this situation as it is not a good look for a Minister.
After your beige splaining, I was struck by the fact your not that clear on what your asking for. So let me try to see if this fits the bill.
To the second part – ideological ministries. One obvious example is treasury. If you can't see that, then sorry for you. Another recent example is MSD, and the implementation of a new disability ministry. Lets leave aside the perfectly meaningless newspeak they have run with, and just run with the fact it's a ideological shit fest.
Examples of the public service are off the hook, the shitfuckry around the first Minister of Housing. The under mining of the last two ministers of Broadcasting. The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, if you think that everyone has been playing ball on that one, I have some NFT's I like to sell you.
That will do, the list could go on, but as I live in the real world, not the ruff and thumble world of the wellington bubble – I'll stop.
Treasury for instance has to investigate and have knowledge about financial systems etc befor they can prepare papers for Ministers.
Govt depts in their work have to prepare papers to Ministers covering all options. Ministers make the final decision. Do you want only a single option put forward. That is dangerous stuff.
You don't give details about the MSD, (let alone links) . It may be about legislation that MSD has to operate. For a Minister to direct, even to suggest, that a piece of legislation not be applied is dangerous stuff too.
Muldoon found this out to his cost. Most minister's have learned from this not to intervne into the operation of legislation governing the operation of the departments.
Based on the current polling, no. 11 is almost certainly going to get into Parliament.
Going to be significant confusion in the House with Luxon (Nat), Luxton (ACT) and [if Jo Luxton gets back in on the list – probably not going to hold Rangitata – nothing to do with her, but it's a true blue rural seat and only went Labour in 2020], Luxton (Labour)
Funny how conspiracy cranks like Jnr eventually get to the Jews.
/
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dished out wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories this week during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant, claiming the bug was a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
[…]
“COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
“We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,” Kennedy hedged.
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Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
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All power to this woman-Marketa Vondrousova-great underdog performance and excellent acceptance interview.
A bit of light political entertainment for a sunday: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7xvz5a/a-definitive-ranking-of-nz-prime-ministers-from-lamest-to-coolest
fun and somewhat informative. Thanks Denis.
The reason for the Black Budget was a big drop off in NZ’s overseas income in that year, due to big dips in the price of wool and meat. Which meant NZ government had an unexpected large deficit. Which meant more taxes from somewhere to cover overseas payments.
Better taxes go up than services go down… The electorate of beer-swilling, chimney-smoking voters didn’t agree, so out Labour went.
[comment with quotes but no links deleted]
Cool, sorry…
I sent a submission in when the govt called for public input into democratic reform some years ago, advocating that the spare room be used for participatory democracy & consensus-building. Looks like Palmer has spotted that opportunity:
On of his other suggestions is likely to irritate the anti-consultancy brigade:
@DF
What would do without thinkers like Sir Geoffrey?
And he knows his stuff, speaks from experience.
I contributed to his constitutional reform process – maybe a decade back? I bought both his books about it brand new. I'm real tight on that propensity due to already owning around ten thousand. I contributed as a critic, so wasn't surprised that they didn't give me any credit in the second book. Labour, you know, credibility eternally rare.
Not that they performed poorly, him and his sidekick. I carefully acknowledged each of the significant improvements they got right, including my framing of why it was a good idea each time. One could call that an exhibition of leftist solidarity perhaps.
However they also made a bunch of fatal errors. In conceptualising, and also in design. Actual flaws of logic plus various false assumptions. 7/10. Maybe 7.5.
Immaterial since the number of retards in Aotearoa remains stubbornly high, so Palmer's chances of success in his reform project shimmer like a veil of possibilities over our land…
Further to that…
A constitutional position that is not found in law can be found in ethos. This is the Deep Green view of life. Ethos is a strand in social binding that makes community.
In my theory of neo-pythagorean metaphysics, ethos kicks in as a functional element of human groups. Using elemental analysis (to identify key elements) it becomes countable. This technique categorises systems on the basis of key elements within, essential components without which a group cannot operate ecosystemically.
So you different unique factors in situations analysable similarly, using the generic theory. You count them to see how many there are. I recycle ancient greek terms to do that (monad, dyad, triad, tetrad, pentad, hexad, heptad for the first seven categories). The requisite conceptualising to integrate qualia with quanta in the theory comes from seeing labels as identifiers providing a unique quality to each number. The theorist must then ground this abstract system via ecosystemic relations, which requires holism to be expanded into theory.
I've spent the past 40 years doing that legwork, but Deep Green politics must make the social function of ethos more intelligible for the purpose of developing collective resilience. That it provides political activism incorporating communal synchrony of values and aspirations. That it facilitates collaboration. That it teaches conflict resolution via consensus decision-making.
Palmer in his academic silo are doing their best, no doubt, within the confines of their neolib belief system – but it's better to look deeper into motivations. Oh, the other dimension that it's essential to integrate into a deep green view of life is spirituality.
I find it hugely enthusing to read Geoffrey Palmer's thinking on democracy, particularly his suggestions of ways to lessen workload of ministers. The latter must be obvious to any who have seen the strained faces in times of calamities during recent years.
I agree too, that the loss of social cohesion due to the necessity of the life-saving covid-caused restrictions has been a real factor in our lives.
Thank you Sir Geoffrey.
From mainstream comms platform relied on by politicians, businesses, and news outlets around the world to Nazi-infested ponzi scheme with the integrity of a crypto scam.
Heck of a job, Elmo.
/
On Thursday, Twitter said it had expanded its creator monetization fund to share more ad revenue with “creators.” Who is a Twitter creator these days? Well, some of the most politically divisive figures are making the most change in Musk’s new world order.
[…]
So who were these exclusive, eligible accounts? Twitter paid out more than $20,000 to Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist who has been indicted on charges of rape and human trafficking alongside his brother in Romania.
But wait, there’s more. Ian Miles Cheong, a right-wing spin doctor who increasingly has the ear of the great overlord Musk, reported he received $16,259 on Twitter for tweets focused on subjects like fat-shaming people in TikTok videos and promoting former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social takes. Benny Johnson, a failed journalist, plagiarist, and far-right rabble-rouser, made close to $10,000. Ashley St. Clair, a Babylon Bee writer, and former mouthpiece for Turning Point USA, saw just over $7,000 hit her bank account through the Stripe direct payment app. The right-wing junk account @EndWokeness also received a payout north of $10,000.
https://gizmodo.com/right-wing-users-cash-in-on-twitter-affiliate-cash-1850640588
It makes you wonder why Labour has been so keen to adhere to their neolib culture, eh? They'd likely say `if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'.
Don't hold your breath waiting for the media to go there. Users don't doubt their paradigm that easily! However we could get a rerun of Max Headroom, the suave news presenter with a glitchy verbal style, out of AI quite soon. Would be good. Imagine satirising rightists & leftists in the same episode…
I find that it fails to convince, when politicians (or, in this case, ex-politicians) feel moved to tell us that X has the attributes of a leader.
If X (in this case, Luxon), is not demonstrating this himself – then all the telling in the world isn't going to change public opinion.
Herald (paywalled)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/paula-bennett-nationals-christopher-luxon-has-the-attributes-of-a-leader/R6W2YNB67JGU3AXVSZ4RTFIMOQ/
Archived copy
https://archive.ph/KQAKe
Nothing more than a paid (?) political advertisement!
And utterly unconvincing, coming from Paula Bennett!
And the Herald has gone to great lengths to convince us that they're not politically biased. Yeah right.
Since forever.
Complains about attacking people not ideas, then proceeds to attack people.
I was tempted to write a school report reply. (Regarding Act Paula Bennet and Luxon's name calling)
"Christopher could choose his friends more wisely and work on his social and emotional skills.'' 5/10
Wonderful paywall means I can't read Pullya Benefits poisonous waffle.
Click on the archived link in comment 8…
burn!
It's a short step from calling him Lux, as Bennett does, to wondering where do pentecostals go when they rapture to watch the world suffer bowls of judgment being poured out upon the earth. Is it planet X?
Luxon (surely not chosen for his name) worked for Unilever in Canada before taking his cleanliness even closer to God, by being a bald eagle with Air NZ.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Is+Lux+soap+a+unilver+product
So the Lux thing is a part of the campaign for the migrant worker vote?
Do we vote for a party or a leader ??
So a party … No it’s a leader release it’s manifesto then what the party stood for under the last leader doesn’t matter, example in point climate change ?? We now have by his actions someone who doesn’t believe all he believes in is vote to win and screw the consequences. 😱 How hollow leadership we have had under labour. How the labour follows can look in the mirror ?? Disgraceful all of you
”This election was the first chance for him to fully set his own agenda for a better future.”you deserve less than National in 2002.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/07/16/chris-hipkins-reveals-labours-2023-election-slogan/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-in-it-for-you-chris-hipkins-launches-slogan-for-labour-2023-campaign/33PUJBSVTJEZFIR5MBXUIR5DA4/
Yep, while National is busy releasing policy today … Labour is busy releasing slogans.
Jack, Labour has only released 1 slogan. Got it ?
Labour score card
slogans 1
policy 0
Is that the best you can up with, pathetic.
National’s score card:
1 slogan (since 21 May 2023; Get NZ Back To ACT)
5 talking points
3.5 non-costed policy outlines
23 flip-flops
11 U-turns
53 repeals
As National are the opposition, then their slogan would have to truthfully be:
"In it for us"
Labour's 1972 election campaign slogan "It's time" can't be beaten for brevity.
"In it for you" is arguably better, albeit wordier than "Let's do this" and "Let's keep moving", but I prefer UK Labour's failed "For the many, not the few".
If only NAct could run on an honest slogan – "For the few, not the many".
2005 – "Tax. Cut." – with just a dash of Iwi/Kiwi
2008 – "Choose a brighter future [for all?]"
2011 – "Building a brighter future [for all?]"
2014 – "Working for [all?] New Zealand" and “Keep the team that's working”
2017 – "Delivering for [all?] New Zealanders"
2020 – "Strong team. More Jobs. Better Economy" [the 1st team being Muller & Kaye]
Not to forget the 2008 slogan
"Stop waving goodbye to your loved ones"
I'll never forget that one.
In 2009 after winning the election National "reorganised" ACC; thereby shoving over 100 highly specialised OTs out of employment in NZ. My son-in-law was one of them, and the only work for him was in Australia, who were actively recruiting people with his expertise in after-care for people with brain injury at the time. So we waved goodbye to our loved ones. They have been there ever since, and are about to become Australian citizens. He is now managing 3 after care facilities in the Perth area.
At least labour are being honest with half the slogan. They’ve certainly landed NZ “in it” for years to come. Rather they left me out of it with the second part of the slogan … not in my name.
Jack – it has been obvious since your very first comment that you are not here to promote the left. Please tell me something to make me believe that you even understand the socialist perspective. Or just stop commenting in such a boring manner.
In 6 months time we'll be saying, we told ya so. If this NACT government comes in, there won't be the sinking lid approach while things degrade (Key's strategy). NACT will be a government of big change and public sector cuts, because of the ideological pull of ACT.
Look to Britain under the Tories and Oz under LNP – Luxon's been having nice long chats with members of those governments.
There will be degradation of public education, with funding shifted to for-profit academies and charter schools, de facto privatisation of medicine, for-profit prisons and bootcamps, privatisation of MSD services, as in CentreLink, privitisation or dismantling of ACC, gig-economy jobs with zero hours.
NACT are creaming their knickers thinking of all the kickbacks they'll get putting those contracts in place.
[Please correct the mistake in your email address in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
The country deserves better than a NACT government.
But you do a return to collecting a mortgage interest deduction against rent income and selling a rental without any CGT/brightline test.
Janet Wilson and Andrea Vance are today’s poison pen hags! Congratulations.
Janet calls Jacinda and Michael Wood insincere in their apology for the Dawn Raids. Then she confuses Muldoon and National’s state sponsored racist campaign against a particular minority with a state department continuing to make some after hours visits against no particular demographic.
Showing her evil that held her close to Judith Collins.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132535756/the-shameuponshame-sorrynotsorry-saga-of-labours-dawn-raids-apology
Funnily enough ‘Crusher’ was long touted for being tough, but goodness forbid a Labour minister may have shouted.
Vance manages to put herself first in her column on Chippy, leaving us to wonder if she is a bigger egomaniac than the pollies. And without any complaint being filed she blames Chippy for not putting Allan in the stocks. Then, the long bow and ego working well, she considers this an example of betraying Labour’s principles somehow. Quite spectacular bullshit, which she obviously enjoyed smelling.
His unflinching pragmatism was evident in the last few weeks when he – the leader of a party founded for workers’ rights – sided with his Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allan over allegations she treated staff badly.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/350036677/pm-determined-win-all-costs-price-labours-soul
Does this mean that you think that 'out of hours visits' (aren't euphemisms, wonderful) are acceptable?
Carmel Sepuloni certainly doesn't appear to think that they are – under any description.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/07/11/sepuloni-unaware-dawn-raids-would-continue-after-2021-apology/
While Vance’s piece is certainly a polemic against Labour – I doubt that Ardern, et al were deliberately hypocritical. However, I think it does indicate a tendency towards political theatre, rather than hard policy work.
Which has come up again, and again, in the policy and legislation of the current government.
No- as they are not, and they should be stopped. It’s also quite a mystery as to why Immigration is in MBIE in any case…
But there is a difference between rogue miscommunication which should have been stopped and the racism in the first place.
Yes- I bloody well agree with Carmel.
It’s this poison tongue of a Nats coms operative whose party embody that racism ( watch them in Patu pull in to their function and ‘consider’ their protestors), that hasn’t apologised and that questions the sincerity of those who have.
All hands to the nasty levers. Make NZ nasty again.
Political theatre is important. Symbolism is important. The Prime Minister admitting what the state did to you and your family was wrong is important.
What are you talking about with your bland and vapid statement that it was done instead of ‘hard policy work’ which has come up again and again?
Compared to the opposition whose key justice conference policy was I don’t know I’ll tell you when you’ve all voted for us and I’ll have a guess. On something that has been conclusively shown to be a failure across the board?
Well, it very clearly wasn't supported by the required detailed policy work in the Immigration department. Take a bow: Kris Faafoi (the Minister who wanted to retire); and Michael Wood (the Minister who doesn't seem to be across detail either in his private life or, as we see now, in his job),
Political symbolism which is *not* supported by policy, ministerial direction and/or legislation – is just 'theatre' and leaves the government wide open to charges of hypocrisy.
Saying, effectively, 'the other guys are worse' doesn't do much to inspire confidence in (or willingness to vote for), the current government.
Equally just repeating your argument doesn’t make it any truer.
I would stake the integrity of both Jacinda Ardern and Michael Wood against yours any day.
That they are not perfect people or politicians are true. But also they are not on The Standard for whatever reason joining the National party poison pen club in calling an apology insincere, in the rather cowardly manner of attacking ‘political theatre’ in general.
It is for the victims and recipients of the apology to deem the their satisfaction.
So if you have a fight with your partner making assumptions- you must buy them something or any apology is insincere? It would fit the vanity of the moniker.
Their lack of compassion is evident. Kiri is not allowed to be upset by the destruction of her area, nor is she meant to be hurt by being in a failed relationship. She is supposed to be endlessly patient in the face of half complaints, whispers to the media and digs by the National Party DP. She is apologising for any hurt caused. Still the vicious tongues want Chippy to dismiss Kiri, as according to these founts of "information" she is not "being fair to workers". Their nastiness is clearly displayed.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018898507/could-a-mortgage-bomb-blow-up-borrowers
And on and on it goes. Everybody is banking on house prices increasing and capital gains to stay untaxed. Too bad for renters, first-home buyers and the next generation of Kiwis whose parents are not firmly established on the property ladder. Some folks suggest a death tax could be a solution – après moi le deluge aka over my dead body.
There is already an cgt on rentals in the brightline, add that to no tax offsetting on mortgage payments unless it's a new build, I've had anicdata of atleast one scumlord selling 10 homes due to the healthy homes rules , I reckon labours going ok on housing,
Of course 7 homes wants to change all the rules so he and his grubby mates can can prosper, they're the baddies in this show.
I agree bwaghorn. There have been more homes built of all types in Rotorua, since the last burst in 1973… 50 years ago. Our shops are open, our people are working, unlike2008 and 9.
The more new houses built – the greater the downward pressure on house prices – pulling them back into the affordable range for 'ordinary' families (we can debate 'til the cows come home on what's 'ordinary').
Increased housing availability (i.e. more houses, total) also puts downward pressure on rents – for those for whom home ownership isn't a reality (or doesn't make sense, right now).
The most important thing the government (any government) in NZ can do is pull every lever available to increase the numbers of houses being built. The drivers of poverty (both actual and comparative) all come back to housing costs….
Lovely in a purely theoretical way, but the sad thing is that current prices limit home ownership to only a small portion of society.
You seem to perfectly understand the predicament of this privileged portion.
I am a single home owner (mortgage paid off) but I have nothing but contempt for those who believe that they have done well in a 'fair' system by owning multiple properties.
Our system is not fair. It is an anti-social practice to buy properties, rent them out to poor people, then use faith in a 'fair' system to raise rents on the poor tenants, and profit-gouge them despite their obvious desperation.
Strange that the status quo is seen as fair by landlords, who all seem to be gifted with Nelsonian eyes.
Could you possibly envisage a system where rent increases were related to no more than the increase in the tenants' income?
After all, bosses’ negotiators always deny workers increases in pay by arguing that times are hard and the firm can't afford it.. And it would be – gasp – inflationary!
Yet landlords never seem to see rent increases as inflationary.
No such easy way out for poor tenants that I am aware of.
Sorry Belladonna, but the nice balance that your post portrays does not seem to stretch very far past the realm of the wealthy.
Just read your post while up for a bit InVino.
I would ad AirB&B and empty houses also work against rental the market. Commercial tax rates and rules about insurance for empty homes may help Plus a fee for each week over 6 in a year if the house is habitable. If houses are being used totally for commercial use, different tax rules should apply. imo.
The built for rent market has begun by the Govt and partners. That is a great help, as they are let at lesser rates and pressure the market downward.
until there is a crash.
Why are you concerned – phrase is used to indicate indifference to events that will happen after one’s death……
Do you believe in the intergenerational transfer of wealth?
I don’t.
You do, because you oppose any gift duty tax on the transfer “any or all estate” wealth to the children before the parental death.
Genuine estate tax regimes have a gift duty component for a reason.
Exactly.
When Key got rid of the gift tax, he misleadingly justified it by saying 'it collects very little tax' – ignoring the fact that its purpose was to prevent the wealthy from avoiding other taxes, not to collect tax itself.
National did this in Key’s first term – indicating what a priority it was for wealth worshippers like him.
You've missed my point I think.
If we are concerned about wealth why are we not concerned about it when it transfers by will or a trust to others?
Many lefties/socialists are against intergenerational wealth transfer.
That is why I suggested death duties.
I see no link between a totting up and payment of death duties at the death of a person and gift duty?
If the govt needed a belts and braces approach they could tighten up on gifts during the life of the person. I know there used to be a provision for gifting but it was explicit ie advice to IRD.
My idea is for death duties to be paid but if there is a provision for gifting still round then duties on this too. I think it used to be $27,000 pa.
They are taxed if you sell a rental within 5 years.
You want to get ahead in this country you need to invest in property and has been the case for the last 35 years.
Can't see what the complaint is honestly.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/property/buying-and-selling-residential-property/when-you-buy-and-sell
Which Nat MP would like to become the Minister of Pothole Repairs? They can pour $500M into holes and as soon as a hole opens it will be ‘fixed’ in no time. Potty as it may sound, I think this will go a long way to getting NZ back on track and there’s no smoke & mirrors here at all. I suggest a 24-hour Pothole Hotline staffed by fully-trained bilingual staff and the first pothole reporter receives a free petrol voucher.
Potholes…aka blackholes. And two hole filling "likely lads" standing, hands in pockets. Just missing a shovel each..under their arm pits.
A joke really…
Actually…when searched ..there is more than one photo of the two nerks…hands in pockets.
Barking at potholes now,
Its very smart politics, and Parker or whoever is minister of transport now simply doesn't have the time left to turn it around.
Nothing to do with the rain?
I don't think people will be fooled. They have seen the slips, they know the problems. Plus many potholes are Local Council schedule of works.
Heh! Look up the location on Google maps and use street view and check the date.
Pothole problems? Anyone for shovels? Time to get Eric Olthwaite on the job.
A three-minute YouTube video from "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite".
Thought my ears were deceiving me when I heard Lux (on pothole patrol with SB) respond to an awkward question by saying National is focussed on how to "fund tax."
Thought I'd check out Prime News a second time, on Sky channel 514, and there it was:
No link (sorry) – will keep looking. What might Lux mean? Anyone? Makes you think?
You're onto it. Freudian slip?? An oblique reference to the sovereign power of govts to customise the financial system in their domain.
An in-crowd phrase we can only guess at? Keep in mind the basis of quantitative easing: creation of money via design of credit system. Inventive finagling.
Nobody in National clever enough to do financial alchemy but can't rule out instructions from further up the global hierarchy. But hey, you never know, he may explain himself at some point in the campaign. A journalist may ponder his lingo & quiz him at a press conference. You could try asking Brian Easton (@ Pundit).
Dear Topher,
Can I call you that? Do you mind? Well, it its the arse end of your name which of course fits well with your policies, what few of them you seen fit to release. Are you waiting till the arse end of the campaign to flood us with more ill thought out garbage masquerading as policy? I refer particularly to your latest piece of stupid, juvenile, bone-headed and utterly useless idea for a Ministry of Potholes. I know who you want to be in charge of that. We all know who you want to run that outfit – Slimeon Brown. He's your current expert on everything and nothing, right?
Just thought I might put a bit of perspective on this travesty of discombobulation. Sorry, big words! Translation – here's my view on this idiocy.
1. This is already being looked after by the Transport Ministry.
2. Labour has spent 65% more than your lot did.
3. Separating out pot holes is childish, petulant, short-sighted and desperate.
4. National spent 9 years ignoring road maintenance.
5. National prioritised their mates in the trucking industry, which has been hammering our roads into oblivion ever since.
6. National let rail fall into decline, to the point where it is almost too expensive to now fix it.
If this is the best of your policies, then you need to know that running the country is not all about holes in the road. We could probably find you a corner shop to manage. It's not an airline, but, how well did you really do with that one? This policy on road holes is utterly ironic – this means that . . . . oh, never mind, it's not worth educating you.
Signed
A Labour Voter from Auckland
You may well be a Labour voter but maybe you should admit the the Opposition are right on roading.
Go right ahead vote Labour, but do it with your eyes open about the failing motorway system they alone have delivered.
The question is
Are we spending less on road maintenance than before or not?
Spending less of higher budget transport budget on maintenance is not evidence of this.
Are there problems because of a greater cost of road maintenance or greater need because of heavier trucks?
They do a report and do not answer any of these issues.
https://www.lgnz.co.nz/news-and-media/2023-media-releases/funding-for-roads-at-lowest-levels-in-a-decade/
Not Labour alone, Ad – the failing motorway that needs constant repair just North of Hamilton was not started under Labour. Don't exaggerate -it diminishes credibility.
There is a big failing in the contracting out system.
I suppose it could be said the oppo is right about roading, but they are wrong about the reasons and very wrong about the solution. Anyway, in their plan it's not 500 mill in new money, they will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. Your responses –
1. Details: The MOT is the umbrella and LTSA is under their purview.
2. Look at who's been in power since 1950 – Natz 48 years, Labour 28 years
3. Right on! Natz and their long haul truckie mates. As to a weak system – well, how much do you trust civil servants? Half of them could be Nat supporters and consequently drag the chain on projects. I've heard it said.
4. Not vanity projects – needed expansion to services. If they'd only listened to Robbie all those years ago . . . .
5. Yep, and there we have it. Can imagine the knock down drag 'em out fight Labour would have had rolling back an established set up like that? Trucks are so established now as the default transport option. There would have been ramifications and repercussions of almost unmanageable proportions.
6. They did, and it was still not enough, and it would still never be enough because a certain government sold the railways, who then bought cheap and nasty rolling stock, closed the railway workshops and downgraded the support services.
Not sure who you'll be voting for but when I step back and take a long look at the 2 options available I sure know who's gonna do the mahi for the good of us all.
Minister of potholes (the mop) is veering very close to monty python territory…
Will they get their own named SUV's to belt around in…?
'yay..!..here comes mop..!'
And finally, the apology that Kiri Allen should have made in the first place, smoothed over with the thick icing of Hipkins trying not to lose another Minister:
"Kiri is a talented Minister who makes a huge contribution to our government. It's important we have a diversity of views, voices and experiences around the Cabinet table and Kiri's recent experiences only adds to that," he said.
"In our discussions, Kiri did acknowledge that in her passion for her work she sets high standards and high expectations of herself and her staff, but staff and officials must be treated with respect, and there is clear guidance for MPs around that.
"Kiri agrees with me on that."
Hipkins also pointed to Allan's recent health struggles.
"When you add the fact Kiri has battled and overcome cancer in that time plus some personal challenges it's understandable that she was feeling under pressure," he said.
"Regardless, I've made my expectations to Ministers around their conduct crystal clear and Kiri has agreed to focus on the way she interacts with those around her and make improvements where necessary.
"When she returns to work Kiri will receive extra coaching to support her to create the positive working environment both of us are committed to."
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/07/14/kiri-allan-to-return-to-work-resume-full-duties-pm-announces/
It would be great to see, finally, public servants treated with respect and assholes who are also ministers stop being assholes in the first place and enable public servants to get on with the job without massive media coverage, mental health leave, and the Prime Minister having to repeatedly step in.
Got it in one Ad.
This saga was different in that a PS did go public.
Usually they just have to put up with it and cover up so that their staff do not get disenchanted and stop working the 60 hour weeks that some do, to get stuff up the line and then to the Minister.
A named public servant?
If a public servant (other than a CEO) is named by a Minister, the Minister should be fired. Public servants have the right not to be doxxed by the political order – even if they are married to them.
For me, as a long term public servant, it was significant enough that they made a comment unnamed, bearing in mind this is not done. Not sure I would have done this but I accept that things must have been pretty bad and in danger of being slotted into the usual 'blame the PS' for this to happen.
The moral of the story is that people need to be considerate towards each other in the work-place. Natural justice must be applied to the situation when a transgression occurs. I see no evidence that the govt does this routinely.
Therefore there is systemic dysfunction in how the govt of the day & the public service interact. That is untenable. Both Labour & National have been delinquent in creating this over the long-term and both are responsible for the ongoing harm done to participants. As long as they maintain their lack of transparency folks won't have confidence that they are getting it right.
Ultimately the whistleblower law is available to victims but only if the offending ascends to trigger the threshold. Until then the coercion is effective in keeping the victim silent. Maintaining this status quo is unethical. Naughty, even.
I agree with Ad that Hipkins did okay trying to clean up the mess. If he's on the ball he'll tell voters that Labour will rectify the procedural problem. Unlikely.
Totally disagree.
As someone who helps people survive public servants, I want more Minsters keeping these people in line, so they are not fucking with peoples lives. Not this free hand to make shit up, as they seem to do on a weekly basis.
Also the amount of undermining of this government from public servants has gone right into the realms of utter fucking bullshit.
We don;t have a public service, we have ideological hacks working in government departments pushing unelected agendas.
Yes you say this about the
But do you have any proof or are these just reckons?
Proof is fine but reckons are just that 'reckons'. Many people don't realise how the process of Govt works with Govt Depts working to their Minister. Some people get confused when a Govt Dept has an authority under legislation and in most of these cases the Minister cannot/should not intervene. Some legislation does have an ability for the Minister to direct but most avoid getting into this situation as it is not a good look for a Minister.
Some examples would be good.
After your beige splaining, I was struck by the fact your not that clear on what your asking for. So let me try to see if this fits the bill.
To the second part – ideological ministries. One obvious example is treasury. If you can't see that, then sorry for you. Another recent example is MSD, and the implementation of a new disability ministry. Lets leave aside the perfectly meaningless newspeak they have run with, and just run with the fact it's a ideological shit fest.
Examples of the public service are off the hook, the shitfuckry around the first Minister of Housing. The under mining of the last two ministers of Broadcasting. The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, if you think that everyone has been playing ball on that one, I have some NFT's I like to sell you.
That will do, the list could go on, but as I live in the real world, not the ruff and thumble world of the wellington bubble – I'll stop.
Ok so no valid examples just strong words.
Treasury for instance has to investigate and have knowledge about financial systems etc befor they can prepare papers for Ministers.
Govt depts in their work have to prepare papers to Ministers covering all options. Ministers make the final decision. Do you want only a single option put forward. That is dangerous stuff.
You don't give details about the MSD, (let alone links) . It may be about legislation that MSD has to operate. For a Minister to direct, even to suggest, that a piece of legislation not be applied is dangerous stuff too.
Muldoon found this out to his cost. Most minister's have learned from this not to intervne into the operation of legislation governing the operation of the departments.
WOW you did live in a bubble.
As promised
https://opensea.io/
https://twitter.com/realshearwater/status/1680456688124719104
They could have borrowed – for the many not the few – if they had gone ahead with a wealth tax.
But continuing with the let's do this, let's keep moving approach would just remind people how much the price of items in the salad had gone up.
Hopefully the ewe people will be successfully herded to the polling booth.
Both seem to be in it for billionaires.
I would have quite liked’ Let’s Spread The Wealth’ That, I could respond to.
I really don't think that Hipkins will be keen on any slogan with the word "spread" in it!
Words with pleasant connotations are preferable to words with even neutral ones..
I never thought of that in connection with the old song " – 'Neath the Spreading Chestnut Tree.'
I like it.
"Get out there and spread your wealth!"
ACT have just released their party list (I know, I can hear the peanut calls from here).
But, at no. 11 is Cameron Luxton.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132554781/act-releases-candidate-list-mp-james-mcdowall-to-retire
Based on the current polling, no. 11 is almost certainly going to get into Parliament.
Going to be significant confusion in the House with Luxon (Nat), Luxton (ACT) and [if Jo Luxton gets back in on the list – probably not going to hold Rangitata – nothing to do with her, but it's a true blue rural seat and only went Labour in 2020], Luxton (Labour)
Funny how conspiracy cranks like Jnr eventually get to the Jews.
/
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dished out wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories this week during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant, claiming the bug was a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
[…]
“COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
“We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,” Kennedy hedged.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/15/rfk-jr-says-covid-was-ethnically-targeted-to-spare-jews/amp/
Look on the bright side, at least he can get through a sentence without a teleprompter. US politics is just a bloody mess.
From a political marketing perspective it ain't silly. Just think how many folks would get spooked by a jewish-chinese axis in geopolitics.