Milk prices in continuous decline.
Auckland house prices out of control.
And a government unwilling do anything about these crises.
Hope some of those million people who voted for this bunch of clowns realise the error of their ways.
John Key, “Unprincipled? Moi? Pfffft.”
Well, Armstrong appears to think so John Boy. Odd thing is that has taken Armstrong so long to realise what many of us have noticed for years.
“Bridges could do himself and National a power of good, however, by coming clean and apologising. It would end this unseemly episode and make it harder for Labour to exploit when Parliament resumes”
to make it harder for Labour to exploit!!! Dear Mr. Armstrong, if the National Party played by the rules Labour would find nothing to exploit.
Andrew Geddis gives David Farrar quite the spank on Pundit, the sarcasm is worth several weeks of frantic lobbying from the anorexic penguin for a funding cut to Otago university.
And how! Though I can’t help but wonder if she was asked to fill in for Ferguson (rather than one of the usual fillers) because the ratings are sliding?
I’ve been wondering why Ferguson is suddenly off the air. Hadn’t heard any announcement. I did catch Kim Hill doing the voice-over for the ad for Morning Report for this week, yesterday, which seemed a bit of an odd choice. Almost like this is going to be for more than just this week; surprised that Guyon didn’t do it.
But if the ratings are sliding, putting Kim Hill on temporarily is not really the fix – putting her on permanently is.
Certainly possible. But it’s a bit unusual that Kim Hill has taken over, as they usually have other people available to fill in.
The last time Kim was on, was when Geoff Robinson took 1 month leave. They had 2 weeks of Kim Hill (and made a small issue about it being her return to the programme after 15+ years or something) and 2 weeks of someone else – can’t recall who.
To put Kim Hill on now instead of one of the other regular fillers-in, with no particular acknowledgement, seems a little fishy. Remember Kim Hill does have a Saturday morning show that must take at least a few days to prepare for.
Where am I theorising any particular course of action has been, or will be, taken?
All I’ve done is simply state that it’s a bit odd the way she’s been put on, pointing to the only other exceptional case where Kim Hill was on MR and contrasting what is happening now with what happened then.
Edit: veuto has just given the likely reason for Ferguson’s absence, which is what my post at 4.2.1 was trying to elicit, to see if anyone else knew.
I recall hearing on RNZ National a week or so ago that Susie Ferguson was going to Gallipoli to report from there.
I am thoroughly enjoying Kim’s return, with the standard of interviewing having gone up massively this week. Follow-up questions are based on what is actually said by the person being interviewed, rather than appearing to be read from a predetermined list of questions; fewer interruptions; and longer more indepth interviews vs the usual rushed, time limited interviews which really annoy me.
They have made no mention of how long Kim will be on this time, whereas last time she subbed when Robinson took a month’s leave, RNZ kept saying that she was only on for two weeks, with Susie Ferguson (I think) doing the other two weeks.
I also have the impression this time that Kim is almost playing first fiddle, with Espiner playing second fiddle. Strange.
I would love to see Kim back on Morning Report permanently, but doubt that she would want the early starts permanently with her other interests.
She would be great on Checkpoint, though IMO.
I intend emailing RNZ in the next day or so, putting all of the above to them.
Indeed!! She’s just such a gem
But Nick Smith is just such a liar. ‘The Melbourne housing market is in just as bad a state as Aucklands’ he says. An outrageous lie that is.
The Nat’s will be spewing the reality show Our First Home exposed the truth about Aucklands over heated property market. It got worst when the deputy reserve bank chap comes out swinging the next day mooting its time for the Government to introduce a capital gain tax.
It looks like the election of a hard left leaning government in Greece is making things worse and it is getting very close to the point where it will default and then be forced from the Eurozone.
It may default and declare a kind of Country Bankruptcy. That’s how it is done in a capitalist system isn’t it? Borrow, try to make it work, live large in the meantime and if worse comes to worse fold up the company, fuck the creditors and reinvent. Mark Bryers is a pin up boy for this, but on a smaller scale of course.
ha ha, yep, black hole being balanced in the usual yin and yang fashion by the white infinite money-printing machine elsewhere. black hole vs white infinity.
The fallacies and myths of the financial system are on full display in Greece that is for sure. It is just not as people like gosman, who are completely lost in the system, see it.
Haven’t they already paid for that? Did we get Reparations from UK for slaughtering our men in WWI… Passchendaele, Somme, Gallipoli etc… oops I mean the germans and Turks.
I’ve been following this story for the last while, and Greece certainly does have a case – though the amount claimed varies depending upon the context:
Athens hit back at Berlin’s description of its demand for a staggering €278.7bn (£202bn) in compensation as “stupid”…
“The response may have been ‘this is foolish, you have plucked this number out of the blue’ but for me it was also very positive,” Costas Isychos, the deputy defence minister, told the Guardian. “There was an admission that despite disagreeing with the figure a debt is owed, and that is very good.”…
the figure could in fact be much bigger when interest payments were also taken into account…
Greek officials had 400,000 pages of records obtained from the US national archives chronicling atrocities committed by the Third Reich.
Crimes ranged from reprisal executions to the pillaging of the country’s cultural heritage and an interest-free forced loan, officially estimated by the general accountancy office at €10.3bn, which was extracted from the Bank of Greece to fund Hitler’s Africa campaign. The Greek defence ministry is in the process of translating the data and digitalising microfilms.
“The occupation forces were extremely methodical in their reports to superiors, listing massacres and the shooting of victims, including women and children, the destruction of homes, you name it,” he said. “Greece, for example, was the biggest exporter to Nazi Germany of precious metals such as chrome. Some 279,000 tonnes were exported but never paid for.”
Soon, experts would also be scouring historical archives obtained from Russia, he said. “I formally requested the archives two weeks ago when I visited Moscow and was told that they do indeed have them,” he said of records that ended up in the possession of Russian and American forces at the end of the war.
Russia’s lower house of parliament is setting up a working group to calculate how much money to demand from Germany for World War II reparations…
Degtyaryov, a member of the nationalist LDPR party, believes that Germany should pay 3 or 4 trillion euros to Russia for the “destruction and atrocities” that Germany committed during World War II, the newspaper reported.
“Germany paid compensation for 6 million victims of the Holocaust, but has ignored the 27 million Soviet people who were killed [during World War II], 16 million of whom were civilians,” Degtyaryov was cited as saying.
I certainly won’t be volunteering to assist the privitised meals on wheels program, once I have the free time again (if that ever happens). Seems I’m not the only one:
a volunteer driver resigned over the plan to truck meals on wheels from Auckland.
Age Concern executive officer Susan Davidson said ”a couple of handfuls” of other volunteers had voiced concerns about the Compass Group outsourcing proposal. Some were unhappy with the idea of volunteering to deliver meals for the multinational food giant…
Ms Davidson said she contacted the board last week with concerns the proposal could make it more difficult to attract volunteers.
She also wanted to know from the board whether volunteers would be required to perform extra tasks with a different meal provider.
”We know that volunteers are always time poor, and we are very concerned that the meals on wheels service doesn’t become burdensome.”
Some looked less favourably on spending their time volunteering for a profit-making entity, she said.
From this earlier article it seems likely that Compass’s business model involves externalising any problems regarding food-handling/ safety onto volunteers:
Grey Power Otago president Jo Millar said the board should have been more open from the start about the ”ridiculous” idea.
”What facilities are there going to be if they can’t truck this food down south in the mid-winter?… Meals would be heated before delivery, but Mrs Millar said many older people ate in the evening. Heating meals twice was potentially ”extremely unsafe”…
”Compass Group intends to work closely with volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill who deliver meals, to improve the information available and communication to recipients on safely handling their meals when they are received,” chief operating officer Julian Baldey said.
Best thing volunteers can do is vote with their feet. Give their time to a different organisation until this bizarre situation is altered.
Compass Group is going to lecture the volunteers on how to properly do what some have been doing for years? Volunteers should start send invoices for their time.
Sometimes you have to inflict a short term pain to achieve a greater goal. How long do you think this Compass crowd will leave food undelivered if volunteers “strike”?
The volunteers have not signed a commercial contract to ensure delivery of the meals. Compass Group has. Therefore it is the responsibility of Compass Group to deliver the meals. They would be advised in advance and have enough time to do something other than give their CEO a raise and donate to NAct.
The hospital lawyers and their executives should lose their jobs if all Compass has to do is drop the food at a depot in Dunedin. Bugger it, they should lose their jobs anyway for this outsourcing rubbish. Compass has a shiny website, but the contract is obviously not on it.
‘meals on wheels’ has been a godsend to many elderly and disabled!….seems crazy to mess with something which has enabled many frail people to stay in their own homes
+ 1 yes mum used meals on wheels and although she struggled with the meals sometimes, the service is needed and necessary – kia kaha to everyone who volunteers.
+100..I know someone well into her nineties who has them and she lives in her own home by herself …and my Mum in her eighties has just started getting them …and they are delicious and nutritional….i am very impressed with this service as it is!
Compass Group intends to work closely with volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill
but do they ask themselves whether the volunteer organisations want to work closely with Compass. Tosser he’s just me me me. Why should people do his work for free so his profit is larger?
New York Times article : Trans-Pacific Partnership
“Even if current negotiations over the trade agreement end with no deal, the draft chapter will still remain classified for four years as national security information. The initial version of an agreement projected by the government to affect millions of Americans will remain a secret until long after meaningful public debate is possible.
National security secrecy may be appropriate to protect us from our enemies; it should not be used to protect our politicians from us.
And the secrecy of trade negotiations does not just hide information from the public. It creates a funnel where powerful interests congregate, absent the checks, balances and necessary hurdles of the democratic process.
Free-trade agreements are not just about imports, tariffs or overseas jobs. Agreements bring complex national regulatory systems together, such as intellectual property law, with implications for free speech, privacy and public health.
Secrecy has real costs. Because the negotiating process combines a general shield from the public with privileged access for industry advisers, the substance of American free trade agreements does not represent truly national interests. It represents the interests of those members of industry who sit on the office’s Industry Trade Advisory Committees, which have regular access to negotiating information.”
Thanks for the link. And all this BS about needing to keep it confidential cos of preserving bargaining positions when they are all spying on each other and data trawling, meaning everyone knows EXACTLY where others bottom lines are.
And the point that no one seems to be addressing is that we don’t need free-trade agreements anyway. We just need to state the conditions that we would be willing to trade under and make it up to the other countries if they then choose to meet those conditions or not. This could bring about a race to the top rather than the race to the bottom that the present FTAs are producing.
““On one measure, the average hourly wage (including overtime), the wage gap was between 5% and 10% during the 1990s, rose to 21% in 2005, then fell to 10% in 2008. By the end of 2010 it was back to 21% and that is where it still was at the end of 2014.
That doesn’t take into account “benefits” in addition to wages such as the 9.5% contribution that Australian employers are required to make to their employees’ superannuation. On a measure including that, the pattern is similar to the average hourly wage but the gap is much bigger. It rose more or less steadily through the 1990s to a 45% peak in 2005. It fell to 34% in the year ending March 2009 and then began to rise again. By the year to March 2014 the gap was 42%.” ”
Internation news gathering site on Universal Basic Income
UBIEurope
Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) is an amount of money, paid on a regular basis to each individual unconditionally and universally, high enough to ensure a material existence and participation in society. UBI is a step towards an emancipatory welfare system.
Infused, you flatter Paul Henry to think that people actually listen to him! People may react to news about what he says, but only from a critical perspective.
First it was a good interview and if Paul Henry maintains that standard he will be a successful TV host. Having said that he’s wrong to say they are campaigning on the basis they are women. For goodness sake their credentials as far as ability, intelligence and leadership qualities (built up over many years of hard work) are beyond question. They don’t have those abilities because they are women. They have them because they have proven themselves to be two of the most capable people in the world.
What they are saying is exactly what Jackie Blue said they are saying:
Look at us. Look how far we have come. Women can do it too. Be strong and never give up.
Kim wasn’t going to let him get away with not answering the question of what the govt was going to do about the “demand side”. Smith tries to blame it on the ‘good news’ that people aren’t abandoning ship for Aussie now (like this hasn’t been inflating for a long time). I think the penny has dropped – difficult for it to drop any harder when the RB says something has to be done to avoid whatever the fashionable euphemism is for “disaster”.
Andrew Little is trying to stare the gnats down and make them be the ones to have to make that unpopular (with their constituents) decision to apply a CGT and stricter LTV ratios for multiple property investors. Good work.
Kim was asking the questions, not answering – that was Nick Smith’s duty as Minister for Housing. He did not want to address any solutions to the demand side, he fobbed that off onto English as Finance Minister. Smith did not see why as Minister of Housing, he should address what the Reserve Bank had to say about doing something like a CGT and LTV ratios to rein in the Auckland housing market. As if it was nothing to do with him. Really??
They built vast numbers of new houses in Ireland and Spain to feed the market just before it all went tits up too.
I didn’t think that Dr Smith could be worse at Housing than he was at ACC but he is. How could he be so unprepared that he got the hosts name wrong, not once but twice!
Lovely to hear real interviewing of politicians by a person who can think on their feet and keep to the topic not be diverted by the spin.
I am a HUGE Kim Hill fan and wish she could do more of this. Maybe she needs to be cloned 😉
Granddaddy Herald actually ran a story with a commentator from Environmental Defense Agency. It didn’t even appear censored. Since most of my comments never make it through moderation of Granddaddy here is my comment…
If we want to preserve clean green environmental NZ the public has to fight for it and for protection for the environment under the RMA. They also need to work together at a local level and with local and central government help to preserve it.
The RMA should be strengthened not weakened, it is already so weak as practically powerless mostly due to having council’s resource consent officers as the first line of defence.
Look at ports of Auckland. The council is doing nothing effective and allowing them to legally to steal the publicly owned harbour and zero public input and environmental effects are needed to do it.
Yesterday Campbell Live ran a story about NZ water being bottled and exported to China while a local farmer’s crops died due to drought.
This country has gone mad! Nothing makes any sense anymore!
We have lost our identity as a country in this soup of neoliberalism and corporate welfare and quest with zero questions asked trade agreements that are depriving decent Kiwis of a future.
Someone needs to read parliament a bedtime story, of the golden goose.
NZ environment is being destroyed. Soon no more golden eggs left in the fire sale.
God knows what will happen with TPPA. Now is the time to lobby.
Labour has allowed the Conservatives to frame its politics. Frames are the mental structures through which we perceive the world. The dominant Tory frame, constructed and polished across seven years by its skilled cabinet makers, is that the all-important issue is the deficit. The financial crisis, it claims, was caused not by the banks but by irresponsible government spending, for which the only cure is austerity.
Labour has pretty much done the same thing here. It’s why they keep on about the 9 successive surpluses.
Sure, we need to be aware of government spending but the government doesn’t really need to run a surplus – especially if they’re the sole creator of NZ$.
Labour (NZ) refers to their prudent management for precisely the reasons you quote. The NACT spin in NZ is that they are best at running the economy, which WE know isn’t true unless it is for the sector that fills their party coffer’s, their big business mates.
Its particularly interesting in that it confirms something I’ve suspected for a long time: Those big pay increases top management constantly give themselves if spread among lower paid staff can make significant difference to the lower salaries.
There is one thing I’m a bit sus about which is why he was on 1mil+ to start with.
It could be he just one day suddenly truly realised he had a ridiculous salary vs his staff & decided to do something about it.
But there could be some dodgy tax rort type reason for it too.
‘Yes, Prime Minister, there is a need for publicly funded news, current affairs and investigative journalism in order to inform the public and to hold the government to account. Look at the UK and US where there are 24 hour government funded news/current affairs channels. It is not good enough in a democracy to simply provide dumb down channels/programmes only for entertainment or for the lowest common demographics, based on maximum advertising revenue. It is astonishing that as a Prime Minister he would even ask such dumb questions. He needs to get some enlightenment and values into his thinking.”
NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto has returned its first color image of the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon.
The new photo, taken on April 9 from a distance of about 71 million miles (115 million kilometers), is already revealing insights about Pluto and Charon, as well as suggestions of the science to come when New Horizons flies by the Pluto system on July 14, NASA officials said.
Good bye to Dorthy Jellicic who died Tueday . A great worker for the underprinviledged she will be missed by all who knew her,
I am just glad that my wife and I had dinner a couple of months ago with Dorothy and husband Paul it was a last farewell for us.
Dorothy was a dedicated democratic Socialist and her death is lose to the who;le Labour movement . Good Bye Dorothy it was a pleasure to have had you as a friend .
A hunter from the US who has killed dozens of wild animals has been sent death wishes by furious social media users after a picture showing her lying down next to a dead giraffe was circulated.
See what a nitwit Nick Smith is! And he is the ‘Minister’ for housing! He has no clue, or pretends not to have any clue, on what REALLY needs to be done to solve the massive housing problem, especially in Auckland! The incompetent talking head is a fool and needs the sack.
Robert C. Bates—a 73-year-old reserve deputy who allegedly got the job thanks to his financial contributions—was ultimately charged with manslaughter for mistakenly shooting Eric Harris. But according to the Tulsa World, authorities first tried—apparently in vain—to cover up his lack of training.
There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Bates — formally or informally — paid for his position with the sheriff’s department.
This wouldn’t be unheard of. Salon reported in October 2014 that some departments openly ask for donations in exchange for reserve posts, with Okley, Michigan, for example, asking volunteers for $1,200. (“One qualifies for this prestigious program simply by paying $1,200 to the police department. In return, you’ll get a uniform, bulletproof vest and gun. For an additional donation, you’ll get a police badge and the right to carry your gun basically anywhere in the state, including stadiums, bars and daycares,” Joanna Rothkopf wrote.)
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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 ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
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. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
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 ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
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Milk prices in continuous decline.
Auckland house prices out of control.
And a government unwilling do anything about these crises.
Hope some of those million people who voted for this bunch of clowns realise the error of their ways.
John Key, “Unprincipled? Moi? Pfffft.”
Well, Armstrong appears to think so John Boy. Odd thing is that has taken Armstrong so long to realise what many of us have noticed for years.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11433314
“PM’s defence of Bridges devalues principles”
Armstrong is more even-handed these days…no hope for Roughan though.
Armstrong’s treatment of Cunliffe in 2014 was disgraceful and destroyed his credibility as a journalist.
Armstrong must be near retirement 😉
all of this blather for that
“Bridges could do himself and National a power of good, however, by coming clean and apologising. It would end this unseemly episode and make it harder for Labour to exploit when Parliament resumes”
to make it harder for Labour to exploit!!! Dear Mr. Armstrong, if the National Party played by the rules Labour would find nothing to exploit.
just another pinhead.
Andrew Geddis gives David Farrar quite the spank on Pundit, the sarcasm is worth several weeks of frantic lobbying from the anorexic penguin for a funding cut to Otago university.
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/three-signs-that-national-knows-simon-bridges-did-wrong
Kim Hill.
What a breath of fresh air listening to her intellect.
Or Mary, as Nick Smith likes to call her. Muppet.
Kim ran rings round the git.
And how! Though I can’t help but wonder if she was asked to fill in for Ferguson (rather than one of the usual fillers) because the ratings are sliding?
I’ve been wondering why Ferguson is suddenly off the air. Hadn’t heard any announcement. I did catch Kim Hill doing the voice-over for the ad for Morning Report for this week, yesterday, which seemed a bit of an odd choice. Almost like this is going to be for more than just this week; surprised that Guyon didn’t do it.
But if the ratings are sliding, putting Kim Hill on temporarily is not really the fix – putting her on permanently is.
annual leave?
Certainly possible. But it’s a bit unusual that Kim Hill has taken over, as they usually have other people available to fill in.
The last time Kim was on, was when Geoff Robinson took 1 month leave. They had 2 weeks of Kim Hill (and made a small issue about it being her return to the programme after 15+ years or something) and 2 weeks of someone else – can’t recall who.
To put Kim Hill on now instead of one of the other regular fillers-in, with no particular acknowledgement, seems a little fishy. Remember Kim Hill does have a Saturday morning show that must take at least a few days to prepare for.
Not like you to delve into conspiracy theories
Learn to follow your nose, not ignore it.
Learn to follow your nose, not ignore it.
Where am I theorising any particular course of action has been, or will be, taken?
All I’ve done is simply state that it’s a bit odd the way she’s been put on, pointing to the only other exceptional case where Kim Hill was on MR and contrasting what is happening now with what happened then.
Edit: veuto has just given the likely reason for Ferguson’s absence, which is what my post at 4.2.1 was trying to elicit, to see if anyone else knew.
I recall hearing on RNZ National a week or so ago that Susie Ferguson was going to Gallipoli to report from there.
I am thoroughly enjoying Kim’s return, with the standard of interviewing having gone up massively this week. Follow-up questions are based on what is actually said by the person being interviewed, rather than appearing to be read from a predetermined list of questions; fewer interruptions; and longer more indepth interviews vs the usual rushed, time limited interviews which really annoy me.
They have made no mention of how long Kim will be on this time, whereas last time she subbed when Robinson took a month’s leave, RNZ kept saying that she was only on for two weeks, with Susie Ferguson (I think) doing the other two weeks.
I also have the impression this time that Kim is almost playing first fiddle, with Espiner playing second fiddle. Strange.
I would love to see Kim back on Morning Report permanently, but doubt that she would want the early starts permanently with her other interests.
She would be great on Checkpoint, though IMO.
I intend emailing RNZ in the next day or so, putting all of the above to them.
If you do, please can you post a copy of the actual letter here?
Many others may want to send a similar message!
Will do, Paul. May have to wait until Sun or Mon. Again impressed this morning; and Kim certainly seemed to be the lead, with Espiner in second place.
Ah, that explains it, thanks.
Indeed!! She’s just such a gem
But Nick Smith is just such a liar. ‘The Melbourne housing market is in just as bad a state as Aucklands’ he says. An outrageous lie that is.
The Nat’s will be spewing the reality show Our First Home exposed the truth about Aucklands over heated property market. It got worst when the deputy reserve bank chap comes out swinging the next day mooting its time for the Government to introduce a capital gain tax.
Ouch!
It looks like the election of a hard left leaning government in Greece is making things worse and it is getting very close to the point where it will default and then be forced from the Eurozone.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11537495/Black-hole-in-Greek-finances-grows-as-Athens-is-pushed-to-the-brink-of-euro-exit.html
Well the Torygraph is a reliable unbiased source isn’t it?
It may default and declare a kind of Country Bankruptcy. That’s how it is done in a capitalist system isn’t it? Borrow, try to make it work, live large in the meantime and if worse comes to worse fold up the company, fuck the creditors and reinvent. Mark Bryers is a pin up boy for this, but on a smaller scale of course.
ha ha, yep, black hole being balanced in the usual yin and yang fashion by the white infinite money-printing machine elsewhere. black hole vs white infinity.
The fallacies and myths of the financial system are on full display in Greece that is for sure. It is just not as people like gosman, who are completely lost in the system, see it.
The Tories don’t like admitting that countries can default and that they should when they can’t repay the loans.
Of course, countries shouldn’t be taking out loans at all, ever but the Tories hate that truth even more.
And the Tories hate those realities because they view government as a perfectly safe place to get money for nothing.
Excellent plan- time tested- never fails.
Ask any rich person.
like the financial advisor suggesting students do it to free themselves from debt? or the companies that liquidate to avoid legal liability?
A smart move to force the Germans to cough up for World War 2 days. Hope they include interest on top 🙂
Haven’t they already paid for that? Did we get Reparations from UK for slaughtering our men in WWI… Passchendaele, Somme, Gallipoli etc… oops I mean the germans and Turks.
I’ve been following this story for the last while, and Greece certainly does have a case – though the amount claimed varies depending upon the context:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/08/greece-germany-war-reparations-demands
And speaking of Russia:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-lawmakers-want-germany-to-pay-reparations-for-world-war-ii/515373.html
I certainly won’t be volunteering to assist the privitised meals on wheels program, once I have the free time again (if that ever happens). Seems I’m not the only one:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/339236/volunteer-quits-over-food-plan
From this earlier article it seems likely that Compass’s business model involves externalising any problems regarding food-handling/ safety onto volunteers:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/336234/frozen-meals-south-slammed
Best thing volunteers can do is vote with their feet. Give their time to a different organisation until this bizarre situation is altered.
Compass Group is going to lecture the volunteers on how to properly do what some have been doing for years? Volunteers should start send invoices for their time.
“Best thing volunteers can do is vote with their feet.”
Except that will leave people without meals. Would be good to see some of the families getting involved.
“Volunteers should start send invoices for their time.”
This is a very good point. If this is about business model ideology, how come they’re not paying for deliver?
Sometimes you have to inflict a short term pain to achieve a greater goal. How long do you think this Compass crowd will leave food undelivered if volunteers “strike”?
How long do you think someone can go without meals?
Because then they wouldn’t make as much profit for the
bludgersshareholders.The volunteers have not signed a commercial contract to ensure delivery of the meals. Compass Group has. Therefore it is the responsibility of Compass Group to deliver the meals. They would be advised in advance and have enough time to do something other than give their CEO a raise and donate to NAct.
If so that would be awesome. Are you sure the Compass’s contract includes delivery though? or just provision of meals?
The hospital lawyers and their executives should lose their jobs if all Compass has to do is drop the food at a depot in Dunedin. Bugger it, they should lose their jobs anyway for this outsourcing rubbish. Compass has a shiny website, but the contract is obviously not on it.
http://compass-group.co.nz/our-brands/medirest/
‘meals on wheels’ has been a godsend to many elderly and disabled!….seems crazy to mess with something which has enabled many frail people to stay in their own homes
+ 1 yes mum used meals on wheels and although she struggled with the meals sometimes, the service is needed and necessary – kia kaha to everyone who volunteers.
+100..I know someone well into her nineties who has them and she lives in her own home by herself …and my Mum in her eighties has just started getting them …and they are delicious and nutritional….i am very impressed with this service as it is!
Compass Group intends to work closely with volunteer organisations in Dunedin and Invercargill
but do they ask themselves whether the volunteer organisations want to work closely with Compass. Tosser he’s just me me me. Why should people do his work for free so his profit is larger?
agreed!…volunteer work is done for love and care of fellow human beings ( something John Key’s Nact govt and friends do not understand)
….in a way it is an obscenity this outfit Compass is taking over for profit
….i expect the standards and the whole ‘meals on wheels’ service will decline, if not crash
….the sooner this govt is out the better
New York Times article : Trans-Pacific Partnership
“Even if current negotiations over the trade agreement end with no deal, the draft chapter will still remain classified for four years as national security information. The initial version of an agreement projected by the government to affect millions of Americans will remain a secret until long after meaningful public debate is possible.
National security secrecy may be appropriate to protect us from our enemies; it should not be used to protect our politicians from us.
And the secrecy of trade negotiations does not just hide information from the public. It creates a funnel where powerful interests congregate, absent the checks, balances and necessary hurdles of the democratic process.
Free-trade agreements are not just about imports, tariffs or overseas jobs. Agreements bring complex national regulatory systems together, such as intellectual property law, with implications for free speech, privacy and public health.
Secrecy has real costs. Because the negotiating process combines a general shield from the public with privileged access for industry advisers, the substance of American free trade agreements does not represent truly national interests. It represents the interests of those members of industry who sit on the office’s Industry Trade Advisory Committees, which have regular access to negotiating information.”
Read more here:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/opinion/dont-keep-trade-talks-secret.html?_r=1
Thanks for the link. And all this BS about needing to keep it confidential cos of preserving bargaining positions when they are all spying on each other and data trawling, meaning everyone knows EXACTLY where others bottom lines are.
And the point that no one seems to be addressing is that we don’t need free-trade agreements anyway. We just need to state the conditions that we would be willing to trade under and make it up to the other countries if they then choose to meet those conditions or not. This could bring about a race to the top rather than the race to the bottom that the present FTAs are producing.
From Bill Rosenberg at CTU
““On one measure, the average hourly wage (including overtime), the wage gap was between 5% and 10% during the 1990s, rose to 21% in 2005, then fell to 10% in 2008. By the end of 2010 it was back to 21% and that is where it still was at the end of 2014.
That doesn’t take into account “benefits” in addition to wages such as the 9.5% contribution that Australian employers are required to make to their employees’ superannuation. On a measure including that, the pattern is similar to the average hourly wage but the gap is much bigger. It rose more or less steadily through the 1990s to a 45% peak in 2005. It fell to 34% in the year ending March 2009 and then began to rise again. By the year to March 2014 the gap was 42%.” ”
http://union.org.nz/economicbulletin166
full report here
http://union.org.nz/sites/union.org.nz/files/CTU-Monthly-Economic-Bulletin-166-March-2015-2.pdf
Seems odd, aye, when you consider how marvellous Key and English say our economy is compared to Oz, that it’s not reflected in some wages?
It is a ‘Rock Star’ economy : Rocks for the poor and wealth for the stars.
Awesome
Michael Tavares (Kauri climbing chap) is in Court today.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1504/S00358/michael-tavares-in-court-today-for-titirangi-tree-action.htm
Internation news gathering site on Universal Basic Income
http://paper.basicincome-europe.org/
Love the term ’emancipatory welfare’.
Waiting for Stephs post on Paul Henry.
http://thestandard.org.nz/a-culture-of-intimidation/#comment-1000814
Infused, you flatter Paul Henry to think that people actually listen to him! People may react to news about what he says, but only from a critical perspective.
Why are you expecting Steph to post on Henry?
Has he done something awful? (Lately, I mean 😀 )
Well, I couldn’t put it any better than Jackie Blue, to be honest.
https://bootstheory.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/qotd-jackie-blue-on-feminism/
You do realise Jackie Blue went on the Paul Henry show this morning, agreed with what he had to say, then labelled him a feminist…be careful who you agree with!
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/interviews/dr-jackie-blue-paul-henry-wrong-on-feminism#axzz3XRhBnj5E
Tell me you think Paul Henry is wrong in what he is saying.
First it was a good interview and if Paul Henry maintains that standard he will be a successful TV host. Having said that he’s wrong to say they are campaigning on the basis they are women. For goodness sake their credentials as far as ability, intelligence and leadership qualities (built up over many years of hard work) are beyond question. They don’t have those abilities because they are women. They have them because they have proven themselves to be two of the most capable people in the world.
What they are saying is exactly what Jackie Blue said they are saying:
Look at us. Look how far we have come. Women can do it too. Be strong and never give up.
I think the post made it very clear I was agreeing with a specific statement made by Jackie Blue.
And saying things like “Tell me you think Paul Henry is wrong” is strangely one of the least effective ways of getting me to do anything.
Here is the link for Kim Hill v. Nick Smith this morning.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20174921/building-and-housing-minister-on-reserve-bank's-housing-warning
He called her Mary twice.
Suggests she rattled him.
Good.
Nice to see these arrogant ministers actually asked some hard questions for a change.
That is what a good interview is.
More please.
Kim wasn’t going to let him get away with not answering the question of what the govt was going to do about the “demand side”. Smith tries to blame it on the ‘good news’ that people aren’t abandoning ship for Aussie now (like this hasn’t been inflating for a long time). I think the penny has dropped – difficult for it to drop any harder when the RB says something has to be done to avoid whatever the fashionable euphemism is for “disaster”.
Andrew Little is trying to stare the gnats down and make them be the ones to have to make that unpopular (with their constituents) decision to apply a CGT and stricter LTV ratios for multiple property investors. Good work.
She didn’t make any particular reference to the other forms of demand though.
Like overseas investors, multi-house owners etc.
Nor alternatives on supply end like Govt building houses & selling them at low cost.
Also: is Kim only temping for Mary or is this a permanent change due to the flagging listnership?
Kim was asking the questions, not answering – that was Nick Smith’s duty as Minister for Housing. He did not want to address any solutions to the demand side, he fobbed that off onto English as Finance Minister. Smith did not see why as Minister of Housing, he should address what the Reserve Bank had to say about doing something like a CGT and LTV ratios to rein in the Auckland housing market. As if it was nothing to do with him. Really??
They built vast numbers of new houses in Ireland and Spain to feed the market just before it all went tits up too.
It’s called journalism.
In threat of extinction in John Key’s New Zealand.
it is great to have Kim Hill back on Morning Report!
I didn’t think that Dr Smith could be worse at Housing than he was at ACC but he is. How could he be so unprepared that he got the hosts name wrong, not once but twice!
Lovely to hear real interviewing of politicians by a person who can think on their feet and keep to the topic not be diverted by the spin.
I am a HUGE Kim Hill fan and wish she could do more of this. Maybe she needs to be cloned 😉
+++STOP PRESS+++
Granddaddy Herald actually ran a story with a commentator from Environmental Defense Agency. It didn’t even appear censored. Since most of my comments never make it through moderation of Granddaddy here is my comment…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11433214
If we want to preserve clean green environmental NZ the public has to fight for it and for protection for the environment under the RMA. They also need to work together at a local level and with local and central government help to preserve it.
The RMA should be strengthened not weakened, it is already so weak as practically powerless mostly due to having council’s resource consent officers as the first line of defence.
Look at ports of Auckland. The council is doing nothing effective and allowing them to legally to steal the publicly owned harbour and zero public input and environmental effects are needed to do it.
Yesterday Campbell Live ran a story about NZ water being bottled and exported to China while a local farmer’s crops died due to drought.
This country has gone mad! Nothing makes any sense anymore!
We have lost our identity as a country in this soup of neoliberalism and corporate welfare and quest with zero questions asked trade agreements that are depriving decent Kiwis of a future.
Someone needs to read parliament a bedtime story, of the golden goose.
NZ environment is being destroyed. Soon no more golden eggs left in the fire sale.
God knows what will happen with TPPA. Now is the time to lobby.
http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz
+100 SaveNZ….”God knows what will happen with TPPA. Now is the time to lobby”
…where is the Labour Party on TPPA?….TIME TO COME CLEAN LABOUR PARTY!.
Both the Greens and NZF oppose the TPPA ….where does Labour stand?
Here is Winnie on the TPPA…..to the left of the Labour Party again !
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67533458/winston-peters-responds-to-tppa-protestors
Why should anyone bother to vote Labour if they do not oppose the TPPA?
I’m sure someone else has probably posted this anti-Hosking rant but here it is:
http://gregorycoopersblog.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/a-rant-about-mike-hosking.html?m=1
ust when hope and courage are called for, Labour promises bean-counting
Labour has pretty much done the same thing here. It’s why they keep on about the 9 successive surpluses.
Sure, we need to be aware of government spending but the government doesn’t really need to run a surplus – especially if they’re the sole creator of NZ$.
Labour (NZ) refers to their prudent management for precisely the reasons you quote. The NACT spin in NZ is that they are best at running the economy, which WE know isn’t true unless it is for the sector that fills their party coffer’s, their big business mates.
https://twitter.com/LukeTipoki/status/588570144940535809/photo/1
Inspiring Management story
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/67789626/gravity-payments-founder-dan-price-cuts-his-salary-from-us1m-to-us70k-doubles-staff-wages
The world needs more people like that.
And that proves, beyond doubt, that the reason why we have poverty is because a few people have far too much income.
The one thing we cannot afford is the rich.
Indeed.
Its particularly interesting in that it confirms something I’ve suspected for a long time: Those big pay increases top management constantly give themselves if spread among lower paid staff can make significant difference to the lower salaries.
There is one thing I’m a bit sus about which is why he was on 1mil+ to start with.
It could be he just one day suddenly truly realised he had a ridiculous salary vs his staff & decided to do something about it.
But there could be some dodgy tax rort type reason for it too.
Johh Key has said he admired Robert Muldoon a lot.
One can discern Key’s attitude to news, press, current affairs and investigative journalism, if you see what Muldoon’s attitude to those were.
Watch the excellent part 4 of the link below to make the connection:
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/50-years-of-new-zealand-television-episode-one-2010#
John Key has just asked this question:
“Key: Would people watch publicly funded broadcast TV?”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/67802231/key-would-people-watch-publicly-funded-broadcast-tv
My response is this:
‘Yes, Prime Minister, there is a need for publicly funded news, current affairs and investigative journalism in order to inform the public and to hold the government to account. Look at the UK and US where there are 24 hour government funded news/current affairs channels. It is not good enough in a democracy to simply provide dumb down channels/programmes only for entertainment or for the lowest common demographics, based on maximum advertising revenue. It is astonishing that as a Prime Minister he would even ask such dumb questions. He needs to get some enlightenment and values into his thinking.”
Even if they didn’t watch, they at least have the choice.
1st Color Image of Pluto
Good bye to Dorthy Jellicic who died Tueday . A great worker for the underprinviledged she will be missed by all who knew her,
I am just glad that my wife and I had dinner a couple of months ago with Dorothy and husband Paul it was a last farewell for us.
Dorothy was a dedicated democratic Socialist and her death is lose to the who;le Labour movement . Good Bye Dorothy it was a pleasure to have had you as a friend .
Woman live tweets her sons abstinence only sex ed.
https://storify.com/metkat_meanie/livetweeting-abstinance-sex-ed
Classic. Great read.
what can we do about a person like this
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11433332
disgusting human
A cult of death.
Ricky GervaisVerified account
@rickygervais
What must’ve happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal & then lie next to it smiling?
https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/587544759704625152/photo/1
A bow hunter – a most impressive traditional hunting skill. To bad it seems to be simply for her own self aggrandizement and commercial promotion.
Traditional huh.
/
http://rebeccafrancis.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Z7-Extreme-1024×768.jpg
See what a nitwit Nick Smith is! And he is the ‘Minister’ for housing! He has no clue, or pretends not to have any clue, on what REALLY needs to be done to solve the massive housing problem, especially in Auckland! The incompetent talking head is a fool and needs the sack.
Go to these two links to see what I mean:
[1] The talking head at a public meeting:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/67799605/what-auckland-properties-can-you-buy-for-550000
[2] With Kim Hill this morning on RNZ:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20174921/building-and-housing-minister-on-reserve-bank's-housing-warning
From what I’ve read recently it’s taken precisely 20 days to make the $20 thousand first start pointless .
That Nick Smith interview is amazing.
Urban safaris.
Robert C. Bates—a 73-year-old reserve deputy who allegedly got the job thanks to his financial contributions—was ultimately charged with manslaughter for mistakenly shooting Eric Harris. But according to the Tulsa World, authorities first tried—apparently in vain—to cover up his lack of training.
http://gawker.com/tulsa-authorities-reportedly-falsified-reserve-deputys-1698133492?
yep I bet more than this dude go on these – we just never hear about it.
Was thinking the same marty – and sure enough.
There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Bates — formally or informally — paid for his position with the sheriff’s department.
This wouldn’t be unheard of. Salon reported in October 2014 that some departments openly ask for donations in exchange for reserve posts, with Okley, Michigan, for example, asking volunteers for $1,200. (“One qualifies for this prestigious program simply by paying $1,200 to the police department. In return, you’ll get a uniform, bulletproof vest and gun. For an additional donation, you’ll get a police badge and the right to carry your gun basically anywhere in the state, including stadiums, bars and daycares,” Joanna Rothkopf wrote.)
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/14/8413879/eric-harris-robert-bates-reserve
http://kfor.com/2015/04/13/oklahoma-group-calls-for-end-to-buy-a-badge-programs-after-reserve-deputy-involved-shooting/
Ok, I have just modified the method for setting the comment details to client side rather than server side.
This should fix the problem with the occasional cached pages showing up in other peoples browsers.
Haven’t checked on Internet Explorer 🙂
Seems to work everywhere.
what, including IE? #miracle
I wouldn’t try it on IE6 or IE7
I wouldn’t try anything 🙂