So mass surveillance has been outsourced to 4 of the other 5 eyes till GSCB law was passed, our cable has been eavesdropped and the speaker has a letter which possibly proves our PM mislead parliament on numerous occasions.
Vote positive kids, ignore the MSM and love or hate the big German he has done the citizens of not just NZ a service getting this out there.
Phil, my thoughts exactly, especially when the interviewee is working up to the main point or conclusion at the end of the statement, and it’s spoken over. Harre’s technique was to try to hold her ground and finish, and when that was not successful, to use the beginning of the next question to compete her point.
Interviewers seem to have a technique that involves two things- one to rattle the interviewee by pressuring by quick questions, and also to keep asking questions prepared before the interview, even if they are going against the flow of the ‘dialogue’.
It all ends up to a disjointed interview.
Interviewees of course need to stop their technique of pausing at odd places to gain breath in order to run sentences together and thus take away the natural breaks which interviewers use to insert their next question. Interviewees have their techniques also to manipulate the interview. It’s all part of what can be a very unsatisfactory game, and not played in the interests of the general public.
But that’s what we’ve learned afresh from last night’s moment of truth- little done by those in power, and mostly this is a criticism of the Right, is done in the interests of the general public who are manipulated, lied to by omission and commission, kept uninformed, discouraged from interest in politics or voting, distracted deliberately by false issues or by media circuses.
The historian in me knows that this is all not new. It also tells me that there are times of renewal in a nation’s history.
I pray that September 2014 is one of these times of renewal.
It’s the ultimate in conceit really. Ryan, Espiner and Fergusson all do it – not allowing interviewees to finish a sentence or give complete answers to their questions. It’d be interesting to do timings on interviewer/interviewee – my suspicions are that Ryan occupied more time than Harre.
They’d do well to take a few lessons/coaching from the likes of (say) Colin Peacock and/or Jeremy Rose.
They’re all exactly what’s wrong with public service broadcasting – they push themselves as though they are ‘the product’.
Laila is good at pegging on till the end phillip ure. It just may be that Kathryn wants to cover more things in the allocated time than Laila’s full answers would allow.
“Sir” Bruce Ferguson, former government spy boss spining for Key on Morning Report, said Snowden is a traitor and therefore what he has to say has no value. Brucy earning his knighthood said no NSA in NZ. Of course as a spy, he was/still is? paid to lie and obfuscate.
also the difference between Snowden and, say, Ferguson, is Snowden has ended up in Russia with his life turned upside down in an attempt to shine some light into dark spaces…. Ferguson got a knighthood.
I am really annoyed right now. It is more than an ideological difference of opinion, imo, between Key fans and tose who don’t want Key. To me it is of much deeper significance than this. And even spoon fed last night out media have let us down, so far.
I can’t recall a PM who “changed” his version of events so often over the period of his tenure as this one…
I recall key very upset at Clark about Winston and Glenn’s stoush, I recall the uproar over her speeding to an AB match, to her signing a painting she didnt paint for charity… about the attack on democracy proclaimed by the herald over the attempt to bring transparency to political donations…
Snowden did computer system work for a spy agency. I don’t think that makes him a spy and therefore not to be trusted. Secret Squirrel Ferguson headed a spy agency. That makes him a spy.
My thoughts exactly. The CEO says – therefore it is so – “he would know”. And of course Ferguson knew absolutely all and everything that went/goes on in the GCSB because he was ‘across’ ALL staff 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
I was sort of marveling at Ferguson’s attempt at spin and self-preservation really. On one interview I heard, he was even talking about the need for deep sea divers. I suppose that might be enough to convince portions of the public but it doesn’t convince me.
If anyone happens to notice the Fibre rollout by Chorus – checkout the method by which hundreds/thousands of single subscribers are multiplexed using Wavelength Division Multiplexing – a kind of prismatic separation of light colours. Then think about NSA’s technical capabilities and the possibility of tapping (I dunno – perhaps using some sort of wrap around capability) AND the fact that the Pacific cable is in a self-correcting ring where temporary outages can be catered for, and even go unnoticed.
There have been outages, but might point is that I’ve no doubt there is the technical capability to tap – and its without the need for Ferguson’s deep sea divers – whether he knows it or not. Who ever suggested it was occurring at sea anyway?
Wasn’t there something about a specially tasked submarine?
Another tech question. If as Key says that the GCBS only tapped the cable for cybersecurity reasons, how does that work if they’re not collecting mass data? Surely they have to collect the data in order to be able to filter it to what they are after.
+1.
Unfortunately these days I pay less attention to what I hear on MSM outlets and I didn’t hear about specialty submarines. Nothing would surprise me however.
In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points — spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys. “At these spots, the fiber optics can be more easily tapped, because they are no longer bundled together, rather laid out individually,” Deutsche Welle reported.
Sir Bruce Fergson’s adoption of the ‘traitor’ smear in relation to Edward Snowden brought Samuel Johnson’s famous quote, ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel’ into sharp focus. True patriots use whatever means, even at extreme risk to their very existence, to protect the honour and integrity of the country they treasure – traitors spy on their own people.
Interesting @ adam. I actually allow my poor starving student neighbours to use my WiFi at times in order to do their assignments, and visitors to access their emails. I’m happy for them to use a piece of my monthIy quota that I can’t possibly use. I don’t hang off them everytime they do use it. They are adults, and they deserve their privacy. They reciprocate in other ways. It’s ‘community’.
Have friends in the Defence Forces that have very little time for Mataparae.
And it’s been a while since I read Nicky Hager’s Other People’s Wars – but I’m surmising that Mataparae may have been in the upper echelon of those who worked with the US – and misinformed Helen Clark – while that was occurring.
I have such respect for those who go into the Defence Force as a way to serve NZ’ers and humanity. Unfortunately, they are often used for other purposes and by those who don’t share their values or integrity.
Not jumpping down your throat here Chooky as I know this was nothing sinister in your post but as a person in the NZDF I would also like to point out that there are a lot of fine women serving too.
Understand where you’re coming from @ Molly. Personally I reckon Jerr is still working out which side his bread is buttered on. (He could be excused if he was ekshully a bit fick – but he’s not.) I wish he’d just grow some balls ‘cos he seems to be just looking ahead to retirement via the cushiest route possible. Same goes for Ferguson and various others. If I was a gambler, It’d put bets on his being on the wrong side of history (going forward, so-to-speak, as a matter of fek, ekshully). Shame they’re not more worried about the legacy they leave for their descendants)
Mateparae was only head of GCSB for 5 months. Then they moved him on to the GG role. Which means he will have to decide what to do if there is no clear election result and Key decides to keep on governing.
When Matapaere was replaced by Key’s mate, it was pretty obvious to me that they wanted some business type at the head of the spooks rather than a military person. I think most of their spying these days is for commercial reasons, and I don’t think it’s to protect Kiwi commercial interests.
Really quiet here today. RWNJ astroturfers are all over at Stuff, posting like crazy because Andrea Vance has finally stepped outside the tent and started questioning what is happening in NZ. They must be so rattled.
I hate stuff and all it stands for. And all the judgemental haters who think we should swallow their hate speech as some form of eternal truth. Sorry pissed at this piece in stuff – Journalist in this country happy to stomp on peoples rights again.
Oh please you’re going to slag of the caregivers, then what about the brother, nephew or the journalist? You’re going to support a system which assumes mental capacity without rigorous testing, that quite frankly, is a horses ass. I know a person who they decided had a mental age of 11 and was going to be stuck there – turned out when they got their BCom, the doctor looked like real brightspark.
But no lets let journalists sensationalise, lets let journalists and family members trample over peoples rights. Oh wait lets slag of workers who take people to a place were they have a legal right to be. Joy.
Herald columnist Wendyl Nissen.
Sticks it to the right … re Dirty Politics and Newstalkzb. If only more people like her would also come forward. There is still time.
… she also had a regular spot on Newstalkzb discussing politics. (I assume you didn’t bother with the link Tracey because I am not sure what point you are trying to make … her column is in today’s Herald.)
…”High-profile Maori Television executives Julian Wilcox and Carol Hirschfeld have been demoted from their jobs in a restructure process announced to staff at the station today.
Maori Television Service chief executive Paora Maxwell briefed his executive staff this morning about a structural realignment that has seen Mr Wilcox and Ms Hirschfeld both big casualties in the changes at the station.”…
…The Herald understands a new role called head of corporate affairs has been created at the station among several other positions including a head of programming and production role – that will oversee Mr Wilcox’s old news and current affairs job.
The source said Mr Wilcox and Ms Hirschfeld are able to apply for the role but it’s likely it will go to the station’s current general manager programming, Haunui Royal, who is currently in Hawaii on holiday.”…
Agree Yeshe – Maori TV has been one of the bright lights in the current attack on quality radio and TV. I must also mention the good work done by TV One on Sunday mornings BEFORE & AFTER Q&A. but I can’t understand why Jim Mora was installed as co-host on Checkpoint with Mary Wilson (well I can, he was put there to water down Mary’s talent for asking the hard questions).
It didn’t go all the way this time, but Feminist Initiative has changed the conversation in Swedish politics, establishing that feminism is not something that can be ignored. The party has forced Swedish politicians to talk about gender equality and discrimination—and incorporate an intersectional perspective on oppressive structure. In so doing, they’ve put the possibility of a successful feminist party on the international map. A political party solely devoted to feminist issues is no longer a faraway dream, but a real thing
So regardless of the final vote counts in Sweden’s recent election, and no matter who makes up the governing coalition, it looks as if the country will preserve many free-market reforms. The situation is reminiscent of what happened in Britain in 1997, when the Labour party’s Tony Blair ousted the Conservatives after 18 years in opposition. Far from overturning the economic agenda of Margaret Thatcher, Blair broadly accepted it and proceeded to move left on social policy and immigration. Those moves damaged Britain even while its economy grew. The same thing could happen in Sweden. Conservatives appear to have won the broad economic argument in many countries, but the culture wars are a different matter entirely.
But…but…but after the Cold Play ‘error”, national wouldn’t steal again????
“John Key could be in copyright trouble over music used in the DVD to mark his year as National Party leader.
The party has been warned it is walking a fine line by using a newly created piece of music very similar to Coldplay’s Clocks.
The similarities are enough to have prompted the Australasian Performing Right Association, which manages copyright issues and licences for many international bands in New Zealand, to notify the copyright holder for Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
The Weekend Herald asked a music lawyer and musicology analyst to compare the Coldplay song to music used in the opening segments of the Ambitious for New Zealand – Meet John Key DVD because of confusion from some readers about the song in its opening segments.
National Party campaign manager Jo de Joux said the music was composed by “an Auckland artist” and paid for by the production company which produced the DVD.
However, music lawyer Chris Hocquard said if it was similar enough that the public was confused into thinking it was Clocks, it could be in breach of copyright laws and the Fair Trading Act.
“The test is ‘does it confuse?’ Does the public listen to that and think ‘that’s Clocks?’ There’s a very fine line when you’re doing this and you have to be careful not to cross it.
And I’m not sure they haven’t.”
Dr Graeme Downes, the former Verlaines frontman who is now a musicology consultant at Otago University, said the music shared the same rumba beat, harmony and chords as Clocks.
It also had a similar drum introduction, and the key was the same, “which draws even greater attention to the harmonic similarity”.
“If I were approached by a lawyer to furnish a report for a prosecution of copyright infringement against the music on the DVD I would happily do so. If approached by a lawyer to furnish a report in its defence, I would decline.”
Martin is well-known for his alignment with left-wing causes, such as fair trade and Oxfam, and his opposition to the Iraq War and George Bush. In his acceptance speech after winning the best record Grammy for Clocks in 2004, he specifically endorsed presidential candidate Democrat John Kerry.
The NZ branch of Coldplay’s record company, EMI, had no comment.”
” National Party leader John Key says his staff should never have signed off a DVD that appears to plagiarise a hit by English rock band Coldplay.
DVD lands Key in hot water
Key yesterday ordered a recall of 20,000 DVDs featuring him in a video called Ambitious for New Zealand after Coldplay’s record company, EMI, warned National it was breaching copyright by using music similar to the smash hit Clocks.
The DVD focuses on Key travelling New Zealand by car, visiting schools and factories and talking about his vision for the country.
Produced for National by Production Shed TV, the cost has not been disclosed but The Press understands the party spent $110,000 on it.
The DVD was meant to relaunch Key’s image and introduce him to New Zealanders unfamiliar with the National leader, but the botch-up has embarrassed and angered the party.
Last week Key toured South Island centres, handing out thousands of the DVDs, and planned a similar North Island tour.
National Party campaign manager Jo de Joux previously insisted the music had been commissioned from an Auckland artist and was original.
She said yesterday that the party was angry with the production company. “We paid these guys to make a DVD for us. We relied on their expertise and they have let us down.”
Key said National should not have relied on Production Shed.
“My people relied on the production company. In my opinion, they should have kicked it upstairs for me or one of the senior management team to sign off, and they didn’t,” he said. “
In 2009 Key said National should not have relied on Production Shed.
“My people relied on the production company. In my opinion, they should have kicked it upstairs for me or one of the senior management team to sign off, and they didn’t,” he said. “
Is that John Key, he who knows nothing cos he delegates saying something should have been kicked upstairs to him for sign off? Is he an Intellectual property expert?
“As you may know I write a column called Wendyl Wants to Know in the Weekend Herald every Saturday which looks at what is in processed food.”
“Earlier this year I was on the receiving end of a concerted effort, including legal letters, to get me discredited through my bosses at the Herald.
The person behind it was Katherine Rich, the chief executive of the Food & Grocery Council….
After that I noticed that right-wing bloggers Whale Oil and Cactus Kate (appeared to have begun a smear campaign against me. ”
Katherine Rich and Slater took money to rubbish a food writer.
Now THAT is the story that will incense National supporters.
National Party sued over Eminem copyright infringment
“A claim filed in the High Court today alleges the National Party used elements of Eminem’s Grammy-winning song in TV ads screening during their election campaign.”
it is not just raining on National: it is pissing down!
So either this is going to be a big turnout or a lot of people who normally vote have early voted so they don’t need to later & there will be low turnout on the day.
Weather forecasts have possible snow and rain for election day according to Stuff; worst since 1984 and a lot of us can remember.
This had me chuckling, a welcome portent, and a brilliant old woman ….
“Left-wing political commentator Chris Trotter recalled being in Dunedin for the 1984 election which saw Prime Minister Rob Muldoon defeated.
“The memory that sticks in my mind the most was going up Carroll Street towards the polling booth and there was a very old lady trudging up through the snow as it was falling.
“She looked so old and frail and I said, ‘do you need any help?’ And she said to me, ‘no, it’s alright, I can get rid of this bastard Muldoon all by myself’.”
Despite the winter weather, that election was the high point of New Zealand’s turnout to general elections, with 93.7 per cent of registered voters participating, Trotter said.
I am embarrassed and ashamed by TV1 and TV3’s analysis of last night’s event. Never have I seen such a collective partisan snow job by New Zealand’s media
Is this a Monty Python Skit in the Herald?
Breaking news is article on “secret document danger” (about how Key has endangered NZ, potentially), followed by “kiwi jihadist wants to return home”, with a picture of Mohammad Daniel, sporting a gun. Mustn’t have liked the Eminem story, as that has been bumped to third!
Surreal….we need Russel Brand to take on our MSM, like he did with Fox news!
Anyone seen anything more on this? I can’t find anything RadioLive’s website (but they have a naff search engine).
RadioLIVE Newsroom
@LIVENewsDesk
John Key’s encouraging voters in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate to vote for Labour in a bid to destroy Kim Dotcom’s Internet Mana Movement.
But this is where things could get a little hairy. Mr Key told TV3’s The Nation on Saturday morning that if he felt that Mr Peters was mucking him around, he’d advise the Governor-general to summon the new Parliament. He also signalled his intention to continue governing as a sort of pro tempore Prime Minister until defeated by a motion of No-Confidence – at which point he would advise the Governor-General to dissolve the House and call a new General Election. Faced with the prospect of being punished by the voters for forcing them into an unnecessary and unwanted snap election, Mr Key clearly believes that Mr Peters would blink first and get in behind a National-led Government.
Such an outcome would, however, constitute a clear breach of New Zealand’s constitutional conventions and come very close to being a coup d’état. If Mr Key cannot negotiate an agreement with Mr Peters, then the proper course for the Governor-General is to invite the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Cunliffe, to have a go at assembling the requisite majority in the House of Representatives.
Only in the event of both Mr Key and Mr Cunliffe being unable to assemble a majority would the Governor-General be entitled to convene the House and test its members’ willingness to do so. Should that prove unattainable, then – and only then – would the Governor-General be obliged to dissolve the Parliament and ask us – the voters – to elect a new one.
one thing that has fascinated me the last few years is that, despite the low opinion folks had of politicians prior to this regime, how much of our system of government relied on personal integrity and accountability.
Cabinet manual – toothless
Privileges committee – dominated by the government, so a lapdog
Speaker – no recourse to a blatantly biased and incompetent Speaker
Classified documents – binding on the opposition, declassified on a whim by the pm
I wonder if it would be more effective to be able to kick privileges committee, cabinet manual things, and speaker rulings to the supreme court in a timely manner? The US court is stacked by whichever government is in power, but maybe if jurists elected supreme court members for fixed terms?
Keys approach now – I wondered when he was going to reach for the Nationalism card – it seems now is the time!
I’m loth to publish this whole letter but I think you need the context.
Hello Adam
I’m contacting you with this special message to thank you for your extraordinary support over recent weeks.
This mirrors the support and feedback we’re getting from Kiwis all across the country.
In the last few days of this campaign we are determined that nothing will stand between us and laying out our clear plan for New Zealand’s future… because that’s what New Zealanders’ are asking for.
It is those same Kiwis who are also asking us what business Kim Dotcom and his foreign political friends have in telling Kiwis what they ought to think four days out from our election.
But just to be perfectly clear, there is no truth to the wild allegations they’ve made – there are no NSA spy bases in New Zealand and no mass surveillance of New Zealanders.
Our election on Saturday is about the future of New Zealand.
We will continue to work hard right up until Friday night, just as we have for the last six years, to focus on the issues that matter to New Zealanders.
We’ll be reminding New Zealanders that our plans will ensure a strong, open economy that delivers more for them and their families – like more jobs, higher incomes, more people off welfare and into work and world-leading education and health services.
We’ll also be reminding voters that MMP elections are always close, even with the Opposition in disarray.
We need to make sure voters know that any vote for any other party risks political turmoil and our economy stalling.
The ONLY way to keep New Zealand heading in the right direction is to PARTY VOTE NATIONAL.
So let’s get out as many supporters as possible to party vote National on Saturday.
key is scared, very scared – he’ll do and say anything now – the next few days are going to be torrid and when the dust settles the utter moral vacuousness of key will be apparent for everyone to see. Win or lose, key is toast.
Key and his gang are finishing off our belief in the goodness of our fellow citizens and our democracy. and the expectation that we will develop better ideas for managing the country as education rises and we have the option of calm reflection distant from temporary crises.
That’s naive stuff. Bring on the crises, manufacture them like fireworks, let them off and watch the panic, no time now for rational, advanced thinking.
“I’m contacting you with this special message to thank you for your extraordinary support over recent weeks.
This mirrors the support and feedback we’re getting from Kiwis all across the country.
Yes, judging by the desperate fluoro messages you have taken to plastering across your hoardings, I guess my ‘extraordinary support over recent weeks’ …of left wing parties… (you appear to have missed that part out) does mirror the feedback you have been getting from ‘Kiwis all across the country’ and I have to assume that would be something along the lines of: ‘Fuck off, I ‘m voting left’.
Some woman on TV One, did a report on Facebook mentions for leaders of political parties. key got the most mentions – but really, how vacuous!! People here mention Key quite a lot, and most of it isn’t flattering. She then said Key got loads of mentions after KDC failed to produce new evidence at the MoT – how does she know it wasn’t people on about Key and X-Keyscore, etc?
How stupid do some of these reporters think we are?
Yes, I don’t understand it, but TV1 seems to have gotten worse than TV3 now 🙁
(Wonder why they have degenerated so much? TV3 seems to have improved too. Just odd that they have almost done a complete swap over in my opinion – watch both now, to catch the different slants)
I saw that report and thought it very very bizarre and shabby for that reason. Completely deceptive. Also, did I miss them mentioning IMP or were they ignored?
Yes, I think they did. Though they also ignored Maori Party, Cons, etc.
Also tonight, i had the misfortune to flick into TV One to catch a woman talking about MoT, GCSB, etc, and Mike Hosking replied with an exaggerated groan – “I’m so over this”.
And that guy is meant to be some sort of quality political or current events journalist. I quickly flicked away from TV One in disgust.
I do find it bizarre because TV1 used to be the better one – now One has gone to pieces as far as decent reporting goes!
I thought they missed out IMP because they would have ranked high due to the most talked about subject being related to their party.
They also didn’t say how they counted the data. Hashtags? Some other means? Just hopeless.
I laughed at what you said re flicking over to see something awful! What terrible timing! It really does annoy me seeing someone trivialize something so important. Even worse to think that they think they are excellent for having done so. They just look scared to me.
Did you see Dotcom’s ‘outburst’ on 3? It was excellent, he was telling 3/Paddy off for bad reporting in the past, doing the public a disservice, that type of thing. I thought was excellent that they played it. I have to say, I agreed with every word Dotcom said!
and Mike Hosking replied with an exaggerated groan – “I’m so over this”.
Hoskin hob nobs with the power elite, and indeed is part of the 1% (if not 0.1%). Hence it’s not surprising that he finds complaints about an infrastructure designed to entrench the power elite against everyone else totally banal.
Bit of background here on how other cables are tapped, including reference the to submarine that Snowden talked about last night). Nice bit of historical context of cable tapping the Russians in the 70s too.
In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points — spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys. “At these spots, the fiber optics can be more easily tapped, because they are no longer bundled together, rather laid out individually,” Deutsche Welle reported.
But such aquatic endeavors may no longer even be necessary. The cables make landfall at coastal stations in various countries, where their data is sent on to domestic networks, and it’s easier to tap them on land than underwater. Britain is, geographically, in an ideal position to access to cables as they emerge from the Atlantic, so the cooperation between the NSA and GCHQ has been key. Beyond that partnership, there are the other members of the “Five Eyes” — the Australians, the New Zealanders, and the Canadians — that also collaborate with the U.S., Snowden said.
that article is hysterical, in the same way the raid was on Dotcom’s mansion after Kim had invited unexpected visiting police in for cups of tea just the day before.
my goodness, but life in NZ right now is like one weird new video game.
The Southern Cross undersea cable landings at two Auckland beaches have been labelled critical infrastructure and key resources by the United States government, a Wikileaks cable released today reveals.
[…]
They are the landings for the fibre optic link at Whenuapai and Takapuna.
[…]
The memo from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is titled critical foreign dependencies (critical infrastructure and key resources located abroad) dated February 18 last year and is classified secret.
It says it is not for internet distribution.
The cable, released by Wikileaks, explains that under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) was written.
[…]
The memo says that a National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) was developed under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
It aimed to bring together critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR).
“The overarching goal of the NIPP is to build a safer, more secure, and more resilient America by enhancing protection of the nation’s CI/KR to prevent, deter, neutralise or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit them; and to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster or other emergency.”
(C) Summary: On February 22, the Ambassador accompanied a Washington visitor to a ” courtesy call” on Prime Minister (PM) John Key which turned into an hour plus discussion. PM Key noted that he (in contrast to MFAT) was not concerned about immediately devising a “media strategy” after the recent briefing on the USG review of bilateral military relations delivered by DAS Frankie Reed and DASD Bob Scher. He expressed confidence that he could handle any related questions if they came up (which they have not in several encounters with the media that the PM has subsequently had). Key also raised the topic of a bilateral visit to the Washington DC in a manner that indicated how important confirming the visit for June is to him. End Summary
[…]
(C) Comment: The manner in which PM Key pitched the bilateral visit indicated to the Ambassador that nailing down a June visit is of intense importance to Key. The Ambassador gathered from the exchange that June is being held open by the GNZ in hopes of a confirmation for a bilateral visit then in the near future. Key, who has not previously raised this topic personally (leaving that to FM McCully and MFAT) clearly hoped his explanation might result in an early confirmation for June. End Comment. CLARKE
Gord Stewarts – Pulpit – National not serving farmers well. Talking about the arrogance of National in (not) addressing climate change, and the reliance it has on dairy.
No comments so far on the articles, but interesting given the expected voting preferences of the farming community.
I wonder if there will be any traditional National voters that are so conflicted about the current news articles that for a change it is right-wing voters that don’t turn up at the ballot box?
a lot of conservative, orthodox National supporters in rural areas are less than pleased that Key, Collins, et al have gotten into bed with Slater and his cohorts.
Will that mean that significant numbers won’t vote blue this time? (Just 30,000 changing to Red Green or Black will be enough to end National). We’ll really only know on Sunday 21st.
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Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
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Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
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Sounds like Kim dot com is killing Hone’s Chance’s will be a shame to see him go.
@ concern-troll..
..yes..closer than i wd like..
..i take some solace that in 2011 this same poll was out by ten points..
..and not in harawiras’ favour..
another interesting/questionable aspect of that poll..
..is that the actual polling was done two months ago..
..to landlines..
..so..y’know..!
Naa, Hone will be a shoe in up in TTT.
But Davis may struggle to get back to Wellington on the Labour list, given the fractured nature of the lefts vote.
Does this mean “Spearhead” is NSA’s operation word for getting us to implement CORTEX?
Even the name (see the definition) insults us.
Time for Cunliffe and McCarten to step up and show Key’s litany of inconsistencies… so people understand what’s not to trust.
Shit just focus on his don’t know versus expert on GCSB/SIS utterings…
His Fletcher stuff his current stuff BUT somehow pull together threads of pithy lines to show he cannot be trusted by his own words defeat him.
So mass surveillance has been outsourced to 4 of the other 5 eyes till GSCB law was passed, our cable has been eavesdropped and the speaker has a letter which possibly proves our PM mislead parliament on numerous occasions.
Vote positive kids, ignore the MSM and love or hate the big German he has done the citizens of not just NZ a service getting this out there.
Yep this is the only rational explanation and explains why Key has been saying what he has. While it may be true it is a maufactured truth.
cunnliffes’ promises to end mass-surveillance..(taken at face-value..)
..can’t do labours’ chances any harm..
cunnliffe should really ramp-up on that promise over the next few days..
..standing on the sidelines going:..’but what about our policies?’..
..while understandable..hasn’t worked until now..
..it is time for cunnliffe to insert himself into this conversation..
..he/labour is/are not ‘above it all’…
..’vote positiv’ will only take you so far..
..and once again..insisting on this disengagement from these issues..
..hasn’t worked that well up until now..eh..?
@Phillip I like both hone and kelvin but have quietly hoped for a big future for hone it would be a shame if he gets finished buy a so called Ali
involuntary-humour on tvone breakfast show..
..the female co-compere..when she puts on her serious-face…
..just looks like she is hanging out for a pee..
Standardnistas LPrent can confirm but yesterday looks like it was the Standard’s biggest day ever, by quite a margin too.
laila harre interview on nat-rad/9-noon..
..soon..
it’d be nice if ryan wd let harre end a sentence..
..she is a fucken disgrace..!
Phil, my thoughts exactly, especially when the interviewee is working up to the main point or conclusion at the end of the statement, and it’s spoken over. Harre’s technique was to try to hold her ground and finish, and when that was not successful, to use the beginning of the next question to compete her point.
Interviewers seem to have a technique that involves two things- one to rattle the interviewee by pressuring by quick questions, and also to keep asking questions prepared before the interview, even if they are going against the flow of the ‘dialogue’.
It all ends up to a disjointed interview.
Interviewees of course need to stop their technique of pausing at odd places to gain breath in order to run sentences together and thus take away the natural breaks which interviewers use to insert their next question. Interviewees have their techniques also to manipulate the interview. It’s all part of what can be a very unsatisfactory game, and not played in the interests of the general public.
But that’s what we’ve learned afresh from last night’s moment of truth- little done by those in power, and mostly this is a criticism of the Right, is done in the interests of the general public who are manipulated, lied to by omission and commission, kept uninformed, discouraged from interest in politics or voting, distracted deliberately by false issues or by media circuses.
The historian in me knows that this is all not new. It also tells me that there are times of renewal in a nation’s history.
I pray that September 2014 is one of these times of renewal.
It’s the ultimate in conceit really. Ryan, Espiner and Fergusson all do it – not allowing interviewees to finish a sentence or give complete answers to their questions. It’d be interesting to do timings on interviewer/interviewee – my suspicions are that Ryan occupied more time than Harre.
They’d do well to take a few lessons/coaching from the likes of (say) Colin Peacock and/or Jeremy Rose.
They’re all exactly what’s wrong with public service broadcasting – they push themselves as though they are ‘the product’.
I agree. I wish she (Ryan) would go do something she has talent for. Like cleaning windows.
do her panes sparkle..do they..?
Laila is good at pegging on till the end phillip ure. It just may be that Kathryn wants to cover more things in the allocated time than Laila’s full answers would allow.
“Sir” Bruce Ferguson, former government spy boss spining for Key on Morning Report, said Snowden is a traitor and therefore what he has to say has no value. Brucy earning his knighthood said no NSA in NZ. Of course as a spy, he was/still is? paid to lie and obfuscate.
the laugh-out-loud moment from ferguson was his saying that because the ceo of the cable company said there was no tapping..
..there was no tapping into that cable..
..the idiocy of that contention was laugh-out-loud demolished by greenwald last nite.
The thing about a spy is that there is never a route back for them. They can never ever be trusted again. Never.
was Snowden a spy?
Just because he’s more trustworthy than John Key, it doesn’t mean that he’s what you or I would call “trustworthy” 🙂
also the difference between Snowden and, say, Ferguson, is Snowden has ended up in Russia with his life turned upside down in an attempt to shine some light into dark spaces…. Ferguson got a knighthood.
I am really annoyed right now. It is more than an ideological difference of opinion, imo, between Key fans and tose who don’t want Key. To me it is of much deeper significance than this. And even spoon fed last night out media have let us down, so far.
I can’t recall a PM who “changed” his version of events so often over the period of his tenure as this one…
I recall key very upset at Clark about Winston and Glenn’s stoush, I recall the uproar over her speeding to an AB match, to her signing a painting she didnt paint for charity… about the attack on democracy proclaimed by the herald over the attempt to bring transparency to political donations…
….
Snowden did computer system work for a spy agency. I don’t think that makes him a spy and therefore not to be trusted. Secret Squirrel Ferguson headed a spy agency. That makes him a spy.
My thoughts exactly. The CEO says – therefore it is so – “he would know”. And of course Ferguson knew absolutely all and everything that went/goes on in the GCSB because he was ‘across’ ALL staff 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
key has confirmed the cable was tapped.
do you have the link, cos that contradicts Briscoe, CEO of Southern Cross Cable Network (and no CEO would ever lie for John Key)
See Anthony Robbins’ post ‘Media round up’. It’s in the actual post as I recall.
Thanks
This has it too
http://thestandard.org.nz/the-blowoff-stream/#comment-888303
I was sort of marveling at Ferguson’s attempt at spin and self-preservation really. On one interview I heard, he was even talking about the need for deep sea divers. I suppose that might be enough to convince portions of the public but it doesn’t convince me.
If anyone happens to notice the Fibre rollout by Chorus – checkout the method by which hundreds/thousands of single subscribers are multiplexed using Wavelength Division Multiplexing – a kind of prismatic separation of light colours. Then think about NSA’s technical capabilities and the possibility of tapping (I dunno – perhaps using some sort of wrap around capability) AND the fact that the Pacific cable is in a self-correcting ring where temporary outages can be catered for, and even go unnoticed.
There have been outages, but might point is that I’ve no doubt there is the technical capability to tap – and its without the need for Ferguson’s deep sea divers – whether he knows it or not. Who ever suggested it was occurring at sea anyway?
Wasn’t there something about a specially tasked submarine?
Another tech question. If as Key says that the GCBS only tapped the cable for cybersecurity reasons, how does that work if they’re not collecting mass data? Surely they have to collect the data in order to be able to filter it to what they are after.
+1.
Unfortunately these days I pay less attention to what I hear on MSM outlets and I didn’t hear about specialty submarines. Nothing would surprise me however.
Don’t need a submarine, just access to the network.
A back door into internet providers is enough.
Mind you, I would be very surprised if US spies had not been looking at internet traffic ever since it started.
As one of Pinochet’s minions said afterwards. “No need to tell spies and interrogators to exceed their legal boundaries, they will do it anyway”.
In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points — spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys. “At these spots, the fiber optics can be more easily tapped, because they are no longer bundled together, rather laid out individually,” Deutsche Welle reported.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16092014/#comment-889298
Sir Bruce Fergson’s adoption of the ‘traitor’ smear in relation to Edward Snowden brought Samuel Johnson’s famous quote, ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel’ into sharp focus. True patriots use whatever means, even at extreme risk to their very existence, to protect the honour and integrity of the country they treasure – traitors spy on their own people.
+1
which reminds me, John? JOHN? Werent we going to talk about the flag?
+100
This is a linux hero whom I enjoy.
A good job explaining what the creepy things they know about you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQkjzwWgIvY
Interesting @ adam. I actually allow my poor starving student neighbours to use my WiFi at times in order to do their assignments, and visitors to access their emails. I’m happy for them to use a piece of my monthIy quota that I can’t possibly use. I don’t hang off them everytime they do use it. They are adults, and they deserve their privacy. They reciprocate in other ways. It’s ‘community’.
good for you
Why aren’t we hearing from the man who headed the GCSB AFTER Bruce Ferguson? Namely, Jerry Mataparae?
that guy who key might approach for the nod to form a minority govt..?
..that jerry matapere..?
..rotten to the core..the whole establishment..
Have friends in the Defence Forces that have very little time for Mataparae.
And it’s been a while since I read Nicky Hager’s Other People’s Wars – but I’m surmising that Mataparae may have been in the upper echelon of those who worked with the US – and misinformed Helen Clark – while that was occurring.
I have such respect for those who go into the Defence Force as a way to serve NZ’ers and humanity. Unfortunately, they are often used for other purposes and by those who don’t share their values or integrity.
+100 agreed Molly…some are very idealist and fine young men…and it is a tragedy when they are used by politicians for ignoble ends for ignoble wars
Not jumpping down your throat here Chooky as I know this was nothing sinister in your post but as a person in the NZDF I would also like to point out that there are a lot of fine women serving too.
Understand where you’re coming from @ Molly. Personally I reckon Jerr is still working out which side his bread is buttered on. (He could be excused if he was ekshully a bit fick – but he’s not.) I wish he’d just grow some balls ‘cos he seems to be just looking ahead to retirement via the cushiest route possible. Same goes for Ferguson and various others. If I was a gambler, It’d put bets on his being on the wrong side of history (going forward, so-to-speak, as a matter of fek, ekshully). Shame they’re not more worried about the legacy they leave for their descendants)
Mateparae was only head of GCSB for 5 months. Then they moved him on to the GG role. Which means he will have to decide what to do if there is no clear election result and Key decides to keep on governing.
When Matapaere was replaced by Key’s mate, it was pretty obvious to me that they wanted some business type at the head of the spooks rather than a military person. I think most of their spying these days is for commercial reasons, and I don’t think it’s to protect Kiwi commercial interests.
Really quiet here today. RWNJ astroturfers are all over at Stuff, posting like crazy because Andrea Vance has finally stepped outside the tent and started questioning what is happening in NZ. They must be so rattled.
I hate stuff and all it stands for. And all the judgemental haters who think we should swallow their hate speech as some form of eternal truth. Sorry pissed at this piece in stuff – Journalist in this country happy to stomp on peoples rights again.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10501900/Mentally-impaired-led-to-vote
With a mental age of 2, those carers should be ashamed of themselves.
Oh please you’re going to slag of the caregivers, then what about the brother, nephew or the journalist? You’re going to support a system which assumes mental capacity without rigorous testing, that quite frankly, is a horses ass. I know a person who they decided had a mental age of 11 and was going to be stuck there – turned out when they got their BCom, the doctor looked like real brightspark.
But no lets let journalists sensationalise, lets let journalists and family members trample over peoples rights. Oh wait lets slag of workers who take people to a place were they have a legal right to be. Joy.
Herald columnist Wendyl Nissen.
Sticks it to the right … re Dirty Politics and Newstalkzb. If only more people like her would also come forward. There is still time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325097
she was a journalist in a former life I believe before briefly going fluffy with womens mags…
she actually writes on healthy-food..reviews products..
… she also had a regular spot on Newstalkzb discussing politics. (I assume you didn’t bother with the link Tracey because I am not sure what point you are trying to make … her column is in today’s Herald.)
“..I am not sure what point you are trying to make..”
seeing any patterns here tracey..?
And the expected dismantling of Maori television has begun:” Maori TV executives demoted
…”High-profile Maori Television executives Julian Wilcox and Carol Hirschfeld have been demoted from their jobs in a restructure process announced to staff at the station today.
Maori Television Service chief executive Paora Maxwell briefed his executive staff this morning about a structural realignment that has seen Mr Wilcox and Ms Hirschfeld both big casualties in the changes at the station.”…
…The Herald understands a new role called head of corporate affairs has been created at the station among several other positions including a head of programming and production role – that will oversee Mr Wilcox’s old news and current affairs job.
The source said Mr Wilcox and Ms Hirschfeld are able to apply for the role but it’s likely it will go to the station’s current general manager programming, Haunui Royal, who is currently in Hawaii on holiday.”…
Shit. That is terrible, terrible news. Why now, three days out ? Slipping it out so no-one will notice in the chaos ?
The last bastion of investigative journalism on screen, along with John Campbell … and Hirschfeld was his original producer as I recall.
This is exactly what they did to kneecap TVNZ. Put ‘owned’ advertising and programming people in charge of news and current affairs.
Bastards. Bastards. Bastards.
Agree Yeshe – Maori TV has been one of the bright lights in the current attack on quality radio and TV. I must also mention the good work done by TV One on Sunday mornings BEFORE & AFTER Q&A. but I can’t understand why Jim Mora was installed as co-host on Checkpoint with Mary Wilson (well I can, he was put there to water down Mary’s talent for asking the hard questions).
mora in wilsons’ show is like just putting a clock on something…
..just because you can..
..it enhances neither..
Out with the racists, in with the feminists.
It didn’t go all the way this time, but Feminist Initiative has changed the conversation in Swedish politics, establishing that feminism is not something that can be ignored. The party has forced Swedish politicians to talk about gender equality and discrimination—and incorporate an intersectional perspective on oppressive structure. In so doing, they’ve put the possibility of a successful feminist party on the international map. A political party solely devoted to feminist issues is no longer a faraway dream, but a real thing
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/09/15/swedens-feminist-party-nearly-gets-into-parliament-and-pharrell-helps/
is there a follow up article about the sky falling as a result?
Yup, the racist thugs at the NRO –
So regardless of the final vote counts in Sweden’s recent election, and no matter who makes up the governing coalition, it looks as if the country will preserve many free-market reforms. The situation is reminiscent of what happened in Britain in 1997, when the Labour party’s Tony Blair ousted the Conservatives after 18 years in opposition. Far from overturning the economic agenda of Margaret Thatcher, Blair broadly accepted it and proceeded to move left on social policy and immigration. Those moves damaged Britain even while its economy grew. The same thing could happen in Sweden. Conservatives appear to have won the broad economic argument in many countries, but the culture wars are a different matter entirely.
http://www.donotlink.com/bn4v
whoddathunkit.
Thanks for the links Joe90
Stuff has breaking news
Eminem suing National
ROFL….slim shady
But…but…but after the Cold Play ‘error”, national wouldn’t steal again????
“John Key could be in copyright trouble over music used in the DVD to mark his year as National Party leader.
The party has been warned it is walking a fine line by using a newly created piece of music very similar to Coldplay’s Clocks.
The similarities are enough to have prompted the Australasian Performing Right Association, which manages copyright issues and licences for many international bands in New Zealand, to notify the copyright holder for Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
The Weekend Herald asked a music lawyer and musicology analyst to compare the Coldplay song to music used in the opening segments of the Ambitious for New Zealand – Meet John Key DVD because of confusion from some readers about the song in its opening segments.
National Party campaign manager Jo de Joux said the music was composed by “an Auckland artist” and paid for by the production company which produced the DVD.
However, music lawyer Chris Hocquard said if it was similar enough that the public was confused into thinking it was Clocks, it could be in breach of copyright laws and the Fair Trading Act.
“The test is ‘does it confuse?’ Does the public listen to that and think ‘that’s Clocks?’ There’s a very fine line when you’re doing this and you have to be careful not to cross it.
And I’m not sure they haven’t.”
Dr Graeme Downes, the former Verlaines frontman who is now a musicology consultant at Otago University, said the music shared the same rumba beat, harmony and chords as Clocks.
It also had a similar drum introduction, and the key was the same, “which draws even greater attention to the harmonic similarity”.
“If I were approached by a lawyer to furnish a report for a prosecution of copyright infringement against the music on the DVD I would happily do so. If approached by a lawyer to furnish a report in its defence, I would decline.”
Martin is well-known for his alignment with left-wing causes, such as fair trade and Oxfam, and his opposition to the Iraq War and George Bush. In his acceptance speech after winning the best record Grammy for Clocks in 2004, he specifically endorsed presidential candidate Democrat John Kerry.
The NZ branch of Coldplay’s record company, EMI, had no comment.”
it’s just never Key’s fault,, nothing ever…
” National Party leader John Key says his staff should never have signed off a DVD that appears to plagiarise a hit by English rock band Coldplay.
DVD lands Key in hot water
Key yesterday ordered a recall of 20,000 DVDs featuring him in a video called Ambitious for New Zealand after Coldplay’s record company, EMI, warned National it was breaching copyright by using music similar to the smash hit Clocks.
The DVD focuses on Key travelling New Zealand by car, visiting schools and factories and talking about his vision for the country.
Produced for National by Production Shed TV, the cost has not been disclosed but The Press understands the party spent $110,000 on it.
The DVD was meant to relaunch Key’s image and introduce him to New Zealanders unfamiliar with the National leader, but the botch-up has embarrassed and angered the party.
Last week Key toured South Island centres, handing out thousands of the DVDs, and planned a similar North Island tour.
National Party campaign manager Jo de Joux previously insisted the music had been commissioned from an Auckland artist and was original.
She said yesterday that the party was angry with the production company. “We paid these guys to make a DVD for us. We relied on their expertise and they have let us down.”
Key said National should not have relied on Production Shed.
“My people relied on the production company. In my opinion, they should have kicked it upstairs for me or one of the senior management team to sign off, and they didn’t,” he said. “
a sideshow that favours nats if we of the Left blog on it
their press release on scoop.
So the folks who think KDC is a criminal are accused of stealing intellectual property.
Nothing new here – the fucking nacts are well-known for their hypocrisy.
“So the folks who think KDC is a criminal are accused of stealing intellectual property.”
So the folks who think KDC is a criminal are accused of stealing intellectual property AGAIN.
fFIFY McFlock.
lol cheers.
tragic, innit.
…having a good laugh in this household at the moment.
In 2009 Key said National should not have relied on Production Shed.
“My people relied on the production company. In my opinion, they should have kicked it upstairs for me or one of the senior management team to sign off, and they didn’t,” he said. “
Is that John Key, he who knows nothing cos he delegates saying something should have been kicked upstairs to him for sign off? Is he an Intellectual property expert?
The Wendy Missen story on Katherine Rich in the Herald will have a huge impact on “middle New Zealand”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325097
“As you may know I write a column called Wendyl Wants to Know in the Weekend Herald every Saturday which looks at what is in processed food.”
“Earlier this year I was on the receiving end of a concerted effort, including legal letters, to get me discredited through my bosses at the Herald.
The person behind it was Katherine Rich, the chief executive of the Food & Grocery Council….
After that I noticed that right-wing bloggers Whale Oil and Cactus Kate (appeared to have begun a smear campaign against me. ”
Katherine Rich and Slater took money to rubbish a food writer.
Now THAT is the story that will incense National supporters.
National Party sued over Eminem copyright infringment
“A claim filed in the High Court today alleges the National Party used elements of Eminem’s Grammy-winning song in TV ads screening during their election campaign.”
it is not just raining on National: it is pissing down!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11325727
John Oliver explains Scottish independence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YkLPxQp_y0
something is happening…… Wairarapa farmers can sense things are not right..
https://agrihq.co.nz/article/alternative-view-to-vote-corrupt-inept-anti-farming-or-lunatic?p=6
Advance voting continuing its early very high trend & going through the roof
http://www.elections.org.nz/events/2014-general-election/advance-voting-statistics
So either this is going to be a big turnout or a lot of people who normally vote have early voted so they don’t need to later & there will be low turnout on the day.
I’ll be interested to see which it is – I’ll be voting on the day, because I still haven’t decided yet lol
The possibility of Scottish independence seems to have kicked off
another move to change the Australian flag.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-flagchange-champions-aflutter-ahead-of-scottish-independence-vote-20140916-10eet2.html
Perhaps we could try a possum pelt on a long-drop door ..
Weather forecasts have possible snow and rain for election day according to Stuff; worst since 1984 and a lot of us can remember.
This had me chuckling, a welcome portent, and a brilliant old woman ….
“Left-wing political commentator Chris Trotter recalled being in Dunedin for the 1984 election which saw Prime Minister Rob Muldoon defeated.
“The memory that sticks in my mind the most was going up Carroll Street towards the polling booth and there was a very old lady trudging up through the snow as it was falling.
“She looked so old and frail and I said, ‘do you need any help?’ And she said to me, ‘no, it’s alright, I can get rid of this bastard Muldoon all by myself’.”
Despite the winter weather, that election was the high point of New Zealand’s turnout to general elections, with 93.7 per cent of registered voters participating, Trotter said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10504834/Rain-wind-and-snow-predicted-for-Election-Day
key henchman?
joyce shake them down?
WTF – are we in full gangster mode or what
Maori TV dangerous re-shuffles today and also here Pita Sharples does his masters’ bidding:
http://tvnz.co.nz/vote-2014-news/peters-slams-sharples-tribunal-appointments-election-eve-6082657
how stuffed is stuff..?
..at 7 mins past 4..new allegations from greenwald about nz spying on our neighbours..
..very soon afterwards it is bumped right down to the bottom story in the politics section..
..agenda..?..much..?
c’mon greenwald..!..bring it on..!
..hit them with the next load..!
New allegations today? linky?
wow..!..barry soper on prime news..deserves a special craven-toady award..
.dismisses the mass-surveillance-issue..hopes ‘it’s all over now..and we can get back to the campaign’..
and gower on 3 has come in as a late-contender..
I am embarrassed and ashamed by TV1 and TV3’s analysis of last night’s event. Never have I seen such a collective partisan snow job by New Zealand’s media
Is this a Monty Python Skit in the Herald?
Breaking news is article on “secret document danger” (about how Key has endangered NZ, potentially), followed by “kiwi jihadist wants to return home”, with a picture of Mohammad Daniel, sporting a gun. Mustn’t have liked the Eminem story, as that has been bumped to third!
Surreal….we need Russel Brand to take on our MSM, like he did with Fox news!
On a more serious note – this sudden “threat (of) massive damage to NZ’s wellbeing if made public without permission” gives him free license to keep strumm about it.
What a transparent strategy!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11325743
Anyone seen anything more on this? I can’t find anything RadioLive’s website (but they have a naff search engine).
RadioLIVE Newsroom
@LIVENewsDesk
John Key’s encouraging voters in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate to vote for Labour in a bid to destroy Kim Dotcom’s Internet Mana Movement.
Is this Key gearing up to steal the election?
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/a-working-majority.html
one thing that has fascinated me the last few years is that, despite the low opinion folks had of politicians prior to this regime, how much of our system of government relied on personal integrity and accountability.
Cabinet manual – toothless
Privileges committee – dominated by the government, so a lapdog
Speaker – no recourse to a blatantly biased and incompetent Speaker
Classified documents – binding on the opposition, declassified on a whim by the pm
I wonder if it would be more effective to be able to kick privileges committee, cabinet manual things, and speaker rulings to the supreme court in a timely manner? The US court is stacked by whichever government is in power, but maybe if jurists elected supreme court members for fixed terms?
Updated list of businesses removing advertising from WO. Fonterra just joined the list.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/09/16/blogwatch-fonterra-join-2degrees-and-boycott-whaleoil/
Keys approach now – I wondered when he was going to reach for the Nationalism card – it seems now is the time!
I’m loth to publish this whole letter but I think you need the context.
Hello Adam
I’m contacting you with this special message to thank you for your extraordinary support over recent weeks.
This mirrors the support and feedback we’re getting from Kiwis all across the country.
In the last few days of this campaign we are determined that nothing will stand between us and laying out our clear plan for New Zealand’s future… because that’s what New Zealanders’ are asking for.
It is those same Kiwis who are also asking us what business Kim Dotcom and his foreign political friends have in telling Kiwis what they ought to think four days out from our election.
But just to be perfectly clear, there is no truth to the wild allegations they’ve made – there are no NSA spy bases in New Zealand and no mass surveillance of New Zealanders.
Our election on Saturday is about the future of New Zealand.
We will continue to work hard right up until Friday night, just as we have for the last six years, to focus on the issues that matter to New Zealanders.
We’ll be reminding New Zealanders that our plans will ensure a strong, open economy that delivers more for them and their families – like more jobs, higher incomes, more people off welfare and into work and world-leading education and health services.
We’ll also be reminding voters that MMP elections are always close, even with the Opposition in disarray.
We need to make sure voters know that any vote for any other party risks political turmoil and our economy stalling.
The ONLY way to keep New Zealand heading in the right direction is to PARTY VOTE NATIONAL.
So let’s get out as many supporters as possible to party vote National on Saturday.
Thanks again for your support.
Rt Hon John Key
John Key, busy bamboozling.
key is scared, very scared – he’ll do and say anything now – the next few days are going to be torrid and when the dust settles the utter moral vacuousness of key will be apparent for everyone to see. Win or lose, key is toast.
Yes – Key will destroy the credibility of this entire Government trying to claw his way back into the PM’s office.
He already has destroyed the credibility of the entire government.
Key and his gang are finishing off our belief in the goodness of our fellow citizens and our democracy. and the expectation that we will develop better ideas for managing the country as education rises and we have the option of calm reflection distant from temporary crises.
That’s naive stuff. Bring on the crises, manufacture them like fireworks, let them off and watch the panic, no time now for rational, advanced thinking.
Have you seen what 3rd degree is about this week? Former employees reveal what KDC is really like…
Sorry adam, couldn’t bring myself to read it. I got a letter in the mail from Key and threw it in the fire without opening it 🙂
… had to laugh, because we did exactly the same thing.
At least that way we actually got some genuine warmth out of current PM…
“I’m contacting you with this special message to thank you for your extraordinary support over recent weeks.
This mirrors the support and feedback we’re getting from Kiwis all across the country.
Yes, judging by the desperate fluoro messages you have taken to plastering across your hoardings, I guess my ‘extraordinary support over recent weeks’ …of left wing parties… (you appear to have missed that part out) does mirror the feedback you have been getting from ‘Kiwis all across the country’ and I have to assume that would be something along the lines of: ‘Fuck off, I ‘m voting left’.
Some woman on TV One, did a report on Facebook mentions for leaders of political parties. key got the most mentions – but really, how vacuous!! People here mention Key quite a lot, and most of it isn’t flattering. She then said Key got loads of mentions after KDC failed to produce new evidence at the MoT – how does she know it wasn’t people on about Key and X-Keyscore, etc?
How stupid do some of these reporters think we are?
Yes, I don’t understand it, but TV1 seems to have gotten worse than TV3 now 🙁
(Wonder why they have degenerated so much? TV3 seems to have improved too. Just odd that they have almost done a complete swap over in my opinion – watch both now, to catch the different slants)
I saw that report and thought it very very bizarre and shabby for that reason. Completely deceptive. Also, did I miss them mentioning IMP or were they ignored?
Yes, I think they did. Though they also ignored Maori Party, Cons, etc.
Also tonight, i had the misfortune to flick into TV One to catch a woman talking about MoT, GCSB, etc, and Mike Hosking replied with an exaggerated groan – “I’m so over this”.
And that guy is meant to be some sort of quality political or current events journalist. I quickly flicked away from TV One in disgust.
I do find it bizarre because TV1 used to be the better one – now One has gone to pieces as far as decent reporting goes!
I thought they missed out IMP because they would have ranked high due to the most talked about subject being related to their party.
They also didn’t say how they counted the data. Hashtags? Some other means? Just hopeless.
I laughed at what you said re flicking over to see something awful! What terrible timing! It really does annoy me seeing someone trivialize something so important. Even worse to think that they think they are excellent for having done so. They just look scared to me.
Did you see Dotcom’s ‘outburst’ on 3? It was excellent, he was telling 3/Paddy off for bad reporting in the past, doing the public a disservice, that type of thing. I thought was excellent that they played it. I have to say, I agreed with every word Dotcom said!
Hoskin hob nobs with the power elite, and indeed is part of the 1% (if not 0.1%). Hence it’s not surprising that he finds complaints about an infrastructure designed to entrench the power elite against everyone else totally banal.
Courtesy of the sewer.
http://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/2giwpk/when_how_the_southern_cross_cable_was_tapped/
Bit of background here on how other cables are tapped, including reference the to submarine that Snowden talked about last night). Nice bit of historical context of cable tapping the Russians in the 70s too.
In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points — spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys. “At these spots, the fiber optics can be more easily tapped, because they are no longer bundled together, rather laid out individually,” Deutsche Welle reported.
But such aquatic endeavors may no longer even be necessary. The cables make landfall at coastal stations in various countries, where their data is sent on to domestic networks, and it’s easier to tap them on land than underwater. Britain is, geographically, in an ideal position to access to cables as they emerge from the Atlantic, so the cooperation between the NSA and GCHQ has been key. Beyond that partnership, there are the other members of the “Five Eyes” — the Australians, the New Zealanders, and the Canadians — that also collaborate with the U.S., Snowden said.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/the-creepy-long-standing-practice-of-undersea-cable-tapping/277855/
The sewer, you say? Surely they wouldn’t be interested in this?
I reckon this bloke was putting the needle in when he posted it.
https://twitter.com/hollowaynz
Aha!
The Southern Cross cable apparently comes ashore at Takapuna, goes underground to Whenuapai, then heads out to sea via the Manukau Harbour.
I must have travelled over it many times.
Snowden didn’t talk about bases, but about “facilities” with sensors, which could be accessed in order to access NZ communications.
that article is hysterical, in the same way the raid was on Dotcom’s mansion after Kim had invited unexpected visiting police in for cups of tea just the day before.
my goodness, but life in NZ right now is like one weird new video game.
this part was fun … National saved money on their advert buying an Eminem rip-off for $50 and are now getting sued by the real Eminem !!
Oh Joyce, how choice !!!!! Monty Pythonesque on steroids.
Matthew Holloway @hollowaynz · 5h
Reminder: National paid $50 for this particular Eminem ripoff http://www.audiomicro.com/8-miles-to-lose-yourself-royalty-free-stock-music-1072575 … read description – National should have known better.
Good info joe
This one is very interesting: dated Sept 2010.
OMG Takkers? What will the locals say ?
thx Karol. What a day; hard to read everything isn’t it 🙂
I have an idea .. some bright journo should ask Maggie Barry what she thinks about it !
lol
The cable.
Subject Request For Information:critical Foreign Dependencies (critical Infrastructure And Key Resources Located Abroad)
[…]
New Zealand: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Whenuapai, New Zealand Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Takapuna, New Zealand
https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/cable.php?id=09STATE15113&q=takapuna
thx joe. extraordinary what some of those critical assets are. mines, mineral, pharma companies and their specialities, and Takapuna Beach !
what a reality.
He really is an arrogant prick.
(C) Summary: On February 22, the Ambassador accompanied a Washington visitor to a ” courtesy call” on Prime Minister (PM) John Key which turned into an hour plus discussion. PM Key noted that he (in contrast to MFAT) was not concerned about immediately devising a “media strategy” after the recent briefing on the USG review of bilateral military relations delivered by DAS Frankie Reed and DASD Bob Scher. He expressed confidence that he could handle any related questions if they came up (which they have not in several encounters with the media that the PM has subsequently had). Key also raised the topic of a bilateral visit to the Washington DC in a manner that indicated how important confirming the visit for June is to him. End Summary
[…]
(C) Comment: The manner in which PM Key pitched the bilateral visit indicated to the Ambassador that nailing down a June visit is of intense importance to Key. The Ambassador gathered from the exchange that June is being held open by the GNZ in hopes of a confirmation for a bilateral visit then in the near future. Key, who has not previously raised this topic personally (leaving that to FM McCully and MFAT) clearly hoped his explanation might result in an early confirmation for June. End Comment. CLARKE
https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/cable.php?id=10WELLINGTON81&q=auckland
Via a comment on the Wendyl Nissen article in the Herald was led to a couple of unexpected political articles in Agri-Weekly:
Alternative View – To vote corrupt, inept, anti-farming, or lunatic? by Alan Emerson, who after reading Dirty Politic is now going to give his electorate vote to the Labour candidate, and is still unsure about his party vote
– and –
Gord Stewarts – Pulpit – National not serving farmers well. Talking about the arrogance of National in (not) addressing climate change, and the reliance it has on dairy.
No comments so far on the articles, but interesting given the expected voting preferences of the farming community.
I wonder if there will be any traditional National voters that are so conflicted about the current news articles that for a change it is right-wing voters that don’t turn up at the ballot box?
a lot of conservative, orthodox National supporters in rural areas are less than pleased that Key, Collins, et al have gotten into bed with Slater and his cohorts.
Will that mean that significant numbers won’t vote blue this time? (Just 30,000 changing to Red Green or Black will be enough to end National). We’ll really only know on Sunday 21st.