Its become a religion for these believers in the market solving everything, and just like the second coming it may happen but its unlikely to happen in ones lifetime.
If we all take it as a given that Auckland will be allowed to grow to 2M people, then this is what we are going to end up with, even as provincial towns all around the regions continue to slowly die off.
Wanganui/Manawatu median house price $233,000 what the hell are people all doing in fucking $810,000 median Auckland?
Is the minimum wage 4x higher in Auckland or something?
There’s few well paid jobs in the provinces. Whanganui, for example, is a lovely town, but has little in the way of future focussed work. There’s a freezing works, a pet food factory, a place that makes helmets, a shipyard and not much else. Most of the work at those places is paid in the minimum to living wage level. So, houses may be priced reasonably, but the income levels still make them difficult to afford for a lot of residents.
If I was in Auckland, and thinking of getting out, the pressing question is ‘what do I do when I get there?’.
For many women the issue is around being the primary caregiver esp for kids. Jobs have to fit around school hours and be flexible enough for kids being sick.
Sabine is on the money. The options for women in provincial towns are mostly limited to the service industry, so, again, low pay.
As an aside, while there are many women in the meat industry, there are very few holding down the higher paying jobs. Boning and slaughterboard work are extremely physical jobs which are paid on a tally basis (the more you do, the more you get paid) and there aren’t many women represented there. Packing jobs, which are predominantly done by women, are the often the lowest paid positions in a freezing works.
If you’re a woman management professional, or you are a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant, there are plenty of opportunities outside of the big city.
You’re not going to be on big firm money or prestige though. If that’s what you want then by all means go fire up your career in the big city.
But if you have real ambition in a professional field you need to get out of small time Auckland anyway.
And most women in NZ live outside of Auckland Wellington and Christchurch. I doubt they think that the big city types have better lives than they do.
I think you are overestimating both the percentage of women in the workforce who are tertiary educated and the number of jobs available for them in the provinces. In addition, the financial rewards are less outside the bigger cities. The going rate for similar jobs in Auckland and Timaru is always going to be higher in Auckland.
By the way, was your second to last sentence a typo? I’ll think you’ll find that most women (and men) in NZ do live in Ak, Wellington or Christchurch.
It’s not all jobs and income. For me one of the major attractions of Auckland, is the access to the medical care I need at a good price. And a public health system, whilst slow, still works.
Also it gives me a chance to engage in a multicultural city. The weather is half decent as well, as is access to beaches, good food, family, and things like community gardens.
It also a city were by you can have engagement with a good ideas and great things, it also were we see the worst of the worst.
Auckland, will be a battle ground of ideas for years to come, with Maori and Pacific taking the led more and more.
Well said Adam. It troubles me that people still seem, and without question, to lock themselves into a mindset that says having a job is the principle thing in life…and that from that, all else should flow.
And that could be the basis of a huge tech R&D facility – if the government got off it’s arse and started actually trying to develop the nations economy.
That transition out of Auckland is something I have been putting a lot of thought into, because I’m getting ready to in the next few years.
If you sell out of Auckland, you never go back.
If you simply rent your Auckland place out, you can cover the mortgage, but you need quite a bit of the equity to set up properly elsewhere, in my case Wanaka. And you’re a very distant landlord.
We will both largely be jumping off the cliff of salaried life, and starting up a boutique hotel. We will still consult back to Auckland, but just a day or so a week until we really have the business bedded in.
These are not small transitions to make, because they are pretty much irreversible. Better to plan them rather than have them forced on us later in life.
Walking away from the Auckland property also means walking away from family and friends and many networks. But it has to be done if we’re going to get the life we want.
“Wanganui/Manawatu median house price $233,000 what the hell are people all doing in fucking $810,000 median Auckland?
Is the minimum wage 4x higher in Auckland or something?”
Perhaps they are scared of moving to a new city and making new friends.
Maybe they are not organised enough to get a job in a new city before they move there, i have moved to get a higher paying job a shitload of times. The people who rent and are on longterm welfare who won’t move to a more affordable area amaze me the most. Some people are just lazy or they don’t mind living in a shithole.
No, we’re a nation of immigrants. When the grass definitely is greener elsewhere it’s time to move. You can only fit so many generations into a given space. Don’t be so placeist.
“Placeist”? Get a life. It’s called “having friends and family and community”.
Besides, you don’t know that the grass is “most definitely” greener. And what if the parents don’t want to be uprooted at their time of life – you expect the kids to say “screw you, mum, you’re on your own”?
Wriggle and dance all you want, the only thing you’re demonstrating is that you have nobody you genuinely care about.
NZ ENVOY TO HATCH: DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY: New Zealand Ambassador Tim Groser said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch’s position on biologics in the TPP was “principled” but that the Utah Republican should not be worried about the level of protection the deal will provide for the new class of drugs.
Not enough attention has been paid to TPP language saying that all countries must provide “effective market protection” for biological drugs, Groser told reporters Friday at a lunch hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council.
“[New Zealand] will meet our TPP obligations, which require us to give effective market control through a variety of different mechanisms,” said Groser, who recently served as his country’s trade minister. “The shortest period of time between the marketing of the original [biological drug] and the entry of [a biosimilar] through our regulatory process … the shortest period is over 20 years. So this is not just pure theory I’m spouting.”
The Republican Senator Orrin Hatch who is chair of the Senate Finance Committee is concerned that TPP negotiators failed to secure 12 years of protection for next-generation biological drugs.
Not enough attention has been paid to TPP language saying that all countries must provide “effective market protection” for biological drugs, Groser told reporters Friday at a lunch hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council.
So, what they’re promising is protection from the market effectively guaranteeing profits.
AS PREDICTED: US seeks more in TPP on medicine monopolies at APEC meeting
“The US government is making a desperate attempt to placate domestic US corporate and Republican opposition to the TPP implementing legislation by demanding stronger monopolies for pharmaceutical companies and other concessions at a meeting of TPP ministers to be held this week on the sidelines of the APEC Trade Ministers meeting in Peru,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.
Jane Kelsey: Heavy hand of US domestic politics evident in TPP
The US has covertly sent officials around the other countries’ capitals to check on their implementation. New Zealand’s proposed new intellectual property laws have already been attacked publicly by US officials and the pharmaceutical industry.
We can only imagine the pressure behind closed doors, because the Government won’t tell us what’s happening.
Why would they “stand fast” against the entirety of something that meets many of their international trade objectives, even if some of it is contrary to their sovereignty issues?
I don’t think that it even made any of their trade objectives and that they had to use the BS that National released to justify saying that it did. You know, the figures that have since been shown to be complete bollocks.
On all counts the TPPA will be bad for NZ and we should not be signing it. Labour still has time to come out fully against it but I’m sure that they won’t as they continue to follow the same failed ideology that brought about the Great Depression and the GFC.
Leaked diplomatic letters sent from Colombia’s Embassy in Washington describe how a staffer with the Senate Finance Committee, which is led by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, warned of repercussions if Colombia moves forward on approving the cheaper, generic form of a cancer drug.
[…]
In the second letter, after a meeting with Senate Finance Committee International Trade Counsel Everett Eissenstat, Flórez wrote that Eissenstat said that authorizing the generic version would “violate the intellectual property rights” of Novartis. Eissenstat also said that if “the Ministry of Health did not correct this situation, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States and related interest groups could become very vocal and interfere with other interests that Colombia could have in the United States,” according to the letter.
In particular, Flórez expressed a worry that “this case could jeopardize the approval of the financing of the new initiative ‘Peace Colombia.’”
The Obama administration has pledged $450 million for Peace Colombia, which seeks to bring together rebels and the government to end decades of fighting that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a shattered civil society. These funds will be used for, among other things, removing land mines. The country has the second-highest number of land-mine fatalities in the world, behind only Afghanistan.
Ukraine was allowed to stand.
It was a country brought down by a coup d’état against an elected government.
Venezuela is on the brink after 2 years + of economic sabotage.
“The US has been a rogue state ever since the 19th century.”
It goes back to the 1630’s when the prime export of these colonies was a highly addictive narcotic, nicotine (i.e., tobacco). The colonists realized it would easy to grow tobacco in a lot of other places so they made it a capital offense to export tobacco plants, seeds, or cuttings. “Capital offense” as in, we hang you by the neck until dead!
This was the birth of America’s concept of “monopolistic free trade,” a noble tradition they continue to honor in the TPPA.
Ukraine was always a poor country ineptly run by corrupt politicians and officials. Now it is a destroyed country ineptly run by corrupt politicians and officials.
And the US has successfully convinced Ukraine to cut all its economic ties with Russia. Including all the high tech aerospace and defence components they used to make for Russia.
In exchange the Ukraine now gets to export more fruit to the EU. And IMF overlords insisting that the Ukraine “liberalise” its state assets.
He was Roussefs running mate, selected by her. The process stinks but he is a long time leader of Brazils largest party and as Rousseff was in a coalition with other parties compromises are made
How else could it this way, except in Brazil which the politicians are notoriously corrupt, the President is removed for just a government budget measure.
Having screwed the Middle east, the US gaze turns to South America and uses its underhand methods to upset the democratic apple cart when it favours leftist leaders.
Having screwed the Middle east, the US gaze turns to South America and uses its underhand methods to upset the democratic apple cart when it favours leftist leaders.
Amidst predictions of Rousseff’s demise, the mainstream media has consistently downplayed, and occasionally outright ignored, one fact: the social backgrounds of protesters. It is not “the Brazilian people” who are in the streets, but rather a very specific segment of the population whose economic interests are historically opposed to those of the majority. They are largely middle and upper class and, consequently, mainly white. In the 2014 elections they sensed that their time had come to get rid of the PT, only to see their favored candidate, former Minas Gerais PSDB governor Aécio Neves, lose in Brazil’s closest-ever presidential contest. Despite the very real and serious flaws of the current government, this discontent with the PT finds its true source in centuries of elite fear of popular mobilization and a deep resentment of the gains working class people have made since Lula took office in 2003.
The operation known as ‘Car Wash’ (Lava Jato) – which was designed to force Lula to testify – was leaked to the Globo television network in advance so that their helicopter could hover over the former president’s house before the federal police arrived. During the night, Epoca magazine’s editor-in-chief (which belongs to the Globo media network) tweeted about the actions that would take place the following morning. This demonstrated the media’s power to manipulate public opinion with a noticeable coup-driven agenda.
“Having screwed the Middle east, the US gaze turns to South America”
America’s Monroe Doctrine (1823) essentially said, “The Western Hemisphere belongs to us.” From an American foreign policy point of view, the US is simply managing weaker countries that have always belonged to the USA.
(OK, I admit this is a Latin American perspective. The US State Dept. would disagree.)
Love the Natz myth (sarc) about ‘freeing up more land” – yep that old chestnut been saying it for years now, (change the record) but the problem is that there is too many people coming into NZ, not enough building and plenty of land but that does not mean houses!!
Even when they do build the houses are not aimed at Kiwis but at overseas money.
It is the building of the houses that is the problem not the land or resource consents!
Why are they selling off the state houses if they need more affordable housing?
The insane lazy immigration strategy from the Natz so that overseas money can flood into Auckland and hide the major problems in the Natz economic strategy and give them more votes to boot.
P.s If you live in a car can you register to vote? Probably a lot more difficult, win win for the Natz.
It’s not too many people, it’s too much cheap money being sold as debt by our foreign banks. That’s what inflates the bubble. Building more dwellings will not fix it.
A friend of mine says the Chinese can land ready to erect house kits in NZ for $12,000 each. I can’t support this but I do know that mass produced housing units can be built quickly and economically.
We can’t do that. It would cut out the real estate developers who finance National’s elections.
Don’t try and solve the wrong problem. You won’t get anywhere.
The real problem is: not enough $20/hr jobs in the regions.
You are never going to get affordable (less than 4x household income) housing in Auckland. I don’t care if you get a Labour/Greens government in Auckland, they will be able to do nothing to drop median Auckland house prices under $800K. It will keep climbing.
No Government can build the five thousand houses a year in Auckland which is what you will need to even start to make a dent against the city’s projected population growth. And even then all the Government will be doing is taking land which would be used by private developers, hence no net gain in numbers of houses.
how about that?
Why does the majority of migrants need to move to Auckland? Why not incentives them to move to the regions and create their ‘investment businesses’ there?
Why force people that have lived in Auckland for many generations, that have paid rates, that have paid taxes here out?
Oh cause you don’t care about the people that already live here?
Is that your problem?
Stop people from moving to AKL for the next 5 – 10 years, unless they have a. a job and b. housing lined up.
And everyone who still then wants to ‘migrate’ to NZ to buy up properties and keep them empty can do that elsewhere.
The unit next to my house has been empty now for 3 years. And there are many thousands of properties in AKL that are kept empty. We would not need to build several thousands of houses desperatly if we could get those that are kept empty for captial gains back on the market as a house for people that actually want to live in it.
Why force people that have lived in Auckland for many generations, that have paid rates, that have paid taxes here out?
Oh cause you don’t care about the people that already live here?
People can pick and choose for themselves whether or not they want to stay in Auckland, once you give them a way out.
But let’s stop pretending that Auckland is ever going to make an affordable city to live in if it keeps growing.
It’s great for those on the top 5% of incomes though.
i have advocated for the government – any fucking government – to invest in the region now for the longest time. Here, and elsewhere.
What i have not done, is to call for gutsy people elsewhere to just up their families, leave everything behind that they know and move god knows where to start a new life. You however have asked for that yesterday. Are there any gutsy aucklanders that would move to the Waikato. To do what? What jobs? And not only jobs for the blokes, but jobs for the wifes – cause we like to earn a living too and would love to not be completly depended on a man – jobs for the kids, cause well, eventually they grow into adutls. That alone should see you blush with shame, but i guess that is something you don’t have. How many dairy frm workers just do you think live in Auckland?
I have never pretended that Auckland is going to out build its issues. AS for affordable, you and I have vastly different ideas as to what is affordable then you. I actually don’t have an issue with the house prices in AKL, as they are the same world wide for a city that size.
What i have an issue with, is that the government is not investing in decent humanly build appartment blocks that are not leaking, rotting, fire hazards. What i have an issue with is that a tenancy for six month is legal. Anyone who looks for a place to live will most likely not want to move again in six month. Everyone who wants to rent for less then six month could go rent a motel unit for that long.
I have an issue with people leaving previously tenanted or lived in houses empty cause the Carpet, like that fuckwit Gareth Morgan and others of his ilk.
I have an issue with people buying rental properties and then hear them complain that they actually can’t keep up the maintenance of said rental cause they have no money.
i have an issue with the same house being sold several times over and everytime it does the last family that moved in 4 month ago is again on the streets, and the next tenant will pay an extra 100$ per week on the same house, cause we don’t have no fucking regulations for rentals and no protection for tenants.
So frankly, keep your lets move Aucklanders out away for a moment, and lets have a look at the issues that are, and that more often then no are not caused by the o es living in despair.
Namely no job creation what so ever for decades now in the regions other then cows and wine it seems.
Namely, no houses being build to be in the affordable brackets for tenants that live and work for a certain time in AKL, but might not want to actually buy in Akl.
but that would not be quite as easy as saying, if yer can’t afford it just move out.
People every day in the regions are having to up their lives and move to Auckland to try and get work.
It ain’t exactly a new phenomenon.
Regardless of the value of the ideas you propose to improve rental situations in Auckland, they can never keep up with the pressure that 30,000 to 40,000 population growth per year, for the next 20 years, in the city will create.
Which is where my point comes in. People need avenues to move out of Auckland and people need to be discouraged from moving into Auckland.
At that point, your suggestions about rental controls and government apartment blocks, might have a chance to make an impact.
Even then however, average income earners on $60K pa in Auckland will never own their own home. They will be renters for life, enriching some landlord for life.
Let alone the situation for the majority of Auckland workers who make way less than $60K pa.
But the difference between you and me is that i don’t call for them to do that.
Equally, there are many Aucklanders that have moved or say retired, to Tauranga and other nice places in NZ fucking up house prices there.
Then you have the Aucklanders that have moved overseas. Quite a few actually.
Then you will have those that will sell within the next few month and also move somewhere nice.
Not everyone needs to buy a house. Full stop there. Have a good look at europe and other places and understand than many do not own the house/apartment they live in, but they rent it. At a decent affordable rent, long term – sometimes several decades even. But then the ‘landlords’ overseas don’t participate in a Volkssport called’ Flip a house, fuck over a tenant’ to get rich.
As for affordable, soon working stiffs won’t be able to buy in Wellington, Tauranga, Wellington, CHCH, well i guess they all can just move to a region and start milking cows for a living.
I’ll ignore your smart big city folk diss of the regions.
If people want to spend an hour in traffic day every day instead of with their families, good on em.
I’m betting that people given the choice won’t.
And my point stands – Auckland is going to cross 2M population by 2035, if not before.
Your schemes with government apartment blocks etc cannot keep pace with that, not even close.
As for young Kiwis giving up their dream of owning their own home. If they stay in Auckland, most of them will have to. Unless they luckily have parents ready to put down a $150K deposit for them.
Young people might value a well-paid, engaging career and diverse lifestyle options over the historic allure of owning a quarter-acre. They already know where they will find those choices.
Stopping people moving to our only world-scale city is not going to help NZ’s future prospects. Investing in regional development however is also important. It’s not a zero-sum thing. We can walk and chew gum.
Any government could boldly fix this housing crisis if they thought voters would support it. Unfortunately those who benefit from our current arrangements vote more than than those who don’t. We need leaders competently presenting a better alternative to change that. Where are they?
If New Zealanders won’t, there’s plenty of UK, Hong Kong, Netherlands, US, and South African couples who will sell up at home and move to specific provinces: North Shore, Queenstown, Wanaka, Wairarapa, Bay of Islands.
But then there’s those pesky OIO rules, anti-foreigner policies, immigration hoops.
Therein the regional policy/immigration/land ownership quandary.
And there are many thousands of properties in AKL that are kept empty.
And everywhere else. Compulsory purchase of all properties that are vacant for a given amount of time on the basis that they are mere instruments of speculation.
Squatter’s rights! Then there’s no need for wrangling in any court over whether a property was deliberately left empty 😉
There is no rational reason not to have legislation along those lines. But we’re talking ideology; an ideology that is never named or examined by even investigative journalistic pieces.
edit: And life long leases that have provisions for running intergenerationally.
The US has a few dairy woes.
“Billions of pounds of cheese are about to go to waste. Clearly America needs your help”
Americans eat an average of 34 pounds of cheese a year however the cheese surplus is mounting partly due to imported cheese from Europe because of the low Euro.
Warehouses are full of curds that may have to be dumped.
This is what happens when an economy is driven by profit. You get huge amounts of ‘waste’ that could be used to help people but it’ll be dumped instead because putting it to use will lower profits.
The UK Open Government National Action Plan 2016-18 (NAP) sets out 13 commitments on transparency, anti corruption and open government. It also sets out how government is making information clearer, easier to interpret and easier to use.
The commitments include:
● The UK becoming the first G7 country to commit to the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) for contracts administered by a central purchasing authority, the Crown Commercial Service.
This means that the whole process of awarding public sector contracts – from the bidding right through to the building – will be visible to the public for the first time by October 2016.
This will be piloted by High Speed Rail 2.
_________________________
Still hiding them under the BS of ‘commercial sensitivity’. Our politicians don’t seem to have woken up to the fact that a contract between a private firm and the government is with us, the people and that we need to know the details of those contracts.
Women should be given every assistance to break the ceiling barriers – as it were – but in the final analysis appoint on ability and merit and not gender.
Looking forward to receiving my invitation to this Mayoral debate.
I’m sure my pro-transparency Mayoral policies will receive support from, in my opinion, many decent business people – particularly those who have been unsuccessful in obtaining contracts for services and regulatory functions with Auckland Council and Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs)?
“Business to Put Tough Questions to Auckland Mayoral Candidates
With the countdown now on to local body elections, and the mayoralty of New Zealand’s largest city being hotly contested, three leading business associations want to put the tough questions to Auckland mayoral contenders around how they will deliver more prosperity to the city.
The powerhouse combination of EMA, Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Heart of the City have partnered up to host two Mayoral Debates.
The first in this series is being held on Friday, June 17 and a second debate is planned for Thursday, September 8. Candidates will include Phil Goff, Victoria Crone and Mark Thomas.
The three business focussed organisations want to ensure the needs of Auckland’s businesses are front and centre in the minds of the candidates.
The objective of the debates is to create an opportunity for Auckland businesses to send strong signals about the outcomes they want to see the successful candidate deliver.
All three organisations agree, that the potential of Auckland has to be unlocked and that business wants to see action, not words, from the city’s future leader.”
________________________________________
(And I’m sure my participation will sharpen, and make far more lively, this Mayoral debate, particularly my view that Auckland is already being run ‘like a business, by business FOR business’ and what need is an Auckland region that is ‘people’ – not ‘business’ friendly 🙂
Will these business associations be brave enough to invite me?
(If the Institute of Directors can invite me to a Mayoral debate at the Northern Club – why not? 😉
Life in the provinces isn’t all bad. I left Auckland twenty years ago, everyone said we would be back after a couple of years but we’re still here. You can buy a very nice house in Whangarei for under $300,000 – close to town and probably with sea views. The wages aren’t as good up here, but they aren’t that bad and there seems to be plenty of work out there for those who want it. The beaches are awesome, the fishing is pretty good and the only time you get a traffic jam is on a friday before a long weekend. If for some strange reason you want to go to Auckland it’s less than 2 hours away.
Two problems, one is that some of us in the provinces don’t want a big influx from Auckland 😉
The other is that Aucklanders migrating out to cheaper places can have the same effect there on house and land prices that wealthy immigrants are having in Auckland. I agree with the general premise that part of Auckland’s problem is too many people want or need to live there. But let’s look at the complexities, not just exporting the problem somewhere else.
…so after Alex Salmond has been informed by the ICC that won’t prosecute Blair for a ‘crime of aggression’ – it isn’t within their jurisdiction – up jumps Jim Sillars with a suggestion that the Scottish Parliament pass retrospective legislation so that he can be hauled before the Scottish courts.
Holyrood is a devolved parliament and certainly doesnt have powers to create a war crime law for outside Scotland
These are its restricted areas of legislation
agriculture, forestry and fisheries
education and training
environment
health and social services
housing
law and order( locally)
local government
sport and the arts
tourism and economic development
many aspects of transport.
Scottish Law is separate to the Law in England and Wales – always has been. Tony Blair was the PM of the UK, not just England and Wales. Scotland is a part of the UK and I’d pick that a person governing the UK has to abide by the law as it stands in England and Wales just as much as by the law as it stands in Scotland – when, where and if they are considering something that impacts both north and south of the English-Scottish border.
There won’t be a retrospective law passed, but it would be interesting if there was.
Well, I’m picking that Jim Sillars wouldn’t have made the suggestion, and the newspaper wouldn’t have reported the suggestion, and the SNP spokesperson wouldn’t merely have responded that they had no plans to table such a piece of legislation, if that facet of Scottish Law (criminal) was ‘reserved’ (ie -came under the purview of Westminster).
For the world of me I can’t imagine why criminal law would be reserved, but hey…
Since none of the actions of the Iraqi war occurred in Scotland or were planned in Scotland, that would make it a very big ask to make it a domestic law and order issue they can legislate on.
There is also the idea of murder its elf, as Blair never directly participated in the war operations ( unlike US , PM isnt commander in chief) he would have to be prosecuted under the political aspect of war crimes. The Hague hasnt even done anything in that regard as far as I’m aware.
AS for why an SNP MP has raised the issue, the idea that MPs are all knowing, is ludicrous. A grandiose idea in their mind of what they do know and can legislate for is more common. Sillars is exactly such a person.
One other aspect that wouldnt be a problem, is retrospective, as the UKs own War Crimes Act of 1991, which only covered crimes in Europe under german occupation, is clearly retrospective .
Interestingly, that law was one of only a few last century that was passed in spite of the House of Lords rejecting it. ( and probably doomed the hereditary lords who did so.)
As I understand it, only applied to individuals who were now resident in UK, and were participants in particular war crimes during the war.
There have been a few things this I really had a great belly laugh over this year. Larry Wilmore speech at Obama’s last correspondents dinner, was one time. I thought it was up their with Stephen Colbert, and in some ways better for it’s frankness. Now this, sheesh he hit, and he hit hard it seems.
Hadn’t seen or heard his speech. So I searched it out (link below). The first 15 minutes were kind of taking no prisoners and I found I didn’t necessarily have to know who he was referring to to ‘get it’ – one very uncomfortable audience, but then it kind of washed out about the point of the Zodiac Killer stuff. (btw – I got the impression that him and Lemon are mates – that wasn’t really a go so much as a jibe you might hear between two mates. Lemon just seems to be laughing “You bastard”. That’s how I took it anyway.
“Saw you (Obama) hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. That was cool, yeah. You know it kinda makes sense, too, because both of you like raining down bombs on people from long distances, right? What? Am I wrong?”
“Saw you (Obama) hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. That was cool, yeah. You know it kinda makes sense, too, because both of you like raining down bombs on people from long distances, right? What? Am I wrong?”
I don’t play a huge amount of games but I tend to play a select few games a lot, (Saints Row series, Skyrim and Fallout are my go to games) and I’m so hanging out for the release of Far Harbour on the 19th
But yeah it makes you wonder what else is stashed in museums around that area and if other items are out in the open and no ones noticed them
Theres a crap load hidden away in Museums, there’s something like only 10% of the collection on display at any one time so I heard from a curator once, & thats just the documented stuff.
Yeah ploughing my way through Fall Out 4, I def recommend Uncharted 4, will have a look at Far Harbour, I am relatively new at these things but totally hooked!
I would like to get other games but if I did it would sit on around for ages before I started playing it, I tend to focus on one game until I get sick of it then switch to another
Filing systems take a lot less space than display cabinents. But accredited folk who can be trusted (relatively speaking) to not drop the exhibits or cover them in toffee can usually get access for research purposes.
And most museums and galleries create different public display collections over time, both to get people through the door and to illuminate different aspects and events for the regular patrons.
But also these days there’s a trend towards turning museums into theme parks mostly aimed at kids.
Otago Museum has this huge sword collection that hasn’t been displayed in years, its bloody impressive.
Re: games, yeah pr I am the same, I can only play a handful of games, the Star Wars is a good dumb online free-for-all shoot ’em up, Fall Out 4 is freakin’ hard & a total mindf*ck that takes up all my concentration, I am still at the top of the map so it’s slow going (though my settlement is healthy & safe), but Uncharted 4 is a great treasure hunt adventure like Indiana Jones & it grooves along at a cracking pace & the online version is just mean! I am really wanting some kinda WW2 game but so far not found any for the PS4. Better than movies!
Otago museum’s sword display (not collection, haven’t seen the full thing) really pissed me off the last few times I swung by (haven’t been in a few years, though). There was a little note basically saying that violence is bad but part of history, sorry we have to show this stuff, and a couple of dozen swords were hung up with no arrangement and little information.
Thing is, there was one piece from most eras and most regions across the globe, and if you knew where/when they were from you could actually trace the drift of design elements e.g. from Greece to Persia to India to China, and back the other way. It just seemed such a waste – I really like shit like that, where it really brings the world together and provdes context through the pieces themselves.
re: WW2 games, I read today that the latest Battlefield iteration is set in WW1. Might be interesting, although apparently one clip from the advertising showed a guy in a suit of armour hip-firing an MG that weight 20kilos in real life. Possible big-boss bs.
Oh my goodness Mcflock that new Battlefield looks incredible, cheers for that, will keep an eye out for it! & going to check out Skyrim too, heard a lot about but will have a look.
Guardian is for all the international justice warriors por la Revolucion. Of course, they love stories like this. The paper thrives upon their readers’ bleeding hearts.
[BLiP: Attack the messenger diversion. Moved to Open Mike. First and last warning.]
Not harsh at all. You want people to abandon weekly visitation with their kids (because the ex doesn’t want to move) and try to relocate their parents simply on the offchance of getting better paying work elsewhere in the country.
Economic migration is the product of economic desperation multiplied by the inverse of social integration. “Social integration” is the concept that seems alien to you, but most humans experience it to greater or lesser degrees.
Are you funking serious? You advocate ghettoising and call it social integration. Keep all the lumps in one place eh. Your bogus garbled ‘equation’ is meaningless. What exactly do a homeless family owe to a social ‘network’ that has failed them?
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Meteorological Service has a heavy rain warning still in place for the whole of the country after a weekend of flooding, although some floodwaters have receded. Flood and flash flood warnings and alerts are also in place, including a warning for all flash flood-prone areas, small ...
Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said: “Grant Robertson has now admitted that he ...
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, ugly and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dA7KJZ2t1U
Its a very ineffective government that can’t get some houses built,
The village chief is not looking after the villagers
Fail 101
Ever the question, ideology or incompetency.
Both.
The ideology is incompetent as well.
Its become a religion for these believers in the market solving everything, and just like the second coming it may happen but its unlikely to happen in ones lifetime.
Some are true believers and others ( the majority) cynically use this amoral philosophy to fit her their own interests.
If we all take it as a given that Auckland will be allowed to grow to 2M people, then this is what we are going to end up with, even as provincial towns all around the regions continue to slowly die off.
Wanganui/Manawatu median house price $233,000 what the hell are people all doing in fucking $810,000 median Auckland?
Is the minimum wage 4x higher in Auckland or something?
There’s few well paid jobs in the provinces. Whanganui, for example, is a lovely town, but has little in the way of future focussed work. There’s a freezing works, a pet food factory, a place that makes helmets, a shipyard and not much else. Most of the work at those places is paid in the minimum to living wage level. So, houses may be priced reasonably, but the income levels still make them difficult to afford for a lot of residents.
If I was in Auckland, and thinking of getting out, the pressing question is ‘what do I do when I get there?’.
Basically there needs to be more jobs in the provinces.
Having said that, 3 mates on the minimum wage can put together and buy a $233,000 Wanganui/Manawatu house. They can never do that in Auckland.
the more pressing question is, what will your wife or partner do.
All the jobs you listed for the largest part are jobs for men.
You want there to be different womens jobs now?
IMO women do just as fine as the men in the freezing works and in factory process worker jobs, thanks.
For many women the issue is around being the primary caregiver esp for kids. Jobs have to fit around school hours and be flexible enough for kids being sick.
Sabine is on the money. The options for women in provincial towns are mostly limited to the service industry, so, again, low pay.
As an aside, while there are many women in the meat industry, there are very few holding down the higher paying jobs. Boning and slaughterboard work are extremely physical jobs which are paid on a tally basis (the more you do, the more you get paid) and there aren’t many women represented there. Packing jobs, which are predominantly done by women, are the often the lowest paid positions in a freezing works.
At least in the provinces, if you aint got no money, you can go hunt and gather. And in pleasant surrounds no less.
The emptier the place the better if you got no money or job, really…
If you’re a woman management professional, or you are a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant, there are plenty of opportunities outside of the big city.
You’re not going to be on big firm money or prestige though. If that’s what you want then by all means go fire up your career in the big city.
But if you have real ambition in a professional field you need to get out of small time Auckland anyway.
And most women in NZ live outside of Auckland Wellington and Christchurch. I doubt they think that the big city types have better lives than they do.
I think you are overestimating both the percentage of women in the workforce who are tertiary educated and the number of jobs available for them in the provinces. In addition, the financial rewards are less outside the bigger cities. The going rate for similar jobs in Auckland and Timaru is always going to be higher in Auckland.
By the way, was your second to last sentence a typo? I’ll think you’ll find that most women (and men) in NZ do live in Ak, Wellington or Christchurch.
It’s not all jobs and income. For me one of the major attractions of Auckland, is the access to the medical care I need at a good price. And a public health system, whilst slow, still works.
Also it gives me a chance to engage in a multicultural city. The weather is half decent as well, as is access to beaches, good food, family, and things like community gardens.
It also a city were by you can have engagement with a good ideas and great things, it also were we see the worst of the worst.
Auckland, will be a battle ground of ideas for years to come, with Maori and Pacific taking the led more and more.
Well said Adam. It troubles me that people still seem, and without question, to lock themselves into a mindset that says having a job is the principle thing in life…and that from that, all else should flow.
Yes, I would really miss the potential of living in the biggest Polynesian city in the world. So much to learn.
If you’re doing nothing at present, doesn’t really matter does it?
And that could be the basis of a huge tech R&D facility – if the government got off it’s arse and started actually trying to develop the nations economy.
That transition out of Auckland is something I have been putting a lot of thought into, because I’m getting ready to in the next few years.
If you sell out of Auckland, you never go back.
If you simply rent your Auckland place out, you can cover the mortgage, but you need quite a bit of the equity to set up properly elsewhere, in my case Wanaka. And you’re a very distant landlord.
We will both largely be jumping off the cliff of salaried life, and starting up a boutique hotel. We will still consult back to Auckland, but just a day or so a week until we really have the business bedded in.
These are not small transitions to make, because they are pretty much irreversible. Better to plan them rather than have them forced on us later in life.
Walking away from the Auckland property also means walking away from family and friends and many networks. But it has to be done if we’re going to get the life we want.
Those are huge steps to be making, but exciting ones, Ad. Best of luck!
Cheers.
Design process and business plan and structure coming up.
“Wanganui/Manawatu median house price $233,000 what the hell are people all doing in fucking $810,000 median Auckland?
Is the minimum wage 4x higher in Auckland or something?”
Perhaps they are scared of moving to a new city and making new friends.
Maybe they are not organised enough to get a job in a new city before they move there, i have moved to get a higher paying job a shitload of times. The people who rent and are on longterm welfare who won’t move to a more affordable area amaze me the most. Some people are just lazy or they don’t mind living in a shithole.
Some people have more ties in their lives than you do.
Some people have phones.
Yes. Because phoning is just as good when elderly parents need work done around the house, or when your kids live the ex. /sarc
That’s their fault for getting old, personal responsibility and all that.
You mean they wouldn’t take in their elderly parents? Some people are so rude.
No. “rude” is expecting people to uproot themselves and now their parents just in the hope that the grass is greener elsewhere.
You seem unfamiliar with the idea of social and familial ties to a place. That’s your loss.
No, we’re a nation of immigrants. When the grass definitely is greener elsewhere it’s time to move. You can only fit so many generations into a given space. Don’t be so placeist.
“Placeist”? Get a life. It’s called “having friends and family and community”.
Besides, you don’t know that the grass is “most definitely” greener. And what if the parents don’t want to be uprooted at their time of life – you expect the kids to say “screw you, mum, you’re on your own”?
Wriggle and dance all you want, the only thing you’re demonstrating is that you have nobody you genuinely care about.
It’s very effectively shifting our wealth into the hands of the rich.
This man is representing our country?!!!
Read more: http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade#ixzz48qlDIWcs
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The Republican Senator Orrin Hatch who is chair of the Senate Finance Committee is concerned that TPP negotiators failed to secure 12 years of protection for next-generation biological drugs.
+100 TMM
jonkey Nacts representative Tim Groser is a disgrace!…have these people no shame?!
Lets hope Trump or Sanders becomes President and kills the TPP dead in the water!
…Hillary Clinton who works for the USA corporates certainly won’t!
https://www.rt.com/usa/334754-sanders-attacks-clinton-debates/
(oops doesnt Andrew Little support Hillary Clinton for President?)
Yep if they don’t put Bernie through I think just as democrats will vote Trump rather than Clinton or not vote.
So, what they’re promising is protection from the market effectively guaranteeing profits.
AS PREDICTED:
US seeks more in TPP on medicine monopolies at APEC meeting
“The US government is making a desperate attempt to placate domestic US corporate and Republican opposition to the TPP implementing legislation by demanding stronger monopolies for pharmaceutical companies and other concessions at a meeting of TPP ministers to be held this week on the sidelines of the APEC Trade Ministers meeting in Peru,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1605/S00210/us-seeks-more-in-tpp-on-medicine-monopolies-at-apec-meeting.htm
Jane Kelsey: Heavy hand of US domestic politics evident in TPP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11639804
And our government will cave. That was a given right from the word go.
Labour and Little lost a golden opportunity to stand fast against the TPP.
🙁
Why would they “stand fast” against the entirety of something that meets many of their international trade objectives, even if some of it is contrary to their sovereignty issues?
“Baby” and “bathwater” come to mind.
I don’t think that it even made any of their trade objectives and that they had to use the BS that National released to justify saying that it did. You know, the figures that have since been shown to be complete bollocks.
On all counts the TPPA will be bad for NZ and we should not be signing it. Labour still has time to come out fully against it but I’m sure that they won’t as they continue to follow the same failed ideology that brought about the Great Depression and the GFC.
If Labour shared your assessment of it, they probably would.
But they don’t so they won’t.
But then Labour think NZ needs international trade to get stuff we want and stuff we need. And we’ve had that discussion before.
Stand over tactics, buy our shit – or land mines.
Leaked diplomatic letters sent from Colombia’s Embassy in Washington describe how a staffer with the Senate Finance Committee, which is led by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, warned of repercussions if Colombia moves forward on approving the cheaper, generic form of a cancer drug.
[…]
In the second letter, after a meeting with Senate Finance Committee International Trade Counsel Everett Eissenstat, Flórez wrote that Eissenstat said that authorizing the generic version would “violate the intellectual property rights” of Novartis. Eissenstat also said that if “the Ministry of Health did not correct this situation, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States and related interest groups could become very vocal and interfere with other interests that Colombia could have in the United States,” according to the letter.
In particular, Flórez expressed a worry that “this case could jeopardize the approval of the financing of the new initiative ‘Peace Colombia.’”
The Obama administration has pledged $450 million for Peace Colombia, which seeks to bring together rebels and the government to end decades of fighting that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a shattered civil society. These funds will be used for, among other things, removing land mines. The country has the second-highest number of land-mine fatalities in the world, behind only Afghanistan.
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/14/leaks-show-senate-aide-threatened-colombia-over-cheap-cancer-drug/
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/05/april_public_polls-2.html
I’m not sure that the exact numbers are correct but the margin of differences seem about right to me (based on nothing more than a feeling)
How far we’ve fallen, now we appear to be demanding and/or accepting bribes…..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/80062197/land-sale-approved-after-funding-of-school-ipads-and-laptops
Yeah, that should have had the buyers not pass the good character test as well.
This is how democracy now works (not) in Brazil
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/11/brazils-democracy-to-suffer-grievous-blow-today-as-unelectable-corrupt-neoliberal-is-installed/
illegal overthrow of an elected government again
outright coup d’état
it cannot be allowed to stand
And wikileaks has released doc which show that the new interim president is a US government informant.
Ukraine was allowed to stand.
It was a country brought down by a coup d’état against an elected government.
Venezuela is on the brink after 2 years + of economic sabotage.
America is a rogue state.
The US has been a rogue state ever since the 19th century. It’s never followed international law or anything to with ethics or morals.
@ Draco
“The US has been a rogue state ever since the 19th century.”
It goes back to the 1630’s when the prime export of these colonies was a highly addictive narcotic, nicotine (i.e., tobacco). The colonists realized it would easy to grow tobacco in a lot of other places so they made it a capital offense to export tobacco plants, seeds, or cuttings. “Capital offense” as in, we hang you by the neck until dead!
This was the birth of America’s concept of “monopolistic free trade,” a noble tradition they continue to honor in the TPPA.
Ukraine was always a poor country ineptly run by corrupt politicians and officials. Now it is a destroyed country ineptly run by corrupt politicians and officials.
And the US has successfully convinced Ukraine to cut all its economic ties with Russia. Including all the high tech aerospace and defence components they used to make for Russia.
In exchange the Ukraine now gets to export more fruit to the EU. And IMF overlords insisting that the Ukraine “liberalise” its state assets.
Un-electable ?
He was Roussefs running mate, selected by her. The process stinks but he is a long time leader of Brazils largest party and as Rousseff was in a coalition with other parties compromises are made
Major advance for the US in destabilising the BRICS rival block.
Yes it seems to be the case.
How else could it this way, except in Brazil which the politicians are notoriously corrupt, the President is removed for just a government budget measure.
Having screwed the Middle east, the US gaze turns to South America and uses its underhand methods to upset the democratic apple cart when it favours leftist leaders.
Well, them and their allies.
Amidst predictions of Rousseff’s demise, the mainstream media has consistently downplayed, and occasionally outright ignored, one fact: the social backgrounds of protesters. It is not “the Brazilian people” who are in the streets, but rather a very specific segment of the population whose economic interests are historically opposed to those of the majority. They are largely middle and upper class and, consequently, mainly white. In the 2014 elections they sensed that their time had come to get rid of the PT, only to see their favored candidate, former Minas Gerais PSDB governor Aécio Neves, lose in Brazil’s closest-ever presidential contest. Despite the very real and serious flaws of the current government, this discontent with the PT finds its true source in centuries of elite fear of popular mobilization and a deep resentment of the gains working class people have made since Lula took office in 2003.
https://nacla.org/news/2015/04/09/who%E2%80%99s-protesting-brazil-and-why
The operation known as ‘Car Wash’ (Lava Jato) – which was designed to force Lula to testify – was leaked to the Globo television network in advance so that their helicopter could hover over the former president’s house before the federal police arrived. During the night, Epoca magazine’s editor-in-chief (which belongs to the Globo media network) tweeted about the actions that would take place the following morning. This demonstrated the media’s power to manipulate public opinion with a noticeable coup-driven agenda.
http://newint.org/blog/2016/04/14/brazil-and-its-democracy/
@ dukeofurl
“Having screwed the Middle east, the US gaze turns to South America”
America’s Monroe Doctrine (1823) essentially said, “The Western Hemisphere belongs to us.” From an American foreign policy point of view, the US is simply managing weaker countries that have always belonged to the USA.
(OK, I admit this is a Latin American perspective. The US State Dept. would disagree.)
Love the Natz myth (sarc) about ‘freeing up more land” – yep that old chestnut been saying it for years now, (change the record) but the problem is that there is too many people coming into NZ, not enough building and plenty of land but that does not mean houses!!
Even when they do build the houses are not aimed at Kiwis but at overseas money.
It is the building of the houses that is the problem not the land or resource consents!
Why are they selling off the state houses if they need more affordable housing?
The insane lazy immigration strategy from the Natz so that overseas money can flood into Auckland and hide the major problems in the Natz economic strategy and give them more votes to boot.
P.s If you live in a car can you register to vote? Probably a lot more difficult, win win for the Natz.
It’s not too many people, it’s too much cheap money being sold as debt by our foreign banks. That’s what inflates the bubble. Building more dwellings will not fix it.
A friend of mine says the Chinese can land ready to erect house kits in NZ for $12,000 each. I can’t support this but I do know that mass produced housing units can be built quickly and economically.
We can’t do that. It would cut out the real estate developers who finance National’s elections.
Don’t try and solve the wrong problem. You won’t get anywhere.
The real problem is: not enough $20/hr jobs in the regions.
You are never going to get affordable (less than 4x household income) housing in Auckland. I don’t care if you get a Labour/Greens government in Auckland, they will be able to do nothing to drop median Auckland house prices under $800K. It will keep climbing.
No Government can build the five thousand houses a year in Auckland which is what you will need to even start to make a dent against the city’s projected population growth. And even then all the Government will be doing is taking land which would be used by private developers, hence no net gain in numbers of houses.
Get people out of Auckland. It is the only way.
or lets stop people from moving into auckland?
how about that?
Why does the majority of migrants need to move to Auckland? Why not incentives them to move to the regions and create their ‘investment businesses’ there?
Why force people that have lived in Auckland for many generations, that have paid rates, that have paid taxes here out?
Oh cause you don’t care about the people that already live here?
Is that your problem?
Stop people from moving to AKL for the next 5 – 10 years, unless they have a. a job and b. housing lined up.
And everyone who still then wants to ‘migrate’ to NZ to buy up properties and keep them empty can do that elsewhere.
The unit next to my house has been empty now for 3 years. And there are many thousands of properties in AKL that are kept empty. We would not need to build several thousands of houses desperatly if we could get those that are kept empty for captial gains back on the market as a house for people that actually want to live in it.
Let’s go ahead and do both.
Give people ways to move out of Auckland.
Disincentivise people from moving into Auckland.
People can pick and choose for themselves whether or not they want to stay in Auckland, once you give them a way out.
But let’s stop pretending that Auckland is ever going to make an affordable city to live in if it keeps growing.
It’s great for those on the top 5% of incomes though.
i have advocated for the government – any fucking government – to invest in the region now for the longest time. Here, and elsewhere.
What i have not done, is to call for gutsy people elsewhere to just up their families, leave everything behind that they know and move god knows where to start a new life. You however have asked for that yesterday. Are there any gutsy aucklanders that would move to the Waikato. To do what? What jobs? And not only jobs for the blokes, but jobs for the wifes – cause we like to earn a living too and would love to not be completly depended on a man – jobs for the kids, cause well, eventually they grow into adutls. That alone should see you blush with shame, but i guess that is something you don’t have. How many dairy frm workers just do you think live in Auckland?
I have never pretended that Auckland is going to out build its issues. AS for affordable, you and I have vastly different ideas as to what is affordable then you. I actually don’t have an issue with the house prices in AKL, as they are the same world wide for a city that size.
What i have an issue with, is that the government is not investing in decent humanly build appartment blocks that are not leaking, rotting, fire hazards. What i have an issue with is that a tenancy for six month is legal. Anyone who looks for a place to live will most likely not want to move again in six month. Everyone who wants to rent for less then six month could go rent a motel unit for that long.
I have an issue with people leaving previously tenanted or lived in houses empty cause the Carpet, like that fuckwit Gareth Morgan and others of his ilk.
I have an issue with people buying rental properties and then hear them complain that they actually can’t keep up the maintenance of said rental cause they have no money.
i have an issue with the same house being sold several times over and everytime it does the last family that moved in 4 month ago is again on the streets, and the next tenant will pay an extra 100$ per week on the same house, cause we don’t have no fucking regulations for rentals and no protection for tenants.
So frankly, keep your lets move Aucklanders out away for a moment, and lets have a look at the issues that are, and that more often then no are not caused by the o es living in despair.
Namely no job creation what so ever for decades now in the regions other then cows and wine it seems.
Namely, no houses being build to be in the affordable brackets for tenants that live and work for a certain time in AKL, but might not want to actually buy in Akl.
but that would not be quite as easy as saying, if yer can’t afford it just move out.
People every day in the regions are having to up their lives and move to Auckland to try and get work.
It ain’t exactly a new phenomenon.
Regardless of the value of the ideas you propose to improve rental situations in Auckland, they can never keep up with the pressure that 30,000 to 40,000 population growth per year, for the next 20 years, in the city will create.
Which is where my point comes in. People need avenues to move out of Auckland and people need to be discouraged from moving into Auckland.
At that point, your suggestions about rental controls and government apartment blocks, might have a chance to make an impact.
Even then however, average income earners on $60K pa in Auckland will never own their own home. They will be renters for life, enriching some landlord for life.
Let alone the situation for the majority of Auckland workers who make way less than $60K pa.
But the difference between you and me is that i don’t call for them to do that.
Equally, there are many Aucklanders that have moved or say retired, to Tauranga and other nice places in NZ fucking up house prices there.
Then you have the Aucklanders that have moved overseas. Quite a few actually.
Then you will have those that will sell within the next few month and also move somewhere nice.
Not everyone needs to buy a house. Full stop there. Have a good look at europe and other places and understand than many do not own the house/apartment they live in, but they rent it. At a decent affordable rent, long term – sometimes several decades even. But then the ‘landlords’ overseas don’t participate in a Volkssport called’ Flip a house, fuck over a tenant’ to get rich.
As for affordable, soon working stiffs won’t be able to buy in Wellington, Tauranga, Wellington, CHCH, well i guess they all can just move to a region and start milking cows for a living.
I’ll ignore your smart big city folk diss of the regions.
If people want to spend an hour in traffic day every day instead of with their families, good on em.
I’m betting that people given the choice won’t.
And my point stands – Auckland is going to cross 2M population by 2035, if not before.
Your schemes with government apartment blocks etc cannot keep pace with that, not even close.
As for young Kiwis giving up their dream of owning their own home. If they stay in Auckland, most of them will have to. Unless they luckily have parents ready to put down a $150K deposit for them.
Young people might value a well-paid, engaging career and diverse lifestyle options over the historic allure of owning a quarter-acre. They already know where they will find those choices.
Stopping people moving to our only world-scale city is not going to help NZ’s future prospects. Investing in regional development however is also important. It’s not a zero-sum thing. We can walk and chew gum.
Any government could boldly fix this housing crisis if they thought voters would support it. Unfortunately those who benefit from our current arrangements vote more than than those who don’t. We need leaders competently presenting a better alternative to change that. Where are they?
If New Zealanders won’t, there’s plenty of UK, Hong Kong, Netherlands, US, and South African couples who will sell up at home and move to specific provinces: North Shore, Queenstown, Wanaka, Wairarapa, Bay of Islands.
But then there’s those pesky OIO rules, anti-foreigner policies, immigration hoops.
Therein the regional policy/immigration/land ownership quandary.
And everywhere else. Compulsory purchase of all properties that are vacant for a given amount of time on the basis that they are mere instruments of speculation.
Squatter’s rights! Then there’s no need for wrangling in any court over whether a property was deliberately left empty 😉
There is no rational reason not to have legislation along those lines. But we’re talking ideology; an ideology that is never named or examined by even investigative journalistic pieces.
edit: And life long leases that have provisions for running intergenerationally.
FTFY
CV
“No Government can build the five thousand houses a year in Auckland”
You definitely can. It’s been done elsewhere time and time again. But there was always a powerful sense of urgency, such as a war or natural disaster.
The US has a few dairy woes.
“Billions of pounds of cheese are about to go to waste. Clearly America needs your help”
Americans eat an average of 34 pounds of cheese a year however the cheese surplus is mounting partly due to imported cheese from Europe because of the low Euro.
Warehouses are full of curds that may have to be dumped.
http://www.upworthy.com/billions-of-pounds-of-cheese-are-about-to-go-to-waste-clearly-america-needs-your-help?c=upw1
The free market strikes again.
This is what happens when an economy is driven by profit. You get huge amounts of ‘waste’ that could be used to help people but it’ll be dumped instead because putting it to use will lower profits.
More transparency regarding contracting with the private sector one of the outcomes of the recent UK Anti-Corruption Summit?
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-contracts-to-be-open-to-public-for-the-first-time
The UK Open Government National Action Plan 2016-18 (NAP) sets out 13 commitments on transparency, anti corruption and open government. It also sets out how government is making information clearer, easier to interpret and easier to use.
The commitments include:
● The UK becoming the first G7 country to commit to the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) for contracts administered by a central purchasing authority, the Crown Commercial Service.
This means that the whole process of awarding public sector contracts – from the bidding right through to the building – will be visible to the public for the first time by October 2016.
This will be piloted by High Speed Rail 2.
_________________________
Good.
What’s New Zealand doing?
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Still hiding them under the BS of ‘commercial sensitivity’. Our politicians don’t seem to have woken up to the fact that a contract between a private firm and the government is with us, the people and that we need to know the details of those contracts.
+ 100
Helen Clark wants the top UN job only if she is considered to be the best person for the job. And that’s the way it should be.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/304049/clark-don't-give-me-un-job-on-gender
Women should be given every assistance to break the ceiling barriers – as it were – but in the final analysis appoint on ability and merit and not gender.
So we are happy that an all male selection panel is ok to determine the merit of female applicant?
The UN P5 isnt all male at the present time.
The US representative is Samatha Power
I find it interesting that Helen wants the top job, but not because she’s a woman, while Hilary wants the top job because she is a woman!
Well, I think Hilary is using her gender. Helen wants it based on her skills.
I know which one I respect the more…
Edit: to be fair they are playing to totally different audiences.
Looking forward to receiving my invitation to this Mayoral debate.
I’m sure my pro-transparency Mayoral policies will receive support from, in my opinion, many decent business people – particularly those who have been unsuccessful in obtaining contracts for services and regulatory functions with Auckland Council and Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs)?
“Business to Put Tough Questions to Auckland Mayoral Candidates
With the countdown now on to local body elections, and the mayoralty of New Zealand’s largest city being hotly contested, three leading business associations want to put the tough questions to Auckland mayoral contenders around how they will deliver more prosperity to the city.
The powerhouse combination of EMA, Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Heart of the City have partnered up to host two Mayoral Debates.
The first in this series is being held on Friday, June 17 and a second debate is planned for Thursday, September 8. Candidates will include Phil Goff, Victoria Crone and Mark Thomas.
The three business focussed organisations want to ensure the needs of Auckland’s businesses are front and centre in the minds of the candidates.
The objective of the debates is to create an opportunity for Auckland businesses to send strong signals about the outcomes they want to see the successful candidate deliver.
All three organisations agree, that the potential of Auckland has to be unlocked and that business wants to see action, not words, from the city’s future leader.”
________________________________________
(And I’m sure my participation will sharpen, and make far more lively, this Mayoral debate, particularly my view that Auckland is already being run ‘like a business, by business FOR business’ and what need is an Auckland region that is ‘people’ – not ‘business’ friendly 🙂
Will these business associations be brave enough to invite me?
(If the Institute of Directors can invite me to a Mayoral debate at the Northern Club – why not? 😉
Penny Bright
2016 Mayoral candidate.
Perhaps invitations are only to rate payers?
Penny’s remora sucker fish Indiana swimming close by.!
Life in the provinces isn’t all bad. I left Auckland twenty years ago, everyone said we would be back after a couple of years but we’re still here. You can buy a very nice house in Whangarei for under $300,000 – close to town and probably with sea views. The wages aren’t as good up here, but they aren’t that bad and there seems to be plenty of work out there for those who want it. The beaches are awesome, the fishing is pretty good and the only time you get a traffic jam is on a friday before a long weekend. If for some strange reason you want to go to Auckland it’s less than 2 hours away.
Sounds about right. I lived in Auckland for five years. Never again.
Two problems, one is that some of us in the provinces don’t want a big influx from Auckland 😉
The other is that Aucklanders migrating out to cheaper places can have the same effect there on house and land prices that wealthy immigrants are having in Auckland. I agree with the general premise that part of Auckland’s problem is too many people want or need to live there. But let’s look at the complexities, not just exporting the problem somewhere else.
i have no problem with your approach lol
This brought a smile to my face…
…so after Alex Salmond has been informed by the ICC that won’t prosecute Blair for a ‘crime of aggression’ – it isn’t within their jurisdiction – up jumps Jim Sillars with a suggestion that the Scottish Parliament pass retrospective legislation so that he can be hauled before the Scottish courts.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14496662.Jim_Sillars__Holyrood_should_pass_a_war_crimes_law_allowing_Tony_Blair_to_be_tried_for_the_Iraq_war/
Now, it won’t happen. But I’m enjoying all the nipping at the heels and the apparent determination to ‘get the bastard’ 🙂
That was such a good read, thanks Bill
Holyrood is a devolved parliament and certainly doesnt have powers to create a war crime law for outside Scotland
These are its restricted areas of legislation
agriculture, forestry and fisheries
education and training
environment
health and social services
housing
law and order( locally)
local government
sport and the arts
tourism and economic development
many aspects of transport.
Scottish Law is separate to the Law in England and Wales – always has been. Tony Blair was the PM of the UK, not just England and Wales. Scotland is a part of the UK and I’d pick that a person governing the UK has to abide by the law as it stands in England and Wales just as much as by the law as it stands in Scotland – when, where and if they are considering something that impacts both north and south of the English-Scottish border.
There won’t be a retrospective law passed, but it would be interesting if there was.
Scottish law may be separate, but Holyrood has limited powers to indroduce new laws,
I would have though the SNP would have bigger problems of its own.
“The English rose leaving SNP marriages in tatters: Two high-profile MPs leave their wives after they BOTH have affair with blonde writer ..”
Scandal and incompetence stalk the SNP
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/scandal-and-incompetence-stalk-snp
The voters think they have replaced one party of careerists, philanders and incompetents with another.
Well, I’m picking that Jim Sillars wouldn’t have made the suggestion, and the newspaper wouldn’t have reported the suggestion, and the SNP spokesperson wouldn’t merely have responded that they had no plans to table such a piece of legislation, if that facet of Scottish Law (criminal) was ‘reserved’ (ie -came under the purview of Westminster).
For the world of me I can’t imagine why criminal law would be reserved, but hey…
Since none of the actions of the Iraqi war occurred in Scotland or were planned in Scotland, that would make it a very big ask to make it a domestic law and order issue they can legislate on.
There is also the idea of murder its elf, as Blair never directly participated in the war operations ( unlike US , PM isnt commander in chief) he would have to be prosecuted under the political aspect of war crimes. The Hague hasnt even done anything in that regard as far as I’m aware.
AS for why an SNP MP has raised the issue, the idea that MPs are all knowing, is ludicrous. A grandiose idea in their mind of what they do know and can legislate for is more common. Sillars is exactly such a person.
One other aspect that wouldnt be a problem, is retrospective, as the UKs own War Crimes Act of 1991, which only covered crimes in Europe under german occupation, is clearly retrospective .
Interestingly, that law was one of only a few last century that was passed in spite of the House of Lords rejecting it. ( and probably doomed the hereditary lords who did so.)
As I understand it, only applied to individuals who were now resident in UK, and were participants in particular war crimes during the war.
There have been a few things this I really had a great belly laugh over this year. Larry Wilmore speech at Obama’s last correspondents dinner, was one time. I thought it was up their with Stephen Colbert, and in some ways better for it’s frankness. Now this, sheesh he hit, and he hit hard it seems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_P1rxrD818
Hadn’t seen or heard his speech. So I searched it out (link below). The first 15 minutes were kind of taking no prisoners and I found I didn’t necessarily have to know who he was referring to to ‘get it’ – one very uncomfortable audience, but then it kind of washed out about the point of the Zodiac Killer stuff. (btw – I got the impression that him and Lemon are mates – that wasn’t really a go so much as a jibe you might hear between two mates. Lemon just seems to be laughing “You bastard”. That’s how I took it anyway.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/05/01/the-complete-transcript-of-larry-wilmores-2016-white-house-correspondents-dinner-speech/
“Saw you (Obama) hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. That was cool, yeah. You know it kinda makes sense, too, because both of you like raining down bombs on people from long distances, right? What? Am I wrong?”
I thought Lemon took it well.
I think it was Wolf Blitzer that was offended.
Yeah love that line.
“Saw you (Obama) hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. That was cool, yeah. You know it kinda makes sense, too, because both of you like raining down bombs on people from long distances, right? What? Am I wrong?”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/79972497/national-treasure-discovered-under-cromwell-museum-stairwell
Not a political story at all, just one I thought was quite interesting
Hi puckish rogue, is it you who’s the gamer? I was just thinking Uncharted 4 when I saw that story earlier, very nice.
I don’t play a huge amount of games but I tend to play a select few games a lot, (Saints Row series, Skyrim and Fallout are my go to games) and I’m so hanging out for the release of Far Harbour on the 19th
But yeah it makes you wonder what else is stashed in museums around that area and if other items are out in the open and no ones noticed them
Theres a crap load hidden away in Museums, there’s something like only 10% of the collection on display at any one time so I heard from a curator once, & thats just the documented stuff.
Yeah ploughing my way through Fall Out 4, I def recommend Uncharted 4, will have a look at Far Harbour, I am relatively new at these things but totally hooked!
I would like to get other games but if I did it would sit on around for ages before I started playing it, I tend to focus on one game until I get sick of it then switch to another
10% is optimistic.
Filing systems take a lot less space than display cabinents. But accredited folk who can be trusted (relatively speaking) to not drop the exhibits or cover them in toffee can usually get access for research purposes.
And most museums and galleries create different public display collections over time, both to get people through the door and to illuminate different aspects and events for the regular patrons.
But also these days there’s a trend towards turning museums into theme parks mostly aimed at kids.
But also these days there’s a trend towards turning museums into theme parks mostly aimed at kids
– That’s true, its hard to find the balancing line between making something interesting and dumbing it down.
I haven’t been to Te Papa for a while but last time I was there it seemed to be more infomercial, hands on rather than informative
I think the Otago Early Settlers Museum has go the balance right though
Otago Museum has this huge sword collection that hasn’t been displayed in years, its bloody impressive.
Re: games, yeah pr I am the same, I can only play a handful of games, the Star Wars is a good dumb online free-for-all shoot ’em up, Fall Out 4 is freakin’ hard & a total mindf*ck that takes up all my concentration, I am still at the top of the map so it’s slow going (though my settlement is healthy & safe), but Uncharted 4 is a great treasure hunt adventure like Indiana Jones & it grooves along at a cracking pace & the online version is just mean! I am really wanting some kinda WW2 game but so far not found any for the PS4. Better than movies!
A game like Skyrim (the closest I’ve come to D & D in tone) can make me spend all day on my bed just playing the game, it really does take me away
Saves me money as well!
Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion with the Star Trek Armada 3 total mod…for all you avid Trekkies out there 😉
Far Cry Primal gets good press – I’m into Mount & Blade atm.
Cool, will have to check them out too, ta.
Otago museum’s sword display (not collection, haven’t seen the full thing) really pissed me off the last few times I swung by (haven’t been in a few years, though). There was a little note basically saying that violence is bad but part of history, sorry we have to show this stuff, and a couple of dozen swords were hung up with no arrangement and little information.
Thing is, there was one piece from most eras and most regions across the globe, and if you knew where/when they were from you could actually trace the drift of design elements e.g. from Greece to Persia to India to China, and back the other way. It just seemed such a waste – I really like shit like that, where it really brings the world together and provdes context through the pieces themselves.
re: WW2 games, I read today that the latest Battlefield iteration is set in WW1. Might be interesting, although apparently one clip from the advertising showed a guy in a suit of armour hip-firing an MG that weight 20kilos in real life. Possible big-boss bs.
Well hopefully it’ll be reasonably historically accurate at least (machine gun carrying aside)
Oh my goodness Mcflock that new Battlefield looks incredible, cheers for that, will keep an eye out for it! & going to check out Skyrim too, heard a lot about but will have a look.
Guardian is for all the international justice warriors por la Revolucion. Of course, they love stories like this. The paper thrives upon their readers’ bleeding hearts.
[BLiP: Attack the messenger diversion. Moved to Open Mike. First and last warning.]
Wow. Just wow.
well – im glad your here to solve things
You’re welcome, товарищ Фраму.
Ah, that explains it. You’ve been cowering in your backyard shelter for thirty years.
homeless needs to park there cars on john keys street nice wide verges for the tents there also nice park area at the end of his road
Pretty harsh McFlock, clinging like a limpet to a rock under a sledgehammer might not be Survival Plan A.
Not harsh at all. You want people to abandon weekly visitation with their kids (because the ex doesn’t want to move) and try to relocate their parents simply on the offchance of getting better paying work elsewhere in the country.
Economic migration is the product of economic desperation multiplied by the inverse of social integration. “Social integration” is the concept that seems alien to you, but most humans experience it to greater or lesser degrees.
Are you funking serious? You advocate ghettoising and call it social integration. Keep all the lumps in one place eh. Your bogus garbled ‘equation’ is meaningless. What exactly do a homeless family owe to a social ‘network’ that has failed them?
How does “not moving town” equal “ghettoising”?
And social connections aren’t always about what material benefits you can get out of them. By now I’m well aware that this confuses you.