Further to recent discussions here on begging monks in Auckland:
Inside the fake-monk scam: beggars recruited in China
Fake charity “monks” who target pedestrians on New Zealand’s busiest streets are recruited in China and sent here with the promise of making big money, says a woman who trained as a fake nun.
A Chinese syndicate is behind the scam, says the woman, who was recruited while living in China.
For a fee of 10,000 renminbi ($2065), she could become a Taoist nun, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) street doctor or a fortune teller. Recruits could make their fortunes on streets around the world, she said.
“We were told that if we wanted to go to Western countries, then becoming monks or nuns were the better options, because the West is still not so open to Chinese fortune telling or TCM,” said the woman.
“The cash collected is shared with the syndicate leaders; the percentage split is done by negotiation.”
The fee she paid got her a grey Taoist nun outfit and materials such as wooden beaded prayer bracelets, amulets and images of Buddha and Kuan Yin (the goddess of mercy) to support her solicitation.
The week-long training conducted in her native Zhejiang province included how to size up and approach donors, and knowing when to walk away and when to run.
In the past year, at least three begging monks in Auckland and Wellington have been spoken to by police here, sparking warnings last week for Auckland residents to stop giving money to Queen St beggars.
I don’t think I’ve ever claimed I’ve never copy/pasted from Whale Oil.
I’ve been copy/pasting from Whale Oil quite a bit lately. That’s what tends to happen in blog posts, they’re often built on copy/pastes. It’s also known as quoting.
I have no idea what point you’re trying to make, but that’s not unusual.
That gave me a laugh to start my day with the chicken little joke Phil, cheers.
You would think Pete G would be constructively commenting on the real crime that is on everyones lips and contributing some problem solving idea’s. That of the greedy 1% ripping the other 99% off through tax avoidance, banking ponzi schemes, anti competitive monopoly racketeering.
The way Pete is carrying on you would think the begging monks scam it’s the crime of the century. I nod my head in disbelief he is so selectively blind.
You are not saying that there are no “genuine” beggars though are you Pete? I suppose the upside, if there is one, that the people who gave could afford to give. Downside, many will use this experience to stop being charitable to anyone.
Now, how are we going exposing the tithing scams… 😉
I’m not saying there are no ‘genuine beggars’ but it can be difficult if not impossible to tell the difference. Scammers may it more difficult for genuine beggars.
I do think it is a shame that it may make people less likely to give. Even if they give to a scammer ( a dollar or two) it can make folks feel good to give and to think about other ways to give.
The real tragedy is that the Herald sees this as their main news.
As if there aren’t so many other current events stories they could put their resources into.
The corporate media is failing in its duty as the 4th estate.
Corporate media is masquerading as the 4th estate, it’s not impartial or bound by any ethics, regulation or history of any note to adhere to those quaint principles.
Controlling the message, suppressing undesired ones and playing it’s part as DP illuminated.
Look at the apologist piece on charter schools in granny as todays example.
from the NZ Initiative (formed from BRT and Business NZ I think)… and who does “Rosie” cite? David Farrar despite their blurb saying they are neutral and rely on research!
Far more beggars in need than scammers. I personally don’t mind of I give money to a scammer unknowingly if it means next time or last time the money went to someone who needed it.
From what I can tell from Pētera’s argument, it’s more important to not support support scammers than it is to support people in need. Beige ethics.
What a piece of unadulterated shite. You want people to believe that some shadowy syndicate takes money from Chinese nationals who are led to believe that the streets of ‘the west’ are paved with gold? And then to believe that some un-named woman, who apparently spoke to Lincoln Tan, paid the syndicate money to get abroad, but then pulled out and….fled the country?!
Really fucking seriously Pete, if you can’t see the likes of this shite as being nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on the poor, (with a little xeno-phobia thrown in on the side), then fuck, there really isn’t so much as 5/8ths of fuck all hope for you.
By the way Pete, people on visas who cannot work legally and who are all out of cash are more than entitled to beg. But hey, fuck the humanity or any degree of empathy and spread hate and distrust thick and fast Pete….it’s like your sad and bitter old man forte, is it not?
Lincoln Tan must be writing for an anti-poor campaign, which NZ Herald must be a party to. And the woman’s lying. And the two people reporting being pressured to donate must be part of a big conspiracy too. And the Auckland Council and Immigration NZ.
Or really fucking seriously Bill you’re making a dick of yourself.
“it’s like your sad and bitter old man forte” /irony
Anytime we leave this stuff to a form of self regulation, the sky falls in… and a small number of developers get very rich… and avoid future liability with their sequence of ritual company liquidations.
This government refuses to place personal liability on developers, which it did quickly to builders (who can least afford it). There is a clue in there.
It’s not just this government – it was Labour that removed the Romalpa clause for builders which allowed them to repossess materials unpaid for by developers, and also prevented them from holding caveats over properties when money was owed. Builders, electricians, plumbers, etc were just thrown to the wolves and often bankrupted, while developers refused to pay them, liquidated their companies, started up another one and went on to the next project, all with the blessing of the government. I went through this as the director of a small building company ( and was finally bankrupted by a crooked timber company which rorted a guarantee). Interestingly, the IRD usually wiped the unpaid taxes from these small companies with no fuss – evidence of complicity, I thought at the time.
Agreed. I guess I was just referring to them choosing to make builders and designers personally liable during their term but NOT developers, a consciously made distinction. Labour is not a blame-free zone.
And they wonder why people don’t vote for them. Siding with cowboy developers probably cost them tens of thousands of votes. How the hell did they justify it?
You have had a lot to do with developers haven’t you tracey… from reading this hobby horse of yours. However your view is tainted by the particular doings you have had, which have been very specific yes… to do solely with leaky buildings as I recall.
I would suggest that your crusade to place personal liability onto another sector of the business world is short-sighted. It would make no difference to the bad developers – they would just go bankrupt (assets elsewhere) and then rise again from the ashes. Such a personal liability would make no difference to these people.
And in fact your proposal would almost certainly backfire as those professional and competent developers currently active would likely go away, thanks to the personal liability imposition. The increased risk, without associated return, would make the equation unworkable and they would depart…… leaving us with only those bad developers for whom bankruptcy is water off a ducks back.
Your crusade also appears to take no account of the place of limited liability companies in the business world – a large but well settled aspect of our business world.
But builders and designers should lose their shirts and that’s tickety-boo, and presumably the government thought it would make the very difference to those groups you suggest it wouldn’t make to developers?
The logic that saw personal liability imposed on those two groups must apply by extention to developers.
It’s not a crusade vto it’s about pointing out the inconsistency in the application of policy/law which seeks to punish the more vulnerable (builder) but not the one who takes the profit, liquidates and is clear of liability.
“a vigorous campaign for political, social, or religious change.” Nope.
Why would a professional and competent developer go away? They would only need to go away if they were not professional or competent and thereby likely to incur personal liability? Just like the builders and designers who are currently in that category?
Are you a developer vto?
Limited Liability companies also need reform with more exceptions tot he liability. Who do you think devised the limited liability framework vto?
A couple quick points before I have to rush out. I agree that the imposition of personal liability on buidlers and designers appears inconsistent, however that does not detract from the point made above.
“Why would a professional and competent developer go away? They would only need to go away if they were not professional or competent and thereby likely to incur personal liability? Just like the builders and designers who are currently in that category?”..
.. Because, as explained and to repeat, the risk has increased without associated return. It is a simple equation. This has in fact happened with some builders, as you ask. (btw what I do is immaterial but we have significant involvement in this sector).
I understand the apparent unfairness that you outline but I don’t think your suggestions to correct it are the right ones.
When personal liability was slapped on builders and designers following the leaky home disaster I was gobsmacked. It is was all out of place and context while achieving little in the way of improvement to the problem, which problem was of course largely due to the neoliberal approach to such things i.e. self-regulation / the market will fix these things / appeal to self-interest. As such if there were any personal liability to be imposed anywhere then the politicians who implemented these policies should have been the subject.
Holding people accountable for their actions are most definitely the right ones.
Because, as explained and to repeat, the risk has increased without associated return.
You do understand that they’re not entitled to a return don’t you? That it’s not a God given right?
And it doesn’t actually matter if the bludgers don’t get the return that they want and so don’t build houses – the government can and they can do it without profit and without cutting corners that cause leaky buildings etc.
That’s something that people have forgotten. When the private sector won’t provide necessary services then the government must step in. Of course, that does mean that the private sector collapses.
“Holding people accountable for their actions are most definitely the right ones.” …
.. sure take out the llimited liability company so that all business is done in the businesspersons personal capacity. Do you know and understand the history and place of this feature of our current civilisation? The likely effect of the removal of the limited liability company? I know you do DtB. How do you think it would play out? What would the effect be? Wouldn’t like to be the person owning Jetstar… or Spark …. or be a Council officer …. or own shares in the Warehouse … courts would be busy, and so too would insurers (they would have a field day). Have you ever been in business yourself DtB? Where an intimate knowledge of these things can be gained?
I understand the philosophy behind your point there but practically the changes would be world-changing.
next:
“You do understand that they’re not entitled to a return don’t you?”
Did someone suggest there was an entitlement to a return? Certainly not me.
next:
Your point about government doing some of this stuff is your best point and I agree. Governments have done bigger shit than private sector for eons. Government needs to get into house construction in particular, of that there is no doubt. Plenty of past experience at it.
he likely effect of the removal of the limited liability company? I know you do DtB. How do you think it would play out? What would the effect be?
Like this:
Of course, that does mean that the private sector collapses.
It’s interesting that, once the government supports and subsidies are removed, the private sector fails at its core. The claim by the business people that they’re the ones taking the risk is shown for what it is – bollocks. Its the community taking the risk and the business people walking away with the rewards.
As for the claim that business don’t take the risk – bollocks. Our business failed once and the risk came to pass. We went back to square one ….. so please don’t make such silly claims.
… though some risks are placed elsewhere as you suggest (factored into business already)
The amount of risk taken depends upon where you are in the food chain. Small businesses tend to take a lot of risk while large businesses seem to take no risk at all with government often either bailing them out or protecting them in some fashion or other. The preceding discussion about builders and developers is a good case in point.
The builders are small, self-employed businesses with turnover measured in tens of thousands while the developers measure their turnover in millions. And yet, despite the developers calling the shots on building sites, it’s the builders who have had the risk placed upon them via legislation. Legislation that seems, from what I can make out, to be about protecting the developers and, indirectly, the banks from their own actions.
Never mind the fact that, if the developer does get found against in court they can just shut up shop and not pay while starting an identical business.
In other words, let’s not make them accountable because the good ones do nothing wrong anyway and the bad ones won’t take any notice. Weird. I’d rather get rid of them all.
Watch Wanaka’s landscapes get destroyed by developers and farmers as this government uses its failed housing policies in Auckland as a fig-leaf for wrecking the RMA.
It was a monumental piece of work bringing together over 100 different Acts of Parliament. It is nowhere as bad as it has been painted. In any events developers already get fast track preference in Council works departments.
“…Graphic designer Sarah Torrent, 22, spent seven hours being quizzed by officials after landing in New Zealand yesterday and telling border officials she was staying at Dotcom’s house…”
TBH, this behaviour from a government department is outrageous. Who do they think they are? Jumped up little fucking hitlers. What checks and balances are there on the powers of customs to detain without needing to provide a reason? This looks and quacks like government stooges and goons abusing their excessively arbitrary powers – supposedly granted to detect and stop terrorism – to harass the friends of the enemies of the National party.
“..This looks and quacks like government stooges and goons abusing their excessively arbitrary powers – supposedly granted to detect and stop terrorism – to harass the friends of the enemies of the National party…”
Quizzed for several hours? Stand over tactic’s you bet, what on earth justifies that? Let me guess perhaps a call to Finlayson or the GCSB or both. Lucky she wasn’t detained and given a few rounds of waterboarding in an attempt to get a confession she is Raw Shark. It’s appears disturbing the long reach of the National party influence our boarder ministry.
She says rude things about the government (sympathetic to the terrorists!)
Has Syrian parents (all Arabs are terrorists!)
Speaks Arabic (the language of terror!)
Once traded in bitcoin (clearly she funds terrorism!)
She is friends with Kim Dotcom (must be a prostitute or a criminal or maybe she has an illegally downloaded MP3 on her phone).
While none of these things above are actually against the law, she is clearly an exotic dusky foreigner and as such is not to be trusted by any decent National party flunky. After all, she may be a temptress from the harems of ISIL – an actual Mata Hari bolder than brass and bigger than life! She has clearly been sent to spy on all that is good and decent and upright and western with an eye on all sorts of unspeakable crimes!
We must be thankful that our small town/small minded border officials are vigilant in leaping to our defense in the name of the “National party, the National government and John Key”, AKA “All right minded New Zealanders”.
Personally, I am going to start a petition to demand customs officers get bigger shoulder boards, taller, peakier caps and lots more gold braid and medals on their uniforms to better reflect their true importance.
I am going to start a petition to demand customs officers get bigger shoulder boards, taller, peakier caps and lots more gold braid and medals on their uniforms to better reflect their true importance.
You forgot the promise of knighthoods when they retire.
This looks and quacks like government stooges and goons abusing their excessively arbitrary powers – supposedly granted to detect and stop terrorism – to harass the friends of the enemies of the National party.
Desperate losers.
In short, Dotcom’s legal team has done a fantastic job of defending their client. His lawyers have thrown wrench after wrench into the legal process, appealing at nearly every turn and challenging the validity of the warrant executed upon the Dotcom estate.
[…]
The bottom line: Kim Dotcom probably won’t be sent to the United States in 2015, regardless of the outcome.
We have turned into a nasty little country full of shitheads and bullies. I wonder if, after hassling her for hours, did some immigration fool ask “And what do you think of New Zealand?” This is embarrassing. I’m not sorry for being a Kiwi, but I’m sorry FJK is.
All issues of concern to this blog could be most effectively addressed by a Left Wing Govt.
So I was genuinely amazed yesterday that virtually no discussion took place of the points Chris Trotter makes in this link provided by Saarbo…
I havent read (have now)it but I believe the debate about getting into Govt and then militating change versus discussing the change first is widely canvassed here. I think Ad (might have remembered wrongly) is in this camp… do what you have to get elected, then bring about the change.
“For those on the left of New Zealand politics it means shutting-up and letting Andrew Little and his team play for power in the only way that holds out the prospect of victory.”
I think he means everyone but Mr. Trotter. He also seems to be having a bromance with FJK. The talk about FJK understanding the Kiwi psyche and all that makes me sick. He hasn’t even lived in Aotearoa for years and has probably only ever mixed with empty husks like himself. His understanding will all be manufactured by Crosby Textor and Curia polls.
Trotter’s idea of shutting up is the worst thing we could do. We need to organise and defend the people NAct is attacking, not just wait for FAL, the enabler of squirrels. We cannot be passive subjects. We must act.
Why wouldn’t Andrew be able to have a cunning plan that he explains to the voters, not promising lots, but talking about making a change to get on the right track and this is what we are going to do.
Bugger this idea of vote and hope. Say something and do it within for the first 100 days. Spell out your direction and if it is to get a more prosperous NZ and help viable businesses create jobs it will have something for everyone. And with a living wage it will seem like something to bite into, well made and tasty. And if the wage is set for everyone then no business or sector gets advantage, and it will boost the economy and be like a transfusion of exygenated blood to poor old tired, flaccid NZ.
I’ll tell you what Chris Trotter’s problem is – he is at heart an utter defeatist. The sort of guy who talks a big fight and walks the big walk, but when the hour comes when men and women must gird themselves for the fight as the enemy begins to advance towards the barricades he quietly slips away and flees because, deep down, he never thought his side would win anyway.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Left have just lost a third consecutive election.
The current strategy then is crap. It simply hasn’t worked, and if it isn’t changed it will continue not to work, and the Left will not regain Govt. and the power to implement significant change.
Successful strategies always require…
A realistic and accurate assessment of the factors the strategy is attempting to influence.
A realistic and accurate assessment of the oppositions strengths and weaknesses.
A plan that sets goals achievable within the constraints of these realities. (That is strength not weakness)
Self evidently, to date the Left has failed to grasp the realities and set a successful strategy.
What Chris is saying may not be entirely new, but it is rare thinking for the current Left in my experience.
I agree with him completely. It is time to get out of la la land and face up to the ‘brutal realities’.
Which of the ‘realities’ he identifies can you argue are not true?
Which is better : Making some compromise to the realities in order to get change started, even if that is modest and incremental, or remain morally superior but powerless on the sidelines?
Wakey wakey folks. Dream time is over. Unless you want the nightmare of a 4th Key term.
Ae. The thought of a 4th term NACT govt tempts me to power at all costs, but then I read Trotter and come to my senses 😉 I would have less of a problem with the strategy if it weren’t for the fact that Labour still haven’t sorted out their internal shit.
He is talking about compromising the agenda to meet the majority view, and then using your position of power to advocate for a greater rate of change. (Presumably on the back of the success of your incremental changes)
A very different, and much more intelligent long term strategy long than simply deceiving the electorate. (result – straight out on your arse next election)
The reason the left lost the last election is because Labour still has an internal hotcold war between the neoliberals and the lefties. The rest of us are waiting to see if that’s resolvable. And whether Little and the membership can get Labour past it.
I would be asking the lefties to demonstrate they have a strategy that can convince a neo-liberally inclined majority to vote for more definitely Left Wing policies ?
if they couldn’t, I’d be suggesting they might consider whether continuing to have a divided left was good for anyone?
hold on – its the labour caucus that has the in fighting issue weka describes – not “the left” – why are we responsible for the labour caucus deliberately going against the wishes of their membership and running to the media everytime theyve got a boo boo?
also – whos this neoliberally inclined majority? – there isnt one. Either inside labour or the country
More push from the left within Labour, including things that are visible to the wider world so that people can have confidence in the Labour again.
Visible cooperation between Labour, the GP and Mana. I don’t have much hope of the first two working with Mana, but there should definitely be obvious signs between L/GP.
Any of those three parties should court/headhunt the bright ones from the Internet Party. Looks like KDC is abandoning ship, so I reckon the IP should let the leaders go. I still think the IP is a good idea, but without Harre and KDC it’s not going to make serious headway before 2017.
like labour asking for an amnesty for unpaid taxes… it is Little carrying through his promise to look out for SME’s, but it extends to the greedy at the high end I am sure
and supporting the RMA reforms (before even seeing them)
The lost sheep & framu
On the basis of ‘not having a policy is a policy’ I would say that framu you are wrong to suggest that this isn’t the case in NZ generally:
– also – whos this neoliberally inclined majority? – there isnt one. Either inside labour or the country
If people aren’t overtly neo liberal, by not deciding and acting to vote against it, they just reinforce that system and are part of its onward strangling of NZ.
“Funny names they’ve got, the presidents of Indonesia, haven’t they.”
Leighton Smith and his dim colleagues continue to be perplexed by the world
NewstalkZB, Monday 19 January 2015, 8:40 a.m.
The shock jocks at NewstalkZB are not exactly into multiculturalism. They have a real problem with the simplest things, such as foreign names and their sometimes tricky pronunciation. Even indigenous names are a problem for some of them: the station’s notorious Drivetime host Larry “Lackwit” Williams often pauses for effect after reading out—and deliberately butchering the pronunciation of—the names of Māori defendants in criminal cases. Williams and his colleagues often take the opportunity to extract Hebdoesque “humour” out of other cultures: the late Paul Holmes was not merely infuriated by the existence of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, but amused by his preposterous name; Kerre Woodham relentlessly mimicked the accents and pronunciation of distraught Chinese dissidents who tried to protest against her loud support for the Chinese government; Tony Veitch laughed about how the Williams sisters proved that black people were descended from gorillas; and the mere mention of Indonesia’s former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had the likes of the mirthless Glenn ZB and his master Mike Hosking rolling in the aisles.
Indonesian names seem to be a real problem for these people. Just this morning, the doyen of mindless chatter expressed his bemusement with another fiendishly difficult one. It came during a typically learned and sober discussion about Indonesia’s laudable—for NewstalkZB shockjocks at least—execution of six people for drug smuggling…..
LEIGHTON SMITH: Anyway, ummm, ahhhhhh, the errrrrr President of Indonesia, Joko…[pause]…or is it Jocko?… [pause]… No it’s Joko….[long pause]…. Funny names they’ve got, the presidents of Indonesia, haven’t they. But then I suppose “Smith” is funny to them. Ummmm, errrrr, ahhhhh…. Anyway, the six people who copped it—do you think they deserved the death penalty or is there a BROADER perspective? I want your calls…..
One of them. Radio Live is just as bad, and don’t forget shows like Paul Henry’s on TV3, as well as fora like TV1’s Breakfast, which regularly serve as platforms for the most biased and hateful reporting. And the Herald and Listener are not far behind.
Surpluses cause a fall in your net assets. Deficits create private sector wealth while surpluses deplete it. If Government takes in $1000 taxes from private sector but doesn’t spend any of it and they had $100 of their own earnings, their total intake is $1100. The private sector has gone into debt of $1000. Government deficits create private sector wealth while govt surpluses drain it. Learn to love your deficit.
Profit in the private sector comes almost entirely from the government being in deficit. That’s way over simplified of course as the whole thing is complicated by the financial system that has private banks creating money and lending to the government.
If the government was the sole creator of money and spending it into the economy and with no other source then the private sectors profit would exactly match the government’s deficit.
The problem occurs as that private sector profit continually accumulates resulting in ever greater amounts of money in fewer and fewer hands chasing the resources of a single country. This must result in the privatisation of ever more of the countries wealth and the increasing poverty that we see around us. The two go together.
This is the dead-weight loss of profit. This is how capitalism produces poverty.
Miss Israeli’s selfie with Miss Lebanon causes stir and calls for with calls for the Lebanon contestant at the Miss Universe pageant to be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy. .
Hatred, enmity, prejudice. A difficult life for the people living in those countries.
Berliner Zeitung mistakenly publishes anti-Semitic cartoon
Mistakenly thought that image was a front page of Charlie Hebdo
By Ofer Aderet 05:43 15.01.15 18
The daily Berliner Zeitung in error published an anti-Semitic cartoon on its front page, under the mistaken impression that it was a front page of the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo. In a tribute to the French magazine a day after the massacre at its editorial offices, the Berlin daily published several of Charlie Hebdo’s past cover pages.
One of them, however, was a fake, showing a cartoon drawn by the anti-Semitic illustrator Joe le Corbeau. The cartoon showed an orthodox Jew, with a caption saying “1 million rebate out of six, for Palestine.” The word “rebate” is a wordplay suggesting rabbis and rebate in German.
People at the Israeli embassy in Berlin noticed the erroneous cartoon and pointed out references that should have alerted the editors at Berliner Zeitung.
These include the fact that the name of the magazine on the cover is Charlo instead of Charlie, and the barcode at the bottom of the cartoon indicates 6,000,000, the number of Jewish Holocaust victims and not a real barcode number.
‘Vodafone may lose around 100 permanent customer care staff, with plans to almost halve the size of its consumer mobile service team, extend the graveyard shift to 7.30am and increase outsourcing to a call centre in the Philippines.
The proposal, outlined in an internal document obtained by the Herald, is part of a restructuring expected to bring 200 to 250 job cuts.’
This is what happens when you invite transnational corporations into one’s country, who don’t pay their taxes or have any sense of societal responsibility.
When are countries and people going to stand up to corporations?
When there are no jobs left?
My second post over at YourNZ, informally known in these parts as YawnZ
This story is from a patient with Canadian citizenship, who went home to a compassion club who helped him get off Benzos (valium class of drugs) and reduce his intake of Opiates, (Morphine class of drugs)
I’m also not going there, sorry, despite being interested in the topic. The man is a blight on the political blogosphere and any attention just supports that.
If you set up a wordpress and post there, you are more likely to get taken seriously, and you can then ask to guest post elsewhere. WordPress is pretty easy.
Not sure where else you could get hosted, given you want to post from a centrist perspective. Does this point to a dearth of centrist political bloggers?
There is certainly a lack of middle NZ blogs, Thedailyblog, thestandard, kiwiblog, whale oil, from left to right…. setting up my own freebie wordpress blog now, my reasoning was his blog is neither left nor right, and no adds, and untill 2 weeks ago I have not participated on blogs online at all.
‘One of New Zealand’s first charter schools is failing, abysmally, and the Ministry of Education must stop dodging questions.’
‘Last year, the first batch of five brave pioneer charter schools began operations. Four received excellent reports from the Education Review Office (ERO).
School number five, Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru, however, has been embroiled in trouble almost since the first school bell sounded in February last year.
An early ERO report released under the Official Information Act from an April visit to the school showed problems across the board. A governance facilitator stepped in and the school was reported to be facing problems with management infighting, bullying, drug use, poor teaching, curriculum delivery and student engagement. Over the year, the school roll fell from 61 to 47.’
Sadly charter schools are an ideological tool to privatise and monetise education, so the facts they don’t improve education problems is not an issue for Parata and Seymour.
They desire a failing public system. The elite are educated in their own apartheid system.
I note this article is written by a research fellow of a neo-liberal think tank. They appear to be writing lots about education at the moment.
F
Business Roundtable reinvented, an article that quotes Farrar. On their website they state
Now, which of the following “foundations” does quoting Farrar fit into?
“Every good think tank needs solid foundations. These are ours:
Credibility: Our research is based on a sound theoretical framework and is peer-reviewed on a routine basis
Empirical evidence: Our recommendations are supported by empirical, and often international, evidence.
Non-partisanship: We engage with political parties from across the political spectrum.
Independence: We are an organisation promoting good public policy, not the interests of individual businesses or industries.
Commitment to New Zealand: Members and staff of the Initiative share the vision to build a better New Zealand. We believe in a prosperous, free and fair society with a competitive, open and dynamic economy.”
Wow. Neoliberals now talking about aspiring to failure. Embrace failure! As long as the funding keeps coming from the public, of course. This article is absolutely pitiful and demonstrates the workings of a weak mind besotted with an ideology. It reminds me of a priest justifying why a merciful god allows so much suffering in the world. Excuses for everything, these right wing dreamers.
12 innocent lives killed by two French Muslims with AK47s in paris
50 innocent lives killed by American 1000lb laser guided bomb in Al Bab (some estimates actually say a total of 55 prisoner-civilians and 25 ISIS guards were killed)
The West better start doing the math on why so many people in the world don’t see our claims to superior civilisation as being much more than laughable.
I note the Uk’s version of the GCSB (GCHQ) has been revealed through Snowden’s papers to have been collecting emails of journalists
“The journalists’ communications were among 70,000 emails harvested in the space of less than 10 minutes on one day in November 2008 by one of GCHQ’s numerous taps on the fibre-optic cables that make up the backbone of the internet…
… New evidence from other UK intelligence documents revealed by Snowden also shows that a GCHQ information security assessment listed “investigative journalists” as a threat in a hierarchy alongside terrorists or hackers.”
“nder Ripa, neither the police nor the security services need to seek the permission of a judge to investigate any UK national’s phone records – instead, they must obtain permission from an appointed staff member from the same organisation, not involved in their investigation.
However, there are some suggestions in the documents that the collection of billing data by GCHQ under Ripa goes wider – and that it may not be confined to specific target individuals.”
So, why wouldn’t the GCSB have similar ability to have phone records? That means Mr key can just ask GCSB to provide the public with copies of those texts he deleted?
Yep, that’s in the space of 10 minutes. It shows how ridiculous claiming that reducing the no-warrant surveillance time from 48 hrs to 24 hrs was a “win”.
Indeed, and given the software is doing the filtering… 24 hours is probably 23 hours more than they need. Oh how they will be laughing at us all, again.
Alain de Botton on tolerance. He’s talking about relgion, but I think it applies to politics, which then raises the question of whether tolerance and partisan politics can ever be compatible.
[There are] many ways to be religious and many of the most public ways of being religious that we’re seeing at the moment are perhaps not optimal particularly in their intolerance. Of course, tolerance is right at the heart of many religions, and tolerance does not mean agreeing with people. Sometimes it’s a mistake — we believe that the tolerant person learns to agree or to see the other person’s point of view. No — what tolerance really means is even though you don’t get what the other person’s saying at all, even though you may not even like them, you make an effort to tolerate — in other words, to make space for them — and don’t try and squash their opinions. What we need to learn is how can we live together with people whose views we don’t actually like very much — that’s the far greater challenge — without attempting to convert them or dismissing them and denying their right to exist parallel to us.
After noon Is there any standard regulars/readers involved in early childhood education and what are your views on starting school at 6 as opposed to 5 years old.
My daughter has turned 5 recently my wife is keen on 6 as a start date for shool ,I was happy with 5 purely on a that’s what’s done basis but am open to new ideas.
My best mates kids are Steiner kids and are clever enjoyable kids although I don’t have access to a Steiner school I believe they are advocates of not hurrying kids development.
My son had a look at school at age 5 – wasn’t right so we went the homeschooling way. Did that for a couple of years as part of a Democratic Homeschooling Group. Then he turned 7 and said he wanted to go to school so we put him in (a more child-led school it has to be said) and he loves it, doesn’t want to have holidays – it is so great to see him want to learn and, in his case that had to be self driven almost, when he was ready.
I think we don’t help our children by putting them into the system early, some are okay but a lot find it overwhelming and that has consequences later.
..was that at age 10-11 ‘the boy’ was getting good school reports/grades..
..so i sat him down and offered him a ‘deal’..
..i told him that he could take over the control of his non-school hours..
..that (within reason) he cd pay games when he wanted to..read…do whatever he wished..
..but that his side of the deal was that he had to make sure his homework (which he knew i ideologically opposed..on the grounds the hours spent at school are enough) was done enough to get by..
..and that most importantly his school reports/grades had to stay at the high standard they currently were..
..and it all worked a treat..
..and i feel it was good in building self-sufficiency/motivation..
Listening to there opinions his huge my oldest step daughter was turning goth and starting to fail in the 4th form (year ?) ,she told us she wanted to change schools and when she did she flourished and has finished tertiary has a great job and is living the dream.
in the hearald
“Prime Minister John Key says New Zealand’s likely military contribution to the fight against Islamic State “is the price of the club” that New Zealand belongs to with the likes of the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada in the intelligence alliance known as Five Eyes”
Wars not dirty nasty business it’s just being a club member of planet key.
No justification for joining the reinvasion, just the schoolboy excuse “Everyone else was doing it.” FFS, he’s a childish and hollow adolescent in the skin of a leader.
Changing the thread of things a bit about the huge amount of money being spent on sorrow tinge remembrance of the First World War
Here is Key and another bunch of promoters pushing all the claptrap from the stupid misery of the carnage suffered by many not really knowing what they were fighting over
Sadly percentage wise of the kill NZ comes out on top of the heap
Would the little prick like to do something about reparations to the many NZ communities who worked like hell to rebuild their families and self esteem to make sense of the deplorable loss of that war instead of millions being spent on celebrations or supposedly commemorations knowing that the truth can be found in books if only we as a country had an education system that made the time and people available that might allow the truth to be known but that would probably blow a hole in the hypocrisy which this govt prides itself in, allegiance to a capitalist free market warmongering monichist ruling aristocracy not to forget genocidal policies of cultural reintegration
Stick your money spinning egoistic commemorations up your you know what Key and pay us our money down Does your nz citizenship go back far enough for you to know how it feels to be in a family that has that length of history in this country? We dont need to be reminded we know what kind of people caused that shit but I fear some will never know
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
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, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
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. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
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 ...
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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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, ...
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 ...
Further to recent discussions here on begging monks in Auckland:
Donor beware.
if we ever need someone to run around shouting ‘the sky is falling in’..the sky is falling in’…
..we know where to turn..eh..?
..btw..are you still repeating that lie from yesterday that you have never ‘copy/pasted’ from slater..?
I don’t think I’ve ever claimed I’ve never copy/pasted from Whale Oil.
I’ve been copy/pasting from Whale Oil quite a bit lately. That’s what tends to happen in blog posts, they’re often built on copy/pastes. It’s also known as quoting.
I have no idea what point you’re trying to make, but that’s not unusual.
(um..!..yesterday..you..)
“..A bit ironic after you accused me of copy/pasting Slater/Ede yesterday..”
(to be said in petulant/simpering/whining-tones..)
today..you..
“..I’ve been copy/pasting from Whale Oil quite a bit lately..”
different day – different story..eh petey..?
..which one is true..?
..short-term memory-issues..?
..like a drink or two..?..d’ya,.?…hic..!
..and the ‘point i am trying to make’..
..is that every word that comes out of yr mouth is lying-spin..
..tailored/doctored for what you think will ‘fit’ for whatever bullshit/disruption u r pushing..
..i’ve noted it b 4 petey..
..u r as fucken transparant as a sheet of plain-glass…
..and every word out of yr mouth is rightwing lies/spin..
..(it must be a day ending in a ‘y’..)
I’m not aware of ever copy/pasting Ede.
And the intent of your accusation was not just to quote Slater/Ede was it.
“..short-term memory-issues..?” /ironic
“..like a drink or two..?..d’ya,.?…hic..!” /ironic
q.e.d..
..a pirouette worthy of a drunken ex-ballerina..eh..?
..and executed with about as much grace/style…
..”..And the intent of your accusation was not just to quote Slater/Ede was it..”
what fucken ‘accusation’..?..
..i had complimented u for spotting slaters’ u-turn on uber..
..are u able to tell the truth about fucken anything..?
..and have you always been such a congenital-liar/fantasist..?
That gave me a laugh to start my day with the chicken little joke Phil, cheers.
You would think Pete G would be constructively commenting on the real crime that is on everyones lips and contributing some problem solving idea’s. That of the greedy 1% ripping the other 99% off through tax avoidance, banking ponzi schemes, anti competitive monopoly racketeering.
The way Pete is carrying on you would think the begging monks scam it’s the crime of the century. I nod my head in disbelief he is so selectively blind.
why can’t he comment on anything he likes in Open Mike?
the inequality issue has two dedicated posts.
You are not saying that there are no “genuine” beggars though are you Pete? I suppose the upside, if there is one, that the people who gave could afford to give. Downside, many will use this experience to stop being charitable to anyone.
Now, how are we going exposing the tithing scams… 😉
I’m not saying there are no ‘genuine beggars’ but it can be difficult if not impossible to tell the difference. Scammers may it more difficult for genuine beggars.
ASs I’ve said before I think there’s better ways to contribute. I’ve chosen to be a long time contributor to Oxfam for example, who happen to be featured here:
http://thestandard.org.nz/top-1-own-50-of-world-wealth-oxfam/
I agree that tithing can be abused. I don’t like the concept, it can be used to scam the vulnerable and gullible.
I was just joshing with ya Pete.
I do think it is a shame that it may make people less likely to give. Even if they give to a scammer ( a dollar or two) it can make folks feel good to give and to think about other ways to give.
Tax beats charity.
Every day.
^^^ this.
As a society we can eliminate poverty but we can’t do so as individuals.
What is more important Pete? A quarter of a million kids living in poverty or a few fake begging monks?
The real tragedy is that the Herald sees this as their main news.
As if there aren’t so many other current events stories they could put their resources into.
The corporate media is failing in its duty as the 4th estate.
yes there is an element of “poor rich people being taken advantage of when being compassionate”… a subliminal message to stop being generous… ??
This sort of stuff
90-year-old among Florida activists arrested for feeding the homeless
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/05/fort-lauderdale-pastors-arnold-abbott-arrested-feeding-homeless
Yikes! It’s as though the solution to poverty is to stop it being seen… Like a little child who closes their eyes and thinks they have disappeared…
Corporate media is masquerading as the 4th estate, it’s not impartial or bound by any ethics, regulation or history of any note to adhere to those quaint principles.
Controlling the message, suppressing undesired ones and playing it’s part as DP illuminated.
Look at the apologist piece on charter schools in granny as todays example.
from the NZ Initiative (formed from BRT and Business NZ I think)… and who does “Rosie” cite? David Farrar despite their blurb saying they are neutral and rely on research!
“Donor beware.”
Far more beggars in need than scammers. I personally don’t mind of I give money to a scammer unknowingly if it means next time or last time the money went to someone who needed it.
From what I can tell from Pētera’s argument, it’s more important to not support support scammers than it is to support people in need. Beige ethics.
What a piece of unadulterated shite. You want people to believe that some shadowy syndicate takes money from Chinese nationals who are led to believe that the streets of ‘the west’ are paved with gold? And then to believe that some un-named woman, who apparently spoke to Lincoln Tan, paid the syndicate money to get abroad, but then pulled out and….fled the country?!
Really fucking seriously Pete, if you can’t see the likes of this shite as being nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on the poor, (with a little xeno-phobia thrown in on the side), then fuck, there really isn’t so much as 5/8ths of fuck all hope for you.
By the way Pete, people on visas who cannot work legally and who are all out of cash are more than entitled to beg. But hey, fuck the humanity or any degree of empathy and spread hate and distrust thick and fast Pete….it’s like your sad and bitter old man forte, is it not?
That would have to be one of the better summations of Pete I’ve seen in a while (‘cept for the old man bit).
The reason he can’t see the thinly veiled attack on the poor is because he IS a thinly veiled attack on the poor.
Heh. Nice work, both of you. Word of warning, keep it up and he’ll write a whingeing post about you on YawnNZ. That’ll learn ya!
Excellent, Bill
@ bill..
+ 1..
..vile curtain-twitching small-town (yes dunedin..!)..racism/furriner-fear…..
..i wonder if petey wears a handkerchief with knotted corners..on his head..?
..and shorts and gumboots..
..i kinda picture him that way..
(and i’m just guessing here..but i think a hobby/pastime cd be gurning..)
Lincoln Tan must be writing for an anti-poor campaign, which NZ Herald must be a party to. And the woman’s lying. And the two people reporting being pressured to donate must be part of a big conspiracy too. And the Auckland Council and Immigration NZ.
Or really fucking seriously Bill you’re making a dick of yourself.
“it’s like your sad and bitter old man forte” /irony
Yawns.
Appropriate signal that its Treasury releasing the RMA reform proposals tomorrow, not MFE. And sad.
Buckle up for a difficult day. Even Dunne is sounding apologetic on it.
*sigh*
Anytime we leave this stuff to a form of self regulation, the sky falls in… and a small number of developers get very rich… and avoid future liability with their sequence of ritual company liquidations.
This government refuses to place personal liability on developers, which it did quickly to builders (who can least afford it). There is a clue in there.
Money first…
It’s not just this government – it was Labour that removed the Romalpa clause for builders which allowed them to repossess materials unpaid for by developers, and also prevented them from holding caveats over properties when money was owed. Builders, electricians, plumbers, etc were just thrown to the wolves and often bankrupted, while developers refused to pay them, liquidated their companies, started up another one and went on to the next project, all with the blessing of the government. I went through this as the director of a small building company ( and was finally bankrupted by a crooked timber company which rorted a guarantee). Interestingly, the IRD usually wiped the unpaid taxes from these small companies with no fuss – evidence of complicity, I thought at the time.
Agreed. I guess I was just referring to them choosing to make builders and designers personally liable during their term but NOT developers, a consciously made distinction. Labour is not a blame-free zone.
@ jan m…
“..It’s not just this government – it was Labour..”
..+ 1..
And they wonder why people don’t vote for them. Siding with cowboy developers probably cost them tens of thousands of votes. How the hell did they justify it?
4th Labour Government Janm.
There are few other things that some of us are not too proud about from that time …
You have had a lot to do with developers haven’t you tracey… from reading this hobby horse of yours. However your view is tainted by the particular doings you have had, which have been very specific yes… to do solely with leaky buildings as I recall.
I would suggest that your crusade to place personal liability onto another sector of the business world is short-sighted. It would make no difference to the bad developers – they would just go bankrupt (assets elsewhere) and then rise again from the ashes. Such a personal liability would make no difference to these people.
And in fact your proposal would almost certainly backfire as those professional and competent developers currently active would likely go away, thanks to the personal liability imposition. The increased risk, without associated return, would make the equation unworkable and they would depart…… leaving us with only those bad developers for whom bankruptcy is water off a ducks back.
Your crusade also appears to take no account of the place of limited liability companies in the business world – a large but well settled aspect of our business world.
But builders and designers should lose their shirts and that’s tickety-boo, and presumably the government thought it would make the very difference to those groups you suggest it wouldn’t make to developers?
The logic that saw personal liability imposed on those two groups must apply by extention to developers.
It’s not a crusade vto it’s about pointing out the inconsistency in the application of policy/law which seeks to punish the more vulnerable (builder) but not the one who takes the profit, liquidates and is clear of liability.
“a vigorous campaign for political, social, or religious change.” Nope.
Why would a professional and competent developer go away? They would only need to go away if they were not professional or competent and thereby likely to incur personal liability? Just like the builders and designers who are currently in that category?
Are you a developer vto?
Limited Liability companies also need reform with more exceptions tot he liability. Who do you think devised the limited liability framework vto?
A couple quick points before I have to rush out. I agree that the imposition of personal liability on buidlers and designers appears inconsistent, however that does not detract from the point made above.
“Why would a professional and competent developer go away? They would only need to go away if they were not professional or competent and thereby likely to incur personal liability? Just like the builders and designers who are currently in that category?”..
.. Because, as explained and to repeat, the risk has increased without associated return. It is a simple equation. This has in fact happened with some builders, as you ask. (btw what I do is immaterial but we have significant involvement in this sector).
I understand the apparent unfairness that you outline but I don’t think your suggestions to correct it are the right ones.
gotta go
understood
When personal liability was slapped on builders and designers following the leaky home disaster I was gobsmacked. It is was all out of place and context while achieving little in the way of improvement to the problem, which problem was of course largely due to the neoliberal approach to such things i.e. self-regulation / the market will fix these things / appeal to self-interest. As such if there were any personal liability to be imposed anywhere then the politicians who implemented these policies should have been the subject.
That is the unfairness tracey
we are in agreement vto
Holding people accountable for their actions are most definitely the right ones.
You do understand that they’re not entitled to a return don’t you? That it’s not a God given right?
And it doesn’t actually matter if the bludgers don’t get the return that they want and so don’t build houses – the government can and they can do it without profit and without cutting corners that cause leaky buildings etc.
That’s something that people have forgotten. When the private sector won’t provide necessary services then the government must step in. Of course, that does mean that the private sector collapses.
“Holding people accountable for their actions are most definitely the right ones.” …
.. sure take out the llimited liability company so that all business is done in the businesspersons personal capacity. Do you know and understand the history and place of this feature of our current civilisation? The likely effect of the removal of the limited liability company? I know you do DtB. How do you think it would play out? What would the effect be? Wouldn’t like to be the person owning Jetstar… or Spark …. or be a Council officer …. or own shares in the Warehouse … courts would be busy, and so too would insurers (they would have a field day). Have you ever been in business yourself DtB? Where an intimate knowledge of these things can be gained?
I understand the philosophy behind your point there but practically the changes would be world-changing.
next:
“You do understand that they’re not entitled to a return don’t you?”
Did someone suggest there was an entitlement to a return? Certainly not me.
next:
Your point about government doing some of this stuff is your best point and I agree. Governments have done bigger shit than private sector for eons. Government needs to get into house construction in particular, of that there is no doubt. Plenty of past experience at it.
Like this:
It’s interesting that, once the government supports and subsidies are removed, the private sector fails at its core. The claim by the business people that they’re the ones taking the risk is shown for what it is – bollocks. Its the community taking the risk and the business people walking away with the rewards.
You’re too idealistic for me fulla…
As for the claim that business don’t take the risk – bollocks. Our business failed once and the risk came to pass. We went back to square one ….. so please don’t make such silly claims.
… though some risks are placed elsewhere as you suggest (factored into business already)
The amount of risk taken depends upon where you are in the food chain. Small businesses tend to take a lot of risk while large businesses seem to take no risk at all with government often either bailing them out or protecting them in some fashion or other. The preceding discussion about builders and developers is a good case in point.
The builders are small, self-employed businesses with turnover measured in tens of thousands while the developers measure their turnover in millions. And yet, despite the developers calling the shots on building sites, it’s the builders who have had the risk placed upon them via legislation. Legislation that seems, from what I can make out, to be about protecting the developers and, indirectly, the banks from their own actions.
Never mind the fact that, if the developer does get found against in court they can just shut up shop and not pay while starting an identical business.
In other words, let’s not make them accountable because the good ones do nothing wrong anyway and the bad ones won’t take any notice. Weird. I’d rather get rid of them all.
Watch Wanaka’s landscapes get destroyed by developers and farmers as this government uses its failed housing policies in Auckland as a fig-leaf for wrecking the RMA.
Am certainly watching both areas.
Ironically, the RMA was devised, approved and implemented by nearly all the neo-liberal celebrities.
It was a monumental piece of work bringing together over 100 different Acts of Parliament. It is nowhere as bad as it has been painted. In any events developers already get fast track preference in Council works departments.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11388728
“…Graphic designer Sarah Torrent, 22, spent seven hours being quizzed by officials after landing in New Zealand yesterday and telling border officials she was staying at Dotcom’s house…”
TBH, this behaviour from a government department is outrageous. Who do they think they are? Jumped up little fucking hitlers. What checks and balances are there on the powers of customs to detain without needing to provide a reason? This looks and quacks like government stooges and goons abusing their excessively arbitrary powers – supposedly granted to detect and stop terrorism – to harass the friends of the enemies of the National party.
you cant be talking about NZ. It must be happening in one of those countries that needs democracy brought to their door.
The puerile and vindictive mode of operation among the NZ law enforcement agencies are in the spotlight again:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11388728
Mind you, they are only trying to emulate the example set by John Key and his bestest mates, Cameron Slater, Jason Ede et al.
Edit: Sanctuary beat me to it while I was still considering a comment but add it for posterity.
@ sanctuary..
“..This looks and quacks like government stooges and goons abusing their excessively arbitrary powers – supposedly granted to detect and stop terrorism – to harass the friends of the enemies of the National party…”
+ 1..
Has the Minister of Customs commented yet?
which is this directed to, tracey?
A deleted comment. You can tell by the broken numbering.
Quizzed for several hours? Stand over tactic’s you bet, what on earth justifies that? Let me guess perhaps a call to Finlayson or the GCSB or both. Lucky she wasn’t detained and given a few rounds of waterboarding in an attempt to get a confession she is Raw Shark. It’s appears disturbing the long reach of the National party influence our boarder ministry.
But… but… but…
She says rude things about the government (sympathetic to the terrorists!)
Has Syrian parents (all Arabs are terrorists!)
Speaks Arabic (the language of terror!)
Once traded in bitcoin (clearly she funds terrorism!)
She is friends with Kim Dotcom (must be a prostitute or a criminal or maybe she has an illegally downloaded MP3 on her phone).
While none of these things above are actually against the law, she is clearly an exotic dusky foreigner and as such is not to be trusted by any decent National party flunky. After all, she may be a temptress from the harems of ISIL – an actual Mata Hari bolder than brass and bigger than life! She has clearly been sent to spy on all that is good and decent and upright and western with an eye on all sorts of unspeakable crimes!
We must be thankful that our small town/small minded border officials are vigilant in leaping to our defense in the name of the “National party, the National government and John Key”, AKA “All right minded New Zealanders”.
Personally, I am going to start a petition to demand customs officers get bigger shoulder boards, taller, peakier caps and lots more gold braid and medals on their uniforms to better reflect their true importance.
You forgot the promise of knighthoods when they retire.
Sir Bartholomew Bottomsup has a nice ring to it.
Actually Sanctuary do you mean something like this?
Given the extra squirrel powers being thrown around, possibly more like this:
http://www.germaniainternational.com/ddr.html
@Anne
Punny.
@ sanctuary..
..and larger clipboards..(preferably ones that make intimidating beeping-noises..)
Desperate losers.
In short, Dotcom’s legal team has done a fantastic job of defending their client. His lawyers have thrown wrench after wrench into the legal process, appealing at nearly every turn and challenging the validity of the warrant executed upon the Dotcom estate.
[…]
The bottom line: Kim Dotcom probably won’t be sent to the United States in 2015, regardless of the outcome.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/why-kim-dotcom-hasnt-been-extradited-3-years-after-the-us-smashed-megaupload/1/
We have turned into a nasty little country full of shitheads and bullies. I wonder if, after hassling her for hours, did some immigration fool ask “And what do you think of New Zealand?” This is embarrassing. I’m not sorry for being a Kiwi, but I’m sorry FJK is.
All issues of concern to this blog could be most effectively addressed by a Left Wing Govt.
So I was genuinely amazed yesterday that virtually no discussion took place of the points Chris Trotter makes in this link provided by Saarbo…
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/2015-2017-struggle-for-time-and-power.html
Honestly, there is nothing for Left Wingers wanting change to discuss there?
I acknowledge the ‘brutal truths’ are hard to swallow, but how much more difficult will it be to digest a 4th Key Govt?
Hmmmm… “more” effectively maybe.
I havent read (have now)it but I believe the debate about getting into Govt and then militating change versus discussing the change first is widely canvassed here. I think Ad (might have remembered wrongly) is in this camp… do what you have to get elected, then bring about the change.
“For those on the left of New Zealand politics it means shutting-up and letting Andrew Little and his team play for power in the only way that holds out the prospect of victory.”
Gee, I wonder who Mr Trotter means?!?
“Gee, I wonder who Mr Trotter means?!?”
I think he means everyone but Mr. Trotter. He also seems to be having a bromance with FJK. The talk about FJK understanding the Kiwi psyche and all that makes me sick. He hasn’t even lived in Aotearoa for years and has probably only ever mixed with empty husks like himself. His understanding will all be manufactured by Crosby Textor and Curia polls.
Trotter’s idea of shutting up is the worst thing we could do. We need to organise and defend the people NAct is attacking, not just wait for FAL, the enabler of squirrels. We cannot be passive subjects. We must act.
Why wouldn’t Andrew be able to have a cunning plan that he explains to the voters, not promising lots, but talking about making a change to get on the right track and this is what we are going to do.
Bugger this idea of vote and hope. Say something and do it within for the first 100 days. Spell out your direction and if it is to get a more prosperous NZ and help viable businesses create jobs it will have something for everyone. And with a living wage it will seem like something to bite into, well made and tasty. And if the wage is set for everyone then no business or sector gets advantage, and it will boost the economy and be like a transfusion of exygenated blood to poor old tired, flaccid NZ.
ok..i followed yr urgings..and steeled myself..and went and read it..
..and really..it is just trotter banging on and on..
(as he does..lordy..!..how he does..!..and so so leavened with great chunks of the bleeding-obvious..)
..and he’s pushing the incrementalist p.o.v..
..urging little to be more/just like key..(who he notes is just like clark..and in that i agree with him..)
..so what is new/novel about that..?
..that is/has always been trotters’ position..
..a comfortable/middle-class fretting at the edges…
..what is it exactly u feel needs to ‘be discussed’..?
..as i said..there is nothing ‘new/novel’ as far as i can see..
(..and should i invoice u 4 the time/energy wasted in this exercise in nothing..?..)
I’ll tell you what Chris Trotter’s problem is – he is at heart an utter defeatist. The sort of guy who talks a big fight and walks the big walk, but when the hour comes when men and women must gird themselves for the fight as the enemy begins to advance towards the barricades he quietly slips away and flees because, deep down, he never thought his side would win anyway.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Left have just lost a third consecutive election.
The current strategy then is crap. It simply hasn’t worked, and if it isn’t changed it will continue not to work, and the Left will not regain Govt. and the power to implement significant change.
What that new strategy should be is worth discussing?
(Even if it distracts us from the more vital topics of drug use, conspiracies, vegetarianism, and the upcoming revolution /sarc)
Successful strategies always require…
A realistic and accurate assessment of the factors the strategy is attempting to influence.
A realistic and accurate assessment of the oppositions strengths and weaknesses.
A plan that sets goals achievable within the constraints of these realities. (That is strength not weakness)
Self evidently, to date the Left has failed to grasp the realities and set a successful strategy.
What Chris is saying may not be entirely new, but it is rare thinking for the current Left in my experience.
I agree with him completely. It is time to get out of la la land and face up to the ‘brutal realities’.
Which of the ‘realities’ he identifies can you argue are not true?
Which is better : Making some compromise to the realities in order to get change started, even if that is modest and incremental, or remain morally superior but powerless on the sidelines?
Wakey wakey folks. Dream time is over. Unless you want the nightmare of a 4th Key term.
His argument is pretty straightforward, actually. Obscure your agenda to the electorate to get elected, then tack left in power.
Ae. The thought of a 4th term NACT govt tempts me to power at all costs, but then I read Trotter and come to my senses 😉 I would have less of a problem with the strategy if it weren’t for the fact that Labour still haven’t sorted out their internal shit.
He is talking about compromising the agenda to meet the majority view, and then using your position of power to advocate for a greater rate of change. (Presumably on the back of the success of your incremental changes)
A very different, and much more intelligent long term strategy long than simply deceiving the electorate. (result – straight out on your arse next election)
The reason the left lost the last election is because Labour still has an internal hotcold war between the neoliberals and the lefties. The rest of us are waiting to see if that’s resolvable. And whether Little and the membership can get Labour past it.
I would be asking the lefties to demonstrate they have a strategy that can convince a neo-liberally inclined majority to vote for more definitely Left Wing policies ?
if they couldn’t, I’d be suggesting they might consider whether continuing to have a divided left was good for anyone?
hold on – its the labour caucus that has the in fighting issue weka describes – not “the left” – why are we responsible for the labour caucus deliberately going against the wishes of their membership and running to the media everytime theyve got a boo boo?
also – whos this neoliberally inclined majority? – there isnt one. Either inside labour or the country
+1
I’d like to see,
More push from the left within Labour, including things that are visible to the wider world so that people can have confidence in the Labour again.
Visible cooperation between Labour, the GP and Mana. I don’t have much hope of the first two working with Mana, but there should definitely be obvious signs between L/GP.
Any of those three parties should court/headhunt the bright ones from the Internet Party. Looks like KDC is abandoning ship, so I reckon the IP should let the leaders go. I still think the IP is a good idea, but without Harre and KDC it’s not going to make serious headway before 2017.
like labour asking for an amnesty for unpaid taxes… it is Little carrying through his promise to look out for SME’s, but it extends to the greedy at the high end I am sure
and supporting the RMA reforms (before even seeing them)
I am not sure if it was Labour party or just Stuart Nash regarding the amnesty for tax defaulters.
thanks for your concern
His Father was a Lefty, eh.
The lost sheep & framu
On the basis of ‘not having a policy is a policy’ I would say that framu you are wrong to suggest that this isn’t the case in NZ generally:
– also – whos this neoliberally inclined majority? – there isnt one. Either inside labour or the country
If people aren’t overtly neo liberal, by not deciding and acting to vote against it, they just reinforce that system and are part of its onward strangling of NZ.
chris wants the left to leave little to it… without interference unlike his public lashings of the party in recent years.
“..In case you haven’t noticed, the Left have just lost a third consecutive election..”
‘in case u haven’t noticed’..’the left’…hasn’t been ‘left’ since the 80’s..
..which has got us to the shit-hole we are currently in..
..so..more of the same..?..y’reckon..?
..just keep veering right..?
“Funny names they’ve got, the presidents of Indonesia, haven’t they.”
Leighton Smith and his dim colleagues continue to be perplexed by the world
NewstalkZB, Monday 19 January 2015, 8:40 a.m.
The shock jocks at NewstalkZB are not exactly into multiculturalism. They have a real problem with the simplest things, such as foreign names and their sometimes tricky pronunciation. Even indigenous names are a problem for some of them: the station’s notorious Drivetime host Larry “Lackwit” Williams often pauses for effect after reading out—and deliberately butchering the pronunciation of—the names of Māori defendants in criminal cases. Williams and his colleagues often take the opportunity to extract Hebdoesque “humour” out of other cultures: the late Paul Holmes was not merely infuriated by the existence of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, but amused by his preposterous name; Kerre Woodham relentlessly mimicked the accents and pronunciation of distraught Chinese dissidents who tried to protest against her loud support for the Chinese government; Tony Veitch laughed about how the Williams sisters proved that black people were descended from gorillas; and the mere mention of Indonesia’s former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had the likes of the mirthless Glenn ZB and his master Mike Hosking rolling in the aisles.
Indonesian names seem to be a real problem for these people. Just this morning, the doyen of mindless chatter expressed his bemusement with another fiendishly difficult one. It came during a typically learned and sober discussion about Indonesia’s laudable—for NewstalkZB shockjocks at least—execution of six people for drug smuggling…..
LEIGHTON SMITH: Anyway, ummm, ahhhhhh, the errrrrr President of Indonesia, Joko…[pause]…or is it Jocko?… [pause]… No it’s Joko….[long pause]…. Funny names they’ve got, the presidents of Indonesia, haven’t they. But then I suppose “Smith” is funny to them. Ummmm, errrrr, ahhhhh…. Anyway, the six people who copped it—do you think they deserved the death penalty or is there a BROADER perspective? I want your calls…..
….ad nauseam, ad absurdum….
A bit like this ghastly stuff from Fox News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPK7t5B2UN4
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/18/fox-news-apologises-terror-pundit-birmingham-muslim-comments
Actually, Paul, NewstalkZB is a LOT like Fox News. It even uses the slogan “Fair and Balanced.”
It is New Zealand’s propagater of hate speech
One of them. Radio Live is just as bad, and don’t forget shows like Paul Henry’s on TV3, as well as fora like TV1’s Breakfast, which regularly serve as platforms for the most biased and hateful reporting. And the Herald and Listener are not far behind.
Yes the Herald highlights the hassling of friends of Dotcom’s at the airport, but their own journalists have been persecuting him for ages.
And has the token Fox Democrat..our very own Josie Pagani.
Chris Trotter and Tim Watkin are also examples of the same sad subspecies.
Peoples Republic of China…German Democratic Republic…..
Surpluses mean unemployment and deficits bring employment
Profit in the private sector comes almost entirely from the government being in deficit. That’s way over simplified of course as the whole thing is complicated by the financial system that has private banks creating money and lending to the government.
If the government was the sole creator of money and spending it into the economy and with no other source then the private sectors profit would exactly match the government’s deficit.
The problem occurs as that private sector profit continually accumulates resulting in ever greater amounts of money in fewer and fewer hands chasing the resources of a single country. This must result in the privatisation of ever more of the countries wealth and the increasing poverty that we see around us. The two go together.
This is the dead-weight loss of profit. This is how capitalism produces poverty.
Miss Israeli’s selfie with Miss Lebanon causes stir and calls for with calls for the Lebanon contestant at the Miss Universe pageant to be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy. .
Hatred, enmity, prejudice. A difficult life for the people living in those countries.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/beauty/65180435/Miss-Israelis-selfie-with-Miss-Lebanon-causes-stir
Berliner Zeitung mistakenly publishes anti-Semitic cartoon
Mistakenly thought that image was a front page of Charlie Hebdo
By Ofer Aderet 05:43 15.01.15 18
The daily Berliner Zeitung in error published an anti-Semitic cartoon on its front page, under the mistaken impression that it was a front page of the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo. In a tribute to the French magazine a day after the massacre at its editorial offices, the Berlin daily published several of Charlie Hebdo’s past cover pages.
One of them, however, was a fake, showing a cartoon drawn by the anti-Semitic illustrator Joe le Corbeau. The cartoon showed an orthodox Jew, with a caption saying “1 million rebate out of six, for Palestine.” The word “rebate” is a wordplay suggesting rabbis and rebate in German.
People at the Israeli embassy in Berlin noticed the erroneous cartoon and pointed out references that should have alerted the editors at Berliner Zeitung.
These include the fact that the name of the magazine on the cover is Charlo instead of Charlie, and the barcode at the bottom of the cartoon indicates 6,000,000, the number of Jewish Holocaust victims and not a real barcode number.
Read more…..
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2015/01/18/je-suis-charlie-sauf-pour-les-juifs/
‘Vodafone may lose around 100 permanent customer care staff, with plans to almost halve the size of its consumer mobile service team, extend the graveyard shift to 7.30am and increase outsourcing to a call centre in the Philippines.
The proposal, outlined in an internal document obtained by the Herald, is part of a restructuring expected to bring 200 to 250 job cuts.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11388787
This is what happens when you invite transnational corporations into one’s country, who don’t pay their taxes or have any sense of societal responsibility.
When are countries and people going to stand up to corporations?
When there are no jobs left?
My second post over at YourNZ, informally known in these parts as YawnZ
This story is from a patient with Canadian citizenship, who went home to a compassion club who helped him get off Benzos (valium class of drugs) and reduce his intake of Opiates, (Morphine class of drugs)
http://yournz.org/2015/01/20/cannabis-and-chronic-pain-a-canadian-story/
still not going to go there
yes thats a bit unfair to you – but im not giving PG the clicks sorry
note: im 100% a supporter of your topic as well
@Framu,
noted, I’ve talked to the Bomber this morning via email, he wouldn’t repost either, but is looking for an author on the subject this year……..
I don’t think Pete is all about the clicks, no adds after all….
I’m also not going there, sorry, despite being interested in the topic. The man is a blight on the political blogosphere and any attention just supports that.
If you set up a wordpress and post there, you are more likely to get taken seriously, and you can then ask to guest post elsewhere. WordPress is pretty easy.
Not sure where else you could get hosted, given you want to post from a centrist perspective. Does this point to a dearth of centrist political bloggers?
There is certainly a lack of middle NZ blogs, Thedailyblog, thestandard, kiwiblog, whale oil, from left to right…. setting up my own freeby blog now
what’s the name..?
..i’ll link to yr pot-stories there..
There is certainly a lack of middle NZ blogs, Thedailyblog, thestandard, kiwiblog, whale oil, from left to right…. setting up my own freebie wordpress blog now, my reasoning was his blog is neither left nor right, and no adds, and untill 2 weeks ago I have not participated on blogs online at all.
The centre cannot hold.
‘One of New Zealand’s first charter schools is failing, abysmally, and the Ministry of Education must stop dodging questions.’
‘Last year, the first batch of five brave pioneer charter schools began operations. Four received excellent reports from the Education Review Office (ERO).
School number five, Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru, however, has been embroiled in trouble almost since the first school bell sounded in February last year.
An early ERO report released under the Official Information Act from an April visit to the school showed problems across the board. A governance facilitator stepped in and the school was reported to be facing problems with management infighting, bullying, drug use, poor teaching, curriculum delivery and student engagement. Over the year, the school roll fell from 61 to 47.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11388805
Sadly charter schools are an ideological tool to privatise and monetise education, so the facts they don’t improve education problems is not an issue for Parata and Seymour.
They desire a failing public system. The elite are educated in their own apartheid system.
I note this article is written by a research fellow of a neo-liberal think tank. They appear to be writing lots about education at the moment.
F
Business Roundtable reinvented, an article that quotes Farrar. On their website they state
Now, which of the following “foundations” does quoting Farrar fit into?
“Every good think tank needs solid foundations. These are ours:
Credibility: Our research is based on a sound theoretical framework and is peer-reviewed on a routine basis
Empirical evidence: Our recommendations are supported by empirical, and often international, evidence.
Non-partisanship: We engage with political parties from across the political spectrum.
Independence: We are an organisation promoting good public policy, not the interests of individual businesses or industries.
Commitment to New Zealand: Members and staff of the Initiative share the vision to build a better New Zealand. We believe in a prosperous, free and fair society with a competitive, open and dynamic economy.”
Wow. Neoliberals now talking about aspiring to failure. Embrace failure! As long as the funding keeps coming from the public, of course. This article is absolutely pitiful and demonstrates the workings of a weak mind besotted with an ideology. It reminds me of a priest justifying why a merciful god allows so much suffering in the world. Excuses for everything, these right wing dreamers.
Lovely bit of commentary on the MSM from the Prime Minister (and Bernard!)
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/now-that-the-sun-has-axed-page-3-girls-will-britain-ever-be-the-same/
US airstrikes may have killed 50 Syrian civilians being held prisoner in Al Bab by ISIS troops.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/11/252671/us-airstrike-in-syria-may-have.html
means to an end my friend, means to an end… a failed human shield?
Hi tracey.
12 innocent lives killed by two French Muslims with AK47s in paris
50 innocent lives killed by American 1000lb laser guided bomb in Al Bab (some estimates actually say a total of 55 prisoner-civilians and 25 ISIS guards were killed)
The West better start doing the math on why so many people in the world don’t see our claims to superior civilisation as being much more than laughable.
I note the Uk’s version of the GCSB (GCHQ) has been revealed through Snowden’s papers to have been collecting emails of journalists
“The journalists’ communications were among 70,000 emails harvested in the space of less than 10 minutes on one day in November 2008 by one of GCHQ’s numerous taps on the fibre-optic cables that make up the backbone of the internet…
… New evidence from other UK intelligence documents revealed by Snowden also shows that a GCHQ information security assessment listed “investigative journalists” as a threat in a hierarchy alongside terrorists or hackers.”
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/19/gchq-intercepted-emails-journalists-ny-times-bbc-guardian-le-monde-reuters-nbc-washington-post
“nder Ripa, neither the police nor the security services need to seek the permission of a judge to investigate any UK national’s phone records – instead, they must obtain permission from an appointed staff member from the same organisation, not involved in their investigation.
However, there are some suggestions in the documents that the collection of billing data by GCHQ under Ripa goes wider – and that it may not be confined to specific target individuals.”
So, why wouldn’t the GCSB have similar ability to have phone records? That means Mr key can just ask GCSB to provide the public with copies of those texts he deleted?
Yep, that’s in the space of 10 minutes. It shows how ridiculous claiming that reducing the no-warrant surveillance time from 48 hrs to 24 hrs was a “win”.
Indeed, and given the software is doing the filtering… 24 hours is probably 23 hours more than they need. Oh how they will be laughing at us all, again.
Yep, and Labour knew that but claimed otherwise… which is a deceit …
… and which indicates they still have the same level of integrity as when last in government
… which means they will get viciously attacked when in government again
some things never change leopards and spots and all that
cant help but agree.
arggh arggghh argggghhh !*@&#^$%
Alain de Botton on tolerance. He’s talking about relgion, but I think it applies to politics, which then raises the question of whether tolerance and partisan politics can ever be compatible.
http://explore.noodle.com/post/108575759288/there-are-many-ways-to-be-religious-and-many-of
India’s “boutique” dairy farms: cows pampered and their social needs catered to
Al Jazeera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVlFYC4Irnk
AND in CHINA!
Here they do not use commercial fertilisers and generate their own electricity!
The days of NZ dairy prospects are numbered. We need to get afraid and find other means of prosperity NOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7JyJIjR3g8
After noon Is there any standard regulars/readers involved in early childhood education and what are your views on starting school at 6 as opposed to 5 years old.
tell me more
My daughter has turned 5 recently my wife is keen on 6 as a start date for shool ,I was happy with 5 purely on a that’s what’s done basis but am open to new ideas.
My best mates kids are Steiner kids and are clever enjoyable kids although I don’t have access to a Steiner school I believe they are advocates of not hurrying kids development.
My son had a look at school at age 5 – wasn’t right so we went the homeschooling way. Did that for a couple of years as part of a Democratic Homeschooling Group. Then he turned 7 and said he wanted to go to school so we put him in (a more child-led school it has to be said) and he loves it, doesn’t want to have holidays – it is so great to see him want to learn and, in his case that had to be self driven almost, when he was ready.
I think we don’t help our children by putting them into the system early, some are okay but a lot find it overwhelming and that has consequences later.
Cheers I’ve always had a problem with the way we push kids to grow up fast .
one thing i found really worked well..
..was that at age 10-11 ‘the boy’ was getting good school reports/grades..
..so i sat him down and offered him a ‘deal’..
..i told him that he could take over the control of his non-school hours..
..that (within reason) he cd pay games when he wanted to..read…do whatever he wished..
..but that his side of the deal was that he had to make sure his homework (which he knew i ideologically opposed..on the grounds the hours spent at school are enough) was done enough to get by..
..and that most importantly his school reports/grades had to stay at the high standard they currently were..
..and it all worked a treat..
..and i feel it was good in building self-sufficiency/motivation..
Listening to there opinions his huge my oldest step daughter was turning goth and starting to fail in the 4th form (year ?) ,she told us she wanted to change schools and when she did she flourished and has finished tertiary has a great job and is living the dream.
in the hearald
“Prime Minister John Key says New Zealand’s likely military contribution to the fight against Islamic State “is the price of the club” that New Zealand belongs to with the likes of the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada in the intelligence alliance known as Five Eyes”
Wars not dirty nasty business it’s just being a club member of planet key.
And we weren’t even asked if we wanted to be in the club.
Yes. Here we go again:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11389202
No justification for joining the reinvasion, just the schoolboy excuse “Everyone else was doing it.” FFS, he’s a childish and hollow adolescent in the skin of a leader.
right, so he is now loudly courting international attention to this !
and the global audience thinks that the NZ people are fully supportive of his pronouncements !!
And he’s going to market it with the ghosts of the ANZACS I bet.
Changing the thread of things a bit about the huge amount of money being spent on sorrow tinge remembrance of the First World War
Here is Key and another bunch of promoters pushing all the claptrap from the stupid misery of the carnage suffered by many not really knowing what they were fighting over
Sadly percentage wise of the kill NZ comes out on top of the heap
Would the little prick like to do something about reparations to the many NZ communities who worked like hell to rebuild their families and self esteem to make sense of the deplorable loss of that war instead of millions being spent on celebrations or supposedly commemorations knowing that the truth can be found in books if only we as a country had an education system that made the time and people available that might allow the truth to be known but that would probably blow a hole in the hypocrisy which this govt prides itself in, allegiance to a capitalist free market warmongering monichist ruling aristocracy not to forget genocidal policies of cultural reintegration
Stick your money spinning egoistic commemorations up your you know what Key and pay us our money down Does your nz citizenship go back far enough for you to know how it feels to be in a family that has that length of history in this country? We dont need to be reminded we know what kind of people caused that shit but I fear some will never know