I’m sure that John Key would have been quite happy having Shane jones as Labour leader as it would have turned Labour into a party almost as right-wing as National.
Corporate and political corruption is raising its ugly head more than ever before. Sad for New Zealand, the supposedly least corrupt country in the world. Perhaps the corruption in high places is better hidden here than in other countries!
I enjoy Shane Jones as a funny man, but in my opinion, he should resign from the Labour party or be sacked, irrespective of any adverse consequences for the party. It is better to take a stand and stop these kinds of evil stuff permeating the party or the country.
Let us not allow the left wing parties and principles be tainted. Leave the right wingers to wallow in such sewers.
Clem
It’s been there for years (corrupt practices and the moral hazards that encourage them). We have just been too naive and trusting to note it. Everything that has come to light has been regarded as an exception (that proves the rule). Then it was noticed that the rule was being flouted more than followed. The age of innocence has had to end. Older and wiser now?
If, as they say, explaining is losing, then both Collins and Key were losing big time on Morning Report today. Her denials and justifications are becoming more and more ludicrous by the day and Key was forced back to his default talking points, namely dancing on the head of a pin and trying to blame it all on Labour.
Listening to the TricKey one this morning, I could have sworn he’s been on the sauce, or is still shickkered from the night before. And this is not the first time he’s sounded like this, Hmmm Shades of Muldoon.
Dunno about being on the sauce, but he is making a mess of it. He could be highly stressed. To me, he sounds like he’s on the verge of a bad panic attack, the sort where your tongue swells up in your mouth and you think you’re going to suffocate. Once he’s been through the challenging bits and can get back to where he’s comfortable – which is attacking Labour – he becomes relaxed again. I’m doubting his mental and emotional competence at the moment. I always doubted his ethical, technical, and political competence, but Kiwis love a fast talker in an expensive suit.
One point is unclear to me. Collins had said that she just popped in for a cup of tea on her way to the airport. Now she says after the dinner, she just went to bed. So, my question is, what happened to the airport destination plan?
The Opposition, Labour particularly, should keep Collins enquiry bubbling but say they have important changes planned for NZs betterment and are determined to do better than this shoddy government and just get a dig in while they are talking about their new direction and policies. It’s a mistake to concentrate on digging out all the dirt. To use modernspeak ‘This is not core business for Labour’.
So don’t get deflected Labour or you confirm my occasional irrational, frustrated description of politicians – being morons.
I haven’t listened to the links, however your summary of Key’s comments sound so familiar to any comment he ever makes – I believe you have summed up the comments I haven’t heard of his, now and in the future, very well indeed!
I don’t have much free time today, but if you want to carry on from yesterday here’s something to consider.
If a Universal Basic Income was introduced (I’m interested in the concept) and was set at a level that ensured most people could live reasonably comfortably:
– How many people would choose it over paid employment?
– How much would the number of people not in paid employment increase?
– What would this cost the Government/taxpayers?
– How would this be funded?
Ah, Petey… Thanks for providing a clear illustration of one of your strategies – don’t answer the question, but ask us to go researching for more questions. Do you ever do any real research yourself? Why are you so lacking in information and knowledge of these topics that you give your opinions on?
Since you are so very busy today, answering weka’s questions is the priority.
but if you do have some time this week …….
freedom:
How’s that weekly budget for poor people coming along Pete ?
I realise it is a complex thing to engineer without looking like a $2 shop tool but you are Pete George, the man with the plan! Where is the budget Pete?
You are Editor in Chief at the fact checking site called Politicheck.
Are facts not an essential item for your researchers to have on hand?
How do you plan to check the veracity of Government statements about poverty, incomes and expenditure if you do not have a clear understanding of the weekly budgets required of people who inhabit the lowest levels of our economy?
PG: “What would this cost the Government/taxpayers?”
To answer this question you will need some base data to set the UBI expenditure at an adequate level. Base data like budgets.
felix didn’t fully quote (himself) in his response. This is what he said:
What’s relevant is creating a society where where young people have faith that their lives are meaningful and worth living, and where adults find enough stimulation and satisfaction in their activities that they don’t feel like wiping themselves out at the end of every week.
The legality or otherwise of different substances then becomes a non-issue.
I responded “I think that’s idealistic and unrealistic”. That was in reference to the whole statement.
I think “creating a society where where young people have faith that their lives are meaningful and worth living” is a great ideal and worth working towards.
I think “where adults find enough stimulation and satisfaction in their activities that they don’t feel like wiping themselves out at the end of every week” is a fine aim but idealistic and I doubt we can ever get close to to that. For example being a parent wipes you out daily, it’s the nature of the job. It’s not uncommon for parents to want a drink or a smoke at the end of another busy day.
“The legality or otherwise of different substances then becomes a non-issue.” I took that as meaning that people wouldn’t use drugs any more. That’s naive and unrealistic. Many poor people don’t have the time or money to do drugs much if at all, and most have more sense than to waste their money and minds.
Drug use and abuse happens across the income spectrum. A wealthy person can be stressed about their money like a poor person stressed about their lack of money.
And no matter how ideal we can make our society I think there will always be a significant number of people who keep using drugs, so the legalities will remain issues. It’s idealistic to think that it could become a non-issue.
Can you show me where I ever said anything about having a drink or a smoke at the end of the day being a big deal Pete?
How about addressing what I actually asked you. I’ll paraphrase for your benefit as apparently you haven’t followed a fucking word so far:
If you don’t think we can create a society where people’s lives are fulfilling enough that they don’t try to utterly destroy themselves every weekend, then what is the point of any of your political efforts?
I mean that’s a really, really low bar for a decent society. I’m not talking utopian ideals Pete. I’m talking about large numbers of human beings not trying to self destruct on a regular basis, and regularly succeeding.
Because essentially you’re right Pete. If nothing ever changes much from what we do now, then we’ll pretty much always have the same or worse issues to deal with as we have now. If we’re lucky.
We can’ ‘create a society’, there’s too much history for that, but we should always be looking for ways to improving our society.
Most people don’t “try to utterly destroy themselves every weekend”. I think that most people who try drugs do so for some sort of enjoyment although there’s quite a bit of attempted stress relief too.
The people who develop drug problems, the drug abusers and the addicts, don’t just wait for the weekends.
I’m talking about large numbers of human beings not trying to self destruct on a regular basis, and regularly succeeding.
How many people regularly try to self destruct? Large numbers? And how many succeed? Too many do, but large numbers?
And if “we can create a society where people’s lives are fulfilling enough” how much less of a drug problem will we have?
Please repeat this phrase thrice daily,
then perhaps you won’t have such difficulties understanding an issue that others are openly discussing and you are openly obfuscating.
“Most people don’t “try to utterly destroy themselves every weekend”. I think that most people who try drugs do so for some sort of enjoyment although there’s quite a bit of attempted stress relief too.”
Hands up who thinks PG is qualified to have an opinion on why and how people take drugs?
Research has shown that people generally take drugs to either feel good (i.e., sensation seekers or anyone wanting to experiment with feeling high or different) or to feel better (i.e., self-medicators or individuals who take drugs in an attempt to cope with difficult problems or situations, including stress, trauma, and symptoms of mental disorders).
That’s along the lines of what I suggested but in more detail (limited time so I kept it very brief).
There’s other factors too, like peer pressure, bravado, curiosity, accidental addiction (prescriptions), spiking and so on. And it’s often a combination of factors.
So felix’s “society where people’s lives are fulfilling enough” has a lot to try and address and rectify.
weka I know you can’t see me but I am putting both my hands firmly on the floor.
Pete not only knows fuck all but he’s also just shat all over every A&E doctor, nurse, ambulance officer, police office and firefighter in the country.
That’s a pretty generalised list with limited consideration of context and life circumstances. Though it does include this:
an attempt to cope with difficult problems or situations, which would include people struggling on low incomes, and/or with unbearable jobs.
There’s been quite a bit of sociological research on drug use and abuse. This looks at patterns in various contexts, over time and in different kinds of communities/circumstances.
Some of the early research by Bingham Dai (1930s US),
recognized that his drug addicts lived in disorganized neighborhoods, in which crime, delinquency, mental disorder, and suicide prevailed—drug addiction was in fact yet another variety of [deviant and criminal behaviour]
Other considerations that impact on drug use and abuse are availability and supply.
Others have argued that high levels drug abuse in a community is the result of inequalities. There is more drig abuse in lower income groups than in higher income ones – part of the use of drugs to escape from dreadful conditions.
The biggest survey of drug was the US national survey 2004. It found the reasons differed for different demographic groups and between use of legal and illegal drugs:
Use of illicit drugs
Experimental; irregular use more commonly episodic;
Use of legal drugs
– way more common than use of illegal drugs – and more likely to keep doing it; people who use legal drugs a lot, are more likely to use illegal ones;
Psychoactive use
– is more common among young people; plus people more likely to use psychoactive drugs are male, unmarried but co-habiting and not planning to go to college, the unemployed,.
Drug us can also be a rebellion against conventions.
Get fucky or get lucky – I know I prefer the latter.
And don’t forget to hear the Awkward Russian police sing daft Punk Get Lucky.
Just put the keywords and go for the middle video. Good marching music.
for some reason gw, a link to Prosperity Theology ( the, long undiscovered Pastor’s Cave Prosperity Gospel) I put up has remained in moderation, twice. Suffice to say, I recently attended a church where in the willing congregation were persuasively asked for money four times, across two services, eftpos at the back of the hall, i o u ‘s accepted.
Why did you attend TWO services on the same day?
What Church was it?
What were the reasons/cause given for the FOUR money collections?
Were the congregation obliged/compelled to pay or was it voluntary?
I think after a short adjustment period, employment would go up, as a result of people actually having money to spend into the economy.
UBI is a redistribution from those at the very top to the rest at the bottom. Naturally the people at the bottom will spend the money in ways that the people at the top never would have. This spending will create more economic activity, which means (generally) more jobs.
Lanthanide +100
Slides through the mishmash like a knife through soft butter. Says it all really. Should be printed out in little strips of paper and dropped over NZ like confetti similar to the flour bombing in the 1981 protest.
(excerpt from those unanswered-questions..addressed to pete george..)
“..That disqualifies you from having any opinion on beneficiaries until you answer the question: how many beneficiaries are not required to seek/gain employment?
Then you will have to answer how many people are now required to see work, despite previously being exempt.
Then come back and explain how those people are supposed to live. And why those people aren’t entitled to a livable income.
Then explain why you think that beneficiaries are all unemployed.
And then explain how unemployed beneficiaries are supposed to raise their income via employment when there aren’t enough jobs.
Then, when youve done all that, retract your statement that NACT don’t keep people poor…”
(can i suggest that when pg pops up with his daily-dissemble..
..that the only responses afforded him be requests for him to answer the above..first..?
..and as he is the editor (stuffs fist into mouth to stop uproarious guffaw of laughter)..of that politichek rightwing pressure-group..
If you did 5 minutes of checking instead of endless drinking you would know that the stuff story is a propaganda piece by a green party activist. Of course many companies pay workers $18 per hour. Gee some even pay 40. It is called a market. I have no sympathy for anyone on minimum wage. Up skill. The only thing that surprises about the mw is that it is so high.
Did you know that the woman interviewed was a green party activist? It should have been disclosed by the journalist.
On related topic. Just returned from Napier. As usual every up market cafe / bar/ spa was staffed by European travellers because there are no suitable nz workers. I drove past a huge orchard with a sign out front “workers desperately wanted”. So get down there.
so chalmers doesnt own that business and doesnt pay everyone above minimum wage by some margin. of course the part about how its aspirational and practical and will hurt not help isnt propaganda cos you agree with it.
“On related topic. Just returned from Napier. As usual every up market cafe / bar/ spa was staffed by European travellers because there are no suitable nz workers. I drove past a huge orchard with a sign out front “workers desperately wanted”. So get down there.”
No “suitable” NZ workers who want to do the work while getting paid a pittance in bad conditions. European travellers, also known as backpackers, will do whatever job is going to get money to fund their continued travels – that’s hardly the same as holding a long-term job to pay for food, rent, electricity, petrol, car registration, doctors visits etc.
Similarly for orchard work – it’s hard back-breaking labour with minimal pay.
Your reply is an excellent example of the problem. You seriously think it is oj for healthy unemployed people to take a benefit instead of working in an orchard?!!
Actually, you ignorant twat, a lot of Hawkes Bay people go off benefit to work in the fruit industry during the season. As do folk in the BOP, Otago etc. They work for, surprise, surprise, the minimum wage., so with travel costs factored in, they are little better off financially. The answer to that conundrum is obvious. Lift the minimum wage.
The horticultural and food processing industries rely on dormitories of casual labour, usually brown, returning to income support in their off seasons.
So your plan seems to be to ship unemployed people from other parts of New Zealand to Napier where they can work in the orchard, because the orchard “desperately wants” workers. For a couple of months.
What are all of these people that you’ve moved to Napier going to to do for the rest of the year?
See, it turns out, these are difficult problems that don’t have quick obvious solutions – because if they did, they already would have been applied.
Orchard work is only ever going to work for a small proportion of the community, simply because it is only available for a small proportion of the entire year.
I reckon if such a sign existed srylands would have stopped, photographed it and posted it here whilst quoting from Bush’s Mission Accomplished speech 😉
last time you ran this crap i posted a job offer which specifically excluded nz residents. of course you ignored that and ran away to a new thread with your old crap.
Sit down and tell us a story srylands. Now when you were very young you used to work on your father’s uncle’s farm/do seasonal work in an orchard picking/ work on the wharves/ work in the meatworks/ prune grapevines / pick and pack tobacco. Those were the days. People knew how to work then and be happy with their lot. blah blah. The great bum sitter with the enormous brain who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing – when it comes to people.
I saw a bit of a film called Snowpiercer with a cocoon of humans in an enclosed ecosystem being managed by a megalomaniac who knew how to manipulate people and who had no respect for them at all. Chilling. And it ended with the system being destroyed and two survivors stepping out into a frozen world, being viewed curiously by a polar bear. Back to nature. People like srylands would lead us to that very tipping point without questioning their own preconceptions.
“Similarly for orchard work – it’s hard back-breaking labour with minimal pay”
Not necessarilyt. I’ve done a lot of orchard work since I was about ten and it wasn’t hard or backbreaking. Sure it was a bit physical but easy enough for anyone with average fitness levels.
My three children (two female, one male) all did seasons of orchard work and were very good workers. They financed education and bought cars with what they earned. I know a lot of other people who have managed orchard work and have benefited from it.
I’ve known a lot of people who have lived on it. Wages aren’t high (relatively) but are above minimum for good workers, especially as they become experienced, improve productivity and take on responsibilities.
And there’s usually quite a bit of free food involved.
never has the phrase “comparing apples and oranges” been so apt 🙂
Some orchard work is by the hour
Some is by the bin
Some is casual hours only
Some is done for kin
Some depends on weather
Some is months at a time
Some means moving here and there
Some is just a lie
this nursery rhyme was brought to you by Pete George’s Handy Hints for Happy Homes
(Q: What decade was all this orchard work? I am guessing pre millennium, I am guessing the 1980’s actually)
p.s. Pete, maybe you forgot you have a list of questions from weka to answer, you have also said you were short on time today, so why are you even commenting on other posts? Please go answer weka’s questions
+1 freedom. Not all orchard work is the same (depends on the kind of fruit being grown and how), and as far as I can tell, the people that do well are those that get the more responsible, better paid, more stable hours jobs. That’s not everyone. The people I know that do it alot and are ok either have jobs higher up the chain, or they’ve managed to set their lives up so they have low living costs (usually no rent) and they have other ways of making a living when there is not orchard work. It’s generally not a job if you have a mortgage or kids.
I get a very strong sense that Pete hasn’t experienced much at all for 20 years or so. He seems utterly unaware of the everyday realities of life in NZ for most people.
He doesn’t think there’s much of a problem with unemployment or underemployment.
He doesn’t think there’s much of a problem with poverty.
He doesn’t even acknowledge a cultural binge-drinking issue ffs. Doesn’t affect most of us, he reckons.
Worst part is, he doesn’t think there’s much point doing anything about it either.
You’re making things up felix. From you that seems more likely to be deliberate lies rather than ignorance. Your ‘argument’ has turned to attempted discrediting with blatant bull. That’s telling.
All your claims (at 6.03 am) about what I think are incorrect nonsense.
Every time he comes on this site, we must ask him to deal with weka’s questions.
And if he won’t, we should boycott him.
Same policy for all the other RWNJs who come here to divert, distract and denigrate.
Their input ruins this site at times.
he is tired. he visited every up market bar cafe spa in napier. before easter he cared e about the poor now he has no sympathy for minimum wage workers who must somehow work enough hours to survive and pay to upskill.
he also knows who all green party activists are which is strange for a mere tax something or other from kapiti coast.
Responding to all those discussing the problems of being employed for seasonal work in orchards, vineyards etc, I suggest you look at the latest list (2014) of employers who are part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Policy and the spread of employers across the country from Katikati to Otago. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/employers/employ/LinkAdministration/ToolboxLinks/rse.htm
While I think the policy is excellent for the Pacific Island communities, because it provides regular work, skills training and money for their communities, I think it is wrong that New Zealanders don’t make themselves available for this type of work. Effectively those of you who are saying that it is better to be unemployed that earning the minimum wage to do physical work in the orchards and vineyards are saying you are better than the Pacific Island people who are very happy to do this work. That attitude doesn’t seem respectful to the Pacific Islanders.
Also, as taxpayers, we are all contributing to funding both the RSE scheme and the unemployment benefit because New Zealanders wont do this type of work. That doesnt seem fair to me either.
I talked to a woman in west Auckland who was looking for such work – in desperation. But, she is a single parent, and there weren’t any such jobs going near her home, and that would also enable her to carry out her child care responsibilities.
for e.g. those foresty workers who work 10 hours a day in shite conditions on $16 an hour! i earn more than that at my comfy desk sitting on my bum with heating & a roof & heaps of coffee. thats plainly not fair, not fair at all.
& orchard work is indeed back breaking work!, i’ve done kiwi fruit, grape vine work & asparagus picking (in my teens, & travelling in my 20s), asparagus was a lot harder because you had to bend down for 6-7 hours a day, only young ppl can do that kind of work. so if you think orchard work is not back breaking then i actually doubt you have done any orchard work at all (unless you are the inevitable slow mo simpleton who just goes gets to do all the gopher type work around the property coz you can’t be trusted to do anything else).
No one wants sympathy from the likes of you, SSLands. I see the person using the login today is not the polite one. My guess is that there are three of you. All your posts are propaganda pieces by an ACT party activist. You should disclose that.
Sir Ian McKellen has a deeper understanding of New Zealand than most visiting stars. He talks about playing Gandalf again – and about Helen Clark’s startling confession.
“I find your society genuinely admirable in many ways. For example, I met Helen Clark while I was in Wellington. I was invited to her official residence, and waved in by a lone policeman who didn’t even check who I was, then I had a barbecue with her. I congratulated her on the public’s enlightened attitudes towards racial issues, but she disagreed. She said to me that New Zealand was really a very racist country, and she was determined to do everything she could as prime minister to change that. I thought that was a very bold, honest statement to make to a foreigner, and I really respected her for that.”
I prefer Queen Victoria owns the foreshore and seabed and (better still) all the land leased from Queen Victoria so Queen Victoria can use the money for her armies, hospitals roads etc (for the benefit of her brown boys and girls and white and banana boys and girls). Queen Victoria rarely rides her steed down the beach (whereas Maori frequently show up). But that’s beside the point.
Evolutionary psychology makes good argument that humans are (by nature) racist in so far as they have an initial preference for people like themselves. Talking up your own group is healthy. Listen to any after game conversation when the local school creamed the visitors.
In his review article Discovery and Confirmation in Evolutionary Psychology (in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Psychology) Edouard Machery concludes:
“Evolutionary psychology remains a very controversial approach in psychology, maybe because skeptics sometimes have little first-hand knowledge of this field, maybe because the research done by evolutionary psychologists is of uneven quality. However, there is little reason to endorse a principled skepticism toward evolutionary psychology: Although clearly fallible, the discovery heuristics and the strategies of confirmation used by evolutionary psychologists are on a firm grounding.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_evolutionary_psychology
Results show that oxytocin creates intergroup bias because oxytocin motivates in-group favoritism and, to a lesser extent, out-group derogation. These findings call into question the view of oxytocin as an indiscriminate “love drug” or “cuddle chemical” and suggest that oxytocin has a role in the emergence of intergroup conflict and violence.
To survive and prosper, individuals need groups whose members contribute information and resources. Because contributing resources and information makes oneself vulnerable to exploitation by others, group members need to know who to trust or to distrust, who can be expected to also contribute to the group and to reciprocate cooperation, and who may abuse in-group generosity and free-ride on others (1). A key mechanism facilitating such in-group cooperation is ethnocentrism, the tendency to view one’s own group as centrally important and as superior to other groups. Ethnocentrism manifests itself in positive valuation of (members of) one’s in-group. Such in-group favoritism signals loyalty and positive commitment to the group, thus rendering the ethnocentric individual a reliable and trustworthy partner. Ethnocentrism may also show up in negative valuation of (members of) out-groups. Such out-group derogation signals to in-group members who should be excluded from in-group resources and exchanges, and reduces the probability that in-group resources are inadvertently extended to out-groups (1–6).
If in-group favoritism and out-group derogation have adaptive value and sustain in-group functioning, coordination, and cooperation, it follows that (i) throughout evolution those individuals who displayed in-group favoritism and out-group derogation and who detected such tendencies in others were more likely to spread than individuals lacking these capacities (5–8) and (ii) the human brain may have evolved to sustain ethnocentrism through yet-unknown neurobiological systems
A Zoologist For A Financial Shitstorm And A Wall Street Banker As Our Prime Minister. No Wonder We’re Tanking. My take on the housing bubble denial saga
From the Herald’s online version: ”Prison alone wont deter crims” says break-in victim,
”Gavin” who has been done over 5 times in the past 3 years by burglars gets my vote for Kiwi of the week, for this:
”I’m not sure prison is the ultimate answer, but it could be part of it, they definitely need some sort of decent education, some rehabilitation”,
He thought the bigger issue politicians should be addressing was, ”the separation of wealth between rich and poor, which he believed was one of the key drivers of burglary”
Wise words from a five time victim of burglars which will probably be ignored by the politicians he addresses as they continue the revolving door imprisonment policy, using the blokes taxes to build more of them and in effect re-victimizing Him all over again…
my take is if prisons worked, why is there still crime? & also this thing that some laws are acceptable to break, like opening hours in wanaka over easter. did you also read that thing where the police have had to pay out over $500,000 this year to ppl because of police fuck ups.
+2
Both None to Noon and Afternoons are much better when a locum is in place – but in particular, Lyn Freeman is great. Nine to Noon probably should have gone to her in the first place
personally I find Lyn Freeman too nicey nice and watered down to be a really great interviewer ( probably becase she doesnt eat meat..let alone go for the jugular or gnaw the bones) …..and I fear she lacks the intellectual range of Ryan…..she doesn’t ask the hard questions…she is better for the arts….i am sure she is a lovely person however
I reckon she’s a closet carnivore (Freeman I mean). I just find the work-life-balanced, regular gal with issssyooos, and her in depth (once was) knowledge of ‘the beltway’ (Ryan) a bit bloody nauseating at times. Plus she’s a total 3rd-wayer with a (no doubt, very balanced) portfolio. But …. different strokes for different folks I guess.
I’m only glad she seems to have negotiated a substantial leave entitlement.
RNZ though – still far better than anything else going
As a politically-independent anti-corruption campaigner, who is not aligned to ANY political party I fully support this Green Party initiative, and look forward to ALL parties who genuinely support ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ doing the same.
Greens push for disclosure policy to reveal MP’s ‘private interests’ (3:45)
Just as NZ Prime Minister John Key exhibited wilful blindness in his continued support for dodgy John Banks, his defence of the indefensible Minister for Corruption (sorry – ‘Justice’) Judith Collins will not endear him to the voting public – in my considered opinion.
You are wrong in saying they are asking for more transparency from all MP’s, they are only proposing more transparency from ministers.
Not saying that there’s anything wrong with that, but i would respect it a lot more if it came from them when they were actually in power because this reeks of an empty pre-election talking point with little actual relevance.
ER
Yea Thanks .I missed it. Winston not quite as eloquent as before but still able to mock the Gowers of this world (Paddy.. let me answer from my experience, rather than your inexperience -love it). And his response to entrapment ‘questions’ like…. ” What you’re saying is…..”.when that’s not what they’re saying at all.
I don’t vote for Winston but he’s good and I hope he’s part of the Labour coalition.
Winston is clear in terms of protecting the retirement age @ 3’50” – 4’23”
Question: “.. if Labour tries to change the retirement age, you’d go to the cross benches again”
Winston: “… I think they can be persuaded if that was the issue , I think they can be persuaded that that fatally cost them the election ..”
…
Winston: “… what’s a priority in the context that there is no fiscal reason when it is near 4.3 per cent of GDP to be panicking as Jenny Shipley and Financial Services Council are trying to get (?you) to do so, they can get to control the industry and take out (?biddings) and favours …”
And at the Herald. Joyce changing university boards to be dominated by businessmen. Universities as free trainers for corporates funded by the kids borrowing.
So now we are going to have our young people borrowing money to fund their studies to save companies having to invest in training them.
How about a market solution from the corporates, they can provide paid internships to give work experience and fund the study costs of graduates in the disciplines they are short of and they need to be doing this before they can scream skill shortages.
Listening to Williams and Holton this morning and the subject of Cunliffe not fronting up to Campbell live was brought up. Well on seeing the little bit that I could stomach of the key family at home(snigger) item I wouldn’t of turned up either. It is documented knowledge, stated by key himself that he hardly ever goes to that derelict looking place he call a bach. So why would he choose to use it as the destination for the interview. Campbell made a right toady of himself with the gushy bit about Obama la la la la.etc. That’s when I turned off, so possibly it got better. ?? or not. So key is being his usual devious self but Cunliffe would be expected to have his interview or whatever you might call it at his actual home because people might think he is trying to hide his wealth and he’ll get caned by the media again. I don’t see the problem with Cunliffe delaying his ‘at home’. He had genuine reasons which have been reported, Campbell made to much of it, and he looks like he was played by key. Don,t think much of him at the moment.
+100 ffloyd….Cunliffe should take control of his media appearances not the other way around( if he doesn’t want to be interviewed in his home for family privacy reasons then good on him!)
….lets hope Campbell gets back into the real hard question journalism of which he is capable
….not the frothy ‘Women’s Weekly’ and ‘House and Garden ‘ variety
…this is what is wrong with the msm at the moment ….concentration on trivia rather than the Hard questions
…hard questions involving
affordable housing for young New Zealanders
education
corruption
the issues Xtasy brings up ie support for those most in need …(in fact I suggest John Campbell does an in interview with Xtasy…this is the real side of NZ….not John Key’s mansions…sick making)
Listened to a bit of Williams/Hooton until I got tired of Hooton’s Foxdistortion-monologues. Admit to being disappointed in Williams, a man that I once admired. No fire left?
..and one of my favourite williams’ recent quotes..
..was his sneering at the activists returning to labour…as all the mad people having come back to labour..
..(these he is sneering at are those who left labour because of labour losing its’ way up that neo-lib dead-end road..that tells you’ll you need to know about williams..
i agree, that home piece was appalling but nearly all the media pundits all gave it glowing reviews! dunne & peters both garnered a little respect from me by them declining. keys one was all about him being ‘normal’ & how awesome he is at talking to children! & playing with some little girls pony tail which was a bit creepy imo. if campbell didnt know he was being used by a master manipulator (key) then hes a tool.
Shonkey is a highly staged media event full stop. He knows it’s his medium to play like that guitar he refers to but that was a private conversation apparently.
Absolutely no unscripted questions allowed and the best spin available from your mates like Hooton, O’Shillivan etc when you go off the ranch and put your foot in it by doing crazy stuff like inviting the opposition to a debate.
Bet the backers and minders told John Phillip to STFU and stick to the smile and wave, leave the messaging to us. The only debate he’ll do is one where sympathisers like Hoskins can protect him from himself.
Campbell is lightweight with the occasional burst of enthusiasm but it’s sugar rush jonolism, once the high’s gone they go looking for another.
RNZ Midday Report. CTU to take legal action over deaths of two of the 32 forestry staff killed since 2008.
The television news showed Worksafe climbing all over crews, with RNZ reporting 25 crews instructed to stop immediately; entrenched “non-compliance concerns”.
meanwhile Jones states he “wouldn’t call Gardiner a friend…”. hmm, must just be an uninterested admirer of his posture then…
A worker at the coal-face of addictions claims the impact and extent of synthentic cannabis abuse is greater than that of metamphetamine; children as young as nine…deep sigh…
The Queensland Fruit-fly makes fruit and vegetables inedible! Cabbage Fight! (ducks).
“Our lives end the day we become silent about things that matter”. Martin Luther King.
for greywarbler – I visited a church recently rolling in a non-canonical gospel for ‘spiritual’ success. Across two services on the same Sunday, much the same congregation were persuasively asked four times for money- eftpos at the rear of the hall, IOU’s accepted. 😎
This from the article is interesting: ”The complex plan change, setting tougher nutrient leaching limits in the catchment and requiring farmers to implement individual enviromental management plans, raised fears at the Council that farming in the area would become uneconomic”,
Whoever is raising such fears deserves the dunce award, scientific soil mapping, paddock by paddock in places where soils are apt to change types frequently has been shown to boost production,
Along with such boosted production comes less use of both water and nutrients as soil mapping also identifies the optimum time for the use of water and nutrients on the proposed crops, SO, with intensive soil mapping we can tell exactly what can be grown where while producing NO off farm leaching of water or nutrients and NO leaching of the same into the water table,
Instead of just dumping water and nutrient on paddocks and crops because that is the way its always been done soil mapping will be the next revolution in farm management and i am pleased to see this irrigation scheme has attached to it individual management plans that will likely mean the farmers have to soil map all their farms,
Now all we need is the body with the resources and the will to rigidly Police such management plans and i don’t think that this can be simply left in the hands of Regional Councils…
Bernard Hickey Shows Himself The Ignoramus I Always Thought He Was And Here Is Why:
In an article today Bernard Hickey actually made an attempt to counter Jesse Colombo’s 12 point list as to why we were not heading for an economic bubble bust of epic proportions and in doing so showed once again how NZ economists really haven’t got a clue about what is going on globally and I will show this by taking his talking points and show them for the misleading uniformed trash they are.
NZ has a floating exchange rate and flexible interest rates
There are plenty of candidates to generate a shock to New Zealand’s economy that could cause our house prices to start falling. The IMF warned in March that a sharp slowdown in China could do the trick.
In this point he is arguing that the IMF predicted the same possible down turn but they mitigated the prediction by stating:
Hickey says: However, the IMF rightly points out in the very next sentence that New Zealand has some automatic stabilisers (SIC) to deal with just such a shock.
The authorities have monetary and fiscal policy space to respond to shocks. The RBNZ has scope to adapt monetary conditions to help buffer against a downside scenario, and the free-floating New Zealand dollar provides an additional cushion against terms of trade and other external shocks. New Zealand’s modest public debt gives the authorities scope to delay their planned deficit reduction path in the event of a sharp deterioration in the economic outlook.
My response: First of all Hickey is not denying the possibility of a down turn and that is wise. What he argues is that in order to delay a planned deficit reduction path (read austerity for the 99% but more for the 1% like in Greece, Ukraine, to name a few) there is space to borrow more.
This is not a sensible response to the risk of a global cascading financial down turn. This is just more of the global bankster kicking the can down to road fraud. And while it may postpone the inevitable collapse of an unsustainable collapse of the fiat currency system which at the moment has to print money by the trillion to keep going.
What is equally misguiding is his notion that we can cut the interest rates which unlike the rest of the Western world are being raised making it more difficult for people to pay their mortgages.
So far it hasn’t materialized in higher interest on bank savings for example.
The real reason why interest rates in the US, UK and other Western countries are next to zero is that they are so for the rich. Those of us who have to buy a kitchen appliance on a credit card or GE pay 20% – 30%. The interest is not a tool which is used for the betterment of New Zealanders but to make a whole sale wealth transfer of the 99% to the 1% possible by preventing deflation and encouraging inflation. The only people suffering under this are those on fixed incomes. The rich, the bankers and others close to the reserve banks lending spigot sea their incomes rise with the money creation level. A very comfortable lace to be to be sure but the rest of us will find it harder and harder to make ends meet and that includes the mortgages that keep the bubble going.
Our Government has room to borrow to cushion the blow
Jesse diplayed (SIC) an alarming chart showing a tripling in the Government’s overseas debt in nominal terms between 1993 and 2012. Unfortunately, that didn’t show the net and real value of that debt in relation to our economy, which is the most important thing.
New Zealand’s net government debt has risen from less than 10% of GDP to under 30%. US Government debt is over 100% of GDP, Britain’s public debt is over 70% and Ireland’s debt to GDP ratio is over 120% of GDP.
As the current government proved from 2008 to 2012 when it kept…
At first, this seems just a very dull article about golf, a sport I don’t much appreciate. But scratch the surface, ignore the headline and you’ll find hidden within details that show that NZ’s middle classes are now being impacted by the depression and austerity policies of the government.
One quote in particular show the new unequal New Zealand. A NZ where wealthy foreigners buy up our land, the rich 1% of NZers travel round the world to play their favourite golf courses and the rest of NZ go backwards.
Mr Stuart said many British clubs were closing and the same changes were affecting the sport in this country.
“The dynamics are interesting because at the top end, there’s no problem, with people who want to go around the world and play golf. It’s in the middle that we’re all fighting for members,” he said.
2 other interesting points…the Nat M.P. involved and the US and Chinese money taking over our country.
If only the NZ Herald knew how to frame a story and write a headline.
They have missed the real story here.
Jones quits…..good riddance, fair weather friends are not what Labour needs. My initial reaction to the excuse that he could never become leader due to the new way of electing a leader was soft cock. Did he ever realise he would have to earn it? Now off to work for National, theres loyalty, not!
“He has been in talks with Foreign Minister Murray McCully for some time about a possible role in an international fisheries management role and expected that to go through.”
I was just wondering, how come Pete George’s ban was lifted?
[lprent: He got banned in August 2012 for (yet again) trying to tell us how we should run our site – something that we give fair warning about being dangerous to do in the policy.
We lifted all outstanding bans in a well publicised amnesty in March 2013. This gets done periodically because most humans do have this facility to be able to learn from experience, so we give them a chance to rejoin the noisy and robust arguments going on here.
His absence after that was purely voluntary.
He has been mostly been following the policy guidelines he started commenting again a month or so ago. Despite all of the moaning about his comments, he hasn’t really overstepped the bounds since. ]
Ummm. Must look at a amnesty again. It really has to be soon so we can eliminate the ones who are too dumb to read the policy before full-blown election season arrives. Or after the election.
There are a few still serving out long bans and about ten or twelve previous regulars who picked up permanent bans since March last year. Most bans of the latter were banned for trying diversion trolling at the top comments in posts. Haven’t really had to do any of those that I can remember since early this year.
That is a very dangerous sport that as who knows when we have time to bump their preferred posts to OpenMike. If we’re short of time, then we stop warning and start banning to reduce the workload. We find this kind of semi-random sentencing risk helps to ensure people are very cautious about their exposures to the edges of the policy.
Then there are a pile of simple trolls who got booted off the site after a couple of comments for being stupid trolls (we rather like playing with the smarter ones). We’d have to cull the ones who haven’t picked up the capabilities to survive here out again. Saw quite a few “first-timers” come through today who didn’t manage to write anything intelligent for any viewpoint in several comments and didn’t make it past first moderation.
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 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 ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
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: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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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 ...
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. ...
how about that shane jones..?..eh..?
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/paratas-husband-funded-the-labour-leadership-challenge-from-shane-jones-ed-whoar-eh/
(excerpt:..)
(and john keys’ reactions to this news..?)
“..You’re joking!..”
(ed:..but wait..!..there’s more..!..)
I’m sure that John Key would have been quite happy having Shane jones as Labour leader as it would have turned Labour into a party almost as right-wing as National.
shaking head. he will keep shooting them in the foot
Corporate and political corruption is raising its ugly head more than ever before. Sad for New Zealand, the supposedly least corrupt country in the world. Perhaps the corruption in high places is better hidden here than in other countries!
I enjoy Shane Jones as a funny man, but in my opinion, he should resign from the Labour party or be sacked, irrespective of any adverse consequences for the party. It is better to take a stand and stop these kinds of evil stuff permeating the party or the country.
Let us not allow the left wing parties and principles be tainted. Leave the right wingers to wallow in such sewers.
Clem
It’s been there for years (corrupt practices and the moral hazards that encourage them). We have just been too naive and trusting to note it. Everything that has come to light has been regarded as an exception (that proves the rule). Then it was noticed that the rule was being flouted more than followed. The age of innocence has had to end. Older and wiser now?
metiria turei just made an efficient/credible appearance on tvone breakfast..
..the vid will be worth hunting down..(tvnz ondemand..)
If, as they say, explaining is losing, then both Collins and Key were losing big time on Morning Report today. Her denials and justifications are becoming more and more ludicrous by the day and Key was forced back to his default talking points, namely dancing on the head of a pin and trying to blame it all on Labour.
Robertson:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140422-0637-labour_says_judith_collins_has_misled_parliament-048.mp3
Collins:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140422-0714-collins_says_oravida_affair_has_turned_into_a_witch_hunt-048.mp3
Key:
“mumble, mumble, slur, incomprehensible…….
….”let’s take a step back….”
“…. at the end of the day…”
convoluted avoiding of questions
attack Labour
divert to other issues
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140422-0718-pm_says_labour_is_playing_politics_over_collins-048.mp3
Listening to the TricKey one this morning, I could have sworn he’s been on the sauce, or is still shickkered from the night before. And this is not the first time he’s sounded like this, Hmmm Shades of Muldoon.
Dunno about being on the sauce, but he is making a mess of it. He could be highly stressed. To me, he sounds like he’s on the verge of a bad panic attack, the sort where your tongue swells up in your mouth and you think you’re going to suffocate. Once he’s been through the challenging bits and can get back to where he’s comfortable – which is attacking Labour – he becomes relaxed again. I’m doubting his mental and emotional competence at the moment. I always doubted his ethical, technical, and political competence, but Kiwis love a fast talker in an expensive suit.
“Mike Pero, Mortgages!”
One point is unclear to me. Collins had said that she just popped in for a cup of tea on her way to the airport. Now she says after the dinner, she just went to bed. So, my question is, what happened to the airport destination plan?
Two different events. See here. I would guess on different days.
Also worth knowing that it was 35 miles in the direction opposite to the airport, not “on the way”.
Key himself is deeply involved in this.
The opposition should go to the bottom of this, explore it all relentlessly and not let these dodgy corrupt ways go unexposed and unpunished.
The Opposition, Labour particularly, should keep Collins enquiry bubbling but say they have important changes planned for NZs betterment and are determined to do better than this shoddy government and just get a dig in while they are talking about their new direction and policies. It’s a mistake to concentrate on digging out all the dirt. To use modernspeak ‘This is not core business for Labour’.
So don’t get deflected Labour or you confirm my occasional irrational, frustrated description of politicians – being morons.
@ Karol 3.1,
LOL
I haven’t listened to the links, however your summary of Key’s comments sound so familiar to any comment he ever makes – I believe you have summed up the comments I haven’t heard of his, now and in the future, very well indeed!
Well done!
weka’s (so far) unanswered questions.
A few of the many that are avoided, partly by changing the topic, not answering and/or or asking Standardistas further questions.
Pete George, please come on the site prepared to answer these questions, not waffle on.
Otherwise go chat with your friend Slater.
I don’t have much free time today, but if you want to carry on from yesterday here’s something to consider.
If a Universal Basic Income was introduced (I’m interested in the concept) and was set at a level that ensured most people could live reasonably comfortably:
– How many people would choose it over paid employment?
– How much would the number of people not in paid employment increase?
– What would this cost the Government/taxpayers?
– How would this be funded?
“..I don’t have much free time today..”
yay..!!
..answer the questions..
🙄
UBI issues have been covered in detail elsewhere on The Standard.
Petty George brings nothing to the table.
<i<“partly by changing the topic, not answering and/or or asking Standardistas further questions.”
Sorry to hear you don’t have much time today. How about tomorrow or Thursday?
felix, indeed. So we will just keep asking him the questions he hasn’t answered… and I have more.
Ah, Petey… Thanks for providing a clear illustration of one of your strategies – don’t answer the question, but ask us to go researching for more questions. Do you ever do any real research yourself? Why are you so lacking in information and knowledge of these topics that you give your opinions on?
Since you are so very busy today, answering weka’s questions is the priority.
but if you do have some time this week …….
freedom:
PG: “What would this cost the Government/taxpayers?”
To answer this question you will need some base data to set the UBI expenditure at an adequate level. Base data like budgets.
And there’s this one from felix. – important question about underlying values.
felix didn’t fully quote (himself) in his response. This is what he said:
I responded “I think that’s idealistic and unrealistic”. That was in reference to the whole statement.
I think “creating a society where where young people have faith that their lives are meaningful and worth living” is a great ideal and worth working towards.
I think “where adults find enough stimulation and satisfaction in their activities that they don’t feel like wiping themselves out at the end of every week” is a fine aim but idealistic and I doubt we can ever get close to to that. For example being a parent wipes you out daily, it’s the nature of the job. It’s not uncommon for parents to want a drink or a smoke at the end of another busy day.
“The legality or otherwise of different substances then becomes a non-issue.” I took that as meaning that people wouldn’t use drugs any more. That’s naive and unrealistic. Many poor people don’t have the time or money to do drugs much if at all, and most have more sense than to waste their money and minds.
Drug use and abuse happens across the income spectrum. A wealthy person can be stressed about their money like a poor person stressed about their lack of money.
And no matter how ideal we can make our society I think there will always be a significant number of people who keep using drugs, so the legalities will remain issues. It’s idealistic to think that it could become a non-issue.
Can you show me where I ever said anything about having a drink or a smoke at the end of the day being a big deal Pete?
How about addressing what I actually asked you. I’ll paraphrase for your benefit as apparently you haven’t followed a fucking word so far:
If you don’t think we can create a society where people’s lives are fulfilling enough that they don’t try to utterly destroy themselves every weekend, then what is the point of any of your political efforts?
I mean that’s a really, really low bar for a decent society. I’m not talking utopian ideals Pete. I’m talking about large numbers of human beings not trying to self destruct on a regular basis, and regularly succeeding.
Because essentially you’re right Pete. If nothing ever changes much from what we do now, then we’ll pretty much always have the same or worse issues to deal with as we have now. If we’re lucky.
We can’ ‘create a society’, there’s too much history for that, but we should always be looking for ways to improving our society.
Most people don’t “try to utterly destroy themselves every weekend”. I think that most people who try drugs do so for some sort of enjoyment although there’s quite a bit of attempted stress relief too.
The people who develop drug problems, the drug abusers and the addicts, don’t just wait for the weekends.
How many people regularly try to self destruct? Large numbers? And how many succeed? Too many do, but large numbers?
And if “we can create a society where people’s lives are fulfilling enough” how much less of a drug problem will we have?
Dear Pete
“Alcohol is a drug”
Please repeat this phrase thrice daily,
then perhaps you won’t have such difficulties understanding an issue that others are openly discussing and you are openly obfuscating.
kind regards
still pretending, pretending, pretending
“Most people don’t “try to utterly destroy themselves every weekend”. I think that most people who try drugs do so for some sort of enjoyment although there’s quite a bit of attempted stress relief too.”
Hands up who thinks PG is qualified to have an opinion on why and how people take drugs?
I doubt anyone here is qualified to have an informed opinion on what qualifications I have.
But why not check with who should clearly be qualified, like the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
That’s along the lines of what I suggested but in more detail (limited time so I kept it very brief).
There’s other factors too, like peer pressure, bravado, curiosity, accidental addiction (prescriptions), spiking and so on. And it’s often a combination of factors.
So felix’s “society where people’s lives are fulfilling enough” has a lot to try and address and rectify.
weka I know you can’t see me but I am putting both my hands firmly on the floor.
Pete not only knows fuck all but he’s also just shat all over every A&E doctor, nurse, ambulance officer, police office and firefighter in the country.
god save us all from the days when pete george has time to post
I’m sure that some people say the same about me.
PG @ 3.40pm.
That’s a pretty generalised list with limited consideration of context and life circumstances. Though it does include this:
an attempt to cope with difficult problems or situations, which would include people struggling on low incomes, and/or with unbearable jobs.
There’s been quite a bit of sociological research on drug use and abuse. This looks at patterns in various contexts, over time and in different kinds of communities/circumstances.
This 2006 article gives an overview of some of the research
Some of the research finings and theories:
Some of the early research by Bingham Dai (1930s US),
Other considerations that impact on drug use and abuse are availability and supply.
Others have argued that high levels drug abuse in a community is the result of inequalities. There is more drig abuse in lower income groups than in higher income ones – part of the use of drugs to escape from dreadful conditions.
The biggest survey of drug was the US national survey 2004. It found the reasons differed for different demographic groups and between use of legal and illegal drugs:
Use of illicit drugs
Experimental; irregular use more commonly episodic;
Use of legal drugs
– way more common than use of illegal drugs – and more likely to keep doing it; people who use legal drugs a lot, are more likely to use illegal ones;
Psychoactive use
– is more common among young people; plus people more likely to use psychoactive drugs are male, unmarried but co-habiting and not planning to go to college, the unemployed,.
Drug us can also be a rebellion against conventions.
Pete is still pretending that when we talk about drugs we’re not including alcohol.
yep.
Get fucky or get lucky – I know I prefer the latter.
And don’t forget to hear the Awkward Russian police sing daft Punk Get Lucky.
Just put the keywords and go for the middle video. Good marching music.
for some reason gw, a link to Prosperity Theology ( the, long undiscovered Pastor’s Cave Prosperity Gospel) I put up has remained in moderation, twice. Suffice to say, I recently attended a church where in the willing congregation were persuasively asked for money four times, across two services, eftpos at the back of the hall, i o u ‘s accepted.
Why did you attend TWO services on the same day?
What Church was it?
What were the reasons/cause given for the FOUR money collections?
Were the congregation obliged/compelled to pay or was it voluntary?
being a polite guest
Apostolic / Acts / Equippers
Tithe, Love Offerings, Speakers fees
Voluntary with copious encouragement to do so.
I think after a short adjustment period, employment would go up, as a result of people actually having money to spend into the economy.
UBI is a redistribution from those at the very top to the rest at the bottom. Naturally the people at the bottom will spend the money in ways that the people at the top never would have. This spending will create more economic activity, which means (generally) more jobs.
Lanthanide +100
Slides through the mishmash like a knife through soft butter. Says it all really. Should be printed out in little strips of paper and dropped over NZ like confetti similar to the flour bombing in the 1981 protest.
loks like you havetime for everything except these
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21042014/#comment-801587
(excerpt from those unanswered-questions..addressed to pete george..)
“..That disqualifies you from having any opinion on beneficiaries until you answer the question: how many beneficiaries are not required to seek/gain employment?
Then you will have to answer how many people are now required to see work, despite previously being exempt.
Then come back and explain how those people are supposed to live. And why those people aren’t entitled to a livable income.
Then explain why you think that beneficiaries are all unemployed.
And then explain how unemployed beneficiaries are supposed to raise their income via employment when there aren’t enough jobs.
Then, when youve done all that, retract your statement that NACT don’t keep people poor…”
(can i suggest that when pg pops up with his daily-dissemble..
..that the only responses afforded him be requests for him to answer the above..first..?
..and as he is the editor (stuffs fist into mouth to stop uproarious guffaw of laughter)..of that politichek rightwing pressure-group..
..answering simple questions like that..
..should be a breeze for him..eh..?..)
great idea @ only response be to re ask these questions.
in the meantime companies implementing living wage arent collapsing… but how can that be. good article in stuff today. slylands head will explode.
chalmers organics..makers of tonzu tofu..
..went from just above minimum-wage to living wage..in one step..(about a 25% increase..)
..and i intend to promote them relentlessly..
..buy their stuff..!
..’when thinking of tofu..buy tonzu..!’..
If you did 5 minutes of checking instead of endless drinking you would know that the stuff story is a propaganda piece by a green party activist. Of course many companies pay workers $18 per hour. Gee some even pay 40. It is called a market. I have no sympathy for anyone on minimum wage. Up skill. The only thing that surprises about the mw is that it is so high.
Did you know that the woman interviewed was a green party activist? It should have been disclosed by the journalist.
On related topic. Just returned from Napier. As usual every up market cafe / bar/ spa was staffed by European travellers because there are no suitable nz workers. I drove past a huge orchard with a sign out front “workers desperately wanted”. So get down there.
Oh it is a miracle. In the last 10 minutes tbe journalist has added the disclosure that Chalmers i s a green party official.
so chalmers doesnt own that business and doesnt pay everyone above minimum wage by some margin. of course the part about how its aspirational and practical and will hurt not help isnt propaganda cos you agree with it.
whooooooooooosh
“On related topic. Just returned from Napier. As usual every up market cafe / bar/ spa was staffed by European travellers because there are no suitable nz workers. I drove past a huge orchard with a sign out front “workers desperately wanted”. So get down there.”
No “suitable” NZ workers who want to do the work while getting paid a pittance in bad conditions. European travellers, also known as backpackers, will do whatever job is going to get money to fund their continued travels – that’s hardly the same as holding a long-term job to pay for food, rent, electricity, petrol, car registration, doctors visits etc.
Similarly for orchard work – it’s hard back-breaking labour with minimal pay.
Your reply is an excellent example of the problem. You seriously think it is oj for healthy unemployed people to take a benefit instead of working in an orchard?!!
Actually, you ignorant twat, a lot of Hawkes Bay people go off benefit to work in the fruit industry during the season. As do folk in the BOP, Otago etc. They work for, surprise, surprise, the minimum wage., so with travel costs factored in, they are little better off financially. The answer to that conundrum is obvious. Lift the minimum wage.
The horticultural and food processing industries rely on dormitories of casual labour, usually brown, returning to income support in their off seasons.
Go jump in the lake srylands, employers are not willing to pay a person a decent days pay for a decent days work, so tough fucking luck.
I have no sympathy whatsoever.
More people should tell employers to jump, and go on a benefit. Bludgers is what these employers are, nothing less. Bludgers.
So your plan seems to be to ship unemployed people from other parts of New Zealand to Napier where they can work in the orchard, because the orchard “desperately wants” workers. For a couple of months.
What are all of these people that you’ve moved to Napier going to to do for the rest of the year?
See, it turns out, these are difficult problems that don’t have quick obvious solutions – because if they did, they already would have been applied.
Orchard work is only ever going to work for a small proportion of the community, simply because it is only available for a small proportion of the entire year.
I reckon if such a sign existed srylands would have stopped, photographed it and posted it here whilst quoting from Bush’s Mission Accomplished speech 😉
last time you ran this crap i posted a job offer which specifically excluded nz residents. of course you ignored that and ran away to a new thread with your old crap.
Sit down and tell us a story srylands. Now when you were very young you used to work on your father’s uncle’s farm/do seasonal work in an orchard picking/ work on the wharves/ work in the meatworks/ prune grapevines / pick and pack tobacco. Those were the days. People knew how to work then and be happy with their lot. blah blah. The great bum sitter with the enormous brain who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing – when it comes to people.
I saw a bit of a film called Snowpiercer with a cocoon of humans in an enclosed ecosystem being managed by a megalomaniac who knew how to manipulate people and who had no respect for them at all. Chilling. And it ended with the system being destroyed and two survivors stepping out into a frozen world, being viewed curiously by a polar bear. Back to nature. People like srylands would lead us to that very tipping point without questioning their own preconceptions.
+1
+1
“Similarly for orchard work – it’s hard back-breaking labour with minimal pay”
Not necessarilyt. I’ve done a lot of orchard work since I was about ten and it wasn’t hard or backbreaking. Sure it was a bit physical but easy enough for anyone with average fitness levels.
My three children (two female, one male) all did seasons of orchard work and were very good workers. They financed education and bought cars with what they earned. I know a lot of other people who have managed orchard work and have benefited from it.
So it’s a job for children and teenagers.
Thanks for making my point.
I didn’t say that and it doesn’t prove your point of it being back breaking.
It’s easy enough for teenagers but there are many adults doing it as well, probably mostly adults.
My point was more that it doesn’t pay enough to live on.
Children and teenagers typically don’t need much money to live on.
I’ve known a lot of people who have lived on it. Wages aren’t high (relatively) but are above minimum for good workers, especially as they become experienced, improve productivity and take on responsibilities.
And there’s usually quite a bit of free food involved.
can you answer these questions now that you more time than you originally thought
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21042014/#comment-801587
never has the phrase “comparing apples and oranges” been so apt 🙂
Some orchard work is by the hour
Some is by the bin
Some is casual hours only
Some is done for kin
Some depends on weather
Some is months at a time
Some means moving here and there
Some is just a lie
this nursery rhyme was brought to you by Pete George’s Handy Hints for Happy Homes
(Q: What decade was all this orchard work? I am guessing pre millennium, I am guessing the 1980’s actually)
p.s. Pete, maybe you forgot you have a list of questions from weka to answer, you have also said you were short on time today, so why are you even commenting on other posts? Please go answer weka’s questions
+1 freedom. Not all orchard work is the same (depends on the kind of fruit being grown and how), and as far as I can tell, the people that do well are those that get the more responsible, better paid, more stable hours jobs. That’s not everyone. The people I know that do it alot and are ok either have jobs higher up the chain, or they’ve managed to set their lives up so they have low living costs (usually no rent) and they have other ways of making a living when there is not orchard work. It’s generally not a job if you have a mortgage or kids.
“I am guessing the 1980′s actually”
I get a very strong sense that Pete hasn’t experienced much at all for 20 years or so. He seems utterly unaware of the everyday realities of life in NZ for most people.
He doesn’t think there’s much of a problem with unemployment or underemployment.
He doesn’t think there’s much of a problem with poverty.
He doesn’t even acknowledge a cultural binge-drinking issue ffs. Doesn’t affect most of us, he reckons.
Worst part is, he doesn’t think there’s much point doing anything about it either.
You’re making things up felix. From you that seems more likely to be deliberate lies rather than ignorance. Your ‘argument’ has turned to attempted discrediting with blatant bull. That’s telling.
All your claims (at 6.03 am) about what I think are incorrect nonsense.
You have questions to answer Pete: http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23042014/#comment-802409
You didn’t deliberately lie to try and bait me did you felix? Once again it didn’t work
I thought you were busy today and that’s why you couldn’t answer weka’ questions.
…perhaps he was too busy asking other questions and for links – in other words busy in the sense of avoiding answering Weka’s (and other’s) questions…
Every time he comes on this site, we must ask him to deal with weka’s questions.
And if he won’t, we should boycott him.
Same policy for all the other RWNJs who come here to divert, distract and denigrate.
Their input ruins this site at times.
+1 Good idea
he is tired. he visited every up market bar cafe spa in napier. before easter he cared e about the poor now he has no sympathy for minimum wage workers who must somehow work enough hours to survive and pay to upskill.
he also knows who all green party activists are which is strange for a mere tax something or other from kapiti coast.
Responding to all those discussing the problems of being employed for seasonal work in orchards, vineyards etc, I suggest you look at the latest list (2014) of employers who are part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Policy and the spread of employers across the country from Katikati to Otago.
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/employers/employ/LinkAdministration/ToolboxLinks/rse.htm
While I think the policy is excellent for the Pacific Island communities, because it provides regular work, skills training and money for their communities, I think it is wrong that New Zealanders don’t make themselves available for this type of work. Effectively those of you who are saying that it is better to be unemployed that earning the minimum wage to do physical work in the orchards and vineyards are saying you are better than the Pacific Island people who are very happy to do this work. That attitude doesn’t seem respectful to the Pacific Islanders.
Also, as taxpayers, we are all contributing to funding both the RSE scheme and the unemployment benefit because New Zealanders wont do this type of work. That doesnt seem fair to me either.
sigh
I talked to a woman in west Auckland who was looking for such work – in desperation. But, she is a single parent, and there weren’t any such jobs going near her home, and that would also enable her to carry out her child care responsibilities.
dont give christine real life contradictions.
That’s a new RWNJ definition of racist, Christine – someone who thinks the minimum wage is too low. Wow.
“I have no sympathy for anyone on minimum wage.”
Everyone knows you are a piece of shit, there’s no need to keep providing evidence on a daily basis.
So why do you continually promote policies that hurt the poor? Plus you are rude.
“So why do you continually promote policies that hurt the poor?”
I’ve never voted National/Act, doubt I ever will.
Isn’t it time you mentioned you don’t know how to feel sympathy for anyone, or what sympathy actually is, or that kids with cancer somehow deserve it?
lol
What is rude is employers who do not pay enough for a person to live on, that is what is rude.
It costs less to pay the minimum wage than to keep a slave.
You live in la la land
for e.g. those foresty workers who work 10 hours a day in shite conditions on $16 an hour! i earn more than that at my comfy desk sitting on my bum with heating & a roof & heaps of coffee. thats plainly not fair, not fair at all.
& orchard work is indeed back breaking work!, i’ve done kiwi fruit, grape vine work & asparagus picking (in my teens, & travelling in my 20s), asparagus was a lot harder because you had to bend down for 6-7 hours a day, only young ppl can do that kind of work. so if you think orchard work is not back breaking then i actually doubt you have done any orchard work at all (unless you are the inevitable slow mo simpleton who just goes gets to do all the gopher type work around the property coz you can’t be trusted to do anything else).
they need to upskill and become a tax something or other from kapiti coast/wellington/australia, cos we need those.
No one wants sympathy from the likes of you, SSLands. I see the person using the login today is not the polite one. My guess is that there are three of you. All your posts are propaganda pieces by an ACT party activist. You should disclose that.
I agree Murray.
Sir Ian McKellen has a deeper understanding of New Zealand than most visiting stars. He talks about playing Gandalf again – and about Helen Clark’s startling confession.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/3751531/Acting-giant-reflects-on-NZ-society
So what did Helen Clark mean? More racist on average than other societies?
What (if anything) did she do about it? Multiculturalism?
I know there’s pay dirt here (people who have studied the right stuff!).
so clark obviously wouldn’t have thought of/spoken of maori as ‘haters and wreckers’..eh..?
..and how about that foreshore and seabed brouhaha..?..eh..?
.and those nine long years of grinding the poors’ noses in their miseries..
..with of course..a very high number of those families living in grinding poverty..are/were maori..
..yeah..she really ‘did a lot’…
..a ‘lot’ of neglect/institutional-racism..
I prefer Queen Victoria owns the foreshore and seabed and (better still) all the land leased from Queen Victoria so Queen Victoria can use the money for her armies, hospitals roads etc (for the benefit of her brown boys and girls and white and banana boys and girls). Queen Victoria rarely rides her steed down the beach (whereas Maori frequently show up). But that’s beside the point.
Evolutionary psychology makes good argument that humans are (by nature) racist in so far as they have an initial preference for people like themselves. Talking up your own group is healthy. Listen to any after game conversation when the local school creamed the visitors.
just so stories.
people not people
In his review article Discovery and Confirmation in Evolutionary Psychology (in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Psychology) Edouard Machery concludes:
“Evolutionary psychology remains a very controversial approach in psychology, maybe because skeptics sometimes have little first-hand knowledge of this field, maybe because the research done by evolutionary psychologists is of uneven quality. However, there is little reason to endorse a principled skepticism toward evolutionary psychology: Although clearly fallible, the discovery heuristics and the strategies of confirmation used by evolutionary psychologists are on a firm grounding.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_evolutionary_psychology
Oxytocin promotes human ethnocentrism
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3029708/
Tooby or not To Be. ;). Its been a while since I read this. I certainly agree that Mind is adapted and selected for. Handy tool, the computer.
A Zoologist For A Financial Shitstorm And A Wall Street Banker As Our Prime Minister. No Wonder We’re Tanking. My take on the housing bubble denial saga
Mr Joyce / Mr Bubble-and-squeak potato-head.
😆
From the Herald’s online version: ”Prison alone wont deter crims” says break-in victim,
”Gavin” who has been done over 5 times in the past 3 years by burglars gets my vote for Kiwi of the week, for this:
”I’m not sure prison is the ultimate answer, but it could be part of it, they definitely need some sort of decent education, some rehabilitation”,
He thought the bigger issue politicians should be addressing was, ”the separation of wealth between rich and poor, which he believed was one of the key drivers of burglary”
Wise words from a five time victim of burglars which will probably be ignored by the politicians he addresses as they continue the revolving door imprisonment policy, using the blokes taxes to build more of them and in effect re-victimizing Him all over again…
my take is if prisons worked, why is there still crime? & also this thing that some laws are acceptable to break, like opening hours in wanaka over easter. did you also read that thing where the police have had to pay out over $500,000 this year to ppl because of police fuck ups.
some good news..
..kathryn ryan is on leave from nine to noon..
..and lyn freeman has taken her place..
..and what i really like about freeman..is that interviewing with/for her is not a gladitorial-struggle..
..she actually lets people answer the questions she has asked…
..and freeman is about the most skilled around at letting her interview-subjects breath..
..and to let them get to say their piece..
..and so they get to stand or fall on their own merits..
..and thus providing the best experience for the listener..
..whereas ryan is often unlistenable to..
..she has this propensity to sit there..hovering..looking for something to challenge/nitpick on..
..and she just rides over the interview-subject..
..so as the listener you are left with a clutch of half/unanswered questions…
..and yes..if an interview-subject is talking absolute utter shite..pull them up/challenge..
..the skill is clearly knowing when to and when not to do this..
+1
I like Kathryn Ryan…she is fantastic!…i miss her every time she takes a holiday from radio
Lynn Freeman is good …but not as good as Kathryn Ryan!.
….but then again Lyn Freeman is a Vegan is she not?…or at least a Vegetarian…. a wee bit of bias there Philip Ure?
just my personal ‘bias’ for interviews where you come away with the sum total of yr human-knowledge increased..
..with stuff to think about/maybe temper/nuance yr own views
..otherwise…why bother..?..
..everything else is just shades of jerry springer/that english twerp..jeremy someone..
+2
Both None to Noon and Afternoons are much better when a locum is in place – but in particular, Lyn Freeman is great. Nine to Noon probably should have gone to her in the first place
personally I find Lyn Freeman too nicey nice and watered down to be a really great interviewer ( probably becase she doesnt eat meat..let alone go for the jugular or gnaw the bones) …..and I fear she lacks the intellectual range of Ryan…..she doesn’t ask the hard questions…she is better for the arts….i am sure she is a lovely person however
I reckon she’s a closet carnivore (Freeman I mean). I just find the work-life-balanced, regular gal with issssyooos, and her in depth (once was) knowledge of ‘the beltway’ (Ryan) a bit bloody nauseating at times. Plus she’s a total 3rd-wayer with a (no doubt, very balanced) portfolio. But …. different strokes for different folks I guess.
I’m only glad she seems to have negotiated a substantial leave entitlement.
RNZ though – still far better than anything else going
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11241874
You can tell that these were designed by a non-Maori, they are real Pakeha colours.
Not the colours this Pakeha would choose – pretty naff. Interesting how they match the shirts of the 2 guys in the photo.
Wow i didnt notice this thanks for the update
‘bargain-basement prices, a fire-sale, or, a steal’.
Shouldn’t be selling state assets.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11241501
Now this is what will reverse the polls 🙂
do you only get paid to work office hours..?
..this was covered over the easter break..
..but..fill yer boots..!
do you only get paid to work office hours..?
Well I’m not on a benefit so if I don’t work I don’t get paid
this might tickle your fancy, Pre-employment drug testing : 1/100 ‘positives’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11241897
a “deterrent” or, a “smokescreen” of ‘anecdotal’ (read prejudicial) claims from Paula.
More BS from Ms Bennett.
too many of them fucking up their heads on legal-high crap..
..it’s an upside down world..alice…
..and steel yrslves for the legal-high versions of heroin/opiates…eh..?
..coming soon..
..that’ll get them queuing..
..and we come back to that irrefutable fact:..
..that cannabis is the safest of all intoxicants..(not to mention the multiple curing-properties researchers/people are finding..)
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/meet-teen-who-beat-terminal-brain-cancer-cannabis
As a politically-independent anti-corruption campaigner, who is not aligned to ANY political party I fully support this Green Party initiative, and look forward to ALL parties who genuinely support ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ doing the same.
Greens push for disclosure policy to reveal MP’s ‘private interests’ (3:45)
http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/greens-push-disclosure-policy-reveal-mp-s-private-interests-video-5937690
What’s the problem with this long-overdue increase in transparency NZ Prime Minister?
“Nothing to hide – nothing to fear?”
http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/green-s-disclosure-regime-ridiculous-pm-video-5937797
Green’s disclosure regime ‘ridiculous’ – PM (5:15)
Just as NZ Prime Minister John Key exhibited wilful blindness in his continued support for dodgy John Banks, his defence of the indefensible Minister for Corruption (sorry – ‘Justice’) Judith Collins will not endear him to the voting public – in my considered opinion.
There is a LOT more to come on this story ……
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ANTI-CORRUPTION-WHITE-COLLAR-CRIME-CORPORATE-WELFARE-ACTION-PLAN-Ak-Mayoral-campaign-19-July-2013-2.pdf
+100…Go Girl!
You are wrong in saying they are asking for more transparency from all MP’s, they are only proposing more transparency from ministers.
Not saying that there’s anything wrong with that, but i would respect it a lot more if it came from them when they were actually in power because this reeks of an empty pre-election talking point with little actual relevance.
How about dodgy Penny not very Bright bludging from the Auckland rate payers.
Russia slashes North Korean debt by 90%
http://time.com/69790/russia-agrees-deal-to-slash-north-korean-debt-by-90/?
Isis and Iraq
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/foreign-suicide-bombers-kill-thousands-and-bring-iraq-to-the-brink-of-civil-war-9272391.html
Airline safety.
Is it a fact that in its bid to improve its bottom line, Air New Zealand decided to move some of its aircraft maintenance offshore?
Major engine overhauls have been done in china awhile now, a local engineer would accompany and oversee some years back not sure about today.
AirNZ is a budget airline in everything except its airfares.
Yes. The news of it came out some years ago. IIRC, there was something about it a few months back as well but can’t find anything.
Just a thought.When do we get to see Winston interviewed by Gower? or have I missed it?
Yes, last month:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Winston-Peters-Asset-buy-back-a-priority/tabid/1348/articleID/336025/Default.aspx
ER
Yea Thanks .I missed it. Winston not quite as eloquent as before but still able to mock the Gowers of this world (Paddy.. let me answer from my experience, rather than your inexperience -love it). And his response to entrapment ‘questions’ like…. ” What you’re saying is…..”.when that’s not what they’re saying at all.
I don’t vote for Winston but he’s good and I hope he’s part of the Labour coalition.
Cheers.
Winston is clear in terms of protecting the retirement age @ 3’50” – 4’23”
Question: “.. if Labour tries to change the retirement age, you’d go to the cross benches again”
Winston: “… I think they can be persuaded if that was the issue , I think they can be persuaded that that fatally cost them the election ..”
…
Winston: “… what’s a priority in the context that there is no fiscal reason when it is near 4.3 per cent of GDP to be panicking as Jenny Shipley and Financial Services Council are trying to get (?you) to do so, they can get to control the industry and take out (?biddings) and favours …”
[feel free to improve on the above transcript]
And at the Herald. Joyce changing university boards to be dominated by businessmen. Universities as free trainers for corporates funded by the kids borrowing.
So now we are going to have our young people borrowing money to fund their studies to save companies having to invest in training them.
How about a market solution from the corporates, they can provide paid internships to give work experience and fund the study costs of graduates in the disciplines they are short of and they need to be doing this before they can scream skill shortages.
Joyce telling universities what to teach
I find myself in vague agreement with the Herald
thanks, Herald just disappeared on me. Great summary, right there.
Listening to Williams and Holton this morning and the subject of Cunliffe not fronting up to Campbell live was brought up. Well on seeing the little bit that I could stomach of the key family at home(snigger) item I wouldn’t of turned up either. It is documented knowledge, stated by key himself that he hardly ever goes to that derelict looking place he call a bach. So why would he choose to use it as the destination for the interview. Campbell made a right toady of himself with the gushy bit about Obama la la la la.etc. That’s when I turned off, so possibly it got better. ?? or not. So key is being his usual devious self but Cunliffe would be expected to have his interview or whatever you might call it at his actual home because people might think he is trying to hide his wealth and he’ll get caned by the media again. I don’t see the problem with Cunliffe delaying his ‘at home’. He had genuine reasons which have been reported, Campbell made to much of it, and he looks like he was played by key. Don,t think much of him at the moment.
+100 ffloyd….Cunliffe should take control of his media appearances not the other way around( if he doesn’t want to be interviewed in his home for family privacy reasons then good on him!)
….lets hope Campbell gets back into the real hard question journalism of which he is capable
….not the frothy ‘Women’s Weekly’ and ‘House and Garden ‘ variety
…this is what is wrong with the msm at the moment ….concentration on trivia rather than the Hard questions
…hard questions involving
affordable housing for young New Zealanders
education
corruption
the issues Xtasy brings up ie support for those most in need …(in fact I suggest John Campbell does an in interview with Xtasy…this is the real side of NZ….not John Key’s mansions…sick making)
he is doing ok on the legal-highs question..
..and he seems to be coming around to a gupta-moment..
..and he may well start arguing soon for decriminalisation/regulation/taxation of cannabis..
..’cos of course..you do know that legal cannabis would see the legal-high problem disappear in a puff of bong-smoke..eh..?
..how much further will we let dunne lead us down this dead-end alley..
..where we have police/health-professionals..all screaming to do something..!
..the ‘something’ is the decriminalisation/regulation/taxation of cannabis..
..anything else is just pg-fretting/auto-eroticism..
..and this will just get worse and worse..
..how bad will it have to get..?
..(and dunnes’ most recent answer on the cannabis question..was to say..
“..two wrongs don’t make a right’..
..could he be more of a simplistic-fool..?
..plus he is deeply fucken corrupt..
..he has been bought/owned by the tobacco/booze-pushers since forever..
..and guess what..?..guess which drug-pushers don’t want pot legalised..?
..yep..!..the booze industry..
..the man is a pox on the land..
..that his son earns from/works for this new bunch of poisonous/legal-muck pushers..
..is kinda beyond irony..
Listened to a bit of Williams/Hooton until I got tired of Hooton’s Foxdistortion-monologues. Admit to being disappointed in Williams, a man that I once admired. No fire left?
re williams..he sold out..a long time ago..
..he is now a full-time neo-lib apologists..
..and one of my favourite williams’ recent quotes..
..was his sneering at the activists returning to labour…as all the mad people having come back to labour..
..(these he is sneering at are those who left labour because of labour losing its’ way up that neo-lib dead-end road..that tells you’ll you need to know about williams..
..he is a rightwing trout..)
i agree, that home piece was appalling but nearly all the media pundits all gave it glowing reviews! dunne & peters both garnered a little respect from me by them declining. keys one was all about him being ‘normal’ & how awesome he is at talking to children! & playing with some little girls pony tail which was a bit creepy imo. if campbell didnt know he was being used by a master manipulator (key) then hes a tool.
Shonkey is a highly staged media event full stop. He knows it’s his medium to play like that guitar he refers to but that was a private conversation apparently.
Absolutely no unscripted questions allowed and the best spin available from your mates like Hooton, O’Shillivan etc when you go off the ranch and put your foot in it by doing crazy stuff like inviting the opposition to a debate.
Bet the backers and minders told John Phillip to STFU and stick to the smile and wave, leave the messaging to us. The only debate he’ll do is one where sympathisers like Hoskins can protect him from himself.
Campbell is lightweight with the occasional burst of enthusiasm but it’s sugar rush jonolism, once the high’s gone they go looking for another.
RNZ Midday Report. CTU to take legal action over deaths of two of the 32 forestry staff killed since 2008.
The television news showed Worksafe climbing all over crews, with RNZ reporting 25 crews instructed to stop immediately; entrenched “non-compliance concerns”.
meanwhile Jones states he “wouldn’t call Gardiner a friend…”. hmm, must just be an uninterested admirer of his posture then…
A worker at the coal-face of addictions claims the impact and extent of synthentic cannabis abuse is greater than that of metamphetamine; children as young as nine…deep sigh…
The Queensland Fruit-fly makes fruit and vegetables inedible! Cabbage Fight! (ducks).
“Our lives end the day we become silent about things that matter”. Martin Luther King.
for greywarbler – I visited a church recently rolling in a non-canonical gospel for ‘spiritual’ success. Across two services on the same Sunday, much the same congregation were persuasively asked four times for money- eftpos at the rear of the hall, IOU’s accepted. 😎
Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11241616
The plug may yet be pulled.
This from the article is interesting: ”The complex plan change, setting tougher nutrient leaching limits in the catchment and requiring farmers to implement individual enviromental management plans, raised fears at the Council that farming in the area would become uneconomic”,
Whoever is raising such fears deserves the dunce award, scientific soil mapping, paddock by paddock in places where soils are apt to change types frequently has been shown to boost production,
Along with such boosted production comes less use of both water and nutrients as soil mapping also identifies the optimum time for the use of water and nutrients on the proposed crops, SO, with intensive soil mapping we can tell exactly what can be grown where while producing NO off farm leaching of water or nutrients and NO leaching of the same into the water table,
Instead of just dumping water and nutrient on paddocks and crops because that is the way its always been done soil mapping will be the next revolution in farm management and i am pleased to see this irrigation scheme has attached to it individual management plans that will likely mean the farmers have to soil map all their farms,
Now all we need is the body with the resources and the will to rigidly Police such management plans and i don’t think that this can be simply left in the hands of Regional Councils…
Bernard Hickey Shows Himself The Ignoramus I Always Thought He Was And Here Is Why:
In an article today Bernard Hickey actually made an attempt to counter Jesse Colombo’s 12 point list as to why we were not heading for an economic bubble bust of epic proportions and in doing so showed once again how NZ economists really haven’t got a clue about what is going on globally and I will show this by taking his talking points and show them for the misleading uniformed trash they are.
NZ has a floating exchange rate and flexible interest rates
There are plenty of candidates to generate a shock to New Zealand’s economy that could cause our house prices to start falling. The IMF warned in March that a sharp slowdown in China could do the trick.
In this point he is arguing that the IMF predicted the same possible down turn but they mitigated the prediction by stating:
Hickey says: However, the IMF rightly points out in the very next sentence that New Zealand has some automatic stabilisers (SIC) to deal with just such a shock.
The authorities have monetary and fiscal policy space to respond to shocks. The RBNZ has scope to adapt monetary conditions to help buffer against a downside scenario, and the free-floating New Zealand dollar provides an additional cushion against terms of trade and other external shocks. New Zealand’s modest public debt gives the authorities scope to delay their planned deficit reduction path in the event of a sharp deterioration in the economic outlook.
My response: First of all Hickey is not denying the possibility of a down turn and that is wise. What he argues is that in order to delay a planned deficit reduction path (read austerity for the 99% but more for the 1% like in Greece, Ukraine, to name a few) there is space to borrow more.
This is not a sensible response to the risk of a global cascading financial down turn. This is just more of the global bankster kicking the can down to road fraud. And while it may postpone the inevitable collapse of an unsustainable collapse of the fiat currency system which at the moment has to print money by the trillion to keep going.
What is equally misguiding is his notion that we can cut the interest rates which unlike the rest of the Western world are being raised making it more difficult for people to pay their mortgages.
So far it hasn’t materialized in higher interest on bank savings for example.
The real reason why interest rates in the US, UK and other Western countries are next to zero is that they are so for the rich. Those of us who have to buy a kitchen appliance on a credit card or GE pay 20% – 30%. The interest is not a tool which is used for the betterment of New Zealanders but to make a whole sale wealth transfer of the 99% to the 1% possible by preventing deflation and encouraging inflation. The only people suffering under this are those on fixed incomes. The rich, the bankers and others close to the reserve banks lending spigot sea their incomes rise with the money creation level. A very comfortable lace to be to be sure but the rest of us will find it harder and harder to make ends meet and that includes the mortgages that keep the bubble going.
Our Government has room to borrow to cushion the blow
Jesse diplayed (SIC) an alarming chart showing a tripling in the Government’s overseas debt in nominal terms between 1993 and 2012. Unfortunately, that didn’t show the net and real value of that debt in relation to our economy, which is the most important thing.
New Zealand’s net government debt has risen from less than 10% of GDP to under 30%. US Government debt is over 100% of GDP, Britain’s public debt is over 70% and Ireland’s debt to GDP ratio is over 120% of GDP.
As the current government proved from 2008 to 2012 when it kept…
Read more
Bye bye, Tariana.
It was nice getting to know you …
At first, this seems just a very dull article about golf, a sport I don’t much appreciate. But scratch the surface, ignore the headline and you’ll find hidden within details that show that NZ’s middle classes are now being impacted by the depression and austerity policies of the government.
One quote in particular show the new unequal New Zealand. A NZ where wealthy foreigners buy up our land, the rich 1% of NZers travel round the world to play their favourite golf courses and the rest of NZ go backwards.
Mr Stuart said many British clubs were closing and the same changes were affecting the sport in this country.
“The dynamics are interesting because at the top end, there’s no problem, with people who want to go around the world and play golf. It’s in the middle that we’re all fighting for members,” he said.
2 other interesting points…the Nat M.P. involved and the US and Chinese money taking over our country.
If only the NZ Herald knew how to frame a story and write a headline.
They have missed the real story here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11241885
Labour MP Shane Jones to step down
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11242350
Jones quits…..good riddance, fair weather friends are not what Labour needs. My initial reaction to the excuse that he could never become leader due to the new way of electing a leader was soft cock. Did he ever realise he would have to earn it? Now off to work for National, theres loyalty, not!
“He has been in talks with Foreign Minister Murray McCully for some time about a possible role in an international fisheries management role and expected that to go through.”
Ennui +1000
Well, well,well. Shane Jones has gone!!!! Kelvin Davies? stepping in. Immediate. Got to be a good thing. Maybe settle things a little bit.
TV3 saying tonight Jones is to resign from the Parliament, now that’s what i call a good idea…
Lolz a game of snap going on here…
Just seen a photo of key in my fish and chip wrapping newspaper and his hair looks ginger. Does he dye his hair or wear a rug?? Just wondering.
lol..he is getting balder….so maybe he is wearing a ginger cat skin?
I was just wondering, how come Pete George’s ban was lifted?
[lprent: He got banned in August 2012 for (yet again) trying to tell us how we should run our site – something that we give fair warning about being dangerous to do in the policy.
We lifted all outstanding bans in a well publicised amnesty in March 2013. This gets done periodically because most humans do have this facility to be able to learn from experience, so we give them a chance to rejoin the noisy and robust arguments going on here.
His absence after that was purely voluntary.
He has been mostly been following the policy guidelines he started commenting again a month or so ago. Despite all of the moaning about his comments, he hasn’t really overstepped the bounds since. ]
There was an amnesty for all bans a while back.
Ummm. Must look at a amnesty again. It really has to be soon so we can eliminate the ones who are too dumb to read the policy before full-blown election season arrives. Or after the election.
There are a few still serving out long bans and about ten or twelve previous regulars who picked up permanent bans since March last year. Most bans of the latter were banned for trying diversion trolling at the top comments in posts. Haven’t really had to do any of those that I can remember since early this year.
That is a very dangerous sport that as who knows when we have time to bump their preferred posts to OpenMike. If we’re short of time, then we stop warning and start banning to reduce the workload. We find this kind of semi-random sentencing risk helps to ensure people are very cautious about their exposures to the edges of the policy.
Then there are a pile of simple trolls who got booted off the site after a couple of comments for being stupid trolls (we rather like playing with the smarter ones). We’d have to cull the ones who haven’t picked up the capabilities to survive here out again. Saw quite a few “first-timers” come through today who didn’t manage to write anything intelligent for any viewpoint in several comments and didn’t make it past first moderation.
He’s like a weed choking the oxygen out of a waterway.