Questions for Pete George, assuming he has time to comment today:
Pete said:
“The aim is to raise people’s income by getting them into employment.”
weka said
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.
Take your time, Pete. But please don’t go clogging up the threads any further until you’ve addressed these important questions.
Hell Felix I hope you are not holding your breath. Weka is still waiting for his answers, and his questions are about 4 days old. And don’t forget he is very busy checking facts for Politicheck.
Perhaps weka can outline how he thinks an entitlement to a livable income could work, with examples of how similar policies have worked elsewhere in the world.
You make a lot of sense. It’s probably wasted on these people; they simply have too much hate to even try to understand and allow themselves to develop. Good on you for trying though 🙂
“Not sure how it can be avoided setting benefit levels statistically lower then people who are employed.”
Benefits were cut by $20/wk in 1990. In the mid 80s the unemployment benefit was around the same rate as what school leavers were earning going into office jobs. We used to have relatively higher benefit rates then, why can’t we now?
Cost. I presume there’s many more people on benefits now. At the end of March 2014: 295,320 working-age* people were receiving a main benefit. (MSD).
And wanting to encourage people into paid employment.
“I’m not sure than any of the larger parties are suggesting that should be substantially changed.”
The GP want a UBI.
Their Income Support Policy states “The Green Party supports a full and wide-ranging public debate on the nature of UBI and the details of a UBI system, and government funding for detailed studies of the impacts of UBI. The Green Party will: Investigate the implementation of a Universal Basic Income for every New Zealander”. They are interested in the concept (as I am) but don’t say they want one.
The aim is to raise people’s income by getting them into employment.”
That disqualifies you from having any opinion on beneficiaries until you answer the question: how many beneficiaries are not required to seek/gain employment?
It doesn’t disqualify me from anything. I have already said that some people on benefits cannot seek employment. Both Labour and National governments want to encourage those who can seek employment to do so.
I’ve also already said that if the number of people on benefits is substantially reduced then those who have to remain on benefits should be able to be provided for better.
Then you will have to answer how many people are now required to see work, despite previously being exempt.
I don’t have to do anything. I don’t know what point you are trying to make with this.
Some current details are here at MSD.
I think it’s reasonable to expect that those who are capable of working should be seeking paid employment and taking responsibility for their own welfare.
I acknowledge that it can be very difficult finding work that people want with the pay they want. Some are more motivated than others. Some people have unrealistic expectations but for many there simply aren’t enough jobs.
Then come back and explain how those people are supposed to live.
They live how they live. It’s very tough for many. Others find a way manage.
And why those people aren’t entitled to a livable income.
You tell me why you think they should be entitled to a ‘livable income’.
Ideally everyone should have an income that makes living not too much of a struggle. But expecting everyone should have comfortable style of living without having any money problems is fanciful and idealistic.
Life can be hard work and bills can be difficult to manage, especially if you have children. We should strive for better and easier but it can never always be guaranteed or provided,
Then explain why you think that beneficiaries are all unemployed.
They’re not, some are partly employed. There’s a range of reasons why beneficiaries could be unemployed, including circumstance, health, choice, lack of alternatives and a shortage of jobs.
And then explain how unemployed beneficiaries are supposed to raise their income via employment when there aren’t enough jobs.
Some can supplement their benefit. Some could be more flexible in what work they seek and where they seek it (that’s difficult for many). And there are not enough jobs for many. That’s one thing benefits are designed to assist with.
Then, when youve done all that, retract your statement that NACT don’t keep people poor.
You’ll have to be more specific, I’ve made a number of comments related to that.
I don’t believe that in general National (or Act) want to “keep people poor”. The effect of Government policies (Labour and National) may be that some people stay poor, but I question whether any MP wants to ‘keep people poor’.
All parties propose economic growth with the intention of improving incomes and increasing the number of jobs.
“I presume you know that if the minimum wage was raised by 50% and work was provided for anyone who wants it then we’d still have the same number of people under the statistical poverty line.”
What everyone else just said. Plus, you’re a dick. If the people at the bottom end of the scale have enough to live on, then poverty stops being an issue irrespective of the statistics.
But waving a money wand and waving a job wand aren’t realistic options.
Can you show any country in the world where giving everyone “enough to live on” has succeeded over a period of years or decades.
Poverty is a problem that needs to be addressed as well as possible, but Government giving substantially more money to people with productive work being an unpressured option is unlikely to succeed if history and current world conditions are anything to go on.
But perhaps weka can outline how he thinks an entitlement to a livable income could work, with examples of how similar policies have worked elsewhere.
Cost. I presume there’s many more people on benefits now.
There’s also more people working so that doesn’t work.
Both Labour and National governments want to encourage those who can seek employment to do so.
I think it’s reasonable to expect that those who are capable of working should be seeking paid employment and taking responsibility for their own welfare.
Which is the wrong way of looking at these things as it requires that there be employers first. What we should be doing is encouraging and supporting people to create their own work either as individuals or as cooperatives. This, of course, is where a UBI really shines and why a lot of people in power will reject it as it removes the force of poverty.
Life can be hard work and bills can be difficult to manage, especially if you have children. We should strive for better and easier but it can never always be guaranteed or provided,
Actually PG, it can be provided – as soon as we get rid of the rich and move to a stable state economy.
I don’t believe that in general National (or Act) want to “keep people poor”. The effect of Government policies (Labour and National) may be that some people stay poor, but I question whether any MP wants to ‘keep people poor’.
National and Act do as it’s the force of poverty that ensures that people will work for them and thus make them richer without them actually having to create any wealth. I specifically remember that when National lowered the UB it was so that the low minimum wage was seen as being better than staying on the dole. Labour probably don’t but their support for capitalism will ensure that they do.
All parties propose economic growth with the intention of improving incomes and increasing the number of jobs.
As we should all know by now is a) physically impossible and b) hasn’t worked anytime in the past.
“Why do we have to go to your blog, to see your answers to questions that were part of a discussion here?”
You don’t have to go anywhere, it’s your choice.
The discussions and questions were all over the place here in a variety of threads. It can get very messy and difficult to follow. I was being asked to respond in many places. It was easier to collate it in a single post at a single point. And it’s a good point of reference and library, that’s what I often use my blog for.
I don’t mind that you copied and posted the full post here, I’ve heard it’s not the done thing but I hope the moderators cut you a bit of slack on this.
“The discussions and questions were all over the place here in a variety of threads. It can get very messy and difficult to follow. I was being asked to respond in many places. It was easier to collate it in a single post at a single point. “
Uh huh. Of course you could have just answered the questions as directed to you, and no-one would have reposted them for days and days in different places as they chased your dishonest ass around the site while you pretended not to notice them, Mr ‘far too busy to respond to this but plenty of time to post that.
weka: And then explain how unemployed beneficiaries are supposed to raise their income via employment when there aren’t enough jobs.
Pete: “Some can supplement their benefit”
yeah, how exactly does that work Pete? Those on a Jobseeker benefit can only earn $80 a week gross, before they are then taxed at 70c in the dollar.
When existing on a Jobseeker benefit, being able to work a whole six hours a week does not really change a person’s circumstance and it still leaves that rather large issue of there not being enough jobs in the first place.
Now you have responded to weka’s questions, (it cannot be said you have really answered anything) will you be starting work on your budget for poor people?
In addition, people with assets other than their home over $8,000 are not eligible for Accommodation Supplement. Which means that the govt expects people to sell assets and use their savings before they get adequate benefit. That’s fine for people that are short term unemployed and go into a job that pays well enough for them to start saving again, but for anyone cycling on and off the benefit/temp or casual jobs that isn’t possible. It’s also not possible for people on sickness/invalids or DPB, which are all long term benefits. This is another way in which people are made more poor by state policy.
The fact is that you and weka et al don’t have a viable alternative, or at least you don’t have one that you’re prepared to give details of or evidence that it has worked elsewhere.
Generally change like that is forged in Parliament via party policies and bills and majority votes. I would support Greens if they tried to push their investigation of a UBI but I don’t know if they would get sufficient support where it counted.
The only thing from Labour that comes close is in this post from Stuart Nash:
Announce, set up and drive forward a Tax Commission with a mandate to undertake a complete overhaul of the NZ tax system without the constraints of the last one (where a whole raft of measures, including a capital gains, were off the table).
Petty George, if you read the UBI posts and comments here you’d already have the solution to your ignorance of this matter. Google is your friend, asshole. I’m not doing your research for you.
It showed some positive outcomes, and very few negative ones.
It has never been tried long term because there is not the political will by those with power. ie for the very reasons given by some here as to why those with power want to keep people on benefit levels that keep them at subsistence levels or below.
Why do you keep asking new questions without actually engaging with the debate?
The Green Party supports a full and wide-ranging public debate on the nature of UBI and the details of a UBI system, and government funding for detailed studies of the impacts of UBI. The Green Party will:
Investigate the implementation of a Universal Basic Income for every New Zealander.
Why is your mind closed to new policy initiatives?
I’ve said a number of times (including on this thread today) that I’m open to the concept of a UBI – and to a major restructuring and simplification of our tax and social welfare systems and I would support this if Greens pushed for it to be investigated.
That Greens promote an investigation only suggests it would be complex, a challenge to find out the best way of doing it and possibly difficult to achieve.
I quoted the same as you have here in my post (that you copy/pasted).
NOOoooooooo, now George wants to pollute the Green Party with his total transparency,
Spill this little something you are working with ‘the greens’ on George or it can only be taken by your recent trail of comments covering a week that you are now attempting an ‘over-coat’ change, flailing round for support from the Greens who regularly appear at the Standard,
The thought of Petty as a Green makes me automatically do this, 🙄 , 🙄 ,and this, 🙄 …
That Greens promote an investigation only suggests it would be complex, a challenge to find out the best way of doing it and possibly difficult to achieve.
Herbert Macuse, the most widely known member of the Frankfurt School, mainly German neo-Marxists who fled the Nzs, many settling eventually in the US argued in One Dimensional Man (1964) that advanced industrial society has developed a ‘totalitarian’ character in the capacity of it’s ideology to manipulate thought and deny expression to oppositional views; or, in other words Consent is Manufactured -Chomsky.
By manufacturing false needs and turning humans into voracious consumers, modern societies are able to paralyse criticism through the spread of comparatively stultifying affluence. According to Marcuse, even the apparent tolerance of liberal capitalism serves a repressive purpose, in that it creates the impression of free debate and argument, thereby concealing the extent to which indoctrination and ideological control occur.
And why is it that you RWNJs always insist that it has to have been tried before and been successful? We need change and change, more often than not, means doing something that hasn’t been done before.
I don’t insist (but I’m not a RWNJ). But it helps to have seen how something might work elsewhere.
I agree though that sometimes change requires doing something that hasn’t been done before. That has greater risks of unintended and unwelcome consequences. I guess that’s why Greens call for an investigation rather than push a specific policy on it.
So “viable alternatives” are only those that are party policies or those that have been done before?
But wait, apparently even though dignified benefit levels have been done before, they can’t be done now because of “cost”.
What about green party policy of income support, which includes investigating a UBI – do you think a UBI should be investigated?
At the moment it seems you have an incredibly closed mind. Even though you pretend to embrace other points of view, you find contradictory excuses to discount anything that helps the poor, or anything that seeks to control alcohol and gambling, or anything that will take power from the rich.
I get $159.29 in hand after rent is paid. It’s really hard to keep up paying for monthly bills and with food costs rising every other day. My rent may rise from $210 to About $220-230pw the accommodation supplement is only $65 that means I will have to use $20-30 out of the $159.29
The recent cost of living adjustment I got was only $2.89. Oh! Forgot to mention I owe WINZ $20pw.
So for all the noise over benefits is mere electioneering. I will see what actually happens when reality sinks in for those who think they know all about benefits.
Pete you need to get hold of the bigger picture first, before diving blindfolded into the detail. I suspect that is half the problem for you. You simply do not have a big picture of how you see society should function – you simply bounce here and flounce here and wonder this and wander that. It is no wonder that others tire and get frustrated at your bouncing flouncing wondering and wandering.
For mine own big picture I picture a small village….
In that small village all people conspire to create a good shelter for each village member to inhabit and good food for each to live on. This is done, as it always had been in most all of human past, in a cooperative manner (you know, like NZ’s biggest businesses do). This then ensures that each person is provided for and healthy, and hence the entire village is at its peak strength, or rather, without any structural weakness by way of a weak link. This is the base, the starting point, the main foundation stone ……
For Nact types their big picture is nothing like this and their thinking is to be deplored… For Nact types it is every member for himself…. …. Imagine a small village where every member is for himself Pete. Imagine it if you can ….. it is like NZ today …. no wonder our foundation stones are failing …. the basis of human existence is undermined and non-existent.
vto – I agree with your small village ideal. I grew up in a rural/village environment.
But even small villages have practical problems in real life. And the larger villages/towns/cities get the greater the chance of problems and the greater the problems.
There are some attempts being made to get village thinking into cities but it’s challenging, especially in a modern society that’s very mobile and very connected communications often over large distances.
A good place to practice the village way and to spread the ideal by example would be on a blog like this, wouldn’t it? Where are differences are accepted and respected, and debated with decency?
“But even small villages have practical problems in real life. And the larger villages/towns/cities get the greater the chance of problems and the greater the problems.”
whooooosh
and yet again, vto’s point sails over Pete George’s head
it’s called a Robin Hood tax (or use any of the alternate titles that are out there)
Every transaction is taxed
no if buts or maybes
no exemptions
no outs
no hidey holes
Simply put, you tax turnover, not profits.
You want a UBI you pay a very small % tax on every thing you do. Something in the region of 0.1% would suffice. Be it buying a loaf of bread, paying a rates bill, trading a fortune in currency bonds or mining a national forest park. Want to write off a few hundred million in assets so your profit isn’t so high… you pay the tax first.
Simply put, you tax turnover, not just profits.
It is administered as the principal tax before any existing tax processes are enacted. I.e: before any other tax is accounted for or paid. The very small % tax is then directed solely into a UBI fund. You only have to look at the Cullen Fund for an example of how much money these funds can generate once established.
Once adopted, the UBI Tax is collected for a full year to establish a base fund, before being released as a UBI of approximately $15k per person per year.
Yes it is an additional tax to p.a.y.e.
yes it is an additional tax to g.s.t.
yes it is an additional tax to kiwisaver.
But, at its most basic level it means that Corporations and Trusts cannot hide their vast sums behind an accountants’ wizardry. Simply put, you tax turnover, not just profits.
Just think how much the Casino and Lotto scams will deliver to the coffers every year.
Then consider the banks and the currency traders. The very industries that will argue most strongly against this idea are the same industries that are the most risky to our economy in the first place. IMHO, The money traders, the stock markets, the bankers will hate it and their consequent reduction in risky or unnecessary activity could translate to a more stable and sustainable economy. We try something new or we continue the cycles of deprivation and bailouts that have peppered the last thirty years.
Is this all an overly simplistic explanation of an incredibly complex issue? Absolutely!
Do I claim to be an expert, not at all, but I am a person who can state honestly that I put ideas on the table, not excuses.
To build something new Pete, you have to do that one thing you seem incapable of …
you have to take an honest step forward into unknown territory.
all funnies aside Lanthanide, many many billions are lost to this country every year as money is siphoned out of our economy, not declared as profit, written off as devalued assets, swapped between trusts and generally just fiddled with to keep taxes as low as possible. This has to be addressed.
To be clear, my actual preference would be a Robin Hood tax of closer to 1%
Obviously 15k per person, even in a small population like NZ is a huge amount of cash for the Government to pay out. An alternative to receiving a UBI payment is maybe those who are employed choose to receive it as a tax free allowance, so the first 15k of income tax is forgiven. That is the first 15k of tax due, not 15k of income. That way those earning well don’t have any reason to bludgeon those receiving the UBI payment directly. The Robin Hood tax would still apply to all transactions, as would income tax on those receiving the UBI.
I think somewhere in there is a workable solution to the problem, but I am not an expert and if all I have done is supplied some giggles to economists then fine, but all I know is what the experts keep doing does not seem to be working.
all the righties who are posting how much this will damage labour and who agree with much of what jones has said… think about those 2 things and how they might be a contradiction.
I vote green so it doesnt hurt mt preference.
maybe one day labour will wake up and remember this nation doesnt need national lite.
The timing of Jones leaving could not be worse. Had he left 6 months ago or waited up until after the election, it would be less suspicious. This was timed so he can inflict maximum damage to Labour’s election chances this year. I can only imagine a field day the Nats will have in Parliament at question time, every answer will contain a jibe about Jones and the Labour Party in disarray. And the media, talkback radio etc…
With MPs like Jones, Labour doesn’t need enemies.
I caught Kelvin Davis phone interview on First Line this morning.
It was a confident and assured performance, and making it look like he will hit the ground running, making for a smooth transition.
Jones resigning nearer the election would have been worse. It’s also fortunate that Davis is next in line – did he say he would be leading the Maori caucus?
This was timed so he can inflict maximum damage to Labour’s election chances this year.
If so then I think it’s going to backfire on whomever planned it. It’s been widely accepted for a long time that Jones was more National aligned than Labour.
& also generally accepted that kelvin davis is a very able & intelligent & talented guy, this could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for labour (or at least i hope someone is spinning it hard as such). watch out hone is all i can say (& im a mana supporter).
Jones is just one man – and Labour is a lot bigger than anyone one person. (Unlike National who would be nothing without Key at the moment.)
Jones has every right to determine his own future. He’s given a lot of time and energy to the Party for many years and he deserves credit and thanks for that. But commitment comes with a price, and he’s looked at the where he stands and made his choice to leave with dignity.
It’s still some months out from the election and while it would have been better to have timed it sooner; perhaps that was beyond his control. And of course you cannot help but ponder the Machiavellian role McCully may well have played here. It would have been way worse for Labour and Jones to have slogged through an election when his heart was not in it.
As for the ‘party in disarray and shock’ nonsense – just treat it with the utter contempt it deserves. Sure there will be some people who are surprised, some disappointed, and someone is bound to say something stupid – that is the nature of politics everywhere.
Checkpoint last night (after the 6pm TV news). So much for some of the Stuff and NZ Herald claims about no one from Labour being available for comment immediately after the TV announcements of Jones plan to resign.
Coatsworth was interviewed and said Jones had told her a while back that he was contemplating leaving. He told her his decision earlier yesterday. And, there’s also an interview with Matthew Hooton, in which he apparently claims Jones had been talking to him off the record for a while – saying he was unhappy with Labour.
Labour is better off without such a Nat Trojan Horse in their midst. And, actually, Labour were all on message pretty quickly last night. Cunliffe on the Henry show, Coatsworth etc… and then this morning, Kelvin Davis doing itnerviews – all wishing Jones well, praising his time in parliament, and looking forward to Davis’s contribution.
The MSM shows whose sidethey are really on with the way they are spinning it.
Jones was ‘colourful’. That’s it. Every gain he made is outweighed by his blunders (FFA, he paid for porn with taxpayer money!). The redneck men he appealed to wouldn’t vote Labour anyway. And let’s face it, Davis is both capable and likeable. If Jones is a loss he’s not the fatal one the MSM claim.
Again that’s just buying into their spin. FFS it was all of $20 that was automatically plonked on a credit card hotel bill and Jones had reimbursed back in the normal course of events. It was never anyone’s business but his own.
There are way worse things that people do than watch a few tits and bums on tele.
I really get fucked off by the way so many people get obsessed over piffling panty-sniffing distractions – while oblivious to the main event.
Yep. Jones’ too friendly corporate dealings are of far, far more concern. But people get predictably outraged about the scandalous BS and the MSM are masters of manipulating to that exact principle.
The video service was a legal one offered by the hotel, and as it had been reimbursed is a story propelled by the sort of sniggering associated with prepubescent schoolboys. Apologies to all the non-sniggering teenagers out there…
(Porn-watching is not appealing to me as a voter, but think his corporate associations and right-wing views were much more scandalous)
I disagree. Watching and funding pornography that degrades and demeans women is behaviour that does not exist in isolation.
That he initially used public money to fund this industry underlines his arrogance, sense of entitlement, lack of boundaries, respect, and empathy. It’s not the only thing, but it’s still relevant.
Where are the reports about David Cunliffe saying that Jones leaving is “all National’s fault” coming from, I’ve heard this repeated all morning on RNZ but they aren’t citing a source at all.
Hooton’s radionz attempt to pretend that Jones ‘ leaving is bad news for Cunliffe is so 12 year old logic that it’s laughable.
But unfortunately it will resonate with some voters who have also the same age level logic as Hooton.
Jones is resigning one job to take up another.
People do it all the time. Linda Clark has just done it.
Some media commentators have just changed jobs.
What’s the big deal?
And Gower this morning as usual blowing it up out of all proportion saying it’s a hugfe conspiricy by McCully Jones and the Nats. Usual Story (bullshit) from Gower.
Absolutely agree RL. Not to sure of Jones leaving with dignity having must heard him on tv3 saying that Labour was full of geldings. Nice,not. However I do think that Labour should just stick to its’ knitting and keep a dignified silence on the media beat-up. There is nothing for them to answer to. National however may have to answer to public perception as to how ethical they are. Which is not at all. Keys comment that Shane Jones will be a welcome assert to national said it all. He needs to watch his tongue, he will trip over it one day. Also if Labour refuses to participate in keys particularly spiteful, nasty dialogues it will drive him nuts. If he hasn’t got a participating opponent he has nothing.
Enough of Shane Jones, MSM are very upset, I wonder why? Their main inside source is moving on, moving onto to a National Party inspired job, wankers unite, good riddance.
Anyway, is there anyone else out there who feel like slitting their wrists when listening to RNZ new breakfast pair… Im struggling to listen to them without falling back to sleep….
It’s interesting listening to the news on the radio this morning – they’re all implying that Shane Jones leaving Labour has weakened Labour. This is, of course, BS. National must be concerned about Labour losing its biggest footnmouth.
Internet freedom being threatened in censorship plan in TPP( I guess this is no news to many here but just in case)
“We know from leaked documents that this secretive plan will censor your use of the Internet and strip away your rights…If finalized, this plan would force ISPs to act as “Internet Police” monitoring our Internet use, censoring content, and removing whole websites”
The TPP is nothing more than the politicians giving even more power to the global corporates so that they can stick their teeth even further into our necks.
They say that Jones espoused “traditional working class values”.
I cannot understand how giving the extractive industries free reign to take our natural resources (ie rip them out and leave stinking toxic crap behind, like that old tailings dam at Te Aroha), as long as a few token brown faces are on the payroll are “traditional working class values”.
What happened in the West Coast mining industry during the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s was an effort for the “traditional working class” to have some measure of control/ownership over that industry, and ensure the benefits were more widely spread than they are now. And yes, environmental and health and safety regulations were a part of it. Neoliberalism not withstanding, conditions for mining workers are way better than they were 80 years ago.
Now that Shane Jones will soon out of the Labour caucus, we will all now see the contrast that his views have with the views of the Party.
His valedictory speech will give the first indication.
The guy’s a suit-wearing Harvard-educated senior fisheries manager. What’s “working class” about that? His engagement with Maori is also mainly with the iwi elite rather than the flaxroots.
I’m delighted he has found something more useful to do with himself. The way it’s happened is like the rest of his career – all about what’s good for spoilt little boy Shane rather than his party or his people.
Hooton spinning at the speed of light on RadioNZ NIne to Noon this morning, claiming ”it will be that much more difficult for Winston Peters to sign NZFirst up to a Labour/Green coalition without Jones being in the Parliament”,
My last conversation here at the Standard with wee Matty featured a couple of these, 🙄 ,His latest laughable attempts at political analysis deserves little better, 🙄 , 🙄 , 🙄 …
Meanwhile – keeping the political blowtorch on the Minister for CORRUPTION – Judith Collins ..
OIA acknowledgment from Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully’s Ministerial Secretary received 9.25am today 23 April 2014:
Dear Ms Penny Bright,
On behalf of Hon Murray McCully, Minister of Foreign Affairs, thank you for your correspondence of 22 April requesting information regarding any involvement of the New Zealand Ambassador to China in Minister Collins’ Oravida dinner.
You will receive a reply within 20 working days as required by the Official Information Act.
Yours sincerely,
Holly
Holly Bennett | Ministerial Secretary | Office of Hon Murray McCully
Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Sport and Recreation
6.1 Executive Wing Beehive | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand
22 April 2014
NZ Minister for Foreign Affairs
Murray McCully
‘Open Letter’ /OIA request to NZ Minister for Foreign Affairs Murray McCully – what was the involvement of the NZ Ambassador to China (Carl Worker) in Judith Collins’ ‘private’ Oravida dinner?
Dear Minister,
Please provide the following information which confirms;
1) Who invited Carl Worker, the NZ Ambassador to China, to this Oravida ‘private’ dinner?
2) Why the NZ Ambassador to China, Carl Worker, declined to attend this Oravida ‘private’ dinner.
3) In what capacity did Minister of Justice Judith Collins speak “.. to the ambassador about the dinner the following day and told him “nothing had occurred that was untoward and it was just a very private friendly dinner that was short”.
ie: As a private citizen, or as the Minister for Justice?
4) Did Judith Collins speak to Carl Worker in his capacity as NZ Ambassador to China, regarding this Oravida ‘private’ dinner?
5) Please provide copies of ALL information, ‘briefing notes’ / emails / notes of telephone messages/ memos / minutes /reports (and the like)
between Judith Collins (Minister for Justice) and Carl Worker (NZ Ambassador to China) relating to this matter.
“Justice Minister Judith Collins has recovered her memory after telling Parliament she could not recall whether she had briefed New Zealand’s ambassador to Beijing about her Oravida dinner.
…..
In Parliament’s last session before a two-week recess, she again refused to identify the official she dined with, said she did not know of Oravida’s difficulties in the Chinese market before the dinner, and said she could not remember whether she had briefed ambassador to Beijing Carl Worker about the dinner.
She told the Weekend Herald she didn’t believe she had spoken about the dinner to Mr Worker beyond an initial discussion beforehand when he said he would not attend.
But on Thursday evening, she said she had checked her notes and believed she had spoken to the ambassador about the dinner the following day and told him “nothing had occurred that was untoward and it was just a very private friendly dinner that was short”.
She said Mr Worker had asked her on the day of the dinner to just let him know if there was anything that he needed to know about.
…….”
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
……………………
…………………….
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate, polling 4th with 11,723 votes campaigning against corrupt corporate control of the Auckland region
Not as long as Auckland Council fails to follow the RULE OF LAW and tell us EXACTLY where rates monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors.
(Public Records Act 2005 s.17)
I’m making a stand on principle that cannot be ignored.
Did I get paid for the work I put in to help stop the RORT of Metrowater ‘charitable payments’?
(From which Auckland City Council planned to take $320 million in the form of increased Metrowater price rises for water and wastewater services over a ten year period, in order to subsidise rates).
Nope.
In 2010, I got a ‘Good Citizens’ award for service to the community.
So National get rid of deadwood before the next election (except for T Ryall whos a big loss) and the lefties proclaim it as a sign Nationals in trouble
S Jones stands down to work for a government created role…wonder who he thinks will win the next election 🙂
I think he’s finally realised that he won’t win the next leadership election, regardless of how the general election goes. Finally picked which way the wind is blowing in the party.
How many nats are leaving – a dozen? more?
How many labour folks have announced their departure? 1? 2? 3? Even percentage-wise, I reckon there’s a bit of a difference between the two.
“How many labour folks have announced their departure? 1? 2? 3? Even percentage-wise, I reckon there’s a bit of a difference between the two.”
Of course there is, National MPs generally go off and earn more in the private sector whereas for those on the left parliament is the best they’re ever going to do (with one or two notable exceptions) so they stay as long as they can
Again, your argument is that the main reason someone will choose between elected service, basic public service, or the private sector is money.
Some folks have actually turned down higher-paying work in favour of lower-paying work that has some value to society. But you wouldn’t be able to comprehend that.
But the nats assure us that teachers are well paid, on like $70k after only a few yearsd experience…
Seriously, you’re a muppet. Do you really think that after all his years in government mallard couldn’t walk into an equivalently-paying private sector job – especially considering the amount of work expected from folk like Doug Graham. Not to mention the fact that he’s probably accrued a nice cushion to retire on, anyway.
If you’re still chasing coin after almost 30 years in parliament, you’ve most likely got either a gambling habit or a drug habit. Which makes the large volume of nat ship-jumpers somewhat interesting.
Finally the tide has turned and the people of NZ now see John Keyas the left see him and everyone will now turn to Labour to deliver us from the evil of National
Labour can do all it wants but as long as The New Zealand Herald continues with its CONCERTED attacks against Labour, we will continue to go down in the Polls.
This article about a tweet from 2011 is the NZ Heralds number 1 story…arseholes. They really hate Labour Policy and will do anything to ensure they don’t win in September. All to do with CGT.
Its a bollocks beat up story, but shouldn’t this crap have come out in the Tukituki selection process to show that perhaps this person MIGHT NOT BE AN IDEAL CANDIDATE for Labour??!
Which does suggest this is a high stakes elections for the people who own the Herald.
One more win will mean….
the signing of the TPPA
the privatisation of health and education
More private prisons
Buller region experience a ” 1 in 500-year” battering from five days of storms.
Dunne quibbles that new synthetics to the market since the current legislation are behind the reports of concerns over their harms, with only 6 of 71 Local body councils regulating their sale so far. He quotes Time magazine article stating that synthetic drug manufacture and prohibition is a ‘cat-and-mouse game’ worldwide.
Obama on Francis- “he projects the humility and kindness I associate with Jesus”.
The US sends 600 troops to Poland and other nations sharing borders with Russia.The acting Ukrainian government calls for further ‘anti-terrorism’ action in the eastern pro-Russian cities.
A U commission is investigating if NZ ACC claimants are experiencing justice.
Philj
yes and three or four others..fismi, pukrogue tin hat and others i can’t remember who contribute nothing to the otherwise informed debate on this website.Ignore and don’t respond to their simplistic jibes.. Respond only to those who present reasoned arguments with or against your views.
I now skim these people just as I skip trivial adverts on tv.
What next?…..
Some news from 2014, not 2011.
Or maybe some balanced journalism.
A story about the corrupt practices of Judith Collins.
Or an investigation into the TPPA
Or an investigation into child poverty.
were the rolly eyes before or after watching the link. I’m picking before. 😉
If so thats a big part of the problem we face as a society – apathy
Given that what she’s talking about is supposedly a matter of pblic record in the USA it is quite concerning
wasted my time on some of it, actually. Got bored when she claimed that all the programmes she was talking about were on the public record but had no public oversight.
Wow Just heard Bill Shorten Australian Labor leader declare that he wants to make Labor no longer the political wing of the union movement. The complete opposite of New Zealand Labour which is just a gaggle of interest groups controlled by union hacks and led by someone without majority support in caucus.
fishy smelly as usual
I thought I heard on Radio this a.m. that Oz people can’t belong to their Labor Party if they are not in a union. Can someone confirm or correct me on this please.
It’s horrendous to think that partners of people who’ve committed fraud can be criminalised even if they did not know about the offending, which the Act now it’s been passed will allow (and assuming of course there is in fact a relationship in the nature of marriage which is another huge problem because nine times out of ten Work and Income get that wrong). Few people commented on this because all focus went on the liability for repayment resting largely on women, which it does. but if this is the problem then it should have been dealt with in terms of civil liability, not criminalisation for a dishonesty offence when the accused is not required to have knowledge of the offending. This is horrendously bad law.
What’s equally disturbing though, and again it wasn’t largely talked about and in some ways is worse, is the removal of Work and Income’s ability not to recover debt. It’s probably beyond your average Labour MP to comprehend but this has to be a new low in NZ’s lawmaking history.
Labour significantly reduced the ability for debt to be written off back in 2002. Now they’ve supported legislation that goes even further by saying that all debt must be recovered (apart from the very small proportion of debt arising from error and where the person has received the payment in good faith etc). This latest legislation also allows for minimum repayment levels to be prescribed depending on how the debt was incurred. Currently there’s a discretion that allows for debt repayment to be either suspended, deferred or at the very least set at rates that take into account personal circumstances including hardship etc. From July even that discretion is gone. This is in effect a benefit cut because there’s no ability not to reduce the level of payment a person receives. And Labour said yes to this.
Surely we need to send the message to Labour that we cannot give them support until they show they’ve changed their stance towards the vulnerable. Despite all of David Cunliffe’s bluster upon becoming leader their support for this Bill shows nothing has changed at all.
We all trusted Labour following the Shipley/Richardson years only to see the poor regularly shafted by Labour throughout nine years under Helen Clark. Are we going to sit by and let Labour under Cunliffe do it all again? What happened to his “I’m all about change” speech?
Seeing Labour supporting this Bill is sickening. It’s complete irony that the biggest problem for the poor in New Zealand is the Labour Party. The plight of the vulnerable in this country cannot change until Labour changes, and Labour will not change unless they know we do not support them. I think it’s time Labour were sent this message.
I can’t believe the shallow responses by some of the Labour MPs. And they expect us to vote for them? Labour is looking more and more like something out of Monty Python every day.
Labour’s left is starting to look like a left wing kiwi version of the tea party. They would rather purity in opposition than have to work with those who think differently. They would rather preside over a utopia of ashes than actually take power.
And like the tea party, if they are unable to compromise and work with people who are not ideologically pure, they will doom their party to dysfunction and the opposition benches.
It seems the Labour left is more interested in finding heretics than converts. I can understand that Jones was never left enough for the party membership, but he was effective at talking to people outside the liberal hack bubble.
Whether you like or agree with Jones is irrelevant. Labour have lost a solid performer. He is a Māori leader who appeals to soft National voters.
The political reality is seemingly beyond the grasp of the party’s left- the Left cannot win without growing it’s vote and taking votes from the Right. We can push turnout all we like, but without eating into John Key’s support, we will always struggle. The party needs to appeal to people who have different values.
But the party’s left doesn’t want to appeal to those who think differently; it wants those people to change their views.
that’s an interesting blog title, well-written and argued piece.
“An ideology is more or less a coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for organized political action , COHERENT, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power (Neo-liberal capitalist economics for example) 😉 .All ideologies therefore,
a, offer an account or worldview of the existing order
b, advance a model of a desired future (eg, less inequality and discrimination)
and
c, explain how political change can and should be brought about (eg, CGT, Financial transaction tax)
Ideology brings about two kinds of synthesis: between understanding and commitment, and between thought and action; in relation to the first synthesis, the fusion of understanding and commitment, ideology blurs the distinction between what ‘is’ and ‘what should be’.
I’m an ex diesel mechanic, former harley rider, and general nature lovin’ bloke, yet Shane Jones was too narrow-minded, outspoken and a liability for this Labour supporter. Half the population are wimmen, dontcha know.
Pete, and Trotter, and Tamihere, and anyone else who thinks Jones is relevant are all working from a caricature of a template of an idea of a working person from the 1950s, which was about the last time they ever rubbed shoulders with the commoners.
Insultingly they assume working people are all bigots, all whiteys, and yep, all blokes.
You’re show some idiocy here felix, making things up again. I’ve never claimed Jones has anything to do with working people and I don’t assume anything like that about working people. Your claim is idiotic, but that’s what you do.
It’s not as if you stand by your bull felix. I simply quoted someone because it was relevant to discussions, you deliberately misquote and misrepresent.
And resorting to abuse when you’re called on it doesn’t help you.
And of course there are no, for example, gay workers, because those are two different demographics. And gays all think the same, just like workers all think the same.
The US are examining allegations that the Syrian govt. have carried out six attacks using chlorine gas. They are being utilized to drive people out of rebel-held cities with the govt. banking on international silence. US defense commentator suggests investigations won’t begin until current surrendered stocks are destroyed.
and Shane Jones? Always something fishy about that man.
Keeping focused with the anti-corruption blowtorch ……
As a proven ‘anti-corruption’ campaigner, in my considered opinion, there is significant and growing public concern about Minister of Justice Judith Collins’ ACTUAL ‘conflict of interest’ regarding her role in promoting/ endorsing her friends and husband’s company – Oravida.
Just as with DODGY John Banks, NZ Prime Minister John Key AGAIN, is defending the indefensible?
Seen this?
Seems that unfortunately for Cameron Slater, Judith Collins and Prime Minister John Key, there are actually a growing number of New Zealanders who do ‘care a stuff about who people have dinner with’ :
Ambassador to China had asked minister to inform him what was discussed at dinner.
Judith Collins insists the Beijing dinner was a private occasion. Photo / Michael CraigJudith Collins insists the Beijing dinner was a private occasion. Photo / Michael Craig
New Zealand’s ambassador to China, Carl Worker, asked Judith Collins to tell him of anything he needed to know about the Beijing dinner with an unnamed senior Chinese border control official, which the Justice Minister insists was a private social occasion.
Ms Collins has refused to answer questions about the dinner late last year, attended by her friends and Oravida bosses Stone Shi and Julia Xu, on the grounds it was a private dinner.
But after denying in Parliament last week that she had spoken about the dinner with Mr Worker, she later told the Herald that she had not only discussed it with him afterwards, but he had also asked her to keep him informed of what was discussed.
“He’d said to me on the Sunday, just let him know if there was anything he needed to know about.”
……
This issue is NOT going away.
It is a DISGRACE.
There is a LOT more to come …..
Penny Bright
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate (who polled 4th with 11,723 votes, campaigning against corrupt corporate control of the Auckland region)
Poorer Benefit is also the Local Bodies Minister. WTF This is an important role, that of central government liaising and working with our local politicians – our at home, neighbourhood politics. Not some young Jenny-come-lately.
She has a big portfolio with WINZ and this is a big enough job for one person to concentrate on, and she could be doing more about finding projects that would be of benefit to the country from people on benefits working on them. A virtuous circle. But no she shows very little concern, has done the minimum to provide thoughtful support for those on welfare. And so has time for working on her profile for photo ops,
Looks like the leftover arseholes in the Labour caucus should just fuck off.
Damien Oconnor, Clayton Cosgrove you two rightwing pricks should have no home in the Labour party.
And good fucking riddance to the tory masturbator Shane Jones! What a piece of shit he is! Still a few more wankers to go but he was the worst offender.
Radio Live on now and accusing the Nats/Shane Jones of corruption – about time the media stepped up and did their job. Have been listening to the radio most of the day and this is the first I have heard the media state that Shane Jones is immoral. Timothy Giles is the host and is talking good sense.
Just read an old message from ‘Jenny’ which I think contains wisdom.
Jenny said….”The strategy for the Left is clear. National is more Left than ACT, Left voters in Epsom would ..( read ‘should’) choose National over ACT every time.”
If Epsom left voters had followed this logic last time we might have had a Labour led government now…and wouldn’t have the Banks/Key subterfuge…..BUT… my left leaning friends in Epsom couldn’t bear to vote National in the last election and either voted Labour or stayed home.
They should at least consider Jenny’s logic
What happens in September in Epsom, could decide whether Cunliffe or Key determines the governance of our country.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. 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 ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
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:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
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. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
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 ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
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. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
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Questions for Pete George, assuming he has time to comment today:
Pete said:
weka said
Take your time, Pete. But please don’t go clogging up the threads any further until you’ve addressed these important questions.
hes pretending he doesnt know who he is going to vote for, so probably alot of time is being spent researching that.
we should all help cos his fact checking…
😈 😆
Like it.
Hell Felix I hope you are not holding your breath. Weka is still waiting for his answers, and his questions are about 4 days old. And don’t forget he is very busy checking facts for Politicheck.
Felix, I was impressed you beat him to the draw today.
Well I am an early bird, and he…
I’ve taken my time and have posted a response – Answering weka’s questions.
Very tricky pete – I spose a few new pageviews can’t hurt eh.
To me that encapsulates the problem with asking you questions – the answer is, well, a nothing answer really.
And your proposed solution is?
Perhaps weka can outline how he thinks an entitlement to a livable income could work, with examples of how similar policies have worked elsewhere in the world.
Or perhaps you could answer the questions directly, as put to you.
More rubbish eh pete – at least you’re recycling and reusing
Hey Pete
You make a lot of sense. It’s probably wasted on these people; they simply have too much hate to even try to understand and allow themselves to develop. Good on you for trying though 🙂
Why do we have to go to your blog, to see your answers to questions that were part of a discussion here?
PG’s answers:
Cost. I presume there’s many more people on benefits now. At the end of March 2014: 295,320 working-age* people were receiving a main benefit. (MSD).
And wanting to encourage people into paid employment.
Their Income Support Policy states “The Green Party supports a full and wide-ranging public debate on the nature of UBI and the details of a UBI system, and government funding for detailed studies of the impacts of UBI. The Green Party will: Investigate the implementation of a Universal Basic Income for every New Zealander”. They are interested in the concept (as I am) but don’t say they want one.
It doesn’t disqualify me from anything. I have already said that some people on benefits cannot seek employment. Both Labour and National governments want to encourage those who can seek employment to do so.
I’ve also already said that if the number of people on benefits is substantially reduced then those who have to remain on benefits should be able to be provided for better.
I don’t have to do anything. I don’t know what point you are trying to make with this.
Some current details are here at MSD.
I think it’s reasonable to expect that those who are capable of working should be seeking paid employment and taking responsibility for their own welfare.
I acknowledge that it can be very difficult finding work that people want with the pay they want. Some are more motivated than others. Some people have unrealistic expectations but for many there simply aren’t enough jobs.
They live how they live. It’s very tough for many. Others find a way manage.
You tell me why you think they should be entitled to a ‘livable income’.
Ideally everyone should have an income that makes living not too much of a struggle. But expecting everyone should have comfortable style of living without having any money problems is fanciful and idealistic.
Life can be hard work and bills can be difficult to manage, especially if you have children. We should strive for better and easier but it can never always be guaranteed or provided,
They’re not, some are partly employed. There’s a range of reasons why beneficiaries could be unemployed, including circumstance, health, choice, lack of alternatives and a shortage of jobs.
Some can supplement their benefit. Some could be more flexible in what work they seek and where they seek it (that’s difficult for many). And there are not enough jobs for many. That’s one thing benefits are designed to assist with.
You’ll have to be more specific, I’ve made a number of comments related to that.
I don’t believe that in general National (or Act) want to “keep people poor”. The effect of Government policies (Labour and National) may be that some people stay poor, but I question whether any MP wants to ‘keep people poor’.
All parties propose economic growth with the intention of improving incomes and increasing the number of jobs.
But waving a money wand and waving a job wand aren’t realistic options.
Can you show any country in the world where giving everyone “enough to live on” has succeeded over a period of years or decades.
Poverty is a problem that needs to be addressed as well as possible, but Government giving substantially more money to people with productive work being an unpressured option is unlikely to succeed if history and current world conditions are anything to go on.
But perhaps weka can outline how he thinks an entitlement to a livable income could work, with examples of how similar policies have worked elsewhere.
Thanks, Karol. The answers show Pete to be just another empathy free Tory, the method of answering shows him to be a desperate link whore.
+1
There’s also more people working so that doesn’t work.
Which is the wrong way of looking at these things as it requires that there be employers first. What we should be doing is encouraging and supporting people to create their own work either as individuals or as cooperatives. This, of course, is where a UBI really shines and why a lot of people in power will reject it as it removes the force of poverty.
Actually PG, it can be provided – as soon as we get rid of the rich and move to a stable state economy.
National and Act do as it’s the force of poverty that ensures that people will work for them and thus make them richer without them actually having to create any wealth. I specifically remember that when National lowered the UB it was so that the low minimum wage was seen as being better than staying on the dole. Labour probably don’t but their support for capitalism will ensure that they do.
As we should all know by now is a) physically impossible and b) hasn’t worked anytime in the past.
“Why do we have to go to your blog, to see your answers to questions that were part of a discussion here?”
You don’t have to go anywhere, it’s your choice.
The discussions and questions were all over the place here in a variety of threads. It can get very messy and difficult to follow. I was being asked to respond in many places. It was easier to collate it in a single post at a single point. And it’s a good point of reference and library, that’s what I often use my blog for.
I don’t mind that you copied and posted the full post here, I’ve heard it’s not the done thing but I hope the moderators cut you a bit of slack on this.
🙄
Shorter Petty George: “Me, me, me, me, me.”
dear Pete, why was presenting it here as a Guest Post not an option?
Thanks for drafting some answers.
“The discussions and questions were all over the place here in a variety of threads. It can get very messy and difficult to follow. I was being asked to respond in many places. It was easier to collate it in a single post at a single point. “
Uh huh. Of course you could have just answered the questions as directed to you, and no-one would have reposted them for days and days in different places as they chased your dishonest ass around the site while you pretended not to notice them, Mr ‘far too busy to respond to this but plenty of time to post that.
🙄
weka: And then explain how unemployed beneficiaries are supposed to raise their income via employment when there aren’t enough jobs.
Pete: “Some can supplement their benefit”
yeah, how exactly does that work Pete? Those on a Jobseeker benefit can only earn $80 a week gross, before they are then taxed at 70c in the dollar.
When existing on a Jobseeker benefit, being able to work a whole six hours a week does not really change a person’s circumstance and it still leaves that rather large issue of there not being enough jobs in the first place.
Now you have responded to weka’s questions, (it cannot be said you have really answered anything) will you be starting work on your budget for poor people?
To say nothing of the other entitlements get cut toot suite as well, like the Accommodation benefit.
In addition, people with assets other than their home over $8,000 are not eligible for Accommodation Supplement. Which means that the govt expects people to sell assets and use their savings before they get adequate benefit. That’s fine for people that are short term unemployed and go into a job that pays well enough for them to start saving again, but for anyone cycling on and off the benefit/temp or casual jobs that isn’t possible. It’s also not possible for people on sickness/invalids or DPB, which are all long term benefits. This is another way in which people are made more poor by state policy.
Would you post a summary here please?
Weka: a valid question
Pete George: womble wimble wamble
Weka: a valid question
Pete George: wimble wamble womble
Weka: a valid question
Pete George: wamble womble wimble
Weka: a valid question
Pete George: womble wimble wamble
etc etc etc
No Pete, your “answers” consist largely of “I don’t have to answer that, I’d rather talk about (x) instead”.
There is a logic sequence at play in weka’s questions, Pete. It’s not a buffet, it’s “if, then, so”.
If you can’t answer the “if” and “then”, you don’t get to make up a “so”.
If you don’t understand this you should step down as Factmaster General immediately, it’s really basic stuff.
+1
The fact is that you and weka et al don’t have a viable alternative, or at least you don’t have one that you’re prepared to give details of or evidence that it has worked elsewhere.
🙄
No viable alternative.
What an asshole.
Why has no New Zealand political party detailed a UBI in their policy?
Where is evidence of a UBI being applied and maintained and being successful?
Do you understand that is not how change is forged?
With folk like you around, always waiting to see what someone else did first, women would never have gotten the vote. Weasel around that one Pete!
Generally change like that is forged in Parliament via party policies and bills and majority votes. I would support Greens if they tried to push their investigation of a UBI but I don’t know if they would get sufficient support where it counted.
The only thing from Labour that comes close is in this post from Stuart Nash:
But there’s no indication that’s close to Labour policy and there’s nothing on it that I can find on their website.
If you have an alternate realistic way of forging on this I’m interested to find out.
In the case of women getting the vote it was driven by the populace – not the MPs. This can be said of many policies throughout our history.
Petty George, if you read the UBI posts and comments here you’d already have the solution to your ignorance of this matter. Google is your friend, asshole. I’m not doing your research for you.
It was tried for a few years in Canada.
It showed some positive outcomes, and very few negative ones.
It has never been tried long term because there is not the political will by those with power. ie for the very reasons given by some here as to why those with power want to keep people on benefit levels that keep them at subsistence levels or below.
Why do you keep asking new questions without actually engaging with the debate?
The Green Party have as policy, for the UBI to be looked at in depth.
Why is your mind closed to new policy initiatives?
I’ve said a number of times (including on this thread today) that I’m open to the concept of a UBI – and to a major restructuring and simplification of our tax and social welfare systems and I would support this if Greens pushed for it to be investigated.
That Greens promote an investigation only suggests it would be complex, a challenge to find out the best way of doing it and possibly difficult to achieve.
I quoted the same as you have here in my post (that you copy/pasted).
Newsflash, dipshit, your “support” amounts to a party vote and an electorate vote. Which will you give to The Greens?
Or were you talking about your inconsequential dribbling? That isn’t supportive.
There’s other ways of supporting political initiatives other than the election. I’m working with Greens on something of mutual interest at the moment.
By the way, your abusive nature doesn’t help your message.
He’s lecturing me on how to express naked hostility and contempt now.
NOOoooooooo, now George wants to pollute the Green Party with his total transparency,
Spill this little something you are working with ‘the greens’ on George or it can only be taken by your recent trail of comments covering a week that you are now attempting an ‘over-coat’ change, flailing round for support from the Greens who regularly appear at the Standard,
The thought of Petty as a Green makes me automatically do this, 🙄 , 🙄 ,and this, 🙄 …
” I’m working with Greens on something of mutual interest at the moment.”
Can anyone from The Greens confirm this?
Don’t need details, just confirmation your statement is factual.
Pete George: ” I’m working with Greens on something of mutual interest at the moment”
fyi, I have emailed The Greens office asking for comment/confirmation on this rather weighty statement you made earlier today.
It is neither complex nor difficult to do. The problem is that the politicians do as they’re told by the business community and the business community don’t want it.
Herbert Macuse, the most widely known member of the Frankfurt School, mainly German neo-Marxists who fled the Nzs, many settling eventually in the US argued in One Dimensional Man (1964) that advanced industrial society has developed a ‘totalitarian’ character in the capacity of it’s ideology to manipulate thought and deny expression to oppositional views; or, in other words Consent is Manufactured -Chomsky.
By manufacturing false needs and turning humans into voracious consumers, modern societies are able to paralyse criticism through the spread of comparatively stultifying affluence. According to Marcuse, even the apparent tolerance of liberal capitalism serves a repressive purpose, in that it creates the impression of free debate and argument, thereby concealing the extent to which indoctrination and ideological control occur.
I think I could probably agree with that. It’s similar to what The Century of the Self said.
Because either they’re really stupid and/or support the application of the Force of Poverty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome
And why is it that you RWNJs always insist that it has to have been tried before and been successful? We need change and change, more often than not, means doing something that hasn’t been done before.
I don’t insist (but I’m not a RWNJ). But it helps to have seen how something might work elsewhere.
I agree though that sometimes change requires doing something that hasn’t been done before. That has greater risks of unintended and unwelcome consequences. I guess that’s why Greens call for an investigation rather than push a specific policy on it.
Most here George will agree on the abbreviated NJ, just where you fit in the political spectrum seems to depend on whichever way the wind blows…
😈 😆
The nature of your question shows that a) yes you do and that b) yes you are.
So “viable alternatives” are only those that are party policies or those that have been done before?
But wait, apparently even though dignified benefit levels have been done before, they can’t be done now because of “cost”.
What about green party policy of income support, which includes investigating a UBI – do you think a UBI should be investigated?
At the moment it seems you have an incredibly closed mind. Even though you pretend to embrace other points of view, you find contradictory excuses to discount anything that helps the poor, or anything that seeks to control alcohol and gambling, or anything that will take power from the rich.
It seems you have incredibly closed eyes. I’ve commented on the Greens and UBI several times here plus in the original post.
Yeah, your waffle does tend to merge onto a morass of grey.
So we can’t afford to pay decent benefit levels, but we might be able to afford a decent UBI?
You do realise that the UBI will be by definition bigger than humane benefit levels…
Quentin Todd at yournz:
Just passing this on.
The fact is you’re a troll who attempts to derail threads with waffle.
You’d make a great nact MP PG you’ve got the art of tory BS and diversion down pat, and as TRP states ‘…just another empathy free Tory’
Pete you need to get hold of the bigger picture first, before diving blindfolded into the detail. I suspect that is half the problem for you. You simply do not have a big picture of how you see society should function – you simply bounce here and flounce here and wonder this and wander that. It is no wonder that others tire and get frustrated at your bouncing flouncing wondering and wandering.
For mine own big picture I picture a small village….
In that small village all people conspire to create a good shelter for each village member to inhabit and good food for each to live on. This is done, as it always had been in most all of human past, in a cooperative manner (you know, like NZ’s biggest businesses do). This then ensures that each person is provided for and healthy, and hence the entire village is at its peak strength, or rather, without any structural weakness by way of a weak link. This is the base, the starting point, the main foundation stone ……
For Nact types their big picture is nothing like this and their thinking is to be deplored… For Nact types it is every member for himself…. …. Imagine a small village where every member is for himself Pete. Imagine it if you can ….. it is like NZ today …. no wonder our foundation stones are failing …. the basis of human existence is undermined and non-existent.
vto – I agree with your small village ideal. I grew up in a rural/village environment.
But even small villages have practical problems in real life. And the larger villages/towns/cities get the greater the chance of problems and the greater the problems.
There are some attempts being made to get village thinking into cities but it’s challenging, especially in a modern society that’s very mobile and very connected communications often over large distances.
A good place to practice the village way and to spread the ideal by example would be on a blog like this, wouldn’t it? Where are differences are accepted and respected, and debated with decency?
“But even small villages have practical problems in real life. And the larger villages/towns/cities get the greater the chance of problems and the greater the problems.”
whooooosh
and yet again, vto’s point sails over Pete George’s head
it’s called a Robin Hood tax (or use any of the alternate titles that are out there)
Every transaction is taxed
no if buts or maybes
no exemptions
no outs
no hidey holes
Simply put, you tax turnover, not profits.
You want a UBI you pay a very small % tax on every thing you do. Something in the region of 0.1% would suffice. Be it buying a loaf of bread, paying a rates bill, trading a fortune in currency bonds or mining a national forest park. Want to write off a few hundred million in assets so your profit isn’t so high… you pay the tax first.
Simply put, you tax turnover, not just profits.
It is administered as the principal tax before any existing tax processes are enacted. I.e: before any other tax is accounted for or paid. The very small % tax is then directed solely into a UBI fund. You only have to look at the Cullen Fund for an example of how much money these funds can generate once established.
Once adopted, the UBI Tax is collected for a full year to establish a base fund, before being released as a UBI of approximately $15k per person per year.
Yes it is an additional tax to p.a.y.e.
yes it is an additional tax to g.s.t.
yes it is an additional tax to kiwisaver.
But, at its most basic level it means that Corporations and Trusts cannot hide their vast sums behind an accountants’ wizardry. Simply put, you tax turnover, not just profits.
Just think how much the Casino and Lotto scams will deliver to the coffers every year.
Then consider the banks and the currency traders. The very industries that will argue most strongly against this idea are the same industries that are the most risky to our economy in the first place. IMHO, The money traders, the stock markets, the bankers will hate it and their consequent reduction in risky or unnecessary activity could translate to a more stable and sustainable economy. We try something new or we continue the cycles of deprivation and bailouts that have peppered the last thirty years.
Is this all an overly simplistic explanation of an incredibly complex issue? Absolutely!
Do I claim to be an expert, not at all, but I am a person who can state honestly that I put ideas on the table, not excuses.
To build something new Pete, you have to do that one thing you seem incapable of …
you have to take an honest step forward into unknown territory.
was a worthy read imo freedom.
+1
Yes, but how much money will a 0.1% tax actually generate?
more than not having one generates 🙂
all funnies aside Lanthanide, many many billions are lost to this country every year as money is siphoned out of our economy, not declared as profit, written off as devalued assets, swapped between trusts and generally just fiddled with to keep taxes as low as possible. This has to be addressed.
To be clear, my actual preference would be a Robin Hood tax of closer to 1%
Obviously 15k per person, even in a small population like NZ is a huge amount of cash for the Government to pay out. An alternative to receiving a UBI payment is maybe those who are employed choose to receive it as a tax free allowance, so the first 15k of income tax is forgiven. That is the first 15k of tax due, not 15k of income. That way those earning well don’t have any reason to bludgeon those receiving the UBI payment directly. The Robin Hood tax would still apply to all transactions, as would income tax on those receiving the UBI.
I think somewhere in there is a workable solution to the problem, but I am not an expert and if all I have done is supplied some giggles to economists then fine, but all I know is what the experts keep doing does not seem to be working.
@ freedom..
..+ 1..
🙄
well done shane
youve let national get collins off the hook.
all the righties who are posting how much this will damage labour and who agree with much of what jones has said… think about those 2 things and how they might be a contradiction.
I vote green so it doesnt hurt mt preference.
maybe one day labour will wake up and remember this nation doesnt need national lite.
Too many Labour MPs are still wedded ot the 80s
Now if only he would Take bloody Mallard with him as a gofer.
+1
i wd prefer goff to go..
..esp since finding out he was on that cosy little pacific islands tour with mccully/jones..
..where/when mccully made his first offer to jones..
..mccully..jones..goff..
..all singing from the same neo-lib song-sheet…
..there is yr grand-coalition between nats/lab already in action..
..you can barely slide a cigarette paper between the neo-lib/right in labour..
..and the nacts..
The timing of Jones leaving could not be worse. Had he left 6 months ago or waited up until after the election, it would be less suspicious. This was timed so he can inflict maximum damage to Labour’s election chances this year. I can only imagine a field day the Nats will have in Parliament at question time, every answer will contain a jibe about Jones and the Labour Party in disarray. And the media, talkback radio etc…
With MPs like Jones, Labour doesn’t need enemies.
Agree. A very poor showing by Jones. Acting in bad faith is what is exposed by his actions, timing and the like.
A man to be very wary of. Not to be trusted.
I caught Kelvin Davis phone interview on First Line this morning.
It was a confident and assured performance, and making it look like he will hit the ground running, making for a smooth transition.
Jones resigning nearer the election would have been worse. It’s also fortunate that Davis is next in line – did he say he would be leading the Maori caucus?
If so then I think it’s going to backfire on whomever planned it. It’s been widely accepted for a long time that Jones was more National aligned than Labour.
& also generally accepted that kelvin davis is a very able & intelligent & talented guy, this could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for labour (or at least i hope someone is spinning it hard as such). watch out hone is all i can say (& im a mana supporter).
well said amirite
Just heard rnz person Jane Patterson saying, in the same breath, that:
a) Labour is too much about gays and unions, and
b) Labour is not enough about blue collar workers.
Who the fuck do these people think unions are?
When is Cunliffe’s next big speech, and can we finally have one about the economy please?
And ideally do it on the day Jones leaves?
And can we have some memorable lines, some actual passion, and some fries with that?
Get back on the horse Cunliffe. Ain’t no other PM I want.
+1.
five minutes from now it’ll be ‘shane who?’…
..the supermarket-duopoly issue isn’t shane jones..
..it’s the supermarket duopoly issue..
..and his achievements in those nine years..?
..waiting..waiting…
..he will get a footnote as man in wrong party..
(national or nz first are his natural homes..)
..who serially over-promised/under-delivered..
..and had the laziest man in parliament award in his pocket most years..
..(as noted elsewhere he has been spokesperson for maori affairs since the death of parekura horomia..
..and who knew..?..eh..?..)
..his leadership tilt was a (tory/oil-company-funded) rightwing spoiling action..
..and was a joke…
..and it will be his auto-eroticism/laziness/disruption that will mark any memories..
..as he sprays his way out the door..
Just don’t buy into their framing of this.
Jones is just one man – and Labour is a lot bigger than anyone one person. (Unlike National who would be nothing without Key at the moment.)
Jones has every right to determine his own future. He’s given a lot of time and energy to the Party for many years and he deserves credit and thanks for that. But commitment comes with a price, and he’s looked at the where he stands and made his choice to leave with dignity.
It’s still some months out from the election and while it would have been better to have timed it sooner; perhaps that was beyond his control. And of course you cannot help but ponder the Machiavellian role McCully may well have played here. It would have been way worse for Labour and Jones to have slogged through an election when his heart was not in it.
As for the ‘party in disarray and shock’ nonsense – just treat it with the utter contempt it deserves. Sure there will be some people who are surprised, some disappointed, and someone is bound to say something stupid – that is the nature of politics everywhere.
Never ever give away your power to your enemy.
“And of course you cannot help but ponder the Machiavellian role McCully may well have played here.”
True. We know what he was offered to leave. We don’t know what he was threatened with should he stay.
Jones has clearly stated that the offer isn’t why he decided to leave. He says he hasn’t decided on the offer yet.
Oh well that’s that then. It’s truly a marvel to see a real live fact-checker at work.
heh..!
Checkpoint last night (after the 6pm TV news). So much for some of the Stuff and NZ Herald claims about no one from Labour being available for comment immediately after the TV announcements of Jones plan to resign.
Coatsworth was interviewed and said Jones had told her a while back that he was contemplating leaving. He told her his decision earlier yesterday. And, there’s also an interview with Matthew Hooton, in which he apparently claims Jones had been talking to him off the record for a while – saying he was unhappy with Labour.
Labour is better off without such a Nat Trojan Horse in their midst. And, actually, Labour were all on message pretty quickly last night. Cunliffe on the Henry show, Coatsworth etc… and then this morning, Kelvin Davis doing itnerviews – all wishing Jones well, praising his time in parliament, and looking forward to Davis’s contribution.
The MSM shows whose sidethey are really on with the way they are spinning it.
Excellent interview with Mary Wilson. She’s so sharp. Makes me wonder when National will try and push her out of Radio NZ
Jones was ‘colourful’. That’s it. Every gain he made is outweighed by his blunders (FFA, he paid for porn with taxpayer money!). The redneck men he appealed to wouldn’t vote Labour anyway. And let’s face it, Davis is both capable and likeable. If Jones is a loss he’s not the fatal one the MSM claim.
(FFA, he paid for porn with taxpayer money!)
Again that’s just buying into their spin. FFS it was all of $20 that was automatically plonked on a credit card hotel bill and Jones had reimbursed back in the normal course of events. It was never anyone’s business but his own.
There are way worse things that people do than watch a few tits and bums on tele.
I really get fucked off by the way so many people get obsessed over piffling panty-sniffing distractions – while oblivious to the main event.
Yep. Jones’ too friendly corporate dealings are of far, far more concern. But people get predictably outraged about the scandalous BS and the MSM are masters of manipulating to that exact principle.
Agree.
The video service was a legal one offered by the hotel, and as it had been reimbursed is a story propelled by the sort of sniggering associated with prepubescent schoolboys. Apologies to all the non-sniggering teenagers out there…
(Porn-watching is not appealing to me as a voter, but think his corporate associations and right-wing views were much more scandalous)
‘It was never anyone’s business but his own.’
I disagree. Watching and funding pornography that degrades and demeans women is behaviour that does not exist in isolation.
That he initially used public money to fund this industry underlines his arrogance, sense of entitlement, lack of boundaries, respect, and empathy. It’s not the only thing, but it’s still relevant.
Where are the reports about David Cunliffe saying that Jones leaving is “all National’s fault” coming from, I’ve heard this repeated all morning on RNZ but they aren’t citing a source at all.
Hooton’s radionz attempt to pretend that Jones ‘ leaving is bad news for Cunliffe is so 12 year old logic that it’s laughable.
But unfortunately it will resonate with some voters who have also the same age level logic as Hooton.
Jones is resigning one job to take up another.
People do it all the time. Linda Clark has just done it.
Some media commentators have just changed jobs.
What’s the big deal?
Really ?
Labour is bigger than just one person? So why has it been an omni shambles since Helen left?
The only parties that aren’t bigger than just one person are The Greens and possibly the Maori party.
lol yeah the maori party is two people.
Yes it will be interesting to see if they survive with pita and tariana.
Will you come over to the greens or will you stay labour till the bitter end?
You mean me? lol I think I might have candidate-voted Labour once. Maybe.
Oh that surprises me.
I thought with all the support you give to labour on this site you’d be a labour man for sure. Who do you think you’ll back at election time ?
[lprent: He does? When? How could I have missed it in the tens of thousand plus comments left by felix?
You are quite mistaken. ]
Probably Green unless they do anything really annoying before September. No promises, but 😉
+1 to all of that RL.
BTW mira – great atavar.
I always did think the Hundertwasser design was by far the best choice.
Ta RL – I’ve always liked it too, and it’s of special significance to me right now as a link between my home and (temporarily) adopted countries.
And Gower this morning as usual blowing it up out of all proportion saying it’s a hugfe conspiricy by McCully Jones and the Nats. Usual Story (bullshit) from Gower.
That’s funny, a good proportion of posters on this blog site are saying the same thing… oh wait, it’s different when the media do it.
Absolutely agree RL. Not to sure of Jones leaving with dignity having must heard him on tv3 saying that Labour was full of geldings. Nice,not. However I do think that Labour should just stick to its’ knitting and keep a dignified silence on the media beat-up. There is nothing for them to answer to. National however may have to answer to public perception as to how ethical they are. Which is not at all. Keys comment that Shane Jones will be a welcome assert to national said it all. He needs to watch his tongue, he will trip over it one day. Also if Labour refuses to participate in keys particularly spiteful, nasty dialogues it will drive him nuts. If he hasn’t got a participating opponent he has nothing.
Enough of Shane Jones, MSM are very upset, I wonder why? Their main inside source is moving on, moving onto to a National Party inspired job, wankers unite, good riddance.
Anyway, is there anyone else out there who feel like slitting their wrists when listening to RNZ new breakfast pair… Im struggling to listen to them without falling back to sleep….
+100…bring back Geoff Robinson and get rid of that soft spoken toadie
Geoff Robinson has retired. Personally, I just catch the Midday report and Checkpoint; too much media noise makes for a grumpy, saturated rogue.
It’s interesting listening to the news on the radio this morning – they’re all implying that Shane Jones leaving Labour has weakened Labour. This is, of course, BS. National must be concerned about Labour losing its biggest footnmouth.
There’s also the underlying theme being pushed by the media that Jones has strong support within the ‘blue collar working class’,
Such a media driven picture of Jones is essentially an interview with either their mirrors or computer screens,
Jones most 3 most famous moments:
Being a Porn watching wanker,(possibly in both senses of the word),
Thinking He could become leader of the Labour Party and coming third in the contest,
Announcing His departure from politics,
From here in the heart of blue collar territory i can only say Jones is being applauded for the latter of His famous moments…
Internet freedom being threatened in censorship plan in TPP( I guess this is no news to many here but just in case)
“We know from leaked documents that this secretive plan will censor your use of the Internet and strip away your rights…If finalized, this plan would force ISPs to act as “Internet Police” monitoring our Internet use, censoring content, and removing whole websites”
https://stopthesecrecy.net/?src=156144
Free open internet is essential for Democracy
The TPP is nothing more than the politicians giving even more power to the global corporates so that they can stick their teeth even further into our necks.
They say that Jones espoused “traditional working class values”.
I cannot understand how giving the extractive industries free reign to take our natural resources (ie rip them out and leave stinking toxic crap behind, like that old tailings dam at Te Aroha), as long as a few token brown faces are on the payroll are “traditional working class values”.
What happened in the West Coast mining industry during the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s was an effort for the “traditional working class” to have some measure of control/ownership over that industry, and ensure the benefits were more widely spread than they are now. And yes, environmental and health and safety regulations were a part of it. Neoliberalism not withstanding, conditions for mining workers are way better than they were 80 years ago.
Now that Shane Jones will soon out of the Labour caucus, we will all now see the contrast that his views have with the views of the Party.
His valedictory speech will give the first indication.
The guy’s a suit-wearing Harvard-educated senior fisheries manager. What’s “working class” about that? His engagement with Maori is also mainly with the iwi elite rather than the flaxroots.
I’m delighted he has found something more useful to do with himself. The way it’s happened is like the rest of his career – all about what’s good for spoilt little boy Shane rather than his party or his people.
Hooton spinning at the speed of light on RadioNZ NIne to Noon this morning, claiming ”it will be that much more difficult for Winston Peters to sign NZFirst up to a Labour/Green coalition without Jones being in the Parliament”,
My last conversation here at the Standard with wee Matty featured a couple of these, 🙄 ,His latest laughable attempts at political analysis deserves little better, 🙄 , 🙄 , 🙄 …
Meanwhile – keeping the political blowtorch on the Minister for CORRUPTION – Judith Collins ..
OIA acknowledgment from Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully’s Ministerial Secretary received 9.25am today 23 April 2014:
Dear Ms Penny Bright,
On behalf of Hon Murray McCully, Minister of Foreign Affairs, thank you for your correspondence of 22 April requesting information regarding any involvement of the New Zealand Ambassador to China in Minister Collins’ Oravida dinner.
You will receive a reply within 20 working days as required by the Official Information Act.
Yours sincerely,
Holly
Holly Bennett | Ministerial Secretary | Office of Hon Murray McCully
Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister for Sport and Recreation
6.1 Executive Wing Beehive | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand
22 April 2014
NZ Minister for Foreign Affairs
Murray McCully
‘Open Letter’ /OIA request to NZ Minister for Foreign Affairs Murray McCully – what was the involvement of the NZ Ambassador to China (Carl Worker) in Judith Collins’ ‘private’ Oravida dinner?
Dear Minister,
Please provide the following information which confirms;
1) Who invited Carl Worker, the NZ Ambassador to China, to this Oravida ‘private’ dinner?
2) Why the NZ Ambassador to China, Carl Worker, declined to attend this Oravida ‘private’ dinner.
3) In what capacity did Minister of Justice Judith Collins speak “.. to the ambassador about the dinner the following day and told him “nothing had occurred that was untoward and it was just a very private friendly dinner that was short”.
ie: As a private citizen, or as the Minister for Justice?
4) Did Judith Collins speak to Carl Worker in his capacity as NZ Ambassador to China, regarding this Oravida ‘private’ dinner?
5) Please provide copies of ALL information, ‘briefing notes’ / emails / notes of telephone messages/ memos / minutes /reports (and the like)
between Judith Collins (Minister for Justice) and Carl Worker (NZ Ambassador to China) relating to this matter.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11240640
“Justice Minister Judith Collins has recovered her memory after telling Parliament she could not recall whether she had briefed New Zealand’s ambassador to Beijing about her Oravida dinner.
…..
In Parliament’s last session before a two-week recess, she again refused to identify the official she dined with, said she did not know of Oravida’s difficulties in the Chinese market before the dinner, and said she could not remember whether she had briefed ambassador to Beijing Carl Worker about the dinner.
She told the Weekend Herald she didn’t believe she had spoken about the dinner to Mr Worker beyond an initial discussion beforehand when he said he would not attend.
But on Thursday evening, she said she had checked her notes and believed she had spoken to the ambassador about the dinner the following day and told him “nothing had occurred that was untoward and it was just a very private friendly dinner that was short”.
She said Mr Worker had asked her on the day of the dinner to just let him know if there was anything that he needed to know about.
…….”
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
……………………
…………………….
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate, polling 4th with 11,723 votes campaigning against corrupt corporate control of the Auckland region
http://www.pennybrightformayor.org.nz
Paid your rates yet Penny ?
Absolutely NOT ‘Not Petey’.
Not as long as Auckland Council fails to follow the RULE OF LAW and tell us EXACTLY where rates monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors.
(Public Records Act 2005 s.17)
I’m making a stand on principle that cannot be ignored.
How about yourself?
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
If it can’t be ignored why are the Auckland council ignoring it and getting the rest of us to subsidises your continued bludging ?
well, it’s not bludging, it’s a protest.
And it won’t cost you a cent, because they will take her house to pay the arrears and legal costs.
So who’s more foolish: the fool or the fool who gets worked up about the microscopic and ultimately imaginary harm they think the fool causes?
errr….. did I get paid for the work I put in to help get John Banks into Court to face the charge of electoral fraud?
(Did Graham McCready? Nope.)
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Nope.
Did I get paid for the work I put in to help stop the RORT of Metrowater ‘charitable payments’?
(From which Auckland City Council planned to take $320 million in the form of increased Metrowater price rises for water and wastewater services over a ten year period, in order to subsidise rates).
Nope.
In 2010, I got a ‘Good Citizens’ award for service to the community.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10655565
How about yourself?
I choose to work FULLTIME on a self-funded basis as an anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog.
‘Bludging’?
Doubt it.
What have YOU done lately ‘Not Petey’, that has helped the public or the public interest?
(Probably won’t take you long to reply ……)
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
http://www.pennybright4epsom.org.nz
Very petty, not Pete.
Why don’t you challenge the powerful instead?
what the Ambassador says…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11242726
from the article
“There was a perception of a conflict of interest that was raised, the minister I’m sure will manage that better in the future.”
translated:
The Minister will more carefully manage the perception certainly,
of course the conflict will continue unabated.
So National get rid of deadwood before the next election (except for T Ryall whos a big loss) and the lefties proclaim it as a sign Nationals in trouble
S Jones stands down to work for a government created role…wonder who he thinks will win the next election 🙂
“the lefties proclaim it as a sign Nationals in trouble”
Where? I’ve only seen it acknowledged that they are better at clearing deadwood than Labour is.
lol
I think he’s finally realised that he won’t win the next leadership election, regardless of how the general election goes. Finally picked which way the wind is blowing in the party.
How many nats are leaving – a dozen? more?
How many labour folks have announced their departure? 1? 2? 3? Even percentage-wise, I reckon there’s a bit of a difference between the two.
“How many labour folks have announced their departure? 1? 2? 3? Even percentage-wise, I reckon there’s a bit of a difference between the two.”
Of course there is, National MPs generally go off and earn more in the private sector whereas for those on the left parliament is the best they’re ever going to do (with one or two notable exceptions) so they stay as long as they can
You do realise that your piece of spin requires that the primary motivation for both elected office and future careers is money?
Nice glimpse into your pointless existence, there
Maybe not at the start but after a few years of money and perks and the realization that the private sector can’t match what you have know…
I mean it worked out really well for G Beyer didn’t it and what would someone like T. Mallard do
Nope for a left politician its to stay on for as long as you can
Again, your argument is that the main reason someone will choose between elected service, basic public service, or the private sector is money.
Some folks have actually turned down higher-paying work in favour of lower-paying work that has some value to society. But you wouldn’t be able to comprehend that.
“Again, your argument is that the main reason someone will choose between elected service, basic public service, or the private sector is money.”
Yeah I can just see someone like T. Mallard jacking it all in and going back to being a teacher 🙂
But the nats assure us that teachers are well paid, on like $70k after only a few yearsd experience…
Seriously, you’re a muppet. Do you really think that after all his years in government mallard couldn’t walk into an equivalently-paying private sector job – especially considering the amount of work expected from folk like Doug Graham. Not to mention the fact that he’s probably accrued a nice cushion to retire on, anyway.
If you’re still chasing coin after almost 30 years in parliament, you’ve most likely got either a gambling habit or a drug habit. Which makes the large volume of nat ship-jumpers somewhat interesting.
well I guess Keys car getting egged in the blue seat of Napier today.. i say otherwise yeah national sure are in trouble..
according to the kumara vine John Key’s PR machine whizzed through the suburb I grew up in- Maraenui- to open new Social Housing.
Finally the tide has turned and the people of NZ now see John Keyas the left see him and everyone will now turn to Labour to deliver us from the evil of National
and then the posters on the standard woke up 🙂
Labour can do all it wants but as long as The New Zealand Herald continues with its CONCERTED attacks against Labour, we will continue to go down in the Polls.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11242668
This article about a tweet from 2011 is the NZ Heralds number 1 story…arseholes. They really hate Labour Policy and will do anything to ensure they don’t win in September. All to do with CGT.
certainly scraped up that story from the base of the barrel.
Politicians and twitter a bad mix.
certainly are; see it time and time again, tweets displaying default thinking processes like labeling and compartmentalizing for examples.
Its a bollocks beat up story, but shouldn’t this crap have come out in the Tukituki selection process to show that perhaps this person MIGHT NOT BE AN IDEAL CANDIDATE for Labour??!
Which does suggest this is a high stakes elections for the people who own the Herald.
One more win will mean….
the signing of the TPPA
the privatisation of health and education
More private prisons
More for the 1% and less for everyone else.
Buller region experience a ” 1 in 500-year” battering from five days of storms.
Dunne quibbles that new synthetics to the market since the current legislation are behind the reports of concerns over their harms, with only 6 of 71 Local body councils regulating their sale so far. He quotes Time magazine article stating that synthetic drug manufacture and prohibition is a ‘cat-and-mouse game’ worldwide.
Obama on Francis- “he projects the humility and kindness I associate with Jesus”.
Maybe, just maybe, the ‘C’ in Act, stands for cannabis 😉
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11242444
It does not appear that Australia will be reducing ‘greenhouse emissions’ any day soon
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=11242452
The US sends 600 troops to Poland and other nations sharing borders with Russia.The acting Ukrainian government calls for further ‘anti-terrorism’ action in the eastern pro-Russian cities.
A U commission is investigating if NZ ACC claimants are experiencing justice.
and the dollar reaches US86c.
A UN commission that would be.
xox
I avoid reading PG , he is not credible, and a waste of abreviation. Move on to real stuff folks, not PG tips.
Philj
yes and three or four others..fismi, pukrogue tin hat and others i can’t remember who contribute nothing to the otherwise informed debate on this website.Ignore and don’t respond to their simplistic jibes.. Respond only to those who present reasoned arguments with or against your views.
I now skim these people just as I skip trivial adverts on tv.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11242668
What next ?
What next?…..
Some news from 2014, not 2011.
Or maybe some balanced journalism.
A story about the corrupt practices of Judith Collins.
Or an investigation into the TPPA
Or an investigation into child poverty.
You know …….actual news.
Man made climate change but not the kind we’ve been lead to believe exists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5is16A8pfw#t=205
🙄
were the rolly eyes before or after watching the link. I’m picking before. 😉
If so thats a big part of the problem we face as a society – apathy
Given that what she’s talking about is supposedly a matter of pblic record in the USA it is quite concerning
wasted my time on some of it, actually. Got bored when she claimed that all the programmes she was talking about were on the public record but had no public oversight.
Wow Just heard Bill Shorten Australian Labor leader declare that he wants to make Labor no longer the political wing of the union movement. The complete opposite of New Zealand Labour which is just a gaggle of interest groups controlled by union hacks and led by someone without majority support in caucus.
fishy smelly as usual
I thought I heard on Radio this a.m. that Oz people can’t belong to their Labor Party if they are not in a union. Can someone confirm or correct me on this please.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9968055/Jones-job-offer-not-shot-at-Labour-PM
Theres a good opinion poll attached as well 🙂
It’s called propaganda.
The manipulation of public opinion by powerful anti democratic forces.
And you know it.
I hadn’t seen that the latest benefit fraud Bill was passed and while it’s utterly sickening Labour supported it.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17042014/#comment-800004
It’s horrendous to think that partners of people who’ve committed fraud can be criminalised even if they did not know about the offending, which the Act now it’s been passed will allow (and assuming of course there is in fact a relationship in the nature of marriage which is another huge problem because nine times out of ten Work and Income get that wrong). Few people commented on this because all focus went on the liability for repayment resting largely on women, which it does. but if this is the problem then it should have been dealt with in terms of civil liability, not criminalisation for a dishonesty offence when the accused is not required to have knowledge of the offending. This is horrendously bad law.
What’s equally disturbing though, and again it wasn’t largely talked about and in some ways is worse, is the removal of Work and Income’s ability not to recover debt. It’s probably beyond your average Labour MP to comprehend but this has to be a new low in NZ’s lawmaking history.
Labour significantly reduced the ability for debt to be written off back in 2002. Now they’ve supported legislation that goes even further by saying that all debt must be recovered (apart from the very small proportion of debt arising from error and where the person has received the payment in good faith etc). This latest legislation also allows for minimum repayment levels to be prescribed depending on how the debt was incurred. Currently there’s a discretion that allows for debt repayment to be either suspended, deferred or at the very least set at rates that take into account personal circumstances including hardship etc. From July even that discretion is gone. This is in effect a benefit cut because there’s no ability not to reduce the level of payment a person receives. And Labour said yes to this.
Surely we need to send the message to Labour that we cannot give them support until they show they’ve changed their stance towards the vulnerable. Despite all of David Cunliffe’s bluster upon becoming leader their support for this Bill shows nothing has changed at all.
We all trusted Labour following the Shipley/Richardson years only to see the poor regularly shafted by Labour throughout nine years under Helen Clark. Are we going to sit by and let Labour under Cunliffe do it all again? What happened to his “I’m all about change” speech?
Seeing Labour supporting this Bill is sickening. It’s complete irony that the biggest problem for the poor in New Zealand is the Labour Party. The plight of the vulnerable in this country cannot change until Labour changes, and Labour will not change unless they know we do not support them. I think it’s time Labour were sent this message.
What justification can Labour possibly express ?
meanwhile, in the land of those that make the rules
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9958230/Wife-gets-900k-from-mansion-sale
Thanks Mary. Does anyone have a link to more analysis of the Bill?
Here’s Auckland Action Against Poverty’s submission. There are others there also:
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0001979610
I can’t believe the shallow responses by some of the Labour MPs. And they expect us to vote for them? Labour is looking more and more like something out of Monty Python every day.
This is fundamentally useless.
Especially if it’s ignored.
that’s an interesting blog title, well-written and argued piece.
“An ideology is more or less a coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for organized political action , COHERENT, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power (Neo-liberal capitalist economics for example) 😉 .All ideologies therefore,
a, offer an account or worldview of the existing order
b, advance a model of a desired future (eg, less inequality and discrimination)
and
c, explain how political change can and should be brought about (eg, CGT, Financial transaction tax)
Ideology brings about two kinds of synthesis: between understanding and commitment, and between thought and action; in relation to the first synthesis, the fusion of understanding and commitment, ideology blurs the distinction between what ‘is’ and ‘what should be’.
I’m an ex diesel mechanic, former harley rider, and general nature lovin’ bloke, yet Shane Jones was too narrow-minded, outspoken and a liability for this Labour supporter. Half the population are wimmen, dontcha know.
Pete, and Trotter, and Tamihere, and anyone else who thinks Jones is relevant are all working from a caricature of a template of an idea of a working person from the 1950s, which was about the last time they ever rubbed shoulders with the commoners.
Insultingly they assume working people are all bigots, all whiteys, and yep, all blokes.
Fucking idiots.
You’re show some idiocy here felix, making things up again. I’ve never claimed Jones has anything to do with working people and I don’t assume anything like that about working people. Your claim is idiotic, but that’s what you do.
If you’re going to post screeds of shite from other blogs you can damn well stand by them, dickhead.
It’s not as if you stand by your bull felix. I simply quoted someone because it was relevant to discussions, you deliberately misquote and misrepresent.
And resorting to abuse when you’re called on it doesn’t help you.
I stand by everything I’ve said. Dickhead.
“Insultingly they assume working people are all bigots, all whiteys, and yep, all blokes.”
And that all working people think the same.
And of course there are no, for example, gay workers, because those are two different demographics. And gays all think the same, just like workers all think the same.
It looks a bit pathetic for you both to resort to obvious nonsense like that. I guess if you’ve got nothing else.
Fuck off Pete, this doesn’t concern you.
The US are examining allegations that the Syrian govt. have carried out six attacks using chlorine gas. They are being utilized to drive people out of rebel-held cities with the govt. banking on international silence. US defense commentator suggests investigations won’t begin until current surrendered stocks are destroyed.
and Shane Jones? Always something fishy about that man.
A groper⁉
🙂
Keeping focused with the anti-corruption blowtorch ……
As a proven ‘anti-corruption’ campaigner, in my considered opinion, there is significant and growing public concern about Minister of Justice Judith Collins’ ACTUAL ‘conflict of interest’ regarding her role in promoting/ endorsing her friends and husband’s company – Oravida.
Just as with DODGY John Banks, NZ Prime Minister John Key AGAIN, is defending the indefensible?
Seen this?
Seems that unfortunately for Cameron Slater, Judith Collins and Prime Minister John Key, there are actually a growing number of New Zealanders who do ‘care a stuff about who people have dinner with’ :
“Should Judith Collins step down as a minister?”
8:49 AM Wednesday Apr 16, 2014 1016 comments
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11239082#comment-form
And this?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11242726
Envoy kept tabs on Judith Collins in China
9:11 AM Wednesday Apr 23, 2014
Ambassador to China had asked minister to inform him what was discussed at dinner.
Judith Collins insists the Beijing dinner was a private occasion. Photo / Michael CraigJudith Collins insists the Beijing dinner was a private occasion. Photo / Michael Craig
New Zealand’s ambassador to China, Carl Worker, asked Judith Collins to tell him of anything he needed to know about the Beijing dinner with an unnamed senior Chinese border control official, which the Justice Minister insists was a private social occasion.
Ms Collins has refused to answer questions about the dinner late last year, attended by her friends and Oravida bosses Stone Shi and Julia Xu, on the grounds it was a private dinner.
But after denying in Parliament last week that she had spoken about the dinner with Mr Worker, she later told the Herald that she had not only discussed it with him afterwards, but he had also asked her to keep him informed of what was discussed.
“He’d said to me on the Sunday, just let him know if there was anything he needed to know about.”
……
This issue is NOT going away.
It is a DISGRACE.
There is a LOT more to come …..
Penny Bright
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate (who polled 4th with 11,723 votes, campaigning against corrupt corporate control of the Auckland region)
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
+100…. Go Penny
Poorer Benefit is also the Local Bodies Minister. WTF This is an important role, that of central government liaising and working with our local politicians – our at home, neighbourhood politics. Not some young Jenny-come-lately.
She has a big portfolio with WINZ and this is a big enough job for one person to concentrate on, and she could be doing more about finding projects that would be of benefit to the country from people on benefits working on them. A virtuous circle. But no she shows very little concern, has done the minimum to provide thoughtful support for those on welfare. And so has time for working on her profile for photo ops,
“she could be doing more about finding projects that would be of benefit to the country from people on benefits working on them.”
I find it amazing you think that is the role of a Minister? (I assume beneath the childish drivel you are referring to Paula Bennett?
Looks like the leftover arseholes in the Labour caucus should just fuck off.
Damien Oconnor, Clayton Cosgrove you two rightwing pricks should have no home in the Labour party.
And good fucking riddance to the tory masturbator Shane Jones! What a piece of shit he is! Still a few more wankers to go but he was the worst offender.
Radio Live on now and accusing the Nats/Shane Jones of corruption – about time the media stepped up and did their job. Have been listening to the radio most of the day and this is the first I have heard the media state that Shane Jones is immoral. Timothy Giles is the host and is talking good sense.
Just read an old message from ‘Jenny’ which I think contains wisdom.
Jenny said….”The strategy for the Left is clear. National is more Left than ACT, Left voters in Epsom would ..( read ‘should’) choose National over ACT every time.”
If Epsom left voters had followed this logic last time we might have had a Labour led government now…and wouldn’t have the Banks/Key subterfuge…..BUT… my left leaning friends in Epsom couldn’t bear to vote National in the last election and either voted Labour or stayed home.
They should at least consider Jenny’s logic
What happens in September in Epsom, could decide whether Cunliffe or Key determines the governance of our country.