“Schools throughout New Zealand are tackling complex issues many relating to wider socio-economic problems. Some schools are achieving amazing results that are not captured in the way the National Standards data is collated.
“The publishing of these standards today fails to take these issues into account.
“The Government’s ideological policies and the desire by some in the media to come up with ranking systems will harm the long term educational prospects of our children.”
Annette King keeps on the government’s case about housing:
This reminds me, King quoted some figures in the House last week on the large amount of single women, on a range of incomes, who are having difficulty finding affordable housing – some are couch-surfing, some sleeping in their cars. This includes women on low incomes as well as women who are ‘quite well educated” (i.e. in terms of formal qualifications).
In fact, the problem has got so big in Nelson that the Salvation Army is undertaking a major piece of work to focus on why single women are becoming homeless and what plans it could have for housing in the future. It has found increasing numbers of single women are sleeping in cars, are couch surfing, or are in short-term hostels.
One of the reasons it has found is housing affordability. It is getting worse. There are fewer low-income homes available. Here in Wellington there is a growing number of homeless women, and it is being put down once again to the cost of housing, a housing shortage, and a lack of jobs. Contrary to the popular belief, many of these people are well-educated women. They are not the stereotypical dropouts or checkouts of society that some people may think.
And Brendan Horan of NZ First keeps on the case of Kiwirail:
Yup, you only have to look at the NACT friendly muppets fresh from other SOE’s etc to see it’s all about following the Hollowmens orders rather then run an effective service.
Our Minister of Justice, Judith ‘I’m not here to eat my lunch’ Collins sits there straight faced calling Alcohol our social drug that most adults use responsibly. As Alcohol is proven to be a far more dangerous and harmful drug than Marijuana, why then does the Minister not believe those same adults could use this less harmful drug just as responsibly?
There is an excellent interview with the big V running on RT. Simple plain statments of simple plain truths. i especially like his Foreign Policy which can be summed up as: if a country or its people asks for our help we will be there. If they don’t we have no right to intervene!
best of all he has the guts to say the Electoral College is a corrupt and outdated political institution that is not relevant fair or necessary
Our Minister of Justice, Judith ‘I’m not here to eat my lunch’ Collins sits there straight faced calling Alcohol our social drug that most adults use responsibly
In summary, the Rich Right have managed to convince many to vote against their best financial and social interests.
The voices on the Left don’t seem to have had any decent counter strategy…other than to drift Right in order to try and benefit from some of that misdirected voting as well.
I recently emailed Stuff two questions regarding their 180 degree shift in comments policy. The whole Stuff Nation ‘ bringing the community together ‘ by only including registered users ramble seems a bit counter-intuitive. Not to mention it highlights the downward spiral of journalistic standards and further blurs the distinction between facts and opinion.
I asked if they could offer any explanation or reasoning behind the switch ( and do not expect a response ) I also asked when Stuff Mobile access will have comments restored? I have had a partial response to the second question only… ” Functionality will be restored within the next few weeks” ( 😉 the timing of that being after the House rises is surely just a co-incidence)
Ah. interesting. thanks for the link and tip, freedom.
I had been avoiding stuff nation – I didn’t know what was involved, but couldn’t understand why that needed anything separate from the “Nation” section.
Now I understand. This is part of the MSM struggling to maintain there dominance in a context where bloggers and online communities have gained a lot of strength.
So, unlike the old op ed scribes at Granny, rather than attack the bloggers, stuff’s approach is if you can’t beat them join them. By having commenters registers they keep control.
My inclination is not to join.
And I had moved SN to the bottom of my browser, so rarely see it.
yup, with you there carol,
time for yet another email based persona to be fabricated and used on public computers only.
Note: I actually use my personal email here at the Standard as i have full confidence and faith in the integrity of this operation and its motives.
There is an interesting series articles on National Standards in the Herald this morning, including the first league tables. Interestingly not all schools were there.
I found myself compelled to compare the results of my kids primary school with the neighboring schools. A school with a poor reputation amongst professionals had better results. Its principal is known to overhype things and it looks like national standard results are no exception.
And the Herald’s conclusions are not earth shattering.
1. Girls do better than boys.
2. Maori and Pacifica are doing poorly.
3. Rich areas schools perform better.
We are spending $50 million a year to produce dodgy data that will only hurt some schools. The money would be far better spent on professional development for teachers and school breakfasts.
Bucklands Beach Primary – a decile 10 school – the parents will be asking why the school isn’t achieving 99 pcent at or above the standard. But then the Herald, like most of the uninformed, wouldn’t know a Bell curve if it hit them in the face.
And, for the record, Parata should have asked her former teacher to show her the P and A register for her classes in Rotorua, to see just how many children were meeting the Standards of the day.
Yes Logie97. That is an odd article by Jonathon Milne. He says, “Ministry of Education data indicates Bucklands Beach Primary School has nearly 24 pupils for every full-time-equivalent teacher, creating the potential for some of the biggest primary classes in the country.” 24 kids per teacher. Wow. Big classes indeed- not. And I thought all schools worked under the same formula of staffing. The only way around it is if a wealthy Decile 10 school should employ extra staff at their own expense.
And even if a Decile 10 school has high pass rates it is because it is a Decile 10 not because of any class size. Milne should get a bit of fact in his writing.
And why has that nice teacher on duty got both feet off the ground? On a bit of a high is she?
Standards? Almost every comment I have read in the discussions over time that attacks the teaching profession appears to include anecdotes of bad experiences the commenter had at secondary school.
National standards is about primary school people …
Imagine if that stat was the other way around – all the professional wailers from Team Feminist on here would be screeching.
Young men killing themselves in record numbers ( way more than women ) and hardly a peep out of the Left. But “gay marriage” – well what a big performance from the Lifestyle Liberals and coffee table feminists – “my rights! me! me! me!”
Surprised you got time to post felix – thought you and your side kick QoT would be too busy outside the Ecuadorean Embassy waving placards and screaming “Stop the Ecuadorean rape culture!!! Stop the Ecuadorean rape culture!!!”.
No. Of course not. One piece of policy will not stop young men suiciding. That’s a VERY tenuous question.
Your next two questions are just as tenuous. Those two time frames – after the mid 80s and after 2005 – are the two times during which NZs inequality rose at alarming rates, and naturally suicide rates increased as well. So the rates of suicide increased during those times because the economic exclusion outweighed the social inclusion. Also you have selected legalising homosexuality, and the civil unions…both of which did not bring sexuality equality, but it did highlight sexuality otherness. So I fail to understand how an answer to your stupid question can even be of benefit to this argument…you have failed to acknowledge so many factors.
If you had the ability to ask a logical question it would go something along these lines:
“will gay marriage decrease the current levels of suicide in young gay men, and what is the downside to the rest of the community if we accepted gay marriage?”
The first half of that question is unanswerable without very indepth research, but I would say that if we give equal rights to gays then this will probably reduce the high levels of suicide within that community, I see no reason how gay marriage could cause suicide rates for young gay males to increase. Social exclusion is a key issue in youth suicide. The answer to the second part of that question is that gay marriage does not affect anyone in the heterosexuality community, except for biggots.
“But “gay marriage” – well what a big performance from the Lifestyle Liberals and coffee table feminists – “my rights! me! me! me!””
You just don’t get it, do you?
Not just him, cos I don’t get it either…So, enlighten us!
Ffirstly KP said the left do not cry foul over the high rates of youth suicide (which I don’t agree with)…and then KP said that the left are focused on demanding sexuality equality.
I then pointed out that othering homosexuality and excluding them from the institution of marriage is part of the reason why their rates of suicide are so high (which is some on the left have been saying)
So KP accuses the left of not addressing gay youth suicide, but then when policies are brought in to address this, KP claims the left fail on both counts. That is why KP doesn’t get it. Do you?
Yes, there are many concerns about males not doing as well as females in education in recent decades. However, as iI recall it is largely males from lower socio-economic households that are not doing so well in education (I’m in my sick bed today & can’t be bothered looking it up right now -some other time). Those are the boys that need the most help in achieving educationally.
Males from middle-class backgrounds are continuing to do relatively well in education.
And the female educational successes don’t translate that well into statistics on paid work. Women, on average, still earn around 80% of male wages.
And with recent rises in unemployment, women have had the biggest increases in unemployment. And, I posted above about how there is a recent rise in homelessness, even amongst women with success in formal education.
I also think you’ll find that the gay youth suicide rates are higher than the proportion for youth suicide rates generally for the same gender.
How interesting that “high grades” are interpreted as indicators of superior human worth (or that is how it is beginning to look to me). Many kids get quite “ordinary” grades at school and proceed to excel in adulthood and maturity. Mostly, citing higher grades as so desirable is a form of snobbery.
I was deemed a “failure” at secondary school, with terrible grades (in huge classes!) Strangely, upon maturity, I began to “learn”, not necessarily through formal education. And the fact that I gained a straight “A” doctoral degree at a leading university, might just say something. Let us not allow government mismanagement and foolishness cause any child (or parent) to surrender hope.
I don’t know what was wrong with the old system? Back in the 80s at highschool we were streamed. I was in the top stream, we got to skip Form 6 and go to Form 7.
The school had a great reputation for academic performance and sport.
Mostly the teachers wanted to teach, it was the kids who had bad attitudes and a lot of teacher energy went into keeping them all in line. Bulling was a big problem too.
Looking back it was a combination of raw talent and effort that set the achievers apart from the rest.
IMO, what was wrong with it was that it taught wrote learning and not critical thinking. That’s why we changed the system as we need more critical and creative thinking rather than boxed in thought.
I have done a couple of university papers where the lecturer sent us the exam questions some weeks before the actual exam to dissuade rote (note the spelling, DtB) learning. As we knew the questions beforehand he’d have spotted mindless repetition over critical thinking immediately.
Just giving you a good example of what a critical thinking (higher) education looks like.
No, actually, you didn’t. What you gave was an example of what you thought was a way to spot “mindless repetition”. None of my uni lecturers gave out the questions weeks before hand as that’s usually considered as cheating and I’m sure that they’d still be able to spot people rabbiting back at them.
The point that I made is that rote learning comes from the teaching and that teaching has changed over the years so that rote learning is minimised and critical thought patterns is improved.
“None of my uni lecturers gave out the questions weeks before hand as that’s usually considered as cheating”
You mean like giving people a range of topics to write an assignment on is cheating?
When you did an assignment were you only told the topic the day it was due?
That’s weird.
Look buddy, I know you like to think you are quite the renaissance man but the fact remains that my lecturer at the time wanted his students to write essay answer as opposed to rote repetition. Which was there was maybe two weeks (from memory – might have been one..?) to formulate the response you were to give, which would need to be a critical analysis of the topic. No books allowed in the exam venue, no other bits of paper. You had time to research which topics you wanted to research (not remembering and repeating facts – but actual research) then write an essay on said topic in the time allowed. A critical analysis as opposed to repetition of fact.
Go back to your fucking Zeitgeist Movement you limp-dicked fuckhole.
I’ve seen “one of these 3 questions will be the test” done both ways. One was in an economics class, where it really was just rote-learning 3 paragraphs from the notes – completely useless.
The other (in a health sciences paper) really was along the lines of answering each question required a decent understanding of large chunks of the course, overlapping on the really important bits of the course. Much more effective as a teaching and assessment tool, imo.
One of those things where the decided direction isn’t possibly as important as the details thereof.
“The other (in a health sciences paper) really was along the lines of answering each question required a decent understanding of large chunks of the course, overlapping on the really important bits of the course. Much more effective as a teaching and assessment tool, imo.”
Jah, I agree. I removes the plain remembering out of it and forces the student (me) to understand, examine and critically assess the material instead of regurgitating what I have read.
You mean like giving people a range of topics to write an assignment on is cheating?
Last time I looked an assignment isn’t a test. Get given a range of questions for those and then go do them. They’re to encourage independent research. As I understand it, we’re now getting that sort of teaching in primary which is what kiwi_prometheus was complaining about.
No books allowed in the exam venue, no other bits of paper.
And now you’re talking about tests again. And, no, I wasn’t given the questions for exams before the exams.
And after all that, we’re talking about how teaching was in primary school 20+ years ago. Not the teaching in university.
Yes there has been a move to get uni and students at other levels to think, and work, more critically and actively, rather than just regurgitate material in exams.
Unfortunately though, there’s also a thriving illicit business in selling students assignments. So getting them to research an exam question in advance, then write them in the exam, is partly an attempt to counter that form of cheating – but ultimately it’s hard to ensure that some students haven’t just memorised an essay someone else researched for them.
Cheats all over the show in this economy of unfettered capitalism, that encourages competition and qualifications over the intrinsic satisfactions of learning.
“The rest” (as you dismissively describe them) are largely suffering from various forms of abuse, family conflict, social discrimination, self-hate, and plenty else. Thus kp (you seem to have disappeared. See below), carry right on with your self- congratulation and all so believable lack of compassion or broader understanding. I pray God to avoid people of your kind.
Naughty kiwi. Streaming is pure evil because it accepts that students are different and learn at different rates from others at the same age. Such an idea is anathema to the one true religion ie progressivism. No dissension will be tolerated.
Well said Dr T….I find that at uni the very smart kids straight out of school are book smart, but their empathetic intelligence is missing. It is the students with a bit of life experience who possess a more rounded and complete intelligence. The high grades at school will result in high grades at early uni level, however when those students are required to go beyond regurgitating information, they begin to struggle.
High grades at school are not always a sign of intelligence, and are definitely not a sign of moral worth. Since we all have google in our pocket these days, surely its more important to know how to ask the right question, rather than to remember the answer.
Yes, as does everything. But I would say a 25 year old that has travelled extensively, and experienced many cultures, has far more life experience than a 40 year old who has lived in the one country and lived a socially stable life.
Yeah, poverty, as in having you options and abilities limited so that you are required to improvise. And poverty, as in being excluded from society.
Its true that – “just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have more or better ‘life experience’ than the next guy”. But I was replying to your comment: “life experience only comes with time”.
Life experience and time do have a strong link, but there are many ways to gain life experience.
Also money. My un-favourite question in the staff room “Well, so, where did you go for your OE?” I am so fed up with explaining to the middle class kiddies that 70-75% of people in my age group never had the money or the time for an OE. (The other question is “where did you send your kids for their gap year?”) lolwut?
It’s yet another case of the well-off assuming that everyone else was as comfortable as them, and sneering at those who for some strange reason (as they see it) didn’t swan off overseas on daddy’s money as soon as they finished school. Prats.
News flash – most of us – even now, have to support ourselves, especially those with dead parents.
true…travel is a generational privilege which the x and x generations rarely acknowledge, it was not the same for the earlier generations. Anyone between the ages of 18-25 in NZ who has a full time job and no children (not all, but most) can easily travel and live overseas
Absolutely true!
My son’s 25, but he didn’t have a ‘gap year’, he went straight to university, got his nursing qualifications, and has been working hard since, to save the money to travel. (He’s been to Australia every year since 2009, but my colleague informed that Australia ‘doesn’t count’… )
I left school at 17 and got a job, had a child at 18, my father died when I was 20, leaving nothing but a house, I got married when I was 21, and so I have only ever got as far as Australia, and that will never change. Divorced, DPB mother, now unemployed but for 6 week contracts..hence no gap year for my kids!
Maybe I’ll get richer when I am older, but there’d be no point in having an OE at 65! 🙁
I think travel is worthwhile at any age, if you get the chance. Australia has a very different culture and environment to NZ…a 4 day piss up / shopping spree on the East Coast of aussie might not give someone much life experience, but a 2 week exploration into remote territories costs about the same, and is sure to change a person’s perspective. Even a budget 2 weeks in south east asia was costing about the same when Air Asia was here. The internet has made travelling easier and cheaper.
All my travelling has involved very strict saving from work that is around minimum wage. I never got hire purchases, or spent money on consuming things…made a lot of sacrifices during that time to save, and my parents couldn’t contribute a dime.
But I was lucky with those things that are a lottery, I have no kids and travel is relatively cheap these days compared to the past.
u onto fatty; Nietzsche valued different states of health in a thinkers development
even a little mind-alteration may promote empathy
the shortcoming of alcohol is that much of the disinhibited thought and behaviour is forgotten once the anasthetic wears off
KP, In genereal high grades are little more than a sign of being able to regurgitate formulaic data and rote learned responses. Attempts to variate from these stimulus-response exercises are generally discouraged, not understood or simply become victim to punitative action either in the classroom or out on the playfield.
There are many great teachers out there who recognise this and do what they can to combat the concrete flippers of mainstream education but reality is what reality is.
wots ya occupation Flockie?
btw, after completing trade qual and one internal year at Massey, i found independent, extramural study far more efficient, (still receivd personal complimentary letters concerning grades) and just to fill out the load in the final year learnt entry level calc etc from the materials they sent
(Aaaayes for that too Doc)
thereafter i found it too disruptive and inefficient to study post-grad as required internally (accepted at two national uni’s)
Is the need for academics to stand at the front of a large auditorium, or warm the office seats of faculty buildings becoming increasingly redundent?
and still this relentless elimination of classic arts courses; Is this to further dumb down peoples expectations of what life is all about? the unexamined life and all that…?
Data cruncher at the moment (hence my transition from “=/=” to “!=” 🙂 ). Taking large datasets and making the important stuff readable for coalface professionals.
I still have the notion that it’s better to have a lecturer present, but many lecturers in my experience have made themselves redundant via powerpoint – i.e. the content of their talk is basically just what’s on the slides, and there’s little real interaction with students. But then labs and tutes make up for that to some degree.
But the best lecturers are those who use the ppt slides as talking points, rather than simply rephrasing the bulletpoints for 50 minutes.
That and the 30sec opportunity after the lecturer to ask “wtf?” is occasionally useful 🙂
I found the quality of Teaching at university, apart from the school of Education, obviously, and a few notable exceptions, abysmal.
Fortunately some of the worst lecturers had the best notes.
I am please I was not at University, in my teens, in the days before power point and notes online.
Graduate students that did tutorials and marking devoted, mostly, little time or understanding to the task.
Many university staff seemed to just consider the students a necessary nuisance.
Yknow, some people have a -ve iq?
(refer to my comment on hide recently to understand -ve)
Reall problem when we (+iq people), try to mimmick them, most decide not too after trying.
Fundamental in society almost at one point before the 90’s give or take, leads too disassociative behaviour.
The actual number is the same, just put a negative on it.
kp wrong again. It is one thing to have a good brain and subsequent “success” at school, but often quite another thing to be “intelligent” (which you are not). It is a grave error to necessarily equate brain with intelligent behaviour (so many “bright” people have no common sense, ethics, or empathy).
Clean Green = 100% Pure Bullshit, when the foreign press wake up to the Bullshit Green Lie. We’ve had rammed down our collective throats. Then we’ll see how good the Dairy Cheque is to the economy. – – – – Wake up NZ It’s GREEN because of all the imported Grassland and imported Fertilisers, and 40 million bloody old Heiffers shitting all over it. Oh and it Rains alot here.
Never was a Island so changed from its’ natural state to its’ present so quickly In the entire History of Humanity.
I watched tv prime last night Nazi Hunters at 11pm. I learned about Himmler and was reminded that Hitler and he were both imprisoned in an attempt early in the 1930s to control their excesses. It may have done that but didn’t affect them long. Himmler was a gun organiser and was very meticulous with detail. Interestingly his father was a teacher and his mother an ardent Catholic.
Himmler had gathered an army by mid 1930’s of tens of thousands of young men, vetted in every way, health, teeth, heritage (German since 1900s), and devoted to Nazi ideals and obedient to orders.
As early as 1921 student unions barred Jews from membership, and a referendum on this showed 76% of the votes agreed with the ban.
At the same time, Nazi newspapers began agitating for a boycott of Jewish businesses and anti-Jewish boycotts became a regular feature of 1920’s regional German politics with right-wing German parties becoming closed to Jews.
From wikipedia headings under Hitlers brownshirts –
1 In 1921 Adolf Hitler formed his own private army called Sturm Abteilung (Storm Section). The SA (also known as stormtroopers or brownshirts) were instructed to …
2 To ‘keep the peace’ and maintain law and order, the SA (the Brown Shirts) roamed the streets beating up those who openly opposed Hitler. The election took …
Then the attacks on the Jews and anybody disliked or disapproved of with opposing views started. Dachau was opened mid 1938, the first concentration camp. All very chilling stuff.
Then this morning there was a report on the size of the Russian men’s group with right wing, attitudes mounting attacks against perceived outsiders from Eastern Europe. So there is a large group of young men with twisted values establishing their own priorities, acting against the established government, committing violence. Sounds shittily familiar.
I shouldn’t have put that Himmler was a gun organiser, another adjective like outstanding would have been clearer. Gun as in being slang for very good was misleading.
instead we continue to have a large group of old men with twisted values establishing their own priorities, acting against the established citizenry, committing violence.
Many of whom were trained and programmed by the very people you are rightly vilifying
so what was your point?
The machine that forged the hatred is still fuelled fired and operating at even greater levels of efficiency than it ever was under the psychotic despot with one teste and sweet f.a. artistic talent.
People seem so willing to forgive and forget that the scientists who obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki largely came from the very same factories and installations that built the camps. These are the same people that since the beginning of the Industrial Age developed the technology, the intelligence services, the torture chambers and the ‘Public Foundations’ of mainstream propoganda that have built the world we have today. That includes the rockets that gave us space. The global intelligence agencies, false flags, Psy-ops and chemical programming. The bioweapons. The security scanners. The spies in the sky and every clinically precise aspect of what has matured to become Homeland Security. A living manifesto of oppression that is being built boxed and shipped out to every corner of the globe.
and you have your knickers in a twist about a few rowdy russians?
freedom 10.2
When I wrote about Himmler’s young troops and then referred to Russian right wingers I said that their was a similarity. That was my point.
I don’t know what your point was in decrying my piece. You seem to be angry that I didn’t list all the major acts of viciousness by humans since the Industrial Age. I would have thought it would be good to see someone giving some attention to the environment likely to create fighting and human degradation as that is apparently your concern.
I think you sound a bit crazy. If you study human behaviour too closely it is a likely outcome. I suggest you take a brief moment to vilify me as you seem to want an aggressive war of words, and then take a walk in the park and throw the ducks some bread. They would appreciate that action more than I have receiving your barrage of misdirected invective.
Apologies for the tardy reply, was not near a machine last night and accessing The Standard via mobile has gone from being a roulette game to being completely unuseable so had to wait till this a.m. to be near a machine.
First up i was out of line with the twisted knickers comment, as i was not meaning to make it personal to you. It was sloppy of me to include it.
Secondly, I am not crazy. Just wanted to clear that up.
I do however think that mentioning a stream of historical fact should not be responded to with labels of mental illness. Some very unfortunate circumstances have started that way
The basic point as i said was not to attack you but attack the ongoing ignorance that attempts to suggest that anything has changed since the Third Reich was ‘removed from power’
For good or bad i am just like this in daily life, i refuse to be a keyboard warrior as you suggest, instead i constantly provoke and promote the sharing of reality and the dialogues that ensue. This means i sometimes piss off new acquaintances but like many i do enjoy feeding the ducks.
have a great week wherever your endeavours take you.
Lprent – re the site functionality, I am on a S2. i can barely load pages, they take forever regardless of signal strength whilst other sites/pages are loading and functioning smoothly. The comment box jumps out of sight as soon as you touch it and the page scrolls away making text entry impossible unless you mind trace every character and hope.
freedom 10 2 1 1
I don’t consider that being crazy sometimes, is a sign of mental illness. I pointed out that if you are giving a lot of thought to the tragedies of the human condition that could raise your stress levels to max.
Also my focus was not on what has happened since the attempt at the third reich. I referred to some facts that were interesting about the growth of gangs of men prepared for violence and obedience in Germany which were marshalled to start Himmler’s Nazi army prior to WW2 and that there is an uncomfortably similar scenario starting in Russia.
We as humans have the propensity for violence, particularly men, though not exclusively so. Anyone looking, learning and thinking about this should not be criticised by you. The world needs to find intelligent ways to respond to this tendency so we reduce violence.
Note that the Wermacht were not that involved in the worst that period in Germany offered. And it was Germany’s professional military who more often than not who were the ones who tried to kill Hitler.
The Nazis had to form and develop a paramilitary organisation to do the real dirty, nasty work of the Third Reich. Like running the concentration camps and interrogation centres.
The “gangs of men” you refer to prism eventually became this highly structured and resourced organisation, the SS.
CV
Yes. Himmler was appointed and took charge of all the nasty work it seems. Finding the right young men for his army. And they noted in the documentary that there needed to be a choice made from within the SS to find those that could cope with shooting people into ready mass graves, or later, handle the gas chamber organisation.
And people were required to oversee the others. To send them into the large chambers naked, packed in tight so that their body heat would rise to 27 degrees so that the poison gas crystals would be activated. I don’t know how long that took, and imagination must be consciously limited if one is to go on with the day’s activities. It’s so chilling to think that our higher brains can be used to perform such sub-animal atrocities. We are cursed by our so clever brain power that has this dark pit of ferocity and devilry hidden inside.
This is so awful to think about but I think occasionally things like this should be exposed and referred to though hard to face.
And men of conscience inside Germany did not, or could not, do enough to stop it.
With the Japanese, the elite led their own country and own citizens on to nuclear devastation. Its interesting to question the mindset which allowed them to believe that they were ever going to win a war against the mighty energy and industrial resources of the USA.
“cos man has invented his Doom..first step was reaching the moon,…and there’s a woman on my block..she just sit there..as the night grows still..she says who?…who’s, gonna take away his license to kill)
Latest news, matey USA visitor to our NZ prime minster has kindly suggested that we have USA troops stationed here to help with our defence. This at a time when we have to make contact and good relations with the Asian region and China.
We don’t want any more connection with the USA than we already have, helping them to fight their wars dictated by and channelling to their own moneyed power base and self-centred world view. And once they set up bases here, kindly for our benefit really, and their money started to circulate into willing hands, and their military barriers against complying with our laws stopped us from holding them to account, and all the other ways we would be sullied by them, it would take decades of agitation to get rid of them. Look at Okinawa. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-chen/american-occupation-casts_b_598700.html
They may have have personnel and facilities stationed here in amongst our forces (as they do for the Antarctic programme) but I don’t think its likely to be a base as such.
I agree, its not needed by NZ and it would permanently alter the neutrality of how our troops are viewed everywhere else in the world.
Might be a bloody good thing for Northland,
And of course the east or west coast of Southland.
One thing to remember, is the 6 knot current running down the Tasman Sea.
I’d be worried about the world calling us a staging ground/crititcal partner,
So some thought about Australia would have to be included.
We can’t harbour big ships anyway, no room M8!
I remember that Sub that was sitting high and dry at low tide, took up the entire Hauraki channel.
It filled it from North Head to Queen st give or take
They had to wait for a week for the next spring tide, and probably had to reverse out.
But they visited !, that’s commitment M8
so hoping to wAKE UP TOMORROW and read that len brown has fired the management of P.O.A.L. and they ready to challenge the bright new future without the parasites at present in temporary charge.
How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Which of the maor political parties are pushing for ‘corporate welfare’ reform and shrinking the long-term dependency of the private sector on our public monies?
Where is the ‘devilish detail’ at both local and central government level – which shows EXACTLY where our public rates and taxes are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
Why aren’t the names of the consultant(s)/ contrators(s) – the scope, term and value of these contracts, published in Council or central government Annual Reports – so this information on the spending of OUR public monies is available for public scrutiny?
“—POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services. Specifically, POGO’s study shows that the federal government approves service contract billing rates—deemed fair and reasonable—that pay contractors 1.83 times more than the government pays federal employees in total compensation, and more than 2 times the total compensation paid in the private sector for comparable services.”
If NZ central government figures are comparable with those of USA Federal Government – could the current NZ $82 billion central government spend be sliced in half by $40 billion ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
The answer to that would be no as the total amount of spending that the government spends on contractors is only a few billion but that could probably be reduced by using permanent staff by a few tens of millions per year.
Surely where savings exist they should be pursued?
Or is it solely recipients of community education, welfare and low wage earners and such like who need to be the recipients of the cutting of “unnecessary” costs?
I was pointing out that central government spend couldn’t possibly be reduced by 50% just by cutting out contractors but that I’m still in favour of getting rid of the contractors.
Where are the FACTS to back up this statement Draco?
“The answer to that would be no as the total amount of spending that the government spends on contractors is only a few billion but that could probably be reduced by using permanent staff by a few tens of millions per year.”
Well, here (PDF), although I must admit I was actually thinking of consultants rather than contractors ATT. If the $30b/year mentioned in the PDF is spent on contractors then we would still only be looking at savings of ~$15b. A significant amount but not the $40b you mentioned.
Yeah, glad to see some curbing of language from the moderator.
Contrarian,
The only grounds that I could agree Mrs Bright as crazy, is that she would have to be somewhat, to be promoting a thinking and informed approach to issues, as she appears to do, in a country such as ours which appears to pride qualities such as alcoholism, thuggery and moronic, numb-skull prejudice and base assumptions.
I suggest, “The Contrarian”, that your attempts at “countering the ignorant swill spouted by gibbering fools, dishonest bloggers, media personalities, politicians, religious swine, conspiracy theorists and by all those who try make a buck peddling ignorance.” is bound to failure unless you work out how to be less of these things yourself.
At least provide some links for your base assumptions
“Yeah, glad to see some curbing of language from the moderator.”
So let me get this straight:
Calling Penny Bright crazy = bad. Must be moderated.
Draco telling someone they are too stupid to understand something = not bad.
“I suggest, “The Contrarian”, that your attempts at “countering the ignorant swill spouted by gibbering fools, dishonest bloggers, media personalities, politicians, religious swine, conspiracy theorists and by all those who try make a buck peddling ignorance.” is bound to failure unless you work out how to be less of these things yourself.”
Come on, we both know I have been a miserable failure as a blogger due to my complete indifference to posting or updating my blog. You embarrass us both with your comment.
Calling Penny Bright names = incorrect = astutely moderated
Draco telling someone that they are too stupid to understand something, if this was referring to you “The Contrarian”, = correct = astute assessment of no need to be moderated.
Of course.
What a wonderful moderation system.
Because we are right we may call you names but anyone who suggests we are in the wrong must be moderated….Moderation, you’re doing it wrong.
blue leopard inferring I must be stupid based upon his assumed understanding that Draco once called me stupid = fine and dandy
TheContrarian calling blue leopard a worthless scum-wench fit only for the gutter where he insinuates the raw semen dripping from his overbearing ego = ?
The problem is that because ‘the books’ at both central and local government are NOT open – we don’t get the ‘devilish’ detail – so we don’t know where exactly our public monies are being spent.
So much for NZ being ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’?
If we are the least corrupt – shouldn’t we be the MOST transparent?
So – how come we aren’t being told WHERE EXACTLY our public monies are being spent?
See , the Herald make ya angry M8!.
They tell us something in the name of news and then harp placation about “What can we do?”
Instead of options we have it’s “it’ll be right on the night”.
Progressive&Civilised?Reporting=???
The Canadian government is getting ready to introduce legislation that would allow individuals to own private property on reserves, effectively abrogating collective ownership of reserve land for any First Nations that adopts the law. The government claims this will encourage economic development; but the reality is far less economical. As Pam Palmater observes, the new law will open the floodgates for the gradual takeover of indigenous lands by non-First Nations peoples, including land-holding companies, banks, corporations; heck, even bored Canadians looking for an adventure!
Pam’s final paragraph says it all “Canada needs to stop trying to assimilate us and instead focus on fulfilling its legal and treaty obligations instead of trying to find ways around them. I think we have suffered enough – let us go about the hard job of healing and rebuilding our Nations and enjoy our fair share of what is ours.”
Had a look around marty and it seems that the Canadian version of act (fuck’m, no capitalisation) has been pushing the barrow to loosen legislation concerning collective ownership of reserve land since 2002.
“Billions of tax dollars are spent each year of which little seems to be properly accounted for or find its way to the people it is intended to help. Treaties are being signed which will cost taxpayers billions more. And basic democratic rights like voting have turned into a racial privilege to be granted by native governments at their discretion. Likewise on taxes, the recent federal court ruling on Treaty 8 exempts 35,000 Cree and Dene aboriginals from paying taxes anywhere in Canada,” said the Centre’s director Tanis Fiss.
Mr Panetta has also left the door open to stationing US troops in New Zealand, if invited, saying the US is more than ready for that kind of relationship
This will really be a test of what the NZ public will put up with, if like Oz we bend over and had a permanent stationing here.
“not only for your own security, but help us in providing for the security of the Asia-Pacific region.”
Asia Pacific does not need your sort of help asshole!
One wonders what might happen in NZ, should we turn down the “opportunity” offored above by Panetta the coward, because that I think was an instruction, not an open door.
Most likely when these shared training sessions happen, it will just prove to be more convenient to leave some US troops here, you know, and hey lets build them some new digs as well…Maybe the NZ taxpayer can borrow the money from the military’s owners, at a “fair rate”
For our safety of course, and failing that, in reaction to an “event” in NZ!
What we need is a mass movement campaign that will remind the Panetta’s of this world that NZ is that tiny little country that stood up to them and tossed out their mighty nuclear powered navy.
I was thinking of a mighty mass people power campaign against any attempt to extradite Mr Dotcom without the US authorities being first required to have to present any evidence at all as to the reasons why, in the legal courts of our properly constituted and sovereign Justice System.
Any attempt by the US to over ride our sovereignity on this issue should be met with the angriest response possible.
Talking about the US international bully boy’s disrespect for the rule of law, sovereignty, and their gung ho approach to extradition.
I imagine that US authorities will do every thing they can to subvert the rule of law in NZ just as they have in Italy. Where in an ironic twist the US is actively opposing extradition of convicted CIA human rights violators.
As well as convicting 23 CIA agents of civil rights violations, Italian courts have found the CIA guilty of violating Italian sovereignty in illegally abducting a Moslem cleric from Italian territory to a territory where torture is legal in a CIA practice known as “extraordinary rendition”.
This sentence proves that Italy is a state still under the rule of law. Today Italy’s top criminal court gave Abou Omar back his dignity.
Abdel Amer President, Egyptian Community in Rome
Will NZ courts dare to defy the US in doing the same for Dotcom?
Will our justice system demand that the US authorities at the very least provide their evidence against Kim Dotcom before they agree to deliver Dotcom into the US gulag?
In this highly politicised case will the National Government try and interfere in the workings of the courts?
The signs are not good.
The government’s lawyer, John Pike, said the District Court and High Court do not have the power to order evidence to be disclosed in the extradition process being used. If the record of the case was thought it inadequate the process was for the judge at the extradition hearing to invite the government to add to the record.
But Paul Davison, QC, acting for Dotcom, said the extradition hearing – currently due to be heard next March – was the same as committing someone for trial. The government had to show evidence that, on the face of it, Dotcom and the others had a case to answer.
Dotcom would have “both his hands tied behind his back” if he had to go through the extradition hearing without knowing the evidence being used to back up the allegations.
As the Italian case shows, the US knows a lot about extraditing people with their hands tied behind their backs. In fact it is their preferred method of conducting international ‘justice’.
And this government wants to let these goons establish a permanent base for their marines here?
This is an open invitation for abuse and pressure.
Jenny I would like to hope that people still have it in them to understand the importance of issues such as nuclear free NZ and so on, but I would not be surprised if that is no longer the case.
So many people have left NZ since then, and many of those who arrived may either not know the history or the importance of our position, or simply will not care, time will tell I guess.
The USA is still seen by many as the “peacekeeper” , do many I speak with from all walks of life, including people in SE Asia where the USA had decimated their countries, actually say thing like “Better that the US is in charge”, and other nonsense statements…
The USA (Americans are not in charge of that country BTW), will have its way with NZ, unless something very stark happens inside peoples heads, and even then, an “event” could very easily coerce the minds, that having them stationed here is, “in our security interests”
I know a few people who had their first OE in their 60s or later.
I’d be afraid of looking like a bewildered old bag! 😀 (As I’d be on my own). Oddly, I have just remembered a sad story about a woman I worked with, in my first job after school. She went on her OE at 27, after having saved madly for years – she was in India, house-sitting for someone she knew there – and she was murdered by bandits.
My mum pointed the story out to me. What phenomenonal bad luck for the poor woman..
David Park is losing credibility – blaming the Reserve bank for its actions under Labour, at 33:40 Telling Brash what the reserve bank should have done, 34:15 it is all the reserve banks making the problems. Who when Labour was in power and is currently running NZ ?? By comments in this program it wasn’t who anyone vote for, and how can the NZ$ and property bubbles be the reserve banks making, I thought governments make and enact policy…. silly me. http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/The-Nation-The-Nation-Sunday-September-23-2012/tabid/59/articleID/8164/MCat/76/Default.aspx
Since central banking was introduced by the US in the early 20th century, and increasing central bank “independence” pushed on all of us in the 1970’s and 1980’s, financial and debt crises have got far worse not better.
But we have the No2 David (The David C has more going for him than David 1 & 2) now saying that it is all the res banks fault. Funny when housing started its meteoric rise did that not in 2003/4 also coincide with net migration of over 40k & low interest rates ? and does not the govt of the day control immigration policy? It appears not, it is The RB that controls it.
The GFC was built around lack of controls and those who caused the problem (Bankers) also being rewarded afterwards with QE1 and QE11 handouts, and the worker got shafted.
Nothing said gave any reassurance that the authors know what the solutions are or the consequences, it took some badgering from Brash to get anything out of David P, Winny gave nothing to the conservation either.
Like Housing the $ is an issue, yet the solutions ???
Good points. Cullen knew that private debt (farm and house mortgage) levels were going through the roof through that entire time. That was fuelling massive asset price rises – keeping middle class property owning voters nice and happy.
The Fifth Labour govt. was from a fiscal perspective pretty ‘orthodox’. While Michael Cullen was never going to stray too far from the Keynsian ideas he grew up with but unfortunately for much of the prior two decades the intellectual force of these ideas had been largely neutered by the sheer momentum of the neo-liberal school. Dr Cullen expressed to me personally how his scope to operate had some very real boundaries; step over them and the establishment would crush him.
Helen Clark was also fundamentally a cautious person (consider her family background for a moment) and while she held strong principles around social justice, finance was very much not her comfort zone. It was very unlikely she would drive fiscal policy in new directions either. Both Cullen and Clark were incrementalists, and while the stats showed modest gains, such an approach is readily unravelled as this National govt is proving so adept at.
Governments really do operate within a particular context … at the time New Zealand was undergoing the greatest credit bubble in all it’s history and far too many people imagined they were doing far too well out of it to contemplate anyone acting to stop it.
This is the fundamental limitation of democracy as we know it. Unless you can build a social consensus around the need to act on a long-term challenge … short-term interests will always dominate.
Unless you can build a social consensus around the need to act on a long-term challenge … short-term interests will always dominate.
Hard for Labour to build a consensus when it won’t even talk about the principles and values involved. And there’s hardly any shorter term interests than our politician’s 3 year horizon.
The Fifth Labour govt. was from a fiscal perspective pretty ‘orthodox’.
Their monetary policy was pretty orthodox as well. Read “neoliberal”. They surfed on the appearance of good times due to rising (debt based) spending power and asset wealth.
Notice how the Auckland housing situation is in such a crisis? That’s a crisis which has been a decade or two in the making. What did Labour do about it when they were in power? Tinker, and try not to upset the neoliberal ‘market knows best’ apple cart.
Initially the 5th Lab govt had to restore credibility to our economy, but 8 years of resoration? We needed to go to the next level yet we have regressed instead of progressed
I still think (Though open towards changes) that Labour indirectly supported the housing boom as without having to promise anything they go the support/votes of the housing middle class who were making obscene money (Untaxed). Remember Bill Clint and the economy stupid.
Should we allow the $ to be artificialy reduced what will this cause, The Res Bank does not have the means that the EB, Swiss bank or Fed has to keep on printing money, and as Brash commented that reduce interest rates what effect will that be to these multi property owners ? Yet again rewarding those who are the cause of the problem.
Agreed .. but again until very recently even the mention of a CGT was considered political suicide in this country. (Personally I still hold that a CGT is the least effective means to dampen credit bubbles). And it’s a mistake to apply 20/20 hindsight when back in say 2005 when the problem might have been turned around there were only a handful of credible voices saying anything.
Even figures like Steven Keen who is on record as formally predicting the entire crisis by correctly pointing out the role of skyrocketing Debt to GDP ratios (and in this case private debt fuelling a massive house price bubble) … were back at that time obscure and entirely marginalised voices.
And now its 7 years on from 2005. Is our political discourse that much further ahead. Or is it still dancing around softly softly.
BTW things like the Government ensuring affordable housing for all shouldn’t have been controversial at all for a left wing party, outside of a neoliberal context that is.
Is our political discourse that much further ahead. Or is it still dancing around softly softly.
In public mostly the later … largely because Key and English have mocked and throttled all attempts to kick the debate along in any meaningful fashion.
It was encouraging however to see at least several Treasury and RB heavyweights, along with a couple of well known bank economists, Russel Norman and a number of other beltway types in the room when Steven Keen gave his Wgtn seminar a fortnight ago. (All up about 25 in attendance and the general atmosphere was pretty constructive and thoughtful.)
Keen made strong reference to the New Zealand RB’s unique heritage around the pioneering work of Bill Phillips in the field of dynamic modelling of economic systems. And then went on to hint about a possible link up around some ‘modelling work’ he was pursuing with at least some people within the RB.
I’ve no idea exactly what this really means or whether it will lead to anything but it’s a sign that at least some younger economists are challenging the neo-liberal stranglehold.
To do it justice would require a bunch of work I really have not got the time for right now sadly CV.
Although there was nothing ‘new’ in the presentation that I hadn’t seen from Keen before, it was still four hours of high speed, high density stuff. However the Q+A was very good. Keen relaxed a little and came across as a really likeable person… not an easy task for someone so highly intelligent and driven as he is. He responded to some pretty good questions directly and completely .. without evasion or misrepresentation.
One neat point that came out was the very nice convergence between Keen’s advocacy for ‘quantitative easing for the people’ and the idea of a UBI.
Interestingly when he was asked which country would be ideally placed to trial his ideas he pointed to Spain.
Keens debate of the issues which is broadly based on Minskys hypothesis has seen a number of more open debate including the need for a change in both monetary policy by the fed ( better use of constraints) and need to communicate the issues,there is a good discussion by Yellen of the US fed here.
There is a background on Minsky here at the Levy institute,
Why capitalism fails; the man who saw the meltdown coming had another troubling insight: it will happen again
eg In recent months Minsky’s star has only risen. Nobel Prize–winning economists talk about incorporating his insights, and copies of his books are back in print and selling well. He’s gone from being a nearly forgotten figure to a key player in the debate over how to fix the financial system.
But if Minsky was as right as he seems to have been, the news is not exactly encouraging. He believed in capitalism, but also believed it had almost a genetic weakness. Modern finance, he argued, was far from the stabilizing force that mainstream economics portrayed; rather, it was a system that created the illusion of stability while simultaneously creating the conditions for an inevitable and dramatic collapse.
In other words, the one person who foresaw the crisis also believed that our whole financial system contains the seeds of its own destruction. “Instability,” he wrote, “is an inherent and inescapable flaw of capitalism.”
That the Kitchen cabinet seems to lessen the debate on these issues is troublesome at least.Repeating the same endogenous forced errors of the past such as unbridled debt fueled asset bubbles in AK is problematic at least.
…but it’s a sign that at least some younger economists are challenging the neo-liberal stranglehold.
Was talking to my sister (a teacher teaching economics and technology) a few days ago and she asked if I was reading any good books. I mentioned Debunking economics and she responded that I should keep that away from her students because, you know, it would be bad if the young actually questioned the theory that they were being taught.
It was encouraging however to see at least several Treasury and RB heavyweights, along with a couple of well known bank economists, Russel Norman and a number of other beltway types
While in Wellington end of last year went with some guys who were taking footage to put together a small documentary of our economic reality.. During the process we were approached by a chap who came out of the treasury building, and asked what we were up to, we told him, and he said he was from Treasury Regulatory section and agreed to talk on the condition of not being recorded.
Asked him a simple question and if he could could alleviate our concerns that apart from the 2% of notes and coin in circulation the rest of our monetary supply originates as interest bearing loans to private lending in, meaning that with only principle being created at entry, countries eventually had to take on even more debt to repay + interest, and as such loans could never be repaid, and countries including NZ would eventually become bankrupted, or “taken over”.
He agreed that this was the situation, and that it was mostly fraudulent, and that it has been admitted at the highest international levels of banking and the debate has moved on to what next!
Its no secret what is going on, the real question is, what can be done about it, and when will the press start asking serious questions….Did Keen get any MSM coverage while he was here?
“our monetary supply originates as interest bearing loans to private lending in”
2% generated internally?, f’sake no wonder, world wide problem?,f’sake.
They adding the digital cashflow into those budgets?
If the cashflow is outgoing then we have a conflict on the exchange rate.
And maybe we should let it up a bit while they decide the “Next Step”.
Ultimately they have to allow for “Theoretical” money, and that’s a hard one.
essentially, only the notes and coins issued by the Reserve Bank is debt free money. Everything else – including almost all the digital money you mention – is originally created, at some stage, via the production of interest bearing debt.
Its like me paying for a $100 item using a credit card. That $100 flows into the shop’s accounts, and then flows on to workers and suppliers from there. But the baseline origin of that $100 is an interest bearing debt.
i.e the coffer is empty, cause of loan repayments.
Which comes back to Goverment backed industries, and the exchange rate.
A right pickle M8!
One only big money can fix, and it’d have to be “spare” cash, a big ask.
I do have one option. But I don’t think yas’ll like it … Iranian Banks.
It gets worse than that. What you see happening in Spain, Italy and Greece is that those countries are now so in debt to bankers and bond holders, the only way they can meet repayments is to borrow even more money from those same bankers and bondholders to do it.
Which by the way is what NZ does, on a smaller scale.
From a meeting I attended run by Planner of the Auck Council, I asked what there refer to as affordable? the answer $400-$450k. For many the answer is a $300 one way ticket to Aussie. Then how could this be achieved, the only reply was for either a rich benefactor to “gift” a large tract of land or for council contributions to be transferred to other developers, but this is in conflict to current legislation. Yet council contributions and Water care equates to approx $30k or for Govt to waiver GST. Still even with all of these measures put in place, we are still talking $350-$400k for a box. Given the cost to live in NZ and our great wage levels not really a change for the Kiwi dream to be realized.
And now we enter another bubble, also try spending $1m on a house in Auckland and see how little $1m is !!! 😉 http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6839900/No-signs-of-Auckland-housing-bubble-yet http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/nz-house-sales-gain-16-percent-august-auckland-christchurch-lead-bd-128058 http://thestandard.org.nz/housing-bubble-round-2-post/
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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 cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“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 to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
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 ...
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 ...
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Checked around the opposition party websites this morning. Some items posted in the last 2 days:
Mana is campaigning to make Otara a pokie free zone and is celebrating a small victory:
http://mana.net.nz/2012/09/fast-food-pokies-loses-battle-a-victory-for-mana-and-a-victory-for-otara/
Green MP Catherine Delahunty put out a statement on National Standards:
http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/standards-publishing-will-set-back-education
Annette King keeps on the government’s case about housing:
http://www.labour.org.nz/news/state-houses-empty-while-thousands-wait
This reminds me, King quoted some figures in the House last week on the large amount of single women, on a range of incomes, who are having difficulty finding affordable housing – some are couch-surfing, some sleeping in their cars. This includes women on low incomes as well as women who are ‘quite well educated” (i.e. in terms of formal qualifications).
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/a/6/f/50HansD_20120919_00000012-General-Debate.htm
King said:
And Brendan Horan of NZ First keeps on the case of Kiwirail:
http://nzfirst.org.nz/news/kiwirail-now-nzs-most-dysfunctional-state-company
He lists a range of problems and says:
Yup, you only have to look at the NACT friendly muppets fresh from other SOE’s etc to see it’s all about following the Hollowmens orders rather then run an effective service.
The government has – it’s just that their job is to destroy Kiwirail.
Stuff. the MSM. “…you gotta give the people something good to read…on a Sunday
S(t)andanista
(Charlie don’t surf, and we think he shooould…)
It’s good to see all the opposition parties working so well.
@ Jenny +1 Yes, I agree, its very good to see 🙂
Our Minister of Justice, Judith ‘I’m not here to eat my lunch’ Collins sits there straight faced calling Alcohol our social drug that most adults use responsibly. As Alcohol is proven to be a far more dangerous and harmful drug than Marijuana, why then does the Minister not believe those same adults could use this less harmful drug just as responsibly?
Collins is in denial (it is not just a river in Egypt)
God forsake us if she bullies her way into PM (Shipley on steroids?)
poor ól David Parker; consistently not so articulate, particularly under pressure
-people need to have confidence in their representatives Dave
Jesse Ventura’s recent book-“Democrips and Rebloodicans” (he’s wrestling the presidency;like Pink)
These proposed new Vehicle Safety Check Regulations; essentially will increase consumption
-replacement rather than timely maintenence and repair
There is an excellent interview with the big V running on RT. Simple plain statments of simple plain truths. i especially like his Foreign Policy which can be summed up as: if a country or its people asks for our help we will be there. If they don’t we have no right to intervene!
best of all he has the guts to say the Electoral College is a corrupt and outdated political institution that is not relevant fair or necessary
there is hope for “real” men, and women, within, and above, Politics (unlike that bigotted Sabin)
Lolwut! What’s she smoking? 😀
I’d be picking coffee and a good breakfast myself 😀
She should qualify that statement with the word “Depressant” somehow
Rather good points made by Krugman on redistribution…
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/notes-on-the-political-economy-of-redistribution/
In summary, the Rich Right have managed to convince many to vote against their best financial and social interests.
The voices on the Left don’t seem to have had any decent counter strategy…other than to drift Right in order to try and benefit from some of that misdirected voting as well.
Sorta useless, really.
I recently emailed Stuff two questions regarding their 180 degree shift in comments policy. The whole Stuff Nation ‘ bringing the community together ‘ by only including registered users ramble seems a bit counter-intuitive. Not to mention it highlights the downward spiral of journalistic standards and further blurs the distinction between facts and opinion.
I asked if they could offer any explanation or reasoning behind the switch ( and do not expect a response ) I also asked when Stuff Mobile access will have comments restored? I have had a partial response to the second question only… ” Functionality will be restored within the next few weeks” ( 😉 the timing of that being after the House rises is surely just a co-incidence)
Ah. interesting. thanks for the link and tip, freedom.
I had been avoiding stuff nation – I didn’t know what was involved, but couldn’t understand why that needed anything separate from the “Nation” section.
Now I understand. This is part of the MSM struggling to maintain there dominance in a context where bloggers and online communities have gained a lot of strength.
So, unlike the old op ed scribes at Granny, rather than attack the bloggers, stuff’s approach is if you can’t beat them join them. By having commenters registers they keep control.
My inclination is not to join.
And I had moved SN to the bottom of my browser, so rarely see it.
yup, with you there carol,
time for yet another email based persona to be fabricated and used on public computers only.
Note: I actually use my personal email here at the Standard as i have full confidence and faith in the integrity of this operation and its motives.
work awaits, but here is a little mirth that sums up the political agenda as being practised in NZ
http://cdn.lolchamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/siblings.jpg
Yep like, “9 long years…..”
There is an interesting series articles on National Standards in the Herald this morning, including the first league tables. Interestingly not all schools were there.
I found myself compelled to compare the results of my kids primary school with the neighboring schools. A school with a poor reputation amongst professionals had better results. Its principal is known to overhype things and it looks like national standard results are no exception.
And the Herald’s conclusions are not earth shattering.
1. Girls do better than boys.
2. Maori and Pacifica are doing poorly.
3. Rich areas schools perform better.
We are spending $50 million a year to produce dodgy data that will only hurt some schools. The money would be far better spent on professional development for teachers and school breakfasts.
Apparently big classes in big schools are the answer to children’s education.
Further robust reporting on Standards this morning from the Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10835909
Bucklands Beach Primary – a decile 10 school – the parents will be asking why the school isn’t achieving 99 pcent at or above the standard. But then the Herald, like most of the uninformed, wouldn’t know a Bell curve if it hit them in the face.
And, for the record, Parata should have asked her former teacher to show her the P and A register for her classes in Rotorua, to see just how many children were meeting the Standards of the day.
Yes Logie97. That is an odd article by Jonathon Milne. He says, “Ministry of Education data indicates Bucklands Beach Primary School has nearly 24 pupils for every full-time-equivalent teacher, creating the potential for some of the biggest primary classes in the country.” 24 kids per teacher. Wow. Big classes indeed- not. And I thought all schools worked under the same formula of staffing. The only way around it is if a wealthy Decile 10 school should employ extra staff at their own expense.
And even if a Decile 10 school has high pass rates it is because it is a Decile 10 not because of any class size. Milne should get a bit of fact in his writing.
And why has that nice teacher on duty got both feet off the ground? On a bit of a high is she?
AS a matter of interest do the paper who publish pictures of kid in classrooms have releases from the parents?
I was amused to se the picture in stuff with two girls intent on art.
BUT that is NOT part of the NS.
Sorry, Hekia – Ruatoria.
DimPost does a better analysis with scatter graphs.
Show a small positive correlation, but reduced when the special school are removed.
It is a well worth read to counter the crap analysis by the HOS.
http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/well-below-standard-in-analysis/
another good analysis here:
http://www.ben.geek.nz/2012/09/schools-names-starting-with-i-work/
Not good news for me, our local is an ‘m’ school.
Standards? Almost every comment I have read in the discussions over time that attacks the teaching profession appears to include anecdotes of bad experiences the commenter had at secondary school.
National standards is about primary school people …
“1. Girls do better than boys.”
Imagine if that stat was the other way around – all the professional wailers from Team Feminist on here would be screeching.
Young men killing themselves in record numbers ( way more than women ) and hardly a peep out of the Left. But “gay marriage” – well what a big performance from the Lifestyle Liberals and coffee table feminists – “my rights! me! me! me!”
The data is NOT reliable!
Go back to bed k_p, you haven’t woken up yet.
Oh that kind of comment is not allowed! Not allowed, I say!
“Young men killing themselves in record numbers ( way more than women ) and hardly a peep out of the Left.”
This is a central argument of why we need to treat people equally regardless of sexuality and allow gay marriage.
“But “gay marriage” – well what a big performance from the Lifestyle Liberals and coffee table feminists – “my rights! me! me! me!””
You just don’t get it, do you?
“This is a central argument of why we need to treat people equally regardless of sexuality and allow gay marriage.”
Gay marriage will stop young men suiciding?
VERY tenuous.
When gays stopped being sexual outlaws in the mid 80s did the young male suicide rate go down?
When gays got civil unions, did the young male suicide rate go down?
Women voting. Blacks getting paid. Can’t even rape your own wife.
What’s the world coming to?
Surprised you got time to post felix – thought you and your side kick QoT would be too busy outside the Ecuadorean Embassy waving placards and screaming “Stop the Ecuadorean rape culture!!! Stop the Ecuadorean rape culture!!!”.
I’ve told you before, QoT and I are the same person.
So hows your “Stop the Ecuadorean Rape Culture! Campaign” going?
You tell me, first I’ve heard of it.
How’s your “Get Through The Day Without Making A Gibbon Of Yourself On The Standard” campaign coming along?
“Gay marriage will stop young men suiciding?”
No. Of course not. One piece of policy will not stop young men suiciding. That’s a VERY tenuous question.
Your next two questions are just as tenuous. Those two time frames – after the mid 80s and after 2005 – are the two times during which NZs inequality rose at alarming rates, and naturally suicide rates increased as well. So the rates of suicide increased during those times because the economic exclusion outweighed the social inclusion. Also you have selected legalising homosexuality, and the civil unions…both of which did not bring sexuality equality, but it did highlight sexuality otherness. So I fail to understand how an answer to your stupid question can even be of benefit to this argument…you have failed to acknowledge so many factors.
If you had the ability to ask a logical question it would go something along these lines:
“will gay marriage decrease the current levels of suicide in young gay men, and what is the downside to the rest of the community if we accepted gay marriage?”
The first half of that question is unanswerable without very indepth research, but I would say that if we give equal rights to gays then this will probably reduce the high levels of suicide within that community, I see no reason how gay marriage could cause suicide rates for young gay males to increase. Social exclusion is a key issue in youth suicide. The answer to the second part of that question is that gay marriage does not affect anyone in the heterosexuality community, except for biggots.
Not just him, cos I don’t get it either…So, enlighten us!
Ffirstly KP said the left do not cry foul over the high rates of youth suicide (which I don’t agree with)…and then KP said that the left are focused on demanding sexuality equality.
I then pointed out that othering homosexuality and excluding them from the institution of marriage is part of the reason why their rates of suicide are so high (which is some on the left have been saying)
So KP accuses the left of not addressing gay youth suicide, but then when policies are brought in to address this, KP claims the left fail on both counts. That is why KP doesn’t get it. Do you?
Yes, there are many concerns about males not doing as well as females in education in recent decades. However, as iI recall it is largely males from lower socio-economic households that are not doing so well in education (I’m in my sick bed today & can’t be bothered looking it up right now -some other time). Those are the boys that need the most help in achieving educationally.
Males from middle-class backgrounds are continuing to do relatively well in education.
And the female educational successes don’t translate that well into statistics on paid work. Women, on average, still earn around 80% of male wages.
And with recent rises in unemployment, women have had the biggest increases in unemployment. And, I posted above about how there is a recent rise in homelessness, even amongst women with success in formal education.
I also think you’ll find that the gay youth suicide rates are higher than the proportion for youth suicide rates generally for the same gender.
i hope those with the best interests of females at heart are shifting their gaze to the increasing number of homeless women in Aotearoa!
How interesting that “high grades” are interpreted as indicators of superior human worth (or that is how it is beginning to look to me). Many kids get quite “ordinary” grades at school and proceed to excel in adulthood and maturity. Mostly, citing higher grades as so desirable is a form of snobbery.
I was deemed a “failure” at secondary school, with terrible grades (in huge classes!) Strangely, upon maturity, I began to “learn”, not necessarily through formal education. And the fact that I gained a straight “A” doctoral degree at a leading university, might just say something. Let us not allow government mismanagement and foolishness cause any child (or parent) to surrender hope.
I don’t know what was wrong with the old system? Back in the 80s at highschool we were streamed. I was in the top stream, we got to skip Form 6 and go to Form 7.
The school had a great reputation for academic performance and sport.
Mostly the teachers wanted to teach, it was the kids who had bad attitudes and a lot of teacher energy went into keeping them all in line. Bulling was a big problem too.
Looking back it was a combination of raw talent and effort that set the achievers apart from the rest.
The answer you seek in your first sentence can be found in your third.
You talking about the bullying, pussy cat?
If so, that is another issue.
But it does have a big impact on performance.
Having said that, there was one kid in class got harassed relentlessly for being girly. Still pulled off A grades every year.
No, I’m talking about the fact that someone who can’t identify the third sentence in a comment he wrote himself was considered “top stream”.
QED
What? How is having streamed classes a problem?
Shit dude now you are just re-confirming felix’s point.
He’s been doing it all day ref.
Bulling at school. Agricultural school, was it?
Some of the kids were feral enough.
IMO, what was wrong with it was that it taught wrote learning and not critical thinking. That’s why we changed the system as we need more critical and creative thinking rather than boxed in thought.
I have done a couple of university papers where the lecturer sent us the exam questions some weeks before the actual exam to dissuade rote (note the spelling, DtB) learning. As we knew the questions beforehand he’d have spotted mindless repetition over critical thinking immediately.
a qualified exam, wow.
Hard thing to do if the exam isn’t defined yet.
School standards and the wrath they wreak
Huh?
An anecdote is not research and, besides, we’re talking about primary education here.
Yeah, it’s one of those irritating English words that has contextual spelling.
Just giving you a good example of what a critical thinking (higher) education looks like.
But whatever. Good luck with The Venus Project, Draco
No, actually, you didn’t. What you gave was an example of what you thought was a way to spot “mindless repetition”. None of my uni lecturers gave out the questions weeks before hand as that’s usually considered as cheating and I’m sure that they’d still be able to spot people rabbiting back at them.
The point that I made is that rote learning comes from the teaching and that teaching has changed over the years so that rote learning is minimised and critical thought patterns is improved.
“None of my uni lecturers gave out the questions weeks before hand as that’s usually considered as cheating”
You mean like giving people a range of topics to write an assignment on is cheating?
When you did an assignment were you only told the topic the day it was due?
That’s weird.
Look buddy, I know you like to think you are quite the renaissance man but the fact remains that my lecturer at the time wanted his students to write essay answer as opposed to rote repetition. Which was there was maybe two weeks (from memory – might have been one..?) to formulate the response you were to give, which would need to be a critical analysis of the topic. No books allowed in the exam venue, no other bits of paper. You had time to research which topics you wanted to research (not remembering and repeating facts – but actual research) then write an essay on said topic in the time allowed. A critical analysis as opposed to repetition of fact.
Go back to your fucking Zeitgeist Movement you limp-dicked fuckhole.
Heh, I enjoyed writing that.
I’ve seen “one of these 3 questions will be the test” done both ways. One was in an economics class, where it really was just rote-learning 3 paragraphs from the notes – completely useless.
The other (in a health sciences paper) really was along the lines of answering each question required a decent understanding of large chunks of the course, overlapping on the really important bits of the course. Much more effective as a teaching and assessment tool, imo.
One of those things where the decided direction isn’t possibly as important as the details thereof.
“The other (in a health sciences paper) really was along the lines of answering each question required a decent understanding of large chunks of the course, overlapping on the really important bits of the course. Much more effective as a teaching and assessment tool, imo.”
Jah, I agree. I removes the plain remembering out of it and forces the student (me) to understand, examine and critically assess the material instead of regurgitating what I have read.
Last time I looked an assignment isn’t a test. Get given a range of questions for those and then go do them. They’re to encourage independent research. As I understand it, we’re now getting that sort of teaching in primary which is what kiwi_prometheus was complaining about.
And now you’re talking about tests again. And, no, I wasn’t given the questions for exams before the exams.
And after all that, we’re talking about how teaching was in primary school 20+ years ago. Not the teaching in university.
Yes there has been a move to get uni and students at other levels to think, and work, more critically and actively, rather than just regurgitate material in exams.
Unfortunately though, there’s also a thriving illicit business in selling students assignments. So getting them to research an exam question in advance, then write them in the exam, is partly an attempt to counter that form of cheating – but ultimately it’s hard to ensure that some students haven’t just memorised an essay someone else researched for them.
Cheats all over the show in this economy of unfettered capitalism, that encourages competition and qualifications over the intrinsic satisfactions of learning.
“The rest” (as you dismissively describe them) are largely suffering from various forms of abuse, family conflict, social discrimination, self-hate, and plenty else. Thus kp (you seem to have disappeared. See below), carry right on with your self- congratulation and all so believable lack of compassion or broader understanding. I pray God to avoid people of your kind.
Naughty kiwi. Streaming is pure evil because it accepts that students are different and learn at different rates from others at the same age. Such an idea is anathema to the one true religion ie progressivism. No dissension will be tolerated.
Well said Dr T….I find that at uni the very smart kids straight out of school are book smart, but their empathetic intelligence is missing. It is the students with a bit of life experience who possess a more rounded and complete intelligence. The high grades at school will result in high grades at early uni level, however when those students are required to go beyond regurgitating information, they begin to struggle.
High grades at school are not always a sign of intelligence, and are definitely not a sign of moral worth. Since we all have google in our pocket these days, surely its more important to know how to ask the right question, rather than to remember the answer.
“High grades at school are not always a sign of intelligence”
Maybe cheating in some cases but otherwise they definitely are a sign of intelligence.
“It is the students with a bit of life experience who possess a more rounded and complete intelligence. ”
Yeah life experience only comes with time though, no education system is going to replicate that.
“Yeah life experience only comes with time though”
Nope. Travel, poverty, illness are a few ways that life experience can be learned very quickly.
Travel? It still involves time. How many students can afford or have time to go travel the world?
Poverty? Like “Mean Streets”?
That’s a cliche. Just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have more or better “life experience”than the next guy.
I think experience and time have a very strong link.
“Travel? It still involves time.”
Yes, as does everything. But I would say a 25 year old that has travelled extensively, and experienced many cultures, has far more life experience than a 40 year old who has lived in the one country and lived a socially stable life.
Yeah, poverty, as in having you options and abilities limited so that you are required to improvise. And poverty, as in being excluded from society.
Its true that – “just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have more or better ‘life experience’ than the next guy”. But I was replying to your comment: “life experience only comes with time”.
Life experience and time do have a strong link, but there are many ways to gain life experience.
Also money. My un-favourite question in the staff room “Well, so, where did you go for your OE?” I am so fed up with explaining to the middle class kiddies that 70-75% of people in my age group never had the money or the time for an OE. (The other question is “where did you send your kids for their gap year?”) lolwut?
It’s yet another case of the well-off assuming that everyone else was as comfortable as them, and sneering at those who for some strange reason (as they see it) didn’t swan off overseas on daddy’s money as soon as they finished school. Prats.
News flash – most of us – even now, have to support ourselves, especially those with dead parents.
true…travel is a generational privilege which the x and x generations rarely acknowledge, it was not the same for the earlier generations. Anyone between the ages of 18-25 in NZ who has a full time job and no children (not all, but most) can easily travel and live overseas
Absolutely true!
My son’s 25, but he didn’t have a ‘gap year’, he went straight to university, got his nursing qualifications, and has been working hard since, to save the money to travel. (He’s been to Australia every year since 2009, but my colleague informed that Australia ‘doesn’t count’… )
I left school at 17 and got a job, had a child at 18, my father died when I was 20, leaving nothing but a house, I got married when I was 21, and so I have only ever got as far as Australia, and that will never change. Divorced, DPB mother, now unemployed but for 6 week contracts..hence no gap year for my kids!
Maybe I’ll get richer when I am older, but there’d be no point in having an OE at 65! 🙁
I dunno about “no point”. I know a few people who had their first OE in their 60s or later.
Having said that, overseas travel isn’t as important to some of us as we’re supposed to think it is.
I think travel is worthwhile at any age, if you get the chance. Australia has a very different culture and environment to NZ…a 4 day piss up / shopping spree on the East Coast of aussie might not give someone much life experience, but a 2 week exploration into remote territories costs about the same, and is sure to change a person’s perspective. Even a budget 2 weeks in south east asia was costing about the same when Air Asia was here. The internet has made travelling easier and cheaper.
All my travelling has involved very strict saving from work that is around minimum wage. I never got hire purchases, or spent money on consuming things…made a lot of sacrifices during that time to save, and my parents couldn’t contribute a dime.
But I was lucky with those things that are a lottery, I have no kids and travel is relatively cheap these days compared to the past.
u onto fatty; Nietzsche valued different states of health in a thinkers development
even a little mind-alteration may promote empathy
the shortcoming of alcohol is that much of the disinhibited thought and behaviour is forgotten once the anasthetic wears off
KP, In genereal high grades are little more than a sign of being able to regurgitate formulaic data and rote learned responses. Attempts to variate from these stimulus-response exercises are generally discouraged, not understood or simply become victim to punitative action either in the classroom or out on the playfield.
There are many great teachers out there who recognise this and do what they can to combat the concrete flippers of mainstream education but reality is what reality is.
Given that KP claims to have been in the top stream at his school, he’s living proof that grades != intelligence.
wots ya occupation Flockie?
btw, after completing trade qual and one internal year at Massey, i found independent, extramural study far more efficient, (still receivd personal complimentary letters concerning grades) and just to fill out the load in the final year learnt entry level calc etc from the materials they sent
(Aaaayes for that too Doc)
thereafter i found it too disruptive and inefficient to study post-grad as required internally (accepted at two national uni’s)
Is the need for academics to stand at the front of a large auditorium, or warm the office seats of faculty buildings becoming increasingly redundent?
and still this relentless elimination of classic arts courses; Is this to further dumb down peoples expectations of what life is all about? the unexamined life and all that…?
They must wear spirtual blindfolds.
Data cruncher at the moment (hence my transition from “=/=” to “!=” 🙂 ). Taking large datasets and making the important stuff readable for coalface professionals.
I still have the notion that it’s better to have a lecturer present, but many lecturers in my experience have made themselves redundant via powerpoint – i.e. the content of their talk is basically just what’s on the slides, and there’s little real interaction with students. But then labs and tutes make up for that to some degree.
But the best lecturers are those who use the ppt slides as talking points, rather than simply rephrasing the bulletpoints for 50 minutes.
That and the 30sec opportunity after the lecturer to ask “wtf?” is occasionally useful 🙂
I found the quality of Teaching at university, apart from the school of Education, obviously, and a few notable exceptions, abysmal.
Fortunately some of the worst lecturers had the best notes.
I am please I was not at University, in my teens, in the days before power point and notes online.
Graduate students that did tutorials and marking devoted, mostly, little time or understanding to the task.
Many university staff seemed to just consider the students a necessary nuisance.
Yknow, some people have a -ve iq?
(refer to my comment on hide recently to understand -ve)
Reall problem when we (+iq people), try to mimmick them, most decide not too after trying.
Fundamental in society almost at one point before the 90’s give or take, leads too disassociative behaviour.
The actual number is the same, just put a negative on it.
kp wrong again. It is one thing to have a good brain and subsequent “success” at school, but often quite another thing to be “intelligent” (which you are not). It is a grave error to necessarily equate brain with intelligent behaviour (so many “bright” people have no common sense, ethics, or empathy).
JOHN BANKS MUST GO – Avaaz petition
I just came across this petition in the comments on Tumeke blogspot:
http://tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/tumeke-exclusive-interview-with-john.html
Petition:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/John_Banks_Must_Go_1/?tBZcccb
Here is some info on Avaaz for those who like to know more before signing up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avaaz
And their homepage (I couldn’t load their “about” page hence only providing the homepage link)
http://www.avaaz.org/en/
More information can be found on http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone,com
Penny Bright
Persistent and consistent – ‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
😉
Clean Green 100% Pure Bullshit
Clean Green = 100% Pure Bullshit, when the foreign press wake up to the Bullshit Green Lie. We’ve had rammed down our collective throats. Then we’ll see how good the Dairy Cheque is to the economy. – – – – Wake up NZ It’s GREEN because of all the imported Grassland and imported Fertilisers, and 40 million bloody old Heiffers shitting all over it. Oh and it Rains alot here.
Never was a Island so changed from its’ natural state to its’ present so quickly In the entire History of Humanity.
I watched tv prime last night Nazi Hunters at 11pm. I learned about Himmler and was reminded that Hitler and he were both imprisoned in an attempt early in the 1930s to control their excesses. It may have done that but didn’t affect them long. Himmler was a gun organiser and was very meticulous with detail. Interestingly his father was a teacher and his mother an ardent Catholic.
Himmler had gathered an army by mid 1930’s of tens of thousands of young men, vetted in every way, health, teeth, heritage (German since 1900s), and devoted to Nazi ideals and obedient to orders.
As early as 1921 student unions barred Jews from membership, and a referendum on this showed 76% of the votes agreed with the ban.
At the same time, Nazi newspapers began agitating for a boycott of Jewish businesses and anti-Jewish boycotts became a regular feature of 1920’s regional German politics with right-wing German parties becoming closed to Jews.
From wikipedia headings under Hitlers brownshirts –
1 In 1921 Adolf Hitler formed his own private army called Sturm Abteilung (Storm Section). The SA (also known as stormtroopers or brownshirts) were instructed to …
2 To ‘keep the peace’ and maintain law and order, the SA (the Brown Shirts) roamed the streets beating up those who openly opposed Hitler. The election took …
Then the attacks on the Jews and anybody disliked or disapproved of with opposing views started. Dachau was opened mid 1938, the first concentration camp. All very chilling stuff.
Then this morning there was a report on the size of the Russian men’s group with right wing, attitudes mounting attacks against perceived outsiders from Eastern Europe. So there is a large group of young men with twisted values establishing their own priorities, acting against the established government, committing violence. Sounds shittily familiar.
I shouldn’t have put that Himmler was a gun organiser, another adjective like outstanding would have been clearer. Gun as in being slang for very good was misleading.
i understand Himmler’s and Heydrich’s developments well
Heydrich was the epitome, the exemplar; thats why it was important he was assasinated
😀
Yes, it misled me! It is a kiwi-ism? (I was thinking NRA) …
instead we continue to have a large group of old men with twisted values establishing their own priorities, acting against the established citizenry, committing violence.
Many of whom were trained and programmed by the very people you are rightly vilifying
so what was your point?
The machine that forged the hatred is still fuelled fired and operating at even greater levels of efficiency than it ever was under the psychotic despot with one teste and sweet f.a. artistic talent.
People seem so willing to forgive and forget that the scientists who obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki largely came from the very same factories and installations that built the camps. These are the same people that since the beginning of the Industrial Age developed the technology, the intelligence services, the torture chambers and the ‘Public Foundations’ of mainstream propoganda that have built the world we have today. That includes the rockets that gave us space. The global intelligence agencies, false flags, Psy-ops and chemical programming. The bioweapons. The security scanners. The spies in the sky and every clinically precise aspect of what has matured to become Homeland Security. A living manifesto of oppression that is being built boxed and shipped out to every corner of the globe.
and you have your knickers in a twist about a few rowdy russians?
freedom 10.2
When I wrote about Himmler’s young troops and then referred to Russian right wingers I said that their was a similarity. That was my point.
I don’t know what your point was in decrying my piece. You seem to be angry that I didn’t list all the major acts of viciousness by humans since the Industrial Age. I would have thought it would be good to see someone giving some attention to the environment likely to create fighting and human degradation as that is apparently your concern.
I think you sound a bit crazy. If you study human behaviour too closely it is a likely outcome. I suggest you take a brief moment to vilify me as you seem to want an aggressive war of words, and then take a walk in the park and throw the ducks some bread. They would appreciate that action more than I have receiving your barrage of misdirected invective.
Hi Prism
Apologies for the tardy reply, was not near a machine last night and accessing The Standard via mobile has gone from being a roulette game to being completely unuseable so had to wait till this a.m. to be near a machine.
First up i was out of line with the twisted knickers comment, as i was not meaning to make it personal to you. It was sloppy of me to include it.
Secondly, I am not crazy. Just wanted to clear that up.
I do however think that mentioning a stream of historical fact should not be responded to with labels of mental illness. Some very unfortunate circumstances have started that way
The basic point as i said was not to attack you but attack the ongoing ignorance that attempts to suggest that anything has changed since the Third Reich was ‘removed from power’
For good or bad i am just like this in daily life, i refuse to be a keyboard warrior as you suggest, instead i constantly provoke and promote the sharing of reality and the dialogues that ensue. This means i sometimes piss off new acquaintances but like many i do enjoy feeding the ducks.
have a great week wherever your endeavours take you.
Lprent – re the site functionality, I am on a S2. i can barely load pages, they take forever regardless of signal strength whilst other sites/pages are loading and functioning smoothly. The comment box jumps out of sight as soon as you touch it and the page scrolls away making text entry impossible unless you mind trace every character and hope.
freedom 10 2 1 1
I don’t consider that being crazy sometimes, is a sign of mental illness. I pointed out that if you are giving a lot of thought to the tragedies of the human condition that could raise your stress levels to max.
Also my focus was not on what has happened since the attempt at the third reich. I referred to some facts that were interesting about the growth of gangs of men prepared for violence and obedience in Germany which were marshalled to start Himmler’s Nazi army prior to WW2 and that there is an uncomfortably similar scenario starting in Russia.
We as humans have the propensity for violence, particularly men, though not exclusively so. Anyone looking, learning and thinking about this should not be criticised by you. The world needs to find intelligent ways to respond to this tendency so we reduce violence.
Note that the Wermacht were not that involved in the worst that period in Germany offered. And it was Germany’s professional military who more often than not who were the ones who tried to kill Hitler.
The Nazis had to form and develop a paramilitary organisation to do the real dirty, nasty work of the Third Reich. Like running the concentration camps and interrogation centres.
The “gangs of men” you refer to prism eventually became this highly structured and resourced organisation, the SS.
CV
Yes. Himmler was appointed and took charge of all the nasty work it seems. Finding the right young men for his army. And they noted in the documentary that there needed to be a choice made from within the SS to find those that could cope with shooting people into ready mass graves, or later, handle the gas chamber organisation.
And people were required to oversee the others. To send them into the large chambers naked, packed in tight so that their body heat would rise to 27 degrees so that the poison gas crystals would be activated. I don’t know how long that took, and imagination must be consciously limited if one is to go on with the day’s activities. It’s so chilling to think that our higher brains can be used to perform such sub-animal atrocities. We are cursed by our so clever brain power that has this dark pit of ferocity and devilry hidden inside.
This is so awful to think about but I think occasionally things like this should be exposed and referred to though hard to face.
And men of conscience inside Germany did not, or could not, do enough to stop it.
With the Japanese, the elite led their own country and own citizens on to nuclear devastation. Its interesting to question the mindset which allowed them to believe that they were ever going to win a war against the mighty energy and industrial resources of the USA.
“cos man has invented his Doom..first step was reaching the moon,…and there’s a woman on my block..she just sit there..as the night grows still..she says who?…who’s, gonna take away his license to kill)
Jokerman
Your words strike true. Yours or whose?
Latest news, matey USA visitor to our NZ prime minster has kindly suggested that we have USA troops stationed here to help with our defence. This at a time when we have to make contact and good relations with the Asian region and China.
We don’t want any more connection with the USA than we already have, helping them to fight their wars dictated by and channelling to their own moneyed power base and self-centred world view. And once they set up bases here, kindly for our benefit really, and their money started to circulate into willing hands, and their military barriers against complying with our laws stopped us from holding them to account, and all the other ways we would be sullied by them, it would take decades of agitation to get rid of them. Look at Okinawa.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-chen/american-occupation-casts_b_598700.html
Great! Having US bases here are more likely to make us a target than prevent it.
They may have have personnel and facilities stationed here in amongst our forces (as they do for the Antarctic programme) but I don’t think its likely to be a base as such.
I agree, its not needed by NZ and it would permanently alter the neutrality of how our troops are viewed everywhere else in the world.
Asia and China (included of course) will be quick to notice duplicity. Be very careful Key & co.!
Maybe we can have an American Army Band!!!!!
Well we deliberately under resource our own forces so badly we can barely afford to resource our own defence force bands. Pathetic.
Might be a bloody good thing for Northland,
And of course the east or west coast of Southland.
One thing to remember, is the 6 knot current running down the Tasman Sea.
I’d be worried about the world calling us a staging ground/crititcal partner,
So some thought about Australia would have to be included.
We can’t harbour big ships anyway, no room M8!
I remember that Sub that was sitting high and dry at low tide, took up the entire Hauraki channel.
It filled it from North Head to Queen st give or take
They had to wait for a week for the next spring tide, and probably had to reverse out.
But they visited !, that’s commitment M8
so hoping to wAKE UP TOMORROW and read that len brown has fired the management of P.O.A.L. and they ready to challenge the bright new future without the parasites at present in temporary charge.
Message for LPRent:
The up arrow doesn’t work in the Edit Comment dialog box, stopped a couple of days ago.
Do you mean the scroll bar arrow? Works in Safari (unlike most of the formatting tools).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10835837
SOCIAL WELFARE – NOT ‘CORPORATE’ WELFARE!
HOW MANY BILLION$ OF PUBLIC MONIES COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR THE NEEDY PUBLIC IF IT WASN’T BEING WASTED ON GREEDY CORPORATE WELFARE BENEFICIARIES?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00095/wheres-nationals-corporate-welfare-reform.htm
How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Which of the maor political parties are pushing for ‘corporate welfare’ reform and shrinking the long-term dependency of the private sector on our public monies?
Where is the ‘devilish detail’ at both local and central government level – which shows EXACTLY where our public rates and taxes are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
Why aren’t the names of the consultant(s)/ contrators(s) – the scope, term and value of these contracts, published in Council or central government Annual Reports – so this information on the spending of OUR public monies is available for public scrutiny?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Great work, thank you Penny.
Interesting link from your article:
“—POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services. Specifically, POGO’s study shows that the federal government approves service contract billing rates—deemed fair and reasonable—that pay contractors 1.83 times more than the government pays federal employees in total compensation, and more than 2 times the total compensation paid in the private sector for comparable services.”
http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/reports/contract-oversight/bad-business/co-gp-20110913.html#Executive%20Summary
The answer to that would be no as the total amount of spending that the government spends on contractors is only a few billion but that could probably be reduced by using permanent staff by a few tens of millions per year.
DTB
So what are you saying?
Surely where savings exist they should be pursued?
Or is it solely recipients of community education, welfare and low wage earners and such like who need to be the recipients of the cutting of “unnecessary” costs?
I was pointing out that central government spend couldn’t possibly be reduced by 50% just by cutting out contractors but that I’m still in favour of getting rid of the contractors.
Where are the FACTS to back up this statement Draco?
“The answer to that would be no as the total amount of spending that the government spends on contractors is only a few billion but that could probably be reduced by using permanent staff by a few tens of millions per year.”
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Well, here (PDF), although I must admit I was actually thinking of consultants rather than contractors ATT. If the $30b/year mentioned in the PDF is spent on contractors then we would still only be looking at savings of ~$15b. A significant amount but not the $40b you mentioned.
Oh heck! What? only $15billion? Nah….hell no, lets not save that amount…its not $40billion, or $100 billion, so really… lets focus on something else
🙄
[Deleted. Pointless insult ..RL]
@ Contrarian
WTF?
I was referring to Penny Bright as a
[Pointless insults will be deleted…RL]
It wasn’t pointless, I think Penny Bright is crazy as evidenced by her hysterical use of capslock
thanks, Dr Freud.
Yeah, glad to see some curbing of language from the moderator.
Contrarian,
The only grounds that I could agree Mrs Bright as crazy, is that she would have to be somewhat, to be promoting a thinking and informed approach to issues, as she appears to do, in a country such as ours which appears to pride qualities such as alcoholism, thuggery and moronic, numb-skull prejudice and base assumptions.
I suggest, “The Contrarian”, that your attempts at “countering the ignorant swill spouted by gibbering fools, dishonest bloggers, media personalities, politicians, religious swine, conspiracy theorists and by all those who try make a buck peddling ignorance.” is bound to failure unless you work out how to be less of these things yourself.
At least provide some links for your base assumptions
Keep up the good work Penny Bright and thank you.
“Yeah, glad to see some curbing of language from the moderator.”
So let me get this straight:
Calling Penny Bright crazy = bad. Must be moderated.
Draco telling someone they are too stupid to understand something = not bad.
“I suggest, “The Contrarian”, that your attempts at “countering the ignorant swill spouted by gibbering fools, dishonest bloggers, media personalities, politicians, religious swine, conspiracy theorists and by all those who try make a buck peddling ignorance.” is bound to failure unless you work out how to be less of these things yourself.”
Come on, we both know I have been a miserable failure as a blogger due to my complete indifference to posting or updating my blog. You embarrass us both with your comment.
“You embarrass us both with your comment.”
Well, if this is so at least I embarrass you.
A correction FYI:
Calling Penny Bright names = incorrect = astutely moderated
Draco telling someone that they are too stupid to understand something, if this was referring to you “The Contrarian”, = correct = astute assessment of no need to be moderated.
Of course.
What a wonderful moderation system.
Because we are right we may call you names but anyone who suggests we are in the wrong must be moderated….Moderation, you’re doing it wrong.
blue leopard inferring I must be stupid based upon his assumed understanding that Draco once called me stupid = fine and dandy
TheContrarian calling blue leopard a worthless scum-wench fit only for the gutter where he insinuates the raw semen dripping from his overbearing ego = ?
their insults come after a discussion…yours did not and you gave no reason for the insult at the time
Moderation, you’re doing it wrong.
insults, you’re doing it wrong
So you mean I have to engage crazy Penny Bright in conversation before I call her crazy?
[Take a week off for pissing the me off … RL]
hahaha. Zing!
[Take a month off ..RL]
…Oh missed all that, bye bye and thank you TheContrarian; I laughed for 5 minutes on reading:
“blue leopard inferring I must be stupid based upon his assumed understanding that Draco once called me stupid = fine and dandy”
…of course there isn’t any other reason in the world why I would have arrived at that conclusion otherwise….Funny! 😀
See you in a month
Thanks!
The problem is that because ‘the books’ at both central and local government are NOT open – we don’t get the ‘devilish’ detail – so we don’t know where exactly our public monies are being spent.
So much for NZ being ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’?
If we are the least corrupt – shouldn’t we be the MOST transparent?
So – how come we aren’t being told WHERE EXACTLY our public monies are being spent?
Cheers!
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
See , the Herald make ya angry M8!.
They tell us something in the name of news and then harp placation about “What can we do?”
Instead of options we have it’s “it’ll be right on the night”.
Progressive&Civilised?Reporting=???
Ahni at Intercontinental Cry offers some great indigenous news and information. In his latest underreported news was this item
Pam’s final paragraph says it all “Canada needs to stop trying to assimilate us and instead focus on fulfilling its legal and treaty obligations instead of trying to find ways around them. I think we have suffered enough – let us go about the hard job of healing and rebuilding our Nations and enjoy our fair share of what is ours.”
Sounds familar doesn’t it.
Is this being done for areas suspected of being mineral/energy rich?
The Pam Palmater link was broken marty.
http://www.indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2012/08/flanagan-national-petroleum-ownership.html
Thanks joe – lol took me ages to make those links look all nice
Had a look around marty and it seems that the Canadian version of act (fuck’m, no capitalisation) has been pushing the barrow to loosen legislation concerning collective ownership of reserve land since 2002.
Nice mate – that last link was a classic
brings a tear to my eye that they care so much 🙂
RWNJ’s, globally interchangeable marty.
time to get the mutha’s up against the wall.
I have little doubt that others have already covered this, but when I heard it on Radio NZ this morning, I felt ill…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10835960
Yup, sooner or later.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-03/revealed-us-flew-drone-missions-from-australia/4236306
Oh good grief… how terrible…
This will really be a test of what the NZ public will put up with, if like Oz we bend over and had a permanent stationing here.
Asia Pacific does not need your sort of help asshole!
One wonders what might happen in NZ, should we turn down the “opportunity” offored above by Panetta the coward, because that I think was an instruction, not an open door.
Most likely when these shared training sessions happen, it will just prove to be more convenient to leave some US troops here, you know, and hey lets build them some new digs as well…Maybe the NZ taxpayer can borrow the money from the military’s owners, at a “fair rate”
For our safety of course, and failing that, in reaction to an “event” in NZ!
What we need is a mass movement campaign that will remind the Panetta’s of this world that NZ is that tiny little country that stood up to them and tossed out their mighty nuclear powered navy.
I was thinking of a mighty mass people power campaign against any attempt to extradite Mr Dotcom without the US authorities being first required to have to present any evidence at all as to the reasons why, in the legal courts of our properly constituted and sovereign Justice System.
Any attempt by the US to over ride our sovereignity on this issue should be met with the angriest response possible.
Talking about the US international bully boy’s disrespect for the rule of law, sovereignty, and their gung ho approach to extradition.
I imagine that US authorities will do every thing they can to subvert the rule of law in NZ just as they have in Italy. Where in an ironic twist the US is actively opposing extradition of convicted CIA human rights violators.
As well as convicting 23 CIA agents of civil rights violations, Italian courts have found the CIA guilty of violating Italian sovereignty in illegally abducting a Moslem cleric from Italian territory to a territory where torture is legal in a CIA practice known as “extraordinary rendition”.
CIA agents guilty of abducting Egyptian cleric: Italian court
Will NZ courts dare to defy the US in doing the same for Dotcom?
Will our justice system demand that the US authorities at the very least provide their evidence against Kim Dotcom before they agree to deliver Dotcom into the US gulag?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/technology/7706772/Dotcom-in-court-for-documents-appeal
In this highly politicised case will the National Government try and interfere in the workings of the courts?
The signs are not good.
As the Italian case shows, the US knows a lot about extraditing people with their hands tied behind their backs. In fact it is their preferred method of conducting international ‘justice’.
And this government wants to let these goons establish a permanent base for their marines here?
This is an open invitation for abuse and pressure.
Jenny I would like to hope that people still have it in them to understand the importance of issues such as nuclear free NZ and so on, but I would not be surprised if that is no longer the case.
So many people have left NZ since then, and many of those who arrived may either not know the history or the importance of our position, or simply will not care, time will tell I guess.
The USA is still seen by many as the “peacekeeper” , do many I speak with from all walks of life, including people in SE Asia where the USA had decimated their countries, actually say thing like “Better that the US is in charge”, and other nonsense statements…
The USA (Americans are not in charge of that country BTW), will have its way with NZ, unless something very stark happens inside peoples heads, and even then, an “event” could very easily coerce the minds, that having them stationed here is, “in our security interests”
I’d be afraid of looking like a bewildered old bag! 😀 (As I’d be on my own). Oddly, I have just remembered a sad story about a woman I worked with, in my first job after school. She went on her OE at 27, after having saved madly for years – she was in India, house-sitting for someone she knew there – and she was murdered by bandits.
My mum pointed the story out to me. What phenomenonal bad luck for the poor woman..
that is bad luck, extremely bad luck, considering the thousands of travellers who go through India each year and have little to no problems.
“I’d be afraid of looking like a bewildered old bag!”
Then you’d look exactly like most travellers, regardless of their age!
It was indeed, it was very sad…
I suppose that’s true! 😀
David Park is losing credibility – blaming the Reserve bank for its actions under Labour, at 33:40 Telling Brash what the reserve bank should have done, 34:15 it is all the reserve banks making the problems. Who when Labour was in power and is currently running NZ ?? By comments in this program it wasn’t who anyone vote for, and how can the NZ$ and property bubbles be the reserve banks making, I thought governments make and enact policy…. silly me.
http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/The-Nation-The-Nation-Sunday-September-23-2012/tabid/59/articleID/8164/MCat/76/Default.aspx
Since central banking was introduced by the US in the early 20th century, and increasing central bank “independence” pushed on all of us in the 1970’s and 1980’s, financial and debt crises have got far worse not better.
But we have the No2 David (The David C has more going for him than David 1 & 2) now saying that it is all the res banks fault. Funny when housing started its meteoric rise did that not in 2003/4 also coincide with net migration of over 40k & low interest rates ? and does not the govt of the day control immigration policy? It appears not, it is The RB that controls it.
The GFC was built around lack of controls and those who caused the problem (Bankers) also being rewarded afterwards with QE1 and QE11 handouts, and the worker got shafted.
Nothing said gave any reassurance that the authors know what the solutions are or the consequences, it took some badgering from Brash to get anything out of David P, Winny gave nothing to the conservation either.
Like Housing the $ is an issue, yet the solutions ???
Good points. Cullen knew that private debt (farm and house mortgage) levels were going through the roof through that entire time. That was fuelling massive asset price rises – keeping middle class property owning voters nice and happy.
The Fifth Labour govt. was from a fiscal perspective pretty ‘orthodox’. While Michael Cullen was never going to stray too far from the Keynsian ideas he grew up with but unfortunately for much of the prior two decades the intellectual force of these ideas had been largely neutered by the sheer momentum of the neo-liberal school. Dr Cullen expressed to me personally how his scope to operate had some very real boundaries; step over them and the establishment would crush him.
Helen Clark was also fundamentally a cautious person (consider her family background for a moment) and while she held strong principles around social justice, finance was very much not her comfort zone. It was very unlikely she would drive fiscal policy in new directions either. Both Cullen and Clark were incrementalists, and while the stats showed modest gains, such an approach is readily unravelled as this National govt is proving so adept at.
Governments really do operate within a particular context … at the time New Zealand was undergoing the greatest credit bubble in all it’s history and far too many people imagined they were doing far too well out of it to contemplate anyone acting to stop it.
This is the fundamental limitation of democracy as we know it. Unless you can build a social consensus around the need to act on a long-term challenge … short-term interests will always dominate.
Hard for Labour to build a consensus when it won’t even talk about the principles and values involved. And there’s hardly any shorter term interests than our politician’s 3 year horizon.
Their monetary policy was pretty orthodox as well. Read “neoliberal”. They surfed on the appearance of good times due to rising (debt based) spending power and asset wealth.
Notice how the Auckland housing situation is in such a crisis? That’s a crisis which has been a decade or two in the making. What did Labour do about it when they were in power? Tinker, and try not to upset the neoliberal ‘market knows best’ apple cart.
Initially the 5th Lab govt had to restore credibility to our economy, but 8 years of resoration? We needed to go to the next level yet we have regressed instead of progressed
I still think (Though open towards changes) that Labour indirectly supported the housing boom as without having to promise anything they go the support/votes of the housing middle class who were making obscene money (Untaxed). Remember Bill Clint and the economy stupid.
Should we allow the $ to be artificialy reduced what will this cause, The Res Bank does not have the means that the EB, Swiss bank or Fed has to keep on printing money, and as Brash commented that reduce interest rates what effect will that be to these multi property owners ? Yet again rewarding those who are the cause of the problem.
Agreed .. but again until very recently even the mention of a CGT was considered political suicide in this country. (Personally I still hold that a CGT is the least effective means to dampen credit bubbles). And it’s a mistake to apply 20/20 hindsight when back in say 2005 when the problem might have been turned around there were only a handful of credible voices saying anything.
Even figures like Steven Keen who is on record as formally predicting the entire crisis by correctly pointing out the role of skyrocketing Debt to GDP ratios (and in this case private debt fuelling a massive house price bubble) … were back at that time obscure and entirely marginalised voices.
And now its 7 years on from 2005. Is our political discourse that much further ahead. Or is it still dancing around softly softly.
BTW things like the Government ensuring affordable housing for all shouldn’t have been controversial at all for a left wing party, outside of a neoliberal context that is.
I’m hoping 4 the first time in years, that they can at least see the ground in front of them.
Is our political discourse that much further ahead. Or is it still dancing around softly softly.
In public mostly the later … largely because Key and English have mocked and throttled all attempts to kick the debate along in any meaningful fashion.
It was encouraging however to see at least several Treasury and RB heavyweights, along with a couple of well known bank economists, Russel Norman and a number of other beltway types in the room when Steven Keen gave his Wgtn seminar a fortnight ago. (All up about 25 in attendance and the general atmosphere was pretty constructive and thoughtful.)
Keen made strong reference to the New Zealand RB’s unique heritage around the pioneering work of Bill Phillips in the field of dynamic modelling of economic systems. And then went on to hint about a possible link up around some ‘modelling work’ he was pursuing with at least some people within the RB.
I’ve no idea exactly what this really means or whether it will lead to anything but it’s a sign that at least some younger economists are challenging the neo-liberal stranglehold.
Ahhh very nice feedback indeed from the Keen lecture. Thanks RL.
To do it justice would require a bunch of work I really have not got the time for right now sadly CV.
Although there was nothing ‘new’ in the presentation that I hadn’t seen from Keen before, it was still four hours of high speed, high density stuff. However the Q+A was very good. Keen relaxed a little and came across as a really likeable person… not an easy task for someone so highly intelligent and driven as he is. He responded to some pretty good questions directly and completely .. without evasion or misrepresentation.
One neat point that came out was the very nice convergence between Keen’s advocacy for ‘quantitative easing for the people’ and the idea of a UBI.
Interestingly when he was asked which country would be ideally placed to trial his ideas he pointed to Spain.
All up I got a great deal out if it.
Thanks Red
btw, i am praying for some form of devaluation; let the chickens come home to roost i say.
Keens debate of the issues which is broadly based on Minskys hypothesis has seen a number of more open debate including the need for a change in both monetary policy by the fed ( better use of constraints) and need to communicate the issues,there is a good discussion by Yellen of the US fed here.
http://www.frbsf.org/news/speeches/2009/0416.html
There is a background on Minsky here at the Levy institute,
Why capitalism fails; the man who saw the meltdown coming had another troubling insight: it will happen again
eg In recent months Minsky’s star has only risen. Nobel Prize–winning economists talk about incorporating his insights, and copies of his books are back in print and selling well. He’s gone from being a nearly forgotten figure to a key player in the debate over how to fix the financial system.
But if Minsky was as right as he seems to have been, the news is not exactly encouraging. He believed in capitalism, but also believed it had almost a genetic weakness. Modern finance, he argued, was far from the stabilizing force that mainstream economics portrayed; rather, it was a system that created the illusion of stability while simultaneously creating the conditions for an inevitable and dramatic collapse.
In other words, the one person who foresaw the crisis also believed that our whole financial system contains the seeds of its own destruction. “Instability,” he wrote, “is an inherent and inescapable flaw of capitalism.”
http://www.levyinstitute.org/publications/?docid=1190
That the Kitchen cabinet seems to lessen the debate on these issues is troublesome at least.Repeating the same endogenous forced errors of the past such as unbridled debt fueled asset bubbles in AK is problematic at least.
Was talking to my sister (a teacher teaching economics and technology) a few days ago and she asked if I was reading any good books. I mentioned Debunking economics and she responded that I should keep that away from her students because, you know, it would be bad if the young actually questioned the theory that they were being taught.
Need worker drones, just smart enough to do the paper work and turn the wheels, but not smart enough to ask tough questions.
While in Wellington end of last year went with some guys who were taking footage to put together a small documentary of our economic reality.. During the process we were approached by a chap who came out of the treasury building, and asked what we were up to, we told him, and he said he was from Treasury Regulatory section and agreed to talk on the condition of not being recorded.
Asked him a simple question and if he could could alleviate our concerns that apart from the 2% of notes and coin in circulation the rest of our monetary supply originates as interest bearing loans to private lending in, meaning that with only principle being created at entry, countries eventually had to take on even more debt to repay + interest, and as such loans could never be repaid, and countries including NZ would eventually become bankrupted, or “taken over”.
He agreed that this was the situation, and that it was mostly fraudulent, and that it has been admitted at the highest international levels of banking and the debate has moved on to what next!
Its no secret what is going on, the real question is, what can be done about it, and when will the press start asking serious questions….Did Keen get any MSM coverage while he was here?
“our monetary supply originates as interest bearing loans to private lending in”
2% generated internally?, f’sake no wonder, world wide problem?,f’sake.
They adding the digital cashflow into those budgets?
If the cashflow is outgoing then we have a conflict on the exchange rate.
And maybe we should let it up a bit while they decide the “Next Step”.
Ultimately they have to allow for “Theoretical” money, and that’s a hard one.
essentially, only the notes and coins issued by the Reserve Bank is debt free money. Everything else – including almost all the digital money you mention – is originally created, at some stage, via the production of interest bearing debt.
Its like me paying for a $100 item using a credit card. That $100 flows into the shop’s accounts, and then flows on to workers and suppliers from there. But the baseline origin of that $100 is an interest bearing debt.
i.e the coffer is empty, cause of loan repayments.
Which comes back to Goverment backed industries, and the exchange rate.
A right pickle M8!
One only big money can fix, and it’d have to be “spare” cash, a big ask.
I do have one option. But I don’t think yas’ll like it … Iranian Banks.
It gets worse than that. What you see happening in Spain, Italy and Greece is that those countries are now so in debt to bankers and bond holders, the only way they can meet repayments is to borrow even more money from those same bankers and bondholders to do it.
Which by the way is what NZ does, on a smaller scale.
Holy frak.
From a meeting I attended run by Planner of the Auck Council, I asked what there refer to as affordable? the answer $400-$450k. For many the answer is a $300 one way ticket to Aussie. Then how could this be achieved, the only reply was for either a rich benefactor to “gift” a large tract of land or for council contributions to be transferred to other developers, but this is in conflict to current legislation. Yet council contributions and Water care equates to approx $30k or for Govt to waiver GST. Still even with all of these measures put in place, we are still talking $350-$400k for a box. Given the cost to live in NZ and our great wage levels not really a change for the Kiwi dream to be realized.
And now we enter another bubble, also try spending $1m on a house in Auckland and see how little $1m is !!! 😉
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6839900/No-signs-of-Auckland-housing-bubble-yet
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/nz-house-sales-gain-16-percent-august-auckland-christchurch-lead-bd-128058
http://thestandard.org.nz/housing-bubble-round-2-post/