Recently, CV posted his predictions for the 2017 election – predictions, in my opinion, well off line. Unless . . .
So, here’s some reflections on the political year 2016 – from an observer, not a politician.
1. The most obvious conclusion to draw from the last year is that a massive and world-wide swing away from the failed policies of neo-liberalism is happening. Corbyn’s election as Labour Party leader and the huge numbers who joined, the Brexit vote, the ‘yuge’ support for the Democratic Socialist, Bernie Sanders and the election of the anti-establishment (at least, he said so) Donald Trump.
2. The efforts by the old elite / bankers to fight back were also marked. The continuing campaign by the MSM to discredit Jeremy and by the politicians to delay or derail Brexit, the shafting of Bernie by the DNC and the old elite/bankers etc taking most, if not all of the cabinet positions under Trump.
3. The centrist Hillary Clinton did not appeal enough to beat the least qualified candidate the USA has probably ever put up for election. If that isn’t an indictment of ‘third way’ policies – well, I don’t know what more convincing our Labour Party needs.
4. The NZ Labour Party is tobacco stained with the neo-liberal taint and they haven’t really been able to wash the marks away – yet. At a time when they should have been gaining traction against a bloody awful Nat. government, they have made little progress in the polls – languishing at around 30 – 35% for all of 2016.
The obvious conclusion to draw – from this overly simplistic summary – is that the Labour Party has to TURN LEFT! Jeremy and Bernie pointed the way – the NZLP must present a viable and appealing alternative to neo-liberalism. If they do a Clinton and mouth a few words about reform while not intending to do anything to upset the 1%ers – then CV’s predictions may well come true!
They should be promising to take this country by its collective collar and shake the hell out of it – so all the rich cockroaches fall to the ground and can be stomped on! [Figuratively, not literally!] God knows, the future looks precarious enough – some radical solutions are needed!
2017 – I would like it if the left got going in earnest this year – globally, but especially in NZ. Knock that orange atrocity off the front page of all the news platforms.
The issue is everyone has a different idea of ‘left’ and ‘ centre’. Personally I think Labour has turned left already, they said no to TPPA and they have the MoU with the Greens.
If they turn too far left then they start competing with the Greens and Mana and leave the centre open to National and NZ First….
Totally agree that Labour have been too far right or schizophrenic in their policy and too blindly supportive of neoliberalism in the past… but do feel they have turned the corner and now people have to stop bagging them and start supporting them and bagging National.
National are the ones doing horrendous damage to our country, environment and society.
There are pretty well defined definitions of Left> Center < Right.
The problem is that over the last 30 years Parties such as Labour have been selling Centrist Policies and passing them off as being Left wing. And I for one am struggling to see any sure well defined 'turning of the corner' from previous Labour policies.
My own thoughts are that 'The Centrist' labourites should just grow up and step up. State their position clearly and form their own Political Parties.
The perfect starting point would be the English Labour Party Centrists, whose obsession with destroying Corbyn is guaranteed to condemn the Party to oblivion for atleast the next Election cycle.
Nash and the crew could get things started here.
Though of course you answered this yourself, by pointing out that Labour ARE occupying the Centre position, and, like you say, its a position that can just as easily be filled by National.
In other words…National and Labour are pretty darned close to being interchangeable.
Is that really the Labour Party we want as we try and survive the current economic and social quagmire sweeping the World as Neo Liberalism and Free Market capitalism gives its last desperate death throes??
ps Andrew Little and Labour have NOT said NO to TPP..they want a ‘better’ TPP. Do we know what that actually means??
Labour HAS said No to TPP.
But we’re a trading nation so Labour would like to see some fair and reasonable trade agreements, not these trumped up multi-corp arrangements.
He says the same on the Labour Party website. That was my point.
Andrew Little is very vocal in supporting Free Trade, and, from reading his statement, is very proud of the deal Labour struck with the free trade deal with China. Which, while being great for the so called ‘economy’ is part and parcel with the destruction of our wages, employment rights, and some claim, housing situation. How many of us have gone from relatively secure employment to being ‘private contractors’, short term employees etc etc as our industries try to compete in a free for all with the Global Economy.
I think this is a great idea, that centrist split from Labour would probably get around 10% of the party vote and be a natural coalition partner for National.
I don’t see any downside in this, great for Labour, they can become the party of leftist purity it’s members so desperately seem to want and great for National, they can keep on running the country without having to deal with NZ First.
Win win for everyone.
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster 1.2.1.1.2.1
NZF have some good MP’s and are making good progress throughout the country I believe they will pick up a percentage of the disillusioned National Party vote.
Likewise I believe a coalition between Labour Greens NZF is the most likely post Election arrangement, Winston has been in coalition with Labour and National.
The arrangement with National ended in a mess when Shipley overthrew Bolger and then proceeded to shaft Winston, hence I doubt whether Winston will trust National again, once bitten twice shy.
+ 100% saveNZ – time people stopped the bagging of Labour, read up on the policies, and Policy Platform, and started to help Labour get the word out –
Labour is returning to its roots.
@Jenny Kirk, I don’t agree that Labour is returning to it’s roots, or if it is, that memo must have passed me by.
Here is a quote from their own site, in regards to the housing disaster…
“Instead of fixing the problem, National is siding with property speculators. They are too focused on looking after those at the top rather than families in the middle.”
Not a mumbling word about poor and working families, they then go on to state that they will build ‘affordable’ houses in the $500,000-600,000 range
(in AKL), do you believe that families where the income is from full time cleaning, aged care work etc can afford a $500,000 home, no either do I…so again, I have to say Labour doesn’t look or sound like a party that is finding it’s Socialist roots to me.
@ Adrian Thornton
The housing situation in NZ is made up roughly of 1/3 renters, 1/3 homeowners with mortgages and 1/3 homeowners without mortgages.
So the centre of housing issues might not be where you think it is!
Although I do agree that Labour are too Nat Lite on housing and it is a joke to consider $500 -$600 k affordable on NZ wages. They will go bankrupt as soon as mortgages rise.
Many of the renters should be in secure state housing in my view and National should not be selling them off! That is where Labour are missing the boat.
The Auckland housing situation is driven by 166,000 working visas being issued to students and 70,000 new migrants per year coming. but nobody wants to mention it.
The government has so little imagination they think that selling land and dodgy degrees is a sustainable business for NZ and apparently we can’t stop now as who will fill the apartments being built.
I’m all for immigration but not at the levels and types of people that are coming all for the wrong reasons. I’d like to see more creative type of immigrants, professionals with new ideas and an exchange of minds and cultures, not more tilers, restaurant managers and fruit pickers. Nothing wrong with that but how about training some of our youth to do that as much of it can be taught in a quick course.
If you don’t think having one of the biggest self imposed immigration levels in the world per capita has an effect on property, services and the environment (especially with our current government polluters at the helm with wadable water and sell off state houses and get social bonds going) – you are in la la land.
Did I hear you say Labour’s going to restore basic benefit rates to a livable level, reinstate the special benefit, get rid of punitive welfare policies including the ones Labour introduced and/or voted with the nats on, ditch user pays in health and education, bring back a state housing system that abolishes homelessness with an emphasis on homeownership for everyone? Wow. That’s fantastic.
I like what you are saying very much Tony , but I fear that “Capital” ( or Deep State or whatever) is far more powerful and has what is pretty much a stranglehold. One good example is their ownership of the media and the ability to control the message.
All ‘uprisings’ for change just haven’t been able to get enough traction , even the huge overseas movements have basically floundered pretty rapidly because the game is so stacked.
Sadly for NZ we do not have a champion to lead in the need for change.
Personally I think we (humans) are frogs in a heating pot of water and are too stupid to do anything before it is too late.
Perhaps if Trump destroys the USA we may get change for the better? Now there’s a pipe dream! More likely to get WW3 instead.
Still no real actions over the elephant in the room (CC) either.
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster 1.3.1
The message has to be so ‘radical’ that the MSM and Deep State simply cannot ignore it – a moderate message will simply get tucked away on page 17. It’s also got to offer some hope to those at the bottom so they will be encouraged to get out and vote.
Another pipe dream – wouldn’t it be lovely to have California secede from the union!
And yes, I agree – climate change will, literally, change everything!
Labour’s been captured and won’t be seeing freedom any time soon (if ever).
Shaw has kind of narrowed the distance between Labour and Green (bad thing).
The media are pants (pants thing).
I’m waiting for TOPS climate policy before punting them as a circuit breaker, but their policies so far aren’t too bad in comparison to Labour or Green policy… and I detected more than a whiff of sour grapes from the Greens in a piece linked to here the other day.
The fact that TOPS do not want to be in government (are going to occupy the cross benches) is a big plus in my book.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP).
The trade pact – which was a linchpin of former President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia – was signed by 12 nations, including New Zealand, and covered 40 percent of the world’s economy.
The directive was part of a series of executive orders planned for Monday to begin reshaping US trade policies.
Mr Trump had vowed to quit the TPP during his presidential campaign.
He has criticised the trade agreement as a “potential disaster for our country”, arguing it harmed the US manufacturing sector.
The massive trade deal was negotiated in 2015 by nations including New Zealand, the US, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and Mexico
New Zealand’s parliament passed a bill allowing it to ratify the TPP last year, but it had not yet been ratified by all the individual countries.
President Donald Trump moved to pull the United States out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact today, fulfilling a campaign promise as he began his first full week in office.
“Great thing for the American worker that we just did,” Trump said as he signed a notice in the Oval Office..
I beg to differ because Trump’s move is based on all the wrong reasons. In any case, much of the legal groundwork for a (the) TPPA has already been done here in NZ and elsewhere and it appears that National/Bill English have not given up yet.
As a side note, unpredictability and uncertainty are on the increase, which coincidentally leads to a rise of pseudo-Nostradamus wannabees, and under such conditions the Precariat is unlikely to experience any real and sustainable improvement despite some political rhetoric (…) trying to convince us otherwise.
The TPP protests were useful at bringing people together, showing how to non-violently win, and educating the govt about what citizens would not accept. Those are all transferable to the next similar fight.
But seeing Sanders get traction off the back of slamming free trade and then hearing from potential voters who had lost good jobs and been plunged into uncertainty and poverty…
Or maybe he’s always been more of a protectionist. On that front, I simply don’t know.
The epic scale of political conflict in the US is fantastic theatre – so much so it risks making New Zealand’s problems seem trivial.
Donald Trump’s policies also have a big impact on us. Whether it is through trade or the extent to which he fires up the US economy – influencing currency, interest rates and inflation all over world.
But let’s face it, it makes turning back to the big domestic issues in New Zealand hard work.
“Hard work” , in this regard ,I suggedt you up your u tube hyper links postings and duplicate across threads, plus repeat the same posting on multiple days, Ooops sorry you are already doing that
Thanks for the interesting and informative links RTM …I find it’s always good to learn the fuller picture of what has brought us to the here and now …
At present we ‘benefit’ from a lot of modern slavery …. which like the old forms is built on abuse of power and injustice.
This is done through main stream media silence …… and outright Government propaganda, ….. such as this statement from mfat.govt.nz regarding the gangster nation Indonesia ….” since democracy was restored in 1998.”
Presumably mfat are referring to this ….. ” the Indonesian women’s movement, the entire trade union movement, intellectuals, teachers, and the ethnic Chinese, and also land reform advocates. So, within somewhere—within a year, somewhere between half a million and two-and-a-half million people were killed in what was really one of the very largest genocides in our history.
And it was reported in the United States as good news. It was reported in The New York Times and Time magazine fairly accurately in terms of the death tolls, but with headlines like “A Gleam of Light in Asia,”. https://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/19/the_act_of_killing_new_film
‘Old news’ someone like James would say ……..
But the problem is that the children of the murdered are presently being exploited in slave labor conditions ………. or cleared from their land again.
And if they should try and join a union …. or speak out for land rights, protecting the environment etc ..
They can be murdered with impunity ……….. just like their parents were.
Make no mistake…. Indonesia is a country which would have murdered and tortured our late and great Helen Kelly.
We should not be encouraging the Gangsters who currently run/own indonesia ….
“July 2016: Prime Minister John Key and Trade Minister Todd McClay traveled to Indonesia for an official visit along with a high-level business delegation.”
Tax havens like National made NZ into play a large roll in supporting enslavement, poverty and war in the world ….
BREAKING: Trump places hiring freeze on some federal workers, cuts off funding for international groups that perform abortions.— The Associated Press (@AP) January 23, 2017
Unsafe abortion accounts for 13% of all maternal deaths globally. Trump's reinstating the 'Global Gag Rule' will be deadly.— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) January 23, 2017
there has been a fair bit of talk about trolls on this site,
words and the evolution of meaning interest me
now troll has three meanings that precede its blog meaning
1 a nasty creature that lives under a bridge and grabs you as you try and cross
2 to systematically search an area
3 to tow a lure and hope some sucker grabs it
for me a (blog) troll brings images of the third , tow a lure and hope for a sucker
do some of you have an image of the first, nasty creature that jumps out?
or even the second, a systematic coverage of an area?
there are certainly elements of all three meanings in the use of (blog) troll
just interested cause words do matter but meaning is in the hearing
Pretty much all three. Blog trolls tend to lurk around the posts waiting for a flamewar to flare. Sometimes they will drop incendiary and usually diversionary statements out to start the fire. Sometimes they will reinterpret someone elses comments to provoke them and others.
Generally, moderators will tend to ignore a lot of the flaming because it fits under robust debate. It isn’t in the interests of the site of the commenters to shield people from the disagreements in society or from political debate. The only way to develop counters to arguments present in the wider society is to hear them expressed. However there is enough siloing of political debate already in both the media and other blogs.
We look at the behaviour patterns of commenters and if they actually contribute anything to the ongoing debates. If the patterns of behaviour are unthinkingly repetitive or seem to be designed to just take over debate to drown out the voices of others then we treat the perpetrators as trolls as a rapidly escalating response.
Which brings up the key attribute of trolls that you seem to have missed. They seem to have real problems both learning the boundaries of behaviour, and they usually hate their own behaviors and tactics being reflected back at themselves in nastier and more extreme forms. So you will see some moderators (mainly me at present) abbreviating the process by deliberately provoking them with exaggerated and very disdainful trolling behaviors aimed very personally at them in a demonstration of the net adage that there is always a bigger and better skilled arsehole on the net – they are often called sysops.
• Sample taken from Cox’s Creek near Cox’s Bay revealed E. coli levels of 590 cfu/100ml
• Sample taken at the head of Cox’s Creek just behind Kelmarna Ave found E. coli at 190,000 cfu/100mls – a level more than 1500 times the upper safe limit and a serious threat to human health.
• The limit for recreation should be below 126 per 100mls.
• Samples were collected last Thursday and tested by Watercare.
Little’s misreading the signals. The Mp must surely be set to ditch the nats. They’re coming home. The Mp has never been about right-wing policies. Going with the nats was a strategy to try to achieve “real” gains for Maori.
They now see the error in that “better to be inside the tent” strategy. This also coincides with a general belief that Labour’s been punished enough for the F&S, and that it’s now time now to unite for what’s best for all Maori. Hone would not be dealing with the Mp in any way whatsoever if it meant helping the Mp to provide support that puts the nats back in government.
If Little’s serious about winning the election then trying to chastise the Mp isn’t the way to go. He’s confusing the Mp’s beliefs with their strategy. There should be a far greater consistency between Labour and the Mp than the nats and the Mp. Little should not be afraid of Mana and the Mp taking the Maori seats, and if they do then at least work with those parties to achieve better outcomes for Maori, if not form the government with those parties.
Little and Labour must be pretty stupid or have short memories if they think the Mp going with the nats was because the Mp embraced nat ideology. They don’t. And with everything that’s going on now Labour is completely dumb to slag them off.
Labour should be bloody courting the Mp, not trying to alienate them. Heck, the party needs all the help it can get, especially when there’s no guarantee NZF won’t go with English.
But then again, strategy and common sense have never been strong points for Labour, so no surprises there.
More evidence that not all people in sports are meatheads and cowards
Sadly, we have recently seen the unedifying spectacle of cowardly coaches like Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the New Zealand Maoris’ Colin Cooper bullying their most thoughtful and intelligent players into dropping their political protests.
But there ARE some decent people in big-time sports. People like Gregg Popovich, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs….
Uber New Zealand Technologies paid $9397 in tax in 2014/15 despite earning revenue of more than $1 million from New Zealanders, we were confused. A person on $45,000 a year pays about $7800 in PAYE tax.
Trump and the endless reporting of his malapropisms, executive deductions, decision, etc will fill our media with Radionz or RNZ constantly reporting their tragedies and disasters and riots etc. (the other day there was a tornado over there did you know), don’t know what the private stations do. Perhaps ignore it and put on some romantic or rock.
Can we please have a Trump and USA permanent post and everything be done there. Otherwise we are accepting our own brain washing which is a public relations and social psychology triumph for the PR and mind-bending fraternity.
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Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
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Recently, CV posted his predictions for the 2017 election – predictions, in my opinion, well off line. Unless . . .
So, here’s some reflections on the political year 2016 – from an observer, not a politician.
1. The most obvious conclusion to draw from the last year is that a massive and world-wide swing away from the failed policies of neo-liberalism is happening. Corbyn’s election as Labour Party leader and the huge numbers who joined, the Brexit vote, the ‘yuge’ support for the Democratic Socialist, Bernie Sanders and the election of the anti-establishment (at least, he said so) Donald Trump.
2. The efforts by the old elite / bankers to fight back were also marked. The continuing campaign by the MSM to discredit Jeremy and by the politicians to delay or derail Brexit, the shafting of Bernie by the DNC and the old elite/bankers etc taking most, if not all of the cabinet positions under Trump.
3. The centrist Hillary Clinton did not appeal enough to beat the least qualified candidate the USA has probably ever put up for election. If that isn’t an indictment of ‘third way’ policies – well, I don’t know what more convincing our Labour Party needs.
4. The NZ Labour Party is tobacco stained with the neo-liberal taint and they haven’t really been able to wash the marks away – yet. At a time when they should have been gaining traction against a bloody awful Nat. government, they have made little progress in the polls – languishing at around 30 – 35% for all of 2016.
The obvious conclusion to draw – from this overly simplistic summary – is that the Labour Party has to TURN LEFT! Jeremy and Bernie pointed the way – the NZLP must present a viable and appealing alternative to neo-liberalism. If they do a Clinton and mouth a few words about reform while not intending to do anything to upset the 1%ers – then CV’s predictions may well come true!
They should be promising to take this country by its collective collar and shake the hell out of it – so all the rich cockroaches fall to the ground and can be stomped on! [Figuratively, not literally!] God knows, the future looks precarious enough – some radical solutions are needed!
2017 – I would like it if the left got going in earnest this year – globally, but especially in NZ. Knock that orange atrocity off the front page of all the news platforms.
@Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster…
+1 Turn Labour Left!
The issue is everyone has a different idea of ‘left’ and ‘ centre’. Personally I think Labour has turned left already, they said no to TPPA and they have the MoU with the Greens.
If they turn too far left then they start competing with the Greens and Mana and leave the centre open to National and NZ First….
Totally agree that Labour have been too far right or schizophrenic in their policy and too blindly supportive of neoliberalism in the past… but do feel they have turned the corner and now people have to stop bagging them and start supporting them and bagging National.
National are the ones doing horrendous damage to our country, environment and society.
There are pretty well defined definitions of Left> Center < Right.
The problem is that over the last 30 years Parties such as Labour have been selling Centrist Policies and passing them off as being Left wing. And I for one am struggling to see any sure well defined 'turning of the corner' from previous Labour policies.
My own thoughts are that 'The Centrist' labourites should just grow up and step up. State their position clearly and form their own Political Parties.
The perfect starting point would be the English Labour Party Centrists, whose obsession with destroying Corbyn is guaranteed to condemn the Party to oblivion for atleast the next Election cycle.
Nash and the crew could get things started here.
Though of course you answered this yourself, by pointing out that Labour ARE occupying the Centre position, and, like you say, its a position that can just as easily be filled by National.
In other words…National and Labour are pretty darned close to being interchangeable.
Is that really the Labour Party we want as we try and survive the current economic and social quagmire sweeping the World as Neo Liberalism and Free Market capitalism gives its last desperate death throes??
ps Andrew Little and Labour have NOT said NO to TPP..they want a ‘better’ TPP. Do we know what that actually means??
Labour HAS said No to TPP.
But we’re a trading nation so Labour would like to see some fair and reasonable trade agreements, not these trumped up multi-corp arrangements.
“After being reluctant to make his party’s position clear, Mr Little has finally said Labour does not support the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in its current form.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/295195/little-attempts-to-keep-lid-on-tpp-tensions
He says the same on the Labour Party website. That was my point.
Andrew Little is very vocal in supporting Free Trade, and, from reading his statement, is very proud of the deal Labour struck with the free trade deal with China. Which, while being great for the so called ‘economy’ is part and parcel with the destruction of our wages, employment rights, and some claim, housing situation. How many of us have gone from relatively secure employment to being ‘private contractors’, short term employees etc etc as our industries try to compete in a free for all with the Global Economy.
I think this is a great idea, that centrist split from Labour would probably get around 10% of the party vote and be a natural coalition partner for National.
I don’t see any downside in this, great for Labour, they can become the party of leftist purity it’s members so desperately seem to want and great for National, they can keep on running the country without having to deal with NZ First.
Win win for everyone.
BM – you are truly ‘BC.’
NZF have some good MP’s and are making good progress throughout the country I believe they will pick up a percentage of the disillusioned National Party vote.
Likewise I believe a coalition between Labour Greens NZF is the most likely post Election arrangement, Winston has been in coalition with Labour and National.
The arrangement with National ended in a mess when Shipley overthrew Bolger and then proceeded to shaft Winston, hence I doubt whether Winston will trust National again, once bitten twice shy.
+1 To a Labour/Green/NZ First coalition.
+ 100% saveNZ – time people stopped the bagging of Labour, read up on the policies, and Policy Platform, and started to help Labour get the word out –
Labour is returning to its roots.
@Jenny Kirk, I don’t agree that Labour is returning to it’s roots, or if it is, that memo must have passed me by.
Here is a quote from their own site, in regards to the housing disaster…
“Instead of fixing the problem, National is siding with property speculators. They are too focused on looking after those at the top rather than families in the middle.”
Not a mumbling word about poor and working families, they then go on to state that they will build ‘affordable’ houses in the $500,000-600,000 range
(in AKL), do you believe that families where the income is from full time cleaning, aged care work etc can afford a $500,000 home, no either do I…so again, I have to say Labour doesn’t look or sound like a party that is finding it’s Socialist roots to me.
Turn Labour Left.
@ Adrian Thornton
The housing situation in NZ is made up roughly of 1/3 renters, 1/3 homeowners with mortgages and 1/3 homeowners without mortgages.
So the centre of housing issues might not be where you think it is!
Although I do agree that Labour are too Nat Lite on housing and it is a joke to consider $500 -$600 k affordable on NZ wages. They will go bankrupt as soon as mortgages rise.
Many of the renters should be in secure state housing in my view and National should not be selling them off! That is where Labour are missing the boat.
The Auckland housing situation is driven by 166,000 working visas being issued to students and 70,000 new migrants per year coming. but nobody wants to mention it.
The government has so little imagination they think that selling land and dodgy degrees is a sustainable business for NZ and apparently we can’t stop now as who will fill the apartments being built.
I’m all for immigration but not at the levels and types of people that are coming all for the wrong reasons. I’d like to see more creative type of immigrants, professionals with new ideas and an exchange of minds and cultures, not more tilers, restaurant managers and fruit pickers. Nothing wrong with that but how about training some of our youth to do that as much of it can be taught in a quick course.
If you don’t think having one of the biggest self imposed immigration levels in the world per capita has an effect on property, services and the environment (especially with our current government polluters at the helm with wadable water and sell off state houses and get social bonds going) – you are in la la land.
Did I hear you say Labour’s going to restore basic benefit rates to a livable level, reinstate the special benefit, get rid of punitive welfare policies including the ones Labour introduced and/or voted with the nats on, ditch user pays in health and education, bring back a state housing system that abolishes homelessness with an emphasis on homeownership for everyone? Wow. That’s fantastic.
Bill English also agrees labour should go hard left
Who gives a fuck what Bill Engish thinks Labour should do?
Hard left to English means warm homes, full bellies and that kids go to school.
I like what you are saying very much Tony , but I fear that “Capital” ( or Deep State or whatever) is far more powerful and has what is pretty much a stranglehold. One good example is their ownership of the media and the ability to control the message.
All ‘uprisings’ for change just haven’t been able to get enough traction , even the huge overseas movements have basically floundered pretty rapidly because the game is so stacked.
Sadly for NZ we do not have a champion to lead in the need for change.
Personally I think we (humans) are frogs in a heating pot of water and are too stupid to do anything before it is too late.
Perhaps if Trump destroys the USA we may get change for the better? Now there’s a pipe dream! More likely to get WW3 instead.
Still no real actions over the elephant in the room (CC) either.
Garibaldi:
The message has to be so ‘radical’ that the MSM and Deep State simply cannot ignore it – a moderate message will simply get tucked away on page 17. It’s also got to offer some hope to those at the bottom so they will be encouraged to get out and vote.
Another pipe dream – wouldn’t it be lovely to have California secede from the union!
And yes, I agree – climate change will, literally, change everything!
+1
Turn Labour left.
+ 1 Turn Labour Left.
Funny isnt it – we all want the same things – but we expect different results from it.
Labour’s been captured and won’t be seeing freedom any time soon (if ever).
Shaw has kind of narrowed the distance between Labour and Green (bad thing).
The media are pants (pants thing).
I’m waiting for TOPS climate policy before punting them as a circuit breaker, but their policies so far aren’t too bad in comparison to Labour or Green policy… and I detected more than a whiff of sour grapes from the Greens in a piece linked to here the other day.
The fact that TOPS do not want to be in government (are going to occupy the cross benches) is a big plus in my book.
Guyon gets taught a lesson on TPP, by Jane Kelsey this morning on RNZ…hope he was taking notes….
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201830460
ha ha ha
Go Prof!
Espiner again shows he is a bagman for the neoliberal establishment. His tone, manner and bias seep through every question he asks.
Good news.
Trump executive order pulls United States out of TPP trade deal
Donald Trump signs memorandum to leave Trans-Pacific Partnership
And my Twitter feed says:
plus
Government for the people? Which people?
I beg to differ because Trump’s move is based on all the wrong reasons. In any case, much of the legal groundwork for a (the) TPPA has already been done here in NZ and elsewhere and it appears that National/Bill English have not given up yet.
As a side note, unpredictability and uncertainty are on the increase, which coincidentally leads to a rise of pseudo-Nostradamus wannabees, and under such conditions the Precariat is unlikely to experience any real and sustainable improvement despite some political rhetoric (…) trying to convince us otherwise.
The dismantling of the TPP is good news.
For these reasons.
So.. I was right about the TPP. Even when it was signed here in NZ I said it wouldn’t happen.
What a waste of time protesting.
GG.
The TPP protests were useful at bringing people together, showing how to non-violently win, and educating the govt about what citizens would not accept. Those are all transferable to the next similar fight.
Also, the corresponding opposition to it in the US, and the reasons for that opposition, won Trump the election.
“educating the govt about what citizens would not accept”
That should be about what SOME citizens would not accept.
There were a lot of us that were fine with it.
Actually – I think its a bad thing that it did not go ahead, but “hey” its dead and we just move on.
It’s always about some citizens, yes.
A lot, yes, but still a minority.
Funny that – most people seem to think it was the protests that prompted politicians to turn against the TPP.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201830460
It was plain obvious this shit wouldn’t pass. America was getting dicked. It was signaled a few years ago that a change in US govt would kill it.
Many thousands of people would disagree with your assessment.
But hey, what do they know?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/28/tpp-protests-mass-opposition-worked-trump-presidency
https://www.rt.com/usa/331356-tpp-signing-protests-usa/
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/17/germans-march-against-trade-deals-with-us-and-canada-stop-ceta-ttip.html
“America was getting dicked. ”
An interesting take on the nature of the agreement as negotiated, including all the kowtowing to US IP laws, but hey.
I don’t think the protestors influenced Trump at all
You would think that.
That’s a troll comment if ever there was 🙂
No, I think Trump was looking for ways to disparage Obama and Clinton and then it happened to coincide with others groups ideals
If Trump was specifically swayed by protestors, well he has enough protests to pick from at the moment
At least he thinks rather than cut and paste
Maybe not. Maybe even ‘probably not’ 😉
But seeing Sanders get traction off the back of slamming free trade and then hearing from potential voters who had lost good jobs and been plunged into uncertainty and poverty…
Or maybe he’s always been more of a protectionist. On that front, I simply don’t know.
Well those are good points
Well, it’s not political,however the day has finally dawned,
PJ Harvey plays tonight in Auckland.
Got tickets the day they came on sale.
One of the greats to come out of the 90s.
Let’s stick to NZ issues and not allow US issues to swamp our own pressing issues.
Liam Dann: Trump show risks swamping NZ’s big issues
“Hard work” , in this regard ,I suggedt you up your u tube hyper links postings and duplicate across threads, plus repeat the same posting on multiple days, Ooops sorry you are already doing that
You do realise that I take the fact you dislike my postings as evidence that they are of some use.
My posts must be really useful then 🙂
Credit to Otago Daily Times journalist Bruce Munro, who has exposed some of Otago’s links to the slave trade:
https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/chained-sorry-trade
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/sometimes-silence-screams-bruce-munro.html
Time for a memorial to the victims of NZ slavery?
National memorial…yeah I wouldn’t be opposed to that
Thanks for the interesting and informative links RTM …I find it’s always good to learn the fuller picture of what has brought us to the here and now …
At present we ‘benefit’ from a lot of modern slavery …. which like the old forms is built on abuse of power and injustice.
This is done through main stream media silence …… and outright Government propaganda, ….. such as this statement from mfat.govt.nz regarding the gangster nation Indonesia ….” since democracy was restored in 1998.”
Presumably mfat are referring to this ….. ” the Indonesian women’s movement, the entire trade union movement, intellectuals, teachers, and the ethnic Chinese, and also land reform advocates. So, within somewhere—within a year, somewhere between half a million and two-and-a-half million people were killed in what was really one of the very largest genocides in our history.
And it was reported in the United States as good news. It was reported in The New York Times and Time magazine fairly accurately in terms of the death tolls, but with headlines like “A Gleam of Light in Asia,”. https://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/19/the_act_of_killing_new_film
‘Old news’ someone like James would say ……..
But the problem is that the children of the murdered are presently being exploited in slave labor conditions ………. or cleared from their land again.
And if they should try and join a union …. or speak out for land rights, protecting the environment etc ..
They can be murdered with impunity ……….. just like their parents were.
Make no mistake…. Indonesia is a country which would have murdered and tortured our late and great Helen Kelly.
We should not be encouraging the Gangsters who currently run/own indonesia ….
“July 2016: Prime Minister John Key and Trade Minister Todd McClay traveled to Indonesia for an official visit along with a high-level business delegation.”
Tax havens like National made NZ into play a large roll in supporting enslavement, poverty and war in the world ….
Dismantling it should be a priority https://www.oxfam.org/en/even-it/inequality-and-poverty-hidden-costs-tax-dodging
No argument from me, reason. But Kiwis are so dislocated from any of this. Sad.
True words In Vino ……….. but we have been kept in the dark to a large extent, and I cant blame the average person for that.
I try and spread the word of the truth tellers …as I hope they and the truth will catch on
For the good of everyone
More great insight from Paulsky
[stop the trolling. Site-wide warning. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
67 trolls now.More interesting than the tripe you continually cut and paste.
You do seem to get swarmed by the dick pics that our trolls are Paul …
Attack of the rotten members club ….
I Always try and use them to further expand inform and educate on the subject I’m posting about ………… for the normal readers and people.
After all….. It’s only fitting that a dick pic should be used as a tool 🙂
here are some quotes and context from the julian assange live press conference last thursday
http://wearechange.org/assange-talks-brennan-cia-future-journalism/
The Chump fires his first shots as pres in his war on women.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-abortion-men_us_5886369be4b0e3a7356a7910?section=us_politics
Goes global.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-global-gag-rule_us_58822355e4b070d8cad1f774?2h0qxx9cl5edrc0udi
edit:
edit:
Indeed.
there has been a fair bit of talk about trolls on this site,
words and the evolution of meaning interest me
now troll has three meanings that precede its blog meaning
1 a nasty creature that lives under a bridge and grabs you as you try and cross
2 to systematically search an area
3 to tow a lure and hope some sucker grabs it
for me a (blog) troll brings images of the third , tow a lure and hope for a sucker
do some of you have an image of the first, nasty creature that jumps out?
or even the second, a systematic coverage of an area?
there are certainly elements of all three meanings in the use of (blog) troll
just interested cause words do matter but meaning is in the hearing
You forgot
4 someone who says something I don’t like and/or agree with
ahh that would be a new meaning specific to troll(blog). (but yes some do use it in that way here IMHO)
altho as ugly/nasty are subjective it really just a restatement of 1
(or is that just an example of 3. a lure!)
My lips are sealed 🙂
Pretty much all three. Blog trolls tend to lurk around the posts waiting for a flamewar to flare. Sometimes they will drop incendiary and usually diversionary statements out to start the fire. Sometimes they will reinterpret someone elses comments to provoke them and others.
Generally, moderators will tend to ignore a lot of the flaming because it fits under robust debate. It isn’t in the interests of the site of the commenters to shield people from the disagreements in society or from political debate. The only way to develop counters to arguments present in the wider society is to hear them expressed. However there is enough siloing of political debate already in both the media and other blogs.
We look at the behaviour patterns of commenters and if they actually contribute anything to the ongoing debates. If the patterns of behaviour are unthinkingly repetitive or seem to be designed to just take over debate to drown out the voices of others then we treat the perpetrators as trolls as a rapidly escalating response.
Which brings up the key attribute of trolls that you seem to have missed. They seem to have real problems both learning the boundaries of behaviour, and they usually hate their own behaviors and tactics being reflected back at themselves in nastier and more extreme forms. So you will see some moderators (mainly me at present) abbreviating the process by deliberately provoking them with exaggerated and very disdainful trolling behaviors aimed very personally at them in a demonstration of the net adage that there is always a bigger and better skilled arsehole on the net – they are often called sysops.
As promised, more from Abby Martin – This time the Washington’s Women’s March. Short video – just over a minute.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/nor-west-news/88673292/astonishing-first-ever-nz-sighting-of-redfooted-booby
Always a good day when you can spot a booby
define resisting 🙂
soon it my be a ‘hate crime’ to ‘resist’ arrest – at least in Louisianan if this goes through.
Mind i can see other follow suit, rejoice private prison complex, i can see a few cheques coming your way.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/louisiana-police-chief-pushes-blue-lives-matter-law-to-make-resisting-arrest-a-felony-hate-crime/
They are.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-09/private-prison-stocks-are-surging-after-trump-s-win
Interview of Mark Ames by Abby Martin
Empire Files: Post-Soviet Russia, Made in the U.S.A.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/88710686/gareth-morgan-v-winston-peters–political-sledging-in-full-force-at-ratana
Well at least the election won’t be a complete snore fest
Clean green New Zealand.
Auckland’s water shock: Bacteria levels ‘dangerously high’
So it’s outdoor lakes, etc that are polluted? I always boil my drinking water in Auckland – no faith in the system.
I think both rural and urban areas have problems due to a lack of rules.
In other news dear leader’s election was prophesied by a moose and heralded with a new moon in the heavens and a National Day of Patriotic Devotion.
Bad move for Little to criticise the Mp like this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/88703698/labour-leader-andrew-little-has-accused-the-maori-party-of-doing-nothing-for-their-people
Little’s misreading the signals. The Mp must surely be set to ditch the nats. They’re coming home. The Mp has never been about right-wing policies. Going with the nats was a strategy to try to achieve “real” gains for Maori.
They now see the error in that “better to be inside the tent” strategy. This also coincides with a general belief that Labour’s been punished enough for the F&S, and that it’s now time now to unite for what’s best for all Maori. Hone would not be dealing with the Mp in any way whatsoever if it meant helping the Mp to provide support that puts the nats back in government.
If Little’s serious about winning the election then trying to chastise the Mp isn’t the way to go. He’s confusing the Mp’s beliefs with their strategy. There should be a far greater consistency between Labour and the Mp than the nats and the Mp. Little should not be afraid of Mana and the Mp taking the Maori seats, and if they do then at least work with those parties to achieve better outcomes for Maori, if not form the government with those parties.
Little and Labour must be pretty stupid or have short memories if they think the Mp going with the nats was because the Mp embraced nat ideology. They don’t. And with everything that’s going on now Labour is completely dumb to slag them off.
Labour should be bloody courting the Mp, not trying to alienate them. Heck, the party needs all the help it can get, especially when there’s no guarantee NZF won’t go with English.
But then again, strategy and common sense have never been strong points for Labour, so no surprises there.
More evidence that not all people in sports are meatheads and cowards
Sadly, we have recently seen the unedifying spectacle of cowardly coaches like Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the New Zealand Maoris’ Colin Cooper bullying their most thoughtful and intelligent players into dropping their political protests.
But there ARE some decent people in big-time sports. People like Gregg Popovich, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs….
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jan/22/gregg-popovich-donald-trump-criticism-san-antonio-spurs-nba#comment-91696470
Uber NZ earns $1m, pays $9000 in tax
Uber New Zealand Technologies paid $9397 in tax in 2014/15 despite earning revenue of more than $1 million from New Zealanders, we were confused. A person on $45,000 a year pays about $7800 in PAYE tax.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/308581/uber's-'extremely-elaborate'-tax-arrangements
https://www.facebook.com/ActionStationNZ/photos/a.231204660335083.49804.194540734001476/1085764938212380/?type=3&theater
Can everyone have state houses for life – I’d like to put several on back order for my children and their children.
[Fuck off] – Bill
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Norman Finkelstein has been attacked by a dead sheep
Is there a stupider, more hapless politician anywhere in the world than Marco Rubio?
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/01/23/finkelstein-under-attack/
Trump and the endless reporting of his malapropisms, executive deductions, decision, etc will fill our media with Radionz or RNZ constantly reporting their tragedies and disasters and riots etc. (the other day there was a tornado over there did you know), don’t know what the private stations do. Perhaps ignore it and put on some romantic or rock.
Can we please have a Trump and USA permanent post and everything be done there. Otherwise we are accepting our own brain washing which is a public relations and social psychology triumph for the PR and mind-bending fraternity.