Is a temporary increase of numbers of pokies in one location a big deal? The number of locations throughout neighbourhoods must be a more critical factor in feeding addictions.
What’s temporary about it? Try harder PG otherwise it’s obvious you’re a shill for shonkey attempting to shroud it in that ‘ moderate ‘ influence you roll over for the baubles every time.
Timing is good with the comedy festival starting soon, you and James 111 could do a double act. You’re also diverting from the rather more serious issue of selling legislation, no due process, robust business case etc etc
It’s temporary because the number of gaming machines has been trending significantly downward for about the last decade, and even if there is a few hundred blip upwards the trend will continue downward.
Numbers peaked at over 25,000 about 2002, and have since fairly steadily declined to about 18,000 now, averaging about -700 per year.
Okay Pete, what does shrinking lid mean?
If the desire is for them to eventually be phased out (i.e no renewed licences) then the legislation will have had its desired affect..
Ultimately we have none out in the suburbs.
And, of course, the casino will begin to reduce theirs?
Don’t think so.
Maybe you could stop to wonder why they’re trending down. The pokies not at the casino are non-profit, sites such as pubs & clubs that host pokies can only charge rent and expenses. 37% of gross pokie revenue has to go to charity and 100% of nett profit also has to go to charity.
Pubs installed them because they brought in extra customers and helped pay a bit of the rent, maybe those customers now spend so much time in front of the pokie instead of buying booze it’s not worth it for the pub any more.
They’re likely trending down because they’re no longer profitable for certain types of pubs & clubs. Since they are very profitable for Sky City, who have a totally different payout arrangement, you can’t compare the two.
We are reading the suggestions of many of the Pub pokies proceeds being “donated” in very unusual ways, not in the ways anticipated.
This has been going on for many years and needs to be corrected again again.
Ther are deep smells in this.
As usual the link is to his Pete’s website but playing his game:
Some people like having sex with animals so should we ban bestiality
Some people like robbing other peoples homes so should we ban burglary
Some people like beating the shit out of their wives so should we ban assault
Some people like biking without a helmet so should be ban not wearing a helmet
Some people like starving and beating animals so should we ban animal abuse
Some people like signing off incorrect financial prospectuses so should we ban fraud
Some people like revealing peoples private details in public so should we ban privacy breaches
Some people like to speed so should we ban speeding
Some people like to discharge cow shit into rivers so should we ban polluting rivers
Some people like playing Grant Theft Auto at 8 years old should we ban them til they are 18
Some people like keeping chickens in town so should we ban roosters
Except that you are listing things that are deemed socially unacceptable, whereas most of what I listed are seen as safe and reasonable for most people.
Actually many of the things you have listed various people find socially unacceptable in some way or another.
Drugs – marijuana would be the classic example
Fat people – just read any rightwing blog – and actually NZ should enforce the original WHO guidelines (before they were edited by the sugar company who paid for the report) to have a maximum level of sugar in food. That would have the greatest impact on obesity of anything I have ever come across
Pokies and casinos – these were banned in NZ for many, many years without any difficulty. there’s no doubt in many peoples minds that they have made and created more gambling addicts and caused more problems than not having them. Socially unacceptable absolutely.
Music – there has been plenty of effort over the years to ban unacceptable music – my favourite punk included but feel free to go back as far as Elvis if you wish.
Social mores change as we have seen with the unbanning of pokies and casinos which is actually the point isn’t it. They were allowed with a stroke of the pen and can simply be un-allowed in the same way.
We wouldn’t suffer at all without them and given only people who can afford to lose money should game they can all afford to go to Aussie to the casinos there.
We make moral choices about what we allow and don’t allow all the time – btw you must know that if you find uranium on your land it’s unlawful not to tell the government.
Sky City is obviously immune to attrition. All it does is snap its fingers and the Government increases the numbers of machines that it is allowed to have.
Another question Petey. United Future actually supported the Gambling Act 2003 which capped the number of casinos and the machine/table combination in each casino.
I’ve got no idea what UF will do about that. And I have no idea what Peter Dunne’s thiking on the convention centre proposal is, apart from what I saw of him on TV3 last night, and other non-committal reports like:
I agree that he should wait to see whatever deal ends up on the table – if it gets that far. If it does it will be a difficult one for him, weighing the pros and cons. And regardless of which way he goes he’ll be criticised vehemently by some.
Greg, will Labour oppose any deal with Sky City to build a convention centre? How much would Labour spend (and borrow) to help build a convention centre? Or are Labour anti the whole idea?
Clearly Labour is opposed to the selling of legislation for money and the increasing of accessibility to poke machines. Labour and UF put the cap there in the first place and it is clear that this was the right thing to do.
Pete G: Your beloved leader is a liar, turncoat and hypocrite extraordinaire. He’s also a pathetic weakling living in the pockets of his corrupt boss, John Key. He will not be missed or even remembered by anyone when he finally is kicked off his undeserved political pedestal.
Dunne has made it clear – on TV3 and elsewhere – that until details of any convention centre deal are known he won’t make any decisions on it. That sounds sensible to me.
But fire ahead opposing things that aren’t known if that’s what you like to do.
Is it unreasonable to expect him to comment on what is already known?
After all he’s not just a passive observer in all of this. The expression of his opinions and views can actually have a material impact on the outcome.
In a very real sense it matters what he thinks. Not just after the fact as if he were some kind of parliamentary historian, but right now as an active participant in the process of decision making.
Of course if everything seems hunky dory by him, I guess he has no reason to speak up.
Do you know a lot more about the deal that hasn’t been announced yet than Dunne? On FB this morning he said:
James K Baxter’s famous line “teach other ignorant people what you in your ignorance think you know best” comes to mind when considering all the media and self appointed social watchdogs rushing to judgement on an Auckland convention centre deal before any such deal has actually materialised. Another reminder of the wisdom of taking things one step at a time.
The fact that some Labour MPs and some in the media chose a slow news week to try and comment on a lot of unknowns doesn’t mean all MPs have to follow suit in the conclusion jumping.
I’d expect someone in Dunne’s (and Bank’s and the Maori MPs) position to wait for actual facts and deals to be known and to then weigh them up carefully rather than give a running commentary on whatever pops into his head when someone on a blog wants to know.
Perhaps this is the sort of up front guidance you prefer.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand this morning he said there was a huge need for a convention centre in Auckland, but if the deal goes ahead controls should be put in place to minimise harm to gamblers.
“I’m not anti gambling at all. I think there is a place and time for it and people are entitled to make their choices and they do that.”
“What I would be looking at and what I looked at previously is harm minimisation, so if there is an extension as a part of any deal I would be very very concerned to ensure that we did everything we could to minimise harm from the extension of gambling outlets,” he said.
The thing is Pete, he’s a politician. It’s not like he just has to sit there, and express conditional concerns and whatnot. his vote could swing this, so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
This harm minimisation thing, sounds fine, except that he doesn’t flesh it out. If that’s what he wants, he should talk about what he means. Is he talking about an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff? Cause that won’t cut it.
And who is going to pay for whatever it is he is talking about? If it’s the government, or anyone other than skycity, then it just becomes more subsidy, doesn’t it?
1. A new transparent tendering process for a national convention centre.
2. For Sky City to pay 37% tax on every pokie machine.
3. For every pokie machine at Sky City to have a max bet of $2.50 per spin and not $100.
Really Pete George in no time a national convention centre would be paid for were Sky City to come into line paying what a pub has to pay.
40 pub pokie machines = one Sky City pokie machine when the bet is $100 on the Sky City machine.
so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
Because it’s not his project. It’s an Auckland and National driven project, it’s up to them to come up with something that they can get approved in the city and in parliament.
It would be more valid to ask John Banks what he thinks. It’s his city. But it’s ridiculous to expect a single MP to fully research and lobby on every project around the country.
lol. It’s pretty onbvious he is in ‘discussions’ with the Nats about his support. Why won’t he go public with what his support will be dependent on?
It looks to me like he will be happy with some fig leaf of ‘harm reduction’ probably paid for by the taxpayer, or by some insignificant levy.
I mean whatever happened to that guy who was asking for votes on the ground that he would stop the nats doing crazy shit? this one is sitting right over the plate, if he doesn’t smack this one, he won’t smack anything.
That press release on this was just a boring tired nasty attack on labour, as if they’ve got anything at all to do with this.
No, I’ve switched back to my normal life and my normal ambitions. The election campaign finished five months ago.
I have some minor communication with UF still but I’m not a part of the organisation and have nothing to do with decision making. I’m simply an occasional opinion they may or may not take any notice of, and I sometimes ask for clarifications and explanations.
Edit – what is a decent length of time between which you could distance yourself from U,F and subsequently not appear too unseemly joining another political party?
Some people are gambling addicts so we regulate pokies.
Alcohol causes a lot of damage to society so we regulate alcohol.
Speeding cars are more likely to kill people so we speed.
The problems are three fold, one big government intervention into the pokie market to select one winner SkyCity at the expense of all the small Pokie establishments – i.e. could they form a class action under the free trade agreement against the government for loss of customers to Sky City. Second, people only allowed these machines because money went to charity and so back into the community. Third, after the social slave addicts have been used to pay for the convention centre, they will be handed over to the private investor Sky City to profit off. In what world do we live in that allows profit from the addiction of others. Are we going to get drug addicts to break rocks up and keep the profits from the sale, are we going to have alcoholic addicts put in a ring and beat each other to a pulp for the viewer entertainment??
Its immoral and unethical to build a convention centre off the backs of addicts.
Use of the the word “wild” is the giveaway there….
“Mr Key said he “sensed” that ACT MP John Banks and UnitedFuture MP Peter Dunne would support the deal when it emerged.”
– Key must be reaching Jedi Master levels with his “sensing”, again attempting diversion, away from the obvious corrpution that has gone on around this deal.
It’s getting so transparent now, you could put a good case together for self sabotage!
Mexico is getting lots of foreign investment and is moving ahead of being a low wage economy so their representative says. I suppose that efforts to both invest in and control drug cartels can be regarded as major by free market enthusiasts measuring ‘foreign investment’.
David Shearer compared our Australian neighbour situation to that of Mexico and USA and based his comment on real facts. Radionz tried to conflate it with Jerry Brownlee’s flight of fancy about Finland. David stopped Geoff Robinson and put him right about the reality of the Mexican situation and our similarity to their problems with their wealthier neighbour. Good on him for bringing truth and facts to the news, and keeping Radionz on its sober path of reporting correctly when they do meet truth.
Parker should have done his research and some basic scenario modelling of how it was going to play. Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
It’s all very well wanting higher quality this and better paying that – I agree – but the fact is we need the jobs, we have a generally low-skilled workforce generating bulk agricultural products, we have high unemployment, and we don’t have enough of our own savings to continuously stop foreign investment set up here and provide those jobs.
And as for drug production, it would be interesting to compare as a proportion of the economy and population New Zealand has in generating drugs, compared to Mexico. I suspect the comparision would not be as stark as we want.
@ad When did Brownlee dig Shearer out? I am confused about this statement. Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
As for drugs in Mexico, I didn’t mention production as the trade and effects are very wide. People are being killed as they try to travel across Mexico and drugs are involved. We have some incidents here for sure but it seems their economy and wellbeing are in danger through this trade.
I am glad you would like better paying jobs. We already know the other points you made. Can you come up with some ideas as to how to circumvent them and achieve better conditions?
Shearer was getting slapped all over the park about his Finland comments in the first speech, until Brownlee whent over the top with the attack in Parliament and the tv news got to spank Brownlee with Finnish protest. A very lucky dig-out.
As for policy ideas, wait for Cunliffe’s set-piece speeches. He’s the one to watch.
I would still rather give Shearer a break right now rather than support Robertson and Ardern continue the internal takeover.
ad I had to refresh my memory about Shearer talking about Finland, found in Standard archives March 16th under David Shearer, also unzipped Google and finally found piece from Tapu Misa with an interesting book summary as well. For interested parties –
Perhaps it’s time we stopped trying to emulate others and remembered that we’ve been world leaders, too: think the women’s vote, ACC (whatever its current problems), the Waitangi Tribunal, and being nuclear-free. We’re apt to forget that we might have something to teach others.
We don’t come off too badly, in fact, when held up against the US, the theme of a new book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer, Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies, New Zealand and the United States.
Comparing our histories, Fischer suggests that our social and political choices have been driven by the dominance of different values: freedom and liberty in the US, and fairness and social justice in New Zealand. …
Fischer’s rich cultural analysis leaves little doubt that New Zealand’s achievements are largely rooted in its “highly developed vernacular ideas of fairness, a complex set of values that Kiwis prize and pursue earnestly. The result: by virtually every measure, New Zealand has a more just and decent society than ours – while resorting far less readily to legalistic and legislative remedies”.
Tapu Misa is wrong. We haven’t had anything to teach the world (other than as a textbook global lesson that accelerating neoliberalism leads to gradual poverty for almost everyone) since the first term of the Lange administration re nuclear powered ships. After that it’s thirty years of neoliberalism in softer or sharper guises. If the left had had something to get really excited about in between, the left would never have split in the first place.
Fischer’s book is a coarse, simplistic overstretch.
Tapu Misa speaks of a New Zealand that only those over 40 can remember. Utter nostalgia. She is scrabbling for a national virtue long lost, like Chris Trotter this morning mourning the loss of Norman Kirk in 1974. It’s not a critique, just elegaic prose.
Comparing New Zealand with the UNited States, about anything, is of no academic merit at all. One of the better paralles is John Ralston Saul’s Reflections of a Siamese Twin on Canada always the silent other to the US, similar to our statehood-in-all-but-name within Australia.
That was kind of my point – If we accept that our nations virtue is indeed lost then we will never regain it. Should we accept that?
I do appreciate where you are coming from, which is presumably that we should acknowledge that currently we do not exhibit much (if any) virtue on the international stage these days as a country, and that looking back and pining for days of yore (Trotter and Kirk) is not the same as doing something about it.
Re: Canada and the US Vs NZ/ Australia relations and the ‘silent Siamese’ relationship I totally agree – the boat people/ refugee issue is a perfect example of this – NZ has lost its independent voice – even the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan comes only after the Aussies pull theirs out…
Thanks for the book reference, sounds like an interesting read.
I think that is a bit unfair Fortran. Tapu appears to me to be the only columnist the Herald allows to tell it how it is about social issues, and she either has great experience of her community or is a superb observer.
Yes. An interesting comparison. Were there 2 items on this on morning report, or did you mean the other David (Parker) and not Shearer. The bit I heard included joint interviews with David Parker and the Mexican ambassador.
I couldn’t help thinking Cunliffe would have done a better job on it than Parker though.
No I was making the link to Shearer, although in Shearer’s April speech he also mentioned Mexico unhelpfully. Whaleoil also made the double Parker/Shearer/Mexico link.
There just needs to be a lot more thought given to how speeches and releases will play. National’s current glinting armour will simply ping these little arrows off. To me the gold standard of cold chutzpah opn making the deal was Key’s interview with Campbell last Friday night. That’s how good the progressive side has to be, and better, if the government is to be weakened.
Right now, the television media are saying “deals are good”, rather than “greed is bad”. The Herald is donig a doughty job on SkyCity, even better than on the Ports of Auckland. Television is still king when it comes to turning the polls.
My view would be for the most effective opposition and the most electable pairing as far as the Labour leadership goes, Cunliff/Robertson or Robertson/Cunliff,
Both when let loose have their own brand of ”presence” which in their different ways make Me stop and listen,within Robertson is a glimmer of what made Norm Kirk and David Lange so electable,
The difference now,especially when I think of the Lange Government is that the reliance upon the Greens should ensure that Labour keep LEFT…
No way – Cunliffe has been cut out of play by Robertson and his Wellington ilk.
He should leave and get a real job. There is no way he could be elected as a leader.candidate.
Remember ABC – it has not changed. Mahuta forget it.
Robertson and Maryann Street will be the next equation.
@Carol Yes got the wrong David. It’s a smorgasbord (is that Finnish) there in Labourland, with Shearer, Cunliffe and Parker.
Has anyone ever done a study on men’s names? So many from the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John etc. The Davids’s follow on, also Andrew, etc. Or else they are drawn from royalty or nobility from the past, William, Henry, George, Edward. A nice striking name might bring votes even. What about ‘Elect Thor, or Red the Viking for a a change in the lacklustre political culture.’
John Banks this morning said (isn’t it awful hearing his voice all the time) that he was on the Centre Right. Ha! What about 500 of us setting up a political party called the Centre Right.
This would be on the basis of adopting a name carrying strong meaning and taming it, sort of like the Sluts and Queers movement.
Are there sluts for the Centre Right, both male and female? Let’s give the description reality and upset the lie of the right wing hiding their extremism behind this political classification.
Why don’t educators think outside their coffin shaped boxes? They are dead in the head, little soldiers of entrenched conservatism.. They should know from their studies of sociology that children follow in parents footsteps, and parents attitudes are 80% or more in guiding students to achievement. Also I have read that there is a strong peer group amongst lower educated youngsters that acts against individual effort and enterprise to succeed beyond the rest.
In Moerewa there are parents eager and behind their youngsters education so why doesn’t the Department pilot a family educator program. Parents learning along with their children and able to help as tutors and trainers in guiding organisation and commitment to timetables and aiming to finish and succeed at projects in general. I’m also in favour of a small sum of money to parents who undertake a course in tutoring and who if successful with their own children, would continue working with other families. What a smart and helpful and far-seeing move that would be by educators.
Yes Prism. A bit strange since Charter Schools will be allowed to set their own programs. But not Moerewa. Surely if the kids and parents really want to be in that school it is a giant plus and whatever it is that the school does they should bottle it and sell it. So many schools are seen by kids as disconnected – truancy. Does Assessment get in the way of learning and involvement?
I watched Native Affairs last night and heard that the schools refusal to adopt National Standards may have been behind the initial Ministry attack on Moerewa.
While there may be some deficiencies to be remedied, the fact that these young people and their parents seem engaged and committed to education should be celebrated not punished. While they are at the school, they will be learning positive things rather than truanting and learning nothing.
The obsession that the Ministry, their political bosses and the public has with tests and examinations is to blame, at least in part, for the number of people leaving school after being labelled ‘failures’ instead of their positive attributes being drawn out and celebrated. The importance of self esteem in determining achievement in life is undervalued, I think
Fortran The whole rigid structure of National Standards and the box ticking obssession of NCEA and teacher competence being glued to that is a predictable moral hazard and has been observed as so in other countries that use it.
A two-week long hikoi protesting against asset sales, privatisation, overseas land sales and the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will begin today in Cape Reinga.
The ‘Aotearoa is Not For Sale’ hikoi aims to reach Wellington on Friday, May 4, after stopping in several North Island towns.
Its progress through Auckland on Saturday will coincide with a public demonstration at Britomart on Queen St, which organisers expect over 10,000 people to attend.
[…]
Saturday’s demonstration is a “family-friendly march” which will assemble outside Britomart in central Auckland at 3pm, then march up Queen St to Aotea Square. It will be followed by speakers and musical entertainment.
A one-week series of activities and demonstrations will take place after the hikoi arrives in Wellington.
Guess who would hang out against the right thing for a Rightie to do”
Two Right-wing bloggers who allegedly published defamatory comments about Labour earthquake recovery spokeswoman Lianne Dalziel may face legal action.
The Southern Asian and Little Saigon restaurants in Colombo St were forced to close with only 90 minutes’ notice last Thursday. Dalziel told The Press about the “tragic” situation from one of the restaurants that afternoon. ……….
…….Farrar obeyed the request but Slater refused to remove the comments or apologise. He did not care if it turned into a “legal war”.
Claire Trevett serves up today’s PR from the warmongers in two separate articles, both on the same topic: Leaders slam ‘thieving Digger’ slur
The first paragraph mentions ‘Transtasman political leaders’ but then goes on to quote Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith (not a leader):
“We have the highest regard for the contribution made by our New Zealand colleagues – as they do have for us. Anyone who has been to Gallipoli, who has been to the New Zealand monument at the top of the hill, who understands the contribution that our Kiwi brothers and sisters made in Gallipoli alone – let alone other conflicts, including and up to Afghanistan – would dismiss those comments with the disrespect they deserve.”
” I’ve seen the Australian Forces in a number of situations when they’ve been in places like Afghanistan, in Gallipoli and various other places. The spirit of the Anzac tradition is alive and well – it was a tradition forged on the battlegrounds of Gallipoli and to take away from their efforts I find quite offensive.”
Here it is again – Afghanistan – you would think that both Australia and NZ ‘political leaders’ would be better off not mentioning the shameful involvement in the US ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan but instead it is promoted as being an example of the ‘spirit of the Anzac tradition’
The Anzac tradition post Gallipoli is a tradition steeped in controversy. The unjust and brutal occupation of Vietnam by ‘Anzac’ forces is not something we ‘celebrate’ today, nor should we ‘celebrate’ the unjust and brutal occupation of Afghanistan.
Those soldiers that died in Gallipoli would be horrified to discover that their sacrifice was being used as an excuse to draw future generations into battle.
It is time that the ‘spirit of the Anzac’ tradition becomes one of peace. If we are to work together with our allies let it be not bound by blood and aggression, but united by respect – respect for each others sovereignty and that of all the peoples of the world. United by a commitment to humanitarian responses to conflict.
Anzac Day – A day to remember and grieve for the fallen. A day to remember the folly and brutality of war. A reminder that we must not make the same mistakes again.
@ Campbell Larsen – I heard the comment about Australian soldiers and World War 2 and the reasonable reply to such an unreasonable comment. I thought it was an uncalled for comment from a historian, who would like to repeat war history apparently after not having learned anything from the past.
Makes me think of the comment made this morning about some Perth team P.Glory I think who sound pretty physical and the NZ reply made me think more of an ultimate fight than a sport. Don’t start up extra aggravation with the Aussies thank you very much Jock Anderson.
(From article on Stuff.) A New Zealand journalist who called Australian World War I soldiers “bludgers”, “scavengers” and “thieves” says he has “nothing to apologise for” despite the backlash his comments have received.
Jock Anderson made the comments on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel last week.
“The Aussies have been reluctant soldiers at the best of times. They’ve been essentially lazy, bludgers, some of them, and excellent black marketeers, scavengers, poachers and thieves,” he said on the radio show…However, the National Business Review chief reporter has said he wouldn’t apologise.
I think NZs might like to think they could have matched the Aussies for thieving etc. It was a way of surviving and getting extras. There is some story about an officer and a chicken going missing in a barn and a nice chicken dinner later. There will be other stories in greater detail too.
No argument from me – the comments from Jock were unnecessary, rude and insensitive.
I am more interested in what came back in reply (thus the focus of my comment)
It is time that the ‘spirit of the Anzac’ tradition becomes one of peace. If we are to work together with our allies let it be not bound by blood and aggression, but united by respect – respect for each others sovereignty and that of all the peoples of the world. United by a commitment to humanitarian responses to conflict.
Absolutely agreed!
I generally have nowt to do with ANZAC Day, because it’s very problematic for me as a pacifist…
Some lovely phrasing from the NZHerald today as the great MED merger is confirmed:
“Hundreds of public service jobs are expected to be erased in the merger – though Mr Joyce said the jobs of the ministers overseeing the various sectors are safe.”
Rod Oram on Crafar Sale.
Shines a must hear focus on the absurdity of the Sale.
It is the first time that I have heard Rod being angry/upset.
He is very skeptical about the verdict and process of the approval.
He says that it is very like the 100 year old plan where Brits “screwed” NZ by owning Meat and meat processing in NZ (like Dairy), but the real wealth was exported.
And one major flaw is to show that National authorising the sale makes it OK for other foreigners to keep on buying up NZ land. Accumulative effect.
If Oram does not like the decision it must be right.
As a recent Pom arrival, from many lands in between, he must be right about the maurauding Poms, without whom this country would be even more backwards in the world.
…changes to the climate are happening faster than previously predicted.
Not really. There have been predictions made since the early 80’s that appear to be closely following what is actually happening that were less conservative than the IPCC reports. But Lovelock was always somewhat ‘enthusiastic’ compared to the climate scientists – it made for better books.
It was more that the predictions made by the IPCCS in the scientific report are on the available fully verified evidence at the time – which for IPCC 4 was released in 2007 based on data with a cutoff date of around 2004-2005. That means that the IPCC reports are really really conservative we are talking of a geological process that takes time to happen and therefore the evidence to be measured. While it is happening at an extraordinarily fast speed in geological terms, it is still glacial in terms of human observers.
So the data collection programs initiated in the early 2000’s, 1990’s and even the 1980’s took time to produce verifiable data across decades long climatic cycles. It is only in the past decade for instance that we’ve been able to look at the mass of ice in the Arctic across the whole area (and watch it diminish at about 10x the IPCC4 report predictions).
But everything is happening faster now as the process accelerates with feedback effects. The data collection is now in place to see it happening. Of course the political will is about robust as John Key’s understanding of anything to do with science.
So I’m pretty confident that the populations will get seriously concerned about the time that we get our first major deaths from agricultural failures and before we get serious sealevel rises. Of course by then, it will be too late to do much about changing the next few centuries of climatic turmoil.
Once started geological processes are pretty hard to stop. But Lovelock just didn’t appreciate how much buffering there is in the system – especially in the ability of the oceans to suck up vast amounts of heat, CO2 and CH4.
Newly released suicide and self-harm hospitalisation data for 2009, the most recent year available, shows New Zealand’s suicide rate is being reduced (there’s quite a lag for these statistics due to having to wait for cornoers reports).
2009 – 506 deaths
1998 – 15.5 per 100,000
2008 – 11.8 per 100,000
2009 – 11.2 per 100,000
Youth suicide:
1995 – 44.1 per 100,000
2009 – 29.0 per 100,000
Still far too high but an improving trend.
“We have a significant youth suicide issue, particularly among young men, and that is why the Government is investing $62 million over four years in the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project announced earlier this month.”
“We want every young person who needs help to receive it in a way that works for them – and that is why the package will be delivered through schools, health professionals, online and at home.
“We also want parents to know where to turn which is why we’ve developed a new fund to provide information to parents, families and friends.
“Alongside this package we will be developing a new Suicide Prevention Action Plan this year. This will be a cross-government agency initiative that I will be leading to further tackle the issue of suicide.”
The 10 year Suicide Prevention Strategy 2006–2016 and associated four-year Action Plan 2008–2012 form the backbone of Government-led suicide prevention.
The Government will this year develop the next stage four-year Action Plan covering 2013 to 2016.
There are concerns the statistics take so long to become available but this is being worked on. The 2010 figures will be available later this year.
Well said in that link thanks Dave. They have done us in but what to do about it. National Standards were just the beginning of dismantling schooling as we have known it. More trashing to come with the help of the Secretary of Education. Sad.
The PPTA are congratulating the minsityr for what they have done.
PPTA president Robin Duff congratulates education minister Hekia Parata for taking a firm stand against the board of Northland’s Moerewa School .
The board was sacked yesterday after extending classes to years 11 and 13 without the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) permission, with seriously questionable results.
“Primary schools may have the best of intentions, but it is wrong for them to believe they can adequately provide specialist subject delivery to students over year 9,” Duff said.
“They may provide a warm and nurturing environment, but PPTA has warned for years that primary schools retaining students after year 9 denies them the specialised support they need.”
Wasn’t it Robin Duff who said that most schools supported Nationals’ Standards and then had most schools turn around and tell her and the nation that they didn’t?
Oh dear, thanks for this link, Pete, I hadn’t read this link related to PPTA’s position. I hadn’t picked up the fact that the school hadn’t asked permission for extending the classes. Whether this is fact or not doesn’t change my stance. It does appear that the school was responding to the needs of their community in good faith and the aggressive nature of the Ministry’s response was unhelpful.
Lets hope the AG concludes that the PM did nothing wrong, I’d hate to see her denigrated as having made a bad call. I mean in this instance there wasn’t even a written warning that was acknowledged prior to claiming “The AG changed the rules”. So it would seem a lot easier for National to be self serving and attack the AG rather than be accountable than it was for Labour.
One more thing about the possible SkyCity probe. Is anyone who comments here regularly likely to be in agreement with the PM if he says the business of government is whatever government say it is ?
The Productivity Commission released its International freight transport services report (PDF) today. I’ve highlighted a few extracts, and the one that really stood out for me was about the additional cost New Zealand faces because of the distance to our offshore markets…
The actual difference in costs to the shipping companies is a few dollars per container.
500 extra miles does not make that much difference.
Overseas shipping companies in NZ, unlike most countries, Australia included, are allowed to carry coastal cargo which increases their profits and should cut shipping rates. Not that shipping companies have passed any of it on.
The extra charges are shipping cartels, which NZ allows, price gouging.
I note that they believe Unions are holding up port productivity. Not really surprised as the benefits to the Tauranga wharfies from being more productive than other ports in the Pacific is less pay, casualisation and reduced conditions.
Having minimum wage slaves would , of course, increase productivity??
You just make this stuff up don’t you. 500 miles is not even a factor in the position of NZ relative to the rest of our markets. 500 miles is relevant when talking about Auckland to Wellington but inconsequential when talking about European markets.
As for shipping/freight cartels… remind me again who’s making all the demands for “their share” in POA ?
Extremely relevant when they are discussing competitiveness with Australia.
Around 500 NM is the difference in distance between Sydney and Auckland to USA/Europe.
(Reference. Ocean passages of the world)
Sydney’s port, administration, safety regulation requirements and wharf costs are a lot higher than Auckland’s . There is actually no reason, apart from rorting, that our freight charges are higher.
What about Europe’s distance from Chinese markets?
Distance from markets is just another excuse from the RWNJ’s for the Neo-lib fuckup.
And all the more reason for supporting local manufacturing to add value instead of relying on commodity exports.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
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Some people are gambling addicts so we should ban pokies.
And what else?
Is a temporary increase of numbers of pokies in one location a big deal? The number of locations throughout neighbourhoods must be a more critical factor in feeding addictions.
What’s temporary about it? Try harder PG otherwise it’s obvious you’re a shill for shonkey attempting to shroud it in that ‘ moderate ‘ influence you roll over for the baubles every time.
Timing is good with the comedy festival starting soon, you and James 111 could do a double act. You’re also diverting from the rather more serious issue of selling legislation, no due process, robust business case etc etc
It’s temporary because the number of gaming machines has been trending significantly downward for about the last decade, and even if there is a few hundred blip upwards the trend will continue downward.
Numbers peaked at over 25,000 about 2002, and have since fairly steadily declined to about 18,000 now, averaging about -700 per year.
http://www.dia.govt.nz/Pubforms.nsf/URL/LineGraph_31%20March%202012.pdf/$file/LineGraph_31%20March%202012.pdf
Okay Pete, what does shrinking lid mean?
If the desire is for them to eventually be phased out (i.e no renewed licences) then the legislation will have had its desired affect..
Ultimately we have none out in the suburbs.
And, of course, the casino will begin to reduce theirs?
Don’t think so.
Pete has never played monopoly I guess, can’t understand trickle up, or consolidation…
Pete are you alright mate, I think you might have forgotten to take your meds again.
Maybe you could stop to wonder why they’re trending down. The pokies not at the casino are non-profit, sites such as pubs & clubs that host pokies can only charge rent and expenses. 37% of gross pokie revenue has to go to charity and 100% of nett profit also has to go to charity.
Pubs installed them because they brought in extra customers and helped pay a bit of the rent, maybe those customers now spend so much time in front of the pokie instead of buying booze it’s not worth it for the pub any more.
They’re likely trending down because they’re no longer profitable for certain types of pubs & clubs. Since they are very profitable for Sky City, who have a totally different payout arrangement, you can’t compare the two.
We are reading the suggestions of many of the Pub pokies proceeds being “donated” in very unusual ways, not in the ways anticipated.
This has been going on for many years and needs to be corrected again again.
Ther are deep smells in this.
As usual the link is to his Pete’s website but playing his game:
Some people like having sex with animals so should we ban bestiality
Some people like robbing other peoples homes so should we ban burglary
Some people like beating the shit out of their wives so should we ban assault
Some people like biking without a helmet so should be ban not wearing a helmet
Some people like starving and beating animals so should we ban animal abuse
Some people like signing off incorrect financial prospectuses so should we ban fraud
Some people like revealing peoples private details in public so should we ban privacy breaches
Some people like to speed so should we ban speeding
Some people like to discharge cow shit into rivers so should we ban polluting rivers
Some people like playing Grant Theft Auto at 8 years old should we ban them til they are 18
Some people like keeping chickens in town so should we ban roosters
Except that you are listing things that are deemed socially unacceptable, whereas most of what I listed are seen as safe and reasonable for most people.
Actually many of the things you have listed various people find socially unacceptable in some way or another.
Drugs – marijuana would be the classic example
Fat people – just read any rightwing blog – and actually NZ should enforce the original WHO guidelines (before they were edited by the sugar company who paid for the report) to have a maximum level of sugar in food. That would have the greatest impact on obesity of anything I have ever come across
Pokies and casinos – these were banned in NZ for many, many years without any difficulty. there’s no doubt in many peoples minds that they have made and created more gambling addicts and caused more problems than not having them. Socially unacceptable absolutely.
Music – there has been plenty of effort over the years to ban unacceptable music – my favourite punk included but feel free to go back as far as Elvis if you wish.
Social mores change as we have seen with the unbanning of pokies and casinos which is actually the point isn’t it. They were allowed with a stroke of the pen and can simply be un-allowed in the same way.
We wouldn’t suffer at all without them and given only people who can afford to lose money should game they can all afford to go to Aussie to the casinos there.
We make moral choices about what we allow and don’t allow all the time – btw you must know that if you find uranium on your land it’s unlawful not to tell the government.
Gunna answer my points about the issues you’re diverting from or just play the opinion game like your masters.
The only thing you asked was “What’s temporary about it?” I showed that after about six months the proposed increase would be negated by attrition.
I wasn’t diverting, I raised one of a number of relevant issues – which you could be accused of diverting from.
Sky City is obviously immune to attrition. All it does is snap its fingers and the Government increases the numbers of machines that it is allowed to have.
Another question Petey. United Future actually supported the Gambling Act 2003 which capped the number of casinos and the machine/table combination in each casino.
Will it continue to do this?
I’ve got no idea what UF will do about that. And I have no idea what Peter Dunne’s thiking on the convention centre proposal is, apart from what I saw of him on TV3 last night, and other non-committal reports like:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6795179/Dunne-mulls-Casino-deal-support
I agree that he should wait to see whatever deal ends up on the table – if it gets that far. If it does it will be a difficult one for him, weighing the pros and cons. And regardless of which way he goes he’ll be criticised vehemently by some.
Greg, will Labour oppose any deal with Sky City to build a convention centre? How much would Labour spend (and borrow) to help build a convention centre? Or are Labour anti the whole idea?
Clearly Labour is opposed to the selling of legislation for money and the increasing of accessibility to poke machines. Labour and UF put the cap there in the first place and it is clear that this was the right thing to do.
Pete G: Your beloved leader is a liar, turncoat and hypocrite extraordinaire. He’s also a pathetic weakling living in the pockets of his corrupt boss, John Key. He will not be missed or even remembered by anyone when he finally is kicked off his undeserved political pedestal.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Peter-Dunne-likely-to-back-Key-on-casino-deal/tabid/1607/articleID/251543/Default.aspx
Dunne has made it clear – on TV3 and elsewhere – that until details of any convention centre deal are known he won’t make any decisions on it. That sounds sensible to me.
But fire ahead opposing things that aren’t known if that’s what you like to do.
Is it unreasonable to expect him to comment on what is already known?
After all he’s not just a passive observer in all of this. The expression of his opinions and views can actually have a material impact on the outcome.
In a very real sense it matters what he thinks. Not just after the fact as if he were some kind of parliamentary historian, but right now as an active participant in the process of decision making.
Of course if everything seems hunky dory by him, I guess he has no reason to speak up.
Do you know a lot more about the deal that hasn’t been announced yet than Dunne? On FB this morning he said:
The fact that some Labour MPs and some in the media chose a slow news week to try and comment on a lot of unknowns doesn’t mean all MPs have to follow suit in the conclusion jumping.
I’d expect someone in Dunne’s (and Bank’s and the Maori MPs) position to wait for actual facts and deals to be known and to then weigh them up carefully rather than give a running commentary on whatever pops into his head when someone on a blog wants to know.
Perhaps this is the sort of up front guidance you prefer.
That sounds fair enough too.
The thing is Pete, he’s a politician. It’s not like he just has to sit there, and express conditional concerns and whatnot. his vote could swing this, so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
This harm minimisation thing, sounds fine, except that he doesn’t flesh it out. If that’s what he wants, he should talk about what he means. Is he talking about an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff? Cause that won’t cut it.
And who is going to pay for whatever it is he is talking about? If it’s the government, or anyone other than skycity, then it just becomes more subsidy, doesn’t it?
The man’s a coward.
“That sounds fair enough too.”
Do you know what I think sounds fair enough to.
1. A new transparent tendering process for a national convention centre.
2. For Sky City to pay 37% tax on every pokie machine.
3. For every pokie machine at Sky City to have a max bet of $2.50 per spin and not $100.
Really Pete George in no time a national convention centre would be paid for were Sky City to come into line paying what a pub has to pay.
40 pub pokie machines = one Sky City pokie machine when the bet is $100 on the Sky City machine.
so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
Because it’s not his project. It’s an Auckland and National driven project, it’s up to them to come up with something that they can get approved in the city and in parliament.
It would be more valid to ask John Banks what he thinks. It’s his city. But it’s ridiculous to expect a single MP to fully research and lobby on every project around the country.
PG, selling the law, which is what the John Key/SkyCity deal is, is immoral and PD and UF would be coming against it if they had any sort of ethics.
Rhetorical question?
lol. It’s pretty onbvious he is in ‘discussions’ with the Nats about his support. Why won’t he go public with what his support will be dependent on?
It looks to me like he will be happy with some fig leaf of ‘harm reduction’ probably paid for by the taxpayer, or by some insignificant levy.
I mean whatever happened to that guy who was asking for votes on the ground that he would stop the nats doing crazy shit? this one is sitting right over the plate, if he doesn’t smack this one, he won’t smack anything.
That press release on this was just a boring tired nasty attack on labour, as if they’ve got anything at all to do with this.
Wow, and here’s me thinking you were a member of the party even a possible candidate. Have you now switched over fully to National?
No, he should be opposed to selling the law.
No, I’ve switched back to my normal life and my normal ambitions. The election campaign finished five months ago.
I have some minor communication with UF still but I’m not a part of the organisation and have nothing to do with decision making. I’m simply an occasional opinion they may or may not take any notice of, and I sometimes ask for clarifications and explanations.
have you resigned from the list then?
For parties without any list MPs (Act, Maori, Mana and UF) their list becomes redundant after the election.
The next list probably won’t be put together until about August 2014.
You need to find a political party with a future (haha) if you want to further your ambitions.
Depends on what those ambitions are. There’s a lot that can be tried without needing a party.
Are you in a party?
Do you need a party to pursue your ambitions?
Yeah mate Labour.
And as always, I am ambitous for New Zealand.
Edit – what is a decent length of time between which you could distance yourself from U,F and subsequently not appear too unseemly joining another political party?
6 months? 12 months?
You need to find a political party with a future (haha) if you want to further your ambitions.
So United Future didn’t have a policy manifesto for 2011?
Ban political parties that don’t have a manifesto 30 days out from the election from having their votes counted.
Whats that you say?
UF did have a manifesto?
Well good on them. Then they should go and ask their voters in the single electorate they hold, what the voters think.
We should really have local referendums in the decider seats on burning issues. Democracy speaks then.
Some people are gambling addicts so we regulate pokies.
Alcohol causes a lot of damage to society so we regulate alcohol.
Speeding cars are more likely to kill people so we speed.
etc.
edit
opps DoS beat me to it
aj
I hate being dragged into a casino to gamble. Same with smoking.
The problems are three fold, one big government intervention into the pokie market to select one winner SkyCity at the expense of all the small Pokie establishments – i.e. could they form a class action under the free trade agreement against the government for loss of customers to Sky City. Second, people only allowed these machines because money went to charity and so back into the community. Third, after the social slave addicts have been used to pay for the convention centre, they will be handed over to the private investor Sky City to profit off. In what world do we live in that allows profit from the addiction of others. Are we going to get drug addicts to break rocks up and keep the profits from the sale, are we going to have alcoholic addicts put in a ring and beat each other to a pulp for the viewer entertainment??
Its immoral and unethical to build a convention centre off the backs of addicts.
There you go, it’s all just a wild conspiracy theory according to John Key. I wonder where he learned that one!
Use of the the word “wild” is the giveaway there….
“Mr Key said he “sensed” that ACT MP John Banks and UnitedFuture MP Peter Dunne would support the deal when it emerged.”
– Key must be reaching Jedi Master levels with his “sensing”, again attempting diversion, away from the obvious corrpution that has gone on around this deal.
It’s getting so transparent now, you could put a good case together for self sabotage!
[holds two fingers up in front of interviewer] “These are not the rorts you are looking for”
😆
Getting married should be an equal opportunity. Here’s marriage rights made simple.
Mexico is getting lots of foreign investment and is moving ahead of being a low wage economy so their representative says. I suppose that efforts to both invest in and control drug cartels can be regarded as major by free market enthusiasts measuring ‘foreign investment’.
David Shearer compared our Australian neighbour situation to that of Mexico and USA and based his comment on real facts. Radionz tried to conflate it with Jerry Brownlee’s flight of fancy about Finland. David stopped Geoff Robinson and put him right about the reality of the Mexican situation and our similarity to their problems with their wealthier neighbour. Good on him for bringing truth and facts to the news, and keeping Radionz on its sober path of reporting correctly when they do meet truth.
I presume you meant David Parker.
Thanks Pete George – I heard ‘David’ as I dashed around and as I would expect to be hearing more from Shearer I just assumed it was him.
I think a lot of people assumed they would be hearing more from him….
Parker should have done his research and some basic scenario modelling of how it was going to play. Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
It’s all very well wanting higher quality this and better paying that – I agree – but the fact is we need the jobs, we have a generally low-skilled workforce generating bulk agricultural products, we have high unemployment, and we don’t have enough of our own savings to continuously stop foreign investment set up here and provide those jobs.
And as for drug production, it would be interesting to compare as a proportion of the economy and population New Zealand has in generating drugs, compared to Mexico. I suspect the comparision would not be as stark as we want.
@ad When did Brownlee dig Shearer out? I am confused about this statement.
Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
As for drugs in Mexico, I didn’t mention production as the trade and effects are very wide. People are being killed as they try to travel across Mexico and drugs are involved. We have some incidents here for sure but it seems their economy and wellbeing are in danger through this trade.
I am glad you would like better paying jobs. We already know the other points you made. Can you come up with some ideas as to how to circumvent them and achieve better conditions?
Shearer was getting slapped all over the park about his Finland comments in the first speech, until Brownlee whent over the top with the attack in Parliament and the tv news got to spank Brownlee with Finnish protest. A very lucky dig-out.
As for policy ideas, wait for Cunliffe’s set-piece speeches. He’s the one to watch.
I would still rather give Shearer a break right now rather than support Robertson and Ardern continue the internal takeover.
ad I had to refresh my memory about Shearer talking about Finland, found in Standard archives March 16th under David Shearer, also unzipped Google and finally found piece from Tapu Misa with an interesting book summary as well. For interested parties –
Perhaps it’s time we stopped trying to emulate others and remembered that we’ve been world leaders, too: think the women’s vote, ACC (whatever its current problems), the Waitangi Tribunal, and being nuclear-free. We’re apt to forget that we might have something to teach others.
We don’t come off too badly, in fact, when held up against the US, the theme of a new book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer, Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies, New Zealand and the United States.
Comparing our histories, Fischer suggests that our social and political choices have been driven by the dominance of different values: freedom and liberty in the US, and fairness and social justice in New Zealand. …
Fischer’s rich cultural analysis leaves little doubt that New Zealand’s achievements are largely rooted in its “highly developed vernacular ideas of fairness, a complex set of values that Kiwis prize and pursue earnestly. The result: by virtually every measure, New Zealand has a more just and decent society than ours – while resorting far less readily to legalistic and legislative remedies”.
Tapu Misa is wrong. We haven’t had anything to teach the world (other than as a textbook global lesson that accelerating neoliberalism leads to gradual poverty for almost everyone) since the first term of the Lange administration re nuclear powered ships. After that it’s thirty years of neoliberalism in softer or sharper guises. If the left had had something to get really excited about in between, the left would never have split in the first place.
Fischer’s book is a coarse, simplistic overstretch.
ad – It seems to me that both writers are expressing a hope and desire that our respective countries actually strive to be better than they are.
I think they both deserve better than your offhand dismissals.
Tapu Misa speaks of a New Zealand that only those over 40 can remember. Utter nostalgia. She is scrabbling for a national virtue long lost, like Chris Trotter this morning mourning the loss of Norman Kirk in 1974. It’s not a critique, just elegaic prose.
Comparing New Zealand with the UNited States, about anything, is of no academic merit at all. One of the better paralles is John Ralston Saul’s Reflections of a Siamese Twin on Canada always the silent other to the US, similar to our statehood-in-all-but-name within Australia.
That was kind of my point – If we accept that our nations virtue is indeed lost then we will never regain it. Should we accept that?
I do appreciate where you are coming from, which is presumably that we should acknowledge that currently we do not exhibit much (if any) virtue on the international stage these days as a country, and that looking back and pining for days of yore (Trotter and Kirk) is not the same as doing something about it.
Re: Canada and the US Vs NZ/ Australia relations and the ‘silent Siamese’ relationship I totally agree – the boat people/ refugee issue is a perfect example of this – NZ has lost its independent voice – even the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan comes only after the Aussies pull theirs out…
Thanks for the book reference, sounds like an interesting read.
Tapu Misa should come into 2012.
She lives in her own dream world of pacific plunder, pakeha wrong.
She shoul dget really real.
I think that is a bit unfair Fortran. Tapu appears to me to be the only columnist the Herald allows to tell it how it is about social issues, and she either has great experience of her community or is a superb observer.
Yes. An interesting comparison. Were there 2 items on this on morning report, or did you mean the other David (Parker) and not Shearer. The bit I heard included joint interviews with David Parker and the Mexican ambassador.
I couldn’t help thinking Cunliffe would have done a better job on it than Parker though.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/20120424
No I was making the link to Shearer, although in Shearer’s April speech he also mentioned Mexico unhelpfully. Whaleoil also made the double Parker/Shearer/Mexico link.
There just needs to be a lot more thought given to how speeches and releases will play. National’s current glinting armour will simply ping these little arrows off. To me the gold standard of cold chutzpah opn making the deal was Key’s interview with Campbell last Friday night. That’s how good the progressive side has to be, and better, if the government is to be weakened.
Right now, the television media are saying “deals are good”, rather than “greed is bad”. The Herald is donig a doughty job on SkyCity, even better than on the Ports of Auckland. Television is still king when it comes to turning the polls.
ad, my comment above was a response to prism, but your comment @9am came in seconds before mine.
I agree with the opposition needing to bring their A game. Parker is just not up to it. Bring on Cunliffe, Little and Mahuta.
+1.
My view would be for the most effective opposition and the most electable pairing as far as the Labour leadership goes, Cunliff/Robertson or Robertson/Cunliff,
Both when let loose have their own brand of ”presence” which in their different ways make Me stop and listen,within Robertson is a glimmer of what made Norm Kirk and David Lange so electable,
The difference now,especially when I think of the Lange Government is that the reliance upon the Greens should ensure that Labour keep LEFT…
No way – Cunliffe has been cut out of play by Robertson and his Wellington ilk.
He should leave and get a real job. There is no way he could be elected as a leader.candidate.
Remember ABC – it has not changed. Mahuta forget it.
Robertson and Maryann Street will be the next equation.
Fortran is scared of Cunliffe!!! I wonder why lol
@Carol Yes got the wrong David. It’s a smorgasbord (is that Finnish) there in Labourland, with Shearer, Cunliffe and Parker.
Has anyone ever done a study on men’s names? So many from the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John etc. The Davids’s follow on, also Andrew, etc. Or else they are drawn from royalty or nobility from the past, William, Henry, George, Edward. A nice striking name might bring votes even. What about ‘Elect Thor, or Red the Viking for a a change in the lacklustre political culture.’
+1
That +1 was meant as an agreement with Carol’s initial post.
What – does that mean you don’t like the idea of Thor the dynamic?
John Banks this morning said (isn’t it awful hearing his voice all the time) that he was on the Centre Right. Ha! What about 500 of us setting up a political party called the Centre Right.
This would be on the basis of adopting a name carrying strong meaning and taming it, sort of like the Sluts and Queers movement.
Are there sluts for the Centre Right, both male and female? Let’s give the description reality and upset the lie of the right wing hiding their extremism behind this political classification.
I’m just enjoying the damage Banks must be doing to the centre right by his association with them.
Why don’t educators think outside their coffin shaped boxes? They are dead in the head, little soldiers of entrenched conservatism.. They should know from their studies of sociology that children follow in parents footsteps, and parents attitudes are 80% or more in guiding students to achievement. Also I have read that there is a strong peer group amongst lower educated youngsters that acts against individual effort and enterprise to succeed beyond the rest.
In Moerewa there are parents eager and behind their youngsters education so why doesn’t the Department pilot a family educator program. Parents learning along with their children and able to help as tutors and trainers in guiding organisation and commitment to timetables and aiming to finish and succeed at projects in general. I’m also in favour of a small sum of money to parents who undertake a course in tutoring and who if successful with their own children, would continue working with other families. What a smart and helpful and far-seeing move that would be by educators.
Yes Prism. A bit strange since Charter Schools will be allowed to set their own programs. But not Moerewa. Surely if the kids and parents really want to be in that school it is a giant plus and whatever it is that the school does they should bottle it and sell it. So many schools are seen by kids as disconnected – truancy. Does Assessment get in the way of learning and involvement?
Good question ianmac. You get a Well Done today!
I watched Native Affairs last night and heard that the schools refusal to adopt National Standards may have been behind the initial Ministry attack on Moerewa.
While there may be some deficiencies to be remedied, the fact that these young people and their parents seem engaged and committed to education should be celebrated not punished. While they are at the school, they will be learning positive things rather than truanting and learning nothing.
The obsession that the Ministry, their political bosses and the public has with tests and examinations is to blame, at least in part, for the number of people leaving school after being labelled ‘failures’ instead of their positive attributes being drawn out and celebrated. The importance of self esteem in determining achievement in life is undervalued, I think
It would appear also that they fiddled their NCEA results by using Google answers.
Showed up as a number did the same thing – of their own volition ?
Fortran The whole rigid structure of National Standards and the box ticking obssession of NCEA and teacher competence being glued to that is a predictable moral hazard and has been observed as so in other countries that use it.
Hateatea
+1
I have arranged my affairs so I can be at Britomart at 3pm this coming Saturday. Bodies on the ground will be important:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Aotearoa-is-Not-For-Sale-hikoi-begins-today/tabid/423/articleID/251506/Default.aspx
Just how many affairs are you running concurrently?
Why? Are you interested in joining in?
😈
Carol: I haven’t seen any detail. Is there a organizing site?
But I will head that way on Saturday.
Guess who would hang out against the right thing for a Rightie to do”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6795038/Blogger-defiant-at-defamation-claim
No honour in Afghanistan
Claire Trevett serves up today’s PR from the warmongers in two separate articles, both on the same topic:
Leaders slam ‘thieving Digger’ slur
The first paragraph mentions ‘Transtasman political leaders’ but then goes on to quote Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith (not a leader):
“We have the highest regard for the contribution made by our New Zealand colleagues – as they do have for us. Anyone who has been to Gallipoli, who has been to the New Zealand monument at the top of the hill, who understands the contribution that our Kiwi brothers and sisters made in Gallipoli alone – let alone other conflicts, including and up to Afghanistan – would dismiss those comments with the disrespect they deserve.”
Including and up to Afghanistan – Hmmmm…
Claire isn’t done there- she has another article to say pretty much the same thing:
Aussie soldier comments ‘offensive and inappropriate’ – PM
This time quoting ole Shonkey:
” I’ve seen the Australian Forces in a number of situations when they’ve been in places like Afghanistan, in Gallipoli and various other places. The spirit of the Anzac tradition is alive and well – it was a tradition forged on the battlegrounds of Gallipoli and to take away from their efforts I find quite offensive.”
Here it is again – Afghanistan – you would think that both Australia and NZ ‘political leaders’ would be better off not mentioning the shameful involvement in the US ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan but instead it is promoted as being an example of the ‘spirit of the Anzac tradition’
The Anzac tradition post Gallipoli is a tradition steeped in controversy. The unjust and brutal occupation of Vietnam by ‘Anzac’ forces is not something we ‘celebrate’ today, nor should we ‘celebrate’ the unjust and brutal occupation of Afghanistan.
Those soldiers that died in Gallipoli would be horrified to discover that their sacrifice was being used as an excuse to draw future generations into battle.
It is time that the ‘spirit of the Anzac’ tradition becomes one of peace. If we are to work together with our allies let it be not bound by blood and aggression, but united by respect – respect for each others sovereignty and that of all the peoples of the world. United by a commitment to humanitarian responses to conflict.
Anzac Day – A day to remember and grieve for the fallen. A day to remember the folly and brutality of war. A reminder that we must not make the same mistakes again.
@ Campbell Larsen – I heard the comment about Australian soldiers and World War 2 and the reasonable reply to such an unreasonable comment. I thought it was an uncalled for comment from a historian, who would like to repeat war history apparently after not having learned anything from the past.
Makes me think of the comment made this morning about some Perth team P.Glory I think who sound pretty physical and the NZ reply made me think more of an ultimate fight than a sport. Don’t start up extra aggravation with the Aussies thank you very much Jock Anderson.
(From article on Stuff.) A New Zealand journalist who called Australian World War I soldiers “bludgers”, “scavengers” and “thieves” says he has “nothing to apologise for” despite the backlash his comments have received.
Jock Anderson made the comments on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel last week.
“The Aussies have been reluctant soldiers at the best of times. They’ve been essentially lazy, bludgers, some of them, and excellent black marketeers, scavengers, poachers and thieves,” he said on the radio show…However, the National Business Review chief reporter has said he wouldn’t apologise.
I think NZs might like to think they could have matched the Aussies for thieving etc. It was a way of surviving and getting extras. There is some story about an officer and a chicken going missing in a barn and a nice chicken dinner later. There will be other stories in greater detail too.
@Prism
No argument from me – the comments from Jock were unnecessary, rude and insensitive.
I am more interested in what came back in reply (thus the focus of my comment)
I think NZs might like to think they could have matched the Aussies for thieving etc. It was a way of surviving and getting extras.
Actually, the brave and heroic ANZAC troops were doing things far worse than “surviving and getting extras”….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surafend_affair
Absolutely agreed!
I generally have nowt to do with ANZAC Day, because it’s very problematic for me as a pacifist…
Some lovely phrasing from the NZHerald today as the great MED merger is confirmed:
“Hundreds of public service jobs are expected to be erased in the merger – though Mr Joyce said the jobs of the ministers overseeing the various sectors are safe.”
Remember John Trickey’s bullshit brighter future?
Darker future for NZ:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10801118
Rod Oram on Crafar Sale.
Shines a must hear focus on the absurdity of the Sale.
It is the first time that I have heard Rod being angry/upset.
He is very skeptical about the verdict and process of the approval.
He says that it is very like the 100 year old plan where Brits “screwed” NZ by owning Meat and meat processing in NZ (like Dairy), but the real wealth was exported.
And one major flaw is to show that National authorising the sale makes it OK for other foreigners to keep on buying up NZ land. Accumulative effect.
And much more. A high priority listen by you folks who are economy/business wise.
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20120424-1107-business_with_rod_oram-048.mp3
If Oram does not like the decision it must be right.
As a recent Pom arrival, from many lands in between, he must be right about the maurauding Poms, without whom this country would be even more backwards in the world.
You’re a fucking dishonest liar, and a poor one at that. Oram has been around for years, loser, and actually cares about the future of this country.
He mentions one English family “investment” in NZ that actually held back NZ and shows that the Chinese buy up of the Crafar farms is identical to it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134092/Gaia-scientist-James-Lovelock-I-alarmist-climate-change.html
Interesting considering that all indications are that changes to the climate are happening faster than previously predicted.
…changes to the climate are happening faster than previously predicted.
Not really. There have been predictions made since the early 80’s that appear to be closely following what is actually happening that were less conservative than the IPCC reports. But Lovelock was always somewhat ‘enthusiastic’ compared to the climate scientists – it made for better books.
It was more that the predictions made by the IPCCS in the scientific report are on the available fully verified evidence at the time – which for IPCC 4 was released in 2007 based on data with a cutoff date of around 2004-2005. That means that the IPCC reports are really really conservative we are talking of a geological process that takes time to happen and therefore the evidence to be measured. While it is happening at an extraordinarily fast speed in geological terms, it is still glacial in terms of human observers.
So the data collection programs initiated in the early 2000’s, 1990’s and even the 1980’s took time to produce verifiable data across decades long climatic cycles. It is only in the past decade for instance that we’ve been able to look at the mass of ice in the Arctic across the whole area (and watch it diminish at about 10x the IPCC4 report predictions).
But everything is happening faster now as the process accelerates with feedback effects. The data collection is now in place to see it happening. Of course the political will is about robust as John Key’s understanding of anything to do with science.
So I’m pretty confident that the populations will get seriously concerned about the time that we get our first major deaths from agricultural failures and before we get serious sealevel rises. Of course by then, it will be too late to do much about changing the next few centuries of climatic turmoil.
Once started geological processes are pretty hard to stop. But Lovelock just didn’t appreciate how much buffering there is in the system – especially in the ability of the oceans to suck up vast amounts of heat, CO2 and CH4.
Latest stats show suicide being reduced:
Still far too high but an improving trend.
There are concerns the statistics take so long to become available but this is being worked on. The 2010 figures will be available later this year.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1204/S00296/dunne-latest-stats-show-suicide-being-reduced.htm
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/suicide-facts-deaths-and-intentional-self-harm-hospitalisations-2009
My despair with what is happening in education has changed to horror after witnessing the treatment of Moerewa school and its community.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/lesley-longstone-management-style.html
Well said in that link thanks Dave. They have done us in but what to do about it. National Standards were just the beginning of dismantling schooling as we have known it. More trashing to come with the help of the Secretary of Education. Sad.
The PPTA are congratulating the minsityr for what they have done.
Is that just a turf dispute?
Wasn’t it Robin Duff who said that most schools supported Nationals’ Standards and then had most schools turn around and tell her and the nation that they didn’t?
Don’t know, except that Robin Duff is a he.
http://www.ppta.org.nz/index.php/communities/president-page
Oh dear, thanks for this link, Pete, I hadn’t read this link related to PPTA’s position. I hadn’t picked up the fact that the school hadn’t asked permission for extending the classes. Whether this is fact or not doesn’t change my stance. It does appear that the school was responding to the needs of their community in good faith and the aggressive nature of the Ministry’s response was unhelpful.
Well…
Stuff: SkyCity deal: Call for Auditor General investigation
Lets hope the AG concludes that the PM did nothing wrong, I’d hate to see her denigrated as having made a bad call. I mean in this instance there wasn’t even a written warning that was acknowledged prior to claiming “The AG changed the rules”. So it would seem a lot easier for National to be self serving and attack the AG rather than be accountable than it was for Labour.
One more thing about the possible SkyCity probe. Is anyone who comments here regularly likely to be in agreement with the PM if he says the business of government is whatever government say it is ?
Low value exports fail
The Productivity Commission released its International freight transport services report (PDF) today. I’ve highlighted a few extracts, and the one that really stood out for me was about the additional cost New Zealand faces because of the distance to our offshore markets…
The actual difference in costs to the shipping companies is a few dollars per container.
500 extra miles does not make that much difference.
Overseas shipping companies in NZ, unlike most countries, Australia included, are allowed to carry coastal cargo which increases their profits and should cut shipping rates. Not that shipping companies have passed any of it on.
The extra charges are shipping cartels, which NZ allows, price gouging.
I note that they believe Unions are holding up port productivity. Not really surprised as the benefits to the Tauranga wharfies from being more productive than other ports in the Pacific is less pay, casualisation and reduced conditions.
Having minimum wage slaves would , of course, increase productivity??
You just make this stuff up don’t you. 500 miles is not even a factor in the position of NZ relative to the rest of our markets. 500 miles is relevant when talking about Auckland to Wellington but inconsequential when talking about European markets.
As for shipping/freight cartels… remind me again who’s making all the demands for “their share” in POA ?
Extremely relevant when they are discussing competitiveness with Australia.
Around 500 NM is the difference in distance between Sydney and Auckland to USA/Europe.
(Reference. Ocean passages of the world)
Sydney’s port, administration, safety regulation requirements and wharf costs are a lot higher than Auckland’s . There is actually no reason, apart from rorting, that our freight charges are higher.
What about Europe’s distance from Chinese markets?
Distance from markets is just another excuse from the RWNJ’s for the Neo-lib fuckup.
And all the more reason for supporting local manufacturing to add value instead of relying on commodity exports.