“Investigative Journalism: Why Bernie may have actually won New York
Even after Tuesday’s voting debacle, many have assumed that even without election-day mishaps, Hillary Clinton would have won New York. Fairly reasonable, right? After all, it was a decisive sixteen-point win in her home state.
Not so fast; I’m going to present a series of facts that should lead the rational observer to be suspicious of these results.
Before we begin, I want you to know that I am a staunch Sanders supporter; therefore, I will do my best to remove my “Bernie bias” from the equation (please join me in keeping a close eye on my personal beliefs, lest they color my analysis or cause me to omit relevant counter-evidence).
We’re going to examine the situation using a device called Occam’s razor, which essentially says to choose the simplest theory that covers all of the bases.
Let’s look at what we know.
… ”
____________________
“With human beings, perception is e everything”
JENNY
or in this case the creation of misperception
…..there is a misperception, which has spread since Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver appeared on MSNBC last night. Numerous reports quoted Weaver and suggested the campaign plans to upend the will of voters and flip superdelegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination at the convention in July.
However, what Bump, Walsh, and others seem to misunderstand is Weaver made his comments under the presumption that neither Clinton nor Sanders will meet the 2,383 pledged delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination before the convention. Both candidates will need to make cases to superdelegates to clinch the nomination.
Just because it hurts your delicate feelings it does not make it wrong The left now have a propensity to blame every loss and or poll result on corruption, the media and or the voters, never looking at there own inadequacies and that joe public just doesn’t want to buy their Kool Aid
“Just because it hurts your delicate feelings it does not make it wrong The left now have a propensity to blame every loss and or poll result on corruption…” Reddelusion
Reddelusion if you had read my comment and attached link, you would have seen that it is the Right that are claiming that Sanders is acting undemocratically, for daring to presume that he can lobby super delegates at the Democratic Convention in July. A tactic it seems is only permitted to born to rule establishment figures.
Is smugness the problem with the left? A long read in The Vox analysing the alienation of the liberal left from the ‘red neck’ working class they used to represent. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberalism
I know I’m guilty of many of the examples the writer gives, as are so many of the commentatators of all of the left wing blogs. Maybe we need to change our attitudes and not underestimate the size of the chasm that has to crossed if we want to gain the reins of government ever again
Think the problems of the left have a lot to do with the consumer driven neolib world we now live in. Working class organisations have lost their influence while the workers now toil away for ever increasing hours for stagnated wages, they simply don’t have the conditions, resources or luxury of time to formulate any cohesive response.
One thing that I’ve noted over the last couple of years is that the people we need the least, the people who could be so easily replaced, these people are paid the most. And the inverse of course – the people we need the most are paid the least.
Pay matters. How much you earn can determine your lifestyle, where you can afford to live, and your aspirations and status. But to what extent does what we get paid confer ‘worth’?
What makes all this especially shocking is that it’s happening in a capitalist system, a system founded on capitalist values like efficiency and productivity. While politicians endlessly stress the need to downsize government, they remain largely silent as the number of bullshit jobs goes right on growing. This results in scenarios where, on the one hand, governments cut back on useful jobs in sectors like healthcare, education, and infrastructure – resulting in unemployment – while on the other investing millions in the unemployment industry of training and surveillance whose effectiveness has long been disproven.
Garbage men should earn more than bankers, but part of the problem is that garbage men will always earn more than cleaners and rest home workers. Traditional socialist movements lost many politicised women to feminism in the 70s because women were still being expected to make cups of tea and lie on their backs as their main role in the movement, and to put their own agenda and political needs aside until after the revolution.
That’s a generalisation, and not intended to render invisible all the socialist women who have done good work, nor the fact that not all of the traditional left was so biased. From the feminist side, women were talking about why they left those movements and committed to feminist politics instead. It’s hard to see how those women would go back, esp when there is still a strong stream of thought on the left that denigrates human rights issues (so called identity politics) and basically tells everyone that their needs can wait until after the revolution.
Likewise other people who don’t see class as the overarching issue that should take precedence over all others.
I do agree there is a big problem for the left though, in that the party political is now run by the middle classes. Plus the neoliberal capture.
another way to look at it rather than rolling out the stock lefty Neo liberal bollocks is that they can’t be bothered as most are happy enough and just getting on with it in the 21st century. This is to the disgust of the old liberal elite lefty institution (e.g. Academics, unions, labour) that are loosing their power base trying to create misery that is not there to manufacture victims to form a constituency for their own self interest, wealth and power
That smugness is one of the reasons I gave up on Russell Brown and his Public Address cronies. I have a Christian friend who spent years in Ethiopia working with victims of leprosy, war and rape at great psychological cost to herself and when I told them about her, they simply ridiculed her faith. I don’t forgive them for that, but then I’m not a Christian.
Not quite fair… I too am an atheist, but would not have used ridicule to diminish what your friend did. (Unless I thought it very funny and witty at the time…) I hope would not have diminished it at all.
The problem is that many people are desperately trying to justify the stance they have taken, and in conversation do not have time to consider where others are coming from.
It is all part of aging and becoming a grumpy old person. I know.. I think I have been there, but I can’t quite remember.
How many generations ago did the idea gain traction, that by voting in a given party – Labour in most of the English speaking world – that things would get better as society embarked on an ever upward trajectory of improvement that would eventually deliver (remember this?) a world based on socialist principles?
The left said that was never going to happen, because parliament could never be a route to socialism. Nevertheless, enough people were blindsided, improvements flowed to many for a time, and parliamentary statism became synonymous with ‘the left’…at the same time as the left was being systematically marginalised and its thoughts and vision eradicated from the consciousness of the population at large.
And now we’re in a cul-de-sac.
Statism cannot deliver. Markets cannot deliver. They’ve ‘done their dash’ and it’s all decline from now on in. Meanwhile, society at large has largely lost the vision and inspiration that used to inform and drive a substantial proportion of the people within it. What we have now is the spectacle of a shrinking faux left, flailing around trying to convince itself that it has something to offer…that its state bound, bastardised version of left vision and thought continues to carry any water. It’s got nothing.
Only those fortunate enough to be from families that were ‘lifted up’ and who have so far, not been dashed back down, are keen to perpetuate the myth of ‘progress’ by some supposedly ‘left’ parliamentary party fiddling with the art of chrematistics. (Google it). But growing numbers of people, staring back into a quality of life they imagine to be not a million miles away from the shite their great grandparents might have had to endure, just aren’t buying it any more.
Those people don’t need to be convinced that they should stick the course because things will work out. It’s the still comfortable liberals who need to be convinced that a wrong step was taken; that despite their current well being, failure to back track and get off the path we’re on is going to end in nothing but tears.
You doubt that? Then look around you.
The natural world is saying that you can’t have the life that you have. The natural world is saying that you can’t preserve it or build on it. We can’t fool the natural world, and the natural world is essentially saying that time’s up.
The natural world is saying that you can’t have the life that you have. The natural world is saying that you can’t preserve it or build on it. We can’t fool the natural world, and the natural world is essentially saying that time’s up.
Gaia doesn’t negotiate and doesn’t take prisoners.
Aristotle established the fundamental difference between economics and chrematistics. The accumulation of money itself is an unnatural activity that dehumanizes those who practice it. Like Plato, he condemns the accumulation of wealth. Trade exchanges money for goods and usury creates money from money. The merchant does not produce anything: both are reprehensible from the standpoint of their philosophical ethics.
According to Aristotle, the “necessary” chrematistic economy is licit if the sale of goods is made directly between the producer and buyer at the right price; it does not generate a value-added product. By contrast, it is illicit if the producer purchases for resale to consumers for a higher price, generating added value. The money must be only a medium of exchange and measure of value.
In other words, according to two of the greatest thinkers of all time – capitalism is unethical and reprehensible.
Before Capitalism, Goethe in Faust Part 1 described the human condition. I cannot remember exactly now, but the image is of mankind leaping into the air like a grasshopper, only to find his nose buried in a pile of dung when he comes back down.
It appears that nothing has changed, despite all our supposed advances.
“The trouble is that stupid hicks don’t know what’s good for them. They’re getting conned by right-wingers and tent revivalists until they believe all the lies that’ve made them so wrong. They don’t know any better. That’s why they’re voting against their own self-interest.”
Very good article questioning what we are gaining from our bizarre immigration experiment over the last 15 years in which our non-citizen immigration programme is already one of the largest (per capita) in the world and immigration in Auckland will increase nearly 10% the Auckland population in just National term of government) but over 15 years have gained no economic gains in the tradable sector. But Steven Joyce’s answer is to increase immigration.
“A reader pointed me to an article on the NBR website in which Science and Innovation Minister [isn’t there something wrong when we even have a government “innovation minister?] was quoted as telling a business audience yesterday that:
more migration is the only way to bridge the current skills gap for ICT companies in New Zealand.
and
“That’s one of the reasons I’m leery of calls to halt immigration – apart from the fact there’s not much reason to because of the economic gains,” he said.
In the last fifteen years, we have had huge waves of immigration, under both governments, and yet there is not the slightest evidence of economic gains accruing to the New Zealand population as a whole. Tradables sector production per capita has gone nowhere in fifteen years, productivity growth has been lousy, and there is no sign of any progress at all towards meeting Mr Joyce’s own governments (well-intentioned but flawed) exports target.
And yet the Minister’s answer is even more immigration.”
GDP per head remains static or lowers.
A lot of ICT gaps have been filled and now the wages are just being lowered. $50000 five years ago, $35000 now.
The actual skills shortage list that immigration has for jobs that cannot be filled easily, is not large.
Our points based cutoff lets in skilled people (although there can be a mismatch between their job level description and the local equivalent) who want a job (not to start a company) in the local market.
The investment category should be removed. I believe Canada did it.
Where are all the new modern cutting edge factories providing great local jobs and keeping profits local. – I don’t see them – no investment there.
But plenty in property and political donations – they look like more trouble than they are worth…
The only way to increase our nations capability in anything is more R&D. As a small nation with huge resources we should have about 25% of our working populace in R&D and probably more. Instead we’re pushing the Bullshit Jobs for all their worth which is nothing.
Expecting to be able to benefit from imported the skills when those imported skills are then constrained by failed managers is nothing more than vain hope.
We need to decrease some other sectors as well. Farming comes to mind. Trade isn’t benefiting us as instead of encouraging development the economy it actually forces stagnation. Pushes us to produce more of the same rather than allowing increased productivity to increase the diversity of our economy. The end result is what’s just happened to our farmers with the collapse in milk solid prices.
As a small nation with huge resources we should have about 25% of our working populace in R&D and probably more. Instead we’re pushing the Bullshit Jobs for all their worth which is nothing.
For a case study, see the current destruction of AgResearch at the hands of Joyce-appointed examples of just how bad NZ’s managers are. I can only assume the mismanagement in this case is intentional, so Joyce can later claim that AgResearch is dysfunctional and needs to be privatised or absorbed into other research centres.
Speaking of destruction, Paula Bennet has talked about R&D for climate change research AFTER the Natz have just fired a whole load of scientists. They really are idiots.
From jonolist Heather Duplicitous Talons…….a risible twist on Nat harpy Michelle Boag’s perennial claim that the housing crisis is largely down to first home buyers refusing to contemplate other than Remuera and St Mary’s Bay.
Let’s say the millenials do embrace Otara for other than rental investment. Where do the poor people go once they’re shunted out of Otara Heather ? You’ll help them throw up some tents down Meremere way will you Heather ? Idiotic perpetual smirk ‘couldn’t actually give a fuck’ wee jonolist you.
So much offensiveness in that its hard to know where to begin. Shes quickly becoming the heralds star reporter. The end bit where she says Otara can be recolonised by the rich and renamed Ostentatious Heights is pretty sickening.
So much offensiveness in that its hard to know where to begin… The bit that strikes me is her assumption that people have no attachment to an area – that everyone else is a slightly-worse-off version of herself, with grandiose aspirations and no attachment to anywhere. Here’s a fact: In 2009, someone I know, after getting outbid by property developers a few times on $350,000-$420,000 family sized rundown houses in the Newton-Arch Hill area decided they had to make two moves out, not one, to escape their influence, and did so.
That is how recently the whole of central Auckland became too good for ordinary mortals, some of whom have been part of that community for generations. A large group of people, from an ever widening area, simply HATE seeing the HDPA class arrive, and look upon improved facilities with fear and suspicion rather than delighted anticipation. It will not be long before people will be happier to see a gang setting up headquarters in their area, than a bunch of HDPA-types deeming it NZ’s latest answer to Tuscany/Manhattan/Paris/you-name-it.
If there is one central tennet of neoliberalism it’s that there’s no such thing as community. So people having to move is simply a matter of economics.
I know that transport costs are a big issue for people too, both in accessing jobs, but also where families are split and children are under shared care. It’s all very well to say that people can move across town but what if they then can’t afford the petrol to pick their kids up? Never mind, all hail the neoliberal machine where everyone else serves Heather Duplicitous’ class.
Your use of grammar and tense in that statement says it all.
Once you’ve thought about the ethical issues in people being moved, have a think about the effect on existing communities and families. What about kids that are under shared care arrangements? Or solo parents taht are dependent on friends and families for support?
I think there are huge issues with the numbers of people that want to live in Auckland, but suggesting they can be moved isn’t a useful starting point.
Just skip the house and go back to institutions and poor houses.
Anyway surely you are more likely to get this:
Houses for everyone and re-invigoration of smaller communities.
if you move the rich people out to the small communities – logic would dictate this as much more sensible.
They could take their businesses with them, there would be less demand for housing in Auckland, local small businesses would get spin-off work from the successful businesses these rich people can build and develop. They wouldn’t need million dollar salaries and lower paid workers could get more.
So yeah campaign for the rich to move out to the provinces – after all it’s the rich that are our saviours.
I know a few CEO wives that fit that description, then there’s old people, and those with disabilities, not sure if Irish Catholics still meet that description but we could start sending young mums to the country to have their children again – save them the embarrassment of their parents friends knowing they had sex …
Where to Invade Next is out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KeAZho8TKo
the school cafeteria in France makes an interesting contrast to new Zealand in fact a lot of whats in the film does the full film is out if you look for it.
You have to ask, why the hell are we not importing immigrants who actually create NEW businesses that Create NEW job for KIWIS and export and the criteria is to make a profit?
Instead we seem to be importing migrants for internal jobs like Chefs and IT workers and wanting immigrants to invest in Auckland property in an already overheated market and P importers.
Likewise companies here, who’s sole purpose is to take what they can, and then move to the cheapest Labour market.
An insider who worked there has alleged they are now moving to Nigeria for cheaper Labour. Many of the migrants they have imported are now alledgedly on the NZ dole queue.
Game over: NZ’s largest gaming studio to shut
New Zealand’s largest video gaming studio is closing down and 150 people are losing their jobs.
Gameloft is a French-owned company which was set up in Auckland ten years ago.
So just talking to this guy from Florida, how about this as a policy. First generation to attend university (defined as grandparents and parents) all fees free and a living allowance paid…
Anyone hear Paula Bennett on Q and A this morning – she was talking about climate change and said in the conversation “that’s all hyperbole” (she pronounced it hyper-bowl) – not the best educated woman out there – only outdone by Rodney Hide who years ago talked about a cacophony (he pronounced it “cakka-phoney”) Nice to hear something funny for a change with all the terrible stuff going on!
So nice to know our politicians (and ex politicians), those who make the rules and laws, by which we should live, are not the brightest stars in the sky! Well I think we knew that didn’t we? It’s just sometimes they confirm our suspicions regarding their ignorance and stupidity with their ridiculous utterances!
To Hami Shearlie at 10: I must have switched Paula Bennet off before that ‘blue’ in pronunciation because the shame I felt that a person with her portfolio could be so unlearned on the subject, indicated the garden more demanding of my time and general well-being! Thank you for providing a wry smile, though surely this Minister has had ample time since becoming our official face on climate change to have attained a real understanding of the issues. I grieve, and because rain ( though welcome ) has arrived, the garden solution no longer possible.
As much as I dislike the politics of Paula Bennett, mispronounced word could be because the person is smart enough to read an understand the words, and use them correctly, but may have never heard them. It’s is not necessarily a case of ignorance, but a case of unfamiliarity with the sound of the word.
Belittling formal education/intellectual heritage is close to calling a person unintelligent. A dangerous assumption, in my experience.
PSI released the new report on 18 March 2015 at the “SDGs for Workers”, a Parallel Event sponsored by Global Unions at the NGO CSW Forum during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).
The report assesses the PPP experience in both industrialised and developing countries and contains a combination of 30 years of research by David Hall, former Director of Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) University of Greenwich, UK.
The many case studies analysed, from United Kingdom to Chile, show that PPPs have failed to live up to their promise. In most cases, they are an expensive and inefficient way of financing infrastructure and services, since they conceal public borrowing, while providing long-term state guarantees for profits to private companies.
The author proposes a public alternative to this system, in which national and local governments can continue to develop infrastructure by using public finance for investment, and public sector organisations to deliver the service.
“Public services are massive pools of potential corporate profit, and PPPs serve to access them. The ‘clients’ are captive, the services are often monopoly,” comments David Boys, Deputy General Secretary of PSI.
“This paper provides a synthesis of many years of research, and should be used by union activists, concerned citizens, but also by policy makers around the world.”
______________________
Sacha mentioned Action Station as being an alternative to political parties. I guess there are some other people like me who haven’t heard about it yet. It sounds promising to be involved with while we wait for Labour to get over its sad case of sleeping sickness.
We could join in this, and also support our favourite leftie party, and others which are fighting to forge a name for themselves as being honest workers for the people. We are still allowed this freedom, to have multi-interests, and not just board the train and travel the line to wherever.
http://www.actionstation.org.nz/about
ActionStation is an independent, member-led not-for-profit organisation representing over 100,000 Kiwis holding power to account, standing for a fair society, healthy environment & economic fairness.
@Skinny
I don’t know much about ActionStation. When I looked them up I liked the look of their web page, nice design. Everyone has to start somewhere. But they are lacking something you think? I just don’t feel confident that enough is happening on the political scene. If there is too much of a void a hologram of Trump might beam over and dazzle us with hijinks.
Meanwhile, Obama went undercover for the Brexit crowd in the UK by stating that should the UK opt to leave the EU, then they wouldn’t get to be party to TTIP. Not only that, but the UK would go to the back of the queue as far as ‘negotiating’ any free trade deals with the US was concerned.
Oh. But then, along with the Clinton, pointed out that the US wanted the UK to remain in Europe to act as leverage for the US in Europe.
I don’t know why I used ‘but’ for that second statement. Be an economically crushed vassal of the US of A situated on the geographical fringes of Europe, or…well, there is no ‘or’. Apparently those two things are just what the ordinary people of the UK always wanted…I mean, it must be, innit?
For those of you interested in what Bill Black, a man who put over a thousand bankers in jail and who travels around the globe to educate entire Governments about why Control fraud is such a pervasive, hideous form of fraud, has to say about putting a Merrill Lynch banker on the board of Guardians of the Cullen fund and John Key making New Zealand into a secrecy haven also known as a tax haven here is the link to Vinny Eastwood’s show with Bill Black, recorded last WednesdayVinnie Eastwood’s show with Bill Black In the first half Vinny interviews Bill about his work and his past victories over banking fraud. I have the opportunity to ask Bill a ton of questions pertaining to New Zealand in the second hour! Conclusion? John Key is a banker fraudster who should be in jail like his Icelandic colleagues and the Cullen fund is f&*ked!
Another silly silly article trying to tell people if you only worked harder and saved harder, they can afford a house in Auckland.
Luckily most people don’t believe a word the Herald says anymore.
“Buying your own house is so hard now it seems, that the @nzherald considers it front page news when someone can afford one.” A pearler from the Twitterverse.
Methinks the tide is beginning to turn with the middle classes, here in Auckland at least. I see from the series of articles in the Herald about the housing situation that some of our middle class people are now housing half of their children in their spare bedrooms and kids in their mid-twenties to thirties at that along with their spouses/partners and professionally educated as well, because they cannot afford a down payment on a house. So even with a professional education and joint salaries they still cannot manage a down payment because of high rents and so they are back living with Mum and Dad. Can see this going down like a lead balloon when Mum and Dad want to kick back and go on a overseas trip.
Some of the parents are paying for the down payment/deposit, others are buying land for their kids and its taking a dent in their retirement savings. The rot is setting in, a lot of people on this site have said it will have to be the middle classes being affected by the housing crisis here for the tide to turn. Let’s hope and pray this happens and they see what a complete shambles the Auckland market has been turned into by not having good effective restraints on overseas buyers having carte blanche here to buy up our housing stock.
Some parents may have to, in the end, gift over one or two of their rented properties to the kids and miss out on the income from them. Then we will see them starting to “complain” in a big way. Happy days folks.
It’s not that long ago when it was normal for people to live in extended family situations. In fact it’s been the norm for most of human history. I know we’ve lost the knack of it, but I don’t see people having to share housing with family as the end of the world, or even necessarily a negative.
Add to that that the size of housing and expectations around everyone having their own space is not realistic in an age of climate change and resource depletion.
I have a lot of sympathy for the people who are struggling to pay rent or mortgage, because having a home is central to wellbeing. But it’s hard to feel sorry for the middle classes who are struggling because they are treating home ownership as an investment. I was fortunate to buy and eventually sell a house at a time when it worked financially but I was never under the illusion that it was anything other than a crock of shit that we all pay for and some more than others.
There’s a lot of bitching between the boomers and their offspring generation but I’d take it more seriously if I saw them being also concerned for people who can’t find a place to live, or who are struggling to have a meaningful life because their housing costs suck up so much of their income. Because let’s not forget that most of the people complaining about the difficulties of home ownership would in a flash buy and sell a house as an investment if they could.
I really think that we are at the end of the age of privilege, and I hope that the Gen Y wake up to this and start looking at creative solutions to working with what we’ve got. We should be looking at new models of co-housing, sharing land etc and stepping out of the millieu that says buying a home and saving for retirement is the best thing, because it’s all going to fall over in their life times anyway.
I understand Weka completely, but I feel that the tide will turn now as its the Middle Classes which keep voting in this Government and they are starting to feel the effects. I fully agree that we should help our families out and in my own circumstances that is we are doing, giving one of ours a helping hand, the only difference is we have never voted for National and do not condone what they have done to this country. As Bomber over on the Daily Blog says, once the Middle Classes start to bitch and whinge then we may see the tide turn. In the end it will be a battle between the 1% and the rest of us, Middle Classes included. If that’s what it takes, it can’t come soon enough.
Federated Farmers Arable Industry Group is watching with interest the increasing tonnage of supplementary feeds being imported.
This, at a time, when there is leftover maize and cereal feed grain which could be consumed by these sectors for an equally competitive price.
Maize harvest has begun in the North Island and in many cases they have had an exceptional growing season but the low dairy payout and cheap price of palm kernel expeller have meant they don’t have a home for the product.
Some, meanwhile, are burning the maize in the paddock and writing the season off.
Imported feeds risk bringing in new weeds, pests and diseases. While New Zealand has import health standards to try to manage these risks, sometimes things slip through the cracks. (Latest is something called velvet leaf, looks a bit like bindweed.)
Velvet leaf came in with imported fodder beet seed. Looks like fodder beet is a newish crop desired by dairy farmers. Don’t know why NZ can’t grow its own seed.
Neoliberal, market knows best, system failure, exactly.
@weka
The fodder beet bit interested me too. I think it was fodder beet developed to withstand Roundup that was involved in a large number of cow deaths. Those beets had concentrated toxins in the leaves due to some climatic effect.
So that raises the questions – why are beets being more used, why is the seed imported, do all farmers understand the proper use of it and the times the animals need to be withheld from it, are they taking a risk on using it and then claiming on insurance if it turns out badly, is it something to lay on the now shown as unprofitable over-stocking with non-grass extra feed method?
Are farmers being sold a sick system that is rebounding on them?
(And about imported stuff there was a piece in The Press about searching for the entry point of black grass that is being found in the middle of paddocks, and is not wanted. A little para says it has nothing to do with the roadside drop of tainted seed from trucks carting it to and from the big agricultural importing companies. The plants are growing too far away to result from any dropped seed at roadsides. But weeds are those plants that have amazing reproductive powers and they find ways to get around. A cover up for our big corporates making money from modern industrial farming-with warnings ‘contains collateral damage’?)
The roundup ready issue was with swedes. Both happened inSouthland.
The politics of who controls the world’s seed stores is a major issue for NZ food security. Lots of good work has been done on preserving NZ’s seed banks but if we had a hard crash I think we’d be struggling.
Same old shit. This is why I place relocalisation so high in political priorities. The sooner we get the stuff that matters out of the hands of the greedy people the better all round.
Just another bit on velvet leaf piece earlier that raises questions for the country. That is whether subsidies are good for farmers and the country in certain situations like this. If the MPI is called will they charge the farmer? If so they may not be called and not get to know the extent of the infestation.
MPI will make arrangements for removing the plants, inspect the rest of the crop to ensure there are no more plants and then together with FAR, DairyNZ have developed a farm management plan to manage the velvetleaf to prevent it being moved around the farm or out the gate.
Better to help the farmer and we bear the cost. Better not to allow this Lazy Maisey government free market leave everything to business no regulation contract out stuff to continue. It isn’t working for us. And remember contractors work to rule, in a different way to unionists, but it is still damaging to the country to have people tied to set parameters who must ignore matters outside their contract that need investigation or attention, because they are not being paid to do so.
Well said Miravox. I find it unpleasant when people mock the pronunciation or spelling of others as a sign of their own intellectual superiority – which it rarely is. Some towering geniuses have been rotten spellers.
Whatever we think of her politics, Paula Bennett has an impressive career after starting as a young solo mum, going to university and rising in the political ranks where she has had some demanding roles. It doesn’t help to ridicule successful women and often verges on misogyny.
However I did have to laugh at Mihi Forbes this morning on Radio NZ talking about the first ‘calvary’ charge in a NZ battle. She said it over and over again so it was clearly an unfamiliar word for her despite radio and TV announcing being the profession she is supposedly trained for.
Try to remember to hit the reply button in future Bea Brown then your comment will come up beneath – or closely beneath – the person you are replying to.
As for your fit of pique over a few grins concerning Bennett’s mispronunciation:
Ms Bennett has done well but to describe her as having had an impressive career is over the top given she just happened to be in the right place at the right time and… knew the right people. Her actual qualifications have been attained by many, many thousands of young NZers – lots of them in far more straitened circumstances than herself. In fact from what I’ve heard… she may have been a solo mum but her situation was never straitened.
More important is her language in respect of Climate Change matters. She has a very superficial understanding of the subject -if she has even that – and that is deeply disturbing for a Minister of Climate Change! There is also historical evidence of her spiteful, bullying behaviour towards anyone who dares to cross her, so I personally don’t mind people having a giggle or two over a mispronounced word. Not a big deal in the scheme of things.
‘fit of pique’;’in the right place at the right time and… knew the right people’; ‘she may have been a solo mum but her situation was never straitened’; ‘very superficial understanding of the subject’; ‘spiteful, bullying’.
Wow.
Hyperbole?
But if you share your opinion, don’t be surprised when others share theirs.
You might think it’s just sloganeering, others might feel that the minister responsible for social welfare has not just overseen increased hardship and degradation of those who need help from society, but has in several instances denied people the assistance that she herself received when she walked, however fleetingly, in their shoes.
Personally I have nothing but contempt for the person.
You said something. Someone disagreed with it. You don’t like that someone disagreed with you. I’m just pointing out that that won’t work on this site, esp if the disagreement is over Paula Bennett. You might want to read the site policy too, top of the page.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Seen this?
“Investigative Journalism: Why Bernie may have actually won New York
Even after Tuesday’s voting debacle, many have assumed that even without election-day mishaps, Hillary Clinton would have won New York. Fairly reasonable, right? After all, it was a decisive sixteen-point win in her home state.
Not so fast; I’m going to present a series of facts that should lead the rational observer to be suspicious of these results.
Before we begin, I want you to know that I am a staunch Sanders supporter; therefore, I will do my best to remove my “Bernie bias” from the equation (please join me in keeping a close eye on my personal beliefs, lest they color my analysis or cause me to omit relevant counter-evidence).
We’re going to examine the situation using a device called Occam’s razor, which essentially says to choose the simplest theory that covers all of the bases.
Let’s look at what we know.
… ”
____________________
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
or in this case the creation of misperception
http://www.businessballs.com/elisabeth_kubler_ross_five_stages_of_grief.htm
The Sanders supporters are just starting to go through their five stages of grief.
Questions in and around corruption, and Ad reaches for the cheap shot.
Questions around money buying elections – and Ad decides this is not an issue – and goes for a cheap shot.
Ever thought you just parrot the establishment media Ad? -Ever thought you were a weak individual who only good at the, cheap shot?
Cheap and nasty shot.
Just because it hurts your delicate feelings it does not make it wrong The left now have a propensity to blame every loss and or poll result on corruption, the media and or the voters, never looking at there own inadequacies and that joe public just doesn’t want to buy their Kool Aid
What does your comment have to do with mine or Adam’s or Ads? Or are you just jumping on the back of them to whine about lefties?
Reddelusion if you had read my comment and attached link, you would have seen that it is the Right that are claiming that Sanders is acting undemocratically, for daring to presume that he can lobby super delegates at the Democratic Convention in July. A tactic it seems is only permitted to born to rule establishment figures.
It ain’t over till it’s over …..
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Or to [deleted]
[Only warning. Not fucking acceptable. Don’t go down that track again.] – Bill
Study accuses American Psychological Association of complicity in CIA torture program.
It could not happen to a nicer bunch. I wonder how our lot would fare …
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collabor
http://t.co/Htg3Ia6miW
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2069718/report.pdf
http://t.co/EeTFQ3vBoZ
https://t.co/nkA0CKJmjI
https://twitter.com/trevortimm/status/593769313552601089
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/salim-v-mitchell-statement-interest-united-states
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-cia-torture-20160422-story.html
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/salim_v._mitchell_-_complaint_10-13-15.pdf
https://twitter.com/hashtag/GitMo?src=hash
http://t.co/pT7rzVTNpG
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ue0VIHVz8Hg
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/593765237343531008
Is smugness the problem with the left? A long read in The Vox analysing the alienation of the liberal left from the ‘red neck’ working class they used to represent. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberalism
I know I’m guilty of many of the examples the writer gives, as are so many of the commentatators of all of the left wing blogs. Maybe we need to change our attitudes and not underestimate the size of the chasm that has to crossed if we want to gain the reins of government ever again
Thanks for that – a challenging article.
A really annoying article.
Typical leftie self-loathing.
Worth a debate though.
Think the problems of the left have a lot to do with the consumer driven neolib world we now live in. Working class organisations have lost their influence while the workers now toil away for ever increasing hours for stagnated wages, they simply don’t have the conditions, resources or luxury of time to formulate any cohesive response.
http://evonomics.com/why-garbage-men-should-earn-more-than-bankers/
+1
One thing that I’ve noted over the last couple of years is that the people we need the least, the people who could be so easily replaced, these people are paid the most. And the inverse of course – the people we need the most are paid the least.
Summed up here:
Quoting article:
Sounds about right.
+ several million bonus points, DTB.
Garbage men should earn more than bankers, but part of the problem is that garbage men will always earn more than cleaners and rest home workers. Traditional socialist movements lost many politicised women to feminism in the 70s because women were still being expected to make cups of tea and lie on their backs as their main role in the movement, and to put their own agenda and political needs aside until after the revolution.
That’s a generalisation, and not intended to render invisible all the socialist women who have done good work, nor the fact that not all of the traditional left was so biased. From the feminist side, women were talking about why they left those movements and committed to feminist politics instead. It’s hard to see how those women would go back, esp when there is still a strong stream of thought on the left that denigrates human rights issues (so called identity politics) and basically tells everyone that their needs can wait until after the revolution.
Likewise other people who don’t see class as the overarching issue that should take precedence over all others.
I do agree there is a big problem for the left though, in that the party political is now run by the middle classes. Plus the neoliberal capture.
another way to look at it rather than rolling out the stock lefty Neo liberal bollocks is that they can’t be bothered as most are happy enough and just getting on with it in the 21st century. This is to the disgust of the old liberal elite lefty institution (e.g. Academics, unions, labour) that are loosing their power base trying to create misery that is not there to manufacture victims to form a constituency for their own self interest, wealth and power
“Most are happy enough and getting on with it” yeah right
Longer working hours…
http://www.dol.govt.nz/publications/nohsac/evolving_workplace/008_content.asp
Increasing Inequality…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/68600911/Income-inequality-How-NZ-is-one-of-the-worst-in-the-world
High Child poverty rates…
https://www.unicef.org.nz/learn/our-work-in-new-zealand/Child-Poverty-in-New-Zealand
If the author of Twitterature World’s Greatest Books in 20 tweets says so…..
/
That smugness is one of the reasons I gave up on Russell Brown and his Public Address cronies. I have a Christian friend who spent years in Ethiopia working with victims of leprosy, war and rape at great psychological cost to herself and when I told them about her, they simply ridiculed her faith. I don’t forgive them for that, but then I’m not a Christian.
I’ve seen similar happen on ts too. I think it’s more about the fundamentalist atheists than class.
Not quite fair… I too am an atheist, but would not have used ridicule to diminish what your friend did. (Unless I thought it very funny and witty at the time…) I hope would not have diminished it at all.
The problem is that many people are desperately trying to justify the stance they have taken, and in conversation do not have time to consider where others are coming from.
It is all part of aging and becoming a grumpy old person. I know.. I think I have been there, but I can’t quite remember.
How many generations ago did the idea gain traction, that by voting in a given party – Labour in most of the English speaking world – that things would get better as society embarked on an ever upward trajectory of improvement that would eventually deliver (remember this?) a world based on socialist principles?
The left said that was never going to happen, because parliament could never be a route to socialism. Nevertheless, enough people were blindsided, improvements flowed to many for a time, and parliamentary statism became synonymous with ‘the left’…at the same time as the left was being systematically marginalised and its thoughts and vision eradicated from the consciousness of the population at large.
And now we’re in a cul-de-sac.
Statism cannot deliver. Markets cannot deliver. They’ve ‘done their dash’ and it’s all decline from now on in. Meanwhile, society at large has largely lost the vision and inspiration that used to inform and drive a substantial proportion of the people within it. What we have now is the spectacle of a shrinking faux left, flailing around trying to convince itself that it has something to offer…that its state bound, bastardised version of left vision and thought continues to carry any water. It’s got nothing.
Only those fortunate enough to be from families that were ‘lifted up’ and who have so far, not been dashed back down, are keen to perpetuate the myth of ‘progress’ by some supposedly ‘left’ parliamentary party fiddling with the art of chrematistics. (Google it). But growing numbers of people, staring back into a quality of life they imagine to be not a million miles away from the shite their great grandparents might have had to endure, just aren’t buying it any more.
Those people don’t need to be convinced that they should stick the course because things will work out. It’s the still comfortable liberals who need to be convinced that a wrong step was taken; that despite their current well being, failure to back track and get off the path we’re on is going to end in nothing but tears.
You doubt that? Then look around you.
The natural world is saying that you can’t have the life that you have. The natural world is saying that you can’t preserve it or build on it. We can’t fool the natural world, and the natural world is essentially saying that time’s up.
Gaia doesn’t negotiate and doesn’t take prisoners.
Yeah well. Neither do basic physics and chemistry – law of thermo-dynamics and all of that jazz.
Chrematistics
In other words, according to two of the greatest thinkers of all time – capitalism is unethical and reprehensible.
Before Capitalism, Goethe in Faust Part 1 described the human condition. I cannot remember exactly now, but the image is of mankind leaping into the air like a grasshopper, only to find his nose buried in a pile of dung when he comes back down.
It appears that nothing has changed, despite all our supposed advances.
This quote from article says it all
“The trouble is that stupid hicks don’t know what’s good for them. They’re getting conned by right-wingers and tent revivalists until they believe all the lies that’ve made them so wrong. They don’t know any better. That’s why they’re voting against their own self-interest.”
Very good article questioning what we are gaining from our bizarre immigration experiment over the last 15 years in which our non-citizen immigration programme is already one of the largest (per capita) in the world and immigration in Auckland will increase nearly 10% the Auckland population in just National term of government) but over 15 years have gained no economic gains in the tradable sector. But Steven Joyce’s answer is to increase immigration.
http://sciblogs.co.nz/the-dismal-science/2016/04/09/question-steven-joyce/
“A reader pointed me to an article on the NBR website in which Science and Innovation Minister [isn’t there something wrong when we even have a government “innovation minister?] was quoted as telling a business audience yesterday that:
more migration is the only way to bridge the current skills gap for ICT companies in New Zealand.
and
“That’s one of the reasons I’m leery of calls to halt immigration – apart from the fact there’s not much reason to because of the economic gains,” he said.
In the last fifteen years, we have had huge waves of immigration, under both governments, and yet there is not the slightest evidence of economic gains accruing to the New Zealand population as a whole. Tradables sector production per capita has gone nowhere in fifteen years, productivity growth has been lousy, and there is no sign of any progress at all towards meeting Mr Joyce’s own governments (well-intentioned but flawed) exports target.
And yet the Minister’s answer is even more immigration.”
GDP per head remains static or lowers.
A lot of ICT gaps have been filled and now the wages are just being lowered. $50000 five years ago, $35000 now.
The actual skills shortage list that immigration has for jobs that cannot be filled easily, is not large.
Our points based cutoff lets in skilled people (although there can be a mismatch between their job level description and the local equivalent) who want a job (not to start a company) in the local market.
The investment category should be removed. I believe Canada did it.
Where are all the new modern cutting edge factories providing great local jobs and keeping profits local. – I don’t see them – no investment there.
But plenty in property and political donations – they look like more trouble than they are worth…
The only way to increase our nations capability in anything is more R&D. As a small nation with huge resources we should have about 25% of our working populace in R&D and probably more. Instead we’re pushing the Bullshit Jobs for all their worth which is nothing.
Expecting to be able to benefit from imported the skills when those imported skills are then constrained by failed managers is nothing more than vain hope.
We need to decrease some other sectors as well. Farming comes to mind. Trade isn’t benefiting us as instead of encouraging development the economy it actually forces stagnation. Pushes us to produce more of the same rather than allowing increased productivity to increase the diversity of our economy. The end result is what’s just happened to our farmers with the collapse in milk solid prices.
As a small nation with huge resources we should have about 25% of our working populace in R&D and probably more. Instead we’re pushing the Bullshit Jobs for all their worth which is nothing.
For a case study, see the current destruction of AgResearch at the hands of Joyce-appointed examples of just how bad NZ’s managers are. I can only assume the mismanagement in this case is intentional, so Joyce can later claim that AgResearch is dysfunctional and needs to be privatised or absorbed into other research centres.
Speaking of destruction, Paula Bennet has talked about R&D for climate change research AFTER the Natz have just fired a whole load of scientists. They really are idiots.
From jonolist Heather Duplicitous Talons…….a risible twist on Nat harpy Michelle Boag’s perennial claim that the housing crisis is largely down to first home buyers refusing to contemplate other than Remuera and St Mary’s Bay.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11627701
Let’s say the millenials do embrace Otara for other than rental investment. Where do the poor people go once they’re shunted out of Otara Heather ? You’ll help them throw up some tents down Meremere way will you Heather ? Idiotic perpetual smirk ‘couldn’t actually give a fuck’ wee jonolist you.
So much offensiveness in that its hard to know where to begin. Shes quickly becoming the heralds star reporter. The end bit where she says Otara can be recolonised by the rich and renamed Ostentatious Heights is pretty sickening.
So much offensiveness in that its hard to know where to begin… The bit that strikes me is her assumption that people have no attachment to an area – that everyone else is a slightly-worse-off version of herself, with grandiose aspirations and no attachment to anywhere. Here’s a fact: In 2009, someone I know, after getting outbid by property developers a few times on $350,000-$420,000 family sized rundown houses in the Newton-Arch Hill area decided they had to make two moves out, not one, to escape their influence, and did so.
That is how recently the whole of central Auckland became too good for ordinary mortals, some of whom have been part of that community for generations. A large group of people, from an ever widening area, simply HATE seeing the HDPA class arrive, and look upon improved facilities with fear and suspicion rather than delighted anticipation. It will not be long before people will be happier to see a gang setting up headquarters in their area, than a bunch of HDPA-types deeming it NZ’s latest answer to Tuscany/Manhattan/Paris/you-name-it.
I’m so glad I haven’t read that article.
If there is one central tennet of neoliberalism it’s that there’s no such thing as community. So people having to move is simply a matter of economics.
I know that transport costs are a big issue for people too, both in accessing jobs, but also where families are split and children are under shared care. It’s all very well to say that people can move across town but what if they then can’t afford the petrol to pick their kids up? Never mind, all hail the neoliberal machine where everyone else serves Heather Duplicitous’ class.
The permanently unemployed could be moved to free Housing NZ homes in the provinces. Houses for everyone and reinvigoration of smaller communities.
Your use of grammar and tense in that statement says it all.
Once you’ve thought about the ethical issues in people being moved, have a think about the effect on existing communities and families. What about kids that are under shared care arrangements? Or solo parents taht are dependent on friends and families for support?
I think there are huge issues with the numbers of people that want to live in Auckland, but suggesting they can be moved isn’t a useful starting point.
Just skip the house and go back to institutions and poor houses.
Anyway surely you are more likely to get this:
Houses for everyone and re-invigoration of smaller communities.
if you move the rich people out to the small communities – logic would dictate this as much more sensible.
They could take their businesses with them, there would be less demand for housing in Auckland, local small businesses would get spin-off work from the successful businesses these rich people can build and develop. They wouldn’t need million dollar salaries and lower paid workers could get more.
So yeah campaign for the rich to move out to the provinces – after all it’s the rich that are our saviours.
Most state houses in the provinces have been sold off
Or neglected so the government can take a dividend from poor peoples rent.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/283700/english-defends-$118m-housing-nz-dividend
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/09/13/nationals-blatant-lies-on-housing-nz-dividends-the-truth-uncovered/
And as well who are the “permanently unemployed”.
I know a few CEO wives that fit that description, then there’s old people, and those with disabilities, not sure if Irish Catholics still meet that description but we could start sending young mums to the country to have their children again – save them the embarrassment of their parents friends knowing they had sex …
Where to Invade Next is out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KeAZho8TKo
the school cafeteria in France makes an interesting contrast to new Zealand in fact a lot of whats in the film does the full film is out if you look for it.
You have to ask, why the hell are we not importing immigrants who actually create NEW businesses that Create NEW job for KIWIS and export and the criteria is to make a profit?
Instead we seem to be importing migrants for internal jobs like Chefs and IT workers and wanting immigrants to invest in Auckland property in an already overheated market and P importers.
Likewise companies here, who’s sole purpose is to take what they can, and then move to the cheapest Labour market.
For example GameLoft based in Parnell, which by it’s own admission employs only 30% Kiwis and 70% non Kiwis, has received $600,000 in grants, but employees complained of excessive hours. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10875615
An insider who worked there has alleged they are now moving to Nigeria for cheaper Labour. Many of the migrants they have imported are now alledgedly on the NZ dole queue.
Game over: NZ’s largest gaming studio to shut
New Zealand’s largest video gaming studio is closing down and 150 people are losing their jobs.
Gameloft is a French-owned company which was set up in Auckland ten years ago.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/295207/game-over-nz's-largest-gaming-studio-to-shut
we are importing immigrates to help bilingenglishl cook the books as there inst much of anything in the economy
+1
To build and develop the economy then we actually need to build and develop the economy – not hope that someone else will do it for us.
+1 Draco. exactly.
So just talking to this guy from Florida, how about this as a policy. First generation to attend university (defined as grandparents and parents) all fees free and a living allowance paid…
Exclusive Bretheren found to be extreme child abusers.
Not a good look for National Party.
Ok, I’ll bite. What the hell does the Exclusive Bretheren have to do with National?
Dnftt
Heavy transport and roading industry
The last thing they want is sunlight on their practices and those places of worship that seen to have insufficient safety exits let alone any windows.
Anyone hear Paula Bennett on Q and A this morning – she was talking about climate change and said in the conversation “that’s all hyperbole” (she pronounced it hyper-bowl) – not the best educated woman out there – only outdone by Rodney Hide who years ago talked about a cacophony (he pronounced it “cakka-phoney”) Nice to hear something funny for a change with all the terrible stuff going on!
Thanks Hami Shearlie (10) … 🙂
So nice to know our politicians (and ex politicians), those who make the rules and laws, by which we should live, are not the brightest stars in the sky! Well I think we knew that didn’t we? It’s just sometimes they confirm our suspicions regarding their ignorance and stupidity with their ridiculous utterances!
Geeze where do we get them from?
To Hami Shearlie at 10: I must have switched Paula Bennet off before that ‘blue’ in pronunciation because the shame I felt that a person with her portfolio could be so unlearned on the subject, indicated the garden more demanding of my time and general well-being! Thank you for providing a wry smile, though surely this Minister has had ample time since becoming our official face on climate change to have attained a real understanding of the issues. I grieve, and because rain ( though welcome ) has arrived, the garden solution no longer possible.
As much as I dislike the politics of Paula Bennett, mispronounced word could be because the person is smart enough to read an understand the words, and use them correctly, but may have never heard them. It’s is not necessarily a case of ignorance, but a case of unfamiliarity with the sound of the word.
Belittling formal education/intellectual heritage is close to calling a person unintelligent. A dangerous assumption, in my experience.
Some humanity on beggars and who we should ban:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/79090057/jeremy-elwood–michele-acourt-should-beggars-be-banned
Seems that a push for PPPs is underway – seen this?
30 years of research into PPPs – which show why they don’t work?
http://www.world-psi.org/en/why-public-private-partnerships-dont-work
PSI released the new report on 18 March 2015 at the “SDGs for Workers”, a Parallel Event sponsored by Global Unions at the NGO CSW Forum during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).
The report assesses the PPP experience in both industrialised and developing countries and contains a combination of 30 years of research by David Hall, former Director of Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) University of Greenwich, UK.
The many case studies analysed, from United Kingdom to Chile, show that PPPs have failed to live up to their promise. In most cases, they are an expensive and inefficient way of financing infrastructure and services, since they conceal public borrowing, while providing long-term state guarantees for profits to private companies.
The author proposes a public alternative to this system, in which national and local governments can continue to develop infrastructure by using public finance for investment, and public sector organisations to deliver the service.
“Public services are massive pools of potential corporate profit, and PPPs serve to access them. The ‘clients’ are captive, the services are often monopoly,” comments David Boys, Deputy General Secretary of PSI.
“This paper provides a synthesis of many years of research, and should be used by union activists, concerned citizens, but also by policy makers around the world.”
______________________
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Sacha mentioned Action Station as being an alternative to political parties. I guess there are some other people like me who haven’t heard about it yet. It sounds promising to be involved with while we wait for Labour to get over its sad case of sleeping sickness.
We could join in this, and also support our favourite leftie party, and others which are fighting to forge a name for themselves as being honest workers for the people. We are still allowed this freedom, to have multi-interests, and not just board the train and travel the line to wherever.
http://www.actionstation.org.nz/about
ActionStation is an independent, member-led not-for-profit organisation representing over 100,000 Kiwis holding power to account, standing for a fair society, healthy environment & economic fairness.
Their latest campaign was on freshwater standards.
http://www.actionstation.org.nz/campaigns
There not up to it is the problem.
@Skinny
I don’t know much about ActionStation. When I looked them up I liked the look of their web page, nice design. Everyone has to start somewhere. But they are lacking something you think? I just don’t feel confident that enough is happening on the political scene. If there is too much of a void a hologram of Trump might beam over and dazzle us with hijinks.
Keiser Report: Secret of TTIP and TPP(A)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dHZEjJbz0c&w=560&h=315%5D
Japanese President wants to hold back on ratification of TPPA due to fear of voter backlash
Meanwhile, Obama went undercover for the Brexit crowd in the UK by stating that should the UK opt to leave the EU, then they wouldn’t get to be party to TTIP. Not only that, but the UK would go to the back of the queue as far as ‘negotiating’ any free trade deals with the US was concerned.
Oh. But then, along with the Clinton, pointed out that the US wanted the UK to remain in Europe to act as leverage for the US in Europe.
I don’t know why I used ‘but’ for that second statement. Be an economically crushed vassal of the US of A situated on the geographical fringes of Europe, or…well, there is no ‘or’. Apparently those two things are just what the ordinary people of the UK always wanted…I mean, it must be, innit?
For those of you interested in what Bill Black, a man who put over a thousand bankers in jail and who travels around the globe to educate entire Governments about why Control fraud is such a pervasive, hideous form of fraud, has to say about putting a Merrill Lynch banker on the board of Guardians of the Cullen fund and John Key making New Zealand into a secrecy haven also known as a tax haven here is the link to Vinny Eastwood’s show with Bill Black, recorded last WednesdayVinnie Eastwood’s show with Bill Black In the first half Vinny interviews Bill about his work and his past victories over banking fraud. I have the opportunity to ask Bill a ton of questions pertaining to New Zealand in the second hour! Conclusion? John Key is a banker fraudster who should be in jail like his Icelandic colleagues and the Cullen fund is f&*ked!
Wow…….this one’s pre-nup’ would be a bastard !
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11627945
Herald online’s really cracked a threshhold though…….anything more than cereal, rice, bread…….you’re a wastrel !
Key hand hovers over the panic button…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79271237/pm-hints-at-land-tax-to-rein-in-foreign-speculators
Still doesn’t look like a joined up plan.
Agree. Poll-driven, reactionary, and disjointed. The hallmarks of this government.
Another silly silly article trying to tell people if you only worked harder and saved harder, they can afford a house in Auckland.
Luckily most people don’t believe a word the Herald says anymore.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11627945
“Buying your own house is so hard now it seems, that the @nzherald considers it front page news when someone can afford one.” A pearler from the Twitterverse.
Methinks the tide is beginning to turn with the middle classes, here in Auckland at least. I see from the series of articles in the Herald about the housing situation that some of our middle class people are now housing half of their children in their spare bedrooms and kids in their mid-twenties to thirties at that along with their spouses/partners and professionally educated as well, because they cannot afford a down payment on a house. So even with a professional education and joint salaries they still cannot manage a down payment because of high rents and so they are back living with Mum and Dad. Can see this going down like a lead balloon when Mum and Dad want to kick back and go on a overseas trip.
Some of the parents are paying for the down payment/deposit, others are buying land for their kids and its taking a dent in their retirement savings. The rot is setting in, a lot of people on this site have said it will have to be the middle classes being affected by the housing crisis here for the tide to turn. Let’s hope and pray this happens and they see what a complete shambles the Auckland market has been turned into by not having good effective restraints on overseas buyers having carte blanche here to buy up our housing stock.
Some parents may have to, in the end, gift over one or two of their rented properties to the kids and miss out on the income from them. Then we will see them starting to “complain” in a big way. Happy days folks.
It’s not that long ago when it was normal for people to live in extended family situations. In fact it’s been the norm for most of human history. I know we’ve lost the knack of it, but I don’t see people having to share housing with family as the end of the world, or even necessarily a negative.
Add to that that the size of housing and expectations around everyone having their own space is not realistic in an age of climate change and resource depletion.
I have a lot of sympathy for the people who are struggling to pay rent or mortgage, because having a home is central to wellbeing. But it’s hard to feel sorry for the middle classes who are struggling because they are treating home ownership as an investment. I was fortunate to buy and eventually sell a house at a time when it worked financially but I was never under the illusion that it was anything other than a crock of shit that we all pay for and some more than others.
There’s a lot of bitching between the boomers and their offspring generation but I’d take it more seriously if I saw them being also concerned for people who can’t find a place to live, or who are struggling to have a meaningful life because their housing costs suck up so much of their income. Because let’s not forget that most of the people complaining about the difficulties of home ownership would in a flash buy and sell a house as an investment if they could.
I really think that we are at the end of the age of privilege, and I hope that the Gen Y wake up to this and start looking at creative solutions to working with what we’ve got. We should be looking at new models of co-housing, sharing land etc and stepping out of the millieu that says buying a home and saving for retirement is the best thing, because it’s all going to fall over in their life times anyway.
I understand Weka completely, but I feel that the tide will turn now as its the Middle Classes which keep voting in this Government and they are starting to feel the effects. I fully agree that we should help our families out and in my own circumstances that is we are doing, giving one of ours a helping hand, the only difference is we have never voted for National and do not condone what they have done to this country. As Bomber over on the Daily Blog says, once the Middle Classes start to bitch and whinge then we may see the tide turn. In the end it will be a battle between the 1% and the rest of us, Middle Classes included. If that’s what it takes, it can’t come soon enough.
Here is another example of our not-wonderful running of our country under free market, low regulation, trust business to know whats best. system failure.
This from Northland Age
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/rural/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503397&objectid=11622597
Federated Farmers Arable Industry Group is watching with interest the increasing tonnage of supplementary feeds being imported.
This, at a time, when there is leftover maize and cereal feed grain which could be consumed by these sectors for an equally competitive price.
Maize harvest has begun in the North Island and in many cases they have had an exceptional growing season but the low dairy payout and cheap price of palm kernel expeller have meant they don’t have a home for the product.
Some, meanwhile, are burning the maize in the paddock and writing the season off.
Imported feeds risk bringing in new weeds, pests and diseases. While New Zealand has import health standards to try to manage these risks, sometimes things slip through the cracks. (Latest is something called velvet leaf, looks a bit like bindweed.)
Velvet leaf came in with imported fodder beet seed. Looks like fodder beet is a newish crop desired by dairy farmers. Don’t know why NZ can’t grow its own seed.
Neoliberal, market knows best, system failure, exactly.
http://robertguyton.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/velvet-leaf-panic.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9335886/Farmer-rates-fodder-beet-miles-ahead-of-silage
@weka
The fodder beet bit interested me too. I think it was fodder beet developed to withstand Roundup that was involved in a large number of cow deaths. Those beets had concentrated toxins in the leaves due to some climatic effect.
So that raises the questions – why are beets being more used, why is the seed imported, do all farmers understand the proper use of it and the times the animals need to be withheld from it, are they taking a risk on using it and then claiming on insurance if it turns out badly, is it something to lay on the now shown as unprofitable over-stocking with non-grass extra feed method?
Are farmers being sold a sick system that is rebounding on them?
(And about imported stuff there was a piece in The Press about searching for the entry point of black grass that is being found in the middle of paddocks, and is not wanted. A little para says it has nothing to do with the roadside drop of tainted seed from trucks carting it to and from the big agricultural importing companies. The plants are growing too far away to result from any dropped seed at roadsides. But weeds are those plants that have amazing reproductive powers and they find ways to get around. A cover up for our big corporates making money from modern industrial farming-with warnings ‘contains collateral damage’?)
The roundup ready issue was with swedes. Both happened inSouthland.
The politics of who controls the world’s seed stores is a major issue for NZ food security. Lots of good work has been done on preserving NZ’s seed banks but if we had a hard crash I think we’d be struggling.
Same old shit. This is why I place relocalisation so high in political priorities. The sooner we get the stuff that matters out of the hands of the greedy people the better all round.
+1
Just another bit on velvet leaf piece earlier that raises questions for the country. That is whether subsidies are good for farmers and the country in certain situations like this. If the MPI is called will they charge the farmer? If so they may not be called and not get to know the extent of the infestation.
MPI will make arrangements for removing the plants, inspect the rest of the crop to ensure there are no more plants and then together with FAR, DairyNZ have developed a farm management plan to manage the velvetleaf to prevent it being moved around the farm or out the gate.
Better to help the farmer and we bear the cost. Better not to allow this Lazy Maisey government free market leave everything to business no regulation contract out stuff to continue. It isn’t working for us. And remember contractors work to rule, in a different way to unionists, but it is still damaging to the country to have people tied to set parameters who must ignore matters outside their contract that need investigation or attention, because they are not being paid to do so.
Well said Miravox. I find it unpleasant when people mock the pronunciation or spelling of others as a sign of their own intellectual superiority – which it rarely is. Some towering geniuses have been rotten spellers.
Whatever we think of her politics, Paula Bennett has an impressive career after starting as a young solo mum, going to university and rising in the political ranks where she has had some demanding roles. It doesn’t help to ridicule successful women and often verges on misogyny.
However I did have to laugh at Mihi Forbes this morning on Radio NZ talking about the first ‘calvary’ charge in a NZ battle. She said it over and over again so it was clearly an unfamiliar word for her despite radio and TV announcing being the profession she is supposedly trained for.
Try to remember to hit the reply button in future Bea Brown then your comment will come up beneath – or closely beneath – the person you are replying to.
As for your fit of pique over a few grins concerning Bennett’s mispronunciation:
Ms Bennett has done well but to describe her as having had an impressive career is over the top given she just happened to be in the right place at the right time and… knew the right people. Her actual qualifications have been attained by many, many thousands of young NZers – lots of them in far more straitened circumstances than herself. In fact from what I’ve heard… she may have been a solo mum but her situation was never straitened.
More important is her language in respect of Climate Change matters. She has a very superficial understanding of the subject -if she has even that – and that is deeply disturbing for a Minister of Climate Change! There is also historical evidence of her spiteful, bullying behaviour towards anyone who dares to cross her, so I personally don’t mind people having a giggle or two over a mispronounced word. Not a big deal in the scheme of things.
‘fit of pique’;’in the right place at the right time and… knew the right people’; ‘she may have been a solo mum but her situation was never straitened’; ‘very superficial understanding of the subject’; ‘spiteful, bullying’.
Wow.
Hyperbole?
You really are in the wrong place of you want to praise Bennett and not have people disagree with you.
So we have to show unalloyed hatred?
That goes way beyond disagreement.
What does that remind me of?
Two legs good four legs bad…
And I love the notion of degrees of solo motherhood.
Nope. We don’t have to do a damned thing.
But if you share your opinion, don’t be surprised when others share theirs.
You might think it’s just sloganeering, others might feel that the minister responsible for social welfare has not just overseen increased hardship and degradation of those who need help from society, but has in several instances denied people the assistance that she herself received when she walked, however fleetingly, in their shoes.
Personally I have nothing but contempt for the person.
You said something. Someone disagreed with it. You don’t like that someone disagreed with you. I’m just pointing out that that won’t work on this site, esp if the disagreement is over Paula Bennett. You might want to read the site policy too, top of the page.