Over last year the fuckwits at Lauda Finem have targeted me in a time wasting and long running legal farce that I really can’t talk about for the usual reason – court orders. However the mechanics of the case aren’t that interesting apart from the ironic entertainment value.
And I’ve also had their technically illiterate mate Cameron Slater trying to buy a crime – something that is in itself a crime under section 311 of the Crimes Act. Fortunately he was too technically and politically incompetent to know what to look for and got whistle blown and/or scammed.
Also that he was too incompetent to make it happen does not mean that Cameron didn’t commit a crime regardless of how many times he tries to spin that line. A failed attempt to procure a crime is still a crime.
And that is the case regardless of how many times Cameron tries to violate the precepts of the police diversion by proclaiming his lack of criminality. A repeated act of lying that directly violates the remorse for the crime that he is meant to have shown to even have a chance at police diversion.
But we all knew that Cameron Slater is a self-deluding hypocritical liar. Also from the light pats on his hands from the police in the way that they charge him for past offences that he appears to be extremely lucky. Or have some great friends in high places with influence on the police (which is my current working theory about how he got that diversion from them).
But it has similarly wasted my holiday time in court dealing with it. Not to mention the large and expensive waste of my evening and weekend time checking my computers for intrusions and to keep high paying technical illiterates from hiring people who were a bit more competent from actually achieving his criminal intent. Cameron Slater is, from his actions, just a simple lying hypocrite and a serial criminal.
But I guess both of these local sets of criminals just wanted me to join the fun – which I suspect is a mistake on their part. I’m sure that at some point in the future they will begin to understand that.
However there is a serious point to this comment that actually affects The Standard.
This is the first time I’ve had to get involved with legal even indirectly to The Standard (beyond writing a few response emails to upset people explaining the legal basis for the site and its posts) in over 8 years. It is probably time to start dealing with having to deal with similar legal idiots in the future. For a starter, next year we will have have whatever technical and legal incompetent agency that this even more technically illiterate government’s ministers tries to get to run the flawed and probably unworkable Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA)
Personally I’d prefer to concern myself with my role of being the system operator, the odd rant when I write a post or comment, and helping to enforce out moderation policies. About once or twice a year I get involved as one of the trustees of the site. And I have been known to get somewhat acerbic around the backend of the system.
But I’ve already been dealing with various people who have heard about the HDCA, but clearly haven’t bothered to deal with the actual legalities. Amongst other things I have been asked to pull down posts from 6 years ago – 5 years after the Act was passed. I have also been asked to prevent abuse attributed as coming from this site, which is in fact being published on a overseas site that has nothing to do with NZ politics. Similarly at least one politician who should have been at least vaguely aware of the limits of the Act appears to have been stated that she could use the Act if her feelings were hurt by criticism of her actions. FFS…
None of these are possible of standing up under the HDCA. But I am expecting that there will be a small flood of similarly deluded adults pouring such test cases into whatever unprepared and probably irresponsible agency gets made responsible for much of the regulation of the HDCA. I am sure we will be part of that and will need to go into court either preemptively or after having received a court order without being called in on a defending position. Then of course there will be actions to recover any costs incurred. That will take some immediately available money.
And while the legal targets to date have either been me or my computers. Eventually even these legal lunatics from the nutty and criminal right will get around to actually targeting The Standard itself. I suspect we as a community should start figuring out how to build a specific legal fund later in the year to deal with such threats in the future.
In the past 8 and a half years, we haven’t actually needed any money for legal matters for The Standard Trust. Back in 2010 -2012, we grew a fund out of advertising to handle such threats. When they never showed up, we used it to deal with the more immediate problem of our ever rising server costs as the site grew.
These days that particular problem has abated after we were able to get the site back to its technical roots. Some processes running on one of my servers on my living room floor, but with better offshore backups.
But the way these kinds of criminally vigilante right wing idiots have been fumbling around with legalities, I’m sure even they will eventually learn enough law to attempt the legal entity of The Standard Trust. Probably they will do so while they are still stupid enough to think that they can actually ‘win’ despite a distinct lack of the types of legal excesses similar to those that they have routinely perform on their sites.
Similarly, I’d expect that most blog sites, especially the political ones in election year, are going to be targets of the nutty fringe using the HDCA. Some of those are going to get through as tests of the HDCA. Probably including our rather deliberately legal site.
Better to plan for it rather than have to deal with it unprepared.
So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
Or whatever someone else pops up with that someone else hasn’t already been doing?
I personally won’t be particularly interested in taking money with strings attached beyond the straight commercial. That isn’t something we have done in the past and I can’t see it as being something that we should do in the future. The rather proud and oftimes extreme independence (albeit loosely moderated) of both The Standard 2.0’s author and commenter communities is something that I am rather happy to keep.
But I suspect anything else (that is legal) is up for debate.
One of the things that we have deliberately not done is to require real emails or logins.
In fact one of the things that I’m going to do as a response to the HDCA is to actually remove the ability of us on the backend to even have access or even any knowledge of real emails and IP numbers. They get replaced with a special MD5 like hash.
I wrote that code last year ago. About the same time that I shifted the autofill on comments from being server side read and filled to being client side filled.
If we had any such list, it’d have to be filled on a voluntary basis specifically for the purpose of being a donor, and probably held by a separate body.
It would be slightly less fine in terms of ’emails’ but not a lot different. We’d just have to make the IP exclusions coarser with a higher probability of picking up false positives.
However otherwise the HDCA process could force us to give the real world identities of commenters literally because some politician or other friend of a HDCA authorised agency agent had their feelings got hurt. The HDCA could do it in an uncontested hearing with no real evidence being offered in support of the application apart from that of the process being followed.
We are specifically prevented by the Act in pursuing the HDCA official for information. We can neither OIA the agency nor drag their agents into court to find out.
It is simpler to simply not have the information on who people really are, what their emails are, and what IPs they have been using.
I’m considering making an argument for it being mandatory not to have anything that looks like real names for any commenter for much the same reason. It reduces this sites risk of having to violate our privacy policies.
Good question. I envisaged it more as being to enable a rapid response than anything else. Basically something to get a lawyer in front of a judge as soon as possible.
In particular where the HDCA approved agency has applied for a court order and we know and get someone in to contest it, or where we immediately contest one after they got one in uncontested.
Those orders will be a complete pain. They require immediate compliance and can be gained literally without us knowing that they are being sought.
If they had any merit, then we would have already complied within the first 48 hours after being informed. If not sooner. We tend to be somewhat abrupt.
Probably we’d be able to get pro bono. But the costs of filing documents won’t be insignificant.
Costs are usually partial if you get them at all. I suspect that costs awarded against the HDCA authorised agency will be as hard to get as those against the police and crown after they drag you through 18 months of court to for the crown to finally lose in the high court. Virtually non-existent (I have done that before for rocky).
I suspect each case would be money sunk. So the best way to operate will be to cause the HDCA authorised agency to spend their budget in defending their decisions for as long as possible. Think of it as a way of educating the agency.
It’d probably have to be whoever was available. The time frames in the HDCA are likely to be tight.
In this case, as I remember the Act, I don’t think we could even try to claim from the complainant unless we want to bring a very expensive civil case against them.
That is pretty normal. Unless the complainant brings a private prosecution against you, the authority that brings the action is making the decision.
Think of how the police operate. Or WINZ. Or IRD, Or any of the quasi-legal authorities. The way the criminal system operates is that if an authority thinks that there may be a prima facie case that is winnable or where they think a point has to be made and they have a prima facie case, they will go for orders and/or charge.
But they have to be very very wrong in their estimation of the prima facie case before the law before the judge will order costs against them. They will instead get some words from the judge about why they were mistaken about their understanding of the law.
In the case of new law, then even this toleration gets extended. If you are the subject of those then you wind up paying the cost of establishing precedents.
The right and certain elements of the left in this country, don’t like democracy, which is silly really.
But, ideas for a legal fund.
Well ask some lawyers if they will help for free. You know civic duty and all that. I will ask one in the next few days. For free in the defence of civil liberties, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of expression.
Then we just need to get some funds to cover the things which are not free, like the photocopying, lodgements, and coffees. Sorry, being a wee bit glib.
Just a thought, I’ll be asking anyway, and will pass them onto Bill if they say yes.
I can’t see a problem with advertising that is ethical or ethically neutral
….if it keeps the site safe from right wing predators with deep pockets who want to use challenges by the legal system to close it down
…this site is an important vehicle for political analysis and a critical voice imo…it is important for a grassroots democracy
The Daily Blog has some advertising…and it isnt too intrusive
The problem with crowd funding is that the crowd often does not have much disposable income…they are too busy trying to keep ends meeting eg for paying for kids university debts, or housing , or health…or looking after the needy in their families
I also don’t see a problem with paying some of the regular workers/posters and Iprent for the upkeep of the site …in fact they deserve payment imo….if ethical advertising could do this then I am all for it
Maybe others. I already earn quite a lot in my real life work.
The biggest hassle with advertising isn’t particularly having it. The hassle is in exactly what you pointed out. The time involved in making sure it is ethical, appropriate, etc for the site. And that we are getting enough of it to sustain whatever we are doing.
That is a long-term need that requires time to dribble out in phone calls, emails etc. These usually within work hours.
The issue for us is that none of the current authors really have the time nor the inclination for that kind of work. Nor has anyone we have ever had as an author in the past. They come on to write, comment, and some moderate. Each requires small bits of time chopped out of other things we are doing. We don’t have to coordinate, manage, or waste any time.
Consequently, when this last came to a decision point at the start of 2014, I looked at the time required vs the revenue required to run the servers. I invested quite a lot of my free time in an effort to drop the effective cost well below requiring any advertising revenue. The reason wasn’t so much the money as it was the time I was spending scratching around making sure that we had sufficient money to pay for the servers.
It is a lot less work to tolerate a system that may throw up lousy ads (eg google adview) but which doesn’t cost much time over a year, or alternatively spend a moderate amount of time on one or two small campaigns per year to get large dobs of cash.
Rather that than trying to get something that requires moderate amounts of time all year AND which will get in the way of the available time for the site. In that case I’d prefer spending less site time and more time at work to just give me the option of doing simplier donations from making more income.
First of all Lynn, sorry for all the ongoing hassle with Slater and Co. You don’t deserve all that shit to deal with and no one has time for that anyway. It’s also really frustrating that Slater pretty much got away with it in court. He’s managed to not be held fully to account for his behaviour in general, and it’s not even that satisfying that he lost that boxing bout.
Raising fighting funds. It’s been great to read The Standard ad free but I don’t think too many people would have a problem with google ads. I certainly don’t, if it would be helpful.
If you were to look at paid advertising there may be a reader or commentor who has retired from the marketing or advertising sector who may like to help out on a voluntary small part time basis – as you say it’s a pain to organise so having a dedicated advertising admin person might be beneficial – if there was any one out there who could fill that role, and could commit to it long term.
Givealittle seems to be the way things goes these days. It would be a nice change to see a recipient of Givealittle funds who isn’t someone that missing out on what should be government funded, eg, cancer medicine or housing.
Personally I’m broke as and struggle to get through the week, even my party membership has lapsed because I never seem to be able to find the small donations for the unwaged! So I’m sorry I can’t help out.
However, I get the feeling that there are people in better circumstances than me who are users of the site and appreciate and value the site and all yours and the authors hard work as much as I do, who may be able to donate.
Good luck with the funding and all the best for keeping the site safe and free from interference from nutty rw pests.
After all this is why we aren’t interested in the lost sheep’s “user pays”. Cuts out way too many interesting people.
I get somewhat well paid. I found I was still a member of the NZLP last year after they triumphantly sent me the first membership card that I’d seen in a few years – plastic even.
After I hunted around for a while I found I was still leaking $25 per month in a old VFL payment from a bank account that I use for its debit visa for some internet payments. Still haven’t got around to doing anything about it – just like the unicef and a couple of other payments. I’m pretty slack like that.
Perhaps I should set up a “help people retain their membership” for political parties.
Or I could just forgo the the once a week coffee outing and clear up that membership payment once and for all……….. 🙂
Better still, a Labour coalition win in 2017 would mean, theoretically, a modest $ boost for Labour’s lowest paid members, who then would have a little more of the disposable $ to keep up with their membership and the middle bracket could shift from a one off payment to a VFL payment.
What Rosie said at 1.6. Is there someone retired, temporarily invalided, would like to get stuck into this worthwhile task of organising non-sickmaking adverts? No loose boobies please unless they are birds, blue boobies?
And lprent #1 your ideas all sound good. Is there someone in each of the main centres that could arrange film nights? So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
Incidentally r0b. Private + published, then back to draft and public, and finally schedule appears to work for adding early comments. I’ll see if I can find another easier way 🙂
Very pleased Austria has beaten back the far right and voted in a Green party-backed economist, an EU supporter and a child of refugees as the next president. Congratulations Alexander Van der Bellen and all who supported him. It was a very close call.
After forcing the resignation of the Chancellor, the Social Democrats have a lot more work to do before the parliamentary elections in 2018.
Look I’d be fine with a give-a-little campaign ( although I’ve always wondered whether a list of Nicky Hager’s supporters made it into other channels) it’s real easy to access, or a micro donations link staying permanently on the site. After all I used to pay for the stuff on stuff.
I would be happy if it was just a general donation – we trust you to spend it wisely
A fund raising evening would be great to socialise ( and guess who is who) but won’t take in the more far flung users.
If it includes something for you I’m good with that.
I tend to regard the legal and illegal attacks on me and my computers as interesting examples of the rightly insane trying to grow a brain. It is like educating small children how to be socially responsible.
You just keep unfolding the horrible consequences overhear actions in front off them and getting them to walk upon them in bare feet. It gives a outlet for some of my less socially acceptable tendencies in a good cause.
The HDCA authorised agency are likely to be more of a problem. I suspect that most of the time we’d find out from them when they deliver a order from the court saying to take something down. There appears to be little need for them to prove anything to get one apart from that they followed a rather rapid process. If we see signs of them taking part in that process, ideally we’d want to get in front of the court with them before orders are made.
I’m usually terrible as being social. It seems so slow as a communication device. I’m moderately good at it if I can get a heated discussion going 🙂
Lyn likes the small talk side. I usually can’t really be bothered.
Most of the time it covers or gets close to covering our operating expenses of about $260 per month.
We’d have to do something different for the next few years while the actual procedural rules for the HDCA get established in court.
So far all the indications are that the HDCA authorised agency will get inundated with largely spurious complaints from offended adults. Since they appear in the act to be established as being an advocacy mainly operating on behalf of the complainants and the Act is very vague on offences, I’d expect that a number of the less spurious complaints will be allowed through.
After the grounds for successful cases are established, then it will be easier.
I think solidarity with TS is needed now..
Yanis Varoufakis interview had this in it: If capitalism is training us to think of ourselves as competitive entrepreneurs then we become less and less inclined towards feeling that kind of solidarity—on which democracy depends—and giving up even the smallest element of our financial wellbeing for the sake of other people.
i like the idea of a give a little fundraiser and or social evenings with a fund raiser attached.
Blogs from the US that i have been following for years all have their 6 monthly fund raiser, give generously, give often, most accompanied with pictures of loose kittens or boobies cause you know ….i wuz told it helps collect funds.
My thought would be a Give a Little fundraiser to get a basic fighting fund in place and then one of the other options to provide ongoing income – maybe a 6 monthly fundraiser as suggested by Sabine.
Have you seen the NZ play “Trees Beneath the Lake”, Puckish Rogue? It’s set in Cromwell, about sociopathic Ponzi swindlers and their endearing ways. I wouldn’t go there.
“Small natural health businesses say new regulations which will regulate the natural health industry are heavy handed and will hurt them the most.
The Natural Health and Supplementary Products bill will allow the Ministry of Health to regulate the sector, so ingredients in supplements are permitted or prohibited and manufacturers are licensed.
It will also restrict the claims that can be made about products so potential health benefits could only be made if there is proven scientific evidence, or traditional evidence that it works. Dr Guy Hatchard represents a group of 10 Natural Health companies and practitioners who are worried about the changes.
Kathryn also speaks with Alison Quesnell the executive director of Natural Products NZ.”
( It is not as if BIG PHARMA products are properly regulated or tested…all too often one finds later that particular products have been withdrawn because of life threatening side effects)
What this actually does is just help protect the public from bogus frauds where people claim some extract from some Amazonian fungus ‘supports joint health’ or ‘assists in managing symptoms of aging’.
Now of course, we should also be trying to protect the public from bogus frauds in the medicines industry like ‘mycoxafaline cures erectile dysfunction’ or ‘you need brand new bogustatin to stop you dying of evil cholesterol’ but that doesn’t mean we should be giving ‘natural’ products a free pass.
…actually the public needs protection from BIG PHARMA( big business ,big profits in pharmaceuticals ) and all those narrow minded in the medical profession)….who want to cut out smaller competition and people taking charge of their own health with natural remedies
…a bit like marijuana…the natural stuff used for thousands of years in places like India is made illegal and is deemed supposedly BAD for you …but the politically legalised synthetic stuff sold by Western businessmen intent on a profit has far worse side- effects
yes lets “protect the public from bogus frauds” made by monopoly capitalism and BIG PHARMA
….let the people decide for themselves what medications they want to use…especially the indigenous people
Controlling ‘scientific evidence’ is a primary function in monopoly
Legislation, regulations (pretending to be beneficial) influenced by lobbyist representatives of the corporations who manufacture ‘scientific evidence’, enshrines the monopoly
Natural products and living organisms are both nemisis & prey item of petro chemical pharaceutical corporations and toxic poison peddlers
Not precise enough for you? Ok. Wikipedia also calls you a liar. Subject chemotherapy, section efficacy.
If you want to get any more specific, which particular chemotherapy are you calling completely ineffective? Or is that not your position?
links please…where does wiki call me a “liar”?…no it is you who are personally calling me a “liar” ( which is a reflection on you actually, but it doesn’t surprise me coming from you)
…and btw all the people i have known who have received chemo have died in short order
this is a link not for you, but for others with an open mind, who may be interested in this issue…even doctors admit chemo rarely works
…”It’s a business of mammoth proportions and must be treated as such. The most powerful anti-carcinogenic plants in the world such as cannabis must be demonized and be made illegal because they are so effective at killing cancer cells without side effects. Cannabinoids are so efficient at treating disease, that the U.S. Government patented them in 2003…”
I think you are all confusing a few things. The legislation is aimed at a number of things, including medical claims. I don’t have a problem with products not being allowed to make claims on the labels unless the company can back that up. But I think in Europe there was an exemption for traditional usage of herbal remedies. So if someone was selling traditional Māori medicines and they could demonstrate historical use, then that’s exempt. Otherwise no medical claims. They could still make general wellbeing claims (this is also used overseas). But if you make small companies do research costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to manufacture something that can be made at home, that’s daft.
Then there are the issues of safe manufacturing practices, making sure that there are good processes in place. This is where small manufacturers will get screwed and the whole thing would get handed to the big companies (many of whom are multinational chemical companies). Not good for NZ businesses nor consumers. I’m guessing this is similar to the Food Bill of recent years where the govt designed a pretty stupid bill based around what the big manufacturers were doing and didn’t think to consult with the small ones. So we were going to end up in the ridiculous situation where people couldn’t sell the produce from their garden at a Farmers Market or save seeds without having to comply with extensive regulation. Public outcry and the Minister when oh, right, and changed it. There is no reason that we can’t have varying levels of regulation around supplements depending on the product and the size of the business. It’s what we should be doing.
The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
I don’t believe that small businesses should be held to lower standards just because they’re small, though. If you’re in business, your customers have the right to expect a safe product that does what you claim it does.
There’s a difference between what I am suggesting and no standards. A school group selling jam at the fair shouldn’t have to have the same practices as Craigs selling jam to Countdown. What they did in the US was have a separate legislation for cottage industry foods, and the label had to state that that’s what they were. But they still had standards regarding safety.
“The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
Oh good. I just skimmed it. Variations of the Therapeutic Goods Act have been around for many years (probably decades by now), my eyes tend to glaze over. A lot of the problem is trying to tie NZ in with Australia, and in trying to standardise things across an industry that is hugely variable (as per the examples above). There are some serious problems with some products (eg contamination of some over the counter traditional chinese medicines), but if you are making small scale garlic pills, all you really need is good, safe practices not huge industrial scale practices.
People do have the right to safety in products. People also have the right to make choices about their health. With something like garlic that I can buy at the supermarket to treat a bacterial infection, why should I not be able to buy it in pill form assuming that the company had safe manufacturing processes? Maybe you’re not clear that across food and supplements, small scale producers are getting hammered because systems are being designed for the big players and for expediency. That’s not about extra safety, it’s just poor design and injustice.
In the supermarket loose garlic is sold as a food, with no medicinal promises as far as I can recall.
in pill form it’s got a different implicit or explicit function. There should be evidence to back up those claims, and it should contain what it claims.
My brother in aus had a story from the flipside, where it was a news scandal exposed that a herbal erection capsule brand had been found to have been dosed with viagra. He couldn’t understand why people were outraged that the product actually contained a demonstrably active ingredient.
Andrew Little pitching to the centre is a good move (imho), that’s where more of the votes are and that’s where the election will be won and lost, if Labour/Greens are too far behind National then Winston will most likely go National but if its close…well anything can happen
Labour banging on about housing in Auckland is another good move as that’s where National is most vulnerable however that will need to be careful as theres a lot of homeowners out there that will definitely not be pleased if their house values drop dramatically but aside from that attacking National on housing is working well
the interesting:
Grant Robertson signalling an increase in taxes marks a clear difference between National so that’s a good thing (in my book anyway) however he’d better have had his calculator working overtime because if the numbers don’t match up or he can’t answer well…show me the money will get a refrain
the dumb:
“That meant the average family had lost out on more than $13,000 under the Government, and would miss out on an average of $50 a week this year.”
I mean bringing something up that no ones ever heard of before just looks like making stuff up
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
I’m sure it must have happened before but I can’t recall “vote for us and we’ll work the details out later” ever working before
Which is a shame because they’re dealing to National over homes in Auckland and then Robertson pulls this out…
Like National won’t have a field day with this, if Labour can’t provide numbers then National certainly will (like that hasn’t happened the last couple of months)
I find conspiracy theories as entertaining as anyone but surely Labour would have run their ideas through a group of people to see if there were any holes in their plans?
But this isn’t a case of what works for National will work for Labour. National are the incumbents and Labour want to replace them.
National are a known quantity and Labour aren’t which means Labour has to prove they can govern and that means its not a good idea to just say we’ll work out the details later.
You think that and it may well be true but do the general voting public agree with you?
The more Robertson continues with “we’ll work out the details later” the harder it will be for Little to try to convince NZ voters that Labour are a safe pair of hands
I’m still going to type what I think is right, I’m not going to type what I think people want to hear
I mean Labour has done some good things recently but what Robertson is doing is really bad for Labours chances
Plus I also think that what you, I or anyone else on here thinks (or can prove) is largely irrelevant, its what the voting public thinks and I think that this:
“Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.”
will hurt Labour.
I also think that since Labour is the challenger it has to show more than National because the voters can judge National on what they’ve done but the voters can only judge Labour on its words.
[insert something neither Labour nor Robertson actually said]
will hurt Labour.
I agree entirely.
In fact, that stuff report is a good example of why Labour and the Left have to campaign against both the government and the corporate media.
What Robertson was actually quoted as saying was
“While we want a comprehensive review there will be some interim steps that we will announce before the election … to ensure that we have the revenue to address pressing issues, particularly in health, education and housing,” he said.
and
He said an “enormous… multi-billion dollar” surplus would be needed for $3b of tax cuts given all the other cost pressures in the economy. He called on the Government to “come clean” about its tax cuts plans.
He said an extra $600m needed to be allocated to health in Thursday’s Budget just to stand still.
So while they might increase taxes overall, all Robertson really did was rule out /reverse the $3billion in tax cuts that key made up on the fly.
But Puck, you’ve always known National will win in 2017 and generously shared that certainty with Labour supporters on TS. Now that you’re so reasonable about everything discussed here, we were beginning to think that you’d somehow come to realise that prescience is as rare as hens’ teeth and that perhaps your certainty was a little…presumptuous. But as I say, you’re slipping back into your ol’ trolly ways, with your wee knocks to resident confidence, making me think of that old maxim, about the leopard and his indelible spots. I’m picking you have a plan and that’s of the white ant variety. Closer to the election, you’ll be back into full undermine-confidence mode. I reckon.
Well that’s your opinion and of course you’re entitled to it however while I do think Robertson is being dumb (and I won’t shy away from calling it as see it), if you look at what I wrote you’ll see two positives, one interesting (may be good but may also be bad) and one negative
So ? Labour have also won 3 elections on the trot. Why are you making out election wins are unique ? because they are not Puckish Rogue. Its called politics, and NZ politics is largely cyclic.
In response to your other comment. If you think the voters can only judge Labour on its words, remembering that Labour has a far better track record than National to back themselves up, don’t you think voters will now judge National on the litany of lies, corruption and deception and the debt ridden shambles and its disastrous social and economic consequences that they have created, that can no longer be denied?
Extend this graph to its max range and you will see National get voted in once Labour have finished tanking the economy, Labour get voted in once National have things flying again: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/gdp-growth
That’s nice dear. Homelessness, unemployment and falling median wage value. Define flying however you like.
The graph shows nothing of the sort. The average is clearly higher throughout the 00’s, not to mention public debt.
That’s why English and Key both praised Cullen’s handling of the economy in 2008. Only to very selective audiences, mind: you fuckwits wolfed the red meat as usual
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
Not a good sale point,lets rephrase it.
A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors such as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
Poission
That would be a better thing for Labour to do than raise super to 67 or 70. A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors ch as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
The Uriah Heepish-style pose you’ve adopted of late to appear oh so reasonable doesn’t fool all of us, Puckish.
The economy is unbalanced to the point it’s threatening social stability and the old economic levers only exacerbate the problem even when deployed to ease the situation.
Labour will do the planning work on what’s needed tax-wise when it has the resources of Govt. And Robertson’s also found a neat way round the wee strategic blunder that was dumping the CGT. That’s good politics.
And they’ll give more detail closer to the election about what the thinking is.
What’s your problem?
Auckland and Queenstown are notorious for their housing inaffordability, but the problem is spreading to places like Tauranga and Wellington. Here in Wellington we’ve been reading about it for a few months now.
Things might be starting to get a bit silly though. Got one of those real estate flyers in the mail where they have a little brag about the sales in “your area”. Down the road from us was a 90 square metre very basic 3bdr house on a tiny section on the back of another property. Late 80’s, early 90’s flimsy construction.
RV of $350K. Went for “mid 400’s” the flyer said, approximately $100K over the RV. That’s just nuts. There is no way that house was worth $450K.
In the meantime, on the development, on a street north east from us 24 lots have sold within 18 months. The cheapest is a 3bdr townhouse in a row of 12 MDH setting, no section for $574K. The remaining 12 lots are all 4bdr, 2bth ranging from $700 – $800K depending on section size and specs. Over on the other side of the development they are selling 5bdr places for $890K. All lots except for a few have sold in recent months around the $700 – $800 K zone as well.
Some people have the money honey and some developers are doing verrrry well. These developers have an SHA area BTW, they just don’t have any plans for it yet. Selling the pricey homes suits them far better. These kinds of people must think Nick Smith is a huge joke.
“Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq war inquiry report will not let former Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other officials involved in the ill-fated 2003 invasion “off the hook,” a source close to the inquiry says.
Chilcot is due to release his long-delayed report on the legality of the war on July 6, seven years after the inquiry was commissioned…
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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. ...
Over last year the fuckwits at Lauda Finem have targeted me in a time wasting and long running legal farce that I really can’t talk about for the usual reason – court orders. However the mechanics of the case aren’t that interesting apart from the ironic entertainment value.
And I’ve also had their technically illiterate mate Cameron Slater trying to buy a crime – something that is in itself a crime under section 311 of the Crimes Act. Fortunately he was too technically and politically incompetent to know what to look for and got whistle blown and/or scammed.
Also that he was too incompetent to make it happen does not mean that Cameron didn’t commit a crime regardless of how many times he tries to spin that line. A failed attempt to procure a crime is still a crime.
And that is the case regardless of how many times Cameron tries to violate the precepts of the police diversion by proclaiming his lack of criminality. A repeated act of lying that directly violates the remorse for the crime that he is meant to have shown to even have a chance at police diversion.
But we all knew that Cameron Slater is a self-deluding hypocritical liar. Also from the light pats on his hands from the police in the way that they charge him for past offences that he appears to be extremely lucky. Or have some great friends in high places with influence on the police (which is my current working theory about how he got that diversion from them).
But it has similarly wasted my holiday time in court dealing with it. Not to mention the large and expensive waste of my evening and weekend time checking my computers for intrusions and to keep high paying technical illiterates from hiring people who were a bit more competent from actually achieving his criminal intent. Cameron Slater is, from his actions, just a simple lying hypocrite and a serial criminal.
But I guess both of these local sets of criminals just wanted me to join the fun – which I suspect is a mistake on their part. I’m sure that at some point in the future they will begin to understand that.
However there is a serious point to this comment that actually affects The Standard.
This is the first time I’ve had to get involved with legal even indirectly to The Standard (beyond writing a few response emails to upset people explaining the legal basis for the site and its posts) in over 8 years. It is probably time to start dealing with having to deal with similar legal idiots in the future. For a starter, next year we will have have whatever technical and legal incompetent agency that this even more technically illiterate government’s ministers tries to get to run the flawed and probably unworkable Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA)
Personally I’d prefer to concern myself with my role of being the system operator, the odd rant when I write a post or comment, and helping to enforce out moderation policies. About once or twice a year I get involved as one of the trustees of the site. And I have been known to get somewhat acerbic around the backend of the system.
But I’ve already been dealing with various people who have heard about the HDCA, but clearly haven’t bothered to deal with the actual legalities. Amongst other things I have been asked to pull down posts from 6 years ago – 5 years after the Act was passed. I have also been asked to prevent abuse attributed as coming from this site, which is in fact being published on a overseas site that has nothing to do with NZ politics. Similarly at least one politician who should have been at least vaguely aware of the limits of the Act appears to have been stated that she could use the Act if her feelings were hurt by criticism of her actions. FFS…
None of these are possible of standing up under the HDCA. But I am expecting that there will be a small flood of similarly deluded adults pouring such test cases into whatever unprepared and probably irresponsible agency gets made responsible for much of the regulation of the HDCA. I am sure we will be part of that and will need to go into court either preemptively or after having received a court order without being called in on a defending position. Then of course there will be actions to recover any costs incurred. That will take some immediately available money.
And while the legal targets to date have either been me or my computers. Eventually even these legal lunatics from the nutty and criminal right will get around to actually targeting The Standard itself. I suspect we as a community should start figuring out how to build a specific legal fund later in the year to deal with such threats in the future.
In the past 8 and a half years, we haven’t actually needed any money for legal matters for The Standard Trust. Back in 2010 -2012, we grew a fund out of advertising to handle such threats. When they never showed up, we used it to deal with the more immediate problem of our ever rising server costs as the site grew.
These days that particular problem has abated after we were able to get the site back to its technical roots. Some processes running on one of my servers on my living room floor, but with better offshore backups.
But the way these kinds of criminally vigilante right wing idiots have been fumbling around with legalities, I’m sure even they will eventually learn enough law to attempt the legal entity of The Standard Trust. Probably they will do so while they are still stupid enough to think that they can actually ‘win’ despite a distinct lack of the types of legal excesses similar to those that they have routinely perform on their sites.
Similarly, I’d expect that most blog sites, especially the political ones in election year, are going to be targets of the nutty fringe using the HDCA. Some of those are going to get through as tests of the HDCA. Probably including our rather deliberately legal site.
Better to plan for it rather than have to deal with it unprepared.
So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
Or whatever someone else pops up with that someone else hasn’t already been doing?
I personally won’t be particularly interested in taking money with strings attached beyond the straight commercial. That isn’t something we have done in the past and I can’t see it as being something that we should do in the future. The rather proud and oftimes extreme independence (albeit loosely moderated) of both The Standard 2.0’s author and commenter communities is something that I am rather happy to keep.
But I suspect anything else (that is legal) is up for debate.
How big does the fund need to be $ wise?
User pays?
Allow 30k per annum for 1-2 legal cases.
500 comments per day average? = 176,000
/ 30k = 17c per comment.
Run like Trade Me. You pre-load x amount into your account, and when it is gone you get the auto email requesting the top up.
One of the things that we have deliberately not done is to require real emails or logins.
In fact one of the things that I’m going to do as a response to the HDCA is to actually remove the ability of us on the backend to even have access or even any knowledge of real emails and IP numbers. They get replaced with a special MD5 like hash.
I wrote that code last year ago. About the same time that I shifted the autofill on comments from being server side read and filled to being client side filled.
If we had any such list, it’d have to be filled on a voluntary basis specifically for the purpose of being a donor, and probably held by a separate body.
Will that make it harder to manage trolls, banned people, and sock puppets?
It would be slightly less fine in terms of ’emails’ but not a lot different. We’d just have to make the IP exclusions coarser with a higher probability of picking up false positives.
However otherwise the HDCA process could force us to give the real world identities of commenters literally because some politician or other friend of a HDCA authorised agency agent had their feelings got hurt. The HDCA could do it in an uncontested hearing with no real evidence being offered in support of the application apart from that of the process being followed.
We are specifically prevented by the Act in pursuing the HDCA official for information. We can neither OIA the agency nor drag their agents into court to find out.
It is simpler to simply not have the information on who people really are, what their emails are, and what IPs they have been using.
I’m considering making an argument for it being mandatory not to have anything that looks like real names for any commenter for much the same reason. It reduces this sites risk of having to violate our privacy policies.
Good question. I envisaged it more as being to enable a rapid response than anything else. Basically something to get a lawyer in front of a judge as soon as possible.
In particular where the HDCA approved agency has applied for a court order and we know and get someone in to contest it, or where we immediately contest one after they got one in uncontested.
Those orders will be a complete pain. They require immediate compliance and can be gained literally without us knowing that they are being sought.
If they had any merit, then we would have already complied within the first 48 hours after being informed. If not sooner. We tend to be somewhat abrupt.
More than $5k. Probably not more than $15k.
Where costs are awarded later, is that likely to be all costs or partial?
Will you be looking at having continuity with a specific lawyer or using whoever is available?
Any chance of some pro bono work?
Probably we’d be able to get pro bono. But the costs of filing documents won’t be insignificant.
Costs are usually partial if you get them at all. I suspect that costs awarded against the HDCA authorised agency will be as hard to get as those against the police and crown after they drag you through 18 months of court to for the crown to finally lose in the high court. Virtually non-existent (I have done that before for rocky).
I suspect each case would be money sunk. So the best way to operate will be to cause the HDCA authorised agency to spend their budget in defending their decisions for as long as possible. Think of it as a way of educating the agency.
It’d probably have to be whoever was available. The time frames in the HDCA are likely to be tight.
So no costs from the complainant? Because if the authority accepts the complaint in the first place it’s considered reasonably legitimate?
In this case, as I remember the Act, I don’t think we could even try to claim from the complainant unless we want to bring a very expensive civil case against them.
That is pretty normal. Unless the complainant brings a private prosecution against you, the authority that brings the action is making the decision.
Think of how the police operate. Or WINZ. Or IRD, Or any of the quasi-legal authorities. The way the criminal system operates is that if an authority thinks that there may be a prima facie case that is winnable or where they think a point has to be made and they have a prima facie case, they will go for orders and/or charge.
But they have to be very very wrong in their estimation of the prima facie case before the law before the judge will order costs against them. They will instead get some words from the judge about why they were mistaken about their understanding of the law.
In the case of new law, then even this toleration gets extended. If you are the subject of those then you wind up paying the cost of establishing precedents.
I think we raise $15K to $20K just sitting there, earning a return. Then we get pledges for another $15K to $20K for the if and when necessary event.
Having a fighting fund on hand is one way to deter the morans from going ahead with action as well as actually deal with the inevitable cases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceS_jkKjIgo
The above is to show how ridiculous it all is.
The right and certain elements of the left in this country, don’t like democracy, which is silly really.
But, ideas for a legal fund.
Well ask some lawyers if they will help for free. You know civic duty and all that. I will ask one in the next few days. For free in the defence of civil liberties, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of expression.
Then we just need to get some funds to cover the things which are not free, like the photocopying, lodgements, and coffees. Sorry, being a wee bit glib.
Just a thought, I’ll be asking anyway, and will pass them onto Bill if they say yes.
I can’t see a problem with advertising that is ethical or ethically neutral
….if it keeps the site safe from right wing predators with deep pockets who want to use challenges by the legal system to close it down
…this site is an important vehicle for political analysis and a critical voice imo…it is important for a grassroots democracy
The Daily Blog has some advertising…and it isnt too intrusive
The problem with crowd funding is that the crowd often does not have much disposable income…they are too busy trying to keep ends meeting eg for paying for kids university debts, or housing , or health…or looking after the needy in their families
I also don’t see a problem with paying some of the regular workers/posters and Iprent for the upkeep of the site …in fact they deserve payment imo….if ethical advertising could do this then I am all for it
Maybe others. I already earn quite a lot in my real life work.
The biggest hassle with advertising isn’t particularly having it. The hassle is in exactly what you pointed out. The time involved in making sure it is ethical, appropriate, etc for the site. And that we are getting enough of it to sustain whatever we are doing.
That is a long-term need that requires time to dribble out in phone calls, emails etc. These usually within work hours.
The issue for us is that none of the current authors really have the time nor the inclination for that kind of work. Nor has anyone we have ever had as an author in the past. They come on to write, comment, and some moderate. Each requires small bits of time chopped out of other things we are doing. We don’t have to coordinate, manage, or waste any time.
Consequently, when this last came to a decision point at the start of 2014, I looked at the time required vs the revenue required to run the servers. I invested quite a lot of my free time in an effort to drop the effective cost well below requiring any advertising revenue. The reason wasn’t so much the money as it was the time I was spending scratching around making sure that we had sufficient money to pay for the servers.
It is a lot less work to tolerate a system that may throw up lousy ads (eg google adview) but which doesn’t cost much time over a year, or alternatively spend a moderate amount of time on one or two small campaigns per year to get large dobs of cash.
Rather that than trying to get something that requires moderate amounts of time all year AND which will get in the way of the available time for the site. In that case I’d prefer spending less site time and more time at work to just give me the option of doing simplier donations from making more income.
First of all Lynn, sorry for all the ongoing hassle with Slater and Co. You don’t deserve all that shit to deal with and no one has time for that anyway. It’s also really frustrating that Slater pretty much got away with it in court. He’s managed to not be held fully to account for his behaviour in general, and it’s not even that satisfying that he lost that boxing bout.
Raising fighting funds. It’s been great to read The Standard ad free but I don’t think too many people would have a problem with google ads. I certainly don’t, if it would be helpful.
If you were to look at paid advertising there may be a reader or commentor who has retired from the marketing or advertising sector who may like to help out on a voluntary small part time basis – as you say it’s a pain to organise so having a dedicated advertising admin person might be beneficial – if there was any one out there who could fill that role, and could commit to it long term.
Givealittle seems to be the way things goes these days. It would be a nice change to see a recipient of Givealittle funds who isn’t someone that missing out on what should be government funded, eg, cancer medicine or housing.
Personally I’m broke as and struggle to get through the week, even my party membership has lapsed because I never seem to be able to find the small donations for the unwaged! So I’m sorry I can’t help out.
However, I get the feeling that there are people in better circumstances than me who are users of the site and appreciate and value the site and all yours and the authors hard work as much as I do, who may be able to donate.
Good luck with the funding and all the best for keeping the site safe and free from interference from nutty rw pests.
Love your work 🙂
No problem.
After all this is why we aren’t interested in the lost sheep’s “user pays”. Cuts out way too many interesting people.
I get somewhat well paid. I found I was still a member of the NZLP last year after they triumphantly sent me the first membership card that I’d seen in a few years – plastic even.
After I hunted around for a while I found I was still leaking $25 per month in a old VFL payment from a bank account that I use for its debit visa for some internet payments. Still haven’t got around to doing anything about it – just like the unicef and a couple of other payments. I’m pretty slack like that.
Perhaps I should set up a “help people retain their membership” for political parties.
Or I could just forgo the the once a week coffee outing and clear up that membership payment once and for all……….. 🙂
Better still, a Labour coalition win in 2017 would mean, theoretically, a modest $ boost for Labour’s lowest paid members, who then would have a little more of the disposable $ to keep up with their membership and the middle bracket could shift from a one off payment to a VFL payment.
What Rosie said at 1.6. Is there someone retired, temporarily invalided, would like to get stuck into this worthwhile task of organising non-sickmaking adverts? No loose boobies please unless they are birds, blue boobies?
And lprent #1 your ideas all sound good. Is there someone in each of the main centres that could arrange film nights?
So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
And CV on fund practice at 1.3.2
edited
Blue booby’s. They sure are adorable:
http://cdn.earthporm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/booby-bird.jpg
And OMG! Look at this one:
https://i.onthe.io/vllkytaHR0cDovL2Nkbi0wMS5uYWlqLmNvbS9vL1Y5VUNmckdjRGJBbjN3bVJzWGhyNnc2ay5qcGc=.prx.r800x600.aa5def85.jpg
Rosie
Very fascinating. I can see that they were thinking the same about the photographer. I had forgotten why I thought they were so memorable.
Incidentally r0b. Private + published, then back to draft and public, and finally schedule appears to work for adding early comments. I’ll see if I can find another easier way 🙂
Very pleased Austria has beaten back the far right and voted in a Green party-backed economist, an EU supporter and a child of refugees as the next president. Congratulations Alexander Van der Bellen and all who supported him. It was a very close call.
After forcing the resignation of the Chancellor, the Social Democrats have a lot more work to do before the parliamentary elections in 2018.
Congratulations Austria! Am pleased to hear that the scary sounding Norbet Hoffer missed out. What a relief.
Look I’d be fine with a give-a-little campaign ( although I’ve always wondered whether a list of Nicky Hager’s supporters made it into other channels) it’s real easy to access, or a micro donations link staying permanently on the site. After all I used to pay for the stuff on stuff.
I would be happy if it was just a general donation – we trust you to spend it wisely
A fund raising evening would be great to socialise ( and guess who is who) but won’t take in the more far flung users.
If it includes something for you I’m good with that.
Oh I don’t need money myself particularly.
I tend to regard the legal and illegal attacks on me and my computers as interesting examples of the rightly insane trying to grow a brain. It is like educating small children how to be socially responsible.
You just keep unfolding the horrible consequences overhear actions in front off them and getting them to walk upon them in bare feet. It gives a outlet for some of my less socially acceptable tendencies in a good cause.
The HDCA authorised agency are likely to be more of a problem. I suspect that most of the time we’d find out from them when they deliver a order from the court saying to take something down. There appears to be little need for them to prove anything to get one apart from that they followed a rather rapid process. If we see signs of them taking part in that process, ideally we’d want to get in front of the court with them before orders are made.
I’m usually terrible as being social. It seems so slow as a communication device. I’m moderately good at it if I can get a heated discussion going 🙂
Lyn likes the small talk side. I usually can’t really be bothered.
Does the standard get much via the donation page in general?
Most of the time it covers or gets close to covering our operating expenses of about $260 per month.
We’d have to do something different for the next few years while the actual procedural rules for the HDCA get established in court.
So far all the indications are that the HDCA authorised agency will get inundated with largely spurious complaints from offended adults. Since they appear in the act to be established as being an advocacy mainly operating on behalf of the complainants and the Act is very vague on offences, I’d expect that a number of the less spurious complaints will be allowed through.
After the grounds for successful cases are established, then it will be easier.
I think solidarity with TS is needed now..
Yanis Varoufakis interview had this in it:
If capitalism is training us to think of ourselves as competitive entrepreneurs then we become less and less inclined towards feeling that kind of solidarity—on which democracy depends—and giving up even the smallest element of our financial wellbeing for the sake of other people.
Yet democracy cannot survive without solidarity, because it requires us to give rights to one another, to people that we may not like. We have to have solidarity to each other and to some grander social and political system in order for it to work.
https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/05/21/has-consumerism-milked-democracy-dry-on-abc-radio-national/#more-13808
i like the idea of a give a little fundraiser and or social evenings with a fund raiser attached.
Blogs from the US that i have been following for years all have their 6 monthly fund raiser, give generously, give often, most accompanied with pictures of loose kittens or boobies cause you know ….i wuz told it helps collect funds.
My thought would be a Give a Little fundraiser to get a basic fighting fund in place and then one of the other options to provide ongoing income – maybe a 6 monthly fundraiser as suggested by Sabine.
Sausage sizzle seems to be the main source of income for Labour so have you considered trying that?
A stall could be run at the Avondale markets 🙂
Kidding, kidding I jest, givealittle page sounds the way to go
you don’t like sausage sizzlers? Dang what sort o Kiwi are you?
I do like sausage sizzles but not enough to travel up to Auckland to have one 🙂
That will only make the city a better place. 🙂
Are you suggesting me leaving Christchurch to go to Auckland would improve both cities? 😉
i suggest that neither city deserves you 🙂
You are too good for both of them. You should move to Clutha 🙂
i suggest that neither city deserves you 🙂
You are too good for both of them. You should move to Clutha 🙂
Interestingly enough you’re quite close, I’ve got plans to eventually move/retire to Cromwell…
Have you seen the NZ play “Trees Beneath the Lake”, Puckish Rogue? It’s set in Cromwell, about sociopathic Ponzi swindlers and their endearing ways. I wouldn’t go there.
This HIT on cheap alternative medicines by the multi billion dollar business USA BIG PHARMA makes me absolutely furious:
‘Are new regulations too tough on
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201801840/are-new-regulations-too-tough-on
“Small natural health businesses say new regulations which will regulate the natural health industry are heavy handed and will hurt them the most.
The Natural Health and Supplementary Products bill will allow the Ministry of Health to regulate the sector, so ingredients in supplements are permitted or prohibited and manufacturers are licensed.
It will also restrict the claims that can be made about products so potential health benefits could only be made if there is proven scientific evidence, or traditional evidence that it works. Dr Guy Hatchard represents a group of 10 Natural Health companies and practitioners who are worried about the changes.
Kathryn also speaks with Alison Quesnell the executive director of Natural Products NZ.”
( It is not as if BIG PHARMA products are properly regulated or tested…all too often one finds later that particular products have been withdrawn because of life threatening side effects)
What this actually does is just help protect the public from bogus frauds where people claim some extract from some Amazonian fungus ‘supports joint health’ or ‘assists in managing symptoms of aging’.
Now of course, we should also be trying to protect the public from bogus frauds in the medicines industry like ‘mycoxafaline cures erectile dysfunction’ or ‘you need brand new bogustatin to stop you dying of evil cholesterol’ but that doesn’t mean we should be giving ‘natural’ products a free pass.
+1
…actually the public needs protection from BIG PHARMA( big business ,big profits in pharmaceuticals ) and all those narrow minded in the medical profession)….who want to cut out smaller competition and people taking charge of their own health with natural remedies
…a bit like marijuana…the natural stuff used for thousands of years in places like India is made illegal and is deemed supposedly BAD for you …but the politically legalised synthetic stuff sold by Western businessmen intent on a profit has far worse side- effects
yes lets “protect the public from bogus frauds” made by monopoly capitalism and BIG PHARMA
….let the people decide for themselves what medications they want to use…especially the indigenous people
Controlling ‘scientific evidence’ is a primary function in monopoly
Legislation, regulations (pretending to be beneficial) influenced by lobbyist representatives of the corporations who manufacture ‘scientific evidence’, enshrines the monopoly
Natural products and living organisms are both nemisis & prey item of petro chemical pharaceutical corporations and toxic poison peddlers
Still better than relying on placebos and bullshit to treat cancer.
“placebos and bullshit to treat cancer”…that would be chemotherapy.
The improving cancer survival rates call you a damned liar.
not through chemotherapy..which is what I said ( you are the liar)
Not precise enough for you? Ok. Wikipedia also calls you a liar. Subject chemotherapy, section efficacy.
If you want to get any more specific, which particular chemotherapy are you calling completely ineffective? Or is that not your position?
links please…where does wiki call me a “liar”?…no it is you who are personally calling me a “liar” ( which is a reflection on you actually, but it doesn’t surprise me coming from you)
…and btw all the people i have known who have received chemo have died in short order
this is a link not for you, but for others with an open mind, who may be interested in this issue…even doctors admit chemo rarely works
…http://preventdisease.com/news/14/033114_97-Percent-of-The-Time-Chemotherapy-Does-Not-Work.shtml
…”It’s a business of mammoth proportions and must be treated as such. The most powerful anti-carcinogenic plants in the world such as cannabis must be demonized and be made illegal because they are so effective at killing cancer cells without side effects. Cannabinoids are so efficient at treating disease, that the U.S. Government patented them in 2003…”
lol, you seriously need a link for wikipedia?
Minds so “open” there’s a whistling sound in a gentle breeze…
I think you are all confusing a few things. The legislation is aimed at a number of things, including medical claims. I don’t have a problem with products not being allowed to make claims on the labels unless the company can back that up. But I think in Europe there was an exemption for traditional usage of herbal remedies. So if someone was selling traditional Māori medicines and they could demonstrate historical use, then that’s exempt. Otherwise no medical claims. They could still make general wellbeing claims (this is also used overseas). But if you make small companies do research costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to manufacture something that can be made at home, that’s daft.
Then there are the issues of safe manufacturing practices, making sure that there are good processes in place. This is where small manufacturers will get screwed and the whole thing would get handed to the big companies (many of whom are multinational chemical companies). Not good for NZ businesses nor consumers. I’m guessing this is similar to the Food Bill of recent years where the govt designed a pretty stupid bill based around what the big manufacturers were doing and didn’t think to consult with the small ones. So we were going to end up in the ridiculous situation where people couldn’t sell the produce from their garden at a Farmers Market or save seeds without having to comply with extensive regulation. Public outcry and the Minister when oh, right, and changed it. There is no reason that we can’t have varying levels of regulation around supplements depending on the product and the size of the business. It’s what we should be doing.
+100 weka…well said
The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
I don’t believe that small businesses should be held to lower standards just because they’re small, though. If you’re in business, your customers have the right to expect a safe product that does what you claim it does.
There’s a difference between what I am suggesting and no standards. A school group selling jam at the fair shouldn’t have to have the same practices as Craigs selling jam to Countdown. What they did in the US was have a separate legislation for cottage industry foods, and the label had to state that that’s what they were. But they still had standards regarding safety.
“The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
Oh good. I just skimmed it. Variations of the Therapeutic Goods Act have been around for many years (probably decades by now), my eyes tend to glaze over. A lot of the problem is trying to tie NZ in with Australia, and in trying to standardise things across an industry that is hugely variable (as per the examples above). There are some serious problems with some products (eg contamination of some over the counter traditional chinese medicines), but if you are making small scale garlic pills, all you really need is good, safe practices not huge industrial scale practices.
People do have the right to safety in products. People also have the right to make choices about their health. With something like garlic that I can buy at the supermarket to treat a bacterial infection, why should I not be able to buy it in pill form assuming that the company had safe manufacturing processes? Maybe you’re not clear that across food and supplements, small scale producers are getting hammered because systems are being designed for the big players and for expediency. That’s not about extra safety, it’s just poor design and injustice.
In the supermarket loose garlic is sold as a food, with no medicinal promises as far as I can recall.
in pill form it’s got a different implicit or explicit function. There should be evidence to back up those claims, and it should contain what it claims.
My brother in aus had a story from the flipside, where it was a news scandal exposed that a herbal erection capsule brand had been found to have been dosed with viagra. He couldn’t understand why people were outraged that the product actually contained a demonstrably active ingredient.
+100 One Two
So my view thus far, the positive
Andrew Little pitching to the centre is a good move (imho), that’s where more of the votes are and that’s where the election will be won and lost, if Labour/Greens are too far behind National then Winston will most likely go National but if its close…well anything can happen
Labour banging on about housing in Auckland is another good move as that’s where National is most vulnerable however that will need to be careful as theres a lot of homeowners out there that will definitely not be pleased if their house values drop dramatically but aside from that attacking National on housing is working well
the interesting:
Grant Robertson signalling an increase in taxes marks a clear difference between National so that’s a good thing (in my book anyway) however he’d better have had his calculator working overtime because if the numbers don’t match up or he can’t answer well…show me the money will get a refrain
the dumb:
“That meant the average family had lost out on more than $13,000 under the Government, and would miss out on an average of $50 a week this year.”
I mean bringing something up that no ones ever heard of before just looks like making stuff up
The dumb:
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/80272365/tax-increases-on-the-table-for-labour-for-2017-campaign
Election lost right there.
I’m sure it must have happened before but I can’t recall “vote for us and we’ll work the details out later” ever working before
Which is a shame because they’re dealing to National over homes in Auckland and then Robertson pulls this out…
Like National won’t have a field day with this, if Labour can’t provide numbers then National certainly will (like that hasn’t happened the last couple of months)
You have to wonder if this wasn’t Grant Robertson purposely trying to sink any chance of a Labour win in 2017.
I find conspiracy theories as entertaining as anyone but surely Labour would have run their ideas through a group of people to see if there were any holes in their plans?
Works for National
But this isn’t a case of what works for National will work for Labour. National are the incumbents and Labour want to replace them.
National are a known quantity and Labour aren’t which means Labour has to prove they can govern and that means its not a good idea to just say we’ll work out the details later.
Labour are a known quantity: they always run the economy better than National. Always. Not that it’s difficult.
You think that and it may well be true but do the general voting public agree with you?
The more Robertson continues with “we’ll work out the details later” the harder it will be for Little to try to convince NZ voters that Labour are a safe pair of hands
Whereas National have left no doubt that they have stumps where hands should be.
And yet National have won three elections on the trot
“National have one 3 election on the trot”
Not in OAB alternative universe
Reverting to type, Puckish Rogue. Try harder to assimilate or they’ll start to notice.
I’m still going to type what I think is right, I’m not going to type what I think people want to hear
I mean Labour has done some good things recently but what Robertson is doing is really bad for Labours chances
Plus I also think that what you, I or anyone else on here thinks (or can prove) is largely irrelevant, its what the voting public thinks and I think that this:
“Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.”
will hurt Labour.
I also think that since Labour is the challenger it has to show more than National because the voters can judge National on what they’ve done but the voters can only judge Labour on its words.
It’s as though you are utterly ignorant of the election promises in 1999*. You think if you don’t look at it no-one else can see it either?
*either that or it’s deliberate dishonesty.
I agree entirely.
In fact, that stuff report is a good example of why Labour and the Left have to campaign against both the government and the corporate media.
What Robertson was actually quoted as saying was
and
So while they might increase taxes overall, all Robertson really did was rule out /reverse the $3billion in tax cuts that key made up on the fly.
But Puck, you’ve always known National will win in 2017 and generously shared that certainty with Labour supporters on TS. Now that you’re so reasonable about everything discussed here, we were beginning to think that you’d somehow come to realise that prescience is as rare as hens’ teeth and that perhaps your certainty was a little…presumptuous. But as I say, you’re slipping back into your ol’ trolly ways, with your wee knocks to resident confidence, making me think of that old maxim, about the leopard and his indelible spots. I’m picking you have a plan and that’s of the white ant variety. Closer to the election, you’ll be back into full undermine-confidence mode. I reckon.
Well that’s your opinion and of course you’re entitled to it however while I do think Robertson is being dumb (and I won’t shy away from calling it as see it), if you look at what I wrote you’ll see two positives, one interesting (may be good but may also be bad) and one negative
So I’d say that’s being even-handed
So ? Labour have also won 3 elections on the trot. Why are you making out election wins are unique ? because they are not Puckish Rogue. Its called politics, and NZ politics is largely cyclic.
In response to your other comment. If you think the voters can only judge Labour on its words, remembering that Labour has a far better track record than National to back themselves up, don’t you think voters will now judge National on the litany of lies, corruption and deception and the debt ridden shambles and its disastrous social and economic consequences that they have created, that can no longer be denied?
Extend this graph to its max range and you will see National get voted in once Labour have finished tanking the economy, Labour get voted in once National have things flying again: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/gdp-growth
let’s see: tanked in 1991 (admittedly after continuing lab4 policies), 1998, 2008.
Yeah, you’re on drugs if you think that correlates to national flying and labour tanking.
That’s nice dear. Homelessness, unemployment and falling median wage value. Define flying however you like.
The graph shows nothing of the sort. The average is clearly higher throughout the 00’s, not to mention public debt.
That’s why English and Key both praised Cullen’s handling of the economy in 2008. Only to very selective audiences, mind: you fuckwits wolfed the red meat as usual
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
Not a good sale point,lets rephrase it.
A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors such as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
Poission
That would be a better thing for Labour to do than raise super to 67 or 70.
A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors ch as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
The Uriah Heepish-style pose you’ve adopted of late to appear oh so reasonable doesn’t fool all of us, Puckish.
The economy is unbalanced to the point it’s threatening social stability and the old economic levers only exacerbate the problem even when deployed to ease the situation.
Labour will do the planning work on what’s needed tax-wise when it has the resources of Govt. And Robertson’s also found a neat way round the wee strategic blunder that was dumping the CGT. That’s good politics.
And they’ll give more detail closer to the election about what the thinking is.
What’s your problem?
Auckland and Queenstown are notorious for their housing inaffordability, but the problem is spreading to places like Tauranga and Wellington. Here in Wellington we’ve been reading about it for a few months now.
Things might be starting to get a bit silly though. Got one of those real estate flyers in the mail where they have a little brag about the sales in “your area”. Down the road from us was a 90 square metre very basic 3bdr house on a tiny section on the back of another property. Late 80’s, early 90’s flimsy construction.
RV of $350K. Went for “mid 400’s” the flyer said, approximately $100K over the RV. That’s just nuts. There is no way that house was worth $450K.
In the meantime, on the development, on a street north east from us 24 lots have sold within 18 months. The cheapest is a 3bdr townhouse in a row of 12 MDH setting, no section for $574K. The remaining 12 lots are all 4bdr, 2bth ranging from $700 – $800K depending on section size and specs. Over on the other side of the development they are selling 5bdr places for $890K. All lots except for a few have sold in recent months around the $700 – $800 K zone as well.
Some people have the money honey and some developers are doing verrrry well. These developers have an SHA area BTW, they just don’t have any plans for it yet. Selling the pricey homes suits them far better. These kinds of people must think Nick Smith is a huge joke.
‘Absolutely brutal’ Chilcot Iraq war report will not let Tony Blair & Jack Straw ‘off the hook’ ( lets hope so!)
https://www.rt.com/uk/344066-chilcot-iraq-blair-brutal/
“Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq war inquiry report will not let former Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other officials involved in the ill-fated 2003 invasion “off the hook,” a source close to the inquiry says.
Chilcot is due to release his long-delayed report on the legality of the war on July 6, seven years after the inquiry was commissioned…