Maritime Union of New Zealand National President Garry Parsloe says not only is the “fact sheet” misleading, but it is a symptom of a deeply politicized management who need to be brought under control by the ports shareholders.
The Maritime Union leader also criticised the line being pushed by the right that this dispute was about pay rates. This deliberate misrepresentation is also being repeated by some left apologists as an excuse to oppose giving support to the wharfies.
Mr Parsloe says the Ernst and Young produced fact sheet repeats the misinformation propagated by POAL management.
He says it avoids the fundamental issues in this dispute which are about security of employment and privatisation, not pay rates.
As long as the left keep repeating the right wing lies as a justification for not supporting the struggle against contracting out.
And refuse to gather around the wharfies….
Then a management victory is inevitable.
And for the first time in over 100 years the Auckland wharves will be non-union.
Where the fekk are Shearer and Brown????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Mr Brown said he expected the stoush between Ports of Auckland and the union to be resolved soon.
“I would encourage them to do everything they can as loyal Aucklanders to resolve this issue without any further unnecessary time wasting,” he said.
Mr Brown – a member of the Labour Party who received a $2000 donation from the Maritime Union towards his 2010 election campaign – yesterday said the board and management of the 100 per cent council-owned port company had his full confidence but he refused to express confidence in the union, which he was not responsible for.
Mayor Brown could end this dispute right now. If the Mayor came out publicly and demanded that the Ports of Auckland management reverse their decision to out source the union jobs.
Dispute over.
Of course this may be a bit of a problem for Mayor Brown, as like other Labour Party members the Mayor can’t even acknowledge what the dispute is about.
Cheap oil and credit made it advantageous to beat up on unions because workers could get debt easy and managers could force down wages while activity was high in the economy, people would take longer to pay off mortgages on high priced homes. So it made it easy to crush the working stiffs. No longer, cheap oil and cheap credit are over, managers who blame their workers to crush another round of corporate bonuses are bad for businesses and investors. As Auckland council are now finding. Investment payoffs are not going to come from the old economy (unless there is a oil energy saving), the money is in investing in the energy sector.
” This deliberate misrepresentation is also being repeated by some left apologists as an excuse to oppose giving support to the wharfies.”
Or not, as the case may be, Jenny. Isn’t it ironic that you would would use a press release issued to disprove deliberate misrepresentation to make some deliberate misrepresentation of your own?
If MUNZ want Labour and the Greens to declare their hands, then I will support my party getting on board. But I don’t think that will happen, because it is not in the immediate interests of MUNZ members for that to happen as its an industrial dispute at this point, not a political one. Yet.
This dispute is about a business trying to cuts its wage bill so that it can undercut a competitor.
And that’s why, for now, Labour and the Greens are smart to stay out of this, and why the union wants them to stay out. The parties wouldn’t do any favours to the workers if they turned what is essentially a story of a greedy company and workers just wanting to keep what they’ve got into a national political issue.
Can you show me where I opposed support for the wharfies? Or eddie did? No, I guess you can’t. This is MUNZ’s dispute not yours and at this point they don’t want any political support and they are even turning down offers of donations. What part of this do you not understand?
This is MUNZ’s dispute not yours and at this point they don’t want any political support and they are even turning down offers of donations. What part of this do you not understand?
I understand this very well.
As you have pointed out this MUNZ’s decision.
Faced with contracting out all their jobs, MUNZ are on the horns of a dilemma and have only two choices.
1 Accept outsourcing of their jobs and the end of a union presence on the Auckland Waterfront.
or,
2 Refuse to accept contracting out and mount a fighting campaign.
The fact that MUNZ have chosen to make this an international issue is evidence that MUNZ want to make a fight of it.
But international support alone will not win this dispute.
No matter how sharp their international support is, it is like having only one half of a pair of scissors.
That they have not chosen to make this a national issue as well, is out of place especially if they intend to win.
What could be the reason for this?
As Colonial Viper points out;
demands like this aren’t usually issued between erstwhile allies unless an affirmative response has been coordinated and guaranteed, as rejection or even delay in repsonse will appear politically damaging. Certainly, the left could put on a very strong show if it did co-ordinate and act in concert. The protests around the 90 day right to fire show the possibilities of what could be done.
Colonial Viper 21 January 2012 at 11:56 am
The fact that Gary Parsloe feels the need to go public to counter the argument that “this is not political issue”, Is a sign that the behind the scenes efforts by MUNZ to gain national support from the Labour Party and their affiliated unions is failing.
In a previous thread I questioned you as “a Labour Party supporter and a union official, both. Will you be calling on your members to support the wharfies, or not?”
Which you ignored.
So I will ask you again.
As a Labour Party supporter and a union official, both. Will you be calling on your members to support the wharfies, or not?
I didn’t ignore the question, I told you to piss off. And this is madness:
“The fact that Gary Parsloe feels the need to go public to counter the argument that “this is not political issue”, Is a sign that the behind the scenes efforts by MUNZ to gain national support from the Labour Party and their affiliated unions is failing.”
Can you show me where I opposed support for the wharfies? Or eddie did? No, I guess you can’t.
The Voice of Reason
This dispute is about a business trying to cuts its wage bill so that it can undercut a competitor.
And that’s why, for now, Labour and the Greens are smart to stay out of this,….
…….And, frankly, do you back Labour’s PR team to do more good than harm to the wharfies’ cause? I don’t. For the same reason, the Occupy movement should stay clear of the wharfs for now.
Jonathan Coleman, Dotcom’s Party, National Party and loads of Money
So far John Banks has conceded that he accepted hospitality from Dotcom and endorsed Dotcom’s largess to local causes. He is paddling furiously to distance himself from the possibility that Dotcom donated to his Election Campaign fund..
Jonathan Coleman is notorious for his poor decisions on accepting hospitality. Let us see how well he handled himself with Dotcom. If Dotcom had invited Banks over for a party, it is likely he would have invited the party loving nearby MP and immigration minister over too!
Today’s Herald:
“Prime Minister John Key said Dr Coleman was informed because of Immigration’s “no surprises” policy, but his approval was neither sought nor given. “The decision was made by the officials. The minister knew about the circumstances but was not required to make the decision … He was simply made aware of it.”. If Dr Coleman had disapproved, however, it is highly unlikely the residency would have been been granted.”
As opposed to the Hollywood studios busines model which is to use the coercive force of Government and law enforcement to raise their own margins while stomping on the rights of everyone else to create, store and use their own data including data and backups of that data they have already paid for legitimately.
Why is the government picking a fight with its farmer supporters? For years now at meetings with Fonterra, farmers have been trying to reduce the amount of milk that has to be sold to Fonterra’s competitors, especially those competitors who sell on the international market. Selling to local speciality cheese makers who sell on the local market is not a problem, and it is these that the legislation was set up to protect. It is the overseas owned (who owned by is not specified) who receive subsided milk from Fonterra and then go head to head with Fonterra in its markets. I believe one of these companies is Russian and another American, and no doubt the Chinese have interests somewhere. This is called overseas investment, but this type of overseas investment is not needed as it takes straight from New Zealand farmers’ pockets. Has the TPP got anything to do with it, perhaps it is not only Pharmac that is threatened by the TPP? No doubt in any free trade agreement Fonterra could be forced to sell as much raw milk as these companies wants. Any person living in a provincial town in New Zealand knows how much their economy depends on the income of the local farmers, and if this forced sale goes ahead no doubt some of the city types who dislike farming will find out where their support comes from.
“Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said he could “live with” commission involvement and it was valid for Fonterra to assist domestic market suppliers with milk, but to require Fonterra to supply largely foreign-owned New Zealand-based exporters which competed against it overseas “defied logic”.
Key is playing a game here to respond to NZ consumer concerns about high dairy prices (although that is secondary), while backing foreign nations that we trade with (Fran O’Sullivan’s latest piece on why Key will sell Crafar Farms to the Chinese provides an instructive background).
One scenario: by generating local industry outrage he will “prove” to foreign trade partners that he is stirring the pot on their behalf; however by the time the proposals come to be finalised, they will be watered right back down from the 5% mark back towards today’s 3% mark.
Any person living in a provincial town in New Zealand knows how much their economy depends on the income of the local farmers…
Considering reality (Peak Oil, pollution from the farms, drying up of the rivers from Climate Change) they better start diversifying their income streams as a lot of farms are going to away. We will have no choice but to close them.
They’ll be nationalised as the country will still need the food output despite the financial economics no longer stacking up. And farms are going to become much more labour intensive, once again.
Yeah – actually, this could be a positive outcome of oil shocks/ climate change. Less intensive farming, land use more suited to the area, and better quality waterways because of it.
Yeah, the way I see it is that 50%+ of farms will be closed down and the rest used solely for feeding NZ. Those farms that are closed should be replanted with native forest which will help clean up the land, help maintain the soil and allow hunting to become normative again (in about 5 centuries).
That would be ACT policy in the making again. Their erstwhile leader is on the board of one of those “competitors”, who have to be sold cheaper milk so they can make more profits overseas.
Capitalists in general and not just overseas competitors have always preferred to be monopolies as it allows them to rort far more from the populace as the populace are dependent upon the monopoly. National and Act always go on about people being dependent upon government and yet they enact policies which makes people dependent upon the capitalists. The latter, of course, is far worse as a government is accountable to the populace while the capitalists are answerable to no one and so it is under capitalism that the Road to Serfdom is built.
Thank you Christchurch.
Just received my house (Auckland) insurance bill. Increase of just under 50% on last year. Still to come will be contents which may also rise.
Yeah, sorry about that. You should see our contents premium now. It is seriously worth considering self-insurance – especially when one don’t have much stuff.
Bloody earthquakes.
Back from a break which cleared the head and the stress and within couple days the brokenness and shaking bring it all back again.
And the city is emptier now than I have ever seen.
We here all trying to stay positive but it no easy.
I was there last week….a few minor shakes but enough to be disconcerting. What I did notice was the activity compared to Wellington etc, Canterbury appears to be buoyant (by comparison) with here. Must be the influx of cash to fix the place and the work now it is ramping up. My question is what happens after that?
As per usual at this time of year I have been reading history….the parallels and rhymes are just too good. Could not help but notice that the banksters and their political institutions rather resemble the medieval Papacy…..default is the highest of all sins, you get excommunicated.
The bail outs appear to be rather similar, whole nations have their collective rights to pass into the Kingdom of Heaven held in the hands of the IMF, the theocratic economists curia who deliver edicts for compliance that resemble Papal bulls and interdicts. Salvation will be delivered through austerity, the people will pay for their material consumerism, the Inquisition will deny you further credit and demand torturous repayment schedules.
A little peep inside St Peters at the time is very revealing: the wealth of the medieval world extracted to the greater glory of the Papacy, benefices distributed to their insiders, enormous sums of cash gathered for the few from the masses. Pope Bernanke? The money market the Dominicans? Tetzel a Wall St bankster selling indulgences in the form of toxic debt derivatives?
Nothing new in human nature, Luther and the reformation is the next chapter…..
Just been reading about the Romans in Britannica, Bored and the anti-Robin Hood was at work there too. And through-out history the same.
I wonder what the takers actually believe about their wealth? Let’s ask John Key?
Bloody interesting question: what do the takers actually believe about their wealth?
If we rejected a currency as legitimate we would by corollary be rejecting the authority of that currency and the institutions that support it. Maybe wealth takers are not interested in the dollars or what that can buy for the individual but are interested in the power vested in our agreement with the currency.
I have a feeling that power and wealth aggregation get out of whack with social arrangements, for example when money was reintroduced into the feudal world the danger the lord was supposed to protect you from did not disappear. The church, the lords and finally the royal houses went to a cash economy, on the ground social contract for protection from other lords etc failed yet the power positions still demanded their part of the social contract.
We are currently well out of whack, the democratic state that we developed to protect the citizen from abuse of socio political power by institutions such as corporations, or wealthy interest groups is failing. Interesting times. John Key straddles both camps but only operates for one….
Pity. For all his waffle about a new local inclusive approach to politics, this seems like something he could get involved with.
The Dunedin council under an act of parliament are forced to give the same or greater sum of money to the museum every year and have no transparency or oversight into how it is spent.
A board member from the museum was on the radio this morning saying it was fair, for example the head of Te Papa might have a managerial staff of 20 under him that he overloads work to, while the head of Otago only has 3 or 4 and has to do a lot of work themselves.
But in response to that, I’d suggest that being the head of Otago museum can’t possibly be more difficult, stressful or have more responsibility than being a cabinet minister and yet he gets paid more. It also doesn’t strike me as a position that requires a particularly specific skillset; I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find someone else who could do a comparable job for $150k/year.
Had an interesting chat in the doctor’s waiting room today. Guy pointed out that of course Meridian was going to cancel the windfarm if it was up for the chopping block. Who needs all that construction debt on the books bringing the price down?
Another tactic will probably be low or no spending in traditional areas to bolster the bottom line/dividend/sale price leaving the impacts to be picked up post float via higher power prices as inevtitable you have to catch up.
Comment deleted. I was commenting on climate funding in an article about climate funding.
[lprent: It is a post about funding of climate change denier groups. But you just wasted my time answering a question with something you are quite aware of. Banned 2 weeks for doing so. Moving comments to OpenMike.
If I understand the problem here from other threads, the new version is missing some files, and the current developer doesn’t seem to care. Or at least isn’t paying attention. 🙁
Selling off NZ farms (and anything else) to foreigners is a sure way of exporting profits. And sovereignty. Ah but business is “international” and if you have a home in Hawaii and shares on Wall St…well you are “international”. So fuck NZ and its residents (sorry peasants).
If an overseas investor purchases a farm or dairy-processing company; exports the products back to their home country; with the label “Masde In New Zealand” – what happens if a melamine-type of food tampering occurs?
I can imagine, for example, milk powder being mixed with another substance, to “bulk” out the product. (Just as heroin dealers ‘cut’ their product with all sorts of crap, to maximise profits.)
When this happens (not “if”) – then our international reputation will take a major hit. And watch the politicians run and duck for cover.
We aren’t just selling our farms and profits – we’re selling our reputation.
Fonterra is a worker collective yet its farmers and their workers vote overwhelming for National. So the real joke is who is selling off what? It was Fonterra Farmers that voted for the back door for China to buy their farms by allowing any with a farm to buy Fonterra shares. aka why china wants Carfer. And now that looks to have failed, what is National and the farmer lobby doing now??? Well they are going to take more of Fonterra milk (via big government intervention and hand it over subsidies by farmers to foriegned owned exporters). WTF! So why again do farmers buy National’s crap? Simple because they do what they are told. Well Winston saw the gap, even the jounralists missed, and went around farmers plying for their vote. And he’s only going to take more of Nationals vote come the next election if National keep attacking their base. No farmer wants their natural local tourist attrcation turned into a mine and their land poisoned. Yet National goes and does this anyway!!!
Fonterra is NOT a worker collective. It is a SUPPLY COMPANY collective. Neither dairy farm workers nor dairy factory workers have any ownership share in Fonterra.
Rural Tories have always seen the value of collective organisations – for themselves.
Yes you are correct, but the farm workers invarible rise to become the new tory farm overlords, either by inheriting or by saving, borrowing and buying. I mean where did all these farmers get the money to run up all the farm debt we have in NZ, farm property bubble. So yes, its not every joe is in the collective but is a damn sight like the workers owning the company.
Except we can’t stop anyone putting made in New Zealand on anything already.
I saw a newspaper article awhile ago about some people who made pens or some crap like that in Korea I think it was who called them made in New Zealand and their logo was basically the same as our branding.
Basically the gist of it was we could sue them and make it stop but it would only stop that one specific product in that one country and it wasn’t worth the money.
aero you might as well know that nashnil is the gubmint of the short term.
they need the money so they can go to london and play wealthy pastoralists from downunder or some other myth that they have constructed for themselves.
they are worse than robber barons because they haven’t got a f*cking clue what they are doing and nor do they care.
all they want is the cash.
NOW!
Once in while, a local body government will take the time to look properly at the evidence available and put people and the environments wellbeing ahead of financial gain. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, we should congratulate those who have pulled their heads out of the sand.
The latest interesting radio doco on Radionz is about the wealth gap between them and us. Tonight it was how ordinary people in London can’t afford to live there. Their wages haven’t gone up but house prices have – a 2 bedroom flat would cost half a million pounds. The average house price is sixteen times the average wage. A well paid teacher would have to have a 20% deposit of 100,000 pounds with 400,000 pounds on mortgage which she wouldn’t get because banks wouldn’t lend her more than four times her annual wage which as a teacher is one and a third of the average wage of 26,000 pounds. Property prices are rising, so rentals are rising to unaffordable levels too.
The program started off with an interview with the owner of a new shop on Regent Street which is selling two centimetre Faberge eggs with little jewels inside at stupendous prices which are expected to be snapped up. It is a hundred years since the last time such a shop selling these jewel eggs was in London. The point is that in Britain the economic climate has returned to that of pre-WW1. So all those millions of people who died for freedom etc etc which was justified by the fact that life got better for all, have not achieved lasting peace and prosperity. How bloody sad.
We have to find ways of managing past this rapacious management and house speculating class as we have been trumped while taking it easy, thinking that good conditions were set in concrete. Now making changes require conflict of some kind although it may be a rearguard action.
It’s going to be an interesting race around the farmers isn’t it.
Will Big Biz NACT manage to sell sufficent farms to change the power dynamics inside Fonterra towards Corporate farming and keep their donations safe?
Or will local farmers who have a local farmer NACT MP under their control suggest these farmer NACT MP’s form a group within the party to threaten the overseas corporate type NACT’s control of the party?
Personally my money is on the local farmers but they will need to get out of the blocks quickly.
The government is poised to announce a plan to restore the Bay of Plenty coastline to the condition it was in before the Rena disaster. Meanwhile their idea of a cleanup response for areas that aren’t important to tourism is to drop off a couple of rubbish skips and let the locals fend for themselves…
Despite new laws meant to toughen up dog control, that’s an increase of 35% since 2003 for people getting treatment for dog attacks. So why the huge increase in the amount of dog attacks and subsequent injuries?
Yes Jackal this is an important issue and needs a cool head doing something intelligent. Though
the old leftie idea that good wages, housing etc will prevent most bad events is wishful thinking. It is in people’s minds that bad things are fostered and fester. It is the letting things happen because – ‘I can’t manage to do something to change things’ that keeps the cycle of sh…t happening. A beneficiary’s dog bit two little dogs to death when they were in an exercise park recently. The pound contained it for weeks. There were pleas and letters to the paper about how sweet the dog was, how broken-hearted the owner would be if it was destroyed etc. Gagging stuff. No understanding of the irresponsibility of the owner, or the distress of the dead dogs and their owners. Also the fact that there would be cost involved in buying dogs of breeding, not just the result of random pairing that somebody had been happy to pass along.
An example I have are two women dog owners whose dogs chase my cat. I will have to suggest to them that when they come off their property they already have a leash on their dog to stop them rushing across the path, something that they should be able to think for themselves. Instead they mutter sorry and rush to catch its collar, and tell me that’s what dogs do, (ie I just have to put up with it because they are helpless against nature). One said ‘It’s a game really’ only my cat isn’t sure about that. A lead does the job and turns a careless stupid dog owner into an intelligent, responsible one that has control over their pet.
Obedience training should be mandatory for all dog owners who register, with a large discount in the year they attend and present a completed certificate to the Council. I believe in money as a strong incentive, particularly with those that haven/t got sufficient. And because that lack doesn’t stop them getting a sweet, itty-bitty puppy that grows up into a large bunch of muscle that’s energetic and a handful if it has little training.
I’m not aware of any evidence that dogs of breeding have better temperaments. I agree that it is mainly dog owners that are responsible, however there is also the factor that some dog breeds are more dangerous than others. Some dogs are bred because they are vicious… and restrictions on such animals should be enforced properly.
A person who cannot feed their dog because of a government decision should not be blamed when their dog goes roaming to find food. The alternative to that is to tie the dog up and let it starve. That is what some government decisions have caused… the repercussions of which we see in climbing dog attack statistics.
I don’t think it’s helpful that you’ve labelled it wishful thinking that people want an end to poverty which leads to more dog abuse and attacks. It should not be wishful thinking that people have enough money to look after their animals and be able to afford the training you talk about.
why do Police have such a hard time catching drug dealers? I mean dealers have to advertize themselves, their buyers need to find them, the transactions need to take place away from either the dealers or the buyers assets (since they can be seized). if they use unwitting landlords hotel rooms or flats to cook P, could they also be using their neighbors house when the neighbors are out to sell drugs from??? But wouldn’t Police know this, is that what the new power to place surveilance on private property is all about, to get track dealers down????
But wouldn’t Police know this, is that what the new power to place surveilance on private property is all about, to get track dealers down????
Apparently not, it seems that the new powers are to be used to help wealthy Hollywood studios bolster their profit margins by tracking down suspected internet pirates.
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Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
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Maritime Union National President Gary Parsloe argues that his union’s dispute with POAL is political.
http://www.munz.org.nz/2012/01/24/ports-of-auckland-management-fact-sheet-short-on-facts/
The Maritime Union leader also criticised the line being pushed by the right that this dispute was about pay rates. This deliberate misrepresentation is also being repeated by some left apologists as an excuse to oppose giving support to the wharfies.
Mr Parsloe says the Ernst and Young produced fact sheet repeats the misinformation propagated by POAL management.
He says it avoids the fundamental issues in this dispute which are about security of employment and privatisation, not pay rates.
As long as the left keep repeating the right wing lies as a justification for not supporting the struggle against contracting out.
And refuse to gather around the wharfies….
Then a management victory is inevitable.
And for the first time in over 100 years the Auckland wharves will be non-union.
The large accounting firms serve their paying corporate clients well, don’t they.
Where the fekk are Shearer and Brown????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Well here is Mayor Brown:
Mayor gives striking port union the message
Mayor Brown could end this dispute right now. If the Mayor came out publicly and demanded that the Ports of Auckland management reverse their decision to out source the union jobs.
Dispute over.
Of course this may be a bit of a problem for Mayor Brown, as like other Labour Party members the Mayor can’t even acknowledge what the dispute is about.
Cheap oil and credit made it advantageous to beat up on unions because workers could get debt easy and managers could force down wages while activity was high in the economy, people would take longer to pay off mortgages on high priced homes. So it made it easy to crush the working stiffs. No longer, cheap oil and cheap credit are over, managers who blame their workers to crush another round of corporate bonuses are bad for businesses and investors. As Auckland council are now finding. Investment payoffs are not going to come from the old economy (unless there is a oil energy saving), the money is in investing in the energy sector.
” This deliberate misrepresentation is also being repeated by some left apologists as an excuse to oppose giving support to the wharfies.”
Or not, as the case may be, Jenny. Isn’t it ironic that you would would use a press release issued to disprove deliberate misrepresentation to make some deliberate misrepresentation of your own?
Can you show me where I opposed support for the wharfies? Or eddie did? No, I guess you can’t. This is MUNZ’s dispute not yours and at this point they don’t want any political support and they are even turning down offers of donations. What part of this do you not understand?
I understand this very well.
As you have pointed out this MUNZ’s decision.
Faced with contracting out all their jobs, MUNZ are on the horns of a dilemma and have only two choices.
1 Accept outsourcing of their jobs and the end of a union presence on the Auckland Waterfront.
or,
2 Refuse to accept contracting out and mount a fighting campaign.
The fact that MUNZ have chosen to make this an international issue is evidence that MUNZ want to make a fight of it.
http://thestandard.org.nz/ports-of-auckland-vs-400000-wharfies/
But international support alone will not win this dispute.
No matter how sharp their international support is, it is like having only one half of a pair of scissors.
That they have not chosen to make this a national issue as well, is out of place especially if they intend to win.
What could be the reason for this?
As Colonial Viper points out;
The fact that Gary Parsloe feels the need to go public to counter the argument that “this is not political issue”, Is a sign that the behind the scenes efforts by MUNZ to gain national support from the Labour Party and their affiliated unions is failing.
In a previous thread I questioned you as “a Labour Party supporter and a union official, both. Will you be calling on your members to support the wharfies, or not?”
Which you ignored.
So I will ask you again.
As a Labour Party supporter and a union official, both. Will you be calling on your members to support the wharfies, or not?
Very tenacious Jenny.
I didn’t ignore the question, I told you to piss off. And this is madness:
“The fact that Gary Parsloe feels the need to go public to counter the argument that “this is not political issue”, Is a sign that the behind the scenes efforts by MUNZ to gain national support from the Labour Party and their affiliated unions is failing.”
You make shit up, Jenny. Badly.
I hope to be proved wrong.
I would be the first to celebrate.
PoAL’s decision to share information (Ernst & Young audits) with David Farrar and Cactus Kate ratchets this dispute up another notch.
I think whether Shearer and Brown like it or not – they will have to become involved, eventually.
Tony Gibson appears to be totally out of control… http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/propaganda-as-an-industrial-dispute-weapon/
Jonathan Coleman, Dotcom’s Party, National Party and loads of Money
So far John Banks has conceded that he accepted hospitality from Dotcom and endorsed Dotcom’s largess to local causes. He is paddling furiously to distance himself from the possibility that Dotcom donated to his Election Campaign fund..
Jonathan Coleman is notorious for his poor decisions on accepting hospitality. Let us see how well he handled himself with Dotcom. If Dotcom had invited Banks over for a party, it is likely he would have invited the party loving nearby MP and immigration minister over too!
Today’s Herald:
“Prime Minister John Key said Dr Coleman was informed because of Immigration’s “no surprises” policy, but his approval was neither sought nor given. “The decision was made by the officials. The minister knew about the circumstances but was not required to make the decision … He was simply made aware of it.”. If Dr Coleman had disapproved, however, it is highly unlikely the residency would have been been granted.”
Aye ALP I would love to see National’s list of donors.
Coleman’s “indifference” was a tacit nudge nudge wink wink to the Immigration Department.
the press reports that megasnarfload made $500,000,000 last year.
thats a lot of little brown paper baggies filled with spare cash.
And just think, all those media companies could be making those sorts of revenues if they changed their business models too…
As opposed to the Hollywood studios busines model which is to use the coercive force of Government and law enforcement to raise their own margins while stomping on the rights of everyone else to create, store and use their own data including data and backups of that data they have already paid for legitimately.
Why is the government picking a fight with its farmer supporters? For years now at meetings with Fonterra, farmers have been trying to reduce the amount of milk that has to be sold to Fonterra’s competitors, especially those competitors who sell on the international market. Selling to local speciality cheese makers who sell on the local market is not a problem, and it is these that the legislation was set up to protect. It is the overseas owned (who owned by is not specified) who receive subsided milk from Fonterra and then go head to head with Fonterra in its markets. I believe one of these companies is Russian and another American, and no doubt the Chinese have interests somewhere. This is called overseas investment, but this type of overseas investment is not needed as it takes straight from New Zealand farmers’ pockets. Has the TPP got anything to do with it, perhaps it is not only Pharmac that is threatened by the TPP? No doubt in any free trade agreement Fonterra could be forced to sell as much raw milk as these companies wants. Any person living in a provincial town in New Zealand knows how much their economy depends on the income of the local farmers, and if this forced sale goes ahead no doubt some of the city types who dislike farming will find out where their support comes from.
“Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said he could “live with” commission involvement and it was valid for Fonterra to assist domestic market suppliers with milk, but to require Fonterra to supply largely foreign-owned New Zealand-based exporters which competed against it overseas “defied logic”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/6308146/Milk-price-scrutiny-supply-proposals-anger-farmers
Key is playing a game here to respond to NZ consumer concerns about high dairy prices (although that is secondary), while backing foreign nations that we trade with (Fran O’Sullivan’s latest piece on why Key will sell Crafar Farms to the Chinese provides an instructive background).
One scenario: by generating local industry outrage he will “prove” to foreign trade partners that he is stirring the pot on their behalf; however by the time the proposals come to be finalised, they will be watered right back down from the 5% mark back towards today’s 3% mark.
Considering reality (Peak Oil, pollution from the farms, drying up of the rivers from Climate Change) they better start diversifying their income streams as a lot of farms are going to away. We will have no choice but to close them.
They’ll be nationalised as the country will still need the food output despite the financial economics no longer stacking up. And farms are going to become much more labour intensive, once again.
Yeah – actually, this could be a positive outcome of oil shocks/ climate change. Less intensive farming, land use more suited to the area, and better quality waterways because of it.
Pity about the food prices, though.
Yeah, the way I see it is that 50%+ of farms will be closed down and the rest used solely for feeding NZ. Those farms that are closed should be replanted with native forest which will help clean up the land, help maintain the soil and allow hunting to become normative again (in about 5 centuries).
That would be ACT policy in the making again. Their erstwhile leader is on the board of one of those “competitors”, who have to be sold cheaper milk so they can make more profits overseas.
For once I am with the cockies.
Fonterra, along with POT and POAL, is now the latest to be sacrificed on the alter of the “competition” god.
Which of Key’s Mum and Dad mates will have shares in new dairy companies?
There is a reason why our overseas competitors prefer to be monopolies.
Capitalists in general and not just overseas competitors have always preferred to be monopolies as it allows them to rort far more from the populace as the populace are dependent upon the monopoly. National and Act always go on about people being dependent upon government and yet they enact policies which makes people dependent upon the capitalists. The latter, of course, is far worse as a government is accountable to the populace while the capitalists are answerable to no one and so it is under capitalism that the Road to Serfdom is built.
When are we all going to realise that NACT is only out to get the best results for their offshore puppet masters.
Thank you Christchurch.
Just received my house (Auckland) insurance bill. Increase of just under 50% on last year. Still to come will be contents which may also rise.
Yeah, sorry about that. You should see our contents premium now. It is seriously worth considering self-insurance – especially when one don’t have much stuff.
Bloody earthquakes.
Back from a break which cleared the head and the stress and within couple days the brokenness and shaking bring it all back again.
And the city is emptier now than I have ever seen.
We here all trying to stay positive but it no easy.
Over on this side, nothing’s really changed. I guess it’s a bit busier.
Yes Lanthanide, it is definitely a city of two halves…
At least out east the sewers are repaired meaning the sea is clean again.
I was there last week….a few minor shakes but enough to be disconcerting. What I did notice was the activity compared to Wellington etc, Canterbury appears to be buoyant (by comparison) with here. Must be the influx of cash to fix the place and the work now it is ramping up. My question is what happens after that?
Rural commodity prices are good, while in Welly people are losing their jobs and public sector contracts are not being renewed.
As per usual at this time of year I have been reading history….the parallels and rhymes are just too good. Could not help but notice that the banksters and their political institutions rather resemble the medieval Papacy…..default is the highest of all sins, you get excommunicated.
The bail outs appear to be rather similar, whole nations have their collective rights to pass into the Kingdom of Heaven held in the hands of the IMF, the theocratic economists curia who deliver edicts for compliance that resemble Papal bulls and interdicts. Salvation will be delivered through austerity, the people will pay for their material consumerism, the Inquisition will deny you further credit and demand torturous repayment schedules.
A little peep inside St Peters at the time is very revealing: the wealth of the medieval world extracted to the greater glory of the Papacy, benefices distributed to their insiders, enormous sums of cash gathered for the few from the masses. Pope Bernanke? The money market the Dominicans? Tetzel a Wall St bankster selling indulgences in the form of toxic debt derivatives?
Nothing new in human nature, Luther and the reformation is the next chapter…..
Just been reading about the Romans in Britannica, Bored and the anti-Robin Hood was at work there too. And through-out history the same.
I wonder what the takers actually believe about their wealth? Let’s ask John Key?
Bloody interesting question: what do the takers actually believe about their wealth?
If we rejected a currency as legitimate we would by corollary be rejecting the authority of that currency and the institutions that support it. Maybe wealth takers are not interested in the dollars or what that can buy for the individual but are interested in the power vested in our agreement with the currency.
I have a feeling that power and wealth aggregation get out of whack with social arrangements, for example when money was reintroduced into the feudal world the danger the lord was supposed to protect you from did not disappear. The church, the lords and finally the royal houses went to a cash economy, on the ground social contract for protection from other lords etc failed yet the power positions still demanded their part of the social contract.
We are currently well out of whack, the democratic state that we developed to protect the citizen from abuse of socio political power by institutions such as corporations, or wealthy interest groups is failing. Interesting times. John Key straddles both camps but only operates for one….
Snippet on money creation and alternatives from Ted
http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/2011/11/jem-bendell-reveals-money-myth-ted-talk/
Good talk. Clearly explains the problems with today’s delusional monetary system and puts forwards some ideas on how to correct.
Pete George, what do you think about the head of Otago Museum being paid a $310,000 salary per year?
Note that this is more than cabinet ministers, the head of Te Pap and the mayor of Auckland.
He’s still on holiday for another few days.
Pity. For all his waffle about a new local inclusive approach to politics, this seems like something he could get involved with.
The Dunedin council under an act of parliament are forced to give the same or greater sum of money to the museum every year and have no transparency or oversight into how it is spent.
A board member from the museum was on the radio this morning saying it was fair, for example the head of Te Papa might have a managerial staff of 20 under him that he overloads work to, while the head of Otago only has 3 or 4 and has to do a lot of work themselves.
But in response to that, I’d suggest that being the head of Otago museum can’t possibly be more difficult, stressful or have more responsibility than being a cabinet minister and yet he gets paid more. It also doesn’t strike me as a position that requires a particularly specific skillset; I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find someone else who could do a comparable job for $150k/year.
That’s pretty much true of all CEOs.
$310K? Sounds like a total and complete rort of ratepayers.
How much does the Dunedin Mayor earn?
Just over $100k in remuneration – this would not include other benefits he receives but doubt he would receive that much in other benefits
I guess I underestimated how lucrative (and unaccountable) running a small museum can be.
still on holiday for another few days
Could it be extended?
WTF, $310K???? Are you sure?
and all the paintings he can steal too.
Had an interesting chat in the doctor’s waiting room today. Guy pointed out that of course Meridian was going to cancel the windfarm if it was up for the chopping block. Who needs all that construction debt on the books bringing the price down?
Another tactic will probably be low or no spending in traditional areas to bolster the bottom line/dividend/sale price leaving the impacts to be picked up post float via higher power prices as inevtitable you have to catch up.
[deleted]
[lprent: stay on topic. If you want to divert, then write your own comment in OpenMike.
Originally in http://thestandard.org.nz/funding-the-puppets-of-denial/ ]
Comment deleted. I was commenting on climate funding in an article about climate funding.
[lprent: It is a post about funding of climate change denier groups. But you just wasted my time answering a question with something you are quite aware of. Banned 2 weeks for doing so. Moving comments to OpenMike.
Originally in http://thestandard.org.nz/funding-the-puppets-of-denial/ ]
You might as well ban be permanently
Cunt
[lprent: Granted.
Originally in http://thestandard.org.nz/funding-the-puppets-of-denial/
Took me some time to get the move tool back again.. ]
Saved & bookmarked.
Thanks, Lynn.
Looks like the re-edit disappeared in a recent update
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-ajax-edit-comments-version-505-edit-function-broken
I’m pulling the previous code out of backups.
Ok. seems ok here. Let me know if anyone has further problems.
Your tweak might have fixed the edit/delete countdown clock for Chrome users as well 🙂
And meanwhile, the stench of something unpleasant is emanating from the Ninth Floor. Connect the dots… http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/farms-politicians-and-emails/
Selling off NZ farms (and anything else) to foreigners is a sure way of exporting profits. And sovereignty. Ah but business is “international” and if you have a home in Hawaii and shares on Wall St…well you are “international”. So fuck NZ and its residents (sorry peasants).
Indeed, Bored.
And there’s another factor I hadn’t considered, which Fran O’Sullivan raised in her piece on the Herald; http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10767987
If an overseas investor purchases a farm or dairy-processing company; exports the products back to their home country; with the label “Masde In New Zealand” – what happens if a melamine-type of food tampering occurs?
I can imagine, for example, milk powder being mixed with another substance, to “bulk” out the product. (Just as heroin dealers ‘cut’ their product with all sorts of crap, to maximise profits.)
When this happens (not “if”) – then our international reputation will take a major hit. And watch the politicians run and duck for cover.
We aren’t just selling our farms and profits – we’re selling our reputation.
All it really comes down to is that the government is selling our livelihood. There is no gain for selling off NZ assets to foreign owners.
Fonterra is a worker collective yet its farmers and their workers vote overwhelming for National. So the real joke is who is selling off what? It was Fonterra Farmers that voted for the back door for China to buy their farms by allowing any with a farm to buy Fonterra shares. aka why china wants Carfer. And now that looks to have failed, what is National and the farmer lobby doing now??? Well they are going to take more of Fonterra milk (via big government intervention and hand it over subsidies by farmers to foriegned owned exporters). WTF! So why again do farmers buy National’s crap? Simple because they do what they are told. Well Winston saw the gap, even the jounralists missed, and went around farmers plying for their vote. And he’s only going to take more of Nationals vote come the next election if National keep attacking their base. No farmer wants their natural local tourist attrcation turned into a mine and their land poisoned. Yet National goes and does this anyway!!!
Fonterra is NOT a worker collective. It is a SUPPLY COMPANY collective. Neither dairy farm workers nor dairy factory workers have any ownership share in Fonterra.
Rural Tories have always seen the value of collective organisations – for themselves.
Yes you are correct, but the farm workers invarible rise to become the new tory farm overlords, either by inheriting or by saving, borrowing and buying. I mean where did all these farmers get the money to run up all the farm debt we have in NZ, farm property bubble. So yes, its not every joe is in the collective but is a damn sight like the workers owning the company.
You’re referring to ages gone by where you could work as a farm hand or sharemilker and one day afford your own farm.
Thanks to the property bubble its extremely hard to do that now – that upward mobility has been reduced to a greater extent.
You have to recognise that it might look like a workers co-op but its not. Its a farm owners co-op.
Except we can’t stop anyone putting made in New Zealand on anything already.
I saw a newspaper article awhile ago about some people who made pens or some crap like that in Korea I think it was who called them made in New Zealand and their logo was basically the same as our branding.
Basically the gist of it was we could sue them and make it stop but it would only stop that one specific product in that one country and it wasn’t worth the money.
After attending the Leave the Coal in the Hole Summer festival in Mataura recently, I am ever hopeful that science and truth will eventually overcome the blinkered greed displayed by Solid Energy and the National Government.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2012/01/transparency-and-truth-will-win-lignite.html
[lprent: off topic – moved to open mike. ]
aero you might as well know that nashnil is the gubmint of the short term.
they need the money so they can go to london and play wealthy pastoralists from downunder or some other myth that they have constructed for themselves.
they are worse than robber barons because they haven’t got a f*cking clue what they are doing and nor do they care.
all they want is the cash.
NOW!
Bob Parker – Hero of the Week
Once in while, a local body government will take the time to look properly at the evidence available and put people and the environments wellbeing ahead of financial gain. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, we should congratulate those who have pulled their heads out of the sand.
The latest interesting radio doco on Radionz is about the wealth gap between them and us. Tonight it was how ordinary people in London can’t afford to live there. Their wages haven’t gone up but house prices have – a 2 bedroom flat would cost half a million pounds. The average house price is sixteen times the average wage. A well paid teacher would have to have a 20% deposit of 100,000 pounds with 400,000 pounds on mortgage which she wouldn’t get because banks wouldn’t lend her more than four times her annual wage which as a teacher is one and a third of the average wage of 26,000 pounds. Property prices are rising, so rentals are rising to unaffordable levels too.
The program started off with an interview with the owner of a new shop on Regent Street which is selling two centimetre Faberge eggs with little jewels inside at stupendous prices which are expected to be snapped up. It is a hundred years since the last time such a shop selling these jewel eggs was in London. The point is that in Britain the economic climate has returned to that of pre-WW1. So all those millions of people who died for freedom etc etc which was justified by the fact that life got better for all, have not achieved lasting peace and prosperity. How bloody sad.
We have to find ways of managing past this rapacious management and house speculating class as we have been trumped while taking it easy, thinking that good conditions were set in concrete. Now making changes require conflict of some kind although it may be a rearguard action.
Go long guillotine manufacturers. That’s where it’s going to end up, once again.
It’s going to be an interesting race around the farmers isn’t it.
Will Big Biz NACT manage to sell sufficent farms to change the power dynamics inside Fonterra towards Corporate farming and keep their donations safe?
Or will local farmers who have a local farmer NACT MP under their control suggest these farmer NACT MP’s form a group within the party to threaten the overseas corporate type NACT’s control of the party?
Personally my money is on the local farmers but they will need to get out of the blocks quickly.
? I seem to be getting a blacked out page on todays open mic… so will comment here.
Questions about Rena need answers
The government is poised to announce a plan to restore the Bay of Plenty coastline to the condition it was in before the Rena disaster. Meanwhile their idea of a cleanup response for areas that aren’t important to tourism is to drop off a couple of rubbish skips and let the locals fend for themselves…
Nick Smith posturing on dogs
Despite new laws meant to toughen up dog control, that’s an increase of 35% since 2003 for people getting treatment for dog attacks. So why the huge increase in the amount of dog attacks and subsequent injuries?
Yes Jackal this is an important issue and needs a cool head doing something intelligent. Though
the old leftie idea that good wages, housing etc will prevent most bad events is wishful thinking. It is in people’s minds that bad things are fostered and fester. It is the letting things happen because – ‘I can’t manage to do something to change things’ that keeps the cycle of sh…t happening. A beneficiary’s dog bit two little dogs to death when they were in an exercise park recently. The pound contained it for weeks. There were pleas and letters to the paper about how sweet the dog was, how broken-hearted the owner would be if it was destroyed etc. Gagging stuff. No understanding of the irresponsibility of the owner, or the distress of the dead dogs and their owners. Also the fact that there would be cost involved in buying dogs of breeding, not just the result of random pairing that somebody had been happy to pass along.
An example I have are two women dog owners whose dogs chase my cat. I will have to suggest to them that when they come off their property they already have a leash on their dog to stop them rushing across the path, something that they should be able to think for themselves. Instead they mutter sorry and rush to catch its collar, and tell me that’s what dogs do, (ie I just have to put up with it because they are helpless against nature). One said ‘It’s a game really’ only my cat isn’t sure about that. A lead does the job and turns a careless stupid dog owner into an intelligent, responsible one that has control over their pet.
Obedience training should be mandatory for all dog owners who register, with a large discount in the year they attend and present a completed certificate to the Council. I believe in money as a strong incentive, particularly with those that haven/t got sufficient. And because that lack doesn’t stop them getting a sweet, itty-bitty puppy that grows up into a large bunch of muscle that’s energetic and a handful if it has little training.
I’m not aware of any evidence that dogs of breeding have better temperaments. I agree that it is mainly dog owners that are responsible, however there is also the factor that some dog breeds are more dangerous than others. Some dogs are bred because they are vicious… and restrictions on such animals should be enforced properly.
A person who cannot feed their dog because of a government decision should not be blamed when their dog goes roaming to find food. The alternative to that is to tie the dog up and let it starve. That is what some government decisions have caused… the repercussions of which we see in climbing dog attack statistics.
I don’t think it’s helpful that you’ve labelled it wishful thinking that people want an end to poverty which leads to more dog abuse and attacks. It should not be wishful thinking that people have enough money to look after their animals and be able to afford the training you talk about.
Teapot tape released
Please seed it: http://tinyurl.com/goldenturkey
why do Police have such a hard time catching drug dealers? I mean dealers have to advertize themselves, their buyers need to find them, the transactions need to take place away from either the dealers or the buyers assets (since they can be seized). if they use unwitting landlords hotel rooms or flats to cook P, could they also be using their neighbors house when the neighbors are out to sell drugs from??? But wouldn’t Police know this, is that what the new power to place surveilance on private property is all about, to get track dealers down????
Apparently not, it seems that the new powers are to be used to help wealthy Hollywood studios bolster their profit margins by tracking down suspected internet pirates.