Is it not also suspicious that bloggers widely thought to be in the direct employ of the National Party have been either calling for more exposure on the matter or whipping it up further?
Finally, has anyone noticed that there has been a sudden rise of opinion favoring the dismantling and privatizing of ACC in various commentary forums (from bulletin boards to Campbell Live last friday)?
What is it to bet that in the next year to 18 months an aggressive push toward the privatization of ACC is made citing various privacy breaches and client dissatisfaction?
Yes, I’ve noticed the incease in calls for privatisation. However, as an ACC client, it seems to me the problems go back to the NAct government trying to cut funding to ACC, not putting the necessary money into upgrading systems, and the related lack of real interest in rehabilitation.
I noticed this comment a the end of the Stuff article:
Brown said Paul had been treated appallingly by ACC. He claimed staff weren’t interested in rehabilitation, people, or their privacy. “In her criticisms of ACC, I don’t think [Pullar] was being over-the-top, I think she was being gentle. As one of my clients has told me, if he was a dog, the SPCA would have been prosecuted over his care.”
I agree with the lack of interest in rehabilitation in view of my on-going struggles to get further physiotherapy – something my specialist keeps recommending. My case manager seems quite interested in my rehabilitation, but it seems he/she can only go with the judgement of the advisor. Also, each time further physio is rejected, more than one ACC person I’ve talked to on the phone have said in defence of the advisor’s decision,”you’ve already had X amount of physio sessions and people don’t usually get much more”…. side-stepping the issue of how much my rehabilitation might need.
I can’t see privatisation improving access to rehabilitation, in fact, I’d fear the opposite as the private provider pushes for more profits.
Agreed.
Reminder of my wife’s experience of CRM who had no interest in rehabilitating her back to 40 hours per week because working part-time around our kids disabilities was a “lifestyle choice” and also breached privacy by giving her information about other people’s employers and wages pre-accident and also information regarding a co-worker undergoing psychiatric treatment.
By way of contrast we found ACC, under a Labour Government, extremely good to deal with. They clearly understood the legislation they were working under.
Yes, I’ve noticed the incease in calls for privatisation. However, as an ACC client, it seems to me the problems go back to the NAct government trying to cut funding to ACC, not putting the necessary money into upgrading systems, and the related lack of real interest in rehabilitation.
No, the problems go back to the last Labour government deciding ACC was an insurance scheme and needed to be fully funded.
This piece of nonsense gave National the excuse to claim it was broke, cut back on the quality of service etc.
ACC was designed before the neo liberal colonisation of the political elite and as such the principles behind it are total incomprehensible to the neo liberal National and Labour parties.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it Millhouse.
So maybe the Machivalian plan is to break it thoroughly at least in the Public mind.
Get the pet bloggers and compliant MSM to spread stories of failures and doubts, and elevate the sterling quality of Privatisation.
It worked for action against those pesky dole bludgers especially the promiscuous lazy men on DPBs and even some DPB women, didn’t it?
From this morning’s Media program it seems that the ever lurking Cameron Slater is the weapon of choice
In short Millhouse, I think you are right (from a leftish point of view.)
People might recall the attempts to sell the ACC as being ‘not economically viable’ using the lies the nact got caught out on….After a few years letting that die down, it certainly seems they have moved to another attack mode. The past weeks stories are starting to stink of strategy!
The privacy breaches should be a clear warning to all about the risks of information sharing between government departments.
Think of how much worse these leaks would be if the files contained all of the information on a individual held by Govt.
The onus is on the Nats to prove that the risks can be mitigated – the ACC incidents have shown us entrusting our privacy to the Government is a very risky proposition indeed.
And as for the shills calling for privatisation as a ‘solution’, this is plainly laughable as the private sector has absolutely no hesitation in selling whatever it can to the highest bidder – and the information that the state holds has the potential to be very valuable indeed – Insurance companies stand to save big $$$$ if they can manage their risks by accessing for example peoples complete medical histories, their families history of cancer, etc etc, or are able litigate their way out of payouts on the basis of non compliance with medical advice.
The privacy breaches should be a clear warning to all about the risks of information sharing between government departments.
No, really, it isn’t.
Think of how much worse these leaks would be if the files contained all of the information on a individual held by Govt.
Which they wouldn’t have done as each government department would only have access to the information that they need.
…the ACC incidents have shown us entrusting our privacy to the Government is a very risky proposition indeed.
Over the last few years I’ve heard of more such leaks from private businesses. All that’s needed is proper procedure that makes such accidental leaks highly unlikely.
Draco – I think you are missing my point – which is that a privacy breach should be generating discussion of how to avoid a repeat, not generating speculation about general unspecified mismanagement in ACC – I’m sure we can agree on that.
You will find that the privacy commission has also hightlighted the risks of info sharing and has proposed strategies to address these risks, ie case by case or category by category share between specific agencies on the basis of justified need (I have the links at home and will dig up for you later) …an approach which I support, but which the govt has not necessarily decided to adopt.
Wholesale info sharing has great potential for abuse and it is a concern that this is potentially still on the table with the proposed roll out of the so called e – govt interface.
You will find that the Law Commission has also highlighted the risks of info sharing and has proposed strategies to address these risks, ie case by case or category by category share between specific agencies on the basis of justified need
Interestingly the quoted comments from the Privacy Commissioner and the Chen Palmer article which highlights the downside to separate data bases (ie the difficulty of amending or accessing information) do not mention the fact that the physical and network independence of a data base acts as a natural privacy safeguard and actually ensures that any breach is not catastrophic…
See also the ‘i’m not policy’ policy which coincidentally endorses the highly controversial TPSEPA, also known as the P4 Free Trade Agreement or the TPPA:
The way I see it is that the government should just have a single database with everyone’s relevant information on it. Each government agency then has access to a subset of the data which is relevant to it. There would be no more sharing as such and unnecessary and expensive duplication is removed. This database would, of course, be maintained by a dedicated government IT department.
IMO, security is actually less of a concern as it reduces the number of possible breaches, the people maintaining the database are more likely to be permanent staff rather than consultants brought in on an ad hoc basis and processes for access would be identical across departments meaning that when someone transfers from one department to another they don’t have to learn entirely new processes.
Over the last few years I’ve heard of more such leaks from private businesses. All that’s needed is proper procedure that makes such accidental leaks highly unlikely.
Not strictly relevant – or maybe it is? I am having a plague of telemarketers atm, and one on Saturday, a low-grade moron by what she said, started the call by saying “Can I speak to Mrs Surname, First name”?
That told me two things. She was reading off her lead sheet and didn’t have the wit to understand which name comes first in addressing someone, and second, Telecom sell their directory information to telemarketers!
Oops. Another breach in today’s Dom.:
“The latest breach came about when ACC claimant Garth Paul asked to see his file – he had to make repeated requests to get the file as ACC sent only some documents. In the end, ACC sent him a file belonging to a different person. ” http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/6633720/ACC-tries-to-plug-another-breach
Incompetency or strategy?
I did wonder why Judith Collins very readily decided not to push to privatise ACC accounts. She probably thought a sneaky way would be more effective i.e. make ACC look bad through leaks get the Slater Farrar lapdogs to go ‘woof, woof privatise’ and hey presto a ready platform to plunder from.
Otago student events have had some bad coverage in the past. Yesterday’s Hyde Street Keg Party has had minimal news coverage after the event, which suggests few problems. It was uber organised, very well attended and hopefully was a good day for many.
ODT and TV1 reported that it was “shut down” and “forced to close” but the one way policy put in place mid afternoon was a planned strategy.
It’s a compilation of reports Kevin, it’s what blogs often do. It’s not the done thing to do a Penny and load a heap of stuff in someone else’s blog.
Do you have a point? Or have you been assigned the “keep drawing attention to PG” task this week? If so, thanks. So far most hits are coming from Facebook, unusual on a young person topic at this time on a Sunday morning.
Do you want to have another crack at writing that comment, Pete? It doesn’t make any sense and the links you provide don’t illustrate anything relevant.
Kevin is correct. Others, including myself, do occasionally put one sentence teasers and a link (eg. PB’s Finland link below). The difference is that I trust PB’s judgement, so clicking on his link is not likely to be a waste of time. That’s not the case with your self promotion, of course.
Are you suggesting a statement of trust with every external link? Not everyone has your history of reason here.
What you (and possibly Kevin) really mean without openly saying it is you only want things posted that you agree with and you want to shut down anyone you are hissy about by dissing them off, don’t you?
Otherwise you’d do what most people do, pick what they want and ignore the rest.
Boy, you’re having a bad day. Pete! All I was asking was for you to clarify your strange comment above, which seems to be based on your mis-reading of the following line:
you are not the only one on here who does it.
Then you go on to bizarrely repeat my point in your final sentence, as if I hadn’t just said it.
I rarely follow links when it’s not clearly stated what the link is to, and/or why I should follow it. It’s also why I never use a link code, but paste the URL directly into the comment. It usually makes the website clear & often adds the title of the article.
FireFox tells me where the link is going to before I click on it and URLs pasted direct into the editor don’t always work due to special characters or just being too long.
Pretty sure all internet browsers tell you where the link is going. Just hover over it and it will tell you down the bottom of the page what the destination is.
I’ve used 4 of the main browsers and from memory they all do this.
Kevin, I don’t know what your intention was here but I’ll explain mine. First some background.
Otago has had some major problems in the past with parties gone bad, big time. Some of the huge number of students in Dunedin make dicks of themselves. Outsiders also used to come in and deliberately cause trouble – many of the arrests were non-students (and non Dunedin residents).
This year it haas been proposed to make all of Dunedin North (the area around the Universiry and Polytechnic) alcohol free. That’s obviously controversial.
OUSA is working hard on finding better solutions. They are promoting a ‘no glass’ zone. They were heavily involved in then organisation of the Hyde Street party, trying to prove that students can have a heap of fun without draconian restrictions.
Personally I think New Zealand needs to address serious problems around our piss as chooks culture. I have experience, I have been pissed as a chook more than a few times in Dunedin North (rarely this century). I’ve learnt to drink much less, I’d like New Zealand to learn to drink much less too, but that’s only a peripheral issue with Hyde Street.
My blog posts on Hyde Street (and links to them) have been supporting the rights of students to organise a good rave, and promoting the positive aspects and what seems have worked very well.
I think this is a good change in the right direction for Otago culture so I have chosen to highlight it. Fun with responsibility is something a lot more people would be better for learning.
It’s got nothing to do with politics, most of what I do has nothing directly to do with politics.
Fun with responsibility is something a lot more people would be better for learning.
Fun with being watched like hawks and cornered like rats in a trap is something a lot more people would be better for learning.
FIFY.
Glad to see you’re down with the yoof of today, pg
Generally, and specifically on this, the response from the yoof of today has been very good. They are more open to what works rather than the same old failures and theoretical ideologies that never work in practice.
Feedback has been positive, eg
Richy Anderson: “Bloody good mate.”
Manea John: “The efforts of OUSA and all the other groups and organisations who contributed was soo worth the effort!”
Most Otago students, like most people, don’t like being shat on by people trying to stir up trouble. So what if it takes a bit of organisation to help things work and keep party poopers (campus crappers) out.
Five years of 24hr patrolling and ever-increasing punishments for students who do such things is not “a little bit of organisation”. But keep looking at things in isolation – saves having to come up with solutions yourself.
Thanks for the Hyde St info, PG. I was wondering how everything went as I’m opposed to the proposed liquor ban and didn’t want paternalistic wowsers being gifted more ammo for their ban crusade. I did a drive by with hubby yesterday in search of the zombie flat and while there were many pissed scarfies in little clothing, I saw no broken glass or grouchy cops 🙂
As a lifetime renter, who is happy to live in accommodation that is at the low end of the range and located out in the suburbs of Auckland’s west, I was appalled by this news item on TV3 news last night:
Renters are jostling for homes in a housing shortage that has deepened in central Auckland and is now spilling out to the suburbs.
Some areas have seen rents rise by up to $100 a week and more increase are on their way next month as new tax laws hit property owners.
…And the jostle for homes is now spilling to the suburbs: A Waterview property about 15 minutes from the city just had 30 applicants.
“With the lack of development funding and restriction on the supply of property the inevitability is there is simply not enough to go round and in an area where there is desirably, those prices will continue to rise,” says property investor Mark Withers.
So as people with the most money to spare keep paying higher rents for increasingly meagre properties where demand is far outstripping supply, what is going to happen to those who can only afford very meagre rents out in the burbs? More people living in garages, cramped into unsuitable accommodation, or camping out?
Cheers for the link. I never knew that Finland’s murder rate is double that of NZ. That it also has worse unemployment and health provision. Chuck in it’s privatization policy, it’s really grim reading.
I thought we were aspiring to be like Finland. What’s with that?
Sorry I didn’t realize we needed to aspire to countries that are in a worst position than us. I’m sure we can agree on a country that meets all of our aspirations?
Yep, simple really. We can learn of things that seem to work in other countries but the country to aspire to should be an improived version on New Zealand.
I imagine these revelations are going to cause some angst. It looks like Helen Clark and former police minister Annette King were hung out to dry by Solicitor General, David Collins. Q&A interview not online yet.
Annette King – “And so then to find that in fact the law we were told was incoherent and they weren’t able to proceed. and in fact much of the evidence was not able to be used, now that was a big disappointment.”
So…what’s that saying? We’re just pissed off we couldn’t pin the fuckers? What I want to know in all this is where all those white dude ‘survivalists’ fit in the scheme of things? Haven’t seen any of them and their guns and their camps jumped on.
Accordi ng to media watch this morning on RNZ Radio Rhema is now host to dumbell slater and it looks like he has God on his side now too.
The christians are overstepping their mandate but nobody will call them to account.
why is that?
Well, Media Watch has certainly called them to account, for one. What is needed now is a concerted writing campaign. Contact them via THIS site…. http://www.rhema.co.nz/index.php/contact-us
Or, even better you can write to them…
Private Bag 92-636
Symonds Street
Auckland
NEW ZEALAND
The christians are overstepping their mandate but nobody will call them to account.
why is that?
I don’t listen to Rhema, and never would, and I loathe Slater, but I would like to ask you to elaborate.
What mandate do you think ‘the Christians’ have, and in what way are they overstepping it? I suspect your thin king in something such as “Christians should be made to STFU and never express any opinions, ever”. I am sure you don’t even realise that there are Christians that would be and in fact are, completely opposed to Slater and his mob?
Bill, I think you will find she was referring to the Solicitor General’s assurance the night before the raid that the terrorsim act was the correct legislation to use in this case.(I had the impression he was closely questioned by both Helen Clark and Annette King.) One month later (and I paraphrase) he refused admittance of much of the evidence on the grounds that the police had acted under the wrong legislation. I might add, the police did not give them – nor did they seek -any knowledge of how the police proposed to carry out the raid.
Watch the interveiw when it’s up online. Fascinating stuff.
Edit: damm I forgot reply – again. Replying to Bill 5.1
Does anyone know the date of the Pullar, Boag ACC meeting in December 2011?
Boag has stated that ACC did not inform the ACC minister when ACC was told about the 6700 breaches of privacy in December 2011. I find this to be remarkable. I also believe that if ACC went to the PM’s office the PM would have had to have gone to the ACC minister. If Key was informed and the Boag, Pullar meeting was before the cabinet resuffle I think that Key would have dropped Smith and that he appointed Collin’s as she has legal expertise.
What Key actually knew about Smith writing to support Pullar would be interesting. I believe that Key knew about one of the support letters and this alone would have been enough for Key to not reappoint Smith as the ACC minister. (Wong and the other National MP could have told Key as they referred the letter onto Smith).
I think that Pullar’s name appearing in the media is minor compared to what the government are covering up about having knowledge of Smith’s supporting letters with his signature at least two). Key seems to think that one lapse was excusable but two were not.
Smith did the honourable thing and resigned to take the heat off Key when Smith’s letters became public. Key has not done the honourable thing and ordered an independent inquiry to establish that ACC knew that Smith had breached cabinet guidelines and if ACC informed anyone in the government? Were I Key I would push for an independent inquiry as I would want my name to be cleared of any manipulation e.g. keeping an experienced minister on until it became public who had breached cabinet rules.
If ACC informed the PM about Smith breaching cabinet guidelines and the PM did nothing this was a coverup. Either or both, the PM and ACC have covered up Smith’s letters.
I don’t know who I give 1st prize to this week, the Ports of Auckland Board or the ACC board when it comes to not being transparent or functional?
Might John Key have mislead Parliament in saying he knew nothing until the week of Smith’s resignation? If the re-shuffle in December was because of the pending storm then Key already did know.
I think Winston is onto this aspect and next week when the PM returns could be interesting
What is most likely to have happened: the pending storm contributed to the reshuffle in December and ensured that Nick Smith was divested of the ACC portfolio.
Cheney got a heart transplant.- Link
I didn’t know he had one. It must have been as black as the oil he coveted!
Where would you get another evil heart to replace it? Wall Street? Perhaps Halliburton has a subsidiary that engineers them. Lets hope it fails like their blowout preventers.
Still, the end of Cheney would be of little comfort to the hundreds of thousands of family members of dead Iraqis and US service personnel.
No doubt about it: Cheney was a coward and a draft dodger, a brutal and shameless liar, a hypocrite and a bully. But I don’t think you should personalize the destruction of Iraq to Cheney. Just as culpable are the Democrats who gave carte blanche to Cheney and his puppet, George W. Bush.
nah, that’s bullshit bro.You can argue that they share culpability, along with a shit load of other people, but the lion’s share of culpability for the shit Cheney did, lies with Cheney. I’d put it somewhere in the high 80%s
You can argue that they share culpability, along with a shit load of other people,
The Democratic Party “leadership” (profiles in courage such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) could have demanded the Bush regime show some evidence to back their fantastic claims in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and they could have demanded that Cheney appear before the 9/11 Commission by himself instead of in tandem with Bush. They lacked the courage to confront the regime at every step. Contrary to what you seem to be trying to say, there is no “argument” about that.
but the lion’s share of culpability for the shit Cheney did, lies with Cheney.
The lion’s share of what pops into Cheney’s head lies with Cheney; the lion’s share of culpability for his crimes lies with those who could have stopped him, or at least curbed some of his worst excesses. That was, and still is, the Democratic Party “leadership”.
“The test of a democracy is how you treat people incarcerated, people in jail, and especially so with minors”– Mark Regev, spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
New Report: Palestinian children tortured and “systematically” ill-treated
A major new EU-funded study documents ‘a systematic pattern of ill-treatment, and in some cases torture’ of Palestinian children detained by Israel. Drawing on 311 sworn testimonies, collected over a period of four years, the report by Defence for Children International (DCI) finds that most children passing through Israel’s military detention system suffer multiple forms of ill-treatment and abuse, much of which amounts to ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading’ treatment as defined by the
UN Convention against Torture. It’s pretty long, but important, so I thought I’d post a condensed summary.
—
Most children are arrested in the middle of the night. Israeli civil law restricts the times when children can be interrogated, which in turn influence the times when they are arrested. But Palestinians are subject to military law, which contains no such provision. Most have their hands ‘painfully tied behind their backs and are blindfolded’, before being transported to an unknown location—usually neither children nor parents are informed where, or on what basis—for
interrogation. This process is ‘often’ accompanied by ‘verbal abuse and humiliation, threats as well as physical violence’. Palestinian children are not accompanied by a parent and are usually interrogated without legal advice or being informed of their right to silence.
Nearly a third of the children who testified to DCI reported experiencing violence during their arrest, usually punching, slapping or kicking. A former Israeli military commander, describing this
process to the BBC, confessed that after leaving the army, his dreams were haunted by children ‘screaming’:
“You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he’s really shaking… Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation.
“He doesn’t understand a word of what’s going on around him. He doesn’t know what you’re going to do with him. He just knows we are soldiers with guns. That we kill people. Maybe they think we’re going to kill him…..
Israel lives in defiance of most humanitarian ideals, they thumb their nose at the peace process, keep settling in occupied territories and generally have a ‘screw you’ atitude.
Without the US behind it the arab nations would like to wipe if off the map, this is one reason why.
Netanyahu is a much more dangerous and inflammatory leader second time around who has a growing problem within his own state with the haredi but that doesn’t stop him opening it up on other fronts.
Do you mean the $1million in insurance over loss of income? That is separate from injury questions.
Perhaps you mean the publication of her details that is so bad? Not sure which bit you mean Muzza.
70 more jobs to go from a government department…..
Govt fishery observers told to get ready to pack up
Published: 6:23PM Sunday March 25, 2012 Source: ONE News
A leaked email from the Ministry of Fisheries reveals that observers on commercial fishing vessels will have their jobs outsourced by the end of the year.
The observers are stationed on commercial fishing vessels to monitor the catch and conditions on the boats.
The leaked email reveals that around 70 Ministry of Fisheries observers have been told their jobs are being outsourced by December.
Industry insiders say that the move will rob the watchdogs of their independence.
One former observer says that they play a vital role.
“No-one has questioned the quality of their information and it shouldn’t be compromised for money, and certainly not when the fisheries are under pressure.”
Critics argue that outsourcing will allow fishing companies to pick observers who are prepared to turn a blind eye in order to keep their jobs.
Currently observers are employed by the Ministry of Fisheries on short term contracts while they are at sea.
The Ministry recoups their pay and administration expenses from the fishing companies.
Glenn Simmons from the University of Auckland told ONE News he cannot see the logic in the change.
“I really can’t see any cost savings in it, so I really wonder what is driving this, particularly from the Ministry’s point of view.”
But documents show the fishing industry has been pushing for outsourcing for at least six years.
The Ministry of Fisheries would not be interviewed for this story, and refused to give an explanation of the benefits gained by outsourcing the observer roles.
The Minister of Fisheries, David Carter told ONE News that observers are not likely to be outsourced by December.
“At this stage there’s still a lot more work to be done as to how best to deliver observer services on foreign charter vessels and other vessels no decision has been made about outsourcing.”
Nevertheless, one former observer says that the decision seems fixed.
“They’ve already decided, it appears they’re not asking any questions here.”
71 and got a heart transplant. For a moment I though WTF. Cheney gets a heart transplant, there must have been younger people….
…but then I don’t know all the details, second hearts don’t necessarily last, they are second hand, and they are unlikely to have put a ???young heart in him???. i.e. they would not put a old person’s heart in a young person. There are certainly more older people who donate…
71 and got a heart transplant. For a moment I though WTF. Cheney gets a heart transplant, there must have been younger people….
That’s America! Where you can get whatever you want if you can pay for it. Larry Hagman, the man who carries a portable fan so he can harass smokers by blowing air in their faces, has had three liver transplants, although he’s ruined 3 livers through being an alkie…
In NZ, I am sasured, they’d say he wasn’t a candidate after wrecking the first transplanted one through refusing to stop drinking alcohol to excess.
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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 ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
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. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
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 ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
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Does anyone find it slightly suspicious that a National Party “insider” and former National Party President have become the key figures in an ever widening privacy scandal?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/6633165/ACC-tries-to-plug-another-breach
Is it not also suspicious that bloggers widely thought to be in the direct employ of the National Party have been either calling for more exposure on the matter or whipping it up further?
Finally, has anyone noticed that there has been a sudden rise of opinion favoring the dismantling and privatizing of ACC in various commentary forums (from bulletin boards to Campbell Live last friday)?
What is it to bet that in the next year to 18 months an aggressive push toward the privatization of ACC is made citing various privacy breaches and client dissatisfaction?
Yes, I’ve noticed the incease in calls for privatisation. However, as an ACC client, it seems to me the problems go back to the NAct government trying to cut funding to ACC, not putting the necessary money into upgrading systems, and the related lack of real interest in rehabilitation.
I noticed this comment a the end of the Stuff article:
I agree with the lack of interest in rehabilitation in view of my on-going struggles to get further physiotherapy – something my specialist keeps recommending. My case manager seems quite interested in my rehabilitation, but it seems he/she can only go with the judgement of the advisor. Also, each time further physio is rejected, more than one ACC person I’ve talked to on the phone have said in defence of the advisor’s decision,”you’ve already had X amount of physio sessions and people don’t usually get much more”…. side-stepping the issue of how much my rehabilitation might need.
I can’t see privatisation improving access to rehabilitation, in fact, I’d fear the opposite as the private provider pushes for more profits.
Agreed.
Reminder of my wife’s experience of CRM who had no interest in rehabilitating her back to 40 hours per week because working part-time around our kids disabilities was a “lifestyle choice” and also breached privacy by giving her information about other people’s employers and wages pre-accident and also information regarding a co-worker undergoing psychiatric treatment.
http://thestandard.org.nz/more-christmas-surprises/#comment-282599
By way of contrast we found ACC, under a Labour Government, extremely good to deal with. They clearly understood the legislation they were working under.
No, the problems go back to the last Labour government deciding ACC was an insurance scheme and needed to be fully funded.
This piece of nonsense gave National the excuse to claim it was broke, cut back on the quality of service etc.
ACC was designed before the neo liberal colonisation of the political elite and as such the principles behind it are total incomprehensible to the neo liberal National and Labour parties.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it Millhouse.
So maybe the Machivalian plan is to break it thoroughly at least in the Public mind.
Get the pet bloggers and compliant MSM to spread stories of failures and doubts, and elevate the sterling quality of Privatisation.
It worked for action against those pesky dole bludgers especially the promiscuous lazy men on DPBs and even some DPB women, didn’t it?
From this morning’s Media program it seems that the ever lurking Cameron Slater is the weapon of choice
In short Millhouse, I think you are right (from a leftish point of view.)
People might recall the attempts to sell the ACC as being ‘not economically viable’ using the lies the nact got caught out on….After a few years letting that die down, it certainly seems they have moved to another attack mode. The past weeks stories are starting to stink of strategy!
The privacy breaches should be a clear warning to all about the risks of information sharing between government departments.
Think of how much worse these leaks would be if the files contained all of the information on a individual held by Govt.
The onus is on the Nats to prove that the risks can be mitigated – the ACC incidents have shown us entrusting our privacy to the Government is a very risky proposition indeed.
And as for the shills calling for privatisation as a ‘solution’, this is plainly laughable as the private sector has absolutely no hesitation in selling whatever it can to the highest bidder – and the information that the state holds has the potential to be very valuable indeed – Insurance companies stand to save big $$$$ if they can manage their risks by accessing for example peoples complete medical histories, their families history of cancer, etc etc, or are able litigate their way out of payouts on the basis of non compliance with medical advice.
No, really, it isn’t.
Which they wouldn’t have done as each government department would only have access to the information that they need.
Over the last few years I’ve heard of more such leaks from private businesses. All that’s needed is proper procedure that makes such accidental leaks highly unlikely.
Draco – I think you are missing my point – which is that a privacy breach should be generating discussion of how to avoid a repeat, not generating speculation about general unspecified mismanagement in ACC – I’m sure we can agree on that.
You will find that the privacy commission has also hightlighted the risks of info sharing and has proposed strategies to address these risks, ie case by case or category by category share between specific agencies on the basis of justified need (I have the links at home and will dig up for you later) …an approach which I support, but which the govt has not necessarily decided to adopt.
Wholesale info sharing has great potential for abuse and it is a concern that this is potentially still on the table with the proposed roll out of the so called e – govt interface.
Some links to peruse:
From the Law Commission:
http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/2011/03/chapter_x_-_information_sharing_v2.pdf
I dislike the title of this one but the summary of risks is still worth a read, and it contains comments from the Privacy Commissioner:
http://www.chenpalmer.com/news/publications-and-presentations/big-brother-is-here-to-help-the-privacy-information-sharing-bill/
From the US:
http://www.privacilla.org/releases/Government_Data_Merger.html
Edit:
You will find that the Law Commission has also highlighted the risks of info sharing and has proposed strategies to address these risks, ie case by case or category by category share between specific agencies on the basis of justified need
Interestingly the quoted comments from the Privacy Commissioner and the Chen Palmer article which highlights the downside to separate data bases (ie the difficulty of amending or accessing information) do not mention the fact that the physical and network independence of a data base acts as a natural privacy safeguard and actually ensures that any breach is not catastrophic…
See also the ‘i’m not policy’ policy which coincidentally endorses the highly controversial TPSEPA, also known as the P4 Free Trade Agreement or the TPPA:
http://www.ict.govt.nz/library/offshore-ICT-service-providers-april-2007.pdf
The way I see it is that the government should just have a single database with everyone’s relevant information on it. Each government agency then has access to a subset of the data which is relevant to it. There would be no more sharing as such and unnecessary and expensive duplication is removed. This database would, of course, be maintained by a dedicated government IT department.
IMO, security is actually less of a concern as it reduces the number of possible breaches, the people maintaining the database are more likely to be permanent staff rather than consultants brought in on an ad hoc basis and processes for access would be identical across departments meaning that when someone transfers from one department to another they don’t have to learn entirely new processes.
Wow. I had an almost visceral reaction against placing that much faith in any organisation, consultants or not.
Not strictly relevant – or maybe it is? I am having a plague of telemarketers atm, and one on Saturday, a low-grade moron by what she said, started the call by saying “Can I speak to Mrs Surname, First name”?
That told me two things. She was reading off her lead sheet and didn’t have the wit to understand which name comes first in addressing someone, and second, Telecom sell their directory information to telemarketers!
Actually, that’s more likely to be that the telemarketers have bought the electoral role or that they’re reading from the phone book.
Oops. Another breach in today’s Dom.:
“The latest breach came about when ACC claimant Garth Paul asked to see his file – he had to make repeated requests to get the file as ACC sent only some documents. In the end, ACC sent him a file belonging to a different person. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/6633720/ACC-tries-to-plug-another-breach
Incompetency or strategy?
Another hole in a leaky boat, no wonder smith said he would welcome an inquiry to clear his name.
I did wonder why Judith Collins very readily decided not to push to privatise ACC accounts. She probably thought a sneaky way would be more effective i.e. make ACC look bad through leaks get the Slater Farrar lapdogs to go ‘woof, woof privatise’ and hey presto a ready platform to plunder from.
I think you will find, should you bother to look, that the privatisation of ACC, as envisaged, has been cancelled.
Otago student events have had some bad coverage in the past. Yesterday’s Hyde Street Keg Party has had minimal news coverage after the event, which suggests few problems. It was uber organised, very well attended and hopefully was a good day for many.
ODT and TV1 reported that it was “shut down” and “forced to close” but the one way policy put in place mid afternoon was a planned strategy.
Hyde Street Keg Party 2012 – roundup.
So is this another link to your site PG or to the original stories?
It’s a compilation of reports Kevin, it’s what blogs often do. It’s not the done thing to do a Penny and load a heap of stuff in someone else’s blog.
Do you have a point? Or have you been assigned the “keep drawing attention to PG” task this week? If so, thanks. So far most hits are coming from Facebook, unusual on a young person topic at this time on a Sunday morning.
“It’s a compilation of reports Kevin, it’s what blogs often do.”
Indeed.
Then be a little more clear on where your links lead. I have no problem with what Penny does because her links clearly point to their source.
If I want to read your blog I will. I don’t need to be lead there with a blindfold on.
And to be fair, you are not the only one on here who does it. Its tiresome and doesn’t do you any favours.
you are not the only one on here who does it.
No. Eg
http://thestandard.org.nz/give-way/
http://thestandard.org.nz/wont-somebody-think-of-the-children-2/
It’s fairly normal not to “be a little more clear on where your links lead”.
If you don’t like following links I suggest you just don’t click on them.
Do you want to have another crack at writing that comment, Pete? It doesn’t make any sense and the links you provide don’t illustrate anything relevant.
Kevin is correct. Others, including myself, do occasionally put one sentence teasers and a link (eg. PB’s Finland link below). The difference is that I trust PB’s judgement, so clicking on his link is not likely to be a waste of time. That’s not the case with your self promotion, of course.
Are you suggesting a statement of trust with every external link? Not everyone has your history of reason here.
What you (and possibly Kevin) really mean without openly saying it is you only want things posted that you agree with and you want to shut down anyone you are hissy about by dissing them off, don’t you?
Otherwise you’d do what most people do, pick what they want and ignore the rest.
Boy, you’re having a bad day. Pete! All I was asking was for you to clarify your strange comment above, which seems to be based on your mis-reading of the following line:
you are not the only one on here who does it.
Then you go on to bizarrely repeat my point in your final sentence, as if I hadn’t just said it.
I rarely follow links when it’s not clearly stated what the link is to, and/or why I should follow it. It’s also why I never use a link code, but paste the URL directly into the comment. It usually makes the website clear & often adds the title of the article.
I sometimes use raw links but they can be a bit long and messy.
All you need to do is point at a link to see the website and title.
FireFox tells me where the link is going to before I click on it and URLs pasted direct into the editor don’t always work due to special characters or just being too long.
Pretty sure all internet browsers tell you where the link is going. Just hover over it and it will tell you down the bottom of the page what the destination is.
I’ve used 4 of the main browsers and from memory they all do this.
Was pretty sure that was the case but I’ve been exclusively using FF for the last few years and so was caging my bets 😀
Kevin, I don’t know what your intention was here but I’ll explain mine. First some background.
Otago has had some major problems in the past with parties gone bad, big time. Some of the huge number of students in Dunedin make dicks of themselves. Outsiders also used to come in and deliberately cause trouble – many of the arrests were non-students (and non Dunedin residents).
This year it haas been proposed to make all of Dunedin North (the area around the Universiry and Polytechnic) alcohol free. That’s obviously controversial.
OUSA is working hard on finding better solutions. They are promoting a ‘no glass’ zone. They were heavily involved in then organisation of the Hyde Street party, trying to prove that students can have a heap of fun without draconian restrictions.
Personally I think New Zealand needs to address serious problems around our piss as chooks culture. I have experience, I have been pissed as a chook more than a few times in Dunedin North (rarely this century). I’ve learnt to drink much less, I’d like New Zealand to learn to drink much less too, but that’s only a peripheral issue with Hyde Street.
My blog posts on Hyde Street (and links to them) have been supporting the rights of students to organise a good rave, and promoting the positive aspects and what seems have worked very well.
I think this is a good change in the right direction for Otago culture so I have chosen to highlight it. Fun with responsibility is something a lot more people would be better for learning.
It’s got nothing to do with politics, most of what I do has nothing directly to do with politics.
Fun with being watched like hawks and cornered like rats in a trap is something a lot more people would be better for learning.
FIFY.
Glad to see you’re down with the yoof of today, pg
Generally, and specifically on this, the response from the yoof of today has been very good. They are more open to what works rather than the same old failures and theoretical ideologies that never work in practice.
Feedback has been positive, eg
Richy Anderson: “Bloody good mate.”
Manea John: “The efforts of OUSA and all the other groups and organisations who contributed was soo worth the effort!”
Most Otago students, like most people, don’t like being shat on by people trying to stir up trouble. So what if it takes a bit of organisation to help things work and keep party poopers (campus crappers) out.
Five years of 24hr patrolling and ever-increasing punishments for students who do such things is not “a little bit of organisation”. But keep looking at things in isolation – saves having to come up with solutions yourself.
Glad to see you reacting without thought McFlunk! 😀
What on earth is wrong with responsible drinking?
Thanks for the Hyde St info, PG. I was wondering how everything went as I’m opposed to the proposed liquor ban and didn’t want paternalistic wowsers being gifted more ammo for their ban crusade. I did a drive by with hubby yesterday in search of the zombie flat and while there were many pissed scarfies in little clothing, I saw no broken glass or grouchy cops 🙂
As a lifetime renter, who is happy to live in accommodation that is at the low end of the range and located out in the suburbs of Auckland’s west, I was appalled by this news item on TV3 news last night:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Housing-shortage-leads-to-rent-hikes/tabid/423/articleID/247934/Default.aspx
So as people with the most money to spare keep paying higher rents for increasingly meagre properties where demand is far outstripping supply, what is going to happen to those who can only afford very meagre rents out in the burbs? More people living in garages, cramped into unsuitable accommodation, or camping out?
This issue needs urgent attention.
Gerry Brownlee eh.
http://t.co/BihdAtL4
Cheers for the link. I never knew that Finland’s murder rate is double that of NZ. That it also has worse unemployment and health provision. Chuck in it’s privatization policy, it’s really grim reading.
I thought we were aspiring to be like Finland. What’s with that?
Well, Finland on one side and Ireland on the other, take your choice.
Sorry I didn’t realize we needed to aspire to countries that are in a worst position than us. I’m sure we can agree on a country that meets all of our aspirations?
Yep, simple really. We can learn of things that seem to work in other countries but the country to aspire to should be an improived version on New Zealand.
John Key thinks we should be like Ireland. Makes it a tough choice.
I imagine these revelations are going to cause some angst. It looks like Helen Clark and former police minister Annette King were hung out to dry by Solicitor General, David Collins. Q&A interview not online yet.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/annette-king-solicitor-general-changed-mind-terror-act-4795583
Annette King – “And so then to find that in fact the law we were told was incoherent and they weren’t able to proceed. and in fact much of the evidence was not able to be used, now that was a big disappointment.”
So…what’s that saying? We’re just pissed off we couldn’t pin the fuckers? What I want to know in all this is where all those white dude ‘survivalists’ fit in the scheme of things? Haven’t seen any of them and their guns and their camps jumped on.
“All those”? How many are there?
Other than http://rwrnz.blogspot.co.nz/
Hi Bill… Q&A interview.
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/solicitor-general-back-tracks-terror-act-king-video-4795700
Accordi ng to media watch this morning on RNZ Radio Rhema is now host to dumbell slater and it looks like he has God on his side now too.
The christians are overstepping their mandate but nobody will call them to account.
why is that?
Well, Media Watch has certainly called them to account, for one. What is needed now is a concerted writing campaign. Contact them via THIS site….
http://www.rhema.co.nz/index.php/contact-us
Or, even better you can write to them…
Private Bag 92-636
Symonds Street
Auckland
NEW ZEALAND
Or personally visit them at their HQ….
53 Upper Queen Street
Auckland
NEW ZEALAND
I don’t listen to Rhema, and never would, and I loathe Slater, but I would like to ask you to elaborate.
What mandate do you think ‘the Christians’ have, and in what way are they overstepping it? I suspect your thin king in something such as “Christians should be made to STFU and never express any opinions, ever”.
I am sure you don’t even realise that there are Christians that would be and in fact are, completely opposed to Slater and his mob?
Don,t tell me. he has seen the light.
He assumes it shines out of his arse.
Bill, I think you will find she was referring to the Solicitor General’s assurance the night before the raid that the terrorsim act was the correct legislation to use in this case.(I had the impression he was closely questioned by both Helen Clark and Annette King.) One month later (and I paraphrase) he refused admittance of much of the evidence on the grounds that the police had acted under the wrong legislation. I might add, the police did not give them – nor did they seek -any knowledge of how the police proposed to carry out the raid.
Watch the interveiw when it’s up online. Fascinating stuff.
Edit: damm I forgot reply – again. Replying to Bill 5.1
There was a cabinet resuffle on 12 December 2011.
Does anyone know the date of the Pullar, Boag ACC meeting in December 2011?
Boag has stated that ACC did not inform the ACC minister when ACC was told about the 6700 breaches of privacy in December 2011. I find this to be remarkable. I also believe that if ACC went to the PM’s office the PM would have had to have gone to the ACC minister. If Key was informed and the Boag, Pullar meeting was before the cabinet resuffle I think that Key would have dropped Smith and that he appointed Collin’s as she has legal expertise.
What Key actually knew about Smith writing to support Pullar would be interesting. I believe that Key knew about one of the support letters and this alone would have been enough for Key to not reappoint Smith as the ACC minister. (Wong and the other National MP could have told Key as they referred the letter onto Smith).
I think that Pullar’s name appearing in the media is minor compared to what the government are covering up about having knowledge of Smith’s supporting letters with his signature at least two). Key seems to think that one lapse was excusable but two were not.
Smith did the honourable thing and resigned to take the heat off Key when Smith’s letters became public. Key has not done the honourable thing and ordered an independent inquiry to establish that ACC knew that Smith had breached cabinet guidelines and if ACC informed anyone in the government? Were I Key I would push for an independent inquiry as I would want my name to be cleared of any manipulation e.g. keeping an experienced minister on until it became public who had breached cabinet rules.
If ACC informed the PM about Smith breaching cabinet guidelines and the PM did nothing this was a coverup. Either or both, the PM and ACC have covered up Smith’s letters.
I don’t know who I give 1st prize to this week, the Ports of Auckland Board or the ACC board when it comes to not being transparent or functional?
Might John Key have mislead Parliament in saying he knew nothing until the week of Smith’s resignation? If the re-shuffle in December was because of the pending storm then Key already did know.
I think Winston is onto this aspect and next week when the PM returns could be interesting
They have the excuse of “new government term” for the reshuffle, though, as well as exposing people to new challenges etc etc.
What is most likely to have happened: the pending storm contributed to the reshuffle in December and ensured that Nick Smith was divested of the ACC portfolio.
Does anyone know the date of the Pullar, Boag ACC meeting in December 2011
December 1st from memory.
Yep, December 1.
Cheney got a heart transplant.- Link
I didn’t know he had one. It must have been as black as the oil he coveted!
Where would you get another evil heart to replace it? Wall Street? Perhaps Halliburton has a subsidiary that engineers them. Lets hope it fails like their blowout preventers.
Still, the end of Cheney would be of little comfort to the hundreds of thousands of family members of dead Iraqis and US service personnel.
No doubt about it: Cheney was a coward and a draft dodger, a brutal and shameless liar, a hypocrite and a bully. But I don’t think you should personalize the destruction of Iraq to Cheney. Just as culpable are the Democrats who gave carte blanche to Cheney and his puppet, George W. Bush.
“Just as culpable…”
nah, that’s bullshit bro.You can argue that they share culpability, along with a shit load of other people, but the lion’s share of culpability for the shit Cheney did, lies with Cheney. I’d put it somewhere in the high 80%s
You can argue that they share culpability, along with a shit load of other people,
The Democratic Party “leadership” (profiles in courage such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) could have demanded the Bush regime show some evidence to back their fantastic claims in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and they could have demanded that Cheney appear before the 9/11 Commission by himself instead of in tandem with Bush. They lacked the courage to confront the regime at every step. Contrary to what you seem to be trying to say, there is no “argument” about that.
but the lion’s share of culpability for the shit Cheney did, lies with Cheney.
The lion’s share of what pops into Cheney’s head lies with Cheney; the lion’s share of culpability for his crimes lies with those who could have stopped him, or at least curbed some of his worst excesses. That was, and still is, the Democratic Party “leadership”.
Isn’t it ironic.
From Stuff: Agents reap quake bonus
“The test of a democracy is how you treat people incarcerated, people in jail, and especially so with minors”– Mark Regev, spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/blog_comments/new_report_palestinian_children_systematically_ill_treated_and_tortured
New Report: Palestinian children tortured and “systematically” ill-treated
A major new EU-funded study documents ‘a systematic pattern of ill-treatment, and in some cases torture’ of Palestinian children detained by Israel. Drawing on 311 sworn testimonies, collected over a period of four years, the report by Defence for Children International (DCI) finds that most children passing through Israel’s military detention system suffer multiple forms of ill-treatment and abuse, much of which amounts to ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading’ treatment as defined by the
UN Convention against Torture. It’s pretty long, but important, so I thought I’d post a condensed summary.
—
Most children are arrested in the middle of the night. Israeli civil law restricts the times when children can be interrogated, which in turn influence the times when they are arrested. But Palestinians are subject to military law, which contains no such provision. Most have their hands ‘painfully tied behind their backs and are blindfolded’, before being transported to an unknown location—usually neither children nor parents are informed where, or on what basis—for
interrogation. This process is ‘often’ accompanied by ‘verbal abuse and humiliation, threats as well as physical violence’. Palestinian children are not accompanied by a parent and are usually interrogated without legal advice or being informed of their right to silence.
Nearly a third of the children who testified to DCI reported experiencing violence during their arrest, usually punching, slapping or kicking. A former Israeli military commander, describing this
process to the BBC, confessed that after leaving the army, his dreams were haunted by children ‘screaming’:
“You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he’s really shaking… Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation.
“He doesn’t understand a word of what’s going on around him. He doesn’t know what you’re going to do with him. He just knows we are soldiers with guns. That we kill people. Maybe they think we’re going to kill him…..
Read more of this horrifying report by clicking HERE….
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/blog_comments/new_report_palestinian_children_systematically_ill_treated_and_tortured
Thanks, Morrissey…
Israel lives in defiance of most humanitarian ideals, they thumb their nose at the peace process, keep settling in occupied territories and generally have a ‘screw you’ atitude.
Without the US behind it the arab nations would like to wipe if off the map, this is one reason why.
Netanyahu is a much more dangerous and inflammatory leader second time around who has a growing problem within his own state with the haredi but that doesn’t stop him opening it up on other fronts.
There are some real messed up people in this country who have far too much say over our lives
I wonder what makes them believe their lives are better of for behaving this way
Do you mean the $1million in insurance over loss of income? That is separate from injury questions.
Perhaps you mean the publication of her details that is so bad? Not sure which bit you mean Muzza.
70 more jobs to go from a government department…..
Govt fishery observers told to get ready to pack up
Published: 6:23PM Sunday March 25, 2012 Source: ONE News
A leaked email from the Ministry of Fisheries reveals that observers on commercial fishing vessels will have their jobs outsourced by the end of the year.
The observers are stationed on commercial fishing vessels to monitor the catch and conditions on the boats.
The leaked email reveals that around 70 Ministry of Fisheries observers have been told their jobs are being outsourced by December.
Industry insiders say that the move will rob the watchdogs of their independence.
One former observer says that they play a vital role.
“No-one has questioned the quality of their information and it shouldn’t be compromised for money, and certainly not when the fisheries are under pressure.”
Critics argue that outsourcing will allow fishing companies to pick observers who are prepared to turn a blind eye in order to keep their jobs.
Currently observers are employed by the Ministry of Fisheries on short term contracts while they are at sea.
The Ministry recoups their pay and administration expenses from the fishing companies.
Glenn Simmons from the University of Auckland told ONE News he cannot see the logic in the change.
“I really can’t see any cost savings in it, so I really wonder what is driving this, particularly from the Ministry’s point of view.”
But documents show the fishing industry has been pushing for outsourcing for at least six years.
The Ministry of Fisheries would not be interviewed for this story, and refused to give an explanation of the benefits gained by outsourcing the observer roles.
The Minister of Fisheries, David Carter told ONE News that observers are not likely to be outsourced by December.
“At this stage there’s still a lot more work to be done as to how best to deliver observer services on foreign charter vessels and other vessels no decision has been made about outsourcing.”
Nevertheless, one former observer says that the decision seems fixed.
“They’ve already decided, it appears they’re not asking any questions here.”
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/govt-fishery-observers-told-get-ready-pack-up-4795996
71 and got a heart transplant. For a moment I though WTF. Cheney gets a heart transplant, there must have been younger people….
…but then I don’t know all the details, second hearts don’t necessarily last, they are second hand, and they are unlikely to have put a ???young heart in him???. i.e. they would not put a old person’s heart in a young person. There are certainly more older people who donate…
That’s America! Where you can get whatever you want if you can pay for it. Larry Hagman, the man who carries a portable fan so he can harass smokers by blowing air in their faces, has had three liver transplants, although he’s ruined 3 livers through being an alkie…
In NZ, I am sasured, they’d say he wasn’t a candidate after wrecking the first transplanted one through refusing to stop drinking alcohol to excess.