Ngapuhi woman, fluent in Te Reo, English and French makes Big Mistake by marrying foreign guy who just happens to live and work with multiple sclerosis.
As are her husband’s….”… works full-time for the Housing Ministry in his native Quebec.
He coaches young people with disabilities and he has multiple sclerosis.”
But, nah. Fuck off. You have a disability…and we don’t like your kind around here…..
So. Is this policy from Immigration going to continue even under this supposedly more humane and kind administration?
Is this the true nature of the Coalition of Lovingkindness?
Or is it way past time that someone told Immigration that there has been a change of government and we are not going to act like officious, heartless arseholes anymore?
Rosemary, I suspect you can gauge the Immigration Dept’s feelings about the new Government by the way they tried to stitch up Iain Lees Galloway.
National made sure the heads of most, if not all, of the Ministries were Tory Compliant during their nine years in power. It’s going to take a while to weed them out.
What the hell is going on at INZ!!!!
The number of appeals has gone up, many/most of which get accepted because fuckups were made in the first place.
I just don’t believe it can all be put down to staff churn and inexperience.
As things stand, they seem incapable of distinguishing between genuine cases and people with skills we (NZ Inc. needs), and those pulling rorts. (The job buying, the shitty tertiary education schemes, the sham relationships, the lack of monitoring of advisors – one you’ll recall a convicted fraudster)
I’m currently with extended family who’ve now, like many others, decided to just give up after having wasted nearly ten years dealing with the incompetence.
Then there’s that other little agency under MBIE that have allowed themselves to become overwhelmed by the number of cases of exploitation in the workplace
The muppetry now just beggars belief. It’s becoming harder not to believe there is a bit of an agenda at play among some of the senior management – and as you say @TRP, the attempts at trying to stitch up I L-G haven’t gone unnoticed.
Meanwhile, the rorts continue unabated whilst the genuine immigrant gets hammered.
I have to say it’s probably about time Ministers started paying closer attention to some of the people dealing with various cases (McClymont, Malcolm, and a few others, as well as those working with the exploited) rather than relying on ‘their officials’. It has become way past a joke.
But then I guess MBIE is not the only muppetry that the coalition are having to deal with (NZTA, WINZ et al)
MBIE/NZTA are all the babies constructed by the very controversial “Mr Fix all” Steven Joyce, so that is why we have these useless ‘seeded bureaucrats still all sitting there now, as he seeded them with his clones.
Labour must ‘weed all these national Party ‘sleeping cells’ inside these agencies out or face possibly loosing the next election next year, – It is now labour’s choice as they have 17 months left to do this.
Those wanting to come to Godzone had better be in tip- top health with fully functioning everything, as the less- than-perfect in mind, wind and limb are simply not welcome since….https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual-archive/5453.HTM ?
As for thinking that being the spouse of a New Zealander…and tangata whenua to boot… is going to get you special treatment….forget it.
“….and removed the provision for special treatment for the spouses of New Zealand citizens. This meant that applicants for the grant of citizenship who were married to New Zealand citizens would be required to meet the five-year residency period.” https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual-archive/5453.HTM
That particular little turd was brought in under the 2005 amendments.
So much for the new Family Friendly New Zealand….putting the wellbeing of all to the fore.
Are we still supposed to accept that this current Labour- led government is in any fundamental way different from the previous?
“They’re actually doing their job and enforcing the rules.”
The problem appears to be with interpretation of the rules in many cases as the number of appeals will attest.
But then as I’ve said on many occasions – it’s all working as designed and its way past time the system (and the culture within) is dismantled.
But then there’s also the other problem with other units within MBIE that don’t quite fit with the idea that “They’re actually doing their job and enforcing the rules.”
The Labour Inspectorate now seem more prepared to admit that the number of cases of exploitation are greater than they’d thought – even though a moron in a hurry could have told them that several years ago (many tried!)
Again, we had one manager telling us all they had sufficient Labour Inspectors a few weeks before the government was elected – CLEARLY bullshit!)
I accept they’ve been under-resourced in so many areas, but that doesn’t explain the continued bullshit that keeps emanating from the place.
Perhaps if they looked into WHY there is inexperience and churn in the place – could be a starting point?
It’s high time for reform (not just MBIE) if the coalition wants to make headway.
I’m almost beginning to feel a tiny bit of sympathy for Peter Hughes – having to tell more and more of the PS senior “officials” what should have been bleeding bloody obvious!!!!! (Thompson and Clark anyone? Demographic Profiling anyone? etc etc etc). And MBIE’s new CEO was handed a bit of a poison chalice after that knobhead that moved in to create Messrs Joyce and Coleman’s vanity project.
During the first national Government we heard by email (anonymous) that Mr Fix it” Steven Joyce had authorised a circular that was sent out by MBIE to every employee a warning to agree with the current government policy and act accordingly; – or find a new job.
In cases where any press releases would be sent the managers were also warned not to say anything that would ‘ebmassess the Government policy as their employment would be reviewed’.
Labour now needs to repeat this National control policy of the “Public services staff” as they need to support the current Government also.
Codes of Conduct don’t apply to Masters of the Universe @CG. Let alone just behaving ethically and in the public interest. Just as long as you’re in the club.
(/sarc btw)
I can’t remember the most recent ‘issue’ that the SSCommisar has been called in to slap a wet bus ticket over some ‘officials’ but its been in the past couple of weeks.
OwT
I wonder too about the management of semi government entities. I have been thinking about DHB’s – treating our medical sector as if they were factory workers. And the budget setting of hospitals – who sets that? The old refrain was that they were cutting fat out of the system. Sounds very medical doesn’t it – keyhole surgery anyone? But all the liposuction that can be done must have been done. Now we have the harsh reality of intention from the top, to cut back all public services to their level of incompetence I believe.
(And who are behind the top bananas? Who set this austerity regime in place that is ruining all the people’s living standards in the world? And can look with equanimity and ready judgments as people struggle and fall down.)
I think the present management mentality is to treat everybody entering a sector as an intern and work them to the bone on the basis that one day they will have a good salary if they just stick through. It is another version of the ‘couch’ interview that applicant starlets had to go through to get places in productions. Too many psychopathic Harveys at the top with their modern business training, turning out to become standard Dalek-like figures, chanting ‘Exploit, Exploit, Exploit’.
Note:
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, created by the megalomaniacal scientist Davros of the planet Skaro to be an emotionless “master race” bent on universal conquest and domination, utterly without pity, compassion or remorse.
The Daleks – Wikiquote https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Daleks
Today’s public servants see everything in black and white terms. They don’t like grey areas. They don’t like Labour-led coalitions because they have a pesky habit of considering those grey areas and that makes their job harder to do.
They have yet to catch up with the new mantra of justice and fair play. – or should I say the old mantra of j and f play which was tossed out of the window 30 plus years ago.
“Is this policy from Immigration going to continue even under this supposedly more humane and kind administration?”
Yes. That agency tried to slip in an exception into NZ’s principled position during negotiation of the UN Disability Convention and though officials talked them down informally at the time, Immigration NZ have never been slapped back forcefully enough by any of our govts since.
Seeing disabled people only as a burden is not good enough. Yet here we are.
Thanks Rosemary
MP still sending up everything they touch. It helps to keep some lightness about you when looking at today’s politics. Just that word ‘politics’ alone offers avenues of fun. Like how many words can one make out of it. When one feels that one can’t make any sense out of it, that could always provide a little light relief.
A whole bunch of comments from late last night were held in the mod queue until I manually released them a few moments ago. There were a few from Sam and a couple from Gosman and a scattering of other poster’s comments. I’m not sure what the issue was, but I hope normal service has now been resumed.
He can’t seem to speak proply… or rather, on te radio and on Q&A last night, he avoids the basic words that people relate to and understand..
.. such as “the workers pay tax, why can’t the capitalists?”
.. “this is about making the rich pay a little more, so the working poor pay a little less.. at the moment the rich pay nothing on their speculative gains – it’s not even work”
.. “why do we penalise work by taxing income and not capital?”
..”workers work hard all their lives to provide for their families. They dont earn enough to even save, so why are they penalised with income tax, when the speculators aren’t?”
Mr Robertson – stop diving into ‘Wellington-speak’ every time. Take a leaf from Winnie’s book and lay some big one-liners down. Use words and sentences that people can relate to. And finally, get new glasses that don’t put a bocking line through your eyes.
Alternatively, remove him from public speaking roles
Don’t make fun about The End of Life Bill Sam.
That is serious and I want it brought in along with consultation to ensure that it is worded with care and meets all reasonable requirements and is overseen by some independent authority of integrity.
It may be the one thing that is worthwhile that ACT has championed.
It is important to many people and the whole country’s betterment.
That bill was trash. We already have pain management that can be subscribe by an A&E doctor. There was no need to make the process complicated by 3 times.
Maybe some people don’t want to be in doctor’s hands at some particular point of their decline, and want to take themselves into the next stage – unto death. Maybe they have a right to decide what they want to do and not wait helplessly for the decision of minor gods.
Well then he is a chicken and letting others define the issues.
How is someone stating the fact that the working poor pay taxes on the meagre money they make, while the non-working wealthy pay no tax on money they make a “class warrior”?
I also think you are conflating class with money. Most rich have no class in my experience, they have gauchity and baubles, too much make-up and too many bright jackets, trinkets and toys, scathing words and poorly attitudes – but they have little to no class.
The poor have on average a great deal more class, as in manners and respect for others.
back to the cgt: Everybody is scared shitless of the lazy bludgers making asset value gains from no work. And paying no tax.
“Probably because he does not want to come across as a class warrior”
As so many people have said that it has become a trope – it’s only called “class war” when the poor (or the non-rich) fight back.
Kindly take your linguistic deceitfulness somewhere else.
vto @ 3
Grant Robertson is normally a clear and coherent speaker but I have to agree with you. It wasn’t a good presentation. I had difficulty understanding him.
I wonder if the change of time is part of the problem. I’ve picked up that the interviewees look quite tired and not up to their usual performances. Imo, it’s a poor decision to go for a 9:30 pm start on a Monday night.
Gaddafi was lynched by his own people because of the incompetence and brutality of his regime. I think it is a very apt warning to Maduro. Don’t try and do a Gaddafi and stay on beyond what the people want.
Libya was a right royal F5$K Up for everyone Gosman, the Libyan people were a shitload better off b4 the Yanks poked their grubby little noses in there, you are a clown of the first order, who does not know shit from clay.
Yeah that’s why they rose up and overthrew him. You are aware of how Gaddafi maintained power and how he suppressed anyone who might be a threat to his messed up regime aren’t you?
Where have I claimed I am an expert on any of those topics? I know a lot about Venezuela but much less about Libya. I wouldn’t classify myself as an expert. This is a discussion. If you have counter facts then present them. Engaging in ad hominem attacks on me won’t make your case stronger though.
Name me one lie. We’ve gone through this before though. You refuse to detail anything I have supposedly lied about. Instead you just make generalised statements about me lying about Venezuela.
Repeating US, propaganda, like a bloody parrot, despite many references and facts given to you, that showed you were talking nonsense, almost made me moderate you.
However I tend to the view that even parroting fools deserve to be heard, and show up the inconsistency’s, in their arguments, over time.
While studiously ignoring, facts on the ground, like the one below.
https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/poverty-reduction-venezuela
“Venezuela has seen a remarkable reduction in poverty since the first quarter of 2003. In the ensuing four years, from 2003 to 2007, the poverty rate was cut in half, from 54 percent of households to 27.5 percent. (See Table 1). This is measured from the first half of 2003 to the first half of 2007. As can be seen in the table, the poverty rate rose very slightly by one percentage point in the second half of 2007, most likely due to rising food prices. Extreme poverty fell even more, by 70 percent—from 25.1 percent of households to 7.6 percent.
These poverty rates measure only cash income; as will be discussed below, they do not include non-cash benefits to the poor such as access to health care or education.
If Venezuela were almost any other country, such a large reduction of poverty in a relatively short time would be noticed as a significant achievement”.
Which don’t suit your narrative.
I give you that, as with the “weapons of mass destruction” you are not on your own with lying like a flatfish, sorry, being economical with the truth, about regimes the USA wants to remove.
No, I have no problem agreeing that Chavez was very good at spending money on poverty reduction in the first few years of his time in power and that had initially very good results. However the way he went about this laid the seeds for the economic collapse that followed. The poverty rate in Venezuela now is much worse than when the Chavista regime took over in 1999.
“Poverty in Venezuela is an epidemic. Nearly 90 percent of Venezuelans live in poverty. According to estimates by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, this is a dramatic increase from 2014 when 48 percent of Venezuelans lived in poverty. Maria Ponce is an investigator with the local universities researching the food shortage, and she stated that “this disparity between the rise in prices and the population’s salaries is so generalized that there is practically not a single Venezuelan who is not poor.””
The results of US economic sanctions, rich whites in Venezuala upset about paying taxes, combined with repeated coup attempts and a US inspired collapse in their main export earner, would challenge the most competent Government.
Which I will agree Maduro’s is probably not.
However the corrupt self interested A holes the US wants to replace them with, are a lot worse.
No it wouldn’t. There are lot’s of countries with incompetent politicians and even those who have serious economic disruption (some even involving war). These nations aren’t suffering Hyper-inflation of the scale that Venezuela has or even the sort of economic contraction that has occured in Venezuela (which remember has still been able to sell 40% plus of oil to it’s supposed arch enemy of the USA in this period AND access funding from Russia and China).
Venezuela is quite unique in the World as being at peace yet suffering from negative impact worse than a nation at war. This is not the US’s fault. It is the fault of the policies of the Venezuelan regime. These include Price controls, Overvalued exchange rate, Nationalisation of key sectors of the economy, Printing money to cover huge budget deficits. None of these policies have been imposed on them by the US. All of them heve lead to the economic misery the country now faces.
Wow gossy you just can’t stop lying can you. You just can’t take you ideological blinkers for one second. Because to have to admit that US, Canada and The UK are actually stuffing with Venezuela economy would bring down all your other lies.
Toilet paper was your first lie. You have lied about the elections, you lied about trade, you lied about sanctions, and you lied about the constitution.
Those are just off the top of my head without going through all your posts.
You lie. I’d say it’s because you’re an ideolog, if I was being generous.
But as of today I think it’s because you actually want a war.
So keep spreading your lies, you will get what you want, death and the murder of civilians in a civil war. People like you will have made that happen. You sad, sad, little man.
The Usa is a Mafia Gangster state and their negotiations consist of “do what we say or we kill you and make your children suffer” ….. as they did to Gaddafi when Nato became ISIS / Al Quada / Nusras airforce.
He was Lynched usa style …. as they used to whip, castrate, burn and torture the negros before the mob hanging.
It was a British plane which bombed Gaddafis convoy allowing the muslim extremist and western backed rebels to get their hands on him.
Peace offers and election negotiations were turned down by the wardogs like Hillary Clinton and Nato …… Something like 10,000 bombing missions were carried out killing thousands of civilians and destroying their infrastructure.
What happened to Gaddafi was symbolic of what then happened to Libya ….the Nato ‘liberated’ country.
Regarding womans rights and schooling for instance …. thats all gone…. child brides in arranged marriages back in.
Gaddafi had female body guards who had to flee the country ….. two who didn’t were raped to death …. literally …. or raped for hours / days before being garrotted.
And the black population of Libya were ethnically cleanesed with hundreds of Lynchings with them ending up swinging from meat hooks and ropes ….. Libya was totally destroyed as a modern socialist society.
The people of Venezuela do not want what the usa brought to Libya …. and it seems to be what the usa is threatening.
Look Gosman, I know that you missed your opportunity of being a camp guard, and that now you express that frustration and your vile world view on the Standard every single day in a literal tsunami of comments, and lots of people seems quite happy to argue with you, however this is a serious subject and I have no stomach for your sick twisted ideology today thank you..please go spread your sickness somewhere else.
This is Open mike and therefore is open to all ranges of views and opinions. You aren’t a moderator so unless you can convince a moderator to do something (what I don’t know considering I am not in breech of any rules around commenting that I am aware of) you are going to have to suck it up sunshine.
I like very much debating with people who have different views, just ask anyone who knows me, or look at my history on The Standard, but I don’t like debating with people who just argue every single fucking thing that is said by pretty everyone for what seems to be for no reason at all except to troll, or maybe for some other weird freudian reason that I can’t pinpoint..that is just boring and pointless.
I’m actually very selective on the topics and comments I respond to. Yours tends to be selected because you make uninformed and ridiculous comments about Venezuela.
As long as you continue to post nonsense about Venezuela I will continue replying Adrian. You can of course stop me doing this but stopping posting nonsense about Venezuela. The ball is in your court.
Below $72k distributions fail to comprehend your sophistry. It actual isn’t difficult to force you to concede that your original premise for your Venezuela ideology was just bullshit on a stick.
You’ve been around long enough to have observed the gosman handles mode of operation…gosman exhibits all the classic tr*ll behaviours…not quite a bottom feeder…but close to it…
Thanks for the advice but; – no!!! – we wont’ listen to your tripe any more – so don’t waste time using your pinkie any more no-ones listening other than your clones.
Does this Gosman work or just spend all day on the computer wasting everybody’s time. Please do not waste your time feeding this little bottom feeding weasel he irritates the f&*k out of me, he needs professional help.
Re: ‘Suck it up Sunshine’ and other apparently non trolling activities on the TS
No one on The Standard is about to silence you Gossman, as at this point it would probably halve the number of comments on any given day, and we’ve pretty much reached the bottom of the barrell a long time back.
The technique of swamping a post or thread with lots of comments usually arguing minutiae, semantics, actual meanings of words and other deliberate techniques to distract and detach from the subjects at hand. 101 stuff and effective and annoying and deliberate.
he/she only answers questions with more questions, it is a technique of swamping a post or thread with lots of more useless anti-constructive comments to take the subject off course.
Other mods may see it differently, but for mine Gosman is not a troll, Adrian.
There is a clear effort to write relevant comments, put coherent points of view and engage in debate. They may be views from the right, but as TS is not an echo chamber, that’s fine.
However, even if I don’t think Gosman is a troll, nobody is required to feed him.
I beg to differ, just because Gosman can string two sentences together that are not complete gibberish and are coherent, doesn’t mean that it isn’t trolling.
There was an excellent conclusion to DW’s Frank Sieren commenting on the recent Munich Security Conference about the place of EU between China and the U.S. It’s very similar to where New Zealand finds itself now between both those powers, and indeed with respect to the EU as well:
“What makes sense for the EU is becoming increasingly obvious. China and the US have to be kept in check by strong global institutions, which allow for debate and changing coalitions. The EU does not even have a common China strategy and one needs to be worked out. If we do not allow China to defend its own interests, then China can’t agree to us defending our own. We’ll only be able to act in a way that is strategically smart if we change our perspective.
Merkel admitted this, too, in a surprisingly open way: “I am firmly convinced that it is better to put ourselves in one another’s shoes, to look beyond our own interests and to see whether we can achieve win-win solutions together rather than to think we can solve everything ourselves.”
The irony of history is that US President Donald Trump’s attempts to shape international policy unilaterally are inadvertently leading to the dismantling of the old order. To put it more optimistically: Trump’s selfishness is fertilizer for a multipolar world order that is forcing the EU to finally come off the fence.”
I would be in favour of a ‘Capital Gains tax’ if it funds this option I propose for saving our planet from Climate change;
It would be more productive and environmentally sustainable for Government to offer better options for property owners to get these subsidies to make all properties more healthy.
*For better insulation like using wool underlay and wool carpeting.
*Double glazing of windows.
*This would also stimulate more jobs.
*Also sheep farmer incomes would rise and assist them to cope with lowering ‘climate change emissions’.
*These improvements would effectively be helping to slow Climate change and will slow the rate of increasing dampness, rain and extreme weather event that cause more dampness and mould in homes.
I just want to see a conviction or three recorded against his name forever, to officially recognise what he has done.
Plus whatever other arrangements are available to stop him and his cronies doing the same again. Jail seems unlikely to help achieve that in his case, though it might apply to some co-defendants.
Yes Ad, the Whale oil bit Whahoo!! and Jenny Shipley and 3 other Mainzeal Directors have to pay 36 million. Yay!! There is a God and she is getting it right!!
Just in case anyone has missed the details of this delectable most interesting judgment – read on.
The High Court has ruled collapsed property and construction company Mainzeal traded while insolvent for nine years and has held some of the directors liable for $36 million for letting it happen.
Just shows that business in NZ is used to being subsidised by government in numerous ways, under the table, but when it’s their own there is no guarantee of support.
I see that many find this news of interest, so sorry everyone for adding to the links. I am impressed that they thought that the head honchos would pick up the tab for whatever they did as a twig on the branch. Very organic-thinking. Is that something they teach at Directors’ School?
Further there was a $millions loans that Mainzeal made were reported as having generated millions of dollars of profit. I thought to whom? and looked further.
By the time it went into liquidation in 2013, Mainzeal had made loans to related companies totalling some $61m.
I think we aren’t mean and ugly enough to cope with the hyenas of the world.
We need to steel cap our teeth like in Jaws an old movie. It might help if we had seven foot businessmen too.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrgYwlVSQFg
This bit from mac1 at 13.3 should go under that above about giving out loans to the main company. It seems NZ people missing out all the time – money made here just flows around the citizens feet and offshore to foreigners, or possibly to NZ holdings through the Cook Islands. I heard a report the other day that sounded as if Winston’s Winebox Inquiry hadn’t stopped the devious financial dealings at all.
“”When the company collapsed in 2013, unpaid subcontractors and creditors were owed more than $115m. Many of these creditors themselves were put into serious financial difficulty as a result of the decisions made by the former directors.”
Can someone correct me if I am wrong. The Mainzeal directors lent money to their Chinese major company so that they could buy Chinese or other profitable businesses. Meanwhile the NZ company was not solvent, and in effect loaned money that was owed to NZ suppliers to their master company, and kept on operating on slender or no profits, believing that they were so useful that the main company would always bail them out.
And they wouldn’t and didn’t. So in effect Mainzeal was unwisely even fraudulently funding part of the enterprise in China with money owed to NZs. It must have been running as a ponzi scheme for a good length of time.
That’s not prudent behaviour by the Directors, and it goes beyond poor performance as it was a deliberate act of neglect of their duty to pay their suppliers.
Company Director Responsibilities
In the last few years, new legislation has aimed to prevent company directors from acting irresponsibly. However, the effect of such legislation has been to codify for the first time the duties owed by directors to companies, their shareholders and to the broader community, and to impose heavier burdens on company directors who are determined to act irresponsibly.
Directors’ Statutory Duties
The Companies Act 2006 sets out seven basis principles governing a company director’s behaviour, by imposing specific duties on the director. These are:
the duty to act within the director’s powers. The law and the company’s constitution set out what powers a director has. These powers relate to the matters upon which a director can take action or make decisions on behalf of the company, and the procedures which must be followed.
the duty to promote the success of the company. This does not simply mean that a director must always make decisions so as to maximise the company’s profit. The law provides that the director must always consider:
the likely long-term consequences of his decisions;
the interests of the company’s employees;
the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
the impact of the company’s operations on the environment and community;
the company’s reputation for high standards of business conduct;
the need to act fairly as between shareholders.
the duty to exercise independent judgement. Company directors should always act independently and not allow themselves to be controlled by others.
the duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence. What this means depends on any special skill or knowledge a director has. For example, a company director who is also an accountant would have a higher duty of care in financial management than one who has no special knowledge of financial matters.
the duty to avoid conflicts of interests. Directors must not allow themselves to fall into situations where their duties to the company are in conflict with their personal interests or duties to others.
the duty not to accept benefits from third parties. A director may not accept any benefit (this would include bribes) which is offered simply because of his position as director.
the duty to declare interests in a proposed transaction with the company. Directors must inform the company if there is any proposed transaction with the company in which the director has a direct or indirect interest. The company’s articles of association will usually provide that a company may still be involved in the decision making process regarding such transactions, if the director has properly declared his interest.
Please don’t punish me with a wall’o text but yeah, I’d agree that Mainzeal had billions in government contrasts from the Sky City convention centre, stadiums, civil infrastructure, not to mention commercial operations. So they weren’t hurting for clients. As far as I can gather Mainzeal would continually renegotiate the quoted price for a building until they couldn’t.
Why would you be punished? If you know about company and directors duties you needn’t look again. It isn’t just a wall of anonymous text, it’s a list of the Responsibilities.
Can someone advise whether there is a possibility of NZ suppliers and contractors mounting a civil suit to see if they could get some of that $117 million back? What about the shareholders? Though a good number of them could be overseas pension investments/retirement savings schemes.
Financial fraud is just really, really hard to prove. The number of cases that don’t go to trial is one part of the story, the number of public prosecutors with the skills to explain complex financial fraud in a manner that every one else can understand is another story.
The longer that Simon grizzles and gets a fair number of ridicule for his efforts, the less effective will be his plan to undermine. So keep it up Simon.
John Key was remarkably comfortable associating with both Cameron Slater and his partner in crime, David Farrar, but John Key had a 40% preferred PM rating – not 6%…
That’s right – sadly no double-bunking in a Serco joint for Dame Ship.
Though for our own amusement we could start a competition for the most suitable cellmate.
Maybe Rob Muldoon’s ghost?
“The directors were covered by liability insurance, and Bethell hoped the damages awarded would be paid quickly.”
Who paid the liabiity insurance?
So, in the end, what sanction applies for a company director guilty of trading while insolvent?
Will she be employed again as a company director. Pay a fine? Go to prison? Have a criminal record? Lose her title?
Or is this the worst she gets?
“”When the company collapsed in 2013, unpaid subcontractors and creditors were owed more than $115m. Many of these creditors themselves were put into serious financial difficulty as a result of the decisions made by the former directors.”
For the behaviour which happened between 2005-13? And which the guilty parties are contemplating appealing, to delay justice thus denying it further.
Not bad for a former PM of New Zealand to be fined $6 million, responsible for a company going broke having borrowed $42 million, and owing $115 million at liquidation.
And the Nats claim to know something about business……………..FFS!
Of course no one is really surprised, as everyone in their hearts know that National politicians are all corrupt on some level..it is just a natural part of adhering to their selfish and devious ideology.
Still it is a good news story to enjoy today, RNZ should have it at the end of their hourly news roundup..sort of like a feel good fluffy kitten story.
Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines. Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plant and animal life.
These findings justify our appeal to the United Nations (UN) and, all member States in the world, to encourage the World Health Organization (WHO) to exert strong leadership in fostering the development of more protective EMF guidelines, encouraging precautionary measures, and educating the public about health risks, particularly risk to children and fetal development. By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfill its role as the preeminent international public health agency.
Collectively we also request that:
1. Children and pregnant women be protected;
2. Guidelines and regulatory standards be strengthened;
3. Manufacturers be encouraged to develop safer technology;
4. Utilities responsible for the generation, transmission, distribution, and monitoring of electricity maintain adequate power quality and ensure proper electrical wiring to minimize harmful ground current;
5. The public be fully informed about the potential health risks from electromagnetic energy and taught harm reduction strategies;
6. Medical professionals be educated about the biological effects of electromagnetic energy and be provided training on treatment of patients with electromagnetic sensitivity;
7. Governments fund training and research on electromagnetic fields and health that is independent of industry and mandate industry cooperation with researchers;
8. Media disclose experts’ financial relationships with industry when citing their opinions regarding health and safety aspects of EMF-emitting technologies;
9. White-zones (radiation-free areas) be established.
Thanks for more on EMF One Two. The problems from 5G are never mentioned it’s all rah rah about how fast it is.
Good for getting films etc so people never have to be without a placebo to look at and so never have to stress and think or imagine. Mind slobs being filled up with whatever candy floss or concoction that the money-diseased find suitable.
I will continue to post and re-post more detail, as there is decades of literature which is in the public domain…
The deployment will continue, and the sales pitch will never include a word about the known dangers and evidence of damage to human, animals, plants and insects…
The deployment will meet considerable road-blocks in the forms of existing legislation and acts (environmental mainly), as well as community’s in various nations and regions as awareness grows regarding the threat posed by cumulative EME build up, as well as the threat to planet earths natural frequencies and harmonics, which are responsible for creating and maintaining ‘life’…
Nations which deploy sooner, will provide the base of updated evidence of the damaged caused by 5G technology and modulations, as at present time the (misleading and incorrect) claims of ‘no known evidence of harm’ in relation to 5G, look certain to require an archive of injury and suffering caused to human beings, and further environmental degradation..
Regrettably, before action will be taken by those agencies charged with protecting public health and the environment…
Climate Change will play a major role in slowing and halting the deployment of damaging technologies, directly and indirectly…
Retain hope, gw…there is large global movement gaining momentum in all nations and regions, including NZ…
More pseudoscience junk from One Two. Anyone who wants to read something scientific on this issue should check out David Gorski on Twitter, he exposes all sorts of quacks & dodgy types, who usually push this type of stuff because they have something to sell to you.
It seems the prominent cleric found guilty of kiddy-fiddling can now be discussed since the suppression orders have been lifted and the case is reported in said cleric’s home newspapers.
The reason for the suppression order was apparently:
Until now the trials have been subject to a suppression order and could not be reported. The reason for the strict order was that [redacted] faced a second trial in relation to separate alleged historical offences. The first trial was suppressed temporarily so information from it would be less likely to influence the jury in the second. Suppression orders are not unusual in such cases.
But Kidd has now ordered that reporting restrictions be lifted after the Department of Public Prosecutions dropped the second set of charges. Kidd had ruled that key evidence was inadmissible and could not be used, significantly weakening the prosecution’s case.
Name redacted and link not supplied in case the suppression order is still active here.
If one more Republican Senator agrees to vote against Trump’s emergency declaration, Trump will be stopped flat on the most important part of his immigration platform.
Pell, Shipley, Whaleoil, Trump; Going to be a good week against the extreme right.
Genghis Can’t will just veto the legislation overturning his emergency declaration, and there won’t be enough Repug votes for the veto override.
It’ll be the courts that stop the “emergency”. The interesting bit will be if it gets to the Supreme Court in time. I’m awfully curious how the 5 Repug justices are going to reconcile upholding the “emergency” with their past positions. Or whether they’ll just brazenly ignore all the precedents and all the principles they’ve previously held dear.
Really lovely piece of work from Gordon Campbell on the corrupt relationship between the Chinese government and the National government both in power and in Opposition. Just the historic set of links and relationships set out in it is worth the read by itself:
BM is right .
Nats can sniff out easy money like an airport beagle honing in on a banana.
Of course they’re all over China.
They’ll push it to the “pretty legal” stage every time but not often go over the line. Corrupt ideologies attract dodgy people.
It was more timing than anything else, free trade deal just done with China, the second biggest economy in the world, businesses opportunities coming out the wazoo.
If Labour had won the election in 2008, the only difference would have been instead of National politicians doing deals it would have been Labour ones.
Labour didn’t do a free trade deal with China for nothing.
Actually they’re not very good at understanding where the ‘fairly legal’ line is, hence Shipley having to pay and essentially being shown to be unfit to hold directorships of anything.
Southern Response, another Gnat crony outfit, launched a huge amount of legal action instead of paying earthquake victims as they were supposed to. They didn’t win a single case.
The rest of the world are now realizing that backing the US/Trumps completely illegal and transparently obvious imperialist regime change operation (which has failed spectacularly) in Venezuela is looking more and more illegitimate as every day passes, many of these countries which themselves have suffered the brutal and sickening reality of US backed interventions in the recent past, are getting nervous at the White Houses extremist rhetoric.
Just a tiny taste of what US Imperialist intervention looks like..
Knowing all this, It is hard to imagine that anyone would support US intervention in Venezuela today…yet there are, why and what justification could they possibly have for offering their support for an action that will undoubtedly cause tenfold or more death and suffering?..and more especially when it has been freely admitted by the White house itself that Oil and resources are their real reasons for wanting regime change in Venezuela.
Yes it would seem that some people have absolutely no moral compass whatsoever. Perversely many of them relish in it, as some of us watch on in disbelief and dismay as they keenly and proudly prance about displaying their inner moral wasteland with such pride for everyone to see right here on this site…yuk, it’s revolting.
“Thornton” doesn’t sound like an Hispanic or Amerindian name – though there’s always marriage I guess.
Maybe Adrian has reached a point of ethical development where he cares about the well-being of people he doesn’t know and will never meet?
Nah – that seems too far-fetched eh? Can’t be real – gotta be something in it for him eh?
From No Right Turn Re Shipley:
“…Meanwhile there’s another curious feature, and that is the amount owed by the Mainzeal directors will apparently be mostly covered by liability insurance. Which seems… odd. Most insurance policies for us dirty peasants include a clause saying that they won’t pay out for intentional, reckless or criminal behaviour – …”
Using insurance money to avoid criminal charges is pretty legal under national ….
“When the government dropped charges against former Pike River boss Peter Whittall over the Pike River mine explosion, they claimed that the simultaneous announcement that he would pay compensation to the families of the 29 men he was accused of killing was just a coincidence, and that there was no deal. As usual, they lied …… ”
After years of increasing fares and cutting routes – the tide seems to be turning – after Air New Zealand announced domestic tickets will decrease by up to 50 per cent. The cheapest regional routes will now start from $39.
Blomfield said the High Court ruling was followed by Slater filing with the Court of Appeal then seeking to delay the subsequent hearing on the basis of ill-health. He said Slater was then obliged by the court to provide evidence supporting his claims around his health and “that evidence simply didn’t support his application”.
“He has told the public he had two strokes, but the evidence showed he had only had one. He keeps repeating the fact [sic] that the stroke was caused by stress and that he must now avoid stress. However, the medical evidence is that his particular stroke has nothing to do with stress and he is in no more danger of another stroke due to stress than any other person.
“He claimed to have cognitive and language impairment because of his stroke, but the evidence showed he had none. He claimed to be too incapacitated to communicate with his lawyers, but he was simultaneously engaging in political discussions in the comments section of the Whale Oil website.”
Blomfield said the Court of Appeal gave Slater until February 22 to provide evidence supporting his claims of ill-health.
“He filed no response at all. Instead, he applied for bankruptcy. He is now saying his proceedings need to be halted for that reason. He is doing everything he can to avoid the consequences of his own nefarious actions.”
Kia ora Newshub Paddy the fire in Tasman has flared up again you say it is the dryest year on record.
There you go more carbon being spilled at sea on a heritage class Island site in Australia.
The Exotic animals that have been Taxidermed for sale by auction look like they will get a lot of interest from hunting lodges Ka kite ano P.S The Mokopunas are a big distraction
Kia ora The AM Show.
The small business are the backbone of the country so if the growth fund grows small businesses in the regions that will lift the regions economy.
I have already predicted that trump won’t win the 2020 election.
The muppets around here like to let fireworks off when the fireworks season has long finished they are wishing to become cowboys fools.
I still don’t trust your polls they look loaded from what I see most people in NZ don’t support trump????????.
I know who all the rats ARE.
It would be a good show if you talk about the real big issue the whole world faces but know you just focus on the trump and brexit distractions. You should be taking about climate change that’s is what is the biggest issue for our grandchildren O that’s correct neanderthal can’t think about the futures wellbeing.???????????.
NO fool if you look at Europe all the wealthy stable countries have heaps railway tracks cheap reliable trains low cost mostly elictric trains so we are about to go back 30 years and build a low cost railway. That is the best way to make the regions wealthy. Railways are a stable cheap way to transport people and goods China seen that hence the new Silk Road railway are not prone to oil prices shocks that is what North Land needs not oil burning 3 Lane high ways.
You don’t look trust worthy steve rogers you looks like A go oil part neanderthal big conflict of interest there go oil party pinned its tail on trump and they are going to lose all the power they have bestowed on them by the American people. I have seen trump being a racist bigot on air he picks fight with China he trashes Obama one doesn’t have to be very bright to see trump is a racist person if you can’t see that well the prizim of the $$$$&&$$$$$$, is blinding you.
There you go the dryest year on record in Tasman and know one is taking about the big picture climate change trump is suppressing that I can see that plan as day.
Chris the American metrologist not one word about climate change that’s just backs my words up.
He is losing his base duncan and the am shows hip pocket are being filled by trumps puppets for there bullshit he does not understand the ways of Asia cultures.
I say it is cool that Hugh Jackman is visiting Aotearoa on his world tour. He is inspiring Alot of our youth to become Stars like him.
Even your guest are in on supporting trump he can not look into the camera.
The lady keeps a straight face but her hands are giving away her nervousness te waha can – – – but the body gives it away. te trump show. the guest have been given scripts lol just like the poll just trying to manipulate the people.
Living wage Pay is a good way to keep workers as in the last 30 years management has stolen a bigger % of companies money and the people who make the money for the company are getting less.
Look at Fonterra it has not delivered to farmers what was sold to them they have just made the cost of managing the export of milk powder more expensive and given farmers sweets f all. Ka kite ano
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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. ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shireen Morris, Associate Professor and Director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie University Law School, Macquarie University Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock Foreign interference in Australian democracy poses a growing risk to our national sovereignty. It refers to coercive, corrupt or ...
A defendant charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for 14 August 2024. ...
What to say when pesky journalists ask gotcha questions like ‘can you name a single book you’ve ever read?’ and ‘did you read it, or did you just see the movie?’This week, Act Party arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson foolishly agreed to an interview with Newsroom’s Steve Braunias regarding his ...
Explainer - What will a ban on cellphones in schools achieve? Can students use them during lunch breaks? And what happens if you need to contact your child? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Jodi Rowley, CC BY-NC-ND In winter 2021, Australia’s frogs started dropping dead. People began posting images of dead frogs on social media. Unable to travel to investigate the deaths ...
In the year ended March 2024, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wasay Majid, Research Assistant , University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s accommodation supplement scheme is facing scrutiny, with Social Development Minister Louise Upston recently saying “there is merit in considering whether the current settings are fair and sustainable long-term”. The ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The first prime ministerial candidate has been announced in Solomon Islands and it is not Manasseh Sogavare. The man of the hour is Jeremiah Manele, the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel Province, who served as minister of foreign affairs in the last government. ...
Protesting the removal of bins by leaving piles of your dog’s shit for others to deal with doesn’t make you a hero – it’s precious and entitled behaviour. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve stood on the shoreline of Auckland’s Cheltenham beach, desperately trying to scoop increasingly liquid dog shit ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon will be alert to the factors driving the dire polling, but won't be waving the white flag just yet, RNZ political editor Jo Moir writes. ...
Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a burnt-out corporate escapee explains how she gets by ‘working as little as possible’. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 31 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Contractor in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Schmidt, Professor of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney Albert Russ / Shutterstock The icebreaker of many a barbeque conversation is something like “what do you do for a crust?” “I teach chemistry at university,” is what we usually reply. Then silence. Our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asher Flynn, Associate Professor of Criminology, Monash University Shutterstock Sexual harassment is often considered to be a person-to-person act, but new research shows Australians are also experiencing and perpetrating workplace harassment in large numbers through technology. Our latest study shows one ...
A petition signed by more than 16,500 people, demanding the government take stronger action to halt the genocide of Palestinians by the State of Israel, is being presented to the House of Representatives today by Hon Phil Twyford. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University jenmartin/Shutterstock April has been a bad month for the Australian environment. The Great Barrier Reef was hit, yet again, by intense coral bleaching. And Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek delayed ...
Winston Peters might not give a ‘rat’s derriere’ about last night’s poll, but it revealed the unusual absence of a honeymoon period and little payoff for the government’s action plan approach, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco de Jong, Lecturer, Law School, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Details released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Official Information Act reveal New Zealand officials have been considering involvement in AUKUS from the outset. ...
The government's treatment of Māori raised eyebrows, with countries saying New Zealand needed to do more to reduce health, education and justice inequities. ...
The age of criminal responsibility was one of numerous human rights issues raised during Aotearoa New Zealand’s UPR. Other key themes were racism and discrimination, the disproportionate representation of Māori in prison, and to uphold the UN Declaration ...
In a sitdown interview ahead of his final day at Parliament this week, the former Green Party co-leader tells RNZ about his lowest point during 2017's rough election campaign. ...
Is the fringe radio station really in a financial crisis, or is it just running a hyped-up donation drive? Fringe internet radio station Reality Check Radio was launched by the anti-vaccine mandates group Voices for Freedom in March 2023. For the next year, it undertook probably the most aggressive promotional ...
Above the Fold: On Monday, the biggest Māori screen production company faced down the biggest funder of Māori content at the High Court. It was an incredibly tense moment – then, just as quickly, it resolved. Duncan Greive breaks down a strange day in the screen sector.Yesterday morning, Māori ...
When it comes to talking about the Government’s controversial fast-track consenting process, political scientist Richard Shaw refers to the famous Chinese sci-fi novel Three-Body Problem, while RNZ’s In Depth journalist Farah Hancock talks about zombie projects. Shaw is referring to the three-party coalition Government and how the proposed legislation is ...
Opinion: The debate over single gender versus co-educational schooling has long been controversial. I went to a co-ed school and was inspired by a remarkable woman who was my maths teacher, and because of her deep knowledge and passion for the subject, I knew that maths was definitely an option ...
He won everything and he earned a knighthood and he was a senior literary figure to the point that he was a living monument to himself until his death in the weekend at 86, but there was something about Vincent O’Sullivan that flew under the radar, that was independent and ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 30 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s a ride that’s lasted almost 30 years for mother and daughter BMX riders Nancy and Toni James, and the next stop is the World Championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Almost 27 years ago, Nancy and her husband Gerrard took their oldest child, Daniel, to the Waitākere BMX Club. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia The rate of women killed by their partners in Australia grew by 28% from 2021–22 to 2022–23, according to new statistics released today by the Australian Institute of Criminology ...
Ministry of Disabled People employees were promised a permanent role, but were told to start packing three weeks before their fixed term contract finished, says a former employee. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering, Australian National University Clean Energy Council / Neoen As Australia’s rapid renewable energy rollout continues, so too does debate over land use. Nationals Leader David Littleproud, for example, claimed regional areas had reached “saturation point” and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan C. Walsh, Sessional Academic, The University of Queensland Arrest for witchcraft (1866) by John PettieNGV, CC BY-NC In recent decades, governments the world over have increasingly taken action to address the dark history of witch-hunting. In western Europe, memorials to ...
By Mark Rabago, RNZ Pacific Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas correspondent The US Department of Justice is being urged to condemn and cease its reliance on the “Insular Cases” — a series of US Supreme Court opinions on US territories, which have been labelled racist. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kara Dadswell, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Victoria University Ask your son or daughter, niece, or nephew to draw you a picture of a sport coach. They will most probably draw a man. Why? Our latest research published in the Psychology of Sport ...
Ngapuhi woman, fluent in Te Reo, English and French makes Big Mistake by marrying foreign guy who just happens to live and work with multiple sclerosis.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383367/maori-teacher-s-husband-barred-from-new-zealand-due-to-multiple-sclerosis
Her skills are desperately needed….http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1902/S00187/crown-launches-commitment-to-te-reo-maori.htm
As are her husband’s….”… works full-time for the Housing Ministry in his native Quebec.
He coaches young people with disabilities and he has multiple sclerosis.”
But, nah. Fuck off. You have a disability…and we don’t like your kind around here…..
So. Is this policy from Immigration going to continue even under this supposedly more humane and kind administration?
Is this the true nature of the Coalition of Lovingkindness?
Or is it way past time that someone told Immigration that there has been a change of government and we are not going to act like officious, heartless arseholes anymore?
SSDD
Rosemary, I suspect you can gauge the Immigration Dept’s feelings about the new Government by the way they tried to stitch up Iain Lees Galloway.
National made sure the heads of most, if not all, of the Ministries were Tory Compliant during their nine years in power. It’s going to take a while to weed them out.
That’s where Roundup can rightfully be used. Gnats can’t even excuse themselves as roses in the wrong bed.
What the hell is going on at INZ!!!!
The number of appeals has gone up, many/most of which get accepted because fuckups were made in the first place.
I just don’t believe it can all be put down to staff churn and inexperience.
As things stand, they seem incapable of distinguishing between genuine cases and people with skills we (NZ Inc. needs), and those pulling rorts. (The job buying, the shitty tertiary education schemes, the sham relationships, the lack of monitoring of advisors – one you’ll recall a convicted fraudster)
I’m currently with extended family who’ve now, like many others, decided to just give up after having wasted nearly ten years dealing with the incompetence.
Then there’s that other little agency under MBIE that have allowed themselves to become overwhelmed by the number of cases of exploitation in the workplace
The muppetry now just beggars belief. It’s becoming harder not to believe there is a bit of an agenda at play among some of the senior management – and as you say @TRP, the attempts at trying to stitch up I L-G haven’t gone unnoticed.
Meanwhile, the rorts continue unabated whilst the genuine immigrant gets hammered.
I have to say it’s probably about time Ministers started paying closer attention to some of the people dealing with various cases (McClymont, Malcolm, and a few others, as well as those working with the exploited) rather than relying on ‘their officials’. It has become way past a joke.
But then I guess MBIE is not the only muppetry that the coalition are having to deal with (NZTA, WINZ et al)
Excellently said Tim 100%
I could not have said it; – that well .
please keep it up, – all is appreciated.
MBIE/NZTA are all the babies constructed by the very controversial “Mr Fix all” Steven Joyce, so that is why we have these useless ‘seeded bureaucrats still all sitting there now, as he seeded them with his clones.
Labour must ‘weed all these national Party ‘sleeping cells’ inside these agencies out or face possibly loosing the next election next year, – It is now labour’s choice as they have 17 months left to do this.
Tick – tick -tick!
“What the hell is going on at INZ!!!!”
They’re actually doing their job and enforcing the rules.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/research-papers/document/00PLSocRP08011/immigration-chronology-selected-events-1840-2008
Those wanting to come to Godzone had better be in tip- top health with fully functioning everything, as the less- than-perfect in mind, wind and limb are simply not welcome since….https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual-archive/5453.HTM ?
As for thinking that being the spouse of a New Zealander…and tangata whenua to boot… is going to get you special treatment….forget it.
“….and removed the provision for special treatment for the spouses of New Zealand citizens. This meant that applicants for the grant of citizenship who were married to New Zealand citizens would be required to meet the five-year residency period.” https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual-archive/5453.HTM
That particular little turd was brought in under the 2005 amendments.
So much for the new Family Friendly New Zealand….putting the wellbeing of all to the fore.
Are we still supposed to accept that this current Labour- led government is in any fundamental way different from the previous?
SSDD
“They’re actually doing their job and enforcing the rules.”
The problem appears to be with interpretation of the rules in many cases as the number of appeals will attest.
But then as I’ve said on many occasions – it’s all working as designed and its way past time the system (and the culture within) is dismantled.
But then there’s also the other problem with other units within MBIE that don’t quite fit with the idea that “They’re actually doing their job and enforcing the rules.”
The Labour Inspectorate now seem more prepared to admit that the number of cases of exploitation are greater than they’d thought – even though a moron in a hurry could have told them that several years ago (many tried!)
Again, we had one manager telling us all they had sufficient Labour Inspectors a few weeks before the government was elected – CLEARLY bullshit!)
I accept they’ve been under-resourced in so many areas, but that doesn’t explain the continued bullshit that keeps emanating from the place.
Perhaps if they looked into WHY there is inexperience and churn in the place – could be a starting point?
It’s high time for reform (not just MBIE) if the coalition wants to make headway.
I’m almost beginning to feel a tiny bit of sympathy for Peter Hughes – having to tell more and more of the PS senior “officials” what should have been bleeding bloody obvious!!!!! (Thompson and Clark anyone? Demographic Profiling anyone? etc etc etc). And MBIE’s new CEO was handed a bit of a poison chalice after that knobhead that moved in to create Messrs Joyce and Coleman’s vanity project.
Tim,
During the first national Government we heard by email (anonymous) that Mr Fix it” Steven Joyce had authorised a circular that was sent out by MBIE to every employee a warning to agree with the current government policy and act accordingly; – or find a new job.
In cases where any press releases would be sent the managers were also warned not to say anything that would ‘ebmassess the Government policy as their employment would be reviewed’.
Labour now needs to repeat this National control policy of the “Public services staff” as they need to support the current Government also.
Codes of Conduct don’t apply to Masters of the Universe @CG. Let alone just behaving ethically and in the public interest. Just as long as you’re in the club.
(/sarc btw)
I can’t remember the most recent ‘issue’ that the SSCommisar has been called in to slap a wet bus ticket over some ‘officials’ but its been in the past couple of weeks.
OwT
I wonder too about the management of semi government entities. I have been thinking about DHB’s – treating our medical sector as if they were factory workers. And the budget setting of hospitals – who sets that? The old refrain was that they were cutting fat out of the system. Sounds very medical doesn’t it – keyhole surgery anyone? But all the liposuction that can be done must have been done. Now we have the harsh reality of intention from the top, to cut back all public services to their level of incompetence I believe.
(And who are behind the top bananas? Who set this austerity regime in place that is ruining all the people’s living standards in the world? And can look with equanimity and ready judgments as people struggle and fall down.)
I think the present management mentality is to treat everybody entering a sector as an intern and work them to the bone on the basis that one day they will have a good salary if they just stick through. It is another version of the ‘couch’ interview that applicant starlets had to go through to get places in productions. Too many psychopathic Harveys at the top with their modern business training, turning out to become standard Dalek-like figures, chanting ‘Exploit, Exploit, Exploit’.
Note:
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, created by the megalomaniacal scientist Davros of the planet Skaro to be an emotionless “master race” bent on universal conquest and domination, utterly without pity, compassion or remorse.
The Daleks – Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Daleks
Today’s public servants see everything in black and white terms. They don’t like grey areas. They don’t like Labour-led coalitions because they have a pesky habit of considering those grey areas and that makes their job harder to do.
They have yet to catch up with the new mantra of justice and fair play. – or should I say the old mantra of j and f play which was tossed out of the window 30 plus years ago.
“Is this policy from Immigration going to continue even under this supposedly more humane and kind administration?”
Yes. That agency tried to slip in an exception into NZ’s principled position during negotiation of the UN Disability Convention and though officials talked them down informally at the time, Immigration NZ have never been slapped back forcefully enough by any of our govts since.
Seeing disabled people only as a burden is not good enough. Yet here we are.
“Immigration NZ have never been slapped back forcefully enough by any of our govts since.”
Time to call in the experts.
Quite. Can’t imagine MPI being nearly that useful.
Thanks Rosemary
MP still sending up everything they touch. It helps to keep some lightness about you when looking at today’s politics. Just that word ‘politics’ alone offers avenues of fun. Like how many words can one make out of it. When one feels that one can’t make any sense out of it, that could always provide a little light relief.
Thanks for that Rosemary, brought back many a happy memory before the world was highjacked by Freidmans Neo Con Fuckwits.
Well. Must have been the thought of a wet fish about the ear hole coz….
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383446/canadian-husband-of-whangarei-teacher-now-allowed-into-new-zealand
Morena, Standarnistas!
A whole bunch of comments from late last night were held in the mod queue until I manually released them a few moments ago. There were a few from Sam and a couple from Gosman and a scattering of other poster’s comments. I’m not sure what the issue was, but I hope normal service has now been resumed.
Have a nice day, y’all.
What is it with Grant Robertson?
He can’t seem to speak proply… or rather, on te radio and on Q&A last night, he avoids the basic words that people relate to and understand..
.. such as “the workers pay tax, why can’t the capitalists?”
.. “this is about making the rich pay a little more, so the working poor pay a little less.. at the moment the rich pay nothing on their speculative gains – it’s not even work”
.. “why do we penalise work by taxing income and not capital?”
..”workers work hard all their lives to provide for their families. They dont earn enough to even save, so why are they penalised with income tax, when the speculators aren’t?”
Mr Robertson – stop diving into ‘Wellington-speak’ every time. Take a leaf from Winnie’s book and lay some big one-liners down. Use words and sentences that people can relate to. And finally, get new glasses that don’t put a bocking line through your eyes.
Alternatively, remove him from public speaking roles
Wellington speak one-liners like Barry Sopers “PM in state of shock at capital gains reaction”……
Yep, more fake news from the tory puppets.
Probably because he does not want to come across as a class warrior. Which would not likely help the popularity of the government.
So Labour 47% + Greens + NZ1st
Natz 42% + the little nat
And so banning oil exploration? Adjusting Taina Poras compensation for inflation, signing the TPP11. Kind of like that kind of bad for popularity, eh?
Who is the baby Nat is that Seeless whose party will become extinct after the 2020 Election.
Sorry who? Twerkman. No wait, End of life bill Patty. It’s on the tip of my tongue just can’t seem to get past the irrelevance.
Don’t make fun about The End of Life Bill Sam.
That is serious and I want it brought in along with consultation to ensure that it is worded with care and meets all reasonable requirements and is overseen by some independent authority of integrity.
It may be the one thing that is worthwhile that ACT has championed.
It is important to many people and the whole country’s betterment.
That bill was trash. We already have pain management that can be subscribe by an A&E doctor. There was no need to make the process complicated by 3 times.
Maybe some people don’t want to be in doctor’s hands at some particular point of their decline, and want to take themselves into the next stage – unto death. Maybe they have a right to decide what they want to do and not wait helplessly for the decision of minor gods.
Perhaps. Although if a patient wants access to life ending medicine, I mean only doctors are certified to prescribe. That’s life.
Well then he is a chicken and letting others define the issues.
How is someone stating the fact that the working poor pay taxes on the meagre money they make, while the non-working wealthy pay no tax on money they make a “class warrior”?
I also think you are conflating class with money. Most rich have no class in my experience, they have gauchity and baubles, too much make-up and too many bright jackets, trinkets and toys, scathing words and poorly attitudes – but they have little to no class.
The poor have on average a great deal more class, as in manners and respect for others.
back to the cgt: Everybody is scared shitless of the lazy bludgers making asset value gains from no work. And paying no tax.
Wayne, why do we tax and penalise work, and not freeloading asset appreciation?
If there is to be no capital gains tax, then there should also be no income gains tax.
Fuck paying income tax anymore. The rich bludgers don’t want to pay tax, so neither will we.
“Probably because he does not want to come across as a class warrior”
As so many people have said that it has become a trope – it’s only called “class war” when the poor (or the non-rich) fight back.
Kindly take your linguistic deceitfulness somewhere else.
vto @ 3
Grant Robertson is normally a clear and coherent speaker but I have to agree with you. It wasn’t a good presentation. I had difficulty understanding him.
I wonder if the change of time is part of the problem. I’ve picked up that the interviewees look quite tired and not up to their usual performances. Imo, it’s a poor decision to go for a 9:30 pm start on a Monday night.
I wonder whether the real opposition to a left wing Government, is in the Labour cabinet.
Many seem less than enthusiastic, about any socialist policies.
And, it shows in their speeches.
‘The Coup Has Failed & Now the U.S. Is Looking to Wage War: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Speaks Out.’
Will be interesting to see how many Trump hating, Russian conspiracy sycophants will fall in behind Trumps regime change here…quite a few I suspect.
‘The Making of Juan Guaido: How the US Regime Change Laboratory Created Venezuela’s Coup Leader’
https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuela-coup-leader/254387/
American Psycho: US ‘conservative’ congressman Marco Rubio posts tweet of Gaddafi’s lynching as threat to Venezuela’s Maduro
https://www.sott.net/article/407970-American-Psycho-US-conservative-congressman-Marco-Rubio-posts-tweet-of-Gaddafis-lynching-as-threat-to-Venezuelas-Maduro
Here is an image of what US lead regime change actually means…
https://www.sott.net/image/s25/511577/large/Rubio_Gaddafi.jpg
Gaddafi was lynched by his own people because of the incompetence and brutality of his regime. I think it is a very apt warning to Maduro. Don’t try and do a Gaddafi and stay on beyond what the people want.
Libya was a right royal F5$K Up for everyone Gosman, the Libyan people were a shitload better off b4 the Yanks poked their grubby little noses in there, you are a clown of the first order, who does not know shit from clay.
Yeah that’s why they rose up and overthrew him. You are aware of how Gaddafi maintained power and how he suppressed anyone who might be a threat to his messed up regime aren’t you?
Expert on Venezuela AND Libya…
Where have I claimed I am an expert on any of those topics? I know a lot about Venezuela but much less about Libya. I wouldn’t classify myself as an expert. This is a discussion. If you have counter facts then present them. Engaging in ad hominem attacks on me won’t make your case stronger though.
Lol calling you an expert is a ad hominem attack – what a guy
Yeah Marty. I’m well aware of sarcasm.
I’m sure you are.
Calling you a liar on this is not an ad hominem when it’s true. And on this topic you have lied so often, it is sickening.
Name me one lie. We’ve gone through this before though. You refuse to detail anything I have supposedly lied about. Instead you just make generalised statements about me lying about Venezuela.
Repeating US, propaganda, like a bloody parrot, despite many references and facts given to you, that showed you were talking nonsense, almost made me moderate you.
However I tend to the view that even parroting fools deserve to be heard, and show up the inconsistency’s, in their arguments, over time.
What US propaganda? I am very careful not to post anything about Venezuela that cannot be backed up with evidence on the ground.
While studiously ignoring, facts on the ground, like the one below.
https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/poverty-reduction-venezuela
“Venezuela has seen a remarkable reduction in poverty since the first quarter of 2003. In the ensuing four years, from 2003 to 2007, the poverty rate was cut in half, from 54 percent of households to 27.5 percent. (See Table 1). This is measured from the first half of 2003 to the first half of 2007. As can be seen in the table, the poverty rate rose very slightly by one percentage point in the second half of 2007, most likely due to rising food prices. Extreme poverty fell even more, by 70 percent—from 25.1 percent of households to 7.6 percent.
These poverty rates measure only cash income; as will be discussed below, they do not include non-cash benefits to the poor such as access to health care or education.
If Venezuela were almost any other country, such a large reduction of poverty in a relatively short time would be noticed as a significant achievement”.
Which don’t suit your narrative.
I give you that, as with the “weapons of mass destruction” you are not on your own with lying like a flatfish, sorry, being economical with the truth, about regimes the USA wants to remove.
No, I have no problem agreeing that Chavez was very good at spending money on poverty reduction in the first few years of his time in power and that had initially very good results. However the way he went about this laid the seeds for the economic collapse that followed. The poverty rate in Venezuela now is much worse than when the Chavista regime took over in 1999.
“Poverty in Venezuela is an epidemic. Nearly 90 percent of Venezuelans live in poverty. According to estimates by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, this is a dramatic increase from 2014 when 48 percent of Venezuelans lived in poverty. Maria Ponce is an investigator with the local universities researching the food shortage, and she stated that “this disparity between the rise in prices and the population’s salaries is so generalized that there is practically not a single Venezuelan who is not poor.””
https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-poverty-in-venezuela/
The results of US economic sanctions, rich whites in Venezuala upset about paying taxes, combined with repeated coup attempts and a US inspired collapse in their main export earner, would challenge the most competent Government.
Which I will agree Maduro’s is probably not.
However the corrupt self interested A holes the US wants to replace them with, are a lot worse.
No it wouldn’t. There are lot’s of countries with incompetent politicians and even those who have serious economic disruption (some even involving war). These nations aren’t suffering Hyper-inflation of the scale that Venezuela has or even the sort of economic contraction that has occured in Venezuela (which remember has still been able to sell 40% plus of oil to it’s supposed arch enemy of the USA in this period AND access funding from Russia and China).
Venezuela is quite unique in the World as being at peace yet suffering from negative impact worse than a nation at war. This is not the US’s fault. It is the fault of the policies of the Venezuelan regime. These include Price controls, Overvalued exchange rate, Nationalisation of key sectors of the economy, Printing money to cover huge budget deficits. None of these policies have been imposed on them by the US. All of them heve lead to the economic misery the country now faces.
Wow gossy you just can’t stop lying can you. You just can’t take you ideological blinkers for one second. Because to have to admit that US, Canada and The UK are actually stuffing with Venezuela economy would bring down all your other lies.
Sad, sad little man.
Toilet paper was your first lie. You have lied about the elections, you lied about trade, you lied about sanctions, and you lied about the constitution.
Those are just off the top of my head without going through all your posts.
You lie. I’d say it’s because you’re an ideolog, if I was being generous.
But as of today I think it’s because you actually want a war.
So keep spreading your lies, you will get what you want, death and the murder of civilians in a civil war. People like you will have made that happen. You sad, sad, little man.
What lie did I make about toilet paper?
Even socialists have to buy toilet paper during a revolution.
I pulled you up on your toilet paper lies years ago.
Convenient for you to forget.
Humour me and show me where you revealed my lies about toilet paper shortages in Venezuela again.
You show very little understanding of what’s happening in Venezuela, Gosman.
Like Indonesia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia. You mean.
The Usa is a Mafia Gangster state and their negotiations consist of “do what we say or we kill you and make your children suffer” ….. as they did to Gaddafi when Nato became ISIS / Al Quada / Nusras airforce.
He was Lynched usa style …. as they used to whip, castrate, burn and torture the negros before the mob hanging.
It was a British plane which bombed Gaddafis convoy allowing the muslim extremist and western backed rebels to get their hands on him.
Peace offers and election negotiations were turned down by the wardogs like Hillary Clinton and Nato …… Something like 10,000 bombing missions were carried out killing thousands of civilians and destroying their infrastructure.
What happened to Gaddafi was symbolic of what then happened to Libya ….the Nato ‘liberated’ country.
Regarding womans rights and schooling for instance …. thats all gone…. child brides in arranged marriages back in.
Gaddafi had female body guards who had to flee the country ….. two who didn’t were raped to death …. literally …. or raped for hours / days before being garrotted.
And the black population of Libya were ethnically cleanesed with hundreds of Lynchings with them ending up swinging from meat hooks and ropes ….. Libya was totally destroyed as a modern socialist society.
The people of Venezuela do not want what the usa brought to Libya …. and it seems to be what the usa is threatening.
Did Bazil Brush Soper slip over in the shower and bang his head this morning, the guy needs help, or needs to change the colour of his pills.
Look Gosman, I know that you missed your opportunity of being a camp guard, and that now you express that frustration and your vile world view on the Standard every single day in a literal tsunami of comments, and lots of people seems quite happy to argue with you, however this is a serious subject and I have no stomach for your sick twisted ideology today thank you..please go spread your sickness somewhere else.
This is Open mike and therefore is open to all ranges of views and opinions. You aren’t a moderator so unless you can convince a moderator to do something (what I don’t know considering I am not in breech of any rules around commenting that I am aware of) you are going to have to suck it up sunshine.
“considering I am not in breech of any rules around commenting”…
Except trolling like a motherfucker.
Your definition of trolling is obviously different to the moderators. Take it up with them.
It’s funny how many people think “troll” is a synonym for “person who writes comments I don’t like.”
I like very much debating with people who have different views, just ask anyone who knows me, or look at my history on The Standard, but I don’t like debating with people who just argue every single fucking thing that is said by pretty everyone for what seems to be for no reason at all except to troll, or maybe for some other weird freudian reason that I can’t pinpoint..that is just boring and pointless.
I’m actually very selective on the topics and comments I respond to. Yours tends to be selected because you make uninformed and ridiculous comments about Venezuela.
Gosman please go away and troll someone else who gives a fuck what you think..I do not.
As long as you continue to post nonsense about Venezuela I will continue replying Adrian. You can of course stop me doing this but stopping posting nonsense about Venezuela. The ball is in your court.
Below $72k distributions fail to comprehend your sophistry. It actual isn’t difficult to force you to concede that your original premise for your Venezuela ideology was just bullshit on a stick.
Some do, milt…
You’ve been around long enough to have observed the gosman handles mode of operation…gosman exhibits all the classic tr*ll behaviours…not quite a bottom feeder…but close to it…
Perhaps you don’t notice such tactics…
Gosman. another wate of time you just made again.
Get a real job!!!
Thanks for the advice but; – no!!! – we wont’ listen to your tripe any more – so don’t waste time using your pinkie any more no-ones listening other than your clones.
Does this Gosman work or just spend all day on the computer wasting everybody’s time. Please do not waste your time feeding this little bottom feeding weasel he irritates the f&*k out of me, he needs professional help.
Re: ‘Suck it up Sunshine’ and other apparently non trolling activities on the TS
No one on The Standard is about to silence you Gossman, as at this point it would probably halve the number of comments on any given day, and we’ve pretty much reached the bottom of the barrell a long time back.
The technique of swamping a post or thread with lots of comments usually arguing minutiae, semantics, actual meanings of words and other deliberate techniques to distract and detach from the subjects at hand. 101 stuff and effective and annoying and deliberate.
Hit the nail there Siobhan; & marty mars, 100%
Gosman = no constructive intelligent discussion.
he/she only answers questions with more questions, it is a technique of swamping a post or thread with lots of more useless anti-constructive comments to take the subject off course.
An attack of and by Gosmania again!
Gosman: “I am not in breech of any rules…” – still flying by the seat of your pants, you have me in stitches yet again. Maybe sit this one out?
Other mods may see it differently, but for mine Gosman is not a troll, Adrian.
There is a clear effort to write relevant comments, put coherent points of view and engage in debate. They may be views from the right, but as TS is not an echo chamber, that’s fine.
However, even if I don’t think Gosman is a troll, nobody is required to feed him.
“nobody is required to feed him”
Indeed. Biggest problem here for ages is those unable to resist reacting.
Bad faith comments become more obvious when they sit on their own.
I beg to differ, just because Gosman can string two sentences together that are not complete gibberish and are coherent, doesn’t mean that it isn’t trolling.
But then I am not a moderator…so whatever.
There was an excellent conclusion to DW’s Frank Sieren commenting on the recent Munich Security Conference about the place of EU between China and the U.S. It’s very similar to where New Zealand finds itself now between both those powers, and indeed with respect to the EU as well:
https://www.dw.com/en/sierens-china-time-for-the-eu-change-its-global-mindset/a-47682992
“What makes sense for the EU is becoming increasingly obvious. China and the US have to be kept in check by strong global institutions, which allow for debate and changing coalitions. The EU does not even have a common China strategy and one needs to be worked out. If we do not allow China to defend its own interests, then China can’t agree to us defending our own. We’ll only be able to act in a way that is strategically smart if we change our perspective.
Merkel admitted this, too, in a surprisingly open way: “I am firmly convinced that it is better to put ourselves in one another’s shoes, to look beyond our own interests and to see whether we can achieve win-win solutions together rather than to think we can solve everything ourselves.”
The irony of history is that US President Donald Trump’s attempts to shape international policy unilaterally are inadvertently leading to the dismantling of the old order. To put it more optimistically: Trump’s selfishness is fertilizer for a multipolar world order that is forcing the EU to finally come off the fence.”
I would be in favour of a ‘Capital Gains tax’ if it funds this option I propose for saving our planet from Climate change;
It would be more productive and environmentally sustainable for Government to offer better options for property owners to get these subsidies to make all properties more healthy.
*For better insulation like using wool underlay and wool carpeting.
*Double glazing of windows.
*This would also stimulate more jobs.
*Also sheep farmer incomes would rise and assist them to cope with lowering ‘climate change emissions’.
*These improvements would effectively be helping to slow Climate change and will slow the rate of increasing dampness, rain and extreme weather event that cause more dampness and mould in homes.
“Good laid plans make for far better outcomes”
Whaleoil has filed for bankruptcy:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12207250
I hope the various court cases continue. He does not deserve to wriggle out of personal liability that easily.
Yes sasha
I want to see him face the judge, then he could be in jail for a long time paying $25 weekly to pay all those liabilities he is now facing.
Though he may now flee again to Israel as he did in 2016?
I just want to see a conviction or three recorded against his name forever, to officially recognise what he has done.
Plus whatever other arrangements are available to stop him and his cronies doing the same again. Jail seems unlikely to help achieve that in his case, though it might apply to some co-defendants.
Yeah baby yeah
Yes Ad, the Whale oil bit Whahoo!! and Jenny Shipley and 3 other Mainzeal Directors have to pay 36 million. Yay!! There is a God and she is getting it right!!
Just in case anyone has missed the details of this
delectablemost interesting judgment – read on.The High Court has ruled collapsed property and construction company Mainzeal traded while insolvent for nine years and has held some of the directors liable for $36 million for letting it happen.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/383397/high-court-rules-mainzeal-directors-liable-for-36m
Just shows that business in NZ is used to being subsidised by government in numerous ways, under the table, but when it’s their own there is no guarantee of support.
I see that many find this news of interest, so sorry everyone for adding to the links. I am impressed that they thought that the head honchos would pick up the tab for whatever they did as a twig on the branch. Very organic-thinking. Is that something they teach at Directors’ School?
Further there was a $millions loans that Mainzeal made were reported as having generated millions of dollars of profit. I thought to whom? and looked further.
By the time it went into liquidation in 2013, Mainzeal had made loans to related companies totalling some $61m.
Today, the lawyer for the liquidators, Mark O’Brien, told the court that a $10.3m loan from Mainzeal was used to help parent company Richina with highly-lucrative acquisitions in Shanghai.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/375760/mainzeal-loan-generated-hundreds-of-millions-in-wealth-court-hears
I think we aren’t mean and ugly enough to cope with the hyenas of the world.
We need to steel cap our teeth like in Jaws an old movie. It might help if we had seven foot businessmen too.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrgYwlVSQFg
So the ship pays the money, and that’s the end of it?
She should be struck off as a director of any NZ company, a stint doing PD probably wouldn’t hurt either.
No. It gets paid by an insurance company.
This bit from mac1 at 13.3 should go under that above about giving out loans to the main company. It seems NZ people missing out all the time – money made here just flows around the citizens feet and offshore to foreigners, or possibly to NZ holdings through the Cook Islands. I heard a report the other day that sounded as if Winston’s Winebox Inquiry hadn’t stopped the devious financial dealings at all.
“”When the company collapsed in 2013, unpaid subcontractors and creditors were owed more than $115m. Many of these creditors themselves were put into serious financial difficulty as a result of the decisions made by the former directors.”
That blows.
Can someone correct me if I am wrong. The Mainzeal directors lent money to their Chinese major company so that they could buy Chinese or other profitable businesses. Meanwhile the NZ company was not solvent, and in effect loaned money that was owed to NZ suppliers to their master company, and kept on operating on slender or no profits, believing that they were so useful that the main company would always bail them out.
And they wouldn’t and didn’t. So in effect Mainzeal was unwisely even fraudulently funding part of the enterprise in China with money owed to NZs. It must have been running as a ponzi scheme for a good length of time.
That’s not prudent behaviour by the Directors, and it goes beyond poor performance as it was a deliberate act of neglect of their duty to pay their suppliers.
UK law: (Think twice before becoming a Director, if the others know more than you about damage control.)
https://www.wheelerslaw.co.uk/site/business/business_companycommercial/directors/
Company Director Responsibilities
In the last few years, new legislation has aimed to prevent company directors from acting irresponsibly. However, the effect of such legislation has been to codify for the first time the duties owed by directors to companies, their shareholders and to the broader community, and to impose heavier burdens on company directors who are determined to act irresponsibly.
Directors’ Statutory Duties
The Companies Act 2006 sets out seven basis principles governing a company director’s behaviour, by imposing specific duties on the director. These are:
the duty to act within the director’s powers. The law and the company’s constitution set out what powers a director has. These powers relate to the matters upon which a director can take action or make decisions on behalf of the company, and the procedures which must be followed.
the duty to promote the success of the company. This does not simply mean that a director must always make decisions so as to maximise the company’s profit. The law provides that the director must always consider:
the likely long-term consequences of his decisions;
the interests of the company’s employees;
the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
the impact of the company’s operations on the environment and community;
the company’s reputation for high standards of business conduct;
the need to act fairly as between shareholders.
the duty to exercise independent judgement. Company directors should always act independently and not allow themselves to be controlled by others.
the duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence. What this means depends on any special skill or knowledge a director has. For example, a company director who is also an accountant would have a higher duty of care in financial management than one who has no special knowledge of financial matters.
the duty to avoid conflicts of interests. Directors must not allow themselves to fall into situations where their duties to the company are in conflict with their personal interests or duties to others.
the duty not to accept benefits from third parties. A director may not accept any benefit (this would include bribes) which is offered simply because of his position as director.
the duty to declare interests in a proposed transaction with the company. Directors must inform the company if there is any proposed transaction with the company in which the director has a direct or indirect interest. The company’s articles of association will usually provide that a company may still be involved in the decision making process regarding such transactions, if the director has properly declared his interest.
Please don’t punish me with a wall’o text but yeah, I’d agree that Mainzeal had billions in government contrasts from the Sky City convention centre, stadiums, civil infrastructure, not to mention commercial operations. So they weren’t hurting for clients. As far as I can gather Mainzeal would continually renegotiate the quoted price for a building until they couldn’t.
Why would you be punished? If you know about company and directors duties you needn’t look again. It isn’t just a wall of anonymous text, it’s a list of the Responsibilities.
Can someone advise whether there is a possibility of NZ suppliers and contractors mounting a civil suit to see if they could get some of that $117 million back? What about the shareholders? Though a good number of them could be overseas pension investments/retirement savings schemes.
In liquidations, contractors are the last to receive compensation behind landlords and shareholders.
I just don’t get down reading corporate bibles.
I’m actually finding it hard to understand why, the Mainzeal directors, are still out of jail.
It’s in the acronym limited liability. Shareholders assumes no liability.
Shareholders in a limited company cannot be held liable, except in some rare cases. Employees including directors and managers, can.
Financial fraud is just really, really hard to prove. The number of cases that don’t go to trial is one part of the story, the number of public prosecutors with the skills to explain complex financial fraud in a manner that every one else can understand is another story.
Oops!
Even though billionaires work harder…
Simon Bridges is directing his Twitter page readers to Kiwiblog.
He must be comfortable with people reading the comments
section as well then…
Simon is an idiot.
https://mobile.twitter.com/simonjbridges/status/1100125535890432001
https://twitter.com/Suzyiam/status/1100136473557270528
Brutal
It’s how they roll.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/oaCSp4lWJ1qGl6yM/www.critic.co.nz
https://screenshots.firefox.com/IzNV55n7aLy1KPKu/www.kiwiblog.co.nz
The longer that Simon grizzles and gets a fair number of ridicule for his efforts, the less effective will be his plan to undermine. So keep it up Simon.
That seems remarkably reckless.
John Key was remarkably comfortable associating with both Cameron Slater and his partner in crime, David Farrar, but John Key had a 40% preferred PM rating – not 6%…
Bahahahahahaha
Most people didn’t even know about kiwiblog until the Dirty Politics book came out.
Silly simon, does he even know that most people on kb don’t even back him as leader.
ROFL !!!
ha ha
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110863543/former-prime-minister-dame-jenny-shipley-ordered-to-pay-6m-over-mainzeal-collapse
Fuck this day is just getting better
Won’t affect her in the tiniest little bit.
“The directors are covered by liability insurance which will pay their damages.”
Personal responsibility and accountability is for the great unwashed masses, not the elite.
It’ll look great on her cv drey.
That’s right – sadly no double-bunking in a Serco joint for Dame Ship.
Though for our own amusement we could start a competition for the most suitable cellmate.
Maybe Rob Muldoon’s ghost?
From the article cited.
“The directors were covered by liability insurance, and Bethell hoped the damages awarded would be paid quickly.”
Who paid the liabiity insurance?
So, in the end, what sanction applies for a company director guilty of trading while insolvent?
Will she be employed again as a company director. Pay a fine? Go to prison? Have a criminal record? Lose her title?
Or is this the worst she gets?
“”When the company collapsed in 2013, unpaid subcontractors and creditors were owed more than $115m. Many of these creditors themselves were put into serious financial difficulty as a result of the decisions made by the former directors.”
For the behaviour which happened between 2005-13? And which the guilty parties are contemplating appealing, to delay justice thus denying it further.
Wonder if this conviction means creditors can lodge their own civil prosecutions?
“Will she be employed again as a company director. Pay a fine? Go to prison? Have a criminal record? Lose her title?
Or is this the worst she gets?”
+1
I’ll bet the answers to those questions will be: yes, no, no, no, no. Yes.
Not bad for a former PM of New Zealand to be fined $6 million, responsible for a company going broke having borrowed $42 million, and owing $115 million at liquidation.
And the Nats claim to know something about business……………..FFS!
Sorry for the repeated link just saw yours.
Of course no one is really surprised, as everyone in their hearts know that National politicians are all corrupt on some level..it is just a natural part of adhering to their selfish and devious ideology.
Still it is a good news story to enjoy today, RNZ should have it at the end of their hourly news roundup..sort of like a feel good fluffy kitten story.
How sad:
“Ex-Mainzeal chair Jenny Shipley and other directors ordered to pay $36m by High Court.” ( I seem to remember that she and the other directors resigning a few days before the company failed.)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12207386
Edit: Yes Mullett. How sad.
When I click to reply the little cursor? Thing is up by n in bwaghorn . Thought ya might like to know.
Ex- Prime Minister and Chinese Government stooge Jenny Shipley is found guilty as a director of trading Mainzeal while insolvent:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12207386
Shipley’s reforms destroyed so many New Zealand families.
Never forget.
It would be a priority for a prudent government to remove her from the board of the largely publicly funded CCB, which she chairs.
Scientists call for Protection from Non-ionizing Electromagnetic Field Exposure
Scientific basis for our common concerns
Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines. Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plant and animal life.
These findings justify our appeal to the United Nations (UN) and, all member States in the world, to encourage the World Health Organization (WHO) to exert strong leadership in fostering the development of more protective EMF guidelines, encouraging precautionary measures, and educating the public about health risks, particularly risk to children and fetal development. By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfill its role as the preeminent international public health agency.
Collectively we also request that:
1. Children and pregnant women be protected;
2. Guidelines and regulatory standards be strengthened;
3. Manufacturers be encouraged to develop safer technology;
4. Utilities responsible for the generation, transmission, distribution, and monitoring of electricity maintain adequate power quality and ensure proper electrical wiring to minimize harmful ground current;
5. The public be fully informed about the potential health risks from electromagnetic energy and taught harm reduction strategies;
6. Medical professionals be educated about the biological effects of electromagnetic energy and be provided training on treatment of patients with electromagnetic sensitivity;
7. Governments fund training and research on electromagnetic fields and health that is independent of industry and mandate industry cooperation with researchers;
8. Media disclose experts’ financial relationships with industry when citing their opinions regarding health and safety aspects of EMF-emitting technologies;
9. White-zones (radiation-free areas) be established.
Thanks for more on EMF One Two. The problems from 5G are never mentioned it’s all rah rah about how fast it is.
Good for getting films etc so people never have to be without a placebo to look at and so never have to stress and think or imagine. Mind slobs being filled up with whatever candy floss or concoction that the money-diseased find suitable.
I will continue to post and re-post more detail, as there is decades of literature which is in the public domain…
The deployment will continue, and the sales pitch will never include a word about the known dangers and evidence of damage to human, animals, plants and insects…
The deployment will meet considerable road-blocks in the forms of existing legislation and acts (environmental mainly), as well as community’s in various nations and regions as awareness grows regarding the threat posed by cumulative EME build up, as well as the threat to planet earths natural frequencies and harmonics, which are responsible for creating and maintaining ‘life’…
Nations which deploy sooner, will provide the base of updated evidence of the damaged caused by 5G technology and modulations, as at present time the (misleading and incorrect) claims of ‘no known evidence of harm’ in relation to 5G, look certain to require an archive of injury and suffering caused to human beings, and further environmental degradation..
Regrettably, before action will be taken by those agencies charged with protecting public health and the environment…
Climate Change will play a major role in slowing and halting the deployment of damaging technologies, directly and indirectly…
Retain hope, gw…there is large global movement gaining momentum in all nations and regions, including NZ…
More pseudoscience junk from One Two. Anyone who wants to read something scientific on this issue should check out David Gorski on Twitter, he exposes all sorts of quacks & dodgy types, who usually push this type of stuff because they have something to sell to you.
Isn’t Twitter mainly for Twits ands people giving quick responses and updates to their fans? The EMF concerns need more than that.
Your post is about the length of a tweet, so you would be at home there.
EMF concerns are on twitter – you just have to click on them to link to articles of interest.
It seems the prominent cleric found guilty of kiddy-fiddling can now be discussed since the suppression orders have been lifted and the case is reported in said cleric’s home newspapers.
The reason for the suppression order was apparently:
Name redacted and link not supplied in case the suppression order is still active here.
If one more Republican Senator agrees to vote against Trump’s emergency declaration, Trump will be stopped flat on the most important part of his immigration platform.
Pell, Shipley, Whaleoil, Trump; Going to be a good week against the extreme right.
Genghis Can’t will just veto the legislation overturning his emergency declaration, and there won’t be enough Repug votes for the veto override.
It’ll be the courts that stop the “emergency”. The interesting bit will be if it gets to the Supreme Court in time. I’m awfully curious how the 5 Repug justices are going to reconcile upholding the “emergency” with their past positions. Or whether they’ll just brazenly ignore all the precedents and all the principles they’ve previously held dear.
Agreed.
But each of those steps puts President Trump further into isolation and ridicule.
Both sides of the Senate voting to defeat him is massive.
Then being taken to the Supreme Court by Congress.
Then forcing Generals to give up funding for political projects.
Each one of those steps under heavy media scrutiny.
Each one of those steps narrows his base further.
And by then, it’s too late to see anything new constructed in time for the election.
He’s taking this version of white nationalism to its natural political end.
6Agreed.
But each big step isolates Trump further.
A majority from both sides defeats him.
Then the President is taken to the Supreme Court.
Then Generals get large reallocations of dedicated funding.
Each step scritinised by the MSM.
And too late for 2020 construction.
Trump takes his version of nationalism to its predictable end.
Whaleoil, Jenny Shipley, and now one day after the closure of the big Catholic anti-sex crime conference …………….
……………… into jail goes Cardinal Pell.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/cardinal-george-pell-found-guilty-of-child-sex-abuse-20181214-p50m86.html
Makes for a happy day.
He wuz fitted up.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/Pv6b4OvoWstILXV9/www.kiwiblog.co.nz
But Satan made him do it and he’ll suffer the wrath of God.
Satan has the most poetic punishment possible ready for Pell.
A deceiver, so Malebolge it is.
https://www.alpacaprojects.com/inferno/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malebolge
…. and into jail goes Cardinal Pell.
Great day against evil 🙂
Really lovely piece of work from Gordon Campbell on the corrupt relationship between the Chinese government and the National government both in power and in Opposition. Just the historic set of links and relationships set out in it is worth the read by itself:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1902/S00111/gordon-campbell-on-nationals-cosy-relationship-with-china.htm
What a load of boring waffle that was.
Didn’t see any corruption either, just politicians developing trade with China as you would expect since Labour had done a free trade deal with China.
Then we have this article from Oz BM and btw did you know that old mate Locke is in the same bed with you Neo Con/ Libs supporting Huawei’s 5G?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-26/chinas-three-warfares-how-does-beijing-decide-who-or-what-to/10825448
BM is right .
Nats can sniff out easy money like an airport beagle honing in on a banana.
Of course they’re all over China.
They’ll push it to the “pretty legal” stage every time but not often go over the line. Corrupt ideologies attract dodgy people.
It was more timing than anything else, free trade deal just done with China, the second biggest economy in the world, businesses opportunities coming out the wazoo.
If Labour had won the election in 2008, the only difference would have been instead of National politicians doing deals it would have been Labour ones.
Labour didn’t do a free trade deal with China for nothing.
Actually they’re not very good at understanding where the ‘fairly legal’ line is, hence Shipley having to pay and essentially being shown to be unfit to hold directorships of anything.
Southern Response, another Gnat crony outfit, launched a huge amount of legal action instead of paying earthquake victims as they were supposed to. They didn’t win a single case.
Developing their post politics careers BMmer.
The rest of the world are now realizing that backing the US/Trumps completely illegal and transparently obvious imperialist regime change operation (which has failed spectacularly) in Venezuela is looking more and more illegitimate as every day passes, many of these countries which themselves have suffered the brutal and sickening reality of US backed interventions in the recent past, are getting nervous at the White Houses extremist rhetoric.
Just a tiny taste of what US Imperialist intervention looks like..
Deportations, Assassinations, and Dictator Nations: A Timeline of U.S. Intervention in Latin America
https://www.kcet.org/shows/link-voices/deportations-assassinations-and-dictator-nations-a-timeline-of-us-intervention-in
Chile recognises 9,800 more victims of Pinochet’s rule
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-14584095
Papers Show U.S. Role in Guatemalan Abuses
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/march99/guatemala11.htm
Knowing all this, It is hard to imagine that anyone would support US intervention in Venezuela today…yet there are, why and what justification could they possibly have for offering their support for an action that will undoubtedly cause tenfold or more death and suffering?..and more especially when it has been freely admitted by the White house itself that Oil and resources are their real reasons for wanting regime change in Venezuela.
John Bolton, January 29, 2019
“It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies really invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela,”
https://grayzoneproject.com/2019/01/29/us-coup-venezuela-oil-corporate-john-bolton/
Yes it would seem that some people have absolutely no moral compass whatsoever. Perversely many of them relish in it, as some of us watch on in disbelief and dismay as they keenly and proudly prance about displaying their inner moral wasteland with such pride for everyone to see right here on this site…yuk, it’s revolting.
Do you have relatives or friends living in Venezuela?
Why do you ask?
You seem very passionate about Venezuela, wondered if you had any personal connection.
Humanity BM… but that would puzzle you. Related ? Yes we share DNA!!
“Thornton” doesn’t sound like an Hispanic or Amerindian name – though there’s always marriage I guess.
Maybe Adrian has reached a point of ethical development where he cares about the well-being of people he doesn’t know and will never meet?
Nah – that seems too far-fetched eh? Can’t be real – gotta be something in it for him eh?
From No Right Turn Re Shipley:
“…Meanwhile there’s another curious feature, and that is the amount owed by the Mainzeal directors will apparently be mostly covered by liability insurance. Which seems… odd. Most insurance policies for us dirty peasants include a clause saying that they won’t pay out for intentional, reckless or criminal behaviour – …”
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-obvious-question.html
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-dirty-deal.html
Using insurance money to avoid criminal charges is pretty legal under national ….
“When the government dropped charges against former Pike River boss Peter Whittall over the Pike River mine explosion, they claimed that the simultaneous announcement that he would pay compensation to the families of the 29 men he was accused of killing was just a coincidence, and that there was no deal. As usual, they lied …… ”
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/search?q=pike+river
Cheaper regional fares with Air NZ!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/110860669/regional-secrets-where-to-go-on-air-new-zealands-new-cheap-fares
After years of increasing fares and cutting routes – the tide seems to be turning – after Air New Zealand announced domestic tickets will decrease by up to 50 per cent. The cheapest regional routes will now start from $39.
Successful litigant says Slater’s recent health claims are not backed by evidence presented to court: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12207479
Squealing about his health seems to be the go to when things don’t go too well for him.
Mental health can be a lifelong struggle, to be fair. Does not make a person act like an arsehole however.
Yeah, when I read the announcement post on his stroke, the whole thing stunk of bullshit.
Doctor says stroke cause purely by stress, Slater was a tremendous physical specimen in great health when stroke occurred.
Lol, good one.
Healthiest blogger ever in the history of blogging. Great genes. 6’3″ and only 239 pounds!
It’s walking those 19 holes
I hope the guy gets his power cut off. 12 years on, karma delivers.
Kia ora Newshub Paddy the fire in Tasman has flared up again you say it is the dryest year on record.
There you go more carbon being spilled at sea on a heritage class Island site in Australia.
The Exotic animals that have been Taxidermed for sale by auction look like they will get a lot of interest from hunting lodges Ka kite ano P.S The Mokopunas are a big distraction
Kia ora The AM Show.
The small business are the backbone of the country so if the growth fund grows small businesses in the regions that will lift the regions economy.
I have already predicted that trump won’t win the 2020 election.
The muppets around here like to let fireworks off when the fireworks season has long finished they are wishing to become cowboys fools.
I still don’t trust your polls they look loaded from what I see most people in NZ don’t support trump????????.
I know who all the rats ARE.
It would be a good show if you talk about the real big issue the whole world faces but know you just focus on the trump and brexit distractions. You should be taking about climate change that’s is what is the biggest issue for our grandchildren O that’s correct neanderthal can’t think about the futures wellbeing.???????????.
NO fool if you look at Europe all the wealthy stable countries have heaps railway tracks cheap reliable trains low cost mostly elictric trains so we are about to go back 30 years and build a low cost railway. That is the best way to make the regions wealthy. Railways are a stable cheap way to transport people and goods China seen that hence the new Silk Road railway are not prone to oil prices shocks that is what North Land needs not oil burning 3 Lane high ways.
You don’t look trust worthy steve rogers you looks like A go oil part neanderthal big conflict of interest there go oil party pinned its tail on trump and they are going to lose all the power they have bestowed on them by the American people. I have seen trump being a racist bigot on air he picks fight with China he trashes Obama one doesn’t have to be very bright to see trump is a racist person if you can’t see that well the prizim of the $$$$&&$$$$$$, is blinding you.
There you go the dryest year on record in Tasman and know one is taking about the big picture climate change trump is suppressing that I can see that plan as day.
Chris the American metrologist not one word about climate change that’s just backs my words up.
He is losing his base duncan and the am shows hip pocket are being filled by trumps puppets for there bullshit he does not understand the ways of Asia cultures.
I say it is cool that Hugh Jackman is visiting Aotearoa on his world tour. He is inspiring Alot of our youth to become Stars like him.
Even your guest are in on supporting trump he can not look into the camera.
The lady keeps a straight face but her hands are giving away her nervousness te waha can – – – but the body gives it away. te trump show. the guest have been given scripts lol just like the poll just trying to manipulate the people.
Living wage Pay is a good way to keep workers as in the last 30 years management has stolen a bigger % of companies money and the people who make the money for the company are getting less.
Look at Fonterra it has not delivered to farmers what was sold to them they have just made the cost of managing the export of milk powder more expensive and given farmers sweets f all. Ka kite ano