Until I started writing in the comments spaces, I never realised how very ‘left’ I am! It made me think of what the tax system could achieve, in terms of making this country more egalitarian. The more submissions the better. RWNJs need not link, of course!
I would have thought the differences between the two situations were so obvious that no one would try to make a connection but no… a bit disturbing that you can even use those tragic deaths in Gaza in such a way. You can’t really be equating Assad with the IDF wrt Palestinians can you??
I think we have here a classic example of where it just might be appropriate for the messenger to be (metaphorically) shot rather than the message.😉
Do I expect our democratically elected representatives to control the public service which has control over the expenditure of dollars collected by order of government?
Your damn tooting I do!
Do I think Mr Jones should be the one to guide the Public Service towards a brighter and more ‘progressive’ future?
No. No. No.
He has little to no regard of the environmental impacts of development…I am seriously impressed there has (so far) been no public bloodletting twixt him and the Greens.
While most of the lefties would want a neutral public service, a more reptilian approach to the political game would be stacking appointments and positions with ‘right thinking’, like minded people.
Well done, but excuse me if I don’t join in your boycott. I am already very selective on whose articles I read in the Herald but I am not about to give up on reading ones by David Fisher, Matt Nippert or Kirsty Johnston – at least not until they are put behind a paywall.
On the issue of Deborah Hill Cone and Clarke Gayford, I mentioned in the other threads on these two, that Gayford also now writes regularly in the Travel section of the Herald and could not figure why the editors would allow one Herald writer to diss another one.
On checking, Hill Cone appears to be a “Herald” writer, while Gayford actually writes for The Herald on Sunday. The Herald and the HOS are not totally joined at the hip with The Herald Editor being Murray Kirkness, while Miriyana Alexander is the Editor of both The Herald on Sunday and the Weekend Herald.
So, a little bit of internal NZME rivalry perhaps, but hey still good for clicks?
Unfortunately when Granny decided to save money by trying to avoid paying journalists anymore they forgot what the main point of their existence. Yep you can just fill the pages with articles other people wrote because often they are written with an agenda, you can’t just fill pages with advertorials because then people stop trusting that you are giving them independent advice and you can’t just fill up the paper with click bait because sooner or later you become a laughing stock.
Journalism doesn’t exist in the MSM in it’s purset form anymore, it’s repeaters, copy/paste jockeys and stick to the agreed themes/messages despite the facts.
I pulled up one of their so called journo’s for copy/pasting a Spark release that was pure BS just to see what would happen.
Their reaction was the same you get from a child that’s been caught red handed in the act or the DP playbook as they’re pretty similar. Deny, Diffuse, derail than refuse to engage when that fails.
Is standing in Northcote a good decision by the Green party executive?
I think it could backfire really badly. This isn’t the Mount Albert electorate, which was a foregone conclusion. The vote could be really close.
I get that it’s a great opportunity to raise our profile, but how would it look if Labour lost by less than the vote Green gets? How will it look if we get a very small proportion of the vote because people will vote tactically?
is a perfectly rational decision and opportunity ….is a reasonably safe National seat, the result will not impact ability to govern, the Greens can test support levels and Govs seldom win by-elections…its no big deal and the clutching of pearls is mind numbingly stupid.
That is what they said about Northland. Clearly Labour and Greens need to work out fairer deals… on how they can work together, without splitting the votes and letting Natz back in!
and how pray tell can this by-election “let the Nats back in”?……answer is it cant…but it can certainly be milked as an opportunity to claim and foster disunity in a coalition…..keep giving those pearls a workout.
and what makes you think the Greens running a candidate in this by election (or NZ First ) somehow indicates a lack of ability to ‘work together’?….or do you expect both NZ First and the Greens to never run a candidate in an electorate seat ever …would seem a somewhat strange idea of working “together”.
Last election Auckland central Labour/Green candidates got 15,787 votes beating 13,198 Nicky Kaye. In Nelson Labour/Green got 22,198 votes beating 16735 for Nick Smith.
Clearly those electorates would have preferred either a Labour or Green person but instead their votes were split so they got Natz.
Many voters don’t want a Natz MP, but it’s hard to work out who to vote for as an electorate vote if you like both Labour or Green.
They need to make it easier for people to know who to vote for for the electorate vote.
Maybe they tell people to vote an electorate vote Labour and a Green Party vote, but they could at least have some strategy to prevent what’s happening, with Natz electorate people getting through when most people want Green or Labour.
couple of points…..this aint a general election and it aint that close….and you may think that telling voters what to do is a good idea but id suggest most will resent being told what to do and show you what they think of so being ‘told’
Notable as a dissimilar example…ACT won the seat originally and the gerrymandering was largely unspoken and is now historical…the same may be said of Ohariu…..would be presumptuous in the extreme to expect the same response from Northcote.
Tuppence do you actually have something to say, because most of your comments just seem to be weirdo rebuttals saying stuff through your own opinion on what someone said, which they are not even saying.
How about you post something you actually believe in rather than just trolling other’s comments. I know original thought is difficult for right wingers, but at least other right winger’s like James actually have an opinion to offer not just straight trolling.
Tend to agree Pat.
What’s gained if Halbert narrowly wins the by-election because the Greens pulled out, and then almost certainly loses it again at the 2020 General when the Greens absolutely have to stand to promote their brand?
You can be sure that the media would find anti-Labour messages to frame both events – the first would be winning via a ‘dirty-deal’, and the second would be a ‘blow’ and indicate ‘loss of support’.
Time to be ambitious here – Halbert should aim to win it even with the Greens standing.
“When the aging gorilla is confronted with the much more virile, new alpha-male, he shows submissiveness by grooming the alpha-male, but the gesture is actually a vain attempt by the old gorilla to humiliate his much younger rival.” — Jane Goodall pic.twitter.com/fx85I1KwVy— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) April 24, 2018
Talk about privilege in action, too. I’ve seen cops literally say “fuck it, you’re under arrest for disorderly” in half that time. Let alone US cops.
Although that “have a nice weekend” towards the end was just blatantly begging her to do something that crosses the white-person threshold for arrest 🙂
Yes I thought of that too, but then thought, support reasonable action by polite police. At the end of the day they have a lot to deal with and the idea should be to keep the reasonable ones, remove the other (racists) out and not put all police into one box.
Yeah, but that’s actually how cops and most authority figures should be – remain courteous, let the jerk seal their own fate. I’ve done it myself lesser roles. It can be fun, if you have the right chillaxed mindset. It becomes a game of chess that the other person doesn’t know they’re playing – like that bit at 6:20 where basically she talked herself into offering to do what they’d told her to do all along lol.
But the only reason they could do that was because they didn’t have a surge of adrenaline.
A lot of that could well be to do with who they pulled over and who turned up to give them a lift home.
My main thought on privilege though is that she assumed she could talk to the cops that way without immediate repercussion. And she was right. They had multiple opportunities to arrest her if they’d wanted to, but they chose to just make damned sure the camera documented everything.
I feel sorry for the daughter – the mother will probably blame her for losing the job, if the behaviour is anything to go by.
At the beginning of her intervention it would have been (well, they might have warned her for one), but by the stage she used it she was clearly going to fuckoffskie soon, and if they’d arrested her for that they would have had to listen to her for the entire trip back to the station lol
Dr Philth is now pretending to support the victims of a sniper
Thursday 26 April 2018
Just watched a bit of today’s Dr Philth on three. This episode is grandly captioned: “Stories of horror and hope from Las Vegas. Dr Phil speaks to brave survivors of the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.”
In the few seconds I could bear to watch, I saw Dr Philth, with that pooch face, empathising at full volume with some victims.
This is very odd behaviour for Dr Philth, who not that long ago was fulsome in his praise of a far more lethal sniper than the Las Vegas one….
Interesting article from newsroom about Robertsons budget affirming a neolib government, a far cry from Winstons denunciation of neoliberlism and Arderns criticisms of it.
But we have a hard core neo liberal public service. These corporate bureaucrats have been controlling how our tax dollars are spent for nearly three decades.
Bomber had a good piece over at TDB. I largely agree with him… other than siccing Uncle Shane onto them.
When I become dictator I’ll start with a massive purge of Misery of Health bureaucrats…then possibly retire.😉
You’ve already got the original one. Look who is head of the tax working group. And is a Director on the Auckland Transport Board.
You certainly don’t want another of his ilk I should hope.
Hot on the heels of the Netherlands declaring loot boxes are gambling and therefore illegal, Belgium has had its say.
The Belgian Gaming Commission looked at Star Wars Battlefront 2, FIFA 18, Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and found only Star Wars was not in violation of the country’s gambling legislation – and that’s only because EA stripped out the game’s loot boxes after its launch debacle.
Which is good. We don’t need to have kids addicted to gambling from playing games.
Now all we need is for the NZ government to do the same.
” Guy also says commercial considerations played no part in the decision, which he said was based on “science and risk mitigation”. But that’s contradicted on multiple occasions by MPI emails. In May 2015, MPI’s Richard Fraser, a senior analyst in the aquaculture unit, wrote to aquaculture industry figures: “MPI must consider, assess and manager the legal, trade, reputational and biosecurity risks at all stages of this response.” A month earlier, Fraser said the response “aims to minimise negative impacts to the aquaculture industry, wild fisheries, the environment, socio-cultural values and trade”. The same email trumpeted “No trade implications have been raised by our trading partners” – his emphasis. ”
Well, that answers a few questions I had at the time.It was obvious there was something seriously fishy going on with us supposed to swallow the line that Sanford vessels traveling between Marlborough and Stewart Island were not considered to be a possible mode of transfer of the disease.
And then, then, the Cawthron Institute getting the lion’s share of the funding pot.
Shakes head and sighs..
Thanks Tracey, I would have missed that had you not posted.
Good on Newsroom for the investigation albeit a delving some years too late. Seems the press seem happier to question national Government’s AFTER they are voted out
JUST listened to jamie lee ross whine on on Radio New Zealand claiming that the governments roading policy is a rehash of Nationals programme.
That maybe so but it is not news and why is RadioNewZealand doing this.
I think clair curran has a big job on her plate making this news organisation pull its bloody socks up.
Well, if it is just a rehash he has a point, so it’s fair comment.
If not, then RNZ should be factchecking what he says. That’s the problem with media at the moment – very few pollys get fact-checked by reporters, and them that do are almost always lefties (or tory politicians the DP crowd hate)
I’ve been watching the current Australian enquiry into banks and finance companies, what a bunch of scoundrels!
Since the same banks also own and run our banks one has to guess that there’s a good chance that they are just as corrupt – is it time for a similar enquiry here?
The opioid crisis is inside the White House. No way the admiral gets confirmed. In fact, he'll be lucky if he escapes prosecution. The question once again: What did Trump know and when did he know it? pic.twitter.com/iVE0OFUsmt— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) April 25, 2018
I’m surprised at how little mention has been made of the fact he was appointed White House physician in 2013. The usual suspects are starting to mumble about Obama, but I would have expected a full-on blamestorm by now.
We’re dragging our knuckles in NZ again. We have more than once been the last western country to trade or use something. Scoop is bringing us up to date as to the latest way that some of our leading farmers have rorted good business standards.
Now we are buying ‘blood’ fertiliser from Western Sahara. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1804/S00260/nz-farmers-last-remaining-importers-of-conflict-mineral.htm Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) today published its fifth annual overview of companies involved in the purchase and transport of phosphate rock exploited illegally by Morocco in the territory it holds under military occupation: Western Sahara.
The report details all shipments of Western Sahara’s white gold to importers worldwide for the calendar year 2017. New Zealand based farmers’ cooperatives Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Ravensdown have together imported an estimated 333,000 tonnes of the contentious rock, to the tune of about US $ 30 million….
The European Union has recently taken measures to limit the cadmium-rate in phosphate-based fertilizers. By 2030, phosphate rock from Morocco (and Western Sahara) will no longer be allowed in the EU single market, as the cadmium level of phosphate rock in North Africa in general is much higher than the allowed ratio.
WSRW has contacted both Ballance and Ravensdown regarding their continued imports, but the firms did not respond.
Keywords:
Illegal
$millions
NZ farmers co-operatives (so farmers theoretically should have a say in this.)
Cadmium
No response from NZ firms to enquiries.
It’s awkward though. Is Fiji under a military occupation, or a fait accompli government? I think we should be able to trade with Russia, so where do we draw the line. The resources of the country of Western Sahara are being sold from under their feet. The copper from Western Papua also I think. How does that compare with Judith Collins et al exporting ancient, irreplacable fossilised? kauri trees under a deliberately managed system that narrowly evades being illegal? Is this what happens in a free market? People try to hold onto a rule of law they understand – they have it in their hand, look away, and it’s slipped right through their fingers.
Paul Craig Roberts presents an interesting perspective here.
Where Is The Shame?
Now that the Trump, May, and Macron regimes have proven beyond all doubt that they are lawless war criminal regimes, what is next?
Will the Russian president and foreign minister continue to speak of “our Western partners” and seek common ground with proven lawless war criminals? What would that common ground be?
How can other governments accept the US, UK, and French governments that intentionally lied about a Russian chemical attack on the Skripals and about a Syrian chemical attack on Douma, risking a third world war, and then themselves attacking Syria on the basis of a transparent lie unsupported by any evidence? How exactly do you conduct diplomatic relations with war criminals?
You don’t. You put them on trial. Why aren’t Trump, May, and Macron on trial?
Paul Craig Roberts, apologist for the confederate south, slavery, racism, the KKK, white supremacy, racial segregation, and more.
War of Northern Aggression
[…]
Slavery had nothing whatsoever to do with the war.
[…]
Thus, Lincoln’s vain attempt to provoke a slave rebellion in the South. Why didn’t such allegedly horribly treated and oppressed slaves revolt when there was no one to prevent it but women and children?
[…]
It is not only the ruling elite that has a vested interest in the false history of “white racism,” but also the universities and history departments in which the false history is institutionalized and the foundations that have financed black history, women’s studies, and transgender dialogues.
[…]
The Klu Klux Klan arose as a guerrilla force to stop the predation
[…]
Blacks, who were unprepared for the task, were put in control of governments so that carpetbaggers could loot and steal. Whites lost the franchise and protection of law as their property was stolen.
[…]
In the South, and most certainly in Atlanta, where I grew up, schools were neighborhood schools. We were segregated by economic class. I went to school with middle class kids from my middle class neighborhood. I did not go to school with rich kids or with poor kids. This segregation was not racial.
It is interesting that a member of Reagan’s government is so critical of the right wing now, though.
I agree that those views on the US Civil War that you have highlighted are wrong.
“Macron is frequently described as a French Tony Blair, but to me he seems more a French Margaret Thatcher, seeking to use a jingoistic military policy to distract from very unpopular neo-liberal destruction of worker protections at home. It is hard to believe his peculiar love-in with Trump is going down well in France. The danger is that he will feel obliged to commit to more military adventurism to live up to the hype. I know that those close to Merkel look on all this posing with dour disapproval.”
A little off topic but most staff at my work didn’t get paid Wednesday (usual pay day)… Most got paid today, though some of us with a Credit Union or basically not one of the big banks, will get paid tomorrow…
I enquired about it and was told ‘Not my fault the banks screwed up…. which left me scratching my head as ANZAC day is hardly something that sneaks up on you
I thought that all the payments were fed into machines that did the transferring of credits. It is not as if there has to be someone counting the notes and coins, putting them in little brown envelopes with the employees’ names on. That is how it used to be.
How come the machines weren’t programmed? As you say Anzac Day hasn’t just sneaked up on us suddenly.
The payments are all calculated by 9am Monday morning and passed on to the bank for processing, wouldnt have hard to have it put through for Tuesday (like most other Holidays that would affect pay)
The AM Show Climate change is real the people who are deniers are lobbying for oil because they think they can eat and drink their money just like the flat Earth fools. Duncan Many thanks for talking about climate change.
I advocate for the environment and all our creatures so ECO MAORI Says that’s is a special contribution I will be doing much more as soon as I sort out the sandflys. Just finished milking the mokos are in Town it will be a quiet weekend. Ka kite ano
Newshub There you go a creditable witness only credible for the sandflys case cause they call them assets. Assets to help them suppress MAORI these brown assets contracted liers don’t even realise they are helping the sandflys suppress Maori.
I will forgive them because they no not what they are doing.
That’s a good way Fonterra is using social media and new technology tracking food from the table to plate that will ease the consurns of the consumer.
YEA elictric Cars are one of the answers to us Kiwis becoming Carbon neutral we have plenty of scope to generate renewable energy hydro solar wind Jamie Shaw is happy about the changes and so is ECO MAORI Ka pai.
Its good to see daplomicy is working in Korea Ka pai.
Just because it is illegal doesn’t mean the sandflys won’t use DNA on the website or whatever they will use whatever they can to satisfy there EGOS.
Trade training should be compolsery in our prisons get the people working when they get out of prison the old saying working is good for the sole.
Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild WAI and Makere 2 natives Ka pai.
I hope the first person that you were descusing has good fortunes Kia kaha.
Many thanks to Buttabean for the great work he is doing with the over weight people.
Sports is a great way for tangata to climb up there of life Ka kite ano
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I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
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. ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy, Deakin University Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock In recent years, there’s been increasinghype about the potential health risks associated with so-called “ultra-processed” foods. But new evidence published this week found not all “ultra-processed” foods are linked ...
Fears that New Zealand is relying too heavily on low-cost forests to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions have been reignited by a report from the OECD. ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the total dollar savings target from public sector cuts has been met, but the reductions have not been felt evenly across public agencies. Government departments were told to make savings set at 6.5 percent or 7.5 percent where headcount had grown by more than ...
She doesn’t have a single kind word for me and it’s getting under my skin.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,I have two amazing friends that I absolutely adore. Grace (all names have been changed) and I lived together across 2023 and Olivia moved in with us this ...
Can Western science and Māori science work together to support our well-being? The Te Ohu Mō Papatūānuku (TOMP) Trials Project was a landmark case for healing the land and people with the guidance of Māori science and leadership. This is what happened when Papatūānuku (Earth) was contaminated by toxic discharge, ...
The District Plan is a blueprint for a bigger, better Wellington, through tens of thousands of new apartments and townhouses and a new approach to urban growth. Joel MacManus lays out the vision. The process of putting together Wellington’s new District Plan has been long and excruciating. As a city, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
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With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
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Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
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TAX WORKING Group.
John Minto over on The Daily Blog has a post on the tax working group and a place to make submissions.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/04/24/breaking-the-billionaires-grip-on-our-economy-and-our-lives/
Or, in case you don’t want to read Minto, go straight to the submission page, below.
The site poses 5 very interesting questions, with room for comments.
The deadline is 30th April.
https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/have-your-say-future-tax
Until I started writing in the comments spaces, I never realised how very ‘left’ I am! It made me think of what the tax system could achieve, in terms of making this country more egalitarian. The more submissions the better. RWNJs need not link, of course!
It is not only the Zionists who kill Palestinians
The Assad regime has bombed the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in South Damascus killing a family of three.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/assad-regime-strikes-kill-family-of-three-in-syria-s-yarmouk-1.723689
Jenny, what can the labour movement in NZ do about this?
I would have thought the differences between the two situations were so obvious that no one would try to make a connection but no… a bit disturbing that you can even use those tragic deaths in Gaza in such a way. You can’t really be equating Assad with the IDF wrt Palestinians can you??
Is Shane Jones temperamentally unsuitable to be a Minister? https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103382755/nz-firsts-shane-jones-wants-ministers-to-have-more-power-over-public-sector
Most people think that ministers can tell the public service what to do anyway ?
Jones has never been suitable IMO and makes no efforts to hide his lazy contemptuous attitude towards those he’s meant to serve.
It’s almost as if he’s deliberately trying to create mischief….
I think we have here a classic example of where it just might be appropriate for the messenger to be (metaphorically) shot rather than the message.😉
Do I expect our democratically elected representatives to control the public service which has control over the expenditure of dollars collected by order of government?
Your damn tooting I do!
Do I think Mr Jones should be the one to guide the Public Service towards a brighter and more ‘progressive’ future?
No. No. No.
He has little to no regard of the environmental impacts of development…I am seriously impressed there has (so far) been no public bloodletting twixt him and the Greens.
He’s too lazy to be a reliable dictator.
While most of the lefties would want a neutral public service, a more reptilian approach to the political game would be stacking appointments and positions with ‘right thinking’, like minded people.
He just doesn’t understand why he hasn’t been given his crown yet.
Day three of my no more Herald boycott.
Very pleasant.
People who give up smoking or another bad habit don’t call it a boycott 😉
Well done, but excuse me if I don’t join in your boycott. I am already very selective on whose articles I read in the Herald but I am not about to give up on reading ones by David Fisher, Matt Nippert or Kirsty Johnston – at least not until they are put behind a paywall.
On the issue of Deborah Hill Cone and Clarke Gayford, I mentioned in the other threads on these two, that Gayford also now writes regularly in the Travel section of the Herald and could not figure why the editors would allow one Herald writer to diss another one.
On checking, Hill Cone appears to be a “Herald” writer, while Gayford actually writes for The Herald on Sunday. The Herald and the HOS are not totally joined at the hip with The Herald Editor being Murray Kirkness, while Miriyana Alexander is the Editor of both The Herald on Sunday and the Weekend Herald.
So, a little bit of internal NZME rivalry perhaps, but hey still good for clicks?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Zealand_Herald
Mine too sanctuary. Not missing the Herald one bit
Housing – the usual
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/355962/our-homeless-community-is-going-to-be-bigger-than-ever
Mike Hoskins now advising Clarke Gayford with an “e” not to be so reactionary to DHC’s article about him, will these guys ever give up.
No wonder he spent 3 years in Form 5 at Linwood High School.
Journalism/Columnists in NZ are almost childlike these days ?
Pleeeese. We are all enjoying our blackout on NZME
Don’t click.
Boycott the Herald.
Unfortunately when Granny decided to save money by trying to avoid paying journalists anymore they forgot what the main point of their existence. Yep you can just fill the pages with articles other people wrote because often they are written with an agenda, you can’t just fill pages with advertorials because then people stop trusting that you are giving them independent advice and you can’t just fill up the paper with click bait because sooner or later you become a laughing stock.
Journalism doesn’t exist in the MSM in it’s purset form anymore, it’s repeaters, copy/paste jockeys and stick to the agreed themes/messages despite the facts.
I pulled up one of their so called journo’s for copy/pasting a Spark release that was pure BS just to see what would happen.
Their reaction was the same you get from a child that’s been caught red handed in the act or the DP playbook as they’re pretty similar. Deny, Diffuse, derail than refuse to engage when that fails.
A reminder of what Gallipoli was about:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/gallipoli-invasion-a-dirty-and-bloody-business/
Is standing in Northcote a good decision by the Green party executive?
I think it could backfire really badly. This isn’t the Mount Albert electorate, which was a foregone conclusion. The vote could be really close.
I get that it’s a great opportunity to raise our profile, but how would it look if Labour lost by less than the vote Green gets? How will it look if we get a very small proportion of the vote because people will vote tactically?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/355915/green-party-to-put-foward-candidate-in-northcote-by-election
is a perfectly rational decision and opportunity ….is a reasonably safe National seat, the result will not impact ability to govern, the Greens can test support levels and Govs seldom win by-elections…its no big deal and the clutching of pearls is mind numbingly stupid.
That is what they said about Northland. Clearly Labour and Greens need to work out fairer deals… on how they can work together, without splitting the votes and letting Natz back in!
and how pray tell can this by-election “let the Nats back in”?……answer is it cant…but it can certainly be milked as an opportunity to claim and foster disunity in a coalition…..keep giving those pearls a workout.
I mean if they can’t work out how to work together not to split the votes, then longer term it will let the Natz in. Same with NZ First.
and what makes you think the Greens running a candidate in this by election (or NZ First ) somehow indicates a lack of ability to ‘work together’?….or do you expect both NZ First and the Greens to never run a candidate in an electorate seat ever …would seem a somewhat strange idea of working “together”.
Last election Auckland central Labour/Green candidates got 15,787 votes beating 13,198 Nicky Kaye. In Nelson Labour/Green got 22,198 votes beating 16735 for Nick Smith.
Clearly those electorates would have preferred either a Labour or Green person but instead their votes were split so they got Natz.
Many voters don’t want a Natz MP, but it’s hard to work out who to vote for as an electorate vote if you like both Labour or Green.
They need to make it easier for people to know who to vote for for the electorate vote.
Maybe they tell people to vote an electorate vote Labour and a Green Party vote, but they could at least have some strategy to prevent what’s happening, with Natz electorate people getting through when most people want Green or Labour.
couple of points…..this aint a general election and it aint that close….and you may think that telling voters what to do is a good idea but id suggest most will resent being told what to do and show you what they think of so being ‘told’
” … most will resent being told what to do and show you what they think of so being ‘told’ ”
With Epsomites being the notable counterexample.
Notable as a dissimilar example…ACT won the seat originally and the gerrymandering was largely unspoken and is now historical…the same may be said of Ohariu…..would be presumptuous in the extreme to expect the same response from Northcote.
Pro-dirty deals, anti-migrants, crazy conspiracy theories about your self nominated opponents.
You aren’t orange with a blonde wig by any chance?
Tuppence do you actually have something to say, because most of your comments just seem to be weirdo rebuttals saying stuff through your own opinion on what someone said, which they are not even saying.
How about you post something you actually believe in rather than just trolling other’s comments. I know original thought is difficult for right wingers, but at least other right winger’s like James actually have an opinion to offer not just straight trolling.
Tend to agree Pat.
What’s gained if Halbert narrowly wins the by-election because the Greens pulled out, and then almost certainly loses it again at the 2020 General when the Greens absolutely have to stand to promote their brand?
You can be sure that the media would find anti-Labour messages to frame both events – the first would be winning via a ‘dirty-deal’, and the second would be a ‘blow’ and indicate ‘loss of support’.
Time to be ambitious here – Halbert should aim to win it even with the Greens standing.
“The vote could be really close.”
What have you read that supports that claim?
The results of the Northland by-election.
NZF need to stand a candidate as they appeal to the right wing voters this could help barstardize the National Party votes ?
New book of Exodus.
Go unto the wilderness as your gym fees and lattes are cheaper
http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/384536-the-great-exodus-out-of-americas-blue-cities
Reforming the band for its new middle east tour.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/iran-nuclear-deal-bolton-trump-regime-change/558785/
Cars are ruining our cities
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/opinion/cars-ruining-cities.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
heh
https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/988815112097021952
Testing
[It is working but your comments have to be approved – MS]
Ah, Democrats. They’re so much better than & different to the Republicans. The kind of people we, the Commonwealth left can relate t….
God that is appalling. The police were actually very reasonable!
How to lose a job in ten minutes lol.
Talk about privilege in action, too. I’ve seen cops literally say “fuck it, you’re under arrest for disorderly” in half that time. Let alone US cops.
Although that “have a nice weekend” towards the end was just blatantly begging her to do something that crosses the white-person threshold for arrest 🙂
Black person threshold.
https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989132611854524417
Unrolled.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/989132611854524417.html
Not buying anything in Starbucks.
Driving a car.
Playing in a park.
And other similarly serious offences.
Yes I thought of that too, but then thought, support reasonable action by polite police. At the end of the day they have a lot to deal with and the idea should be to keep the reasonable ones, remove the other (racists) out and not put all police into one box.
Yeah, but that’s actually how cops and most authority figures should be – remain courteous, let the jerk seal their own fate. I’ve done it myself lesser roles. It can be fun, if you have the right chillaxed mindset. It becomes a game of chess that the other person doesn’t know they’re playing – like that bit at 6:20 where basically she talked herself into offering to do what they’d told her to do all along lol.
But the only reason they could do that was because they didn’t have a surge of adrenaline.
A lot of that could well be to do with who they pulled over and who turned up to give them a lift home.
My main thought on privilege though is that she assumed she could talk to the cops that way without immediate repercussion. And she was right. They had multiple opportunities to arrest her if they’d wanted to, but they chose to just make damned sure the camera documented everything.
I feel sorry for the daughter – the mother will probably blame her for losing the job, if the behaviour is anything to go by.
You don’t think saying to a cop “you may shut the fuck up” wasn’t pole vaulting right on over the line?
True it barely registered on me.
At the beginning of her intervention it would have been (well, they might have warned her for one), but by the stage she used it she was clearly going to fuckoffskie soon, and if they’d arrested her for that they would have had to listen to her for the entire trip back to the station lol
wtf was that?!
Coke on privilege, or privilege on coke?
First impressions of the ten-year funded transport plan for the Auckland region: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/04/26/atap-2-0-first-details-look-great/
Ah, a dedicated post: https://thestandard.org.nz/the-big-auckland-transport-announcement/
Dr Philth is now pretending to support the victims of a sniper
Thursday 26 April 2018
Just watched a bit of today’s Dr Philth on three. This episode is grandly captioned: “Stories of horror and hope from Las Vegas. Dr Phil speaks to brave survivors of the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.”
In the few seconds I could bear to watch, I saw Dr Philth, with that pooch face, empathising at full volume with some victims.
This is very odd behaviour for Dr Philth, who not that long ago was fulsome in his praise of a far more lethal sniper than the Las Vegas one….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19082015/#comment-1060544
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17112015/#comment-1096957
Interesting article from newsroom about Robertsons budget affirming a neolib government, a far cry from Winstons denunciation of neoliberlism and Arderns criticisms of it.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/04/25/106148/government-living-by-someone-elses-rules
But we have a hard core neo liberal public service. These corporate bureaucrats have been controlling how our tax dollars are spent for nearly three decades.
Bomber had a good piece over at TDB. I largely agree with him… other than siccing Uncle Shane onto them.
When I become dictator I’ll start with a massive purge of Misery of Health bureaucrats…then possibly retire.😉
I hear you! But we dont need another Cullen.
You’ve already got the original one. Look who is head of the tax working group. And is a Director on the Auckland Transport Board.
You certainly don’t want another of his ilk I should hope.
Well he was the man national couldn’t criticise for nearly 9 years cos they agreed with how he was running the economy.
Could be worse, could be Shipley, but then the Transport Board would have to go into receivership
Now Belgium declares loot boxes gambling and therefore illegal
Which is good. We don’t need to have kids addicted to gambling from playing games.
Now all we need is for the NZ government to do the same.
” Guy also says commercial considerations played no part in the decision, which he said was based on “science and risk mitigation”. But that’s contradicted on multiple occasions by MPI emails. In May 2015, MPI’s Richard Fraser, a senior analyst in the aquaculture unit, wrote to aquaculture industry figures: “MPI must consider, assess and manager the legal, trade, reputational and biosecurity risks at all stages of this response.” A month earlier, Fraser said the response “aims to minimise negative impacts to the aquaculture industry, wild fisheries, the environment, socio-cultural values and trade”. The same email trumpeted “No trade implications have been raised by our trading partners” – his emphasis. ”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/04/25/106218/culture-of-silence-or-a-cover-up
Well, that answers a few questions I had at the time.It was obvious there was something seriously fishy going on with us supposed to swallow the line that Sanford vessels traveling between Marlborough and Stewart Island were not considered to be a possible mode of transfer of the disease.
And then, then, the Cawthron Institute getting the lion’s share of the funding pot.
Shakes head and sighs..
Thanks Tracey, I would have missed that had you not posted.
Good on Newsroom for the investigation albeit a delving some years too late. Seems the press seem happier to question national Government’s AFTER they are voted out
JUST listened to jamie lee ross whine on on Radio New Zealand claiming that the governments roading policy is a rehash of Nationals programme.
That maybe so but it is not news and why is RadioNewZealand doing this.
I think clair curran has a big job on her plate making this news organisation pull its bloody socks up.
Well, if it is just a rehash he has a point, so it’s fair comment.
If not, then RNZ should be factchecking what he says. That’s the problem with media at the moment – very few pollys get fact-checked by reporters, and them that do are almost always lefties (or tory politicians the DP crowd hate)
it might be fair comment but it isn’t news.
If he is right then a few Nat voters are being made to look stupid criticising it
That’s probably what’s got jamie lee ross’s nickers in a bunch, he can’t criticise it…
it doesn’t take much with Jl-R. A little tummy rumble is apt to set him crying for mummy
I’ve been watching the current Australian enquiry into banks and finance companies, what a bunch of scoundrels!
Since the same banks also own and run our banks one has to guess that there’s a good chance that they are just as corrupt – is it time for a similar enquiry here?
I would think so unless John Key was brought in to clean it up 😉
Or perhaps the Commerce Commission.
Supposedly they ” take individual responsibility to deliver what we say we will.”
Our banks….. Not mine! Perhaps Shift to a NZ Bank. Taranaki Savings, or Kiwi …
might well be all our banks, thing is we don’t know
Or Cooperative bank nz
What is your experience with Coop Bank?
Check the second bullet point in the image.
No wonder they’re all as mad as hatters.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dbqq_t2VAAAPf3L.jpg
https://twitter.com/bobcesca_go/status/989291402419941376
I’m surprised at how little mention has been made of the fact he was appointed White House physician in 2013. The usual suspects are starting to mumble about Obama, but I would have expected a full-on blamestorm by now.
We’re dragging our knuckles in NZ again. We have more than once been the last western country to trade or use something. Scoop is bringing us up to date as to the latest way that some of our leading farmers have rorted good business standards.
Now we are buying ‘blood’ fertiliser from Western Sahara.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1804/S00260/nz-farmers-last-remaining-importers-of-conflict-mineral.htm
Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) today published its fifth annual overview of companies involved in the purchase and transport of phosphate rock exploited illegally by Morocco in the territory it holds under military occupation: Western Sahara.
The report details all shipments of Western Sahara’s white gold to importers worldwide for the calendar year 2017. New Zealand based farmers’ cooperatives Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Ravensdown have together imported an estimated 333,000 tonnes of the contentious rock, to the tune of about US $ 30 million….
The European Union has recently taken measures to limit the cadmium-rate in phosphate-based fertilizers. By 2030, phosphate rock from Morocco (and Western Sahara) will no longer be allowed in the EU single market, as the cadmium level of phosphate rock in North Africa in general is much higher than the allowed ratio.
WSRW has contacted both Ballance and Ravensdown regarding their continued imports, but the firms did not respond.
Keywords:
Illegal
$millions
NZ farmers co-operatives (so farmers theoretically should have a say in this.)
Cadmium
No response from NZ firms to enquiries.
It’s awkward though. Is Fiji under a military occupation, or a fait accompli government? I think we should be able to trade with Russia, so where do we draw the line. The resources of the country of Western Sahara are being sold from under their feet. The copper from Western Papua also I think. How does that compare with Judith Collins et al exporting ancient, irreplacable fossilised? kauri trees under a deliberately managed system that narrowly evades being illegal? Is this what happens in a free market? People try to hold onto a rule of law they understand – they have it in their hand, look away, and it’s slipped right through their fingers.
Paul Craig Roberts presents an interesting perspective here.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/04/24/where-is-the-shame/
Paul Craig Roberts, apologist for the confederate south, slavery, racism, the KKK, white supremacy, racial segregation, and more.
War of Northern Aggression
[…]
Slavery had nothing whatsoever to do with the war.
[…]
Thus, Lincoln’s vain attempt to provoke a slave rebellion in the South. Why didn’t such allegedly horribly treated and oppressed slaves revolt when there was no one to prevent it but women and children?
[…]
It is not only the ruling elite that has a vested interest in the false history of “white racism,” but also the universities and history departments in which the false history is institutionalized and the foundations that have financed black history, women’s studies, and transgender dialogues.
[…]
The Klu Klux Klan arose as a guerrilla force to stop the predation
[…]
Blacks, who were unprepared for the task, were put in control of governments so that carpetbaggers could loot and steal. Whites lost the franchise and protection of law as their property was stolen.
[…]
In the South, and most certainly in Atlanta, where I grew up, schools were neighborhood schools. We were segregated by economic class. I went to school with middle class kids from my middle class neighborhood. I did not go to school with rich kids or with poor kids. This segregation was not racial.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/04/18/conversation-race-paul-craig-roberts/
It is interesting that a member of Reagan’s government is so critical of the right wing now, though.
I agree that those views on the US Civil War that you have highlighted are wrong.
More excellent writing by Craig Murray.
“Macron is frequently described as a French Tony Blair, but to me he seems more a French Margaret Thatcher, seeking to use a jingoistic military policy to distract from very unpopular neo-liberal destruction of worker protections at home. It is hard to believe his peculiar love-in with Trump is going down well in France. The danger is that he will feel obliged to commit to more military adventurism to live up to the hype. I know that those close to Merkel look on all this posing with dour disapproval.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/the-noisy-frenchman/
An finally tonight, the peerless John Pilger explains why the BBC is one of world’s most refined propaganda services.
Thanks Ed, three great links for me to look at tomorrow.
Thanks Ed. I still remember Pilger tearing the bewildered Kim Hill a new one back in 2003….
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/face-to-face-with-kim-hill-john-pilger-2003
The msm never use him now.
They prefer to listen to propagandists like Mark Regev.
Ed
As compared to you listening to propagandists unquestioningly until Joe90 pointed it out.
Is Robert Fisk a propagandist?
Patrick Cockburn?
Jon Pilger?
A little off topic but most staff at my work didn’t get paid Wednesday (usual pay day)… Most got paid today, though some of us with a Credit Union or basically not one of the big banks, will get paid tomorrow…
I enquired about it and was told ‘Not my fault the banks screwed up…. which left me scratching my head as ANZAC day is hardly something that sneaks up on you
I thought that all the payments were fed into machines that did the transferring of credits. It is not as if there has to be someone counting the notes and coins, putting them in little brown envelopes with the employees’ names on. That is how it used to be.
How come the machines weren’t programmed? As you say Anzac Day hasn’t just sneaked up on us suddenly.
The payments are all calculated by 9am Monday morning and passed on to the bank for processing, wouldnt have hard to have it put through for Tuesday (like most other Holidays that would affect pay)
The AM Show Climate change is real the people who are deniers are lobbying for oil because they think they can eat and drink their money just like the flat Earth fools. Duncan Many thanks for talking about climate change.
I advocate for the environment and all our creatures so ECO MAORI Says that’s is a special contribution I will be doing much more as soon as I sort out the sandflys. Just finished milking the mokos are in Town it will be a quiet weekend. Ka kite ano
Newshub There you go a creditable witness only credible for the sandflys case cause they call them assets. Assets to help them suppress MAORI these brown assets contracted liers don’t even realise they are helping the sandflys suppress Maori.
I will forgive them because they no not what they are doing.
That’s a good way Fonterra is using social media and new technology tracking food from the table to plate that will ease the consurns of the consumer.
YEA elictric Cars are one of the answers to us Kiwis becoming Carbon neutral we have plenty of scope to generate renewable energy hydro solar wind Jamie Shaw is happy about the changes and so is ECO MAORI Ka pai.
Its good to see daplomicy is working in Korea Ka pai.
Just because it is illegal doesn’t mean the sandflys won’t use DNA on the website or whatever they will use whatever they can to satisfy there EGOS.
Trade training should be compolsery in our prisons get the people working when they get out of prison the old saying working is good for the sole.
Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild WAI and Makere 2 natives Ka pai.
I hope the first person that you were descusing has good fortunes Kia kaha.
Many thanks to Buttabean for the great work he is doing with the over weight people.
Sports is a great way for tangata to climb up there of life Ka kite ano