Host Anna Harcourt from Re: News did a good job keeping them all focused and in line, making good use of the buzzer and unafraid to step in when necessary… Williams appeared reluctant to defend the GST off fruit and vegetables policy, turning instead to Labour's free dental for under-30s, saying it would "mean people won't have to put off their essential healthcare until they can afford it"… Stanford also pivoted when asked about National's tax cuts, saying "these are all just bandages, the key thing we have to do is actually attack cost of living".
Donoghue said with immigrants all going to the main centres, housing was part of the cost of living problem – and NZ First was wanting to restrict the number of migrants coming in… His intro skated over the party's priorities of wanting to stand up against "woke extremism", say no to co-governance, "put the K back into iwi", protect assets, and incentivise careers for those who stayed in New Zealand.
During the rainbow issues segment, he was asked about the party's policy of removing "gender ideology" from curriculum, challenged over whether it really was an important issue. He justified it by saying parents are very concerned about "complex, sexual, inappropriate discussions happening at school", and referred to warnings from a right-leaning lobby group about primary school children being disciplined if they did not affirm other children's gender: "we can't shut people up because it hurts our feelings".
Swarbrick interrupted, saying "I think you're talking about consequences, bro". She said the data showed trans people and children were more highly represented in mental ill health and suicide statistics, "and mate, it's driven by rhetoric from the likes of your party," to applause from the audience. Donoghue responded that "more people are transgendering, or transitioning, than ever before", blaming Swarbrick's rhetoric, to boos. Van Velden said we have to "agree to disagree".
Stanford said the bathrooms issue was not a problem, and no school she's been to around the country had a problem with it – a sentiment panellists later agreed with, India Logan-Riley saying the whole topic appeared to be a wedge issue targeted by NZ First to drive division and stoke votes. All parties agreed more needed to be done to support people's mental health, though each seemed to have different suggestions for how to do so.
The next segment took a bizarre turn, with a question over whether each candidate feared being killed by extreme weather caused by climate change. Donoghue was the only one to not fully raise his hand, explaining he'd "been hit by lightning, but no I'm not afraid". He said this was after an Iron Maiden concert in Rome – though it was, as Harcourt noted, nothing to do with climate change.
Rather unfair of the god of heavy metal to zap a fan like that, I thought. However, since the dude survived the test he's likely to prove himself staunch in politics…
more people are transgendering, or transitioning, than ever before", blaming Swarbrick's rhetoric,
This is a topic that needs serious attention, pubity was confusing enough when I went through it , Im as hetero as they get but it still took me a while to be sure, that was before the internet and schools telling me I could possibly be a number of things gender wise now!
I agree it's a trending up thing. I'm all for self-determination. Your point about developmental confusion is a good one too re adolescence.
College in the '60s was macho & as a sensitive but feisty lad I acquired an ability to copy the cool guys somewhat. They call it mimesis nowadays – a biological skill. So many in my class were pretending to be gay which I thought peculiar & that they were all kidding. I was so naive!
Teenagers to young adults have a period of development where they differentiate from their parents and family and start associating with their chosen friend groups instead. This is where they tend to highlight (or present) their individual personalities and how they are different from their immediate family. This is sometimes known as the rebellious teenage phase.
I suspect a lot (though not all) of gender non-conforming behavior within this age range is an example of this developmental phenomena myself. Probably similar with the development of gay teenagers personalities at the time, but that trait usually persists into adulthood.
Unfortunately I found out about this while reading how Stefan Molyneux had been using his wife's counseling qualifications to offer internet counseling, and pushing young adults into family separation in practice.
"Swarbrick interrupted, saying "I think you're talking about consequences, bro". She said the data showed trans people and children were more highly represented in mental ill health and suicide statistics, "and mate, it's driven by rhetoric from the likes of your party," to applause from the audience."
Data shows that those who declare a gender identity – often have co-morbidities that affect mental health. These are often not explored further when the approach is "gender affirming health care":
The Sweden National Board of Health and Welfare are now revising their treatment guidelines and have released a preliminary report. News coverage of this report reports that:
“…people with gender dysphoria, especially young people, have a high incidence of concomitant psychiatric diagnoses, self-harming behavior or suicide attempts compared with the rest of the population.
The diagnoses that stand out are depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD and autism. In the group of 13–17-year-olds who were registered as girls at birth and who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the comorbidity is greatest.”
Of these, had:
32.4 percent anxiety disorder
28.9 percent some form of depressive disorder
19.4 percent adhd
15.2 percent autism
That such a large proportion have concomitant psychiatric diagnoses is a factor that needs to be considered in more detail during the investigation of gender dysphoria”
It dismays me to continually read the irresponsible reference to suicide that many people use, despite providing no data, and against suicide prevention guidelines.
In 2017, the Movement Advancement Project (an LGBT advocacy group), the Johnson Family Foundation, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention coauthored a document titled “Talking About Suicide & LGBT Populations.” The nation’s leading LGBT advocacy groups officially endorsed it. These included the Human Rights Campaign, GLSEN, the Trevor Project (which focuses on suicide prevention), GLAAD, PFLAG, the Transgender Law Center, SAGE, the Center for American Progress, and the National LGBTQ Task Force. In a section titled “Guidelines for Talking About Suicide in Safe and Accurate Ways,” the document contains this recommendation:
DON’T attribute a suicide death to a single factor (such as bullying or discrimination) or say that a specific anti-LGBT law or policy will “cause” suicide. Suicide deaths are almost always the result of multiple overlapping causes, including mental health issues that might not have been recognized or treated. Linking suicide directly to external factors like bullying, discrimination or anti-LGBT laws can normalize suicide by suggesting that it is a natural reaction to such experiences or laws. It can also increase suicide risk by leading at-risk individuals to identify with the experiences of those who have died by suicide.
Yes, you're quite right. More accuracy & care in diagnosis & treatment seems to be required. Folks are averse to complexity and will retreat into conventional simple-minded categorising given half a chance. It's normal to condone such human nature but public health necessitates transcendence of such trad normalcy.
Where I practice five to ten percent of inpatients would be transgender at any given time.They all have commonalities. Female trans-gendering to male, Personality disorders, on the Autism spectrum, sexually abused as a child. Transitioning is simply a way of making yourself unattractive to predating males,
That such a large proportion have concomitant psychiatric diagnoses is a factor that needs to be considered in more detail during the investigation of gender dysphoria”
Can you cite any of the LGBTQIA+group where this is not also the case?
Historically it was because of the diagnosis by the profession and society that those not obedient to essential patriarchy in social and religious order of rule (cisgener heterosexual Pauline society) was abnormal.
Alienation from land/mana and unemployment/poverty and related cycles of abuse and society gaslighjting have done the same for Maori.
Your lengthy but lazy copypasta, with selective parts left out without any indication for the unsuspecting reader, just to make an inane comment at the very end!?
Zuck in 2021: "In the metaverse, you'll be able to do almost anything you can imagine".
A moment of truth looms:
On Wednesday the company holds its annual VR event called Meta Connect. It's a chance for Zuckerberg to again explain his reasoning for taking an extremely profitable social media company and diverting its focus to an extremely unprofitable VR venture.
How unprofitable? Reality Labs – which as the name suggests is Meta's virtual and augmented reality branch – has lost a staggering $21 billion since last year… so far, there is very little evidence that this enormous punt will work. Horizon Worlds, a game published by Meta, is about as close as the company has got to creating a metaverse. Users can hop into different settings – cafes, comedy clubs, night clubs, basketball courts – to hang out and play games.
Meta claims it has 300,000 monthly users: tiny when compared to the billions of people on Facebook and Instagram… User reviews complain of empty worlds, and say there simply aren't enough people to make it fun. Or if there are people, they're often children.
Looks like a magical portal dysfunction. Enchanted users getting sucked thro is happening slowly. A design flaw, or technoklutz? We'll see I guess:
In July, on an investor call, someone asked Zuckerberg why he'd spent all this money. "Help us understand," they said. Zuckerberg said he understood the frustration, and admitted: "I can't guarantee you that I'm going to be right about this bet. I do think that this is the direction that the world is going in."
Both. The latter causing the former. Worse than a design flaw though – a moral/spiritual/intellectual flaw. Compelling evidence of why we should never allow anybody to become extremely rich, because otherwise our society gets dominated by the worst people in it.
Yeah, good point. I believe humans have a spiritual drive within, as part of the psyche, separate from intellect. Morality seems to have biological roots – which evolutionary psych science has been exploring for decades (reciprocal altruism) which seems to interface with the spiritual drive via religion (in deep shit in western countries) but the person/group interface is the gut of the nexus.
That's a triad (p/g, slash symbol=function) btw – Zuck, as avatar of jewish capitalism, may be on a steep learning curve…
the country’s infrastructure deficit has been valued at $210b by Treasury – an ocean-sized gulf that will take more than five years to fix. It would be more like 15 years if Labour’s promised pace continues.
The crown jewels of Labour’s infrastructure plan are a list of 14 transport projects, along with continuity for projects in a state of existential uncertainty like Auckland’s light rail.
Roads like State Highway One from Auckland to Whangārei and from Cambridge to Piarere are on the list, as well as a second Mount Victoria Tunnel and rapid transit lines to Auckland’s rapidly developing northwest.
Labour has spent $45 billion on infrastructure over the past five years and put $3.6b aside for the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
So Labour in this term has spent enough to solve a quarter of the problem. That's better than a kick in the head, but probably a performance worth 6/10.
Christopher Luxon has described the solution as “getting the economics right and having regulation that is fit for purpose” – what that means is a fast-tracking to the consents process, modelled on fast-tracking used under Covid-19. Meanwhile, National would require councils to immediately consent enough land capacity for 30 years’ worth of housing growth.
So import so many foreigners that the country's infrastructure gets even less viable in the future, a performance worth 0/10.
Again, you try to re-write somebody else’s article to suit your own narrative, without making it clear to the unsuspecting reader, which is both intellectually dishonest and lazy.
For example, this is how the original authentic text goes:
Labour has spent $45 billion on infrastructure over the past five years and put $3.6b aside for the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
Its campaign has promised to extend that even further, committing $71b over the next five years into infrastructure, schools, hospitals and public housing.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson called this “the long-term nation-building a responsible government must do” when he announced it at Budget 2023. [my italics]
However, the country’s infrastructure deficit has been valued at $210b [et cetera]
So powerful Tony. Thanks. What would happen if Gerald's letter was published as an opinion piece in the Herald or Stuff? He sums up the reality so well.
Some wanted change for changes sake to settle some grudge they had with the pandemic response, but let's be clear about one thing.
You've lost count because you were never counting and you are terrible with numbers. So terrible, you've no idea how bad Nicola looks every time she waves a bit of paper around and says that's our modelling on a single line at the bottom of the page.
It's embarrassing and Jack pointed and laughed out loud.
National: 39.1 percent, down 1.8 points (49 seats)
Labour: 26.5 percent, down 0.3 points (33 seats)
Greens: 14.2 percent, up 1.9 points (18 seats)
ACT: 8.8 percent, down 1.3 points (11 seats)
NZ First: 5.2 percent, up 0.6 points (6 seats)
Te Pāti Māori: 2.2 percent, down 0.9 points (3 seats)
TOP: 1.9 percent, up 1.2 points
New Conservatives: 1.1 percent
Latest Newshub poll last night. It's Left 42.9 Right 47.9 if NZF fail to reach the 5% threshold. Just five points in it and all to play for. I don't believe that TPM are on only 2.2%.
The Greens are on a roll and ACT are in freefall. A friend of mine, a regular Labour voter, told me yesterday she would vote Green this time due to their Wealth Tax policy. Meanwhile yet another ACT candidate resigned in disgrace yesterday after making homophobic media posts and internal fighting within the party is flaring up.
You can add that the Greens consistently under poll, that is they get more votes on the day than expected, and they traditionally score well with ex-patriot voters overseas.
I was proud of my daughter because she told me that she and all her overseas based friends were all voting Green because "they are the only ones really serious about climate change".
Not proud because she supports The Greens, proud because she is intelligent enough to look past the gold-plated promises and look to the future.
Mike: Yes late overseas votes may decide the election. NZF could be on 5.1 on election night and 4.9 after late votes are included. The Greens often pick up a seat as you say.
My thoughts on the announced "Minister of Just Transitions" announced the other day.
I think this title is very ambiguous. Firstly, the word "Just" could mean either "only" or "equitable". Secondly, the first thought that came to mind when I heard the word "Transitions" was that it was something to do with gender identity, since that topic has been in the public debate a lot lately.
Reading further into the announcement, it appears to be to do with reducing emissions, and adapting to climate change and ensuring that the poor are not impacted unfairly in the process. From what I can see, it looks like a geeky, pc term for this role that is used internationally.
But, that definition seems to be already covered within the scope of James Shaw's Minister of Climate Change role. Minister of Climate Change is a much better name anyway, I think. Because it is very clear and explicit what it is about.
But the fact that the new title seems both ambiguous and appears to be highly pc geek speak seems only to reinforce the picture that opposition parties are trying to paint of Labour being pc and out of touch. It also seems that Labour assumes that people in the electorate are familiar already with this term (I wasn’t) and therefore should automatically know what it is all about. So, it comes across to me as a bit arrogant, and implying that people are stupid if they don’t get it.
So, I am left scratching my head about why such a title would be chosen for the role.
So the Labour Party's promise of a "Minister for Just Transitions" comes across to you as "a bit arrogant, and implying that people are stupid if they don’t get it." Intriguing.
How does the Nat's would-be Minister of Finance's refusal to show her working for the projected revenue from their much-touted foreign buyer tax come across to you? A bit arrogant, and implying that people are stupid if they don't get it?
Willux can't show their working – you know why. It's a major concern, don't you think?
Why was Max Rashbrooke’s article on the election (Roll up for this election’s beneficiary disappearing act, September 23) not front page news? I was shocked to find more than 350,000 New Zealanders are likely to find their benefits will be cut under some of the political parties if they win the election.
I am fortunate not to belong to this group but as a New Zealander, I want all of us to be able to feed our children and live in reasonable comfort. I see from the article that the number of children who live in households where food runs short, for instance, has fallen from 20% in 2019 to 13% today.
We should be continuing to pay beneficiaries enough so that percentage continues to fall, not increase. Where has our kindness and care to all our fellow New Zealanders gone? Surely the effect of the election on our poorest New Zealanders should be a concern to us all.
What more do you want exactly. They have provided the number of houses required to sell at above the threshold price to achieve the tax objective. So, the numbers are out there so far as I can see. The biggest area of contention is whether the numbers are realistic or not. And, there is obviously enough given for people to debate that point.
I want to see the advice/analysis that shows their "number of houses required" is realistic. Either Willis and Luxon have been scammed, or they are scamming the voters.
And why on earth do the Nats think that wealthy foreigners buying up NZ properties will be good for Kiwis anyway? Which Kiwis exactly?
Disinformation
Information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization or country.
Misinformation
Information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm.
Malinformation
Information that is based on real facts, but manipulated to inflict harm on a person, organization or country.
I posted a link to an article in GD a week or so back of a stuff article I think of one economist who was basing his projected sales on last-years sales, at a time when the property market was in a major slump. If that is typical of the quality of analysis from economists, then the problem may be with them.
I think projections should be based on sales volumes prior to Covid and the foreign buyer ban.
Allowing for a lot of house inflation since then, it might not be unreasonable to project 1700 houses reaching the threshold for the tax.
In the end, it is all just projections and assumptions to justify any of the promises political parties make. Labour seems to be splashing the cash with their promises like we have an endless money bucket. So, it would be interesting to see the basis of how they propose to pay for all that.
That is where Woods isn't particularly clear. Does she mean 5% of the whole housing market, or 5% of the houses sold to foreigners? Because it makes a big difference.
And, if she was referring to the percentage of houses back in 2018 above that threshold, then house price inflation definitely hasn't been factored into her comment.
Take a look at a histogram. Often it doesn't take that much movement in any factor to shift it from the extremes to more towards the centre.
And that, apparently, is the main thing. Tsmithfield, you are quite insistent that Willis and Luxon should be taken at their word, when they've clearly been caught out trying to scam the voters.
Foreign Buyers Tax: A Mismatch Between Expectations and Reality The Importance of Transparent Policymaking
While the shortfall in the proposed tax revenue may not significantly impact the government deficits, it serves as a testament to the politicians’ approach to policy making and their transparency in responding to criticism. Even though the National party, being an opposition party, may not have the same resources as the Government to form its policy, critics argue that it should invest in thorough analysis using the donations it receives.
Hmm – donations the Nats receive. Could ending the ban on foreigners buying Kiwi homes be a way of rewarding the donors?
The notion of a "just transition" from a high-emissions economy to a carbon neutral or carbon negative one has been around for ages. Bernie Sanders was banging on about it every day in the 2016 race. Like Luxo, Bernie stuck to his lines – but Bernie's lines actually had intellectual and moral content. (sigh – cést la vie)
The name is simply a recognition that economic and social change on this scale cannot be left to the market – because if you do that it results in both undeserved suffering and undeserved accumulations of wealth. And probably inferior outcomes as well. A responsible government (i.e. a non-NACT one) actually knows that unless you address the very legitimate short-term fears people have for their livelihoods, they will be frightened off doing anything significant about climate change.
Yes, I do understand this. I think the main issue is that you shouldn't have to go into a detailed explanation for people to understand what the name means. The name itself should be self explanatory.
“When in Motueka shopping… a shop owner told me that his grandson has two kids in his class whom identify as cats and have water bowls on their desks,” one correspondent wrote.
2 classmates say they are cats to a grandson who tells his grandparent shop-owner who tells shopper in Motueka who writes a letter which is reported in the Nelson Mail.
Why 'hearsay' evidence is the stuff of gossips, social media reckoners, conspiracy theorists and some political candidates!
It's a story about nuttery. It's a story about misinformation. It's a story involving Sue Grey. It's a story about sad cases of deluded, crazy people having their madness publicised.
Sue Grey. Of the Liz Gunn variety of unbalance. It is sad…and you are so right about their media showing..I would think rational people just shake their heads. In disbelief !
I did think the Principals of the schools concerned…were great in response : )
Schools may well need litter boxes should Grey's mob ever have a say in firearms policy.
Will you reintroduce Semi Automatic firearms.
We would reintroduce non sporting 5 shot firearms for hunting and sport. The reintroduction non sporting semi auto type rifles with accessories would come under stricter licensing endorsements and safety criteria. Similar to the requirements of owning pistols in this country. An E class licence with added security and restrictions.
Non-sporting firearms (including vintage and collectors’ firearms) should also be allowed. A C licence endorsements with extra precautions would apply that would also cover the Film industry requirements.
Parents with students in Jeffco Public Schools may have seen some interesting items on their back-to-school shopping lists this year, including buckets and kitty litter.
That’s because more teachers are opting to include “go buckets” in their classroom, to be used by students as toilets during prolonged lockdowns.
Simple enough to bring in larger magazines. Hell it isn't even that hard to manufacture your own magazines. And that is before you consider the possibilities of 3d printing with metal or plastic.
Basically a magazine is a container for rounds with a spring mechanism and a latching system. To think that you can limit by rounds in a magazine is the ravings of an idiot who doesn’t understand what they are and how they could be adapted.
Besides it isn't the magazine size that is the issue. That is a just a rhetorical fig leaf for the stupid and those who haven’t used firearms a lot. For one reason or another, I have been.
It is the semi-automatic mechanism, barrel length, the ease of changing magazines and how fast you can spray bullets at a that is the issue. The problem is that semiautomatic weapons are designed primarily for one and only thing – warfare against humans. If a non-professional hunter needs a semi-automatic weapon to make a kill, then they shouldn't be hunting because they are incompetent at using a weapon and evidently too lazy to learn how to shoot well.
The only professional hunters we have in NZ are those keeping down our populations of rabbits, possums, and other such. Generally their role has steadily been superseded by the use of poisons and increasingly better fences in reserves.
Yeah. I find it a fascinating myth. It's invented by people who make that argument that if you can be (say) born female and think you are really a man, then you can theoretically think you are anything at all – a cat, a beetle, a cloud, a planet.
But people don't do that. Some things are literally unthinkable, while others are not. There are boundaries to what we can think and presumably they come from our biology as homo sapiens. Our cognitive apparatus is therefore as biological as any other part of us – including, importantly for this debate, our reproductive systems.
There is a curious indifference to last night's poll which showed NZ First in the kingmaker position (again).
It also seems that some ACT supporters are now deserting the ship and either heading back to National or crossing to NZ First.
The campaign thus far is quite startling by contrast between the attitudes of the left and right. The parties of the left – Labour, Greens, Te Pati Maori – have looked like a unified block focussed on government, whilst still maintaining their individualities. On the other side the parties of the right seem to be barely on speaking terms. Each of them is having to weed out the conspiracy theorists and nut jobs that are proving so embarrassing to their campaigns.
I hope New Zealanders will wake up to what the reality of the Coalition of Division has in store for us or whether the "anything but Labour" mentality rules above all else.
'Coalition of Division' works very well. It has assonance and alliteration and secondly attacks both the divisive and divided nature of the coalition by using the very wording of the hoardings of its constituents.
Indeed, the very divisive nature of their policies which reflect the politics of fear, division and hatred is what I am most concerned with should that coalition come about- poor government, policies, outcomes, consequences for us all.
Contrast all that with the inclusiveness of the Labour hoarding slogan, 'In it for you.'
My first reaction was that Labour has only been in it for me when Kirk sent the frigate to Mururoa & Lange went antinuclear. I do still credit Jacinda for working with James & the Greens though, gotta be fair.
I suspect Luxon will have to grow a spine. If he can't corral them in the next couple of weeks, he'll seem a wimp in public. Could be fatal.
You're right, he doesn't have to. Depends if he wants to win back the floating voters who have abandoned Labour or not. Dominant male stances may not be trendy but they work via tacit psychology since they are part of the evolutionary wiring of the species. That stuff is crucial for male leadership.
I learnt it intuitively back when I observed Rowling in disbelief: presenting as a cross between a hamster & a sparrow. Have in recent years learnt about biological signalling from books on evolutionary psychology…
Hipkins popularity dropping like a stone – even with the lacklustre Luxon as the opponent (19% to 24%)
It's been a long time since a sitting PM was out-pointed by a leader of the opposition. Even the highly popular Ardern didn't manage it against the personality-challenged Bill English (although, to be fair, she might well have done so with a bit more run up time)
I think we'd have to go back to 2008 – when the popular Key out-pointed Clark – to find an example (although that was 30s and 40s rather than the teens and 20s we're seeing with the current contenders)
Check him out in the debate tomorrow night on 3 to see if he listens to all the Labour advisors telling him to go mongrel (just kidding). Gower is moderator. Will he show up in jackboots with horse-whip??
All I can say is, at least they are honest and upfront about their intentions, and beneficiaries know full well in advance where they stand. Unlike with Labour, who have unfortunately had a history now since the 1990s of giving out signals they are on our side, only to either throw us under the bus completely (2000s), or play their games of the last few years of pretending to be kind but ignoring the Welfare working group report and doing bugger all, yet at the same time crowing about how much they've done.
From experience trying to hire people, this means those left are going to need more and more flexibility and support services and $$ to get them to work even part time.
Would hate to see beneficiaries punished when it's clear those on benefits really need societal support not punishment.
…giving out signals they are on our side, only to either throw us under the bus completely (2000s), or play their games of the last few years of pretending to be kind but ignoring the Welfare working group report and doing bugger all,…
Since Labour has done nothing of the sort – and since you have ignored the continuing years of extended global pandemic related economic and social interruptions… not to mention the big improvements they have made and plan to build on in the the next parliamentary term (should they be so lucky) – I think most of us will consign your prognosis to the nearest waste paper basket.
Anne, we will have to beg to differ on this one. I'm not going to ask about your personal experiences with the welfare system because that's not my business. But I've unfortunately been dealing with them since 1990 so have a pretty good idea. And yes, I'm very aware there's been a pandemic going on.
Life for us is infinitely better under a centre-left government, but Labour is NOT our friend. The rhetoric does not match the reality. Pandemic or not, there were reforms that could've easily been made that didn't even involve money, or much of it. The fact of the matter is, they're not interested in welfare reform, just glacial, incremental changes. So they don't scare their middle-class voters.
Any improvements have been incredibly small, and financially inconsequencial to many of us (eg most increases meant clawbacks from supplements, so practically no one got the full increases, but the Government wasn't shouting that from the rooftops, were they?))
At least they are honest and upfront . What a crock. They are the most nasty exaggerating austerity driven fools Kay.
Are you better off now than in 2016/17? Tell us what is so bad that wasn't put in place, granted slowly because of 6 unplanned serious calamities during the last 6 years? I agree you obviously need more help than what was provided, but do you really believe it is all “lip service”. That is a stretch.
Actually Patricia, I am worse off financially than I was in 2016/17. Between the clawbacks to the supplements that go with core benefit increases, the free prescriptions cancelled out by losing it on disability allowance (otherwise a completely sensible policy), and skyrocketing rent, like most of us I've gone backwards in real terms, just like every year, under every government. Oh, and I STILL have to remain single because they are persisting with the 'relationship rule' which is apparently just too hard to change, ie they don't want to. So we continue to be punished for having the audacity to be disabled. Can't blame natural disasters for that one.
I acknowledge the positives like the winter energy payment, although that surely is an indication that benefits/pension isn't high enough to cover the power bill? And half price bus fares, about time.
My issue with Labour is really quite simple. National make it perfectly clear what their intentions are, and they carry through with those promises. Labour talk big (fix child poverty, biggest hike to benefits in forever, etc etc) and try to convince the general public how kind they are, but the rhetoric does NOT equal the reality.
I am also not overly impressed with just how hard it's become to deal with WINZ, including little things with their IT system that could be easily fixed, but they just refuse to do it. If they insist on making everything online, they can bloody well let us do things online!
Disability support should be at the super rate because it is long term.
And yes, there needs to be an exception for those on disability, they should continue to receive support if they have a working partner – at the JS level.
Greens policy atm is otherwise
reforming ACC into a single system for all health and disability-related income support. (3.4)
Ensure that all disabled people are housed in safe, accessible, affordable housing in the community of our choice (…). (5.10)
5.10.1. Enshrining the right for all New Zealanders to housing in legislation and policy in line with the UNCRPD and NZ Disability Strategy, requiring the Government to ensure everyone is housed in safe, healthy, accessible, affordable housing, and requiring that disabled people can choose where and with whom they live ;
5.10.2. Providing a housing-first approach with wrap-around services and support for people who have both housing needs and other complex needs;
5.10.3. Adopting a public housing framework which ensures all new public housing meets universal design and accessibility standards which will particularly benefit disabled people, and existing public housing will be retrofitted to meet universal design standards over an agreed timeframe;
5.10.4. Ensuring processes for housing modifications are timely, straightforward and transparent with eligibility and funding should be revised based on need, not arbitrary criteria;
5.10.5. Providing disabled people with choices equal to others about where and with whom they live and the support they receive. This should include: the need for support to transition from residential services to living in the community; and modification funding for people living on papakāinga;
5.10.6. Ensure the safety of disabled people in all new and existing housing, including processes so that those who cannot use stairs can evacuate in case of an emergency and visual fire alarms in all housing; and
5.10.7. Acting to provide accessible housing, and mandating that disabled people must have an accessible house before ending a tenancy.
Kay I am getting the Supported Living Payment and I am financially far better off than at any point since becoming unable to work thanks to this Governments initiatives. I am sorry to learn that your circumstances are more difficult – I imagine that any system will have variations due to individual's being in different circumstances but that is little comfort for those in a diificult postion
Barfly, yes it does come down to individual circumstances. I'd say mine was the skyrocketing rent, like many others. And it's pay what they want or be homeless, thanks to the 'market.' I do manage- just- but the only real major difference I've felt is not being treated like a criminal under a labour government.
Regardless of whether you consider Trudeau a slimy little weasel or a hero of liberal wokedumb it seems evident he runs a very united parliament !!
What is the phenomena which explains how so many supposedly intelligent persons can rise to their feet as one and applaud in this case a literal Natzi ?
On the occasion of Zelensky visiting Canada to gather yet more weapons pledges from wealthy countries its not supprising to see the leader of the particular country fawning all over him like a rash in fact i was supprised Trudeau didnt kiss him on the lips !!What did supprise/horrify me though was the total conformity of the members , united apparently in their collective ignorance and stupidity .
"It is no surprise that Russian media has leapt on the footage as justification of the Ukrainian invasion" – Michael Walker in the very piece you link to.
Fascist fanboi weston gives us all a fine example of quod erat demonstrandum!
Nevertheless Sanc .No matter who relays the message
It was an embarrassing spectacle that no doubt would have passed unnoticed by Russophobic fanbois and historic illiterates , had not Jewish organisations( less sanguine about Nazis as others it seems) raised their disgust
And then , as one they all professed to have no idea that this Ukrainian ex Waffen SS soldier had been in a unit that killed Jews and acted as concentration camp guards
He was being lauded for fighting Russians in WW2.Are they all so incredibly ignorant of history that they didn’t twig that meant he’d teamed up with the Nazis?
Or are all Russians fair game now, and whoever killed them now or in the past gets a free pass on slaughtering Jews .Pretty warped morality here , but widespread in the west .Jewish people however have not been quite so forgetful or forgiving
Ukrainians did have a choice. Those to the west sided with the Nazis, and enthusiastically took up killing Poles, Jews, Roma and Russians out of nationalistic zeal .
Those more to the East, with generational ties to Russia , were strongly anti fascist and sided with Russia .
The Holodomor affected those Ukrainians too.
So I guess the Jewish people just have to shut the fuck up because …..Russia,…. Holodomor ?
Millions of Ukranians were murdered by Russians in the Holodomor but to some people only Jewish victims of genocide matter and other races and religions that suffer genocide are less worthy because they are not Jewish
Well perhaps you might want to take that concept up with those who feel because of Holdomor , those Ukrainians who threw in their lot with the Nazis were perfectly justified in killing , in a particularly savage manner,Poles,Jews,Roma along with Russians.
Tit for tat so to speak, but I didn't realize the former were responsible for Holodomor
The thread has been about a Waffen Ss vet being given standing ovations in the Canadian parliament
Did I say the actions of the Canadian parliament were fine?
No.
Do I think it excuses Russia's actions now? Also no.
Do I think that this Canadian bloke (having spent more than 3/4 of his life in Canada, I think he qualifies) – has *anything* to do with 'Nazism' in Ukraine. Also no.
But it seems as though you'll grasp at any straw to defend your beloved mother Russia.
Do I think that because 27 million Russians were killed in WW2 it gives them carte blanche to kill anyone they like ?
No. I have never said that and nether have the Russians .It seems to be in your head only
And the nice Ukrainian fellow you refer to who has apparently been washed of his sins by living in Canada all these years ,has celebrated his time in the Galicia Unit on social media several times .That is why he was being given accolades in the Canadian Parliament for heavens sake …he allied with the Nazis and fought the Russians.His unit was responsible for outright atrocities .What an earth do you think the complaints from Poland and Jewish organisations have been about?Why do you think there have been such profuse apologies .?Why does Poland want to extradite him ?
And Zelensky would have known exactly what this guy had been involved in during WW2 when the speaker of the house introduced him as having been in the First Ukrainian Division .Zelensky stood up and applauded anyway, even though his grandfather and great uncles had been killed in the holocaust. https://www.politico.eu/article/yaroslav-hunka-poland-extradite-ukrainian-ss-veteran-canada/
In this 2011 blog post Hunka describes the disappearance of friends and acquaintances to Siberia at the hands of the NKVD. He recounts that Germany was reputed to be a highly civilised country, and recalls how no one could understood why so many Jews seemed to be fleeing, and about hopes of aid from the Germans to rescue them from Moscow communism.
In 1941 when the Nazis did occupy Ukraine, many Ukrainians greeted them as liberators although Hunka hints that German occupation wasn’t much of an improvement over Soviet occupation but at least fewer people seemed to be sent to Siberia.
And when the threat of another invasion by the Red Army he and many others from his school enlisted with the Nazis to fight against the Soviets.
And the Jews, Poles, Roma were just untermenschen anyway.
Ukrainian guards at German concentration camps were the most brutal and most feared, But it was all worth it for you lot because they were killing Russians as well !
Nice revisionism there
Thank goodness the UN is not so relaxed about Ukrainian Nazis
Francesca it is my understanding that you are regarded as a russophile (with good reason) on this site. In my understanding Russians regard as Nazi's anyone who doesn't like Russians – indeed it seems that is their primary consideration and all other things are incidental.
If you wish to try to define 'Nazi' as perhaps anti-semitic, authoritarian, genocidal, murderous, torturing, sadistic psychopaths with a penchant for invading other countries and trying to destroy other peoples identities, cultures and history all of these characteristics except for the anti-semitism are boldy on display with the Russian war of conquest on Ukraine.
I conclude that there are indeed an awful lot of 'Nazis' in Ukraine it's just that 99% of them are fighting in the Russian Military
Hey I dont know if you read history….but the ss…waffen or otherwise..were murdering pieces of shit. Being a member of same..and seemingly not shy about it..would make me wonder about that guy.
In Canada, Hunka remained active in Waffen SS veterans circles and maintained a blog on the Internet where, in the early 2010s, he compared veterans of SS Galizien to Jews
Hundreds in Ukraine attend marches celebrating Nazi SS soldiers
President Vlodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, condemned the embroidery marches, which had been conducted legally.
“We categorically condemn any manifestation of propaganda of totalitarian regimes, in particular the National Socialist, and attempts to revise truth about World War II,” he said Friday in a statement.
As I say I dont like Putin…at all. Murderer. Beslan School massacre the one that proved to me. Have to say the History of Eastern Europe (like the Worlds ) just a sad and terrible fact..that Civilians : Poles, Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, Women,Children and the vulnerable were/are always the victims of power.
I consider myself to be fairly well read on WW2 history and frankly all this talk of Nazism in Ukraine in 2023 is just utter f***ing garbage.
I absolutely agree that the Nazi regime were collectively a bunch of deranged murdering lunatics…but they sure as hell weren't the only ones. That some people want to argue that what occurred in a World War 80 years ago is at all relevant to modern day Ukraine is bonkers.
"Hundreds in Ukraine attend marches celebrating Nazi SS soldiers "
ffs I doubt anyone is carrying a picture of Hitler or Himmler – I suggest they may be celebrating Ukranians who fought against the Russians. Here’s a newsflash there was no Ukrainian military they could join in WW2 plus they could not join the German Army because they weren't German – literally the only way for a Ukrainian to fight Russians in WW2 was to join the Waffen SS and after millions of Ukrainians were murdered in the Holodomor by Russians I can easily imagine people who had to watch their relatives starve to death look for payback against their Russian overlords.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia also had many citizens join the Waffen SS – Now was this because they knew Hitler's 'agenda' and wanted in on some mass murder or was it because USSR had invaded all of them and moved in their usual style of killing the intelligentsia, community leaders and brutally repressing their people?
The war that was fought between USSR and Germany was fought between two horrendously evil totalitarian states – there were no 'White Knights' and to pretend there was is simply delusion IMO.
Ye bit, if you don't actually fill in the blanks it's an easy leap to believe labour intends to increase the onslaught on rural nz , and only fool thinks it'll be dairy irll be sheep and beef.
Turning productive farming land into native forest would be bonkers IMO but I didn't see any mention of repurposing farming land for this. Repurposing some land used for forestry is very likely a good idea. My limited understanding is that there is/may be a sizeable quatity of land used for commercial forestry which is not fit for the purpose – making slips, erosion, flooding and forestry slash inundation during major weather events a much bigger problem. It seems that the Queenstown Council had something of a "she'll be right" attitude to harvesting an area of forest for the $$ and then getting clobbered by slash combined with an adverse weather event because well …….they're stupid and greedy
The usenet group nz.general is something of a cess-pit on politics – a post this morning titled "New Service for those escaping overseas" gave the url: https://www.robbos.co.nz/
A later post identified that the website was registered to The New Zealand Taxpayer Union, with the contact email starting with jordan, and gave a url for the international tax competitive index as evidence that Australia does not give lower taxes than NZ.
"Dirty Tricks" is still alive and well in the ACT/Nat world . . .
Has anyone asked Mitchell if he will pursue the white-collar criminals as strongly as he will the Gangs and violent offenders. I understand that a former prime minister has just been found guilty of a crime and is up for a $5 million penalty. (I understand however that any wise directorship takes out indemnity insurance to cover such eventualities.) So powerful frauds can do as they please.
Taxation
I believe Damien Grant recently opined that we should keep the taxman away from productive income. Couldn't agree more. So why is he keen to reduce Bright Line threshold back to 2 years. Investing in and profiteering from sales of existing homes is not productive money. In fact, perhaps all investment income should be taxed at a higher rate – Could probably be directed at the banks as well (particularly the foreign owned ones that operate here in NZ.)
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A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
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 ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. 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 ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
Judging by this RNZ review, the young politicians debate was fun: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/election-2023/498767/sparks-fly-at-youth-debate-as-candidates-forced-to-defend-policies
Rather unfair of the god of heavy metal to zap a fan like that, I thought. However, since the dude survived the test he's likely to prove himself staunch in politics…
This is a topic that needs serious attention, pubity was confusing enough when I went through it , Im as hetero as they get but it still took me a while to be sure, that was before the internet and schools telling me I could possibly be a number of things gender wise now!
I agree it's a trending up thing. I'm all for self-determination. Your point about developmental confusion is a good one too re adolescence.
College in the '60s was macho & as a sensitive but feisty lad I acquired an ability to copy the cool guys somewhat. They call it mimesis nowadays – a biological skill. So many in my class were pretending to be gay which I thought peculiar & that they were all kidding. I was so naive!
Teenagers to young adults have a period of development where they differentiate from their parents and family and start associating with their chosen friend groups instead. This is where they tend to highlight (or present) their individual personalities and how they are different from their immediate family. This is sometimes known as the rebellious teenage phase.
I suspect a lot (though not all) of gender non-conforming behavior within this age range is an example of this developmental phenomena myself. Probably similar with the development of gay teenagers personalities at the time, but that trait usually persists into adulthood.
Unfortunately I found out about this while reading how Stefan Molyneux had been using his wife's counseling qualifications to offer internet counseling, and pushing young adults into family separation in practice.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/15/family-relationships-fdr-defoo-cult
"Swarbrick interrupted, saying "I think you're talking about consequences, bro". She said the data showed trans people and children were more highly represented in mental ill health and suicide statistics, "and mate, it's driven by rhetoric from the likes of your party," to applause from the audience."
Data shows that those who declare a gender identity – often have co-morbidities that affect mental health. These are often not explored further when the approach is "gender affirming health care":
https://www.transgendertrend.com/current-evidence/
Swedish link here: https://www.vardfokus.se/samhalle/konsdysfori-som-diagnos-okar-kraftigt-bland-unga/
It dismays me to continually read the irresponsible reference to suicide that many people use, despite providing no data, and against suicide prevention guidelines.
An article on this issue:
https://www.city-journal.org/article/reckless-and-irresponsible
Yes, you're quite right. More accuracy & care in diagnosis & treatment seems to be required. Folks are averse to complexity and will retreat into conventional simple-minded categorising given half a chance. It's normal to condone such human nature but public health necessitates transcendence of such trad normalcy.
Where I practice five to ten percent of inpatients would be transgender at any given time.They all have commonalities. Female trans-gendering to male, Personality disorders, on the Autism spectrum, sexually abused as a child. Transitioning is simply a way of making yourself unattractive to predating males,
Can you cite any of the LGBTQIA+group where this is not also the case?
Historically it was because of the diagnosis by the profession and society that those not obedient to essential patriarchy in social and religious order of rule (cisgener heterosexual Pauline society) was abnormal.
Alienation from land/mana and unemployment/poverty and related cycles of abuse and society gaslighjting have done the same for Maori.
Your lengthy but lazy copypasta, with selective parts left out without any indication for the unsuspecting reader, just to make an inane comment at the very end!?
Lift your game!
Another day, another ACT candidate showing how nasty they really are. How many is that now? It's hard to keep up.
Unfortunately Stuff has removed easy access to many of its stories now, but here's a summary of their report:
NZ election 2023 live: ACT's bad fortnight gets a bit worse as insiders lift lid on candidate process | Stuff.co.nz
Zuck in 2021: "In the metaverse, you'll be able to do almost anything you can imagine".
A moment of truth looms:
Looks like a magical portal dysfunction. Enchanted users getting sucked thro is happening slowly. A design flaw, or technoklutz? We'll see I guess:
Both. The latter causing the former. Worse than a design flaw though – a moral/spiritual/intellectual flaw. Compelling evidence of why we should never allow anybody to become extremely rich, because otherwise our society gets dominated by the worst people in it.
a moral/spiritual/intellectual flaw
Yeah, good point. I believe humans have a spiritual drive within, as part of the psyche, separate from intellect. Morality seems to have biological roots – which evolutionary psych science has been exploring for decades (reciprocal altruism) which seems to interface with the spiritual drive via religion (in deep shit in western countries) but the person/group interface is the gut of the nexus.
That's a triad (p/g, slash symbol=function) btw – Zuck, as avatar of jewish capitalism, may be on a steep learning curve…
So here's what our future hinges on:
So Labour in this term has spent enough to solve a quarter of the problem. That's better than a kick in the head, but probably a performance worth 6/10.
So import so many foreigners that the country's infrastructure gets even less viable in the future, a performance worth 0/10.
Sensibly resilient: 8/10
Again, you try to re-write somebody else’s article to suit your own narrative, without making it clear to the unsuspecting reader, which is both intellectually dishonest and lazy.
For example, this is how the original authentic text goes:
I’m getting tired of your slippery behaviour.
An open letter from Gerald Otto to Christopher Luxon – containing some pertinent truths which should be more wide broadcast!
https://nickrockel.substack.com/p/letter-to-luxon?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
So powerful Tony. Thanks. What would happen if Gerald's letter was published as an opinion piece in the Herald or Stuff? He sums up the reality so well.
https://nickrockel.substack.com/p/letter-to-luxon?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Love reading Nick Rockel. He makes good points in an interesting way. Gerald Otto tells it how it is. On point.
Latest Newshub poll last night. It's Left 42.9 Right 47.9 if NZF fail to reach the 5% threshold. Just five points in it and all to play for. I don't believe that TPM are on only 2.2%.
The Greens are on a roll and ACT are in freefall. A friend of mine, a regular Labour voter, told me yesterday she would vote Green this time due to their Wealth Tax policy. Meanwhile yet another ACT candidate resigned in disgrace yesterday after making homophobic media posts and internal fighting within the party is flaring up.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300977306/nz-election-2023-live-acts-bad-fortnight-gets-a-bit-worse-as-insiders-lift-lid-on-candidate-process
You can add that the Greens consistently under poll, that is they get more votes on the day than expected, and they traditionally score well with ex-patriot voters overseas.
I was proud of my daughter because she told me that she and all her overseas based friends were all voting Green because "they are the only ones really serious about climate change".
Not proud because she supports The Greens, proud because she is intelligent enough to look past the gold-plated promises and look to the future.
Mike: Yes late overseas votes may decide the election. NZF could be on 5.1 on election night and 4.9 after late votes are included. The Greens often pick up a seat as you say.
If NZF drop to say 4.8%, it becomes a 3 MP difference. How many votes is that?
link to calculations
My thoughts on the announced "Minister of Just Transitions" announced the other day.
I think this title is very ambiguous. Firstly, the word "Just" could mean either "only" or "equitable". Secondly, the first thought that came to mind when I heard the word "Transitions" was that it was something to do with gender identity, since that topic has been in the public debate a lot lately.
Reading further into the announcement, it appears to be to do with reducing emissions, and adapting to climate change and ensuring that the poor are not impacted unfairly in the process. From what I can see, it looks like a geeky, pc term for this role that is used internationally.
But, that definition seems to be already covered within the scope of James Shaw's Minister of Climate Change role. Minister of Climate Change is a much better name anyway, I think. Because it is very clear and explicit what it is about.
But the fact that the new title seems both ambiguous and appears to be highly pc geek speak seems only to reinforce the picture that opposition parties are trying to paint of Labour being pc and out of touch. It also seems that Labour assumes that people in the electorate are familiar already with this term (I wasn’t) and therefore should automatically know what it is all about. So, it comes across to me as a bit arrogant, and implying that people are stupid if they don’t get it.
So, I am left scratching my head about why such a title would be chosen for the role.
So the Labour Party's promise of a "Minister for Just Transitions" comes across to you as "a bit arrogant, and implying that people are stupid if they don’t get it." Intriguing.
How does the Nat's would-be Minister of Finance's refusal to show her working for the projected revenue from their much-touted foreign buyer tax come across to you? A bit arrogant, and implying that people are stupid if they don't get it?
Willux can't show their working – you know why. It's a major concern, don't you think?
What more do you want exactly. They have provided the number of houses required to sell at above the threshold price to achieve the tax objective. So, the numbers are out there so far as I can see. The biggest area of contention is whether the numbers are realistic or not. And, there is obviously enough given for people to debate that point.
Honesty. Economists say Willux's numbers have no basis in reality – can’t trust ’em.
I want to see the advice/analysis that shows their "number of houses required" is realistic. Either Willis and Luxon have been scammed, or they are scamming the voters.
And why on earth do the Nats think that wealthy foreigners buying up NZ properties will be good for Kiwis anyway? Which Kiwis exactly?
Information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization or country.
Information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm.
Information that is based on real facts, but manipulated to inflict harm on a person, organization or country.
https://www.undp.org/eurasia/dis/misinformation
I posted a link to an article in GD a week or so back of a stuff article I think of one economist who was basing his projected sales on last-years sales, at a time when the property market was in a major slump. If that is typical of the quality of analysis from economists, then the problem may be with them.
I think projections should be based on sales volumes prior to Covid and the foreign buyer ban.
According to Megan Woods, 4120 homes per year were sold to foreigners pa in previous years.
Allowing for a lot of house inflation since then, it might not be unreasonable to project 1700 houses reaching the threshold for the tax.
In the end, it is all just projections and assumptions to justify any of the promises political parties make. Labour seems to be splashing the cash with their promises like we have an endless money bucket. So, it would be interesting to see the basis of how they propose to pay for all that.
More pro-Nat scamming – disappointing.
And why on earth do the Nats think that wealthy foreigners buying up NZ properties wouldl be good for Kiwis anyway? Which Kiwis? Exactly!
That is where Woods isn't particularly clear. Does she mean 5% of the whole housing market, or 5% of the houses sold to foreigners? Because it makes a big difference.
And, if she was referring to the percentage of houses back in 2018 above that threshold, then house price inflation definitely hasn't been factored into her comment.
Take a look at a histogram. Often it doesn't take that much movement in any factor to shift it from the extremes to more towards the centre.
Who is advising/lobbying the Nats, and why are Willis and Luxon scamming Kiwi voters? I think we both know.
Which Kiwis benefit from opening up NZ’s property market to wealthy foreigners? I think we both know.
Self-serving springs to momd.
You are conveniently ignoring the fact that we have been in the midst of the largest property slump in the last 40 years. But you are making exactly the same mistake as the economist I pointed to.
The property market will pick up again once it has corrected and interest rates have retracted once inflation is under control.
And that, apparently, is the main thing. Tsmithfield, you are quite insistent that Willis and Luxon should be taken at their word, when they've clearly been caught out trying to scam the voters.
Hmm – donations the Nats receive. Could ending the ban on foreigners buying Kiwi homes be a way of rewarding the donors?
mind
The notion of a "just transition" from a high-emissions economy to a carbon neutral or carbon negative one has been around for ages. Bernie Sanders was banging on about it every day in the 2016 race. Like Luxo, Bernie stuck to his lines – but Bernie's lines actually had intellectual and moral content. (sigh – cést la vie)
The name is simply a recognition that economic and social change on this scale cannot be left to the market – because if you do that it results in both undeserved suffering and undeserved accumulations of wealth. And probably inferior outcomes as well. A responsible government (i.e. a non-NACT one) actually knows that unless you address the very legitimate short-term fears people have for their livelihoods, they will be frightened off doing anything significant about climate change.
Yes, I do understand this. I think the main issue is that you shouldn't have to go into a detailed explanation for people to understand what the name means. The name itself should be self explanatory.
At the heart of it, it's just another announcement, not worth the paper it's printed on.
I forget which one of Hipkin's promises it was, maybe the dental one, but part of it was funded by taking from the CC fighting fund.
All the neo-lib parties are paying lip service to CC.
“When in Motueka shopping… a shop owner told me that his grandson has two kids in his class whom identify as cats and have water bowls on their desks,” one correspondent wrote.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/133004212/party-leader-sue-grey-raises-litterboxes-in-schools-myth-at-candidate-meeting
2 classmates say they are cats to a grandson who tells his grandparent shop-owner who tells shopper in Motueka who writes a letter which is reported in the Nelson Mail.
Why 'hearsay' evidence is the stuff of gossips, social media reckoners, conspiracy theorists and some political candidates!
It's a story about nuttery. It's a story about misinformation. It's a story involving Sue Grey. It's a story about sad cases of deluded, crazy people having their madness publicised.
Sue Grey. Of the Liz Gunn variety of unbalance. It is sad…and you are so right about their media showing..I would think rational people just shake their heads. In disbelief !
I did think the Principals of the schools concerned…were great in response : )
Schools may well need litter boxes should Grey's mob ever have a say in firearms policy.
Will you reintroduce Semi Automatic firearms.
https://outdoorsparty.co.nz/nz-outdoors-party-firearms-policy/
Parents with students in Jeffco Public Schools may have seen some interesting items on their back-to-school shopping lists this year, including buckets and kitty litter.
That’s because more teachers are opting to include “go buckets” in their classroom, to be used by students as toilets during prolonged lockdowns.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/half-of-jeffco-schools-now-have-kitty-litter-filled-buckets-for-lockdowns/
Simple enough to bring in larger magazines. Hell it isn't even that hard to manufacture your own magazines. And that is before you consider the possibilities of 3d printing with metal or plastic.
Basically a magazine is a container for rounds with a spring mechanism and a latching system. To think that you can limit by rounds in a magazine is the ravings of an idiot who doesn’t understand what they are and how they could be adapted.
Besides it isn't the magazine size that is the issue. That is a just a rhetorical fig leaf for the stupid and those who haven’t used firearms a lot. For one reason or another, I have been.
It is the semi-automatic mechanism, barrel length, the ease of changing magazines and how fast you can spray bullets at a that is the issue. The problem is that semiautomatic weapons are designed primarily for one and only thing – warfare against humans. If a non-professional hunter needs a semi-automatic weapon to make a kill, then they shouldn't be hunting because they are incompetent at using a weapon and evidently too lazy to learn how to shoot well.
The only professional hunters we have in NZ are those keeping down our populations of rabbits, possums, and other such. Generally their role has steadily been superseded by the use of poisons and increasingly better fences in reserves.
And most are using pre-charged pneumatics with large capacity magazines.
Cheaper than buying ammo for rabbits.
Much less of a issue with down-range rounds.
Yeah. I find it a fascinating myth. It's invented by people who make that argument that if you can be (say) born female and think you are really a man, then you can theoretically think you are anything at all – a cat, a beetle, a cloud, a planet.
But people don't do that. Some things are literally unthinkable, while others are not. There are boundaries to what we can think and presumably they come from our biology as homo sapiens. Our cognitive apparatus is therefore as biological as any other part of us – including, importantly for this debate, our reproductive systems.
There is a curious indifference to last night's poll which showed NZ First in the kingmaker position (again).
It also seems that some ACT supporters are now deserting the ship and either heading back to National or crossing to NZ First.
The campaign thus far is quite startling by contrast between the attitudes of the left and right. The parties of the left – Labour, Greens, Te Pati Maori – have looked like a unified block focussed on government, whilst still maintaining their individualities. On the other side the parties of the right seem to be barely on speaking terms. Each of them is having to weed out the conspiracy theorists and nut jobs that are proving so embarrassing to their campaigns.
I hope New Zealanders will wake up to what the reality of the Coalition of Division has in store for us or whether the "anything but Labour" mentality rules above all else.
Coalition of Division
Coalition of Crap sounds better but I bet Hipkins isn't man enough to use it!
The use of 'crap' defines a real man?
'Coalition of Division' works very well. It has assonance and alliteration and secondly attacks both the divisive and divided nature of the coalition by using the very wording of the hoardings of its constituents.
Indeed, the very divisive nature of their policies which reflect the politics of fear, division and hatred is what I am most concerned with should that coalition come about- poor government, policies, outcomes, consequences for us all.
Contrast all that with the inclusiveness of the Labour hoarding slogan, 'In it for you.'
In it for you
My first reaction was that Labour has only been in it for me when Kirk sent the frigate to Mururoa & Lange went antinuclear. I do still credit Jacinda for working with James & the Greens though, gotta be fair.
I suspect Luxon will have to grow a spine. If he can't corral them in the next couple of weeks, he'll seem a wimp in public. Could be fatal.
"The use of 'crap' defines a real man?"
Certainly not a hill to die on but the use of 'blunt speak' can resonate with a hell of a lot of people IMO.
Yes – Blunt and concise speak works.
Remember the "Decent Ordinary Bloke" from Muldoon. He captured the heart of New Zealand – it covered a multitude of opinions.
You're right, he doesn't have to. Depends if he wants to win back the floating voters who have abandoned Labour or not. Dominant male stances may not be trendy but they work via tacit psychology since they are part of the evolutionary wiring of the species. That stuff is crucial for male leadership.
I learnt it intuitively back when I observed Rowling in disbelief: presenting as a cross between a hamster & a sparrow. Have in recent years learnt about biological signalling from books on evolutionary psychology…
Hipkins popularity dropping like a stone – even with the lacklustre Luxon as the opponent (19% to 24%)
It's been a long time since a sitting PM was out-pointed by a leader of the opposition. Even the highly popular Ardern didn't manage it against the personality-challenged Bill English (although, to be fair, she might well have done so with a bit more run up time)
I think we'd have to go back to 2008 – when the popular Key out-pointed Clark – to find an example (although that was 30s and 40s rather than the teens and 20s we're seeing with the current contenders)
Check him out in the debate tomorrow night on 3 to see if he listens to all the Labour advisors telling him to go mongrel (just kidding). Gower is moderator. Will he show up in jackboots with horse-whip??
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300977306/nz-election-2023-live-national-party-to-crack-down-on-people-on-benefits
Quell surprise.
All I can say is, at least they are honest and upfront about their intentions, and beneficiaries know full well in advance where they stand. Unlike with Labour, who have unfortunately had a history now since the 1990s of giving out signals they are on our side, only to either throw us under the bus completely (2000s), or play their games of the last few years of pretending to be kind but ignoring the Welfare working group report and doing bugger all, yet at the same time crowing about how much they've done.
We've been at 3.4-3.6% unemployed and our under-utilised is down to about 300,000 people.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/underutilisation-rate/
From experience trying to hire people, this means those left are going to need more and more flexibility and support services and $$ to get them to work even part time.
Would hate to see beneficiaries punished when it's clear those on benefits really need societal support not punishment.
Just saw luxon on te news 1, saying well kick them.off benifits because we care,!!
Ugly man
Caught a glimpse of willis on last night’s debate saying they want people to be able to work more hours,
The other day radeymane was mortified that taihape mc ds was only open 9 hours a day,
The nats want there slaves whipped harder.
Since Labour has done nothing of the sort – and since you have ignored the continuing years of extended global pandemic related economic and social interruptions… not to mention the big improvements they have made and plan to build on in the the next parliamentary term (should they be so lucky) – I think most of us will consign your prognosis to the nearest waste paper basket.
Anne, we will have to beg to differ on this one. I'm not going to ask about your personal experiences with the welfare system because that's not my business. But I've unfortunately been dealing with them since 1990 so have a pretty good idea. And yes, I'm very aware there's been a pandemic going on.
Life for us is infinitely better under a centre-left government, but Labour is NOT our friend. The rhetoric does not match the reality. Pandemic or not, there were reforms that could've easily been made that didn't even involve money, or much of it. The fact of the matter is, they're not interested in welfare reform, just glacial, incremental changes. So they don't scare their middle-class voters.
Any improvements have been incredibly small, and financially inconsequencial to many of us (eg most increases meant clawbacks from supplements, so practically no one got the full increases, but the Government wasn't shouting that from the rooftops, were they?))
Actually Patricia, I am worse off financially than I was in 2016/17. Between the clawbacks to the supplements that go with core benefit increases, the free prescriptions cancelled out by losing it on disability allowance (otherwise a completely sensible policy), and skyrocketing rent, like most of us I've gone backwards in real terms, just like every year, under every government. Oh, and I STILL have to remain single because they are persisting with the 'relationship rule' which is apparently just too hard to change, ie they don't want to. So we continue to be punished for having the audacity to be disabled. Can't blame natural disasters for that one.
I acknowledge the positives like the winter energy payment, although that surely is an indication that benefits/pension isn't high enough to cover the power bill? And half price bus fares, about time.
My issue with Labour is really quite simple. National make it perfectly clear what their intentions are, and they carry through with those promises. Labour talk big (fix child poverty, biggest hike to benefits in forever, etc etc) and try to convince the general public how kind they are, but the rhetoric does NOT equal the reality.
I am also not overly impressed with just how hard it's become to deal with WINZ, including little things with their IT system that could be easily fixed, but they just refuse to do it. If they insist on making everything online, they can bloody well let us do things online!
Disability support should be at the super rate because it is long term.
And yes, there needs to be an exception for those on disability, they should continue to receive support if they have a working partner – at the JS level.
Greens policy atm is otherwise
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/beachheroes/pages/9644/attachments/original/1686104203/Policy-Greens_Disability-Policy-2012-2023.pdf?1686104203
https://www.greens.org.nz/accident_compensation_policy
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/beachheroes/pages/9644/attachments/original/1686104203/Policy-Greens_Disability-Policy-2012-2023.pdf?1686104203
Kay I am getting the Supported Living Payment and I am financially far better off than at any point since becoming unable to work thanks to this Governments initiatives. I am sorry to learn that your circumstances are more difficult – I imagine that any system will have variations due to individual's being in different circumstances but that is little comfort for those in a diificult postion
Barfly, yes it does come down to individual circumstances. I'd say mine was the skyrocketing rent, like many others. And it's pay what they want or be homeless, thanks to the 'market.' I do manage- just- but the only real major difference I've felt is not being treated like a criminal under a labour government.
Have National costed their plans for W and I – because everything they mention costs more.
Regardless of whether you consider Trudeau a slimy little weasel or a hero of liberal wokedumb it seems evident he runs a very united parliament !!
What is the phenomena which explains how so many supposedly intelligent persons can rise to their feet as one and applaud in this case a literal Natzi ?
On the occasion of Zelensky visiting Canada to gather yet more weapons pledges from wealthy countries its not supprising to see the leader of the particular country fawning all over him like a rash in fact i was supprised Trudeau didnt kiss him on the lips !!What did supprise/horrify me though was the total conformity of the members , united apparently in their collective ignorance and stupidity .
Novara covers it reasonably
Who exactly is a member of the NAZI Party?
"It is no surprise that Russian media has leapt on the footage as justification of the Ukrainian invasion" – Michael Walker in the very piece you link to.
Fascist fanboi weston gives us all a fine example of quod erat demonstrandum!
Nevertheless Sanc .No matter who relays the message
It was an embarrassing spectacle that no doubt would have passed unnoticed by Russophobic fanbois and historic illiterates , had not Jewish organisations( less sanguine about Nazis as others it seems) raised their disgust
And then , as one they all professed to have no idea that this Ukrainian ex Waffen SS soldier had been in a unit that killed Jews and acted as concentration camp guards
He was being lauded for fighting Russians in WW2.Are they all so incredibly ignorant of history that they didn’t twig that meant he’d teamed up with the Nazis?
Or are all Russians fair game now, and whoever killed them now or in the past gets a free pass on slaughtering Jews .Pretty warped morality here , but widespread in the west .Jewish people however have not been quite so forgetful or forgiving
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/24/canadian-speaker-apologizes-ukrainian-nazi/
Would you have liked the choices you had as a Ukrainian in WW2.
Fight with the Nazi's against the Russians even though they have an entire organisation dedicated to killing Jews
Or fight with the Russians against the Nazi's while knowing a decade before that Russians Murdered millions of your fellow Ukrainians in the Holodomor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
Oh for a world of simple, clear-cut choices eh?
Ukrainians did have a choice. Those to the west sided with the Nazis, and enthusiastically took up killing Poles, Jews, Roma and Russians out of nationalistic zeal .
Those more to the East, with generational ties to Russia , were strongly anti fascist and sided with Russia .
The Holodomor affected those Ukrainians too.
So I guess the Jewish people just have to shut the fuck up because …..Russia,…. Holodomor ?
Millions of Ukranians were murdered by Russians in the Holodomor but to some people only Jewish victims of genocide matter and other races and religions that suffer genocide are less worthy because they are not Jewish
IMO F*** that for a belief system.
I agree, 27 million Soviets , many of those Russian were killed in WW2, but no one gives a toss.
Do you think that the fact that Russians were killed by Germans during WW2, somehow gives them a free pass to slaughter anyone they please?
AFAICS, the 'Ukrainian' being honoured by the Canadians – has been living in Canada since the end of WW2 – so for more than 3/4 of his life.
I don't see how anyone can regard him as an example of the "Nazification of Ukraine" (although, you might argue for the Nazification of Canada)
Well perhaps you might want to take that concept up with those who feel because of Holdomor , those Ukrainians who threw in their lot with the Nazis were perfectly justified in killing , in a particularly savage manner,Poles,Jews,Roma along with Russians.
Tit for tat so to speak, but I didn't realize the former were responsible for Holodomor
The thread has been about a Waffen Ss vet being given standing ovations in the Canadian parliament
If you think that's OK, fine, your business.
Poles and Jews don't share that view
Did I say the actions of the Canadian parliament were fine?
No.
Do I think it excuses Russia's actions now? Also no.
Do I think that this Canadian bloke (having spent more than 3/4 of his life in Canada, I think he qualifies) – has *anything* to do with 'Nazism' in Ukraine. Also no.
But it seems as though you'll grasp at any straw to defend your beloved mother Russia.
Do I think that because 27 million Russians were killed in WW2 it gives them carte blanche to kill anyone they like ?
No. I have never said that and nether have the Russians .It seems to be in your head only
And the nice Ukrainian fellow you refer to who has apparently been washed of his sins by living in Canada all these years ,has celebrated his time in the Galicia Unit on social media several times .That is why he was being given accolades in the Canadian Parliament for heavens sake …he allied with the Nazis and fought the Russians.His unit was responsible for outright atrocities .What an earth do you think the complaints from Poland and Jewish organisations have been about?Why do you think there have been such profuse apologies .?Why does Poland want to extradite him ?
And Zelensky would have known exactly what this guy had been involved in during WW2 when the speaker of the house introduced him as having been in the First Ukrainian Division .Zelensky stood up and applauded anyway, even though his grandfather and great uncles had been killed in the holocaust.
https://www.politico.eu/article/yaroslav-hunka-poland-extradite-ukrainian-ss-veteran-canada/
In the murderous dictators all time championship
1 Mao Zedong
2 Stalin
3 Hitler
Honorable mention to king Leopold the second of Belgium coming in at number 6 with an estimated 10 million murdered in the Congo
https://about-history.com/list-of-dictatorships-by-death-toll-the-top-10-biggest-killers-in-history/
In this 2011 blog post Hunka describes the disappearance of friends and acquaintances to Siberia at the hands of the NKVD. He recounts that Germany was reputed to be a highly civilised country, and recalls how no one could understood why so many Jews seemed to be fleeing, and about hopes of aid from the Germans to rescue them from Moscow communism.
In 1941 when the Nazis did occupy Ukraine, many Ukrainians greeted them as liberators although Hunka hints that German occupation wasn’t much of an improvement over Soviet occupation but at least fewer people seemed to be sent to Siberia.
And when the threat of another invasion by the Red Army he and many others from his school enlisted with the Nazis to fight against the Soviets.
https://komb–a–ingwar-blogspot-com.translate.goog/2011/03/blog-post_21.html?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=ru&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F60ZsSJaUAAVfEy?format=png&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F60ZsUaakAABxzO?format=png&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F60Z-CwagAAMHHq?format=png&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F60aFmYbsAA543S?format=jpg&name=medium
Yeah the Nazis weren’t so bad huh?
And the Jews, Poles, Roma were just untermenschen anyway.
Ukrainian guards at German concentration camps were the most brutal and most feared, But it was all worth it for you lot because they were killing Russians as well !
Nice revisionism there
Thank goodness the UN is not so relaxed about Ukrainian Nazis
Francesca it is my understanding that you are regarded as a russophile (with good reason) on this site. In my understanding Russians regard as Nazi's anyone who doesn't like Russians – indeed it seems that is their primary consideration and all other things are incidental.
If you wish to try to define 'Nazi' as perhaps anti-semitic, authoritarian, genocidal, murderous, torturing, sadistic psychopaths with a penchant for invading other countries and trying to destroy other peoples identities, cultures and history all of these characteristics except for the anti-semitism are boldy on display with the Russian war of conquest on Ukraine.
I conclude that there are indeed an awful lot of 'Nazis' in Ukraine it's just that 99% of them are fighting in the Russian Military
Whatever gets you through the long dark night barfly.
Hey I dont know if you read history….but the ss…waffen or otherwise..were murdering pieces of shit. Being a member of same..and seemingly not shy about it..would make me wonder about that guy.
And FYI..to you or anyone else..I am on record here on the Standard..as stating Putin is an absolute murdering psychopath.
I also support Vlodymyr Zelensky.
Poland and Ukraine are actively reconciling with their bloody past.
It's telling that neither former Soviet Republics nor Warsaw Pact countries are engaging in reconciliation talks with Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia
As I say I dont like Putin…at all. Murderer. Beslan School massacre the one that proved to me. Have to say the History of Eastern Europe (like the Worlds ) just a sad and terrible fact..that Civilians : Poles, Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, Women,Children and the vulnerable were/are always the victims of power.
I consider myself to be fairly well read on WW2 history and frankly all this talk of Nazism in Ukraine in 2023 is just utter f***ing garbage.
I absolutely agree that the Nazi regime were collectively a bunch of deranged murdering lunatics…but they sure as hell weren't the only ones. That some people want to argue that what occurred in a World War 80 years ago is at all relevant to modern day Ukraine is bonkers.
"Hundreds in Ukraine attend marches celebrating Nazi SS soldiers "
ffs I doubt anyone is carrying a picture of Hitler or Himmler – I suggest they may be celebrating Ukranians who fought against the Russians. Here’s a newsflash there was no Ukrainian military they could join in WW2 plus they could not join the German Army because they weren't German – literally the only way for a Ukrainian to fight Russians in WW2 was to join the Waffen SS and after millions of Ukrainians were murdered in the Holodomor by Russians I can easily imagine people who had to watch their relatives starve to death look for payback against their Russian overlords.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia also had many citizens join the Waffen SS – Now was this because they knew Hitler's 'agenda' and wanted in on some mass murder or was it because USSR had invaded all of them and moved in their usual style of killing the intelligentsia, community leaders and brutally repressing their people?
The war that was fought between USSR and Germany was fought between two horrendously evil totalitarian states – there were no 'White Knights' and to pretend there was is simply delusion IMO.
Mate..you seem to have a problem. I will leave you to it.
True I do have a problem – a lack of tolerance for stupidity
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/labour-to-consider-21-million-hectares-of-native-reforestation
What 2.1 million has?? Is these a full frontal attack on farming??
Not that hard to run farms that also harvest trees or indeed grow natives. It's been done since 1957.
https://www.nzffa.org.nz/
Also every vineyard does it already.
Also don't forget large areas that could be near-fully reforested profitably like the Chatham Islands.
Not that hard to think about alternatives to mono-crop intensive dairy production.
Ye bit, if you don't actually fill in the blanks it's an easy leap to believe labour intends to increase the onslaught on rural nz , and only fool thinks it'll be dairy irll be sheep and beef.
Turning productive farming land into native forest would be bonkers IMO but I didn't see any mention of repurposing farming land for this. Repurposing some land used for forestry is very likely a good idea. My limited understanding is that there is/may be a sizeable quatity of land used for commercial forestry which is not fit for the purpose – making slips, erosion, flooding and forestry slash inundation during major weather events a much bigger problem. It seems that the Queenstown Council had something of a "she'll be right" attitude to harvesting an area of forest for the $$ and then getting clobbered by slash combined with an adverse weather event because well …….they're stupid and greedy
https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-national/watch-slash-debris-washes-through-queenstown
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/forestry-slash-engulfs-cemetery
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/council-decided-to-leave-slash-in-forest-above-queenstown-cemetery
The usenet group nz.general is something of a cess-pit on politics – a post this morning titled "New Service for those escaping overseas" gave the url: https://www.robbos.co.nz/
A later post identified that the website was registered to The New Zealand Taxpayer Union, with the contact email starting with jordan, and gave a url for the international tax competitive index as evidence that Australia does not give lower taxes than NZ.
"Dirty Tricks" is still alive and well in the ACT/Nat world . . .
Taxpayers Union = Insidious
How can any well-meaning person participate in this?
And how does the MSM justify no report on it?
IMO
They aren't well-meaning peopple.
The MSM's 'raison d'etre' is driving profit for the MSM all other things are incidental.
Law and Order.
Has anyone asked Mitchell if he will pursue the white-collar criminals as strongly as he will the Gangs and violent offenders. I understand that a former prime minister has just been found guilty of a crime and is up for a $5 million penalty. (I understand however that any wise directorship takes out indemnity insurance to cover such eventualities.) So powerful frauds can do as they please.
Taxation
I believe Damien Grant recently opined that we should keep the taxman away from productive income. Couldn't agree more. So why is he keen to reduce Bright Line threshold back to 2 years. Investing in and profiteering from sales of existing homes is not productive money. In fact, perhaps all investment income should be taxed at a higher rate – Could probably be directed at the banks as well (particularly the foreign owned ones that operate here in NZ.)