A speaker in parliament who ensures difficult questions are stopped in the government and allows the government to get away with a lot.
The end of Ecan in Canterbury.
The refusal by ministers to answer questions on Morning Report and other serious media on important issues.
Also my opinions are genuinely-held and I don’t intend to spread discord and disruption with them
The first is no doubt true and highlights adam’s prefect description of you as uncompassionate and smug on another thread. This description is true of all supporters of the current government.
The second is a flat-out lie, which is also unsurprising behaviour from a supporter of the current government.
More war provocations, specifically…. “The announcement by the US Secretary of “Defense” that the US will will now pre-position arms and tanks for up to 5,000 soldiers in the Baltic states, along the Russian border. This is the first time in history that the US has ever placed military assets on the Russian border.”
Party at Muzza’s new pad, the big apple ‘New York’ July School Holidays. Govt Ministers, TPPA lobbyist’s, wealthy donators, A lister movie stars and super models.
For starters the rates increase has already been funded for anyone with a reasonable size mortgage on floating interest rates. The recent cut in the OCR has more than paid for the higher rates. And that’s not to mention the ginormous capital gains every Auckland homeowner has enjoyed over the last few years.
Investors are already using it as an excuse to raise rents and it’s worth pointing out that the recent fall in interest rates has not just paid investors for the rates increase but that lower interest rates means they should be reducing rents not raising them. That just goes to show how venal those people really are.
“Many of the city’s poorest suburbs, like Mangere, Otahuhu, Beach Haven and Glenfield, face increases of more than $300.”
Glenfield and Beach Haven poor suburbs? When did those pillocks from the Herald last visit there, 1990? Anyone who can afford a $500k mortgage is definitely not poor, nor is anyone who owns a house there.
I’m an Aucklander paying rates too. For starters rates on commercial properties aren’t going up much so your business argument doesn’t look valid. Secondly as I already mentioned rates are being used as an excuse to raise private rents they are not a reason to. Rents will go up whether rates increase or not.
The typical investor has a mortgage on their investment property. The last cut in the OCR reduced mortgage interest rates by about 0.25%. That gives every mortgage holder an extra $250 per year for every $100k they owe. Did your landlord give you a rent reduction when interest rates fell? I bet they didn’t.
You realise that 80% of mortgages are on fixed terms, and so the recent 0.25% interest rate cut will have made no difference to their repayments in the near term?
Something like 30-40% of mortgages are fixed for terms of 2+ years, so the OCR cut does squat for them.
It’s a pity that you’ve chosen not to address the point that the 0.25% interest rate fall will not impact on 80% of home owners in Auckland (at least – since not all homes have mortgages on them), but the rate rises will affect 95% of home owners in Auckland (a very few home owners will get a rates reduction).
There’s no need to address it, the answer is obvious. They’ll get their mortgage reduction eventually and rates don’t need to be paid immediately either. Many people will have mortgage debt over $200k and they’ll be saving $500 plus to pay a rates increase of $300. Not like renters who won’t be getting any rent reduction from the fall in interest rates…. just a specious excuse for putting rents up further.
And btw many investors have interest-only loans which often are not fixed, they’ll make hay immediately.
So you chose not to address:
1. People on fixed mortgages of terms of 2+ years, who won’t get their “mortgage reduction eventually” until after another 2 rounds of rate rises.
2. People who don’t have mortgages.
“And btw many investors have interest-only loans which often are not fixed, they’ll make hay immediately.”
How many investors do you know? The investors on Property Talk by-and-large go for fixed term mortgages, with as good a rates as they can get from the banks. Since they tend to have large portfolios, the banks keep them as clients and offer them good fixed rates.
Investing in rental property is a business, you’d be mad to leave your business to chance with floating rates, especially when they are always higher than fixed rates anyway.
If you have a small business, the one thing that is making a huge dent in earnings every year is rates, and insurance. So yes, i might be able to pay them, but a few other struggling businesses for them it might just be the final nail in the coffin. but its all good……those empty looking fringes don’t need to be rented, their value too increases every day thanks to speculation.
Rents will go up a bit more thanks to the rate increase. Before they just went up, now they really go up. Been there after the quake when rents suddenly really went up because the insurance for property owners went up. I guess its not just enough that these costs can be used as a business expense, no it must be a business expense that brings money.
SO yes, i expect a few more small businesses to close, i expect more people needing an Accommodation benefits to make up the rent increases, and we tax payers all pay for it.
i am not disagreeing with you, but yes Aucklanders – the majority of whom are not property investors with multiple properties and droppaing mortgage rates do have a reason to whinge. They are now out of pocket for what will be easily a grand or two in increased rent / rate spending, and thusly less debt paid back – more interest payments, less money saved – loss in interest payments to them, more borrowing etc etc etc.
You’re making a connection that just isn’t there. The Property Investors Association have been talking about rent increases for quite some months. Their justification for the increase was not rates but the increase in Auckland property values and the need for yield.
The rates increase will be an excuse for increasing rents; an appeasement. If you want to believe that’s the reason… well more fool you. They will increase rents because they can. No other reason.
You might also want to look wider afield and see just how much others are paying in rates before claiming Aucklanders are hard done by. Our neighbours down the Waikato/Hauraki are paying up to twice as much as we are on capital values…. try paying $2200 in rates on a property with a capital value of only $200k. We’re not doing it hard here.
Mad? I guess I am. I actually feel a little angry about the Auckland property market and that’s not me, property has never bothered me before. Everyone has their own way to make a buck and it’s not for me to say how others should do it.
I’ve got cash on call in the business account and the bank just cut the rates on that from 3.15% to 3%, a direct result of the OCR being cut. 0.15% doesn’t sound much to the maths-challenged but that’s a 5% reduction in the yield from cash in the bank.
When cash yields fall all other investment yields fall too, that’s how the market works, and it annoys me when I hear people making excuses for trying to increase their yield (put rents up) when I know it’s just self-interest driving them. They could at least be honest about it.
wait until NZ goes down the ZIRP route, penalising savers and pensioners, forcing people to play the property or financial markets games in order to try and keep some return coming in.
This one was linked yesterday but I found this line in it interesting:
He said New York property costs were high and growing, and it was determined that the purchase of a new property represented better long-term value to the taxpayer than leasing a property.
The point that the government as a whole seems to be missing is that the same can be said of every single building that the government uses most of which, after the privatisation of the 1980s onwards, are now leased.
Guess who’s benefiting from that privatisation and who’s paying for it.
“Guess who’s benefiting from that privatisation and who’s paying for it.”
While on the subject……
How many people know that Auckland is not (yet) a supercity? I bet few know that the Papakura Water contract is still in force and that Watercare isn’t the monopoly water provider it was supposed to be.
The Audit Office report on the privatisation of Papakura Water supply strongly urged that no contract with the private sector should be longer than 5yrs. The reasons are obvious; no-one knows what the future holds so you don’t commit yourself beyond the foreseeable future.
If all of Auckland’s local councils had a lot more private contracts it would have been impossible to create the new Auckland Council. That’s what the future holds for us; unbreakable long term contracts that will prevent local and national Govt from making any substantial changes.
the list of long Term mangement contracts issued across all regions since Keys crew started their agenda with ecan/akl etc makes for chilling reading if you can at all given the ‘commercial in confidence’ shroud over many.
Meanwhile the politics enter even National Radio. Changes? Yep. Watch your backs Morning Report. “More changes are expected at Radio NZ National. The latest Nielsen survey, for the first quarter of this year, showed no improvement after a big ratings slump at the end of 2014, and RNZ is looking at changes to Morning Report, Checkpoint and Afternoons.”
Campbell Live. Native Affairs. RNZ. Yahoo. Where are you all?
Ratings numbers are the best way of ‘justifying’ axing any in depth reporting over sensationalist celebrity shock jock focused offerings.
Their numbers probably drop after the GE as in times of major events/disasters etc the more trusted outlets see a rise in numbers which tail away when it’s past.
I’ve not looked at the numbers or dates from RNZ that’s purely anecdotal behaviour seen time and again in Oz by ABC/SBS news numbers.
Did anyone hear the RadioNZ shocker about Weetbix yesterday. A blatant advertorial on our national station. Accompanied by reporter Ruth Hill serving herself a weebix breakfast with complimentary comments while pouring milk on it. And the nub of the story – that some of the Weetbix that we get is sourced from Australia when demand here is high.
Armenian’s have taken to the streets for days to protest their Government’s electricity price rises. Somehow can’t see sleepy old NZ doing the same… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HKCGJrgn5Q
I wonder if Armenian Electricity is a private enterprise or Government controlled. If private then their Government like ours will just say, “Not our problem. We cannot make things better.”
Great to see that Armenian celebration of hope and democracy.
Most of the protest here in New Zealand are not celebratory, or joyful events.
Actually they are generally really earnest, dull, predictable, and if you live in Dunedin – fast, and boy does it put people off.
It seems the whole protest movement is stuck. It’s the same marches, the same speeches and the same old tired approach to things.
For example: why march up Queen street, when the majority of your supporters can’t even afford to get to Queen st in the first place?
Why not have many smaller protests spread all over our cities? And make them enjoyable – with dancing, talking, food, and music. Not the drone of poorly written speeches.
Don’t you sense any nasty or unfair dirty politics types of attacks going on here? or are you simply blinded by the fact that you have ‘no sympathy for him and his band of self righteous nutjobs’?
For me, fair is fair, irrespective of ‘who’ the person is and is more important than anything else. (It really is, but I am not perfect. No one is!)
@Clem
I agree Clem. The Nats did not want 4% wasted right wing vote at the next election again and so have put the knife in. Key has been unable to contain his glee at Colon’s demise.
But I wonder. This 4% can hardly be solid Nats, and may mean they split 3% NZF 1% Nats at the next election which would help the opposition.
NZ doesn’t need people getting to be politicians who ‘feel’ things about scientific matters just to be contrary. We need people who feel things about helping people, and getting better lives, livable, affordable homes, green jobs on green projects, non-lethal daylight jobs with part weekends, say from mid Saturday and all Sunday when they can actually be themselves, not poorly-paid lackeys.
Let fanciful fools do their thing but most must stick to the main points, there is no surety that we will make a blind bit of difference unless people keep their minds focussed on the right things for the whole of us, the vulnerable population Everything else is just a distracting sideshow for people who don’t yet understand the gravity of our present and pending future, or who are stuck in juvenile notions of untested idealism, which will collapse when faced with hard reality.
Well Clem the John Stringer who spoke out – most unusually for a board member who is not a chairperson – is very well linked to the Nats. So there is some credence to your speculation of yet another dirty tricks campaign. And I’m not a fan of Colin Craig either .
Sorry . Tried to watch but 15 seconds of Henry and I wanted to vomit.
Don’t care. Craig is a twit who ought to go away and count his money and do what he wants to do in private… not bleating his right wing nonsense to us awful lefties who really don’t care about him.
A good interview actually Clem. Into my dim bias filtered a possibility that Dirty Tricks is alive and well and that maybe Colin has been set up and executed.
John Stringer was a National candidate in Christchurch.
He has spoken very negatively about Colin who refutes the rumours. (This will come out true/false eventually.)
Stringer will earn brownie points with Key if he destroys the Conservative Party.
Watch Stringer when National start allocating candidate seats.
Just maybe?
the guy shooting off his mouth (Stringer?!?) has skin in this game. Even after being told not to speak out an that he wasn’t representative of the Board he’s kept on talking… leadership contender? Or are his Nat party roots kicking in and he is killing it off to move 4% back to National
Just some idiot trying to justify increased inequality in developed countries by saying that globally inequality is decreasing as the developing countries catch up. The latter may be happening but we’re seeing increased inequality in the developing nations as well.
Thus, what he seems to have done is taken the numbers and massaged them in a way to bring about his desired result. The way he seems to have done this is via over-generalisation.
Only if you summarise a decline from 2000-2008 followed by an upswing starting in 2008 or 2010 (depending on the graph) as being “While inequality across a range of measures rose from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, it has levelled off or declined since the mid-1990s, albeit with some variability.”
Look at the GINI time-series figures in the report: Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15. In other words, whether the summary matches the data is highly debatable. In more accurate words, the rest of the report and the media release are all trying very hard to convince people that what they’d see, should they choose to look at GINI levels over the years, is not actually what they should believe.
But then if Labour hadn’t addressed inequality, the kids in NZ would be even worse off and the nats would be saying “labour did it too”.
7 From HES 2011 to HES 2013 the gains from the recovery were shared reasonably evenly across income deciles, but the negative impact of the recession from HES 2009 to HES 2011 was a little greater for lower income deciles (deciles 1 to 6) than for higher ones.
8 As a result, from HES 2009 to 2013 the net change in average incomes for each of the lower 5 deciles was close to zero, whereas there was around a 5% net gain for the top five deciles.
(my bold)
Year-on-year income inequality has been volatile recently with the GFC shock impacting on investment returns, employment and wages over the four years from 2008. There is no evidence of any general rise or fall in income inequality using the Gini measure since the mid 1990s. The trend-line is almost flat.
.
Well, yes, the trendline is almost flat. Because when GINI’s rising, the data points are every two years (1988-1998, 2007-2009) or every one year (2009-2013), and during Lab5 the data points are every three years, which lessens the impact of year-on-year decreases (table D10, figure D14).
I actually really like Perry’s work and it’s a massive effort and incredibly valuable, but you can’t roll a turd ball in glitter and call it a jewel. And talking about “there is no evidence of any sustained rising or falling trend since the mid-1990s” also misses the point of the massive fucking rise since the 80s and the fact that it’s a slight “trend” down in lab5 and a slight “trend” up in the nat governments.
BTW, it’s not a scoop report, it’s a tory press release.
It’s not Scoop McFlock, it’s the CREDIBLE reports they reference.
As usual, anyone who wants to make an informed comment should go and read THE WHOLE THINGS for themselves, and then exercise their own critical faculties.
rather than rely on a couple of very selective out of context sound bites from ideologically compromised bloggers.
On euthanasia and assisted dying: brave woman and lawyer Lucretia Seales’ husband continues with her humanitarian campaign to help the dying take control and die in the way they want with dignity and love.
‘Lecretia Seales’ husband says end of life inquiry terms crucial’
“Matt Vickers, husband of Lecretia Seales, on the select committee inquiry into assisted dying – he says it’s crucial to get the terms of reference and shape of the inquiry right.”
A hundred Million Dollars into Urban cycleways???? from the Govt, to be matched by Local govt Thats a shit load of cash now for the creative accounting to start.
We all know that those who monopolize the Palestine Liberation Organization deal with this most important Palestinian institution, the PLO, as if it were a private farm of the “President,” Abu Mazen, and thus what is required is loyalty and obedience to him, the owner. This is a fact that cannot be denied. We do not say anything new when we note that the Palestinian arena is not an exception, nor is it far from the reality of the Arab regimes governed by the leader, the king or the prince, considering the king to embody the people and the nation, or from the logic of King Louis XIV, who declared in 1655, “L’etat, c’est moi!” [I am the state!]
I’ve been thinking. Why did Key announce the bike track funding just now? Usually he does this sort of thing to distract from unpleasant stuff. Maybe it is the detail of Sheepgate or the detail of punishment for transgressions in the Digital Communications Bill. Cynic am I!
During the last two Monday press conferences (as per the TV news channels) Key appeared jaded and even stressed. It made me wonder if something was going on behind the scenes which was causing him much angst – perhaps another major scandal or irrefutable evidence about an existing scandal is about to be revealed?
During the last two Monday press conferences (as per the TV news channels) Key appeared jaded and even stressed. It made me wonder if something was going on behind the scenes which was causing him much angst – perhaps another major scandal or irrefutable evidence about an existing scandal is about to be revealed?
“” If you find things that offend you and that the public has a right to know, then – with suitable care and thought – you can maybe do some good by working with a trustworthy investigative journalist to get that story told. “”
Jenny. I am fairly sure that Nicky Hager has his day in Court re the police seizing his belongings starting this week, or is it next week?
I guess the problem is that the “good” is in the eye of the beholder. Would Key see some good and support the public right to know re the Dirty Tricks? Or would he use his clout to block or deny its publication in some way.
“public interest” has some parameters through legislation and interpretation/application of case law over the years…
But I agree that “good” can be in the eye of the beholder but even ethics have theoretical frameworks… hence we can develop codes of conduct and code so ethics. That’s a way to measure “good” on one level.
That is why the “reasonable man” was invented, to make it more objective than subjective.
““There may be multiple forms of contraception, but I’m here to say that one fact remains. Those that practice abstinence have no chance of becoming pregnant,” Palin said at an appearance in 2010. “Abstinence is not about morality, it is about reality. It is the only thing that works every time. My message is a simple one: Don’t make the same decision I made, just wait. Young ladies, please hear me.”
Her work generated a bit of controversy in 2009 when her take-home pay for Candie’s was seven times what the charity actually brought in donations.
Forbes reported, “Apparently, the organization was only able to find $35,000 to grant to charities from the $1,242,476 donated from the public. Meanwhile, the young Ms. Palin managed to pull in a $262,500 paycheck for her role as an ambassador for their teen pregnancy prevention campaign in 2009.”
Bristol Palin continued to rack in the earnings from her appearances, making between $15,000 and $30,000 for every speech she made advocating abstinence-only policies, which the Daily Beast estimated to total about $100,000 per year.”
The unwed Palin is pregnant with her second child. She is not married.
There are some people who seem to know the right people to pay them even if they don’t do a damn thing or even do the exact opposite of what they preach. They are the quintessential example of corruption.
The spirit of Sir Paul lives on;
This time it’s alighted in Melbourne
An Indigenous girl who was racially abused as she lined up for a Frozen movie event in Melbourne has received a special message from her idol, Queen Elsa.
Samara Muir, 3, of Ballarat was waiting with her mother Rachel at a Melbourne shopping centre when she was brought to tears by a series of racist comments. Ms Muir said a woman in the line remarked; “I don’t know what that girl’s getting excited about because Elsa isn’t black”. The woman’s child also said to Samara that “black is ugly”.
Ms Muir shared her experience on social media, sparking both outrage and a massive wave of support for Samara.
But now the three-year-old Frozen fan may just have received her most exciting message yet — a video from Queen Elsa herself. …..
THE KILLING SEASON is Sarah Ferguson’s gripping three-part examination of the forces that shaped Labor during the Kevin Rudd / Julia Gillard leadership years. It is a documentary series like no other. Visually striking, scripted like the best political dramas, The Killing Season is an enthralling account of one of the most turbulent periods of Australian political history.
A comprehensive cast of the main players – including many of those still in parliament – speak frankly, providing a dramatic portrait of a party at war with itself.
You can watch all three episodes of The Killing Season on ABC iview and for international viewers abc.net.au/killingseason. Available for a limited period only.
The shocking lies of the mayor and councillors concerning rate rises and the misuse of rate payers money.
Rate rises up to 10% are not what was promised by the councillors when they were elected. It is unreasonable that an organisation that has a monopoly can put up rates at will to whatever level they want with no accountability for the misuse of the money they have already been paid.
The pressure on households to pay these unreasonable amounts is enormous. How are people on fixed incomes expected to pay that. People will be forced from their homes, away from friends and families and the support systems they need. Away for hospital facilities. THAT IS NOT FAIR. Many people protested about the valuations of their homes because those values are being used to justify unreasonable rate increases. The transport levy and the other increases have only been voted in by 1 vote.
WHAT REDRESS DO PEOPLE HAVE CONCERNING THIS BULLYING OF THE COUNCIL. They don’t even have a legal obligation to use the transport levy on public transport. It can be used for more secret rooms in Len Browns office or any other of the stupid wastefulness that this council has been known for.
THIS COUNCIL AND THE MAYOR ARE MORALLY BANKRUPT. He is so obsessed with ensuring the rail loop will be attributed to him that he is putting the wellbeing of a huge amount of Aucklanders at risk.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
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Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
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TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
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Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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The slow death of democracy under Key.
A speaker in parliament who ensures difficult questions are stopped in the government and allows the government to get away with a lot.
The end of Ecan in Canterbury.
The refusal by ministers to answer questions on Morning Report and other serious media on important issues.
Yes, we heard you the first time.
No you didn’t. If you had you wouldn’t be in here defending this government.
Troll
Actually, paul seems to express genuinely-held opinion with no ulterior motive to spread discord and disruption amongst the thread, imo.
You… not so much
I think you’ll find my opinions have been pretty consistant as well but hes a troll
I never mentioned consistency as a criteria.
Also my opinions are genuinely-held and I don’t intend to spread discord and disruption with them
Your assurances aside, that does not seem to be the case.
Especially when you linkwhore for slater with no context or explanation.
The first is no doubt true and highlights adam’s prefect description of you as uncompassionate and smug on another thread. This description is true of all supporters of the current government.
The second is a flat-out lie, which is also unsurprising behaviour from a supporter of the current government.
Whether Burke actually said this or not, with Key in charge of NZ, it has never been truer:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Remember that a National Party boss said EXACTLY the same words when Helen Clark was in charge of NZ. What goes around, comes around.
Yes. He said it about lightbulbs and farmers paying for their emmissions.
Those were the days before we had an outright corrupt government.
McFlock: What will you do until 2020 or 2023 when Labour could regain power?
Count the sick and the dead.
Those were the days when we had a corrupt opposition.
two wrongs make a right…
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/podcast/6941/more-jb-and-sfc
More war provocations, specifically….
“The announcement by the US Secretary of “Defense” that the US will will now pre-position arms and tanks for up to 5,000 soldiers in the Baltic states, along the Russian border. This is the first time in history that the US has ever placed military assets on the Russian border.”
Baltic states
Ukraine
It is the USA which is the aggressor, not Russia.
But we are ok with that aren’t we
Because there’s totally US flags flying in Sevastopol. Oh wait. Only three stripes.
wasn’t the Cuban missile crisis initiated when USA put nuclear weapons in Turkey prompting the U.S.S.R. to want to install the same in Cuba?
Party at Muzza’s new pad, the big apple ‘New York’ July School Holidays. Govt Ministers, TPPA lobbyist’s, wealthy donators, A lister movie stars and super models.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/69701478/nz-government-shells-out-11m-on-new-york-apartment-for-un-representative
I wish they would give us more info though…
How much are the BC fees each year
How much would it cost to rent a similar place
Why 3 bedrooms?
What did we use before?
and so on…
ensuring these stories have no context whatsoever is an MSM specialty
Is anyone else finding it hard to feel any sympathy for Aucklanders whining about their rates increase? Latest from the Herald here;
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11471241
For starters the rates increase has already been funded for anyone with a reasonable size mortgage on floating interest rates. The recent cut in the OCR has more than paid for the higher rates. And that’s not to mention the ginormous capital gains every Auckland homeowner has enjoyed over the last few years.
Investors are already using it as an excuse to raise rents and it’s worth pointing out that the recent fall in interest rates has not just paid investors for the rates increase but that lower interest rates means they should be reducing rents not raising them. That just goes to show how venal those people really are.
AND the report was very confusing.
The average rate increase was $214
They also report that 1000s of rates are to increase by $1000
There needs to be a better analysis.
Well it is the Herald, try this doozy….
“Many of the city’s poorest suburbs, like Mangere, Otahuhu, Beach Haven and Glenfield, face increases of more than $300.”
Glenfield and Beach Haven poor suburbs? When did those pillocks from the Herald last visit there, 1990? Anyone who can afford a $500k mortgage is definitely not poor, nor is anyone who owns a house there.
The tiny group of ratepayers that the Herald and the right whingers on Council are wringing their hands about are shown on the right side of the graph in this tweet:
https://twitter.com/TransportBlog/status/614217809967497217
Most Auckland homeowners will see a rates increase that is a tiny fraction of how much their unearned equity has expanded in recent years.
are you talking about Aucklanders or Property Owners?
I am an Aucklander, paying the rates on my rental home and my rental business.
Can i afford increasing bills on what is pretty much a fixed income? No.
So expect more businesses to close, or to fail as they can not afford these hikes.
The investors don’t cry, only the owner occupiers or their tenants.
I’m an Aucklander paying rates too. For starters rates on commercial properties aren’t going up much so your business argument doesn’t look valid. Secondly as I already mentioned rates are being used as an excuse to raise private rents they are not a reason to. Rents will go up whether rates increase or not.
The typical investor has a mortgage on their investment property. The last cut in the OCR reduced mortgage interest rates by about 0.25%. That gives every mortgage holder an extra $250 per year for every $100k they owe. Did your landlord give you a rent reduction when interest rates fell? I bet they didn’t.
Your argument is very weird.
You realise that 80% of mortgages are on fixed terms, and so the recent 0.25% interest rate cut will have made no difference to their repayments in the near term?
Something like 30-40% of mortgages are fixed for terms of 2+ years, so the OCR cut does squat for them.
“Your argument is very weird.”
No it’s not weird. You’ve just taken a dislike to my commenting and you’ve decided to snipe & sneer when the opportunity presents itself.
I’m too old to take the bait.
It’s a pity that you’ve chosen not to address the point that the 0.25% interest rate fall will not impact on 80% of home owners in Auckland (at least – since not all homes have mortgages on them), but the rate rises will affect 95% of home owners in Auckland (a very few home owners will get a rates reduction).
There’s no need to address it, the answer is obvious. They’ll get their mortgage reduction eventually and rates don’t need to be paid immediately either. Many people will have mortgage debt over $200k and they’ll be saving $500 plus to pay a rates increase of $300. Not like renters who won’t be getting any rent reduction from the fall in interest rates…. just a specious excuse for putting rents up further.
And btw many investors have interest-only loans which often are not fixed, they’ll make hay immediately.
So you chose not to address:
1. People on fixed mortgages of terms of 2+ years, who won’t get their “mortgage reduction eventually” until after another 2 rounds of rate rises.
2. People who don’t have mortgages.
“And btw many investors have interest-only loans which often are not fixed, they’ll make hay immediately.”
How many investors do you know? The investors on Property Talk by-and-large go for fixed term mortgages, with as good a rates as they can get from the banks. Since they tend to have large portfolios, the banks keep them as clients and offer them good fixed rates.
Investing in rental property is a business, you’d be mad to leave your business to chance with floating rates, especially when they are always higher than fixed rates anyway.
If you have a small business, the one thing that is making a huge dent in earnings every year is rates, and insurance. So yes, i might be able to pay them, but a few other struggling businesses for them it might just be the final nail in the coffin. but its all good……those empty looking fringes don’t need to be rented, their value too increases every day thanks to speculation.
Rents will go up a bit more thanks to the rate increase. Before they just went up, now they really go up. Been there after the quake when rents suddenly really went up because the insurance for property owners went up. I guess its not just enough that these costs can be used as a business expense, no it must be a business expense that brings money.
SO yes, i expect a few more small businesses to close, i expect more people needing an Accommodation benefits to make up the rent increases, and we tax payers all pay for it.
i am not disagreeing with you, but yes Aucklanders – the majority of whom are not property investors with multiple properties and droppaing mortgage rates do have a reason to whinge. They are now out of pocket for what will be easily a grand or two in increased rent / rate spending, and thusly less debt paid back – more interest payments, less money saved – loss in interest payments to them, more borrowing etc etc etc.
You’re making a connection that just isn’t there. The Property Investors Association have been talking about rent increases for quite some months. Their justification for the increase was not rates but the increase in Auckland property values and the need for yield.
The rates increase will be an excuse for increasing rents; an appeasement. If you want to believe that’s the reason… well more fool you. They will increase rents because they can. No other reason.
You might also want to look wider afield and see just how much others are paying in rates before claiming Aucklanders are hard done by. Our neighbours down the Waikato/Hauraki are paying up to twice as much as we are on capital values…. try paying $2200 in rates on a property with a capital value of only $200k. We’re not doing it hard here.
“For starters the rates increase has already been funded for anyone with a reasonable size mortgage on floating interest rates.”
And for people who don’t have mortgages? Like many who are retired and own their own homes outright, and are on fixed incomes?
shit out of luck, but hey they can sell and move elsewhere.
If the can’t afford Auckland why should they live there? Yes, that is something i am hearing a lot.
Reduce rents??? My god are you mad? That would put the whole money making scheme, that is the Auckland housing debacle on the skids.
Mad? I guess I am. I actually feel a little angry about the Auckland property market and that’s not me, property has never bothered me before. Everyone has their own way to make a buck and it’s not for me to say how others should do it.
I’ve got cash on call in the business account and the bank just cut the rates on that from 3.15% to 3%, a direct result of the OCR being cut. 0.15% doesn’t sound much to the maths-challenged but that’s a 5% reduction in the yield from cash in the bank.
When cash yields fall all other investment yields fall too, that’s how the market works, and it annoys me when I hear people making excuses for trying to increase their yield (put rents up) when I know it’s just self-interest driving them. They could at least be honest about it.
wait until NZ goes down the ZIRP route, penalising savers and pensioners, forcing people to play the property or financial markets games in order to try and keep some return coming in.
This one was linked yesterday but I found this line in it interesting:
The point that the government as a whole seems to be missing is that the same can be said of every single building that the government uses most of which, after the privatisation of the 1980s onwards, are now leased.
Guess who’s benefiting from that privatisation and who’s paying for it.
“Guess who’s benefiting from that privatisation and who’s paying for it.”
While on the subject……
How many people know that Auckland is not (yet) a supercity? I bet few know that the Papakura Water contract is still in force and that Watercare isn’t the monopoly water provider it was supposed to be.
The Audit Office report on the privatisation of Papakura Water supply strongly urged that no contract with the private sector should be longer than 5yrs. The reasons are obvious; no-one knows what the future holds so you don’t commit yourself beyond the foreseeable future.
If all of Auckland’s local councils had a lot more private contracts it would have been impossible to create the new Auckland Council. That’s what the future holds for us; unbreakable long term contracts that will prevent local and national Govt from making any substantial changes.
the list of long Term mangement contracts issued across all regions since Keys crew started their agenda with ecan/akl etc makes for chilling reading if you can at all given the ‘commercial in confidence’ shroud over many.
The Nats are poisoning the wells…
Meanwhile the politics enter even National Radio. Changes? Yep. Watch your backs Morning Report.
“More changes are expected at Radio NZ National. The latest Nielsen survey, for the first quarter of this year, showed no improvement after a big ratings slump at the end of 2014, and RNZ is looking at changes to Morning Report, Checkpoint and Afternoons.”
Campbell Live. Native Affairs. RNZ. Yahoo. Where are you all?
Ratings numbers are the best way of ‘justifying’ axing any in depth reporting over sensationalist celebrity shock jock focused offerings.
Their numbers probably drop after the GE as in times of major events/disasters etc the more trusted outlets see a rise in numbers which tail away when it’s past.
I’ve not looked at the numbers or dates from RNZ that’s purely anecdotal behaviour seen time and again in Oz by ABC/SBS news numbers.
Did anyone hear the RadioNZ shocker about Weetbix yesterday. A blatant advertorial on our national station. Accompanied by reporter Ruth Hill serving herself a weebix breakfast with complimentary comments while pouring milk on it. And the nub of the story – that some of the Weetbix that we get is sourced from Australia when demand here is high.
I don’t care how much they donate to food for schools or the like, it doesn’t give them the right to free advertising. And if all is BAU they won’t be paying any company tax in NZ because they are a religious charity.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/277228/kiwi-kids-are-aussie-weet-bix-kids
You may like to find the item in the News – National slot and down the bottom take up the invitation to join the Lets Talk discussion.
Armenian’s have taken to the streets for days to protest their Government’s electricity price rises. Somehow can’t see sleepy old NZ doing the same…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HKCGJrgn5Q
I wonder if Armenian Electricity is a private enterprise or Government controlled. If private then their Government like ours will just say, “Not our problem. We cannot make things better.”
Great to see that Armenian celebration of hope and democracy.
The makings of another US sponsored ‘Color Revolution’ designed to destabilise Russia’s borders.
Most of the protest here in New Zealand are not celebratory, or joyful events.
Actually they are generally really earnest, dull, predictable, and if you live in Dunedin – fast, and boy does it put people off.
It seems the whole protest movement is stuck. It’s the same marches, the same speeches and the same old tired approach to things.
For example: why march up Queen street, when the majority of your supporters can’t even afford to get to Queen st in the first place?
Why not have many smaller protests spread all over our cities? And make them enjoyable – with dancing, talking, food, and music. Not the drone of poorly written speeches.
Colin Craig’s interview on TV3 :
I have just watched this on line. Actually, he comes across quite well here, in my opinion !
I am not a supporter of his party, but I am sensing that a very dirty campaign has been unleashed against him by some quarters for whatever reason.
Take a look if you haven’t already:
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/interviews/colin-craig-where-did-it-all-go-so-wrong#axzz3e7BVNu7W,
sleep with dogs etc I have no sympathy for him and his band of self righteous nutjobs.
Don’t you sense any nasty or unfair dirty politics types of attacks going on here? or are you simply blinded by the fact that you have ‘no sympathy for him and his band of self righteous nutjobs’?
For me, fair is fair, irrespective of ‘who’ the person is and is more important than anything else. (It really is, but I am not perfect. No one is!)
@Clem
I agree Clem. The Nats did not want 4% wasted right wing vote at the next election again and so have put the knife in. Key has been unable to contain his glee at Colon’s demise.
But I wonder. This 4% can hardly be solid Nats, and may mean they split 3% NZF 1% Nats at the next election which would help the opposition.
+1
The Left has to be much more strategic about how it analyses these events.
Of course it’s probably nasty and unfair as are most things influenced by the cult of Key running through our parliament, media and nation.
Craig needs to pay attention, harden up and learn if he wants to be a player as politics is a contact sport and on the right they play for keeps.
NZ doesn’t need people getting to be politicians who ‘feel’ things about scientific matters just to be contrary. We need people who feel things about helping people, and getting better lives, livable, affordable homes, green jobs on green projects, non-lethal daylight jobs with part weekends, say from mid Saturday and all Sunday when they can actually be themselves, not poorly-paid lackeys.
Let fanciful fools do their thing but most must stick to the main points, there is no surety that we will make a blind bit of difference unless people keep their minds focussed on the right things for the whole of us, the vulnerable population Everything else is just a distracting sideshow for people who don’t yet understand the gravity of our present and pending future, or who are stuck in juvenile notions of untested idealism, which will collapse when faced with hard reality.
Probably the nats clearing the way for Winston !?
No
Well Clem the John Stringer who spoke out – most unusually for a board member who is not a chairperson – is very well linked to the Nats. So there is some credence to your speculation of yet another dirty tricks campaign. And I’m not a fan of Colin Craig either .
Sorry . Tried to watch but 15 seconds of Henry and I wanted to vomit.
Don’t care. Craig is a twit who ought to go away and count his money and do what he wants to do in private… not bleating his right wing nonsense to us awful lefties who really don’t care about him.
A good interview actually Clem. Into my dim bias filtered a possibility that Dirty Tricks is alive and well and that maybe Colin has been set up and executed.
John Stringer was a National candidate in Christchurch.
He has spoken very negatively about Colin who refutes the rumours. (This will come out true/false eventually.)
Stringer will earn brownie points with Key if he destroys the Conservative Party.
Watch Stringer when National start allocating candidate seats.
Just maybe?
@ianmac.
I believe there is much more to this than meets the eye.
the guy shooting off his mouth (Stringer?!?) has skin in this game. Even after being told not to speak out an that he wasn’t representative of the Board he’s kept on talking… leadership contender? Or are his Nat party roots kicking in and he is killing it off to move 4% back to National
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11466615
Quite interesting
Just some idiot trying to justify increased inequality in developed countries by saying that globally inequality is decreasing as the developing countries catch up. The latter may be happening but we’re seeing increased inequality in the developing nations as well.
Thus, what he seems to have done is taken the numbers and massaged them in a way to bring about his desired result. The way he seems to have done this is via over-generalisation.
http://www.cgdev.org/doc/commentary/birdsall/rising_inequality.pdf
http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_bg_papers/bp_wess2013_svieira1.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/dividedwestandwhyinequalitykeepsrising.htm
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc123k.pdf
Yep; just another PR scheme by the 0.1% getting richer off making western workers poorer, and giving workers in developing countries shitty low wages.
But inequality in NZ is falling as well:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1506/S00282/inequality-falling-despite-rising-headlines.htm
Only if you summarise a decline from 2000-2008 followed by an upswing starting in 2008 or 2010 (depending on the graph) as being “While inequality across a range of measures rose from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, it has levelled off or declined since the mid-1990s, albeit with some variability.”
Look at the GINI time-series figures in the report: Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15. In other words, whether the summary matches the data is highly debatable. In more accurate words, the rest of the report and the media release are all trying very hard to convince people that what they’d see, should they choose to look at GINI levels over the years, is not actually what they should believe.
But then if Labour hadn’t addressed inequality, the kids in NZ would be even worse off and the nats would be saying “labour did it too”.
Some very interesting reading also in the Ministry of Social Development report referenced in the Scoop report.
http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/monitoring/household-incomes/index.html
The findings in those 2 reports make it very difficult to sustain the claim that Inequality is currently increasing in New Zealand.
Quite frankly, I do not believe anything published by the MSD since 2008.
“The findings”.
So, your response to McFlock explaining that the ‘findings’ don’t match the data is to believe the ‘findings’.
That centre-right kool-aid is powerful stuff, despite its stultifying effects.
Really?
Let’s look at the MSD report:
(my bold)
.
Well, yes, the trendline is almost flat. Because when GINI’s rising, the data points are every two years (1988-1998, 2007-2009) or every one year (2009-2013), and during Lab5 the data points are every three years, which lessens the impact of year-on-year decreases (table D10, figure D14).
I actually really like Perry’s work and it’s a massive effort and incredibly valuable, but you can’t roll a turd ball in glitter and call it a jewel. And talking about “there is no evidence of any sustained rising or falling trend since the mid-1990s” also misses the point of the massive fucking rise since the 80s and the fact that it’s a slight “trend” down in lab5 and a slight “trend” up in the nat governments.
BTW, it’s not a scoop report, it’s a tory press release.
+111
Well done.
It’s not Scoop McFlock, it’s the CREDIBLE reports they reference.
As usual, anyone who wants to make an informed comment should go and read THE WHOLE THINGS for themselves, and then exercise their own critical faculties.
rather than rely on a couple of very selective out of context sound bites from ideologically compromised bloggers.
Seems like you got shot out of the skies, mate
So no comment to the points I raised where the descriptions in the press release don’t match the data in the actual reports.
So now we know that your grip on reality is pretty tenuous, let me throw some more out of context quotes at you (my italics):
On euthanasia and assisted dying: brave woman and lawyer Lucretia Seales’ husband continues with her humanitarian campaign to help the dying take control and die in the way they want with dignity and love.
‘Lecretia Seales’ husband says end of life inquiry terms crucial’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201760018/lecretia-seales'-husband-says-end-of-life-inquiry-terms-crucial
“Matt Vickers, husband of Lecretia Seales, on the select committee inquiry into assisted dying – he says it’s crucial to get the terms of reference and shape of the inquiry right.”
Funny old racist USA.
Ah the tea party – just keeps on giving.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/23/17521/white-nationalist-group-influenced-alleged-charleston-shooter-subsidized-american
More to come on this racist scumbag and his connections.
Ummm. Is it just me or is the PM looking shaky and uncomfortable with his lines in this propaganda video.
I do wonder why, as it’s nothing more than a puff piece about cycling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBcStzVX4NA&feature=youtu.be
cycleways, that great recession busting, job creation scheme from early 2009…
That was what I was thinking.
You know one of my main concerns over this – It’s a very expensive exercise for just some lines on the road…
Yeah, this is just a relaunch of that famous and failed first policy of John Key’s. No one will remember though.
A hundred Million Dollars into Urban cycleways???? from the Govt, to be matched by Local govt Thats a shit load of cash now for the creative accounting to start.
Key always looks shaky and uncomfortable with his lines. He’s a disaster as an interviewee or public speaker, and nothing at all has changed there.
PFLP activist on the PLO top leadership
by Khaled Barakat
We all know that those who monopolize the Palestine Liberation Organization deal with this most important Palestinian institution, the PLO, as if it were a private farm of the “President,” Abu Mazen, and thus what is required is loyalty and obedience to him, the owner. This is a fact that cannot be denied. We do not say anything new when we note that the Palestinian arena is not an exception, nor is it far from the reality of the Arab regimes governed by the leader, the king or the prince, considering the king to embody the people and the nation, or from the logic of King Louis XIV, who declared in 1655, “L’etat, c’est moi!” [I am the state!]
Mimicking Louis XIV: the PLO leaders today
This is exactly the case of Mahmoud Abbas. . .
full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/palestinian-liberation-and-the-plo-a-critical-view-from-pflp-activist/
I’ve been thinking. Why did Key announce the bike track funding just now? Usually he does this sort of thing to distract from unpleasant stuff. Maybe it is the detail of Sheepgate or the detail of punishment for transgressions in the Digital Communications Bill. Cynic am I!
Re-announce the bike track funding do you mean? He announced it as his first item of business upon entering government.
Ianmac @ 14 – maybe to take attention away from the prospect of TPPA going thru / ? ?
During the last two Monday press conferences (as per the TV news channels) Key appeared jaded and even stressed. It made me wonder if something was going on behind the scenes which was causing him much angst – perhaps another major scandal or irrefutable evidence about an existing scandal is about to be revealed?
when you sell your soul, you pay in the end!
During the last two Monday press conferences (as per the TV news channels) Key appeared jaded and even stressed. It made me wonder if something was going on behind the scenes which was causing him much angst – perhaps another major scandal or irrefutable evidence about an existing scandal is about to be revealed?
interesting…your perceptions are usually pretty acute Anne
On a totally different subject – fascinating comment from Nicky Hager on why he is an investigative journalist and how he protects his sources :
https://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-219/feature-nicky-hager/
“” If you find things that offend you and that the public has a right to know, then – with suitable care and thought – you can maybe do some good by working with a trustworthy investigative journalist to get that story told. “”
Jenny. I am fairly sure that Nicky Hager has his day in Court re the police seizing his belongings starting this week, or is it next week?
I guess the problem is that the “good” is in the eye of the beholder. Would Key see some good and support the public right to know re the Dirty Tricks? Or would he use his clout to block or deny its publication in some way.
“public interest” has some parameters through legislation and interpretation/application of case law over the years…
But I agree that “good” can be in the eye of the beholder but even ethics have theoretical frameworks… hence we can develop codes of conduct and code so ethics. That’s a way to measure “good” on one level.
That is why the “reasonable man” was invented, to make it more objective than subjective.
maybe Nicky Hager is the reason for jonkey’s stress?
It seems Lecturing folks on Abstinence pays very well. Sadly abstinence doesn’t always prevent pregnancy, apparently
http://www.inquisitr.com/2203203/bristol-palin-made-close-to-1-million-pushing-abstinence-only-policies-now-is-pregnant-with-child-no-2/
““There may be multiple forms of contraception, but I’m here to say that one fact remains. Those that practice abstinence have no chance of becoming pregnant,” Palin said at an appearance in 2010. “Abstinence is not about morality, it is about reality. It is the only thing that works every time. My message is a simple one: Don’t make the same decision I made, just wait. Young ladies, please hear me.”
Her work generated a bit of controversy in 2009 when her take-home pay for Candie’s was seven times what the charity actually brought in donations.
Forbes reported, “Apparently, the organization was only able to find $35,000 to grant to charities from the $1,242,476 donated from the public. Meanwhile, the young Ms. Palin managed to pull in a $262,500 paycheck for her role as an ambassador for their teen pregnancy prevention campaign in 2009.”
Bristol Palin continued to rack in the earnings from her appearances, making between $15,000 and $30,000 for every speech she made advocating abstinence-only policies, which the Daily Beast estimated to total about $100,000 per year.”
The unwed Palin is pregnant with her second child. She is not married.
Nice work if you can get it.
There are some people who seem to know the right people to pay them even if they don’t do a damn thing or even do the exact opposite of what they preach. They are the quintessential example of corruption.
They tend to be rich and vote right-wing.
The spirit of Sir Paul lives on;
This time it’s alighted in Melbourne
An Indigenous girl who was racially abused as she lined up for a Frozen movie event in Melbourne has received a special message from her idol, Queen Elsa.
Samara Muir, 3, of Ballarat was waiting with her mother Rachel at a Melbourne shopping centre when she was brought to tears by a series of racist comments. Ms Muir said a woman in the line remarked; “I don’t know what that girl’s getting excited about because Elsa isn’t black”. The woman’s child also said to Samara that “black is ugly”.
Ms Muir shared her experience on social media, sparking both outrage and a massive wave of support for Samara.
But now the three-year-old Frozen fan may just have received her most exciting message yet — a video from Queen Elsa herself. …..
Read more….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-26/frozen-queen-elsa-sends-support-3yo-racially-abused-melbourne/6575858
http://thestandard.org.nz/holmes-and-other-toxic-commentators/
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17072013/#comment-664190
That is uplifting.
And so is the fact Sir Paul will not be writing any more columns. Yay!
Although, it is a shame Hosking, Henry, and Laws are still able to.
This is an amazing documentary!…almost Shakespearean…and it has lessons for the NZLP (maybe we need a similar doco on the axing of Cunliffe?)
…also Kevin Rudd was a great Greenie on Climate Change…a world leader ( except in the wrong Party)…why didn’t the OZ Greens support him more?
….If only he had had the loyalty of Gillard , he could have been one of Australia’s greatest political leaders in so many ways…he was brilliant !
‘The Killing Season review: Ferguson’s Rudd-Gillard drama one of our great documentaries’.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-killing-season-review-fergusons-ruddgillard-drama-one-of-our-great-documentaries-20150623-ghutkm.html#ixzz3e9mUmyZ2
‘The Killing Season’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/killing-season/
THE KILLING SEASON is Sarah Ferguson’s gripping three-part examination of the forces that shaped Labor during the Kevin Rudd / Julia Gillard leadership years. It is a documentary series like no other. Visually striking, scripted like the best political dramas, The Killing Season is an enthralling account of one of the most turbulent periods of Australian political history.
A comprehensive cast of the main players – including many of those still in parliament – speak frankly, providing a dramatic portrait of a party at war with itself.
You can watch all three episodes of The Killing Season on ABC iview and for international viewers abc.net.au/killingseason. Available for a limited period only.
Episode 1 – The Prime Minister and his Loyal Deputy (2006-2009)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/killing-season/episode-1/
Episode 2 – Great Moral Challenge (2009 – 2010)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/killing-season/episode-2/
Episode 3 – The Long Shadow (2010-2013)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/killing-season/episode-3/
The shocking lies of the mayor and councillors concerning rate rises and the misuse of rate payers money.
Rate rises up to 10% are not what was promised by the councillors when they were elected. It is unreasonable that an organisation that has a monopoly can put up rates at will to whatever level they want with no accountability for the misuse of the money they have already been paid.
The pressure on households to pay these unreasonable amounts is enormous. How are people on fixed incomes expected to pay that. People will be forced from their homes, away from friends and families and the support systems they need. Away for hospital facilities. THAT IS NOT FAIR. Many people protested about the valuations of their homes because those values are being used to justify unreasonable rate increases. The transport levy and the other increases have only been voted in by 1 vote.
WHAT REDRESS DO PEOPLE HAVE CONCERNING THIS BULLYING OF THE COUNCIL. They don’t even have a legal obligation to use the transport levy on public transport. It can be used for more secret rooms in Len Browns office or any other of the stupid wastefulness that this council has been known for.
THIS COUNCIL AND THE MAYOR ARE MORALLY BANKRUPT. He is so obsessed with ensuring the rail loop will be attributed to him that he is putting the wellbeing of a huge amount of Aucklanders at risk.