The Chauvel valedictory speech was a wonderful thing. And at the end of it I had this thought, the guy is so talented and has only been here for a short time. Why does he have to go?
He nailed it when he said this:
“… it is unproductive to keep trying to locate and exclude the supposed enemy within.
Instead, in order to avoid history repeating, it is time for an honest, open, and overdue assessment of why the 2011 campaign produced Labour’s worst ever electoral result. Those responsible for it should make dignified exits
To put it another way, in Gough Whitlam’s immortal words, the party must have both its wings to fly.”
At the end of the speech Mallard stormed out of Parliament without even applauding Chauvel’s speech.
He then tweeted this:
“My decision to seek Hutt South nomination just reinforced”.
Talk about an extreme use of belligerent incompetent use of social media.
There is something wrong with Labour when it loses Chauvel, demotes Cunliffe and Dalziel and refuses to promote Wall. Mallard is clearly part of the problem. He was the campaign manager for the most unsuccessful Labour campaign in over 80 years and has never been held to account.
Mallard is too much of a liability his tweet r.e. Standing in Hutt South was typical foot in mouth behavior, he is such a turn off to voters. If Shearer believes Malard is the heavy hitter that Labour can ill afford to loose well then he is delusional. Shearer needs to start writing ‘thank you for your services letters.’ Clean out deadwood & recruit new talent NOW!
A crisp salute to that Colonial..the Scottish blood in me shudders to think the strong hold Dunedin electorate seats are slipping away care of Curran. Jim K sort your patch out down there & roll her out!
Absolutely spot on. If the people pulling the strings dont make changes soon then Labour may never recover. Mallard and Goff at least need to go. I suspect the main problem may be that Mallard and Goff are heavily involved in pulling the strings.
If the people pulling the strings dont make changes soon then Labour may never recover.
I’m not overly concerned by that. In fact, I think one of the best things that could happen is that Labour becomes a minor party as they’re too close to the present system and won’t change it.
Twitter is great for telling plonkers like that off, sure he most probably won’t listen, that’s obvious to see. But some staffer may take it onboard. What a tool.
+ 1 imo mallard is thick which was quite obvious from a long way out – remember when he said he was indigenous because he lived in Wainuiomata lol – sad and useless and desperately trying to be relevant.
“There is something wrong with Labour when it loses Chauvel, demotes Cunliffe and Dalziel and refuses to promote Wall. Mallard is clearly part of the problem. He was the campaign manager for the most unsuccessful Labour campaign in over 80 years and has never been held to account.
And he is in the middle of current problems.
He has to go.”
All true. But equally important is that the Labour Party needs to put processes in place that allow the party to hold MPs accountable.
Toxic Trevor has performed poorly in Hutt South. If Mallard continues the teen of the past three elections it will be a marginal Labour seat in terms of Party Vote.
He shares poor performance with his neighbours Annette, Grant and Hipkins.
And with Clark not around and no-one else with the guts, there’s seemingly no-one in the party willing or able to tell Mallard to stfu, start thinking and stop being a douche.
Mallard shares alot with many Labour MP’s/candidates, they think they’re so important/relevant/liked and always have smart answers when facts and results show they’ve lost the electorate.
Clark knew what she was doing when she walked having kept bovver boy under a tight reign for years because without some portfolios to have him twiddling his thumbs over this is the kind of behaviour he can be relied on for, the nat’s best friend is a loose opposition MP, step right up trev.
I remain positive it can be turned around (you have to really) but not with the clowns who architected the worst result in 30 years after going up against a lying, corrupt regime with enough dirt, dodgy deals and democratic destruction to end it at term 1.
they don’t hold slipperys gov’t accountable because they don’t know what that is.
If National can sell ’em then they can be bought back. That should now be the message.
Buyers of the shares should be told, loud and clear, that the shares will be taken back at cost plus costs.
The assets do not belong to a bunch of MPs to sell.
Alas Paul that call has only come from Winston, One would think with 80% of Kiwi’s opposed to our assets sales Shearer has a clear mandate to make the call. I won’t hold my breath!
Less than Act but, then, they also got a hell of a lot more than Act got at their first election. This would tend to indicate a possible high level of support and it’s probably in those that didn’t vote last time.
More to the point, I quite like that the party is still around as a sort of “ideal world” conscience for left wing parties in parliament that face decisions of compromise. It’s why I still vote for it occasionally (I might even still be a member) – Alliance policies have a funny way of turning up later as policies of the parliamentary parties.
I don’t care who is the prime minister, or which party is in government, as long as they stay roughly on course for reducing inequality and working for the many, not the few.
More to the point, I quite like that the party is still around as a sort of “ideal world” conscience for left wing parties in parliament that face decisions of compromise.
Personally, I’d prefer if they were actually in parliament and possibly part of the next government. That way we’d know that their values and principals are supported by NZers.
If there’s any chance Shearer and Labour promise this, there’s an accompanying 100% chance of a flip-flop and a further 100% chance that Labour would then sell the remaining 51% of power companies, all of Air NZ and begin ripping up Great Barrier Island in search of coal.
Anyone who is waiting for the established systems to change, needs to re-think their position.
Only the people can go into bat for the injustice which is dominating the country, and its people, sadly in the *me me me* world, its unlikely this will happen.
Should people not stand up for eachother, we are all on the block, just at differing periods of the timeline.
The court has indicated that in relation to Treaty settlements regarding water there are other ways to provide redress. Surely one of those would be to increase fees for licenses to use water . . . That would relate to the right that is being lost; and could increase over time in line with the value of that resource.
For any government to say to investors who purchase shares in a government sell off that they will lose money is somehow not likely to engender confidence in that government subsequently, but the possibility of increased company costs for a known issue is something that any prudent investor would need to take into consideration.
Another possibility is to require all sales of shares in energy companies to be sold to new Zealand residents. Again is the likelihood of such a restriction is known now it may affect the price the price achieved for taxpayers now, but would be a known risk that would be allowed for by prudent investors.
I hope that a Labour / Green government never gets involved in confiscation of property because of a political disagreement, but normal operations of government do need to be allowed for by potential purchasers . . .
Lolz that’s a funny one, need something to have a smile about amidst all the Labour Party carnage on display today,
Lucky me i walked away after that greatly applauded former leader ‘Helen’ told the poorest of the poor to ‘eat s**t’ when dishing out a previous bag of lollies,
It is obvious that the ‘right wing’ of the Labour Party is still in the ascendency for the foreseeable future so rather than continue the wah wah wah those crying a river over this should consider supporting a political party to the left of the current Labour one…
“It is obvious that the ‘right wing’ of the Labour Party is still in the ascendency for the foreseeable future so rather than continue the wah wah wah those crying a river over this should consider supporting a political party to the left of the current Labour one…”
Or just vote Green and continue to put the boot in to caucus knobbers for fun.
LOLZ, yeah but the energy would be better spent on spitting at National, i aint happy one little bit with Labour and am even a bit disappointed with the Green Party which i am a member of for the cynical way that i see both Party’s having ‘used’ public opposition to asset sales and for the lackluster support of both Party’s for the ‘living wage’ campaign,
(1), Both Labour and the Green Party’s could have and in my opinion should have had an alternative policy being shouted at National across the house every day of every week over the sale of the States assets,
The simple policy should be that the ‘Cullen Super Fund’ will be restarted under a Labour/Green Government and that all the shares of the sold assets will be bought and invested within that fund AND that taxation for those who have purchased the shares MIGHT have to rise to enable this to happen,
What tho have we got from our main Opposition Party’s, simply an oppose,oppose,oppose weak at the knees wringing of the hands insipid ‘but our petition for a referendum has the numbers’,
(2), ‘The living wage’, what insipid support that has so far received from both Labour and the Green Party’s, both seem to be operating on the basis of never let an opportunity to advance the cause of the working poor wake you up from your sleep or drag you away from the mirrors in search of your personal vanity,
The unveiling of the ‘living wage campaign’ was a golden opportunity for both Labour and the Green party’s to unveil an election policy of raising the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour every year while they are in office,
Such a policy showing a clear difference between the Opposition and National along with the Treasury advice that raising the minimum wage does not lead to job losses could and should have been used every day of every week to beat upon this National Government in the Parliament, such a policy is a clear vote winner with anyone concerned with low wage structures in this country and would extend further than those subject to such abysmal wage structures,
What have we got from both Opposition Party’s??? the Zen silence in two areas of concern that are just begging the Opposition to fill with some clear policy….
The simple policy should be that the ‘Cullen Super Fund’ will be restarted under a Labour/Green…
Hate to break it to you but the Cullen Fund isn’t a viable policy. The economic paradigm that we have doesn’t work and so neither does the Cullen Fund.
Vote Green on the List, vote Labour in the constituiency. This is a double whammy, since should Labour start getting overhang…. …I mean what was the point of Clark burning the rope with Maori but to create the Maori party and a over hang of 2 seats. Its bleedingly obvious that was what ACT was for, that was what the new Conservative party is for. So why the frak is any unionist voting Labour on the List???? Someone needs to remind the left that stupid loses elections. Vote Green Duh.
How can a person “lose” their bond because of liquidation? I though all bonds must be lodged at the bond centre place run by the Housing ministry, and if they aren’t then the landlord faces a fine.
Also, surely the 90 day notice is retaliatory because it “dared” to take the landlord to the tribunal? There’s a clear provision in the RTA that prohibits retaliation.
Is there anyone in Invercargill who can help this family?
How can a person “lose” their bond because of liquidation? I though all bonds must be lodged at the bond centre place run by the Housing ministry, and if they aren’t then the landlord faces a fine.
Yep, that’s as I understand it but ask a lawyer. It may be different for a “professional” agency.
Am pretty sure it’s the dame for everyone. The agency is merely a representative of the landlord. xtasy will know for sure, but I’m also pretty sure, too. Hey, xtasy!! What’s the story?!!
If the landlord doesn’t lodge the bond its fraud. Now the current practice is where one side of the party has received goods and service, i.e. beneficiaries have been given money to eat, to see a doctor, to obtain housing, thus assuaging Government duty to provide basic welfare provision to all, when the beneficiary commits fraud they must not only pay back the fraudulent amount but the entire benefit for the period of the fraud. So Landlords who don’t deposit the bond are liable for to repay all the rent for the period of the fraud. Oh, wait, sorry, we live in NZ where there’s one law for government and another for citizens.
Governments, councils, and other public institutions held undeveloped land are naturally insured by their sheer size from the loss of land, and so recoup 100% of the cost. But private holders of land who just brought from council, undeveloped land for consider more than the cost of undeveloped land (as its now easily connected to the road, water, waste, electricity networks) and can now only recoup 50% (an arbitrary amount Brownlee just made up because in his mind its ‘fair’). Oh, wait, that’s okay, we live in NZ where there’s one law for government and another for citizens. I don’t remember anywhere where a citizen can declare what’s fair and it being held over government.
Proportionality another evil National party hates.
What gives? Some land is in the red zone and can be built on but the cost of supplying (fixing the services, water, gas, electricity) means the land is rezoned by edict and brought out at 50% of its pre-quake value. So land loses it value because of access to developed nature of the section, but Brownlee says the land is not developed???? so but for the fact that land is now declared and rezoned due to access to utilities the land is now worth 50%…
So buyers brought land, in housing developments, due to the fact that the land has been developed for the purpose, and government won’t pay 100% because its nots developed, and
other land that is quite able of being built on but can’t be because the cost of developing the land is now exorbitant and so sections rezoned red are undeveloped land.
No still don’t get why sections aren’t getting the full 100% of their premium pre-quake price.
Ah the ‘ownership’ model, bet they all wish now that they had of strong-armed the Governments of the past into supplying EVERYBODY with a home at 25% of household income as rent,
Wait till the next tranche of the Financial collapse of Capitalism kicks in, then you will really hear the middle classes going ouch…
Yes supposedly the ‘bond’ is lodged with Tenancy Services, it then becomes a question of does an insolvency allow the ‘liquidator’ access to this money,
My view is that it shouldn’t as the bond money is only the ‘landlords’ money after application is made to the Tenancy Tribunal by the ‘Landlord’,
i think you will find that as the story unfolds that it is likely that the ‘tenant’ paid 4 weeks rent in advance along with the bond when He rented the house,
This is another case where the ‘little people’ having little knowledge of the law are discriminated against by those who do have a full working knowledge of the laws provisions,
Unfortunately it would be the onus on the tenant who has to ‘prove’ that the 90 days notice is in fact retaliation, the Landlord in this case only need contend that because of the liquidation the bank is to sell the house and wants vacant possession of the property,
Here again we have the glaring evidence of the deregulated economy favoring the haves against the have not’s, tenants are left in all these disputes to fight their own battles with little or no knowledge of the law which is exacerbated when tenants have English only as a second language,
The Tenancy Tribunal should be given the powers and the personal to investigate and prosecute ALL alleged breaches of the law whether alleged to have been committed by the landlord or the tenant….
The legal problem the tenant has is that he paid the bond to the previous Landlord/owner who may not have lodged this bond with Tenancy Services as required by the law and has since become insolvent,
The liquidator has then presumably taken over ‘ownership’ of the property and thus cannot really be held responsible in law for the previous actions of the previous owner…
Yeah, so can a person check that their landlord has the bond. So that people will now go and do so say threes month in. And landlords start going to jail for fraud.
If your landlord posts your bond onwards to the Bond Centre as they should, you will in due course receive a letter and bond number if you don’t get either it’s time to start asking questions.
Landlords absolutely hate leaving money with the government. I had one who didn’t charge a bond, just so the government wouldn’t have his money. I suspect it also helps them claim that rents they receive are less than what they actually get. As far as I know, what this agency has done is totally illegal, but there are far more landlords sitting in courts and tribunals than there are tenants. Funnily enough, this is another activity undertaken by the moneyed class that is never seen as bludging.
“However, just hours after the tribunal decision to say the family could stay, a 90 day notice to terminate the tenancy was put in their letterbox from First National. The family decided not to fight.”
How “bizarre” indeed.
Bonds are held by the Tenancy Office or whatever it is called. So when a landlord goes bust for whatever reason, that should not affect a bond paid in good faith by a tenancy agreement party, i.e. this family as tenants.
When the tenancy is taken over by a new landlord, the bond should still be held by the same office. If a bond should have been “claimed” by any landlord, the tenant would have to be notified of this.
That is unless there are peculiar reasons unknown to me, where bonds can be claimed by creditors of a broke landlord, but it does not make sense.
Yet a 90 day notice may of course be seen as “retaliatory”, but a landlord can always give a 90 day notice, without having to state any reasons. It is the standard notice period to terminante any residential tenancy.
I have had something like that happen to me, where a neighbour intentionally caused problems, provoked me, and when exposed to unreasonable noise for well over an hour in a totally uninsulated flat, my “problem” was starting to take issue and have a verbal exchange with said “neighbour” (from hell). The landlord, another typical “investor” one, did not want any issues and simply gave me notice, because the neighbour’s landlord was one my landlord did not dare to take on.
There is heaps of such shit going on, and NZ could learn from tenancy laws that are common in Central European countries, offering much better protection to tenants.
But then again, I dare not to dream here, as ignorance and mean-spiritness seem to rule so much of NZ affairs in many areas, including tenancies and housing.
It says a deficit of $67million is mostly attributed to an extra $60m of building repair costs and $20m of library depreciation. That adds up to $80million. Mostly?
Then it says this;
“However, ignoring earthquake recovery costs and the library adjustment, the deficit would have been $6.6m…..”
And here was me thinking 80 was more than 67, which would leave a surplus of $13million. This is from a University?
It’s also worth noting that depreciation is a non-cash book entry that doesn’t require any immediate funding.
A lot of the building repair costs would be recovered through insurance which would also be in the profit and loss (that is the only explanation I can come up with).
Saying that I did read that article earlier and thought it was terribly written – it was obviously someone who doesn’t understand accounts and was just throwing down every number they were told.
The impression I got was the deficit was due to the cost of strengthening buildings to new earthquake standards rather than repairing damage, as you say repairs are covered by insurance so there shouldn’t be any extra costs there.
It’s debatable whether you’d put that in the books as an expense or capital expenditure, I’d think it would be more improvements than repairs & maintenance but the beancounters could probably put it down as either. If Uni has the money, which they say they do, I don’t really see why the Govt should fund it when the equity will increase with the higher building valuations.. or lower future depreciation.
It certainly needs more information than what’s been given in that article.
“Yet a 90 day notice may of course be seen as “retaliatory”, but a landlord can always give a 90 day notice, without having to state any reasons. It is the standard notice period to terminante any residential tenancy.”
Yes, that’s right, the 90 day notice can be issued without any reason and basically reflects the fact that the landlord owns the property. I’ve got no problem with that. But even if it can be shown that the issuing of the 90 day notice was retaliatory then my guess is that the tenant still has an action against the landlord. The difference, though, would simply be in the remedy available. For example, if a 90 day was issued and it was found to be retaliatory and the landlord wasn’t prepared to relent and let the tenant stay then the Tribunal couldn’t order the tenancy to continue, but it could order some other remedy, most likely damages.
Hi 1prent, I don’t seem to be able to edit comments. The edit box appears and states Comment Loaded Successfully, however this is not the case and the edit box is blank. Also, The Jackal feed is not appearing while Auckland Transport Blog and Frankly Speaking are appearing twice… I would appreciate these glitches being fixed at your earliest convenience.
Yep, and no. What I said was that I would expend time then. Did, couldn’t find the problem, now allocated to either next weekend or holidays between then and now.
My guess as to what will happen with the shares is this. There will be incentives for kiwis to buy and hold for a period of time. This will mean quite a lot of kiwis will hold shares either directly or through their Kiwisaver accounts. If Labour then say they will Nationalise I suspect it will be as popular as raising the pension age was and CGT. You have be out maneuvered again.
It’s probably been said but I’d like say I am very pleased that Tame Iti has been released from prison. I agree with Tame that he is a political prisoner and I hope his conviction and sentence are overturned by the Supreme Court. I agree with Hone that Tame has increased his mana and I think that mana shows through in his statements, such as
He held no resentment about being in jail nine months, saying he enjoyed his time there and was able to work and be creative with his art.
Iti said he was inspired by reading a book about former South African leader Nelson Mandela and wants to write one on the history of political prisoners in New Zealand.
Also good news also that fellow political prisoner Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara has also been granted parole and will leave prison on Monday.
At least Jane Clifton noticed the travesty of yesterday’s Question time as reported at Stuff: He asked him once, he asked him twice, he asked him three times – but in a strange re- imagining of the biblical parable in Parliament yesterday, it was Speaker David Carter who cried uncle when Green Russel Norman could not get the cock to crow.
The rooster in question, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, was happy to crow about how clever the Government was to have saved The Hobbit trilogy, but was cheerfully determined not to say whether Hollywood executives had pressured the Government to change labour laws for the films.
Mr Carter let Dr Norman ask the same question three times, and agreed Mr Joyce had not answered it, but argued there was no point spending further time on it. The public would note the refusal to answer, and judge accordingly.
But where are the other watchdogs? Political Journalists? Having cups of tea with the PM no doubt. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/8362005/Avoid-answering-three-times-and-you-are-home-free
I commented on this in yesterday’s open mike. I’m glad Jane Clifton noticed, but otherwise it’s proof positive that the mainstream political media is either asleep at the switch or isn’t interested in biting the hand that is scratching their backs. “The public will judge,” righto.
another “McNeill Survey” spelling trouble http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/news/spelling-trouble-in-our-classes/1772019/
in writing 32% performing below national standards
for excellent composition Marx there is clearly a Deb utante; Awarded ‘a’
V, for dry, ‘a’ M, for memery, and an H for hart: NO ExpectationS Brian,
read The Deposition of Father McGreevy (comparable to One Hundred Years of Solitude).
On the RMA reform proposals (when A meets A), wonder what Greg’s thoughts are; “sacrifice environment to development”? (duely relaced with couple of polished Gudgeon pins).
“heard the people who live on the ceiling scream and fight most scarily
hearing that noise the first ever feeling saving coupons from packets of tea”
In a “letter to the Dominion editor” a correspondent reminded that in contrast to NK, the US have carried out 1054 nuclear tests physically, official count, with a continuing program of sub-critical tests.
They signed themselves, Chairman, NZDPRK Society; wonders never cease. 😉
Re-engraving history leads into The Handmaids’ Tale. 🙂
Pretty good advice there about Spelling from Brigid: University of Canterbury senior education lecturer Brigid McNeill said teachers typically used a memory-based strategy – spelling tests with pre-taught words – rather than concentrate on developing skills which would help children spell all words correctly.
Teachers feel pressed to use lists of words and testing that list because that’s what parents expect. But it has almost no effect on poor spellers except to put them off for life. They say a teacher that expects 25 words in a learning list must be better than one who expects 10. Go figure.
reading your reply leads to sadness concerning both Brothers, and brothers, and “brothers”; since Primary, been engaging with folk who had their reading, writing, spelling and general Comprehension neglected; (as a child, i patiently tutored my brothers from time to time after school, mandatory really; Interestingly, in context, a brother who really struggled became a Manager with an admirable ability to write presentations / power points, yet, then, he had a generous father, genetically Transference) on that subject, it is always helpful to bone up on Defense Mechanisms; healthy in moderation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_mechanisms
(Highway 61 Revisted, from Pole to Pole).
“Neo-Liberalism has taken the place of left wing radicalism. Career politicians see the use of platitudes and spin as a means to disguise who they really represent. When all the politicians are singing from the same hymn sheet, it is not difficult to understand that the majority of people will repeat like parrots what they are told, only to be confused by the none reality of events which they then find themselves in, lower incomes, lower standard of living and yet rising cost of living.
This is the cost of losing the social wage (welfare state and public services) but people can’t evaluate the loss because there is no-one articulating what it all means to them.”
Long term consequences of poverty on kids and the (now historical) use of social welfare to mitigate it seem to escape most of the commentators on there and none are even bothering to think about the basic fucking question should ask. Such as type of crime and the length of time since it occurred, same with the bad credit + the circumstances it occurred in. Instead, it’s “zomg! theyz gots bad credit!!11!” and plain old bs about “responsibility” without any the basic knowledge to understand the issues poverty creates, let alone any bloody empathy.
Nor is there any recognition that this is part of the problem the loss of state housing in New Zealand has created, where the vulnerable now end up sleeping in their cars, in campgrounds and at shelters provided by charities. If they’re lucky. Or worse yet, wanabe slumlords, though in CHCH’s case those arse hats are busy fleecing the middle class and rebuild workers high rents for what are often frankly crap heaps that pre-quake were cheap just to entice people into being foolish enough to rent.
as Pat Magill laid 😉 it out succinctly, “Land of The Long White Retribution” (yes, threaten a peoples’ illusory impression of themselves with a mirror and they’ll have ya’ sown up legally in no time, regardless of the eventual cost that reflects back.)
Financial and demographic strife will strain or tear Japan’s social fabric…nationalism on the increase…central banks are starting to distrust each other…hyperinflation will wipe out the middle class while the poor stay poor and the rich stay wealthy.
was reading that Abe may break their earlier “demilitarization treaty /s” and go Nuclear
(sadly a lotta tools do not read widely enough, not a Whole Lotta Love)
“Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows a surge in support for Prime Minister John Key’s National (47.5%, up 3.5%) now with its biggest lead over the main Opposition Labour Party (30.5%, down 4%) since July 2012. Support for third party the Greens has also dropped to 12.5% (down 1%).
34.5 to 30.5 reinforces a 31.5 support level?
Well, your annual average is okay, but it wouldn’t be much different (i.e. decimal place variation in the average) if this poll result were 36 or 40%.
A) last six month average
(to mid-sept): Labour 32.1, National 44.8
B) previous six month average
midfeb2012-midsept2012 average: Labour 30.3, National 46.2
C) Election november 2011: Labour 27.5%, National 47.3%.
C[i])election to midfeb2012 average: Labour 29.1%, National 46.45%
Ok, C[i] is finicky because RM stopped polling until jan, but I figured it was more fair than going solely by the 2012 election, given we’re talking period trends.
at a couple of percent every six months, with 18 months to go til the election, that’s +6% change for labour on 38%.
Greens seem to be holding, so 12%: that’s 50% without mana or nz1.
National losing at 1% every six months, that’s -3% change, that’s National on 41%.
Does this mean labour can sleepwalk to victory? Nope.
Does it mean Shearer is perfect? Nope.
Does it mean a Left defeat is certain? Fuck no. Cautious optimism is on the table.
Seriously, if Labour want to make a contest of it, they would only need announce tomorrow an election policy of raising the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour for every year they are next in Government,
They, (Labour), have a Treasury report which directly states that raising the minimum wage will not lead to job losses so with such a policy they could not only beat Slippery’s Government every day of every week in the House, rubbing their face into a policy that the Tory’s just cannot compete on,
Hell with such a policy Labour might even attract quite enough of the ‘did not vote crowd’ to vote for them and save themselves the embarrassment of having to dream up even more election bribes to offer the middle classes in the game of ping pong being played at the moment where Labour try and wrestle a couple of % of the middle classes vote off of Slippery’s crew…
Yeah go on Mac give us a ‘roll your sleeves up’ quote while your at it, lolz Labour can’t bribe the middle class with anything much because the shop is outta lollies now and will be for the next election as well,
What the f**k are Labour going to fight the 2014 election with ‘a larger amount of borrowing’ perhaps, Slippery will make a fool out of Shearer in the television debates if Labour try that,
It’s going to be one hell of a long wait for Shearer to put some meat on the bones of His ‘i’m all for the kiwi battler’ bullshit and if He don’t he can probably guaranty Labour another 3 on the wrong side of the House,
Lolz i like your theory of the trickle down election gains but i think Slippery’s idea of holding onto the middle classes with the spending splash off of the asset sales is going to trump anything that Labour can offer that cohort of voters…
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Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
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Well last night settled things for me.
Mallard has to go.
The Chauvel valedictory speech was a wonderful thing. And at the end of it I had this thought, the guy is so talented and has only been here for a short time. Why does he have to go?
He nailed it when he said this:
“… it is unproductive to keep trying to locate and exclude the supposed enemy within.
Instead, in order to avoid history repeating, it is time for an honest, open, and overdue assessment of why the 2011 campaign produced Labour’s worst ever electoral result. Those responsible for it should make dignified exits
To put it another way, in Gough Whitlam’s immortal words, the party must have both its wings to fly.”
At the end of the speech Mallard stormed out of Parliament without even applauding Chauvel’s speech.
He then tweeted this:
“My decision to seek Hutt South nomination just reinforced”.
Talk about an extreme use of belligerent incompetent use of social media.
There is something wrong with Labour when it loses Chauvel, demotes Cunliffe and Dalziel and refuses to promote Wall. Mallard is clearly part of the problem. He was the campaign manager for the most unsuccessful Labour campaign in over 80 years and has never been held to account.
And he is in the middle of current problems.
He has to go.
+1 Paddy. Mallard is a disgrace.
Mallard is too much of a liability his tweet r.e. Standing in Hutt South was typical foot in mouth behavior, he is such a turn off to voters. If Shearer believes Malard is the heavy hitter that Labour can ill afford to loose well then he is delusional. Shearer needs to start writing ‘thank you for your services letters.’ Clean out deadwood & recruit new talent NOW!
In that case, I suspect that Clare Curran has taught Trevor Mallard everything that she knows about Twitter.
A crisp salute to that Colonial..the Scottish blood in me shudders to think the strong hold Dunedin electorate seats are slipping away care of Curran. Jim K sort your patch out down there & roll her out!
I guess it is somehow fitting with the Open Government ethos to constantly display one’s arrogance publicly.
Absolutely spot on. If the people pulling the strings dont make changes soon then Labour may never recover. Mallard and Goff at least need to go. I suspect the main problem may be that Mallard and Goff are heavily involved in pulling the strings.
I’m not overly concerned by that. In fact, I think one of the best things that could happen is that Labour becomes a minor party as they’re too close to the present system and won’t change it.
Twitter is great for telling plonkers like that off, sure he most probably won’t listen, that’s obvious to see. But some staffer may take it onboard. What a tool.
+ 1 imo mallard is thick which was quite obvious from a long way out – remember when he said he was indigenous because he lived in Wainuiomata lol – sad and useless and desperately trying to be relevant.
“There is something wrong with Labour when it loses Chauvel, demotes Cunliffe and Dalziel and refuses to promote Wall. Mallard is clearly part of the problem. He was the campaign manager for the most unsuccessful Labour campaign in over 80 years and has never been held to account.
And he is in the middle of current problems.
He has to go.”
All true. But equally important is that the Labour Party needs to put processes in place that allow the party to hold MPs accountable.
Toxic Trevor has performed poorly in Hutt South. If Mallard continues the teen of the past three elections it will be a marginal Labour seat in terms of Party Vote.
He shares poor performance with his neighbours Annette, Grant and Hipkins.
infantility (or should that be infant aside)
+1
And with Clark not around and no-one else with the guts, there’s seemingly no-one in the party willing or able to tell Mallard to stfu, start thinking and stop being a douche.
Mallard shares alot with many Labour MP’s/candidates, they think they’re so important/relevant/liked and always have smart answers when facts and results show they’ve lost the electorate.
Clark knew what she was doing when she walked having kept bovver boy under a tight reign for years because without some portfolios to have him twiddling his thumbs over this is the kind of behaviour he can be relied on for, the nat’s best friend is a loose opposition MP, step right up trev.
I remain positive it can be turned around (you have to really) but not with the clowns who architected the worst result in 30 years after going up against a lying, corrupt regime with enough dirt, dodgy deals and democratic destruction to end it at term 1.
they don’t hold slipperys gov’t accountable because they don’t know what that is.
If National can sell ’em then they can be bought back. That should now be the message.
Buyers of the shares should be told, loud and clear, that the shares will be taken back at cost plus costs.
The assets do not belong to a bunch of MPs to sell.
Buyer beware
“We will renationalise and you will lose your money.”
+1
Alas Paul that call has only come from Winston, One would think with 80% of Kiwi’s opposed to our assets sales Shearer has a clear mandate to make the call. I won’t hold my breath!
It’s also come from The Alliance.
The Alliance?!?!?! FFS, are they still going?
Remind me again, what did they get in the latest political poll?
Less than Act but, then, they also got a hell of a lot more than Act got at their first election. This would tend to indicate a possible high level of support and it’s probably in those that didn’t vote last time.
More to the point, I quite like that the party is still around as a sort of “ideal world” conscience for left wing parties in parliament that face decisions of compromise. It’s why I still vote for it occasionally (I might even still be a member) – Alliance policies have a funny way of turning up later as policies of the parliamentary parties.
I don’t care who is the prime minister, or which party is in government, as long as they stay roughly on course for reducing inequality and working for the many, not the few.
Personally, I’d prefer if they were actually in parliament and possibly part of the next government. That way we’d know that their values and principals are supported by NZers.
If there’s any chance Shearer and Labour promise this, there’s an accompanying 100% chance of a flip-flop and a further 100% chance that Labour would then sell the remaining 51% of power companies, all of Air NZ and begin ripping up Great Barrier Island in search of coal.
There is not even a 0% liklihood of that happening!
Anyone willing to go into bat for them, then?
Hi Mary,
Anyone who is waiting for the established systems to change, needs to re-think their position.
Only the people can go into bat for the injustice which is dominating the country, and its people, sadly in the *me me me* world, its unlikely this will happen.
Should people not stand up for eachother, we are all on the block, just at differing periods of the timeline.
Yes, I agree, even if my comment was meant to be a response to millsy at 10.11!!
The court has indicated that in relation to Treaty settlements regarding water there are other ways to provide redress. Surely one of those would be to increase fees for licenses to use water . . . That would relate to the right that is being lost; and could increase over time in line with the value of that resource.
For any government to say to investors who purchase shares in a government sell off that they will lose money is somehow not likely to engender confidence in that government subsequently, but the possibility of increased company costs for a known issue is something that any prudent investor would need to take into consideration.
Another possibility is to require all sales of shares in energy companies to be sold to new Zealand residents. Again is the likelihood of such a restriction is known now it may affect the price the price achieved for taxpayers now, but would be a known risk that would be allowed for by prudent investors.
I hope that a Labour / Green government never gets involved in confiscation of property because of a political disagreement, but normal operations of government do need to be allowed for by potential purchasers . . .
.
Interesting ad in today’s Situations Vacant.
Lolz that’s a funny one, need something to have a smile about amidst all the Labour Party carnage on display today,
Lucky me i walked away after that greatly applauded former leader ‘Helen’ told the poorest of the poor to ‘eat s**t’ when dishing out a previous bag of lollies,
It is obvious that the ‘right wing’ of the Labour Party is still in the ascendency for the foreseeable future so rather than continue the wah wah wah those crying a river over this should consider supporting a political party to the left of the current Labour one…
Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets.
“It is obvious that the ‘right wing’ of the Labour Party is still in the ascendency for the foreseeable future so rather than continue the wah wah wah those crying a river over this should consider supporting a political party to the left of the current Labour one…”
Or just vote Green and continue to put the boot in to caucus knobbers for fun.
LOLZ, yeah but the energy would be better spent on spitting at National, i aint happy one little bit with Labour and am even a bit disappointed with the Green Party which i am a member of for the cynical way that i see both Party’s having ‘used’ public opposition to asset sales and for the lackluster support of both Party’s for the ‘living wage’ campaign,
(1), Both Labour and the Green Party’s could have and in my opinion should have had an alternative policy being shouted at National across the house every day of every week over the sale of the States assets,
The simple policy should be that the ‘Cullen Super Fund’ will be restarted under a Labour/Green Government and that all the shares of the sold assets will be bought and invested within that fund AND that taxation for those who have purchased the shares MIGHT have to rise to enable this to happen,
What tho have we got from our main Opposition Party’s, simply an oppose,oppose,oppose weak at the knees wringing of the hands insipid ‘but our petition for a referendum has the numbers’,
(2), ‘The living wage’, what insipid support that has so far received from both Labour and the Green Party’s, both seem to be operating on the basis of never let an opportunity to advance the cause of the working poor wake you up from your sleep or drag you away from the mirrors in search of your personal vanity,
The unveiling of the ‘living wage campaign’ was a golden opportunity for both Labour and the Green party’s to unveil an election policy of raising the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour every year while they are in office,
Such a policy showing a clear difference between the Opposition and National along with the Treasury advice that raising the minimum wage does not lead to job losses could and should have been used every day of every week to beat upon this National Government in the Parliament, such a policy is a clear vote winner with anyone concerned with low wage structures in this country and would extend further than those subject to such abysmal wage structures,
What have we got from both Opposition Party’s??? the Zen silence in two areas of concern that are just begging the Opposition to fill with some clear policy….
“LOLZ, yeah but the energy would be better spent on spitting at National”
Multi tasking is your friend 😉
“and am even a bit disappointed with the Green Party which i am a member of”
Not a member, but me too.
L+G both need a bit of a wake the fuck up shake. You’re losing.
Fight or fuck off out of the way isn’t too extreme, given the polling.
Hate to break it to you but the Cullen Fund isn’t a viable policy. The economic paradigm that we have doesn’t work and so neither does the Cullen Fund.
Vote Green on the List, vote Labour in the constituiency. This is a double whammy, since should Labour start getting overhang…. …I mean what was the point of Clark burning the rope with Maori but to create the Maori party and a over hang of 2 seats. Its bleedingly obvious that was what ACT was for, that was what the new Conservative party is for. So why the frak is any unionist voting Labour on the List???? Someone needs to remind the left that stupid loses elections. Vote Green Duh.
This is worrying:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8361189/Reprieve-for-family-after-urgent-hearing
How can a person “lose” their bond because of liquidation? I though all bonds must be lodged at the bond centre place run by the Housing ministry, and if they aren’t then the landlord faces a fine.
Also, surely the 90 day notice is retaliatory because it “dared” to take the landlord to the tribunal? There’s a clear provision in the RTA that prohibits retaliation.
Is there anyone in Invercargill who can help this family?
Of course it is retaliatory.
Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time.
That’s right, so is there anyone in Invercargill who’s prepared to go into bat for these people?
Yep, that’s as I understand it but ask a lawyer. It may be different for a “professional” agency.
Am pretty sure it’s the dame for everyone. The agency is merely a representative of the landlord. xtasy will know for sure, but I’m also pretty sure, too. Hey, xtasy!! What’s the story?!!
If the landlord doesn’t lodge the bond its fraud. Now the current practice is where one side of the party has received goods and service, i.e. beneficiaries have been given money to eat, to see a doctor, to obtain housing, thus assuaging Government duty to provide basic welfare provision to all, when the beneficiary commits fraud they must not only pay back the fraudulent amount but the entire benefit for the period of the fraud. So Landlords who don’t deposit the bond are liable for to repay all the rent for the period of the fraud. Oh, wait, sorry, we live in NZ where there’s one law for government and another for citizens.
Governments, councils, and other public institutions held undeveloped land are naturally insured by their sheer size from the loss of land, and so recoup 100% of the cost. But private holders of land who just brought from council, undeveloped land for consider more than the cost of undeveloped land (as its now easily connected to the road, water, waste, electricity networks) and can now only recoup 50% (an arbitrary amount Brownlee just made up because in his mind its ‘fair’). Oh, wait, that’s okay, we live in NZ where there’s one law for government and another for citizens. I don’t remember anywhere where a citizen can declare what’s fair and it being held over government.
Proportionality another evil National party hates.
What gives? Some land is in the red zone and can be built on but the cost of supplying (fixing the services, water, gas, electricity) means the land is rezoned by edict and brought out at 50% of its pre-quake value. So land loses it value because of access to developed nature of the section, but Brownlee says the land is not developed???? so but for the fact that land is now declared and rezoned due to access to utilities the land is now worth 50%…
So buyers brought land, in housing developments, due to the fact that the land has been developed for the purpose, and government won’t pay 100% because its nots developed, and
other land that is quite able of being built on but can’t be because the cost of developing the land is now exorbitant and so sections rezoned red are undeveloped land.
No still don’t get why sections aren’t getting the full 100% of their premium pre-quake price.
ol’ Bob the Gilder
I don’t think you can insure a section, only when building has began and I think that rates still have to be paid.
Someone else may know the full answer.
Ah the ‘ownership’ model, bet they all wish now that they had of strong-armed the Governments of the past into supplying EVERYBODY with a home at 25% of household income as rent,
Wait till the next tranche of the Financial collapse of Capitalism kicks in, then you will really hear the middle classes going ouch…
Yes supposedly the ‘bond’ is lodged with Tenancy Services, it then becomes a question of does an insolvency allow the ‘liquidator’ access to this money,
My view is that it shouldn’t as the bond money is only the ‘landlords’ money after application is made to the Tenancy Tribunal by the ‘Landlord’,
i think you will find that as the story unfolds that it is likely that the ‘tenant’ paid 4 weeks rent in advance along with the bond when He rented the house,
This is another case where the ‘little people’ having little knowledge of the law are discriminated against by those who do have a full working knowledge of the laws provisions,
Unfortunately it would be the onus on the tenant who has to ‘prove’ that the 90 days notice is in fact retaliation, the Landlord in this case only need contend that because of the liquidation the bank is to sell the house and wants vacant possession of the property,
Here again we have the glaring evidence of the deregulated economy favoring the haves against the have not’s, tenants are left in all these disputes to fight their own battles with little or no knowledge of the law which is exacerbated when tenants have English only as a second language,
The Tenancy Tribunal should be given the powers and the personal to investigate and prosecute ALL alleged breaches of the law whether alleged to have been committed by the landlord or the tenant….
The legal problem the tenant has is that he paid the bond to the previous Landlord/owner who may not have lodged this bond with Tenancy Services as required by the law and has since become insolvent,
The liquidator has then presumably taken over ‘ownership’ of the property and thus cannot really be held responsible in law for the previous actions of the previous owner…
Yeah, so can a person check that their landlord has the bond. So that people will now go and do so say threes month in. And landlords start going to jail for fraud.
If your landlord posts your bond onwards to the Bond Centre as they should, you will in due course receive a letter and bond number if you don’t get either it’s time to start asking questions.
Landlords absolutely hate leaving money with the government. I had one who didn’t charge a bond, just so the government wouldn’t have his money. I suspect it also helps them claim that rents they receive are less than what they actually get. As far as I know, what this agency has done is totally illegal, but there are far more landlords sitting in courts and tribunals than there are tenants. Funnily enough, this is another activity undertaken by the moneyed class that is never seen as bludging.
small business syndrome.
Mary –
“However, just hours after the tribunal decision to say the family could stay, a 90 day notice to terminate the tenancy was put in their letterbox from First National. The family decided not to fight.”
How “bizarre” indeed.
Bonds are held by the Tenancy Office or whatever it is called. So when a landlord goes bust for whatever reason, that should not affect a bond paid in good faith by a tenancy agreement party, i.e. this family as tenants.
When the tenancy is taken over by a new landlord, the bond should still be held by the same office. If a bond should have been “claimed” by any landlord, the tenant would have to be notified of this.
That is unless there are peculiar reasons unknown to me, where bonds can be claimed by creditors of a broke landlord, but it does not make sense.
Yet a 90 day notice may of course be seen as “retaliatory”, but a landlord can always give a 90 day notice, without having to state any reasons. It is the standard notice period to terminante any residential tenancy.
I have had something like that happen to me, where a neighbour intentionally caused problems, provoked me, and when exposed to unreasonable noise for well over an hour in a totally uninsulated flat, my “problem” was starting to take issue and have a verbal exchange with said “neighbour” (from hell). The landlord, another typical “investor” one, did not want any issues and simply gave me notice, because the neighbour’s landlord was one my landlord did not dare to take on.
There is heaps of such shit going on, and NZ could learn from tenancy laws that are common in Central European countries, offering much better protection to tenants.
But then again, I dare not to dream here, as ignorance and mean-spiritness seem to rule so much of NZ affairs in many areas, including tenancies and housing.
What’s happened to maths ability in this country? This nonsense about Uni of Canty was in the ‘paper;
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8361705/University-needs-certainty-Labour-says
It says a deficit of $67million is mostly attributed to an extra $60m of building repair costs and $20m of library depreciation. That adds up to $80million. Mostly?
Then it says this;
“However, ignoring earthquake recovery costs and the library adjustment, the deficit would have been $6.6m…..”
And here was me thinking 80 was more than 67, which would leave a surplus of $13million. This is from a University?
It’s also worth noting that depreciation is a non-cash book entry that doesn’t require any immediate funding.
A lot of the building repair costs would be recovered through insurance which would also be in the profit and loss (that is the only explanation I can come up with).
Saying that I did read that article earlier and thought it was terribly written – it was obviously someone who doesn’t understand accounts and was just throwing down every number they were told.
The impression I got was the deficit was due to the cost of strengthening buildings to new earthquake standards rather than repairing damage, as you say repairs are covered by insurance so there shouldn’t be any extra costs there.
It’s debatable whether you’d put that in the books as an expense or capital expenditure, I’d think it would be more improvements than repairs & maintenance but the beancounters could probably put it down as either. If Uni has the money, which they say they do, I don’t really see why the Govt should fund it when the equity will increase with the higher building valuations.. or lower future depreciation.
It certainly needs more information than what’s been given in that article.
“Yet a 90 day notice may of course be seen as “retaliatory”, but a landlord can always give a 90 day notice, without having to state any reasons. It is the standard notice period to terminante any residential tenancy.”
Yes, that’s right, the 90 day notice can be issued without any reason and basically reflects the fact that the landlord owns the property. I’ve got no problem with that. But even if it can be shown that the issuing of the 90 day notice was retaliatory then my guess is that the tenant still has an action against the landlord. The difference, though, would simply be in the remedy available. For example, if a 90 day was issued and it was found to be retaliatory and the landlord wasn’t prepared to relent and let the tenant stay then the Tribunal couldn’t order the tenancy to continue, but it could order some other remedy, most likely damages.
Hi 1prent, I don’t seem to be able to edit comments. The edit box appears and states Comment Loaded Successfully, however this is not the case and the edit box is blank. Also, The Jackal feed is not appearing while Auckland Transport Blog and Frankly Speaking are appearing twice… I would appreciate these glitches being fixed at your earliest convenience.
Edit box is a known problem that he hasn’t had time to fix yet.
I suggest emailing him about the feed issue if you want to guarantee he sees it.
I’ve already emailed 1prent and was informed that the problem would be resolved last weekend.
It hasn’t.
Yep, and no. What I said was that I would expend time then. Did, couldn’t find the problem, now allocated to either next weekend or holidays between then and now.
My guess as to what will happen with the shares is this. There will be incentives for kiwis to buy and hold for a period of time. This will mean quite a lot of kiwis will hold shares either directly or through their Kiwisaver accounts. If Labour then say they will Nationalise I suspect it will be as popular as raising the pension age was and CGT. You have be out maneuvered again.
People wanna take risks with their monies, they will have been told, so be it.
The Daily Blog. Tumeke and very, very welcome.
It’s probably been said but I’d like say I am very pleased that Tame Iti has been released from prison. I agree with Tame that he is a political prisoner and I hope his conviction and sentence are overturned by the Supreme Court. I agree with Hone that Tame has increased his mana and I think that mana shows through in his statements, such as
Also good news also that fellow political prisoner Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara has also been granted parole and will leave prison on Monday.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/129165/released-iti-says-he%27s-a-political-prisoner
http://www.mars2earth.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/they-cant-break-us.html
Mandela, he aint….
At least Jane Clifton noticed the travesty of yesterday’s Question time as reported at Stuff:
He asked him once, he asked him twice, he asked him three times – but in a strange re- imagining of the biblical parable in Parliament yesterday, it was Speaker David Carter who cried uncle when Green Russel Norman could not get the cock to crow.
The rooster in question, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, was happy to crow about how clever the Government was to have saved The Hobbit trilogy, but was cheerfully determined not to say whether Hollywood executives had pressured the Government to change labour laws for the films.
Mr Carter let Dr Norman ask the same question three times, and agreed Mr Joyce had not answered it, but argued there was no point spending further time on it. The public would note the refusal to answer, and judge accordingly.
But where are the other watchdogs? Political Journalists? Having cups of tea with the PM no doubt.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/8362005/Avoid-answering-three-times-and-you-are-home-free
I commented on this in yesterday’s open mike. I’m glad Jane Clifton noticed, but otherwise it’s proof positive that the mainstream political media is either asleep at the switch or isn’t interested in biting the hand that is scratching their backs. “The public will judge,” righto.
another “McNeill Survey” spelling trouble
http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/news/spelling-trouble-in-our-classes/1772019/
in writing 32% performing below national standards
for excellent composition Marx there is clearly a Deb utante; Awarded ‘a’
V, for dry, ‘a’ M, for memery, and an H for hart: NO ExpectationS Brian,
read The Deposition of Father McGreevy (comparable to One Hundred Years of Solitude).
On the RMA reform proposals (when A meets A), wonder what Greg’s thoughts are; “sacrifice environment to development”? (duely relaced with couple of polished Gudgeon pins).
“heard the people who live on the ceiling scream and fight most scarily
hearing that noise the first ever feeling saving coupons from packets of tea”
In a “letter to the Dominion editor” a correspondent reminded that in contrast to NK, the US have carried out 1054 nuclear tests physically, official count, with a continuing program of sub-critical tests.
They signed themselves, Chairman, NZDPRK Society; wonders never cease. 😉
Re-engraving history leads into The Handmaids’ Tale. 🙂
Pretty good advice there about Spelling from Brigid:
University of Canterbury senior education lecturer Brigid McNeill said teachers typically used a memory-based strategy – spelling tests with pre-taught words – rather than concentrate on developing skills which would help children spell all words correctly.
Teachers feel pressed to use lists of words and testing that list because that’s what parents expect. But it has almost no effect on poor spellers except to put them off for life. They say a teacher that expects 25 words in a learning list must be better than one who expects 10. Go figure.
reading your reply leads to sadness concerning both Brothers, and brothers, and “brothers”; since Primary, been engaging with folk who had their reading, writing, spelling and general Comprehension neglected; (as a child, i patiently tutored my brothers from time to time after school, mandatory really; Interestingly, in context, a brother who really struggled became a Manager with an admirable ability to write presentations / power points, yet, then, he had a generous father, genetically Transference) on that subject, it is always helpful to bone up on Defense Mechanisms; healthy in moderation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_mechanisms
(Highway 61 Revisted, from Pole to Pole).
Get a fix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY9b6jgbNyc
Viva La Vida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE
Violet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IakDItZ7f7Q
Charlie!
STP (memory Fades To Grey. Not!)
I was drawn to the following comment article in the Guardian on-line
“Italy’s left loses the popularity contest again
However grotesquely, Berlusconi and Grillo succeeded in this election where the left always fails – to mobilise the masses”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/27/italy-left-loses-popularity-contest
And struck by the following posted response:
“Neo-Liberalism has taken the place of left wing radicalism. Career politicians see the use of platitudes and spin as a means to disguise who they really represent. When all the politicians are singing from the same hymn sheet, it is not difficult to understand that the majority of people will repeat like parrots what they are told, only to be confused by the none reality of events which they then find themselves in, lower incomes, lower standard of living and yet rising cost of living.
This is the cost of losing the social wage (welfare state and public services) but people can’t evaluate the loss because there is no-one articulating what it all means to them.”
I recommend the article.
see Both Sides Now
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8361477/Low-income-people-have-nowhere-to-go
That comment thread…
T_T
Long term consequences of poverty on kids and the (now historical) use of social welfare to mitigate it seem to escape most of the commentators on there and none are even bothering to think about the basic fucking question should ask. Such as type of crime and the length of time since it occurred, same with the bad credit + the circumstances it occurred in. Instead, it’s “zomg! theyz gots bad credit!!11!” and plain old bs about “responsibility” without any the basic knowledge to understand the issues poverty creates, let alone any bloody empathy.
Nor is there any recognition that this is part of the problem the loss of state housing in New Zealand has created, where the vulnerable now end up sleeping in their cars, in campgrounds and at shelters provided by charities. If they’re lucky. Or worse yet, wanabe slumlords, though in CHCH’s case those arse hats are busy fleecing the middle class and rebuild workers high rents for what are often frankly crap heaps that pre-quake were cheap just to entice people into being foolish enough to rent.
as Pat Magill laid 😉 it out succinctly, “Land of The Long White Retribution” (yes, threaten a peoples’ illusory impression of themselves with a mirror and they’ll have ya’ sown up legally in no time, regardless of the eventual cost that reflects back.)
Kyle Bass hits another one out of the park
Financial and demographic strife will strain or tear Japan’s social fabric…nationalism on the increase…central banks are starting to distrust each other…hyperinflation will wipe out the middle class while the poor stay poor and the rich stay wealthy.
was reading that Abe may break their earlier “demilitarization treaty /s” and go Nuclear
(sadly a lotta tools do not read widely enough, not a Whole Lotta Love)
.
honour the treaty
then improve it
Sh*ttin’ where we eat
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10868363
in them Red Bands
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10868352
better than Horse meat
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-most-brutal-upsetting-thing-ive-ever-seen-18yearold-woman-obsessed-with-necrophilia-accused-of-having-threeway-sex-on-top-of-corpses-of-men-the-group-allegedly-murdered-8513472.html
and they’re off
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=569351
patriots
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2013/0226/Is-a-third-Palestinian-intifada-coming?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fworld+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+World%29
in their millions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/britain-based-charity-oxfam-says-syrias-humanitarian-crisis-spinning-out-of-control/2013/02/27/1053ba82-80f0-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html.
Roundup
69 (whose on top and whose flaying)
I posted this on wrong Open Mike. I am so not good at blogging!
Awesome speech by Mr David Cunliffe about generations and fairness. I hope Trevor watches it. Real Labour.
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/17360
Heard on the news : Nathan Guy advises that the government is conscious…
“Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows a surge in support for Prime Minister John Key’s National (47.5%, up 3.5%) now with its biggest lead over the main Opposition Labour Party (30.5%, down 4%) since July 2012. Support for third party the Greens has also dropped to 12.5% (down 1%).
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1302/S00311/roy-morgan-poll-national-with-huge-lead-over-labour.htm
cue more navel-gazing over a 2% swing
reinforces the true mean at ~31.5%
34.5 to 30.5 reinforces a 31.5 support level?
Well, your annual average is okay, but it wouldn’t be much different (i.e. decimal place variation in the average) if this poll result were 36 or 40%.
A) last six month average
(to mid-sept): Labour 32.1, National 44.8
B) previous six month average
midfeb2012-midsept2012 average: Labour 30.3, National 46.2
C) Election november 2011: Labour 27.5%, National 47.3%.
C[i])election to midfeb2012 average: Labour 29.1%, National 46.45%
Ok, C[i] is finicky because RM stopped polling until jan, but I figured it was more fair than going solely by the 2012 election, given we’re talking period trends.
at a couple of percent every six months, with 18 months to go til the election, that’s +6% change for labour on 38%.
Greens seem to be holding, so 12%: that’s 50% without mana or nz1.
National losing at 1% every six months, that’s -3% change, that’s National on 41%.
Does this mean labour can sleepwalk to victory? Nope.
Does it mean Shearer is perfect? Nope.
Does it mean a Left defeat is certain? Fuck no. Cautious optimism is on the table.
Seriously, if Labour want to make a contest of it, they would only need announce tomorrow an election policy of raising the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour for every year they are next in Government,
They, (Labour), have a Treasury report which directly states that raising the minimum wage will not lead to job losses so with such a policy they could not only beat Slippery’s Government every day of every week in the House, rubbing their face into a policy that the Tory’s just cannot compete on,
Hell with such a policy Labour might even attract quite enough of the ‘did not vote crowd’ to vote for them and save themselves the embarrassment of having to dream up even more election bribes to offer the middle classes in the game of ping pong being played at the moment where Labour try and wrestle a couple of % of the middle classes vote off of Slippery’s crew…
I don’t believe in magic bullets, either in the form of policies or people.
Hard work in the hope of gradual improvement, or even to merely tread water if the tide of society is agin you: that I believe in.
Forget the magic bullets, I’d settle for not turning up to a gunfight with a blunt butter knife.
Well, sometimes all you need is an empty cup and to hold your nerve.
Nice clip. And I have no problem with who’s holding the empty cup in this scenario.
Yeah go on Mac give us a ‘roll your sleeves up’ quote while your at it, lolz Labour can’t bribe the middle class with anything much because the shop is outta lollies now and will be for the next election as well,
What the f**k are Labour going to fight the 2014 election with ‘a larger amount of borrowing’ perhaps, Slippery will make a fool out of Shearer in the television debates if Labour try that,
It’s going to be one hell of a long wait for Shearer to put some meat on the bones of His ‘i’m all for the kiwi battler’ bullshit and if He don’t he can probably guaranty Labour another 3 on the wrong side of the House,
Lolz i like your theory of the trickle down election gains but i think Slippery’s idea of holding onto the middle classes with the spending splash off of the asset sales is going to trump anything that Labour can offer that cohort of voters…
Asset sales are barely going to dent the deficit. And spending splash would happen anyway. And asset sales will piss off voters, too.