Labour leader Phil Goff told Native Affairs last night he cannot work with Hone, or anybody else Mana might get elected into Parliament, because they are too extreme.
Surely this cannot be the the same Phil Goff who sat on a far right cabinet that sold off significant state assets in a fire sale to the rich. The same cabinet threw thousands of people onto the dole and completely destroyed some communities. Many of the original victims of these extreme policies never worked again, and their children have grown surronded by a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness.
The Clark government continued to ignore these people, although economic boom times, based on the great private borrowing binge, meant some of them got precarious minimum wage jobs subsidised by Working For Families for a while. Now they are back on the scrap heap.
The people who voted for Mana were discarded by Labour a long time ago and it is an insult to their intelligence and life experience to expect them to believe Labour gives a stuff about them.
Labour is going to have to come to terms with the incompatibility of its neoliberal economic beliefs with the interests of working class New Zealanders, and its serial failure to defend the interests of those it pretends to represent, if it is survive in the long term.
Most importantly of all, it must shed itself of the idea that it possible to keep chasing the ‘centre’ indefinitely. Each time they do this they create a new ‘centre ‘ which is even further to the right.
Actually anyone who votes for Mana will demonstrate that their intelligence is worthy of insulting if the believe that Hone gives a crap about any more than their vote.
Goff is doing the right thing, the best way to scare off the centre would be to cuddle up to Hone prior to the election.
What we have is radical. What we have is ‘afford it or buy it’ or suffer.
And who defends this state of affairs? All our msm and the main parliamentary parties. Just because the idea that the market should dictate our social interactions and our access to basic needs is ‘orthodox’ doesn’t mean that it’s right or desirable or intelligent.
So, I get kind of sick of hearing that the people who offer a challenge to the status quo are radical. They aren’t. They are challenging current radicalism.
So, I get kind of sick of hearing that the people who offer a challenge to the status quo are radical. They aren’t. They are challenging current radicalism.
Goff has to talk tough so as not to scare off middle NZ from voting Labour, and indeed to try and grab some of those trending leftwards for either voting Labour or Greens instead of Mana. Like the Maori Party, the left-wing of the house would be best served if Mana got a large overhang, so them getting multiple electorate seats and a low list vote is the best outcome for Labour, whether they end up in a formal or informal coalition or not.
Ultimately if the numbers present it as a credible way to form a government, Labour will do it.
You don’t talk tough by saying we won’t work with Mana. You might get away with that if Labour was consistently polling above 33% and they and the Greens were clearly in a position on all polls to govern. Then you would talk tough. But when you’re not polling consistently above 33% and the Greens whose polling has never been reliable and where your in a position that right now you can’t form a government.
You don’t go talking about who you won’t work with. Goff can still appear tough without scaring centrist voters. You just say what policy you’ll implement in government and what you won’t. If you ignore The Foreshore and seabed issue. Mana and labour would quite happily be able to commit to a $15 minimum wage, no tax on the first $5000, GST off fruit and vegetables. I can see agreement with changing the Reserve bank act and agreement to change employment law.
Labour, Goff and Mallard in particular along with Shane Jones are just fucking stupid. To think two of those politicians have been in parliament since 1984 outside three years and still acting fucking stupid is beyond me.
Even if gc’s comments are true and to the point, the Crosby Textor PR machine would make it impossible for LAB to explain its position.
It would be 5 continuous months of “Goff still refuses to rule out that extremist, racist, Maori separatist Harawira, you can’t trust Harawira and so you can’t trust Goff” and variations thereof.
A case of once bitten, twice shy, I think. Labour have realised now that they can’t have complex reasons for doing anything, it has to be simple and straight forward or it’ll just be lost.
The Hollow Men’s anti MMP campaign has now been launched and amongst supporters is westie Bob Harvey.
What was he thinking? It just goes to show that age does not necessarily improve people.
The campaign is already borrowing ideas that were used in the recent UK referendum of their representation system. Denigrate politicians, make people despise them and try and steer them into supporting the least representative system.
Bob Harvey has chosen to add his public personality to an anti MMP campaign and has invited questions on his reasons for doing so. Questioning his ability to think clearly is appropriate. I am suggesting that he could think more clearly in his younger more democratic days.
Very happy to argue the merits. But the spin that VFC will run will be along the lines of “politician bad, must hurt them”. I do not expect them to engage in a reasoned debate.
Questioning his ability to think clearly is appropriate. I am suggesting that he could think more clearly in his younger more democratic days.
Harvey has never been a penetrating or serious thinker. He was an advertising man, which is always a troubling indicator. He’s written a few books and articles, and can write well, but nothing I’ve seen by him shows that he is either profound or thoughtful.
Rob Salmond has an article over at Pundit analysing the rules of Vote for Change.
Well, Vote for Change has a Committee that is in charge of absolutely everything between Annual Meetings (more on those shortly). The people on the committee are: (1) Peter Shirtcliffe; (2) Jordan Williams; and (3) nobody else.
The next Annual Meeting will be held in… wait for it… May 2012. Which is maybe just a little late for any meaningful discussion about the upcoming 2011 referendum.
In the mean time, Shirtcliffe’s two-person committee can boot out as many members as it does not like, without giving any reason.
Yeah, about what you’d expect from a couple of dictator wannabes.
Interesting M/S /I have noticed that Bob Harvey has been acting a bit strange lately .Some of the public statements he has made recently leave me wondering if he is having “old age “trouble .I hope Im wrong because Bob has been an interesting man for a long while . He was a very good friend of Norman Kirk . Perhaps he needs some friendly advice from a close friend.
There are no votes for Labour here, unless they are prepared to pander to them in terms of policy. They do not trust Labour, and Labour should welcome their hatred.
I’m not going to claim that I was ever likely to be voting for Labour in this election, but if Phill doesn’t use his time on this stage to fight against what these pricks stand for, then could someone tell me why any progressive should consider voting for them?
I’ll gladly take my hat off to him if he’s going there to confront them and fight the progressive corner Tigger. Seen any evidence of that from Goff lately?
He runs an organisation which delivers programmes that are ineefective and unsustainable, using a range of methods which have been proven, by thorough research, to be flawed.
In doing so he targets some of the most vulnerable groups in society and dips into their already near empty pockets to charge for the priviledge.
They are pricks because they preach a model of ‘family’ which is based in the Victorian era; once upon a time families could be relied upon to support one another, but in the global society you cannot rely on this; I have a mother in Spain, a brother in Belgium, a Sister in the UK, my only uncle is in Scotland – many other families are equally split up.
Yes kids need role modeling good behaviour, but they also need food, a quality early childhood education sector and good public health.
Unimpressive beginning by anti-MMP group Vote For Change
8.10 a.m. National Radio, Tuesday 28 June, 2011
Unimpressive performance on National Radio this morning by Vote For Change spokesman Jordan Williams. After spending most of his talk on a wandery rant against coalition government, his opponent, a pro-MMP woman, pointed out that there is a coalition in power in Great Britain right now—under a first-past-the-post system.
This was the first opportunity for Mr Williams to engage in debate. Listen to how he responded: “Awww, I don’t want to talk about politics. This is not about politics.”
That was a golden opportunity to argue his case. Instead, he chose to cut and run. I don’t think it’s because he is stupid; I’ll bet this refusal to engage in meaningful and detailed debate will be a strategy these people will use throughout their no doubt highly funded campaign.
Could there be any clearer illustration of this group’s contempt for democracy?
A comment emailed into National Radio re anti-MMP was very telling.
“When considering the issue just look at the people who are anti-MMP.” (paraphrased.)
Yes, I almost stole that line for my post! Just look who they are—Michael Bassett, who has regularly broadcast his hatred for democracy, Peter Shirtcliffe, and perhaps most contemptible of all of them, that vacuous surfer/machine politician Bob Harvey.
Prince William and his wife Catherine Middleton will definitely not be in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup, a spokeswoman for the prince has confirmed.
P’raps William is astute enough to realise that celebrity Key would be using the royal couple for political gain, again.
Still using our Beamers he can use a variety of dignitaries coming for the RWC for his photo ops.
“He could have come in a private capacity, that was the advice I had. I personally invited him so I don’t think that would have been a major issue,” he said.
Ok, we know that EMA does not stand for Endometriosis and Menses Association but the boys on the board are still very slow off the block to dump Al Tampon.
Israel drops warning to foreign journalists on Gaza flotilla
By JOEL GREENBERG, Tuesday, June 28, 6:36 AM
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday rescinded a warning by the Israeli Government Press Office that foreign journalists who board a flotilla challenging Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza could be barred from the country for a decade.
The threat, in a letter sent Sunday to accredited foreign correspondents in Israel from Oren Helman, the director of the press office, strained relations with international media and drew criticism in Israel, including from one of Netanyahu’s deputies.
Helman wrote that participation in the flotilla, even by journalists, violated Israeli law and was “liable to lead to participants being denied entry into the State of Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions.”
The Foreign Press Association in Israel said the letter sent a “chilling message” to international media and raised “serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press.”
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that after the matter had been brought to his attention, he had directed that “the regular policy against infiltrators and those who enter Israel illegally not be implemented,” and that “a special procedure” be drawn up for journalists covering the flotilla who might arrive in Israel in violation of its entry laws.
The Israeli military has warned that it will stop the flotilla, expected to consist of about 10 ships carrying activists from several countries, and if necessary seize and divert the vessels to Israel’s port of Ashdod. The ships are expected to converge at sea later this week and attempt to sail to Gaza.
Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Israel Radio that both he and Netanyahu had been “surprised” by Helman’s move, which he called “problematic.”
The statement from Netanyahu’s office said it had been agreed that Israeli and foreign reporters would be embedded with Israeli naval vessels “to create transparency and credible coverage of the events.”
An Israeli naval commando raid on a Turkish ship in a similar flotilla 13 months ago met resistance from activists on board, and nine were killed. The incident drew international condemnation and led Israel to ease its land blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Actually, knowing the way Mossad works, foreign journalists on the flotilla will be lucky not to be lured into a honey-trap, kidnapped, blindfolded and illegally transported back to Israel, before being sentenced to 20 years hard labour and solitary confinement by a secretly-convened Israeli Military Court.
…foreign journalists on the flotilla will be lucky not to be lured into a honey-trap
There’s a degree of rabid rabbinical support for honeytraps. As in Soviet Russia, any action, no matter how depraved, is acceptable if it’s committed in the service of the Holy State.
As you read this article and watch the accompanying video, you need to bear in mind that “terrorist” is a technical term for anybody that dares to criticise or even report on Israel…
will be lucky not to be lured into a honey-trap, kidnapped, blindfolded and illegally transported back to Israel, before being sentenced to 20 years hard labour and solitary confinement by a secretly-convened Israeli Military Court
And now NO Wils and Kate to enhance his re election chances either, he must be crying that no one is taken in by his vacuous presence. All smile n wave, No substance.
On the 26th June, yet another incident happened at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant. It appears from the video below that Unit 3 and 4 released a large amount of smoke or steam into the atmosphere.
I was meaning to put this on an asset sales post but there haven’t been any for awhile, so here goes…
So far I haven’t seen much comment on the obviously (to me) detrimental effects that selling $5bn worth of assets will have on NZ capital markets. Surely this is going to suck up a huge amount of capital that will no longer be available to other businesses? How is any business going to attract investors when there is are nice juicy and safe SOEs out there for people to sink their cash into?
How is any business going to attract investors when there is are nice juicy and safe SOEs out there for people to sink their cash into?
They won’t but the whole point of putting such essential services onto the “market” is so that the “investors” have a nice safe place to put their money and get a high return on it without actually doing anything.
Then there’s the transfers of foreign currency and forex hedges for such large transactions. Where is John Key when you need him to explain this stuff.
The reality is that there always has been a lack of equity capital available to SMEs. Most investment is located in the property market. A capital gains tax would have addressed this imbalance – levelling the playing field between investment in business or investment in property.
But definitely SOEs coming onto the NZ market will be attractive to ‘mum and dad’ investors now highly risk adverse because of recent business failures. Within a capitalist system you have to compete by offering a better investment opportunity – while wearing something tight and slinky.
It’s a Wishart book. Unless he’s got some rock solid shit he’s now gonna be “that guy who wrote that book defending the Kahui mother” to 90% of kiwis.
From what I have heard,he believes he has. Time will tell. However I am “Disgusted of Pt Chev” that some idiot has already set up a Facebook group to campaign against the book, simply because they hate her.
IAN STEWARD AND JONATHAN MARSHALL
Last updated 12:50 28/06/2011
The Kahui twins.
A Facebook group has been set up urging people not to buy a book written in collaboration with the mother of the Kahui twins.
As the inquest into the deaths of three-month-olds Chris and Cru Kahui inches forward at the Auckland District Court, a Facebook site called “Boycott the Macsyna King Book” has been set up in response to the news that the twins’ mother, Macsyna King, is about to release a “tell-all book”, written by journalist Ian Wishart.
Chris Kahui Snr was charged and later acquitted of the boys’ murder in 2008 and King’s involvement has been questioned, including by Kahui’s defence team at the trial.
“Somebody like this should not be allowed to profit from preaching her perverted view of the horrific events which led to the deaths of the only two children who hadn’t already been taken from her by CYF’s,” the Facebook site says.
It is not known who set up the site.
Author and publisher Ian Wishart this afternoon compared the book, due to hit bookshelves at the end of July, to the 1994 Once Were Warriors movie.
Wishart said King will not receive any money for the book, which he expects will sell in the thousands.
Wishart said the book, being published by his Howling at the Moon company, will contain new leads.
“There will be new revelations, it is a powerful book. Everybody who has read it has wept virtually on every page. It puts the whole life and death of the twins in the context,” Wishart said.
The book was raw, he said. “Once Were Warriors was a great book, but this is Once Were Warriors real.”
Wishart said he did not believe King was responsible for the death of her sons.
“I went into this with an open mind… I’ve come away feeling Macsyna has had a hard run, through a lot of fault of her own.
“Certainly she was not the killer of the twins.”
Wishart said it was “hard to say” whether the book would cause police to re-open their case.
“I’ve asked questions that nobody thought to ask Macsyna before so there are new answers.”
He expected some booksellers would refuse to stock the title.
_________________________________________________________________________
If you don’t want to read, and/or boycott Ian Wishart’s book – that’s YOUR choice.
However – please do NOT attempt to interfere with others LAWFUL right to ‘freedom of expression’ – to read and think about this matter for ourselves, and form our own opinions.
Surely – if Ian Wishart’s book results in the Police reopening the case and getting a conviction – that would be a GREAT outcome?
Where are all the ACT and Liberterian supporters on this issue?
Time to ‘walk the talk’ in support of ‘freedom of expression’?
Come on!
WHERE ARE YOU?
(Or are you going to just leave this to the ‘Public Watchdogs’?)
Personally I think that whole boycott thing is an excuse by people who see themselves is ‘decent middle New Zealanders” to beat up on a brown single mother on welfare.
Which is what I belive the whole Kahui saga has become. Just another lynch mob whipped up against uemployed brown people. Which could be why the jury was so quick to acquit the father.
No it’s more like a conspiricy of silence by the whole extended Kahui family. And when the cops murder charge against the father fell over, they were I am sorry to say, their usual clueless selves ( No cars involved). Now if they arrested and charged every one in the silence conspiracy and charged them as accomplices to the murder, then I bet you would have had someone break the silence. But as usual the police are bloody useless as well, too wrapped up in traffic revenue gathering to go and catch real criminals.
Who is trying to interfere with his freedom of speech? IW runs a magazine and a website. he can publish whatever he wants. If he has information, he can also hand it over to the police.
If Ian Wishart’s book helps the police to reopen the Kahui case and results in a conviction for the deaths of the Kahui baby boys – how would this not be a positive outcome?
I am REALLY keen to read what Ian Wishart has to say, and take the strongest exception to any attempt to deny me my lawful right to ‘freedom of expression’, by preventing the distribution of this book.
For those who support ‘freedom of expression’ – here is your opportunity to step up to the plate, and make a stand on principle:
I’m afraid that any research ability from Wishart appears to have completely dissipated over recent decades. Based on his recent books, he has dropped the practice as getting in the way of a good (ie saleable) story.
If Ian Wishart’s book helps the police to reopen the Kahui case and results in a conviction for the deaths of the Kahui baby boys – how would this not be a positive outcome?
It’d be grand. But did you read my comment?
I’ll gladly apologise if anything good comes out of this. But I’m pretty bloody confident I won’t be needing to.
And no one is stepping on your freedom of expression, or his. He is free to sell his book from his website, just like any other crank.
What is disgusting is the lazy journalism. The two shops haven’t banned the books. They can’t, because the aren’t the censor’s office. They are declining to stock this travesty of an apologia and good on them for having the courage to take a moral stance.
I just wish BP or TEPCO put the public good first in their business decisions, too.
Wishart is a two faced religious nut. Everything he does and says is what God has told him,thats according to him. He’s also a Right-Wing fanatic who seems to hate anyone Left of Franco. The guy gives me the creeps .As for this book he has written ,just who would want to read anything by him let alone a horrific essay about one of the most disgracefull black sad incidents in recent NZ. Personally I think everyone who is involved in that horror story should ((?) be incarcerated until somebody speaks out.As for Wishart he’s like Sensible Sentencing boss McCorsky (?) .They choose who to defend and who to attack and who not too. .
Im sorry Penny I realise you are a good democratic person and I usually agree mostly with what you say but im afraid this dreadfull murder leaves me cold and angry.
BIG (bullying) TOBACCO are desperately fighting to help stop the NZ Government from looking after the health of NZ citizens whose health is affected by their product…………….
“NZPA | Tuesday June 28, 2011
Tobacco giant suing Australian govt ‘a warning’ for NZ
Tobacco giant Philip Morris suing the Australian government for introducing plain packaging laws for tobacco should send shockwaves through this country as it seeks a free trade deal involving the US, says an academic critic of the deal.”
________________________________________________________________________________
WHY?
Because of the recommendations arising from the Final Government Response’ to the Maori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry Report:
That the tobacco industry be required to provide tobacco products exclusively in plain packaging, harmonising with the proposed requirement in Australia from 2012.
Response
The Government is monitoring Australia’s progress on its proposal to legislate for plain packaging of tobacco products in 2012, and will consider the possibility on NZ aligning with Australia. ”
________________________________________________________________________________
Whatever you think about Hone Harawira – he deserves full credit for the leading role he has played in helping to achieve significant movement in this fight against ‘BIG TOBACCO’.
He has proven to have been extremely effective on this issue, which has such significant health impacts on Maori, through helping to achieve the Maori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry into the Tobacco Industry.
“Our very own Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira also stepped up the campaign by initiating a inquiry into Māori related tobacco death by Parliament’s Māori Affairs Select Committee.
We are making significant progress and the momentum must be continued.
The past 12 months have been the most rapid in the history of making policy around tobacco control.
Just over a year ago, the select committee announced it would carry out an inquiry into the tobacco industry and in particular the consequences of tobacco use for Māori.
In March, our co-leader, and Associate Minister of Health, Tariana Turia initiated a public consultation on a proposal to ban tobacco displays in retail outlets. In April results from the 2009 tobacco use survey showed that the current smoking rates for 15-64 year olds had dropped to 21.8%.
In real numbers that’s about 60,000 fewer smokers, in real numbers that is estimated to be more than 10,000 Māori. These are fantastic results which demonstrate that people are starting to recognise the serious harms that come from smoking and saying that it’s just not worth it.
Of course the most critical fact that motivates all of us to be here today is that 45% of Māori aged 15 to 64 years are smokers.
One in two long term smokers will die of smoking related diseases. Those, about 5000 every year, who die lose on average 15 years of life.
None of these statements are new but we offer no apologies in repeating them.
We are still losing generations of our people, dying in middle age.
Even more tragic is the fact that almost half the sudden unexplained deaths of Māori infants are attributed to smoking.
The biggest issue of all, bigger even than the fact that people are smoking, is the root causes for why people smoke.”
Given John Key’s track record of negotiating with the overseas powerful white boys, things may look good for his cronies and himself, but not for New Zealand.
Perhaps John Key can roll out the red carpet for Philip Morris to visit, providing about $6000 of VIP limousine transport, including the short ride between the Auckland international/domestic terminals?
I have just read this story on Stuff http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5202195/Mother-accused-of-50-000-DPB-fraud
about a woman accused of fraud because she was ‘in a relationship in the nature of marriage’ whilst receiving the DPB’. When I worked for Social Welfare in the 80s, we had a questionnaire designed to ascertain whether or not a couple was ‘in a relationship in the nature of marriage’ and we laughed ourselves sick when we saw it. One question that sticks in my mind was “Does she wash his socks and underwear?”
This line seriously freaks me out: “The jury should also put their personal views on beneficiaries to one side for the duration of the trial, he said.”
What views are the jury expected to have? If a lawyer substituted any other word, “Maori, women, Muslims, Christians, atheists, homeopaths, or fishermen” for instance, what would that say about our system? This was said by the defence lawyer, and shows that he expects to come up against a mountain of prejudice.
Gaza activists say ship sabotaged in Greece
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:18:00 AM CEST
STOCKHOLM (AP) — One of the 10 ships in the Gaza-bound flotilla has been sabotaged but will be repaired in time for the planned voyage to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian territory, activists said Tuesday.
The propeller shaft of the Juliano, a ship shared by Swedish, Norwegian and Greek activists, was cut off while the vessel was docked in the Greek port of Piraeus, according to the Scandinavian organizers.
“Based on a first on-site inspection the damage can be repaired before the planned departure toward the end of this week,” said a statement by the Swedish activists, who blamed “hostile divers” for the damage.
In a separate statement, Norwegian delegation leader Torstein Dahle said the incident shows “someone is willing to go to great lengths to stop the flotilla from sailing.”
The ship is part of a ten-ship flotilla due to set sail shortly in a bid to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Israel has warned it will thwart any attempt to breach the sea blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told reporters Monday that, according to intelligence reports, extremists in the flotilla have supplies of what she called “dangerous incendiary chemicals” to use against Israeli forces.
Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, dismissed those claims, saying the hundreds of people who plan to join the flotilla have signed a declaration of nonviolence.
Feiler told Army Radio on Tuesday that if Israel has information about specific suspects, it should pass it along to flotilla’s organizers.
I never quite get or understand the need someone has earning $650,000 (or even the smaller amount of $300,000) to manipulate things to pay less tax – particularly when much of their income is likely to have come from the taxpayer anyway whether through working in public hospitals, or via subsidised operations in the private system.
I mean they are earning more than 10 other people for goodness sake.
I know I’m not driven by money and that’s partly why I don’t get it but if these people just paid their friggin’ tax we wouldn’t be in half the shit we are in.
It becomes a game and they show off at dinner parties and over cocktails how daring and brave their personal tax accountants are.
In fact it becomes quite a conversation piece, and instead of all these smart people and their accountants using their time and highly trained effort to do other good things in life, they spend more and more of it on dreaming up clever schemes to avoid more and more tax.
In fact it becomes quite a conversation piece, and instead of all these smart people and their accountants using their time and highly trained effort to do other good things in life, they spend more and more of it on dreaming up clever schemes to avoid more and more tax.
And that is why however low the tax rates go they’ll still manage their affairs to not pay. It’s not the tax – it’s the game. (And yeah, I’ve heard them at dinner parties)
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Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
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Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
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Labour leader Phil Goff told Native Affairs last night he cannot work with Hone, or anybody else Mana might get elected into Parliament, because they are too extreme.
Surely this cannot be the the same Phil Goff who sat on a far right cabinet that sold off significant state assets in a fire sale to the rich. The same cabinet threw thousands of people onto the dole and completely destroyed some communities. Many of the original victims of these extreme policies never worked again, and their children have grown surronded by a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness.
The Clark government continued to ignore these people, although economic boom times, based on the great private borrowing binge, meant some of them got precarious minimum wage jobs subsidised by Working For Families for a while. Now they are back on the scrap heap.
The people who voted for Mana were discarded by Labour a long time ago and it is an insult to their intelligence and life experience to expect them to believe Labour gives a stuff about them.
Labour is going to have to come to terms with the incompatibility of its neoliberal economic beliefs with the interests of working class New Zealanders, and its serial failure to defend the interests of those it pretends to represent, if it is survive in the long term.
Most importantly of all, it must shed itself of the idea that it possible to keep chasing the ‘centre’ indefinitely. Each time they do this they create a new ‘centre ‘ which is even further to the right.
Actually anyone who votes for Mana will demonstrate that their intelligence is worthy of insulting if the believe that Hone gives a crap about any more than their vote.
Goff is doing the right thing, the best way to scare off the centre would be to cuddle up to Hone prior to the election.
What we have is radical. What we have is ‘afford it or buy it’ or suffer.
And who defends this state of affairs? All our msm and the main parliamentary parties. Just because the idea that the market should dictate our social interactions and our access to basic needs is ‘orthodox’ doesn’t mean that it’s right or desirable or intelligent.
So, I get kind of sick of hearing that the people who offer a challenge to the status quo are radical. They aren’t. They are challenging current radicalism.
+1
Reality has a “radical” left bias, ergo, the “centre” is too far to the right for building a strong and healthy society.
Goff has to talk tough so as not to scare off middle NZ from voting Labour, and indeed to try and grab some of those trending leftwards for either voting Labour or Greens instead of Mana. Like the Maori Party, the left-wing of the house would be best served if Mana got a large overhang, so them getting multiple electorate seats and a low list vote is the best outcome for Labour, whether they end up in a formal or informal coalition or not.
Ultimately if the numbers present it as a credible way to form a government, Labour will do it.
You don’t talk tough by saying we won’t work with Mana. You might get away with that if Labour was consistently polling above 33% and they and the Greens were clearly in a position on all polls to govern. Then you would talk tough. But when you’re not polling consistently above 33% and the Greens whose polling has never been reliable and where your in a position that right now you can’t form a government.
You don’t go talking about who you won’t work with. Goff can still appear tough without scaring centrist voters. You just say what policy you’ll implement in government and what you won’t. If you ignore The Foreshore and seabed issue. Mana and labour would quite happily be able to commit to a $15 minimum wage, no tax on the first $5000, GST off fruit and vegetables. I can see agreement with changing the Reserve bank act and agreement to change employment law.
Labour, Goff and Mallard in particular along with Shane Jones are just fucking stupid. To think two of those politicians have been in parliament since 1984 outside three years and still acting fucking stupid is beyond me.
+1
There’s no doubt about it really. To form a government Labour will be working with Mana and so it’s both stupid and childish to be ruling them out.
Even if gc’s comments are true and to the point, the Crosby Textor PR machine would make it impossible for LAB to explain its position.
It would be 5 continuous months of “Goff still refuses to rule out that extremist, racist, Maori separatist Harawira, you can’t trust Harawira and so you can’t trust Goff” and variations thereof.
A case of once bitten, twice shy, I think. Labour have realised now that they can’t have complex reasons for doing anything, it has to be simple and straight forward or it’ll just be lost.
The Hollow Men’s anti MMP campaign has now been launched and amongst supporters is westie Bob Harvey.
What was he thinking? It just goes to show that age does not necessarily improve people.
The campaign is already borrowing ideas that were used in the recent UK referendum of their representation system. Denigrate politicians, make people despise them and try and steer them into supporting the least representative system.
The forthcoming referendum will be interesting.
Micky yesterday
“TB
You are boring. You always seem to argue matters by attacking the person. No wonder why so many people use anonymous handles.
Care to argue the merits some time?”
Mickey today
“What was he thinking? It just goes to show that age does not necessarily improve people.”
No contradiction HS.
Bob Harvey has chosen to add his public personality to an anti MMP campaign and has invited questions on his reasons for doing so. Questioning his ability to think clearly is appropriate. I am suggesting that he could think more clearly in his younger more democratic days.
Very happy to argue the merits. But the spin that VFC will run will be along the lines of “politician bad, must hurt them”. I do not expect them to engage in a reasoned debate.
Questioning his ability to think clearly is appropriate. I am suggesting that he could think more clearly in his younger more democratic days.
Harvey has never been a penetrating or serious thinker. He was an advertising man, which is always a troubling indicator. He’s written a few books and articles, and can write well, but nothing I’ve seen by him shows that he is either profound or thoughtful.
Rob Salmond has an article over at Pundit analysing the rules of Vote for Change.
Yeah, about what you’d expect from a couple of dictator wannabes.
Interesting M/S /I have noticed that Bob Harvey has been acting a bit strange lately .Some of the public statements he has made recently leave me wondering if he is having “old age “trouble .I hope Im wrong because Bob has been an interesting man for a long while . He was a very good friend of Norman Kirk . Perhaps he needs some friendly advice from a close friend.
Lovely people Phill Goff is happy to stand on a stage with.
http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/forum
There are no votes for Labour here, unless they are prepared to pander to them in terms of policy. They do not trust Labour, and Labour should welcome their hatred.
I’m not going to claim that I was ever likely to be voting for Labour in this election, but if Phill doesn’t use his time on this stage to fight against what these pricks stand for, then could someone tell me why any progressive should consider voting for them?
Please explain how Ian grant is “a prick “
Why should Goff not attend? I’m gay and I’d go speak here.
I’ll gladly take my hat off to him if he’s going there to confront them and fight the progressive corner Tigger. Seen any evidence of that from Goff lately?
He runs an organisation which delivers programmes that are ineefective and unsustainable, using a range of methods which have been proven, by thorough research, to be flawed.
In doing so he targets some of the most vulnerable groups in society and dips into their already near empty pockets to charge for the priviledge.
They are pricks because they preach a model of ‘family’ which is based in the Victorian era; once upon a time families could be relied upon to support one another, but in the global society you cannot rely on this; I have a mother in Spain, a brother in Belgium, a Sister in the UK, my only uncle is in Scotland – many other families are equally split up.
Yes kids need role modeling good behaviour, but they also need food, a quality early childhood education sector and good public health.
And that role modelling doesn’t have to come from the parents. Maybe it’d be better if it did but it certainly doesn’t have to.
Unimpressive beginning by anti-MMP group Vote For Change
8.10 a.m. National Radio, Tuesday 28 June, 2011
Unimpressive performance on National Radio this morning by Vote For Change spokesman Jordan Williams. After spending most of his talk on a wandery rant against coalition government, his opponent, a pro-MMP woman, pointed out that there is a coalition in power in Great Britain right now—under a first-past-the-post system.
This was the first opportunity for Mr Williams to engage in debate. Listen to how he responded: “Awww, I don’t want to talk about politics. This is not about politics.”
That was a golden opportunity to argue his case. Instead, he chose to cut and run. I don’t think it’s because he is stupid; I’ll bet this refusal to engage in meaningful and detailed debate will be a strategy these people will use throughout their no doubt highly funded campaign.
Could there be any clearer illustration of this group’s contempt for democracy?
A comment emailed into National Radio re anti-MMP was very telling.
“When considering the issue just look at the people who are anti-MMP.” (paraphrased.)
Yes, I almost stole that line for my post! Just look who they are—Michael Bassett, who has regularly broadcast his hatred for democracy, Peter Shirtcliffe, and perhaps most contemptible of all of them, that vacuous surfer/machine politician Bob Harvey.
The outcome I think everyone was expecting:
Prince William and his wife Catherine Middleton will definitely not be in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup, a spokeswoman for the prince has confirmed.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/5200003/Wills-Kate-won-t-visit-NZ-spokeswoman
Why the hell did Key persist in saying they would come? Now he looks out of touch and desperate. Actually, I think that is the answer.
Ah, you got there first. Cheers.
P’raps William is astute enough to realise that celebrity Key would be using the royal couple for political gain, again.
Still using our Beamers he can use a variety of dignitaries coming for the RWC for his photo ops.
John Key’s an idiot!
Is he an idiot or does he think we are idiots?
“He could have come in a private capacity, that was the advice I had. I personally invited him so I don’t think that would have been a major issue,” he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10735042
What “private capacity” can a future sovereign have? Huh? Maybe he thinks he can privatise The Windsors and sell them?
Who provided “advice”?
And what is this about a personal invitation? How can any invitation in the context be a personal invitation??
“And what is this about a personal invitation? How can any invitation in the context be a personal invitation??”
Pfft, John’s just a good bloke what met Wills down the pub on Friday arvo, obviously.
Wills & Kate not visiting on this side of the elections – this is official.
I feel this should be noted as I have gone on record about the young Royals and respect for protocol.
Regardless of their reason for not visiting before 26 Nov, they are doing the right thing even when our PM wasn’t intending to.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge deserve to be commended.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/5200003/Wills-Kate-won-t-visit-NZ-spokeswoman
Can’t use Royal touch for own election chances …
but piggybacked on Fleming’s magic in India:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5199988/Indians-flock-to-Fleming-during-Key-visit
Must remember to bring along Tamponson, newly crowned mascot for gender pay equity, when negotiating free trade with Turkey, Slovenia and Romania:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10734918
Menses Crisis:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10734983
Ok, we know that EMA does not stand for Endometriosis and Menses Association but the boys on the board are still very slow off the block to dump Al Tampon.
Hope the wait won’t take another month.
Alisdire Thompson and the EMA have now hit the global news services. Great for a country which led the world with Womens Suffrage eh.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10734918
Very disappointing so far. Al Tampon in good company with what is looking like a board of dithering dinosaurs agonising over what to do??
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5199265/No-decision-made-over-EMAs-Thompson
Do you notice that the speech patterns and kind of responses are very like Gerry’s “I don’t know” type ?
Israel drops warning to foreign journalists on Gaza flotilla
By JOEL GREENBERG, Tuesday, June 28, 6:36 AM
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday rescinded a warning by the Israeli Government Press Office that foreign journalists who board a flotilla challenging Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza could be barred from the country for a decade.
The threat, in a letter sent Sunday to accredited foreign correspondents in Israel from Oren Helman, the director of the press office, strained relations with international media and drew criticism in Israel, including from one of Netanyahu’s deputies.
Helman wrote that participation in the flotilla, even by journalists, violated Israeli law and was “liable to lead to participants being denied entry into the State of Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions.”
The Foreign Press Association in Israel said the letter sent a “chilling message” to international media and raised “serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press.”
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that after the matter had been brought to his attention, he had directed that “the regular policy against infiltrators and those who enter Israel illegally not be implemented,” and that “a special procedure” be drawn up for journalists covering the flotilla who might arrive in Israel in violation of its entry laws.
The Israeli military has warned that it will stop the flotilla, expected to consist of about 10 ships carrying activists from several countries, and if necessary seize and divert the vessels to Israel’s port of Ashdod. The ships are expected to converge at sea later this week and attempt to sail to Gaza.
Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Israel Radio that both he and Netanyahu had been “surprised” by Helman’s move, which he called “problematic.”
The statement from Netanyahu’s office said it had been agreed that Israeli and foreign reporters would be embedded with Israeli naval vessels “to create transparency and credible coverage of the events.”
An Israeli naval commando raid on a Turkish ship in a similar flotilla 13 months ago met resistance from activists on board, and nine were killed. The incident drew international condemnation and led Israel to ease its land blockade of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-drops-warning-to-foreign-journalists-on-gaza-flotilla/2011/06/27/AGGp2mnH_story.html
Actually, knowing the way Mossad works, foreign journalists on the flotilla will be lucky not to be lured into a honey-trap, kidnapped, blindfolded and illegally transported back to Israel, before being sentenced to 20 years hard labour and solitary confinement by a secretly-convened Israeli Military Court.
Nothin’ if not efficient those guys 🙂
Do you reckon it’s worth the honey trap? 🙂
…foreign journalists on the flotilla will be lucky not to be lured into a honey-trap
There’s a degree of rabid rabbinical support for honeytraps. As in Soviet Russia, any action, no matter how depraved, is acceptable if it’s committed in the service of the Holy State.
As you read this article and watch the accompanying video, you need to bear in mind that “terrorist” is a technical term for anybody that dares to criticise or even report on Israel…
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/israeli-rabbi-blesses-honeytrap-sex-female-spies/story?id=11834845
As happened to Mordechai Vanunu in the 1980s… 🙁
What a hoot! How Key the Celebrity must be fuming. From Stuff:
“What was billed as a state visit to India by Prime Minister John Key is fast becoming the Stephen Fleming show.
The former Black Caps captain nigh-on over-shadowed Key in New Delhi yesterday. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5199988/Indians-flock-to-Fleming-during-Key-visit
You know times have changed when eloquent diplomacy degrades into visual entertainment with John Key reducing the statesman to showman.
His political handlers, knowing the man can neither speak clearly nor intelligently, has designed events to suit eyes, and not ears or minds.
And now NO Wils and Kate to enhance his re election chances either, he must be crying that no one is taken in by his vacuous presence. All smile n wave, No substance.
Three things
1) We need this level of civil unrest to change this country http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/27/public-sector-strikes-pensions-teachers-thursday
2) We could all be dead on Tuesday morning next week! http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/27/asteroid-poses-no-threat-earth
3) And if you want a smile….http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/27/pass-notes-wimbledogs
More Bad News From Fukushima
On the 26th June, yet another incident happened at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant. It appears from the video below that Unit 3 and 4 released a large amount of smoke or steam into the atmosphere.
I was meaning to put this on an asset sales post but there haven’t been any for awhile, so here goes…
So far I haven’t seen much comment on the obviously (to me) detrimental effects that selling $5bn worth of assets will have on NZ capital markets. Surely this is going to suck up a huge amount of capital that will no longer be available to other businesses? How is any business going to attract investors when there is are nice juicy and safe SOEs out there for people to sink their cash into?
They won’t but the whole point of putting such essential services onto the “market” is so that the “investors” have a nice safe place to put their money and get a high return on it without actually doing anything.
Yeah, but the middlemen are going to make a lot of money selling them back and forth.
Then there’s the transfers of foreign currency and forex hedges for such large transactions. Where is John Key when you need him to explain this stuff.
In India being made to look like a clueless dick by Stephen Fleming.
The reality is that there always has been a lack of equity capital available to SMEs. Most investment is located in the property market. A capital gains tax would have addressed this imbalance – levelling the playing field between investment in business or investment in property.
But definitely SOEs coming onto the NZ market will be attractive to ‘mum and dad’ investors now highly risk adverse because of recent business failures. Within a capitalist system you have to compete by offering a better investment opportunity – while wearing something tight and slinky.
Another Kiwi upsetting certain people
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/80908,people,news,twitter-blasts-zane-lowe-for-not-praising-beyonce
Here’s a farcebook page that’s racking up the comments:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-the-Macsyna-King-Book/140832719326817
Is that the Kahui mother? She can write let alone read?
It’s a Wishart book. Unless he’s got some rock solid shit he’s now gonna be “that guy who wrote that book defending the Kahui mother” to 90% of kiwis.
From what I have heard,he believes he has. Time will tell. However I am “Disgusted of Pt Chev” that some idiot has already set up a Facebook group to campaign against the book, simply because they hate her.
I would have thought that Wishart would be one of the ones up there calling for Ms King to be strung up.
Ian Wishart is the one some of them want to ‘string up’.
It’s a bloody disgrace this ‘witch hunt / book burning’ bullshit.
How do the ‘book boycotters’ even know what has been said in the book if they haven’t read it????
Duh?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-the-Macsyna-King-Book/140832719326817
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/5202308/Group-opposes-book-by-Kahui-twins-mother
Group opposes book by Kahui twins’ mother
IAN STEWARD AND JONATHAN MARSHALL
Last updated 12:50 28/06/2011
The Kahui twins.
A Facebook group has been set up urging people not to buy a book written in collaboration with the mother of the Kahui twins.
As the inquest into the deaths of three-month-olds Chris and Cru Kahui inches forward at the Auckland District Court, a Facebook site called “Boycott the Macsyna King Book” has been set up in response to the news that the twins’ mother, Macsyna King, is about to release a “tell-all book”, written by journalist Ian Wishart.
Chris Kahui Snr was charged and later acquitted of the boys’ murder in 2008 and King’s involvement has been questioned, including by Kahui’s defence team at the trial.
“Somebody like this should not be allowed to profit from preaching her perverted view of the horrific events which led to the deaths of the only two children who hadn’t already been taken from her by CYF’s,” the Facebook site says.
It is not known who set up the site.
Author and publisher Ian Wishart this afternoon compared the book, due to hit bookshelves at the end of July, to the 1994 Once Were Warriors movie.
Wishart said King will not receive any money for the book, which he expects will sell in the thousands.
Wishart said the book, being published by his Howling at the Moon company, will contain new leads.
“There will be new revelations, it is a powerful book. Everybody who has read it has wept virtually on every page. It puts the whole life and death of the twins in the context,” Wishart said.
The book was raw, he said. “Once Were Warriors was a great book, but this is Once Were Warriors real.”
Wishart said he did not believe King was responsible for the death of her sons.
“I went into this with an open mind… I’ve come away feeling Macsyna has had a hard run, through a lot of fault of her own.
“Certainly she was not the killer of the twins.”
Wishart said it was “hard to say” whether the book would cause police to re-open their case.
“I’ve asked questions that nobody thought to ask Macsyna before so there are new answers.”
He expected some booksellers would refuse to stock the title.
_________________________________________________________________________
If you don’t want to read, and/or boycott Ian Wishart’s book – that’s YOUR choice.
However – please do NOT attempt to interfere with others LAWFUL right to ‘freedom of expression’ – to read and think about this matter for ourselves, and form our own opinions.
Surely – if Ian Wishart’s book results in the Police reopening the case and getting a conviction – that would be a GREAT outcome?
Where are all the ACT and Liberterian supporters on this issue?
Time to ‘walk the talk’ in support of ‘freedom of expression’?
Come on!
WHERE ARE YOU?
(Or are you going to just leave this to the ‘Public Watchdogs’?)
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
Personally I think that whole boycott thing is an excuse by people who see themselves is ‘decent middle New Zealanders” to beat up on a brown single mother on welfare.
Which is what I belive the whole Kahui saga has become. Just another lynch mob whipped up against uemployed brown people. Which could be why the jury was so quick to acquit the father.
No it’s more like a conspiricy of silence by the whole extended Kahui family. And when the cops murder charge against the father fell over, they were I am sorry to say, their usual clueless selves ( No cars involved). Now if they arrested and charged every one in the silence conspiracy and charged them as accomplices to the murder, then I bet you would have had someone break the silence. But as usual the police are bloody useless as well, too wrapped up in traffic revenue gathering to go and catch real criminals.
Absolutely Deadly – they should have all faced a murder charge until one of them fessed up.
Who is trying to interfere with his freedom of speech? IW runs a magazine and a website. he can publish whatever he wants. If he has information, he can also hand it over to the police.
Profiteering from a tragedy like this is immoral; the family do not deserve any publicity whatsoever – they appall me.
If Ian Wishart’s book helps the police to reopen the Kahui case and results in a conviction for the deaths of the Kahui baby boys – how would this not be a positive outcome?
I am REALLY keen to read what Ian Wishart has to say, and take the strongest exception to any attempt to deny me my lawful right to ‘freedom of expression’, by preventing the distribution of this book.
For those who support ‘freedom of expression’ – here is your opportunity to step up to the plate, and make a stand on principle:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Break-the-Kahui-code-of-silence-support-the-new-book/184638478257810
Break the Kahui code of silence: support the new book – Breaking Silence by Ian Wishart is based on research and the first extensive interviews.
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
I’m afraid that any research ability from Wishart appears to have completely dissipated over recent decades. Based on his recent books, he has dropped the practice as getting in the way of a good (ie saleable) story.
I’m all for “freedom of expression” as long as it’s based in fact. Ian Wishart’s books tend not to be.
If Ian Wishart’s book helps the police to reopen the Kahui case and results in a conviction for the deaths of the Kahui baby boys – how would this not be a positive outcome?
It’d be grand. But did you read my comment?
I’ll gladly apologise if anything good comes out of this. But I’m pretty bloody confident I won’t be needing to.
And no one is stepping on your freedom of expression, or his. He is free to sell his book from his website, just like any other crank.
Agreed Penny. I just heard on 3News that Paper Plus and the Warehouse are “banning” the book. That’s disgusting.
There are whole sections of books in Unity bookshop that paper plus and the warehouse also refuse to stock. Disgusting.
Also, I just ‘liked’ the page so I could comment, and copped a shedload of abuse from these oh-so-nice people… 🙁
What is disgusting is the lazy journalism. The two shops haven’t banned the books. They can’t, because the aren’t the censor’s office. They are declining to stock this travesty of an apologia and good on them for having the courage to take a moral stance.
I just wish BP or TEPCO put the public good first in their business decisions, too.
Wishart is a two faced religious nut. Everything he does and says is what God has told him,thats according to him. He’s also a Right-Wing fanatic who seems to hate anyone Left of Franco. The guy gives me the creeps .As for this book he has written ,just who would want to read anything by him let alone a horrific essay about one of the most disgracefull black sad incidents in recent NZ. Personally I think everyone who is involved in that horror story should ((?) be incarcerated until somebody speaks out.As for Wishart he’s like Sensible Sentencing boss McCorsky (?) .They choose who to defend and who to attack and who not too. .
Im sorry Penny I realise you are a good democratic person and I usually agree mostly with what you say but im afraid this dreadfull murder leaves me cold and angry.
28 June 2011
BIG (bullying) TOBACCO are desperately fighting to help stop the NZ Government from looking after the health of NZ citizens whose health is affected by their product…………….
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/tobacco-giant-suing-australian-govt-warning-nz-ck-96034
“NZPA | Tuesday June 28, 2011
Tobacco giant suing Australian govt ‘a warning’ for NZ
Tobacco giant Philip Morris suing the Australian government for introducing plain packaging laws for tobacco should send shockwaves through this country as it seeks a free trade deal involving the US, says an academic critic of the deal.”
________________________________________________________________________________
WHY?
Because of the recommendations arising from the Final Government Response’ to the Maori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry Report:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Presented/Papers/8/6/0/49DBHOH_PAP21175_1-Government-Final-Response-to-Report-of-the-M-ori.htm
(See pg 7
“Plain packaging
Recommendation 7
That the tobacco industry be required to provide tobacco products exclusively in plain packaging, harmonising with the proposed requirement in Australia from 2012.
Response
The Government is monitoring Australia’s progress on its proposal to legislate for plain packaging of tobacco products in 2012, and will consider the possibility on NZ aligning with Australia. ”
________________________________________________________________________________
Whatever you think about Hone Harawira – he deserves full credit for the leading role he has played in helping to achieve significant movement in this fight against ‘BIG TOBACCO’.
He has proven to have been extremely effective on this issue, which has such significant health impacts on Maori, through helping to achieve the Maori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry into the Tobacco Industry.
http://www.maoriparty.org/index.php?pag=cms&id=173&p=toa—january-2011.html
“Our very own Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira also stepped up the campaign by initiating a inquiry into Māori related tobacco death by Parliament’s Māori Affairs Select Committee.
We are making significant progress and the momentum must be continued.
The past 12 months have been the most rapid in the history of making policy around tobacco control.
Just over a year ago, the select committee announced it would carry out an inquiry into the tobacco industry and in particular the consequences of tobacco use for Māori.
In March, our co-leader, and Associate Minister of Health, Tariana Turia initiated a public consultation on a proposal to ban tobacco displays in retail outlets. In April results from the 2009 tobacco use survey showed that the current smoking rates for 15-64 year olds had dropped to 21.8%.
In real numbers that’s about 60,000 fewer smokers, in real numbers that is estimated to be more than 10,000 Māori. These are fantastic results which demonstrate that people are starting to recognise the serious harms that come from smoking and saying that it’s just not worth it.
Of course the most critical fact that motivates all of us to be here today is that 45% of Māori aged 15 to 64 years are smokers.
One in two long term smokers will die of smoking related diseases. Those, about 5000 every year, who die lose on average 15 years of life.
None of these statements are new but we offer no apologies in repeating them.
We are still losing generations of our people, dying in middle age.
Even more tragic is the fact that almost half the sudden unexplained deaths of Māori infants are attributed to smoking.
The biggest issue of all, bigger even than the fact that people are smoking, is the root causes for why people smoke.”
________________________________________________________________________________
Shouldn’t the New Zealand Government – not tobacco multinational companies decide what’s best for the health of New Zealanders?
If ‘Free Trade’ agreements mean the loss of NZ Government sovereignty to decide such issues – why on earth would we want a bar of them?
Just WHO is benefiting?
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
Given John Key’s track record of negotiating with the overseas powerful white boys, things may look good for his cronies and himself, but not for New Zealand.
Perhaps John Key can roll out the red carpet for Philip Morris to visit, providing about $6000 of VIP limousine transport, including the short ride between the Auckland international/domestic terminals?
Hope that has not been done before.
And he will kiss arse and change laws so as not to annoy them.
Actually thats not a public scene, so all you will see is JohnKY licking his lips at the press conference.
I dont think it is right that corporations can have effective veto power over governments.
The interesting questions are
1) How did corporations achieve that level of power.
and
2) Who inside governments helped them in that process.
I have just read this story on Stuff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5202195/Mother-accused-of-50-000-DPB-fraud
about a woman accused of fraud because she was ‘in a relationship in the nature of marriage’ whilst receiving the DPB’. When I worked for Social Welfare in the 80s, we had a questionnaire designed to ascertain whether or not a couple was ‘in a relationship in the nature of marriage’ and we laughed ourselves sick when we saw it. One question that sticks in my mind was “Does she wash his socks and underwear?”
This line seriously freaks me out: “The jury should also put their personal views on beneficiaries to one side for the duration of the trial, he said.”
What views are the jury expected to have? If a lawyer substituted any other word, “Maori, women, Muslims, Christians, atheists, homeopaths, or fishermen” for instance, what would that say about our system? This was said by the defence lawyer, and shows that he expects to come up against a mountain of prejudice.
http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/522726-gaza-activists-ship-sabotaged-greece.html#.1272-stage-teaser1-2
Gaza activists say ship sabotaged in Greece
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:18:00 AM CEST
STOCKHOLM (AP) — One of the 10 ships in the Gaza-bound flotilla has been sabotaged but will be repaired in time for the planned voyage to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian territory, activists said Tuesday.
The propeller shaft of the Juliano, a ship shared by Swedish, Norwegian and Greek activists, was cut off while the vessel was docked in the Greek port of Piraeus, according to the Scandinavian organizers.
“Based on a first on-site inspection the damage can be repaired before the planned departure toward the end of this week,” said a statement by the Swedish activists, who blamed “hostile divers” for the damage.
In a separate statement, Norwegian delegation leader Torstein Dahle said the incident shows “someone is willing to go to great lengths to stop the flotilla from sailing.”
The ship is part of a ten-ship flotilla due to set sail shortly in a bid to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Israel has warned it will thwart any attempt to breach the sea blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told reporters Monday that, according to intelligence reports, extremists in the flotilla have supplies of what she called “dangerous incendiary chemicals” to use against Israeli forces.
Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, dismissed those claims, saying the hundreds of people who plan to join the flotilla have signed a declaration of nonviolence.
Feiler told Army Radio on Tuesday that if Israel has information about specific suspects, it should pass it along to flotilla’s organizers.
http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/522726-gaza-activists-ship-sabotaged-greece.html#.1272-stage-teaser1-2
I know this is oldish news but see it has popped up again.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5203397/Surgeons-tax-case-in-Supreme-Court
I never quite get or understand the need someone has earning $650,000 (or even the smaller amount of $300,000) to manipulate things to pay less tax – particularly when much of their income is likely to have come from the taxpayer anyway whether through working in public hospitals, or via subsidised operations in the private system.
I mean they are earning more than 10 other people for goodness sake.
I know I’m not driven by money and that’s partly why I don’t get it but if these people just paid their friggin’ tax we wouldn’t be in half the shit we are in.
It becomes a game and they show off at dinner parties and over cocktails how daring and brave their personal tax accountants are.
In fact it becomes quite a conversation piece, and instead of all these smart people and their accountants using their time and highly trained effort to do other good things in life, they spend more and more of it on dreaming up clever schemes to avoid more and more tax.
Speaking from personal experience?
And that is why however low the tax rates go they’ll still manage their affairs to not pay. It’s not the tax – it’s the game. (And yeah, I’ve heard them at dinner parties)