Can you believe this?
The government are doing this – despite a housing crisis.
Uncaring, greedy…….
Some tenants living in the hundreds of state and council homes north of Wellington that have been put on the market are worried about what the sale mean for their future.
The Government and Horowhenua District Council have unveiled a plan to sell 364 houses across Horowhenua and Kapiti, including 151 Housing New Zealand homes in Levin, 21 in Foxton, 70 in Otaki and seven in Shannon.
Almost all of the houses are occupied and their tenants are mostly elderly, single people or single parents.
this government and its ministers seem to have no concept of what it’s like to fear your home being taken off you, the stress of not knowing if you’re going to be forcibly evicted, the humiliation of being at the mercy of those who have the power to move you on, and break up families and communities
everything this government and its compliant district councils are doing – or not doing – in regards to housing is seeding a disaster for the future, not just for state tenants but also for the next generation of New Zealanders who won’t be able to afford to buy their own home
I find it particularly depressing to hear decent people so quickly buying-in to the meme pedalled by this government, that all these reports are a media beat-up
uncaring and greedy is too kind…
I’d add one or more of these: ‘incompetent, unaware of reality, in denial, living in their comfortable bubble, complacent, arrogant, dismissive….’
My God…..it’s like they’re being picked off…….’cos they’re poor and ain’t got their own house. Vultures are circling. In this OUR New Zealand. OUR New Zealand didn’t used to be like this. Some bastards gotta be brought to account !
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster) 2
Donald Trump has chosen Pence as his running mate – an extreme right wing religious nutter!
Hillary Clinton picked Kaine for VP – a pro-war, pro-Wall Street establishment neocon.
Bernie’s supporters walked out of the DNC en masse!
If Trump wins, expect to see the whole country lurch to the religious right, because I don’t believe Trump has the ability, understanding or the patience to govern. His task will be ‘to make America great again.’ Lol
If Clinton wins don’t expect any of Bernie’s platforms to be implemented. Clinton, with her best friend Bill advising her, will not move against those who own her. Errh!
It may be a wasted vote, but if I was an American, Jill Stein would get my nod. The lesser of two evils is still evil – but Jill stands for everything that needs to be changed in the USA.
[Because of the regular misuse of the word ‘establishment’ for the purposes of trolling and abuse, it has been added to the mod list. That means comments that use the word will be held in moderation until released. It might be appropriate for neo con to go in there too if it is also going to be used in ignorance and out of context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Kaine TRP]
And that stadandesters must conform to some new form of Politically Correct newspeak that is divined from up on high?
I would have thought neocon and neoliberal were in essence interchangeable after 40 odd years, especially when we have a liberal elite who have given up on a socialist programme.
Is it no longer true that the established hierarchy can and indeed has a name?
One thing about free speech, is you have to hear a whole lot of stuff you don’t like, and some of it may even offend you.
Are you serious? Moderating comments for misuse of a word…
“‘Words’, he said, ‘is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life. So you must simply try to be patient and stop squibbling. As I am telling you before, I know exactly what words I am wanting to say, but somehow or other they is always getting squiff-squiddled around.”
(Just thought I’d use that line for the first and only time. I find it sneering and belittling, kind of like ‘Zip it, sweety’. But it has its fans here at TS so I suppose it’s OK.)
No coup, Adam. There has been a tightening up on abusive language for a while now. One troll in particular has been regularly misusing neocon and other similar phrases to stifle debate. So, for the time being, some words will drop comments into moderation. They’ll quickly be released if the words are being used in context, or moderated appropriately, then released, if they are not.
Read the policy (top of the page) if you are confused about how the Standard is moderated.
Can you give a list of the new words you have deemed abusive, I know policy says words, but I’m at a loss at what they are.
Is the subtext of your message another move in your public fight with Colonial Viper?
That has become truly a tired affair for the rest of us. At this point I wish you two would either copulate, or get into a right proper ruckus – teeth and all. Rather than this snippy affair that has gone on for months from both sides.
I’d like to clarify things a bit as someone who has access to the backend as an author. From what I can see, this is a decision that TRP has made on his own. There hasn’t been any discussion in the moderators’ forum. So please don’t assume this is anything other than TRP’s action.
As an author and moderator, I think it’s a bad move, the words chosen, the reasons given for the decision, and the fact that it was done unilaterally but presented as being something that the people who run the place agreed on.
It is possible that TRP has talked to other authors offsite, including Lynn.
From my experience in the front end of the site, I would say that TRP brings lots of good things to TS, but he also does some daft shit and some down right damaging shit. I would put this in the latter category (daft and damaging).
I would guess that you are right adam, that this was triggered by something to do with CV (but I haven’t looked that closely). And yes it smacks of authoritarianism. The irony there is that TRP has his own history of frequently winding up people by using political words as pejoratives. So yet another example of crazy making.
Judging something to be trolling is often very subjective. But TS traditionally has managed that quite lightly and really only premoderated words like N*zi or Tr*ll, which are well known trolling/flamming words in the internets. Premoderating words like ‘est*blisment’ is ridiculous and makes TS a laughing stock in the political blogosphere.
Having said all that, there has been a tightening up on moderation this year, and that appears to be getting good results. But the things that have changed that have made the difference, IMO, are the moderations that are clear and concise around just stepping in quickly and shutting down flame wars. I don’t see TRP’s moderated words as contributing to that and will probably just make things worse as they add to the culture of bullying and misuse of power.
btw, you can probably circumvent the premoderation by adding in asterisks. eg est*blisment. Of course TRP can then go and add ‘est*blisment’ to the list, but it’s a long word with lots of permutations, so have a play around with it.
I’d also suggest for the braver amongst us that we start using the word est*blisment as much as possible (knowing there is a risk of backlash). Or even without the asterisk. People power and all that. Plus the action deserves all the ridicule it can get. Fight back I say, but do it in a fun way.
(I don’t have the same level of author permissions as TRP so I can’t see the full range of tools that he has access to. I also can’t for instance release comments from moderation unless they are in one of my own posts).
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster) 2.1.2.1.1.1
Wow! What a backlash about my (I thought) rather innocuous comments, which no-one has bothered to read – fixating on the bold at the end!
Perhaps I got the rebuke because, a day or so ago, I commented that I was with CV on the Trump/Clinton thing.
For what it’s worth, and being very careful not to use the proscribed words, I still think Trump will win – though God help us all if he does.
Both Trump and Clinton carry too much baggage (banned word?) into this campaign. Clinton’s is political, Trumps apolitical. But, again, for what it’s worth, I’d still vote for Jill Stein if I was an American.
I read what you said Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster). I liked what you said. It was the bold at the bottom, which flummoxed me.
What for the use of the word copulation and the the word ruckus? In my defense, both were and are the most humors terms I could find, rather than reach for gutter idioms.
Or at my overall discontent with an on going fight between two authors at the standard that creates an ongoing quandary for all who have to witness it?
I’d assumed it was a comment suggesting stronger moderation in relation to the idiotic, damaging and on-going spat between trp and CV. But then, it could be read in a number of ways. Maybe Ad will clarify.
Thanks, Ad. From the start, the site has tried to encourage open debate, while discouraging abuse. The levels of tolerance fluctuate and in the early years there was an almost anarchic approach (Robinsod is the exemplar for that, worth looking for his or her’s contributions for some cheap laughs when the search function comes back).
For me, the penny dropped around the time I wrote the ‘Broken’ post. So I’ve kept an eye out for words, terms or phrases that are being deliberately used in abusive ways. Happily, most commenters accept the moderation without complaint and quickly find other ways to express their opinions that add to the mix rather than close debate down.
“Thanks, Ad. From the start, the site has tried to encourage open debate, while discouraging abuse.”
Man, I was lucky to get away with what I did last night, strong abuse,………………I thought I might have been flying pretty close to the wire. Better keep my head down from now on.
I agree if one simply took the author of the post above and simply believed what he said about kaine most would think he was an evil bastard …read the wiki info and presto he isnt .Im a bit supprized anyone would need instruction regarding the word establishment tho i mean would i be in trouble if i said hillary was establishment ?
There’s no problem with the word establishment. However it has been used in conjunction with other pejorative words which have been intended to insult or abuse.. The mod filter isn’t sophisticated enough to scrub out phrases or combinations of words so it’s been caught up. However, it’s only caused a moments delay for half a dozen comments, so no harm done.
There’s no problem with the word establishment. However it has been used in conjunction with other pejorative words which have been intended to insult or abuse. The mod filter isn’t sophisticated enough to scrub out phrases or combinations of words so it’s been caught up. However, it’s only caused a moments delay for half a dozen comments, and the use of similar abusive phrases seems to have diminished as a result. So, better conversations, more intelligent debate. That’s what we all want, right?
Ten minutes isn’t ‘a moments delay’ – and that happened for at least one comment.
There was (and still are) a handful of perfectly okay comments sitting in trash. Now sure, they may have wound up there for some really weird reason (it duplicates from time to time for some reason) or just because a commenter deleted their own comment because…well, moderators don’t ever throw comments into trash. Right?
Anyway. I did manage to save the Robert Reich link that someone else had tried to post. Can’t imagine why they’d post it and then delete it (ie -send it to the trash folder) during their edit time, but hey….
Honestly can’t see where the ‘better conversations’ or ‘more intelligent debate’ is, as a result of essentially flaming everyone. But again, hey….
No worries, Bill, thanks for your thoughts. I was trying to find a soft way to moderate abuse, but clearly that’s not going to work if too many people have objections to the concept. I’ll just ban instead, though I’ll probably give a warning first, unless it’s excessive abuse.
There seem to be sneaky agendas here. I take voices passive aggressive threats as being completely unnecessary – weak personal qualities exposed – he’ll probably threaten to beat me up again for that one though.
As for cv – he is not left – end of story. Too much trumputin bullshit – he’s like trump a trojan – cv the bloody Trojan nzfirster now imo.
It’s a real dilemma when you have an otherwise fairly functional group of people with a common purpose and one of them thinks it’s about doing what they want as an individual. I don’t know the solution to that, and I’m not sure a majority vote would sort it out tbh. The impression I have is that everyone has pretty full lives and are reluctant to put energy into it, especially as there seems to be history of people having to leave.
It’s a major stumbling block to getting new authors IMO.
Hi Marty Mars, I’m afraid your gut reaction is totally on a tilt.
Trump wants to raise trade barriers, wants to bring manufacturing back from China to the USA, wants to reneg on free trade deals like NAFTA and the TPP, wants to stop spending on big wars and wants to spend on new infrastructure throughout the USA.
That’s way more left than the Democrats.
Putin has created a capitalist economy where the billionaire oligarchs are strongly reined in, where the resources of the country are heavily regulated/owned by the state, where a pension is available to every Russian, where tertiary education and public healthcare is broadly available and either free or reasonably cheap.
That’s way more left than the Democrats.
As for NZ First – their economic stance including willingness to nationalise key assets and ban foreign ownership is way more Left than Labour.
Further, Putin, Trump and Peters all understand the critical importance of *economic sovereignty* and all three are willing to act on that understanding.
That’s way more Left than most of the other political parties in NZ.
“Trump is far more Left economically than the Neocon Globalist Status Quo.”
Cool. I haven’t heard what his policies for redistribution of income and lowering societal income are. I guess you can help with that. Any idea what his taxation policies for the avoidance and minimisation schemes of the top 1% are? Is he going to strengthen trade unions and ensure fair labour laws – pay, safety etc.?
He’s going to ensure that there is massive working class employment in rebuilding the US manufacturing and infrastructure base, bringing back jobs from overseas.
He’s not going to rely on modern Lefty methods of handouts.
BTW Clinton is the oligarchy bankster candidate. She’ll protect the 0.1% exactly like Obama has.
“He’s not going to rely on modern Lefty methods of handouts.”
And the 1%?
What are are the plans for upskilling the workforce for these massive projects (maybe he’ll import skilled labour for less than it would cost to upskill?). And again – pay and conditions. I quite like that old-fashioned lefty way of ensuring people who can work get decent pay for decent work i.e. a fair share. No word on how those who can’t work in paid employment are going to get a share of the economic pie?
btw, this is about how Trump is or isn’t a lefty, not where Clinton stands.
Trump might have some economic thoughts (policies?) that sound left or leftish. But his thoughts around social issues, as far as I can tell, are very, very much to the right.
The same basic template, though not as extreme, applies to Peters.
You’re right that the establishment left has, for the most part, abandoned what we used to think of as left leaning economics.
But for fuck’s sake CV, if the economic choice is between a greater or lesser role for the state (orthodox parliamentarian leftism) or a greater or lesser role for the market (orthodox rightish parliamentarianism)…then unless Trump is going to expand the role of the state in health care and education etc…ie – have the state do all of those things that an orthodox leftist programme would call for, then he’s no more ‘left’ then fly.
What Trump actually wants is to bring the shitty low wage/ zero protection environment that’s been developed overseas by US corporations, brought back into the US. There are bugger all unions left to fight a workers corner and I just can’t envisage Trump making any good change to Labor Law in the US. Can you?
At least Clinton might be forced (reluctantly) to back a living wage and such like and she certainly won’t go all Mussolini on anyone giving her and her administration shit. Trump will be looking to have wages set by ‘the market’ (code for letting employers fuck workers over with impunity) and I suspect he could well go all Mussolini on matters.
Yes, he sounds as though he might be more isolationist, and that could be a relief for many people the world over. But at the same time, he’s saying he’ll deal with terrorists who link themselves to Islam. Short of dropping a nuclear device on Riyadh, I can’t see how he squares those two things off. Can you?
“But I’m sure he has comprehensive staff training programmes within his own casinos and hotels.”
I wonder if he’ll open up a Trump technical training school, similar to the Trump University?
Anyway, about the 1%, tax, and employee rights etc…
I guess I don’t agree with your inference that economic nationalism is solely a left-wing political concern, that the objectives and expectations of that economic nationalism are the same, or that it was the sole, or event the main basis of left wing politics.
Claire equates the excess of men in the Labour Party with JKs elimination of pests.
This is a poor analogy, Claire. Balance is not the same as elimination.
This article reflects badly on its author. WO no longer required?
Claire is getting desperate as the Tories continue to fall in the polls and fail the country.
FYI Damien O’Connor is not a list MP and he won his electorate easily just like the term before last. This time it was the biggest win for him yet, and the Nat candidate he was up against was a woman, Maureen Pugh, he wiped the floor with her. Actually I wonder if Pugh has an investment in the 1080 factory? Last I heard she had interests in a helicopter company, I guess they will be busy making $ from dropping the poison. Hey Maureen where are the missing millions? Still under investigation is it? Mhmm… we will get to the bottom of that http://www.greystar.co.nz/content/blowtorch-pugh%E2%80%99s-record
Continue to fall in the polls ? Did you actually read the last poll ?????
Also most people think the country is going in the right direction- so I think you comment about failing the country whilst universally accepted on this forum (by the lefties anyway) might is out of step with the rest of the population.
Comments were allowed on this dopy article, so I commented early this morning.
Not a single comment had been published by close of play Thursday.
Granny’s up to her old tricks again.
Whatever the causes or apparent justifications for war…. starving hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, is well into the realms of war crime:
Seige by Syrian regime on Aleppo tightens….
Government troops have repeatedly used sieges to help starve rebel-held cities into submission. Human rights groups fear the tactic will be deployed in Aleppo, where up to 300,000 people are living in areas under rebel control.
Food will run out within weeks, a group of 24 aid agencies working on the ground warned, and regime bombing raids have targeted several of the few remaining working hospitals in those parts of the city.
The West didn’t start it, Assad did by bombing and shooting his own people during the Arab spring. And you actually know that, though it does not suit your narrative. That in turn caused the armed insurrection. Only then did the West, and others (Iran) get involved. But the civil war was well underway by then.
I am sure some of the western arms supplied to various anti-Assad factions will have ended up in the hands of ISIS, since in 2012 to 2014, the anti -Assad forces were highly disparate. It is not obvious that various western countries, including Turkey had a good idea of the nature of the various factions.
Modern civil wars seem to have many more factions that in the past, where civil wars looked like two states at war (US Civil war, Spanish civil war, etc).
The West didn’t start it, Assad did by bombing and shooting his own people during the Arab spring. And you actually know that, though it does not suit your narrative. That in turn caused the armed insurrection. Only then did the West, and others (Iran) get involved. But the civil war was well underway by then.
bullshit Wayne.
Syria is in the middle of its worst drought in 1200 years (climate change). Hundreds of thousands of impoverished farmers fled their failing land and headed into the cities, causing massive social instability that the west was happy to contribute to. (Producing detailed plans to destabilise the Assad regime has been a key goal of the USA for at least a decade).
This link is to a 2006 US Gov cable describing the “vulnerabilities” of the Assad regime and how they can be “exploited” to overthrow Assad.
Yes, Assad managed the resulting protests and civil unrest badly leading to hundreds of civilian deaths.
At which point the west decided to go full scale regime change, allowing thousands of Islamic fighters to infiltrate into Syria via NATO partner Turkey, and funding and arming these Islamists in a 5 year long fight to try and depose Assad.
The US did the same to Afghanistan by the way to take down the USSR. They have form and expertise in this.
In Syria the US gave the nod to its ME allies to do the same particularly: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey.
And 400,000 dead Syrians later the West is still keen to keep fighting Assad right down to the last Syrian.
But there’s a problem now Wayne. Turkey is distancing itself from its former pro-ISIS stance. Which means that the Islamic Rebels in northern Syria are about to find their lifelines back into Turkey cut.
The West didn’t start it, Assad did by bombing and shooting his own people during the Arab spring.
Considering the US has been wanting to get rid of Assad for some time now because he wouldn’t let through the pipeline that they wanted it’s a serious question as to just how much the US pushed those protests in the first place:
In the section on Syria, Bensaada focuses on a handful of Syrian opposition activists who received free US training in cyberactivism and nonviolent resistance beginning in 2006. One, Ausama Monajed, is featured in the 2011 film How to Start a Revolution about a visit with Gene Sharp in 2006. Monajed and others worked closely with the US embassy, funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). This is a State Department program that operates in countries (such as Libya and Syria) where USAID is banned.
I don’t think so.
Do you still believe the west’s propaganda?
Wonder if you’d continued to follow Goebbel’s arguments In 1943?
Anyway, here’s a refresher for you on what really has been happening.
Draco, my point in commenting was to shine the spotlight on the horror of war – not to start a pointless armchair dingdong
I have no tolerance whatsoever for people supporting Assad on whatever grounds. He should have stepped down in 2011 and this war might never have been fought.
There are over 1 million people in 52 besiged communities in the country, 49 of them are under seige by the Assad regime, 2 of them by the rebels, and 1 of them by ISIS while the Assad regime denies them aid.
Also I have no tolerance at all for people who argue the semantics, and don’t seem to be moved by people being bombed, shelled and starved into submission – as the daily reports and photos from journalists risking their lives show us, as the streams of refugees into Europe tell us, as the 24 aid agencies in Aleppo are documenting.
I find it incredibly depressing to read the bullshit partisan arguments being trotted out about who caused it all and who is worse than who, and that we are all being conned by propoganda. All sides in the Syrian war have killed and are continuing to kill. The forces with the most tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft have killed and continue to kill the most.
The US and Russia are now both directly involved in the war and both of these countries have entreated with Assad to step down. He must – that is the only way forward.
He should have stepped down in 2011 and this war might never have been fought.
Or, more likely, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. And all of the reports I’ve seen show that a majority of Syrians support Assad. If it was taken to elections, Assad would be voted back in.
Would you still be calling for him to step down then? I’m pretty sure that the US and their lickspittles would be.
Also I have no tolerance at all for people who argue the semantics, and don’t seem to be moved by people being bombed, shelled and starved into submission
And I have no tolerance for those idiots who demand that we act emotionally as it’s the wrong thing to do as it never solves anything. It has a tendency to start wars rather than end them.
The US and Russia are now both directly involved in the war and both of these countries have entreated with Assad to step down.
Last time I looked Russia was still supporting Assad and the US wants Assad to step down so that they can create a power vacuum and place another puppet government there. As they did with Iran (1953) and Iraq (1960s, 2000s).
if much of the world’s media haven’t shaken your belief in Assad, and clearly you trust the evidence that he’s highly popular, despite 5 years of destroying most of the cities of his country, and given his track record of murdering thousands of unarmed civilians to quell protests in 2011, there’s probably not much a random blogger called locus can say that will alter your views
I remain convinced that if Assad had stepped down in 2012 and Morocco had led the UN proposed democratic transition of power this war could have been averted. Your statement that this would have allowed the US to step in to create a puppet government is no less of a supposition than mine. Irrespective of who might be right, in 2012 the Russians and Chinese voted down the UN resolution for Assad to step down, despite clear advice from ME experts that the end game of this would be civil war in Syria.
I think now is not the time to argue rights and wrongs – there will be plenty of evidence uncovered in the future to bring many to trial for war crimes. Nor is it the time to be partisan about Russia or the US.
You are very much mistaken if you think you can take the emotion out of engaging effectively to stop further bloodshed, end this war and rebuild people’s lives
Morena, last night I took 3 kids to meet the next Prime Minister of NZ, they were impressed. Kids pick up on vibes, Andrew Little took the time to talk to the kids, kids felt comfortable with him straight away, he was great with them, no pretending required, wonderful human being he is.
I’m already super impressed with Andrew, he is a incredible speaker, and a born leader, he is the next PM of NZ, and on a cold winters night in Motueka there was standing room only a wonderful turn out. He took the time to go around and talk to everyone there, not just a few words, rather he took the time because he was genuinely interested in listening to the people. Thanks for coming to Motueka Andrew Little, hope to see you here again soon, keep up the good work.
That said, glad you went out and meet Andrew Little, Jens.
I’m glad you liked him, he is a very affable chap. Shame our media can’t give him more than a 5 second sound bite most days. I think more people would warm to him if he was given even half a chance.
You may have guessed I’m no supporter of labour, however the media have done, and continue to do a number on Little, and we should all try to redress that situation.
I’d encourage everyone who’s interesting in Auckland or housing to have a look at Matt’s excellent little taster over at TransportBlog on the independent panel’s version of the growth of Auckland, and how it will be accommodated:
New Zealand’s population is heading for 6 million in 30 years, and Auckland’s will be well into the 2 million. Regrettably, and to a degree that’s nearly unique in the world, Auckland is the biggest part of our society and economy. How this plan works really matters.
Silly question, historically Auckland and the Auckland region gets just over half of the country’s population. So if we move towards a figure of 6 million, would it not follow that Auckland population will probably be a city of 3 million, not 2?
Frightening to think Auckland will be a city of 2 million in thirty years. It’s struggling now, with the division between haves and have nots are quite stark, I can’t imagine that expanded as well, will be any good for a society.
Actually the percentage is slowly changing. Over the last thirty years it has gone from 30% to 34%, and is headed to 40% over the next 30 years. In fact Auckland needs to be planning for 3 million people since that will happen (or close to it) in the next 30 years. The city (Pukekohe to Wellsford) is already close to 1.7 million.
In many ways NZ will become like Queensland where the major city has nearly half the population.
“like Queensland where the major city has nearly half the population.”
Queensland has in fact the least concentrated population of the five larger (ie excluding Tasmania) Australian States..
About 43% live in Brisbane. In NW it is around 56% and in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia it is over 68% in each case.
Actually, it isn’t that unique. Lots of countries have a single dominant city. However, it is questionable if this is good for the overall country or not.
It seems the Greens and Labour broadly support the changes as well…
“Proposed changes to Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) look promising, but should not overshadow that there is still an urgent funding crisis in CYFS, the Green Party said today.”
“The independent panel tasked with overhauling our child protection agency has come up with some useful solutions, but they will only succeed if the Government pays more than lip service to early intervention.” Labour website.
“We owe it, at least to the taxpayer, but absolutely to the people needing our help, to use every tool available to change lives,” said the deputy prime minister, Bill English, in a data conference this year. “Lives which are described by the data.”
The New Zealand government believes that increasing use of predictive modelling techniques based on personal data from beneficiaries (incorporating data from child, youth and family payments, work and income, and the criminal justice system) will help it identify the most vulnerable in society and intervene at an earlier stage so they do not become long-term or lifetime beneficiaries.
The government says in the four years since implementing the regime, it has saved the welfare system $12bn it would have otherwise had to spend in the future.
This model – called “actuarial valuation” – is what the Australian government want to emulate.
But poverty experts in New Zealand say the Australians are signing up to a system that is routinely harming, rather than helping, New Zealand’s most needy.
Similar to calling your political party “Labour”, it either sounds like 24 hours of excruciating pain, or being subjected to backbreaking work, either way a terrible name that is also dated.
Based on the results of this investigation, we want to be more clear about (1) how we expect people to behave, (2) where people can take complaints and problems, (3) what will happen when complaints are received.
Putting procedures in place is more difficult for the Tor Project than for other organizations, because the staff of the Tor Project works in partnership with a broader Tor community, many of whom are volunteers or employed by other organizations. It is not a traditional top-down management environment. I am pleased, therefore, to announce that both the Tor Project and the Tor community are taking active steps to strengthen our ability to handle problems of unprofessional behavior. Specifically, the Tor Project has created an anti-harassment policy, a conflicts of interest policy, procedures for submitting complaints, and an internal complaint review process. They were recently approved by Tor’s board of directors, and they will be rolled out internally this week.
In addition, the Tor community has created a community council to help to resolve intra- community difficulties, and it is developing membership guidelines, a code of conduct, and a social contract that affirms our shared values and the behaviors we want to model. We expect these to be finalized and approved by the community at or before our next developer meeting at the end of September.
I believe these new policies and practices will make the Tor Project and the Tor community significantly healthier and stronger. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the work we’ve done so far, and also to those who will contribute in the coming months.
I am watching Paul Henry at the moment. Coming back into NZ and seeing the media here is jarring. I am not sure if people realise how much of a pro government propaganda tool the MSM is now in NZ.
It is Alice in Wonderland stuff.
Greens criticise state of rivers.
National allows farmers to plunder rivers for private benefit.
Greens criticise state of rivers.
National indulges in tokenistic effort to clean up rivers.
Greens criticise state of rivers.
Media criticises Greens for criticising wonderful government initiative that addresses their criticism.
….major claim to fame was giving the single digit salute to the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons, which he saw as patronising and counter-productive….
So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin
And thank the Creator you’re not in the state I’m in
So long have I been languished on the shelf
I must give all proceedings to myself
Yes we are well aware of it and even Natrad doesn’t (can’t ?) rattle anyone’s cage sufficiently anymore. Imo this is one of the biggest problems facing us – the power of the media is immense and it is being controlled by the right. The likes of Newstalk ZB, TV3,TVNZ, in fact all of the commercial stations, and all the corporate papers are all based on planet Key. Sorry – this is in reply to Sanctuary ( 11. )
Education consultant and parenting commentator Joseph Driessen talks about what parents of children who succeed at school are doing right.”
…not available yet…but well worth a listen, and bugger me if the solutions to the problem of poor engagement with learning are completely cost free. (In dollar terms)
Just returned from a week in Ozzie. The MSM media in Australia is far broader and deeper than in NZ. The difference is stark and very disappointing. We don’t know what we are missing. Our public media is disgraceful. TVNZ is a disaster and, sad to say, Radio New Zealand is on the same skids. I’ve switched off, and onto other Internet sources for quality information and news.
It is another failure of the neo-liberal paradigm where it’s all about ratings, entertainment and profits rather than informing people.
I do wonder if the percentage of the population that actually watches TV or listens to the radio is dropping. I know I don’t and I know that several others that read this forum don’t either.
Natcorp leader John Key needs to do the honourable thing and resign if the TPPA he undemocratically pushed so strongly upon us is rejected by the American’s.
With a 10% jump I would guess that is a very safe assumption, it still directly contradicts Stuart’s point though, so I thought it was relevant.
Stuart seems to be another one of these people that think that because this is National’s 3rd term, Labour just win by default at the next election… I don’t think it is quite that straight forward.
Because John Key has wrecked the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders therefore if he fucked off it would be good thing regardless of any other reason?
Sorry to burst your bubble, leftie, but I don’t love John Key and I’m not a John Key or National supporter and I in fact despise the guy, his politics and everything he represents. I do see, however, how you could’ve thought otherwise.
Silly naive Angela Merkel. She imposed refugees on Europe ( a Trojan Horse?) …and she didnt question the causes of the mass refugee crisis and demand justice for the refugees and their rights to be returned safely to their own countries, which have been ravaged by war… because she supports NATO and the USA ( who bombed the shit out of Iraq, Libya, and wants to get rid of Assad?..who created the vacuum for Isis?…and who has designs on destabilising Iran and Russia?)
‘Merkel’s open-border policies are destroying Europe’ – Willy Wimmer’
You are aware this government is slavishly copying the errors of neoliberalism, an ideology that has ruined the US and the UK’s citizens.
Instead of looking to the Icelandic model or the Finnish model or the Danish model.
But you know that.
And still support this incompetent, corrupt client regime of banker Key.
Shame.
As is usual the 1% doesn’t care about the costs, which they will promptly dump on to the rest of society while they scoop off the benefits all for themselves.
Listening to Susie Ferguson having a go at Andrew Little this morning on RNZ at being at odds with the Greens and their statement of lowering the house prices. She was obviously and determined to undermine and try to drive a wedge between Labour and the Greens at not being on the same page together. I thought what a bloody nerve, National are forever bringing up new ideas on the hoof where one Cabinet Minister doesn’t know one thing from the other Cabinet Minister and are not keeping themselves informed and “being on the same page”. Paula Benefit for one with her shifting and changing trying to get people out of Auckland or back again – whatever day she seems fit to pontificate on. The Minister of Everything is another with his chucking goodies to Northland left, right and centre without a thought of what he was doing. At least Labour and the Greens are separate parties and are entitled to have their differences.
If RNZ’s morning crew expended as much energy being fair to all parties it would be easier on the ears for everybody – its so darned obvious even a baboon would be able to see through it. Andrew Little should have just told her to shut her gob and give him a chance to speak and repeat what the Gov. says all the time – “well the government in power does it, why don’t you have a go at them as well about it”. Fat chance of that, he is too good mannered for that.
LAB/GR need to be showing off their new teamwork and co-ordination to the electorate.
Especially as the wedge driving has only started. Wait until 2017. National will have a tonne of wood wedges handy and a lot of sledge hammers to bang them in with.
Handled badly on both sides I think. The Greens for not giving Labour a headsup, Labour for Little slagging off the GP policy esp without understanding what it is.
Winston seems to be the only one ( I won’t call him “opposition” because you can’t tell with him) who does not let the interviewer derail what he wants to say. Time and again “our lot ” let the interviewer walk all over them . Why ? Is it just lack of media training ? I think it’s more than that. There just doesn’t seem to be anyone on the left in NZ who can handle the media.
I agree whispering kate. Andrew Little is too polite sometimes. He endeavours to get his point across politely then when the interviewer intervenes he gets flustered and starts repeating himself which only makes it look like he’s trying to spin a lie.
I’ve said it a hundred times and I still say it. He needs more media training.
(Wriggling around in the further recesses of my memory banks is a campaign from the early seventies for some sort of price relief on moisturisers and sunscreens. The argument was that the NZ climate was cruel on skin (and this was before melanoma became an issue) and there should be cheaper and more effective products available.)
And when Bennett was social welfare minister she lambasted claims that hygiene products couldn’t be purchased at the supermarket using a special needs grant for food. Her comments were made after an overzealous checkout operator refused to sell a packet of pads because they were going to be paid for using an SNG voucher. The only things that couldn’t be bought were alcohol and tobacco but the checkout operator decided to add hygiene products. Bennett waded in and said that wasn’t right.
Well, since then, the social security tribunal has changed that again by saying people cannot get hygiene products using the food SNG, nor soap or shampoo or any kind of personal or cleaning products. What’s interesting is that Work and Income defended the appeal despite their minister saying that people could use the SNG for this purpose.
Will try to track down the tribunal decision that contradicts what Bennett said. It’s appalling that Work and Income let it go to the tribunal in the first place if its position really was as Bennett said.
“Ms Thompson said another woman tried to use a Winz supermarket card at the check-out at her local supermarket, and the card didn’t work.
“The cashier called Winz to find out why the card wouldn’t work, and found out it was because she had tampons amongst the items she was purchasing. She had to return them.””
So…not just at the discretion of the checkout operator….actually built into the system.
Especially when special needs grants come under a programme the minister has direct control over. Bennett says sanitary items can be bought with a grant issued to purchase items from a supermarket, and then when a beneficiary appeals a decision that’s inconsistent with what she says her ministry defends it all the way to the tribunal. Bennett’s a piece of work at the best of times. I’m still totally flabbergasted that she thinks it’s okay to put the poorest of people into $80,000+ of debt to meet the cost of emergency housing simply because “they signed up for it”.
“I’m still totally flabbergasted that she thinks it’s okay to put the poorest of people into $80,000+ of debt to meet the cost of emergency housing …”
In her world, ’emergency housing’ could also mean a cardboard carton in the park, or under a bridge, or perhaps in a (usually) dry stormwater pipe. Or a vehicle.
The Auckland Action Against Poverty group in Auckland said they were challenging those debts. I hope they’re successful. It beggars belief that people can end up with that kind of debt via simple operation of legislation that’s meant to help our poorest. It beggars fucking belief.
What’s equally distressing is that nobody’s that up in arms about it at all. It’s as close to the crime of the century as you’ll get but nobody seems to give a stuff.
In addition to this, what’s alarming in NZ is the current trend of shifting rules around how and when people qualify for social security into regulations. This has the effect of removing the necessary legal flexibility that allows need to be met regardless of differences in circumstances. The nature of regulations means that if circumstances don’t fit neatly into the tightly prescribed rules then it’s quite legal for Work and Income to say no. This is the main thrust behind the rewrite Bill currently before Parliament. The government says it’s about tidying up existing complexity etc and that there’s no major change but that’s a load of shite. The Bill is in effect another benefit cut – not necessarily by way of reducing rates but by giving the executive branch of government the ability to make binding regulations that make it legal to refuse people help. Labour began the trend when it axed the special benefit in 2004 and replaced it with the temporary additional support benefit, and then again in 2007 by introducing the ability to make regulations that overrode the statutory definition of income. This latest rewrite Bill takes the concept to dangerously new heights. Work and Income staff won’t be required to treat people badly in order to deny issuing help. They’ll be able to say no ever so politely and with a clear conscience because the law won’t allow any alternative.
Yes, I’ve seen the trailers and felt sad and angry. I think it’s on at NZIFF at the moment. Just viewing the trailers previously, it’s apparent at how NZ’s welfare rules are blending with the UK’s. It’s really quite sinister.
Watched “Where To Invade Next” by Michael Moore the other night. It’s mainly a comparison of a sample of how European states educational, health, and justice systems work compared to USA. A good Vs bad sort of comparison, very simple but there is an important message. One feeling I took away was a sense of growing alarm at how far we have come from our own equitable roots and have marooned ourselves in some vast ocean with no horizon, gradually floating towards the USA.
To me, it says alot about what we have allowed to happen to our society.
There is also a French film called Tomorrow that offers future solutions to the present economic structure to save our society and our planet.
Models to learn from were Finland ( education) , Iceland ( people’s democracy, France ( permaculture) , Bristol, England ( money system ), San Francisco ( waste), Copenhagen ( city design and transport), France ( a new industrial structure)
amongst other inspirational models.
Watch it when it comes to Wellington.
Well that’s just bad luck. There’s nothing you can do about that. Kind of like nature, you know, survival of the fittest, and all that, eh? It’s about nature. Nobody can fuck with nature.
Donald Trump has made restoring American jobs a centerpiece of his campaign, a pledge he reiterated last week when he accepted the Republican nomination for president: “I’m going to bring our jobs back to Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York and Michigan and all of America,” he said.
This month, Trump is bringing jobs to Florida, as he looks to hire 78 servers, housekeepers, and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and the nearby Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter.
Of course! That’s why I included the links to the two party’s policies. I thought it would be good for the facts to speak for themselves. Great post, weka.
Don’t start with me either TRP, I’m not in the mood. I know how both you and CV get into these arguments and your reasonable on the surface comment is classic entry point.
Whatev’s. You’re in the mood to criticise me, but when I accept with good grace your position on this post, you go off on one. Lighten up.
[Banned permanently from this post for telling an author what to do, and picking a fight when already asked not to. I’m making note of the gas lighting too. Subthread moved to Open Mike – weka]
lol…can we have a video clip of a mud wrestling fight?…i bet weka would get a lot of fast pecks in and TRP would wallow around like a baby and splutter and shout
[lprent: Or I could just give my impression of a 5kg troll crushing hammer. Of course I’d need someone to use it on.. ]
No. I didn’t ‘set’ any ban length. I banned someone for six weeks and explained why I was banning them. That ban could have been for one week. It could also have been for six months. In the event, it was six weeks – a fairly arbitrary decision.
It is a hopeful sign that people throughout the Washington-dominated world are discovering the power of “nyet.” The establishment may still look spiffy on the outside, but under the shiny new paint there hides a rotten hull, with water coming in though every open seam. A sufficiently resounding “nyet” will probably be enough to cause it to founder, suddenly making room for some very necessary changes. When that happens, please remember to thank Russia… or, if you insist, Putin.
I’m reasonably certain that Trump will win the US presidential election. This will be a disaster in many ways for the world but I think it will also do some good as it will expose the complete failure and corruption of our Western systems. IMO, it will be the final nail in the coffin of capitalism.
Is there anyone else who’s getting fucked off with TS being the playground/battleground of a few likely suspects ? Comment after comment after comment all about them. Which is so childish and John Key.
Clever, erudite, no-ones’ fool, wah wah wah, but Jesus! they love fucking Donald Trump. I just don’t know……
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 ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Can you believe this?
The government are doing this – despite a housing crisis.
Uncaring, greedy…….
Some tenants living in the hundreds of state and council homes north of Wellington that have been put on the market are worried about what the sale mean for their future.
The Government and Horowhenua District Council have unveiled a plan to sell 364 houses across Horowhenua and Kapiti, including 151 Housing New Zealand homes in Levin, 21 in Foxton, 70 in Otaki and seven in Shannon.
Almost all of the houses are occupied and their tenants are mostly elderly, single people or single parents.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/82526332/housing-new-zealand-council-plan-to-sell-hundreds-of-state-and-council-homes
this government and its ministers seem to have no concept of what it’s like to fear your home being taken off you, the stress of not knowing if you’re going to be forcibly evicted, the humiliation of being at the mercy of those who have the power to move you on, and break up families and communities
everything this government and its compliant district councils are doing – or not doing – in regards to housing is seeding a disaster for the future, not just for state tenants but also for the next generation of New Zealanders who won’t be able to afford to buy their own home
I find it particularly depressing to hear decent people so quickly buying-in to the meme pedalled by this government, that all these reports are a media beat-up
uncaring and greedy is too kind…
I’d add one or more of these: ‘incompetent, unaware of reality, in denial, living in their comfortable bubble, complacent, arrogant, dismissive….’
+100 Paul and locus
My God…..it’s like they’re being picked off…….’cos they’re poor and ain’t got their own house. Vultures are circling. In this OUR New Zealand. OUR New Zealand didn’t used to be like this. Some bastards gotta be brought to account !
We know them by the company they keep!
Donald Trump has chosen Pence as his running mate – an extreme right wing religious nutter!
Hillary Clinton picked Kaine for VP – a pro-war, pro-Wall Street establishment neocon.
Bernie’s supporters walked out of the DNC en masse!
If Trump wins, expect to see the whole country lurch to the religious right, because I don’t believe Trump has the ability, understanding or the patience to govern. His task will be ‘to make America great again.’ Lol
If Clinton wins don’t expect any of Bernie’s platforms to be implemented. Clinton, with her best friend Bill advising her, will not move against those who own her. Errh!
It may be a wasted vote, but if I was an American, Jill Stein would get my nod. The lesser of two evils is still evil – but Jill stands for everything that needs to be changed in the USA.
[Because of the regular misuse of the word ‘establishment’ for the purposes of trolling and abuse, it has been added to the mod list. That means comments that use the word will be held in moderation until released. It might be appropriate for neo con to go in there too if it is also going to be used in ignorance and out of context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Kaine TRP]
Has a stalinist coup happened on the Standard?
And that stadandesters must conform to some new form of Politically Correct newspeak that is divined from up on high?
I would have thought neocon and neoliberal were in essence interchangeable after 40 odd years, especially when we have a liberal elite who have given up on a socialist programme.
Is it no longer true that the established hierarchy can and indeed has a name?
One thing about free speech, is you have to hear a whole lot of stuff you don’t like, and some of it may even offend you.
Are you serious? Moderating comments for misuse of a word…
“‘Words’, he said, ‘is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life. So you must simply try to be patient and stop squibbling. As I am telling you before, I know exactly what words I am wanting to say, but somehow or other they is always getting squiff-squiddled around.”
Agree with you guys. Watch out next week, Blairite, Sanders and Jill Stein will be thrown into moderation too..
Yes, dear.
(Just thought I’d use that line for the first and only time. I find it sneering and belittling, kind of like ‘Zip it, sweety’. But it has its fans here at TS so I suppose it’s OK.)
Frankly, I am falling over in near disbelief this night Thursday……
No coup, Adam. There has been a tightening up on abusive language for a while now. One troll in particular has been regularly misusing neocon and other similar phrases to stifle debate. So, for the time being, some words will drop comments into moderation. They’ll quickly be released if the words are being used in context, or moderated appropriately, then released, if they are not.
Read the policy (top of the page) if you are confused about how the Standard is moderated.
Can you give a list of the new words you have deemed abusive, I know policy says words, but I’m at a loss at what they are.
Is the subtext of your message another move in your public fight with Colonial Viper?
That has become truly a tired affair for the rest of us. At this point I wish you two would either copulate, or get into a right proper ruckus – teeth and all. Rather than this snippy affair that has gone on for months from both sides.
I’d like to clarify things a bit as someone who has access to the backend as an author. From what I can see, this is a decision that TRP has made on his own. There hasn’t been any discussion in the moderators’ forum. So please don’t assume this is anything other than TRP’s action.
As an author and moderator, I think it’s a bad move, the words chosen, the reasons given for the decision, and the fact that it was done unilaterally but presented as being something that the people who run the place agreed on.
It is possible that TRP has talked to other authors offsite, including Lynn.
From my experience in the front end of the site, I would say that TRP brings lots of good things to TS, but he also does some daft shit and some down right damaging shit. I would put this in the latter category (daft and damaging).
I would guess that you are right adam, that this was triggered by something to do with CV (but I haven’t looked that closely). And yes it smacks of authoritarianism. The irony there is that TRP has his own history of frequently winding up people by using political words as pejoratives. So yet another example of crazy making.
Judging something to be trolling is often very subjective. But TS traditionally has managed that quite lightly and really only premoderated words like N*zi or Tr*ll, which are well known trolling/flamming words in the internets. Premoderating words like ‘est*blisment’ is ridiculous and makes TS a laughing stock in the political blogosphere.
Having said all that, there has been a tightening up on moderation this year, and that appears to be getting good results. But the things that have changed that have made the difference, IMO, are the moderations that are clear and concise around just stepping in quickly and shutting down flame wars. I don’t see TRP’s moderated words as contributing to that and will probably just make things worse as they add to the culture of bullying and misuse of power.
btw, you can probably circumvent the premoderation by adding in asterisks. eg est*blisment. Of course TRP can then go and add ‘est*blisment’ to the list, but it’s a long word with lots of permutations, so have a play around with it.
I’d also suggest for the braver amongst us that we start using the word est*blisment as much as possible (knowing there is a risk of backlash). Or even without the asterisk. People power and all that. Plus the action deserves all the ridicule it can get. Fight back I say, but do it in a fun way.
(I don’t have the same level of author permissions as TRP so I can’t see the full range of tools that he has access to. I also can’t for instance release comments from moderation unless they are in one of my own posts).
Wow! What a backlash about my (I thought) rather innocuous comments, which no-one has bothered to read – fixating on the bold at the end!
Perhaps I got the rebuke because, a day or so ago, I commented that I was with CV on the Trump/Clinton thing.
For what it’s worth, and being very careful not to use the proscribed words, I still think Trump will win – though God help us all if he does.
Both Trump and Clinton carry too much baggage (banned word?) into this campaign. Clinton’s is political, Trumps apolitical. But, again, for what it’s worth, I’d still vote for Jill Stein if I was an American.
Hillary Clinton is the candidate of the Structural Status Quo.
You know it and I know it. The truth is bleeding obvious.
Not everyone can handle the truth however.
I read what you said Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster). I liked what you said. It was the bold at the bottom, which flummoxed me.
I would definitely encourage stronger moderation here.
What for the use of the word copulation and the the word ruckus? In my defense, both were and are the most humors terms I could find, rather than reach for gutter idioms.
Or at my overall discontent with an on going fight between two authors at the standard that creates an ongoing quandary for all who have to witness it?
I’d support banning lol, rotflmao or similar
Pretty damned pertinent piece (on a couple of levels) by Robert Reich.
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/25/hillary_doesnt_get_it_she_doesnt_need_to_move_toward_the_middle_she_needs_to_move_toward_the_anti_establishment_partner/
I’d assumed it was a comment suggesting stronger moderation in relation to the idiotic, damaging and on-going spat between trp and CV. But then, it could be read in a number of ways. Maybe Ad will clarify.
No, just generally here.
Adam you were fine.
Thanks, Ad. From the start, the site has tried to encourage open debate, while discouraging abuse. The levels of tolerance fluctuate and in the early years there was an almost anarchic approach (Robinsod is the exemplar for that, worth looking for his or her’s contributions for some cheap laughs when the search function comes back).
For me, the penny dropped around the time I wrote the ‘Broken’ post. So I’ve kept an eye out for words, terms or phrases that are being deliberately used in abusive ways. Happily, most commenters accept the moderation without complaint and quickly find other ways to express their opinions that add to the mix rather than close debate down.
Or you could just use Google.
20 Tips To Use Google Search Efficiently
“Thanks, Ad. From the start, the site has tried to encourage open debate, while discouraging abuse.”
Man, I was lucky to get away with what I did last night, strong abuse,………………I thought I might have been flying pretty close to the wire. Better keep my head down from now on.
Every one gets one free hit, Rosie. House rules 😉
Some people are candidates of the structural status quo, some people are supporters of the structural status quo.
It’s very easy for people to figure it out.
the prevailing political/social order too.
A particularly peculiar mix of odd orthodoxarians and aggravated authoritarians?
I agree if one simply took the author of the post above and simply believed what he said about kaine most would think he was an evil bastard …read the wiki info and presto he isnt .Im a bit supprized anyone would need instruction regarding the word establishment tho i mean would i be in trouble if i said hillary was establishment ?
There’s no problem with the word establishment. However it has been used in conjunction with other pejorative words which have been intended to insult or abuse.. The mod filter isn’t sophisticated enough to scrub out phrases or combinations of words so it’s been caught up. However, it’s only caused a moments delay for half a dozen comments, so no harm done.
There’s no problem with the word establishment. However it has been used in conjunction with other pejorative words which have been intended to insult or abuse. The mod filter isn’t sophisticated enough to scrub out phrases or combinations of words so it’s been caught up. However, it’s only caused a moments delay for half a dozen comments, and the use of similar abusive phrases seems to have diminished as a result. So, better conversations, more intelligent debate. That’s what we all want, right?
Ten minutes isn’t ‘a moments delay’ – and that happened for at least one comment.
There was (and still are) a handful of perfectly okay comments sitting in trash. Now sure, they may have wound up there for some really weird reason (it duplicates from time to time for some reason) or just because a commenter deleted their own comment because…well, moderators don’t ever throw comments into trash. Right?
Anyway. I did manage to save the Robert Reich link that someone else had tried to post. Can’t imagine why they’d post it and then delete it (ie -send it to the trash folder) during their edit time, but hey….
Honestly can’t see where the ‘better conversations’ or ‘more intelligent debate’ is, as a result of essentially flaming everyone. But again, hey….
No worries, Bill, thanks for your thoughts. I was trying to find a soft way to moderate abuse, but clearly that’s not going to work if too many people have objections to the concept. I’ll just ban instead, though I’ll probably give a warning first, unless it’s excessive abuse.
Maybe you authors should have a vote and let democracy decide the next steps. Seriously – this shitfight that is going on imo needs to be RESOLVED.
Not telling you what to do of course but I am asking. Non violent communication is a good model for resolving conflicts.
I can’t say I haven’t tried.
I know Bill.
There seem to be sneaky agendas here. I take voices passive aggressive threats as being completely unnecessary – weak personal qualities exposed – he’ll probably threaten to beat me up again for that one though.
As for cv – he is not left – end of story. Too much trumputin bullshit – he’s like trump a trojan – cv the bloody Trojan nzfirster now imo.
Anyhow good luck with it all.
It’s a real dilemma when you have an otherwise fairly functional group of people with a common purpose and one of them thinks it’s about doing what they want as an individual. I don’t know the solution to that, and I’m not sure a majority vote would sort it out tbh. The impression I have is that everyone has pretty full lives and are reluctant to put energy into it, especially as there seems to be history of people having to leave.
It’s a major stumbling block to getting new authors IMO.
Trump is far more Left economically than the Neocon Globalist Status Quo.
Putin is also far more Left economically than the Neocon Globalist Status Quo.
And NZ First is far further Left economically than National and Labour.
You need your bearings checked mate they are shot.
Classic – what a joke. Your slogans belong from another time they are hilarious – you have become a caricature little trumputin.
Hi Marty Mars, I’m afraid your gut reaction is totally on a tilt.
Trump wants to raise trade barriers, wants to bring manufacturing back from China to the USA, wants to reneg on free trade deals like NAFTA and the TPP, wants to stop spending on big wars and wants to spend on new infrastructure throughout the USA.
That’s way more left than the Democrats.
Putin has created a capitalist economy where the billionaire oligarchs are strongly reined in, where the resources of the country are heavily regulated/owned by the state, where a pension is available to every Russian, where tertiary education and public healthcare is broadly available and either free or reasonably cheap.
That’s way more left than the Democrats.
As for NZ First – their economic stance including willingness to nationalise key assets and ban foreign ownership is way more Left than Labour.
🙄
Further, Putin, Trump and Peters all understand the critical importance of *economic sovereignty* and all three are willing to act on that understanding.
That’s way more Left than most of the other political parties in NZ.
He will appoint an ultra conservative judge to the Supreme Court though.
yes weka, that’s undeniable.
And build a wall
Did you see the 8 foot steel and wire wall the Democrats built around their convention? To keep other Democrats out?
No. But what about this trumpwall, do you actually agree with that?
You’re not a real country if you cannot control the integrity of your borders and your seas. So the generic concept of the TrumpWall I agree with*
*PS it will never be built, he’s only trolling the Left Wing on this.
“Trump is far more Left economically than the Neocon Globalist Status Quo.”
Cool. I haven’t heard what his policies for redistribution of income and lowering societal income are. I guess you can help with that. Any idea what his taxation policies for the avoidance and minimisation schemes of the top 1% are? Is he going to strengthen trade unions and ensure fair labour laws – pay, safety etc.?
He’s going to ensure that there is massive working class employment in rebuilding the US manufacturing and infrastructure base, bringing back jobs from overseas.
He’s not going to rely on modern Lefty methods of handouts.
BTW Clinton is the oligarchy bankster candidate. She’ll protect the 0.1% exactly like Obama has.
What are his plans for people that can’t work?
Same as Obama’s. Let their unemployment insurance expire and throw them on the $140/month welfare scrap heap implemented by Bill Clinton.
“He’s not going to rely on modern Lefty methods of handouts.”
And the 1%?
What are are the plans for upskilling the workforce for these massive projects (maybe he’ll import skilled labour for less than it would cost to upskill?). And again – pay and conditions. I quite like that old-fashioned lefty way of ensuring people who can work get decent pay for decent work i.e. a fair share. No word on how those who can’t work in paid employment are going to get a share of the economic pie?
btw, this is about how Trump is or isn’t a lefty, not where Clinton stands.
He’ll elucidate on his plans more as the Presidential campaign gets going.
But I’m sure he has comprehensive staff training programmes within his own casinos and hotels.
Trump might have some economic thoughts (policies?) that sound left or leftish. But his thoughts around social issues, as far as I can tell, are very, very much to the right.
The same basic template, though not as extreme, applies to Peters.
You’re right that the establishment left has, for the most part, abandoned what we used to think of as left leaning economics.
But for fuck’s sake CV, if the economic choice is between a greater or lesser role for the state (orthodox parliamentarian leftism) or a greater or lesser role for the market (orthodox rightish parliamentarianism)…then unless Trump is going to expand the role of the state in health care and education etc…ie – have the state do all of those things that an orthodox leftist programme would call for, then he’s no more ‘left’ then fly.
What Trump actually wants is to bring the shitty low wage/ zero protection environment that’s been developed overseas by US corporations, brought back into the US. There are bugger all unions left to fight a workers corner and I just can’t envisage Trump making any good change to Labor Law in the US. Can you?
At least Clinton might be forced (reluctantly) to back a living wage and such like and she certainly won’t go all Mussolini on anyone giving her and her administration shit. Trump will be looking to have wages set by ‘the market’ (code for letting employers fuck workers over with impunity) and I suspect he could well go all Mussolini on matters.
Yes, he sounds as though he might be more isolationist, and that could be a relief for many people the world over. But at the same time, he’s saying he’ll deal with terrorists who link themselves to Islam. Short of dropping a nuclear device on Riyadh, I can’t see how he squares those two things off. Can you?
shitshitshit…rant over. For now.
“But I’m sure he has comprehensive staff training programmes within his own casinos and hotels.”
I wonder if he’ll open up a Trump technical training school, similar to the Trump University?
Anyway, about the 1%, tax, and employee rights etc…
I guess I don’t agree with your inference that economic nationalism is solely a left-wing political concern, that the objectives and expectations of that economic nationalism are the same, or that it was the sole, or event the main basis of left wing politics.
CV Have been to Spec Savers lately?
What other words or phases have you got concerns about? You know the ones intended to insult or abuse.
“Claire Trevett: Rats! Labour caught in a trap of its own making”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11682586
Claire equates the excess of men in the Labour Party with JKs elimination of pests.
This is a poor analogy, Claire. Balance is not the same as elimination.
This article reflects badly on its author. WO no longer required?
Claire is getting desperate as the Tories continue to fall in the polls and fail the country.
FYI Damien O’Connor is not a list MP and he won his electorate easily just like the term before last. This time it was the biggest win for him yet, and the Nat candidate he was up against was a woman, Maureen Pugh, he wiped the floor with her. Actually I wonder if Pugh has an investment in the 1080 factory? Last I heard she had interests in a helicopter company, I guess they will be busy making $ from dropping the poison. Hey Maureen where are the missing millions? Still under investigation is it? Mhmm… we will get to the bottom of that
http://www.greystar.co.nz/content/blowtorch-pugh%E2%80%99s-record
Continue to fall in the polls ? Did you actually read the last poll ?????
Also most people think the country is going in the right direction- so I think you comment about failing the country whilst universally accepted on this forum (by the lefties anyway) might is out of step with the rest of the population.
Comments were allowed on this dopy article, so I commented early this morning.
Not a single comment had been published by close of play Thursday.
Granny’s up to her old tricks again.
Whatever the causes or apparent justifications for war…. starving hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, is well into the realms of war crime:
Seige by Syrian regime on Aleppo tightens….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/27/dozens-dead-in-syria-bomb-blast-qamishli?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Email
Ah, so it’s only a fear and not actually happening.
If the West didn’t want a sectarian war in Syria perhaps they shouldn’t have started one.
Draco,
The West didn’t start it, Assad did by bombing and shooting his own people during the Arab spring. And you actually know that, though it does not suit your narrative. That in turn caused the armed insurrection. Only then did the West, and others (Iran) get involved. But the civil war was well underway by then.
I am sure some of the western arms supplied to various anti-Assad factions will have ended up in the hands of ISIS, since in 2012 to 2014, the anti -Assad forces were highly disparate. It is not obvious that various western countries, including Turkey had a good idea of the nature of the various factions.
Modern civil wars seem to have many more factions that in the past, where civil wars looked like two states at war (US Civil war, Spanish civil war, etc).
bullshit Wayne.
Syria is in the middle of its worst drought in 1200 years (climate change). Hundreds of thousands of impoverished farmers fled their failing land and headed into the cities, causing massive social instability that the west was happy to contribute to. (Producing detailed plans to destabilise the Assad regime has been a key goal of the USA for at least a decade).
This link is to a 2006 US Gov cable describing the “vulnerabilities” of the Assad regime and how they can be “exploited” to overthrow Assad.
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06DAMASCUS5399_a.html
Yes, Assad managed the resulting protests and civil unrest badly leading to hundreds of civilian deaths.
At which point the west decided to go full scale regime change, allowing thousands of Islamic fighters to infiltrate into Syria via NATO partner Turkey, and funding and arming these Islamists in a 5 year long fight to try and depose Assad.
The US did the same to Afghanistan by the way to take down the USSR. They have form and expertise in this.
In Syria the US gave the nod to its ME allies to do the same particularly: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey.
And 400,000 dead Syrians later the West is still keen to keep fighting Assad right down to the last Syrian.
But there’s a problem now Wayne. Turkey is distancing itself from its former pro-ISIS stance. Which means that the Islamic Rebels in northern Syria are about to find their lifelines back into Turkey cut.
Considering the US has been wanting to get rid of Assad for some time now because he wouldn’t let through the pipeline that they wanted it’s a serious question as to just how much the US pushed those protests in the first place:
“The West didn’t start it, ”
much of the middle east consider the crusades to have never ended
its all about where you put the starting point isnt it
I don’t think so.
Do you still believe the west’s propaganda?
Wonder if you’d continued to follow Goebbel’s arguments In 1943?
Anyway, here’s a refresher for you on what really has been happening.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=Mapp%2Bwar
I wouldn’t believe anything ‘Wayne the bad mapp’ claims about wars ….
This horrible [deleted] individual is prepared to join illegal wars where children get burned, maimed and killed …………. so NZ can get trade deals ….
Wayne is not only full of shit ……………… it’s really really bad shit.
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=Mapp%2Bwar
[Allegation deleted because it can’t be substantiated. TRP]
Ah, so it’s only a fear and not actually happening.
If the West didn’t want a sectarian war in Syria perhaps they shouldn’t have started one.
Draco, my point in commenting was to shine the spotlight on the horror of war – not to start a pointless armchair dingdong
I have no tolerance whatsoever for people supporting Assad on whatever grounds. He should have stepped down in 2011 and this war might never have been fought.
There are over 1 million people in 52 besiged communities in the country, 49 of them are under seige by the Assad regime, 2 of them by the rebels, and 1 of them by ISIS while the Assad regime denies them aid.
https://thesyriacampaign.org
Also I have no tolerance at all for people who argue the semantics, and don’t seem to be moved by people being bombed, shelled and starved into submission – as the daily reports and photos from journalists risking their lives show us, as the streams of refugees into Europe tell us, as the 24 aid agencies in Aleppo are documenting.
I find it incredibly depressing to read the bullshit partisan arguments being trotted out about who caused it all and who is worse than who, and that we are all being conned by propoganda. All sides in the Syrian war have killed and are continuing to kill. The forces with the most tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft have killed and continue to kill the most.
The US and Russia are now both directly involved in the war and both of these countries have entreated with Assad to step down. He must – that is the only way forward.
Or, more likely, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. And all of the reports I’ve seen show that a majority of Syrians support Assad. If it was taken to elections, Assad would be voted back in.
Would you still be calling for him to step down then? I’m pretty sure that the US and their lickspittles would be.
And I have no tolerance for those idiots who demand that we act emotionally as it’s the wrong thing to do as it never solves anything. It has a tendency to start wars rather than end them.
Last time I looked Russia was still supporting Assad and the US wants Assad to step down so that they can create a power vacuum and place another puppet government there. As they did with Iran (1953) and Iraq (1960s, 2000s).
if much of the world’s media haven’t shaken your belief in Assad, and clearly you trust the evidence that he’s highly popular, despite 5 years of destroying most of the cities of his country, and given his track record of murdering thousands of unarmed civilians to quell protests in 2011, there’s probably not much a random blogger called locus can say that will alter your views
I remain convinced that if Assad had stepped down in 2012 and Morocco had led the UN proposed democratic transition of power this war could have been averted. Your statement that this would have allowed the US to step in to create a puppet government is no less of a supposition than mine. Irrespective of who might be right, in 2012 the Russians and Chinese voted down the UN resolution for Assad to step down, despite clear advice from ME experts that the end game of this would be civil war in Syria.
I think now is not the time to argue rights and wrongs – there will be plenty of evidence uncovered in the future to bring many to trial for war crimes. Nor is it the time to be partisan about Russia or the US.
You are very much mistaken if you think you can take the emotion out of engaging effectively to stop further bloodshed, end this war and rebuild people’s lives
Morena, last night I took 3 kids to meet the next Prime Minister of NZ, they were impressed. Kids pick up on vibes, Andrew Little took the time to talk to the kids, kids felt comfortable with him straight away, he was great with them, no pretending required, wonderful human being he is.
I’m already super impressed with Andrew, he is a incredible speaker, and a born leader, he is the next PM of NZ, and on a cold winters night in Motueka there was standing room only a wonderful turn out. He took the time to go around and talk to everyone there, not just a few words, rather he took the time because he was genuinely interested in listening to the people. Thanks for coming to Motueka Andrew Little, hope to see you here again soon, keep up the good work.
Is that you Andrew?
Sheesh Puckish I know you guys do dirty politics as modus operandi.
But please don’t think everyone else does, it tiresome.
Not dirty politics so much as a lame attempt at humour
Epic fail then.
Try some new lines.
Here one for free.
Mooning over Little in Motueka…
That said, glad you went out and meet Andrew Little, Jens.
I’m glad you liked him, he is a very affable chap. Shame our media can’t give him more than a 5 second sound bite most days. I think more people would warm to him if he was given even half a chance.
You may have guessed I’m no supporter of labour, however the media have done, and continue to do a number on Little, and we should all try to redress that situation.
That’s quite good actually
Public speaking around NZ would be of huge benefit to him, Winny styles, rock on up with the P&A in a public place and go for it. Andrew speaks well.
My party vote didn’t go to Labour last election, however my person vote did, Damien O’Connor is super switched on.
Agree with you re the media Adam
Pr is tiresome. And puerile.
End of story.
P Rogue. Your reply to Jens comment is just plain juvenile and rude.
Is that you Munter?
sorries tis just me, Jens, no fluoride round these parts, it’s all good here
+1 nice one Jens 🙂
opening our paua shell up for ‘commercial fishing’
our Ministry of Primary Industry is doing good work then?
https://www.facebook.com/NativeAffairsLive/videos/470344439702723/
fuck is there anything that the National Party led Government will not sell?
….the truth?
that one they killed a long time ago.
No. National will sell everything and then blame the workers for the country being so poor.
If there are any workers left.
@Sabine, fuck is there anything that the National Party led Government will not sell?
nope.
Hope the don’t start on harvesting human organs for export soon.
First MSM will have the poor little Maori kid who needs a donation.
Then how we have so little donors in this country.
Then how we have too many prisoners and dying WINZ and student loan debtors and we could turn a profit from it.
Then get a report form an expert like Restock to recommend it.
Then once the public is fully softened up, sell the contract for prisoner/debtors organs and so forth to the highest offshore bidder…
How to make money from poverty, 101.
They know the value of nothing.
Walkout leaves large swaths of seating empty.
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/07/sanders-delegates-stage-walkout-protest-on-hillary-clinton-nomination/
I’d encourage everyone who’s interesting in Auckland or housing to have a look at Matt’s excellent little taster over at TransportBlog on the independent panel’s version of the growth of Auckland, and how it will be accommodated:
http://transportblog.co.nz/2016/07/28/unitary-plan-recommendations-revealed/
New Zealand’s population is heading for 6 million in 30 years, and Auckland’s will be well into the 2 million. Regrettably, and to a degree that’s nearly unique in the world, Auckland is the biggest part of our society and economy. How this plan works really matters.
Silly question, historically Auckland and the Auckland region gets just over half of the country’s population. So if we move towards a figure of 6 million, would it not follow that Auckland population will probably be a city of 3 million, not 2?
I was going by the Dept. of Statistics average growth projections for both.
Frightening to think Auckland will be a city of 2 million in thirty years. It’s struggling now, with the division between haves and have nots are quite stark, I can’t imagine that expanded as well, will be any good for a society.
A hard cap needs to be put on the Auckland population.
Auckland City has around 1/3rd of the population. That doesn’t appear to be changing in the projections.
The region is not the city by itself.
Yes, I stand corrected.
Draco,
Actually the percentage is slowly changing. Over the last thirty years it has gone from 30% to 34%, and is headed to 40% over the next 30 years. In fact Auckland needs to be planning for 3 million people since that will happen (or close to it) in the next 30 years. The city (Pukekohe to Wellsford) is already close to 1.7 million.
In many ways NZ will become like Queensland where the major city has nearly half the population.
I’d prefer it if NZ planned to develop the regions and so keep Auckland from growing so massively.
“like Queensland where the major city has nearly half the population.”
Queensland has in fact the least concentrated population of the five larger (ie excluding Tasmania) Australian States..
About 43% live in Brisbane. In NW it is around 56% and in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia it is over 68% in each case.
Actually, it isn’t that unique. Lots of countries have a single dominant city. However, it is questionable if this is good for the overall country or not.
More dominant than Paris, London, Moscow, or even Kuala Lumpur.
Melbourne is about right as comparator but it’s a state.
Which OECD or G20 countries have more than a third of their population in one main city?
Apart from Singapore…
We need to cap the population of New Zealand at 5 million. We simply can’t afford to let Auckland bloat past 2 million people.
THIS
I see that CYPS is getting a name change to Ministry for Vulnerable Children .
Yep that will fix it!!!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/82526149/faces-of-innocents-cyf-to-be-shut-down-and-replaced-by-a-new-ministry
i wonder how many days of $ 2000 pay the Dame Rebstock got to charge to come up with this name.
And who gets to define ‘vulnerable’.
Just think… all that money for reorganisation, rebranding and refit… that could actually be spent on the children.
+1 Jones. How to see a clusterfuck – rebranding exercises take place…
At least the Nats will have to ‘own’ this one, no blaming Labour. (Personally I don’t see what diference a new logo will achieve).
If you think its just a rebanding exercise then its clear you have not read any detail.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Q-and-A.pdf
It seems the Greens and Labour broadly support the changes as well…
“Proposed changes to Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) look promising, but should not overshadow that there is still an urgent funding crisis in CYFS, the Green Party said today.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1604/S00088/cyfs-changes-should-not-overshadow-the-funding-crisis.htm
“The independent panel tasked with overhauling our child protection agency has come up with some useful solutions, but they will only succeed if the Government pays more than lip service to early intervention.” Labour website.
http://www.labour.org.nz/cyf_report_should_only_be_the_start_of_reforms
“Barnardos welcomes recommendations on care of vulnerable children”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1604/S00101/recommendations-on-care-of-vulnerable-children-welcomed.htm
“IHC is welcoming the news that children with disability will finally get equal treatment when going into out of home care.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/28/new-zealand-experts-warn-australia-data-driven-welfare-abuses-and-brutalises
“We owe it, at least to the taxpayer, but absolutely to the people needing our help, to use every tool available to change lives,” said the deputy prime minister, Bill English, in a data conference this year. “Lives which are described by the data.”
The New Zealand government believes that increasing use of predictive modelling techniques based on personal data from beneficiaries (incorporating data from child, youth and family payments, work and income, and the criminal justice system) will help it identify the most vulnerable in society and intervene at an earlier stage so they do not become long-term or lifetime beneficiaries.
The government says in the four years since implementing the regime, it has saved the welfare system $12bn it would have otherwise had to spend in the future.
This model – called “actuarial valuation” – is what the Australian government want to emulate.
But poverty experts in New Zealand say the Australians are signing up to a system that is routinely harming, rather than helping, New Zealand’s most needy.
nope just stuff.
i hope you are right, i don’t have a lot faith in natz planning ability.
but we will see.
Terrible name. Reeks of Victorian despair. Sounds like something out of Dickens, it’s that dated.
Similar to calling your political party “Labour”, it either sounds like 24 hours of excruciating pain, or being subjected to backbreaking work, either way a terrible name that is also dated.
Many businesses and other groups could learn from this:
I am watching Paul Henry at the moment. Coming back into NZ and seeing the media here is jarring. I am not sure if people realise how much of a pro government propaganda tool the MSM is now in NZ.
It is Alice in Wonderland stuff.
Greens criticise state of rivers.
National allows farmers to plunder rivers for private benefit.
Greens criticise state of rivers.
National indulges in tokenistic effort to clean up rivers.
Greens criticise state of rivers.
Media criticises Greens for criticising wonderful government initiative that addresses their criticism.
Alice in Wonderland.
Sanctuary -28 July 2016 at 9:36 am said, “I am watching Paul Henry at the moment…”
Why?
It happened to be on where I was staying, I only watched like ten minutes, may God have mercy on my soul.
Sanc- You are forgiven my child.Say 3 ‘hail henrys’…Godel
I agree with Rodel,
Why?
I mean, I know sado masochism is all the rage, but Paul Henery – that just crosses the line…
“….but Paul Henry – that just crosses the line…”
But it’s nice to be a lunatic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WGVgfjnLqc
Thanks Rosmary, that was a great!!
You may be interested in Drury’s bio….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Dury
….major claim to fame was giving the single digit salute to the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons, which he saw as patronising and counter-productive….
Respect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6isXNVdguI8
So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin
And thank the Creator you’re not in the state I’m in
So long have I been languished on the shelf
I must give all proceedings to myself
“I must give all proceedings to myself”
as echoed in the rather brilliant movie…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_I%27m_Dancing
….Inside I’m Dancing….where the lead characters do the ‘hold out the bucket for the poor crips’ thing, then bugger off to the pub to party.
Thanks for the link joe90. Been a very long time since I heard that song.
Oh my yes.
Yes we are well aware of it and even Natrad doesn’t (can’t ?) rattle anyone’s cage sufficiently anymore. Imo this is one of the biggest problems facing us – the power of the media is immense and it is being controlled by the right. The likes of Newstalk ZB, TV3,TVNZ, in fact all of the commercial stations, and all the corporate papers are all based on planet Key. Sorry – this is in reply to Sanctuary ( 11. )
Poor old Natrad….sad to see what was good journalism now having to hang on by their collective fingernails.
However…a few much welcome giggles this am with KR’s interview with UK Correspondent Dame Anne Leslie…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201809961/uk-correspondent-dame-anne-leslie
And currently, a topic dear to mine own heart,
“11:25 Helping your child succeed at school
Education consultant and parenting commentator Joseph Driessen talks about what parents of children who succeed at school are doing right.”
…not available yet…but well worth a listen, and bugger me if the solutions to the problem of poor engagement with learning are completely cost free. (In dollar terms)
Just returned from a week in Ozzie. The MSM media in Australia is far broader and deeper than in NZ. The difference is stark and very disappointing. We don’t know what we are missing. Our public media is disgraceful. TVNZ is a disaster and, sad to say, Radio New Zealand is on the same skids. I’ve switched off, and onto other Internet sources for quality information and news.
^^^^
THIS
So very very true. And I only watch ABC kids! NZ kids don’t know what they are missing.
It is another failure of the neo-liberal paradigm where it’s all about ratings, entertainment and profits rather than informing people.
I do wonder if the percentage of the population that actually watches TV or listens to the radio is dropping. I know I don’t and I know that several others that read this forum don’t either.
Natcorp leader John Key needs to do the honourable thing and resign if the TPPA he undemocratically pushed so strongly upon us is rejected by the American’s.
Why?
Because its the only way the left will beat John Key?
The left don’t need to beat John Key – his failure to meaningfully react to the housing crisis has destroyed him.
Hmm: http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6902-roy-morgan-new-zealand-voting-intention-july-2016-201607211639
I’m sure that’s just a rogue poll that we can safely ignore. Right?
With a 10% jump I would guess that is a very safe assumption, it still directly contradicts Stuart’s point though, so I thought it was relevant.
Stuart seems to be another one of these people that think that because this is National’s 3rd term, Labour just win by default at the next election… I don’t think it is quite that straight forward.
Because John Key has wrecked the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders therefore if he fucked off it would be good thing regardless of any other reason?
Sorry to burst your bubble, leftie, but I don’t love John Key and I’m not a John Key or National supporter and I in fact despise the guy, his politics and everything he represents. I do see, however, how you could’ve thought otherwise.
+1 Skinny – only JK needs removal for lying an cheating too as well as selling us out.
Natcorp leader John Key needs to do the honourable thing and resign if the TPPA he pushed so strongly is rejected by the American’s.
Testing the establishment.
pretty sure that that went into moderation but got releaseed quickly, but the asterisked one below didn’t, so just testing again.
Testing the establishment.
Testing the est*blishment.
Good on ya Weka!
The (insert forbidden word here) needs ALL the testing it can get!
Cheers Rosemary! Ridicule and parody seem the order of the day 🙂
Silly naive Angela Merkel. She imposed refugees on Europe ( a Trojan Horse?) …and she didnt question the causes of the mass refugee crisis and demand justice for the refugees and their rights to be returned safely to their own countries, which have been ravaged by war… because she supports NATO and the USA ( who bombed the shit out of Iraq, Libya, and wants to get rid of Assad?..who created the vacuum for Isis?…and who has designs on destabilising Iran and Russia?)
‘Merkel’s open-border policies are destroying Europe’ – Willy Wimmer’
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/353568-france-germany-terror-attacks-wimmer/
The good thing about NZ is that we can see what’s happening in Europe and we can learn from their mistakes
Whether we do is another matter entirely
Well, this government certainly seems to be determined not to learn as it ties us ever more closely to the foreign policy of the US.
You are aware this government is slavishly copying the errors of neoliberalism, an ideology that has ruined the US and the UK’s citizens.
Instead of looking to the Icelandic model or the Finnish model or the Danish model.
But you know that.
And still support this incompetent, corrupt client regime of banker Key.
Shame.
The German 1% wanted cheap non-unionised workers. Now they have them.
yes but at what price?…time will tell at what ‘cost’ to society
As is usual the 1% doesn’t care about the costs, which they will promptly dump on to the rest of society while they scoop off the benefits all for themselves.
too true
Listening to Susie Ferguson having a go at Andrew Little this morning on RNZ at being at odds with the Greens and their statement of lowering the house prices. She was obviously and determined to undermine and try to drive a wedge between Labour and the Greens at not being on the same page together. I thought what a bloody nerve, National are forever bringing up new ideas on the hoof where one Cabinet Minister doesn’t know one thing from the other Cabinet Minister and are not keeping themselves informed and “being on the same page”. Paula Benefit for one with her shifting and changing trying to get people out of Auckland or back again – whatever day she seems fit to pontificate on. The Minister of Everything is another with his chucking goodies to Northland left, right and centre without a thought of what he was doing. At least Labour and the Greens are separate parties and are entitled to have their differences.
If RNZ’s morning crew expended as much energy being fair to all parties it would be easier on the ears for everybody – its so darned obvious even a baboon would be able to see through it. Andrew Little should have just told her to shut her gob and give him a chance to speak and repeat what the Gov. says all the time – “well the government in power does it, why don’t you have a go at them as well about it”. Fat chance of that, he is too good mannered for that.
LAB/GR need to be showing off their new teamwork and co-ordination to the electorate.
Especially as the wedge driving has only started. Wait until 2017. National will have a tonne of wood wedges handy and a lot of sledge hammers to bang them in with.
Handled badly on both sides I think. The Greens for not giving Labour a headsup, Labour for Little slagging off the GP policy esp without understanding what it is.
Neither of those things were necessary.
Winston seems to be the only one ( I won’t call him “opposition” because you can’t tell with him) who does not let the interviewer derail what he wants to say. Time and again “our lot ” let the interviewer walk all over them . Why ? Is it just lack of media training ? I think it’s more than that. There just doesn’t seem to be anyone on the left in NZ who can handle the media.
agree about Winston…why he will probably get my vote
Not a lack of media training; a lack of belief in their party’s principles.
It helps that journos are afraid of Winston – they don’t try as much shit.
Suzie Ferguson.
Just another spokesperson for the establishment.
The liberal chattering class have failed society.
Chris Hedges.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2hImYfdl5pE
I agree whispering kate. Andrew Little is too polite sometimes. He endeavours to get his point across politely then when the interviewer intervenes he gets flustered and starts repeating himself which only makes it look like he’s trying to spin a lie.
I’ve said it a hundred times and I still say it. He needs more media training.
Hopefully Andrew mentioned all that stuff. It would be a shame if he sat there spluttering.
Natrad also expands on the unaffordable feminine hygiene products story…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/309591/girls-using-'telephone-books,-rags'-as-sanitary-products
with pictures…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePIY1EdZJG8
(Wriggling around in the further recesses of my memory banks is a campaign from the early seventies for some sort of price relief on moisturisers and sunscreens. The argument was that the NZ climate was cruel on skin (and this was before melanoma became an issue) and there should be cheaper and more effective products available.)
And when Bennett was social welfare minister she lambasted claims that hygiene products couldn’t be purchased at the supermarket using a special needs grant for food. Her comments were made after an overzealous checkout operator refused to sell a packet of pads because they were going to be paid for using an SNG voucher. The only things that couldn’t be bought were alcohol and tobacco but the checkout operator decided to add hygiene products. Bennett waded in and said that wasn’t right.
Well, since then, the social security tribunal has changed that again by saying people cannot get hygiene products using the food SNG, nor soap or shampoo or any kind of personal or cleaning products. What’s interesting is that Work and Income defended the appeal despite their minister saying that people could use the SNG for this purpose.
I would dearly love to see a link to this….not that I don’t believe you….but it should be on the record somewhere.
Are there media articles or any other documentation?
(Because it is exactly this sort of bizarre shit that disappears…poof! Gone! Never happened!)
((And quick….because They will get in first…suggest you do a quick copy and paste into a word doc if you can;t easily download a file.)
Regards, the othertinfoilhatwearer. 😉
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11110932
Will try to track down the tribunal decision that contradicts what Bennett said. It’s appalling that Work and Income let it go to the tribunal in the first place if its position really was as Bennett said.
“Ms Thompson said another woman tried to use a Winz supermarket card at the check-out at her local supermarket, and the card didn’t work.
“The cashier called Winz to find out why the card wouldn’t work, and found out it was because she had tampons amongst the items she was purchasing. She had to return them.””
So…not just at the discretion of the checkout operator….actually built into the system.
Bennett was bullshitting.
Especially when special needs grants come under a programme the minister has direct control over. Bennett says sanitary items can be bought with a grant issued to purchase items from a supermarket, and then when a beneficiary appeals a decision that’s inconsistent with what she says her ministry defends it all the way to the tribunal. Bennett’s a piece of work at the best of times. I’m still totally flabbergasted that she thinks it’s okay to put the poorest of people into $80,000+ of debt to meet the cost of emergency housing simply because “they signed up for it”.
“I’m still totally flabbergasted that she thinks it’s okay to put the poorest of people into $80,000+ of debt to meet the cost of emergency housing …”
In her world, ’emergency housing’ could also mean a cardboard carton in the park, or under a bridge, or perhaps in a (usually) dry stormwater pipe. Or a vehicle.
No sign up required.
It’s all about choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msvOUUgv6m8
The Auckland Action Against Poverty group in Auckland said they were challenging those debts. I hope they’re successful. It beggars belief that people can end up with that kind of debt via simple operation of legislation that’s meant to help our poorest. It beggars fucking belief.
“It beggars fucking belief.”
Don’t try to understand it….your brain will turn inside out.
What’s equally distressing is that nobody’s that up in arms about it at all. It’s as close to the crime of the century as you’ll get but nobody seems to give a stuff.
This film is amazing. A mirror image of what happens here in NZ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWgxw9E_h4
In addition to this, what’s alarming in NZ is the current trend of shifting rules around how and when people qualify for social security into regulations. This has the effect of removing the necessary legal flexibility that allows need to be met regardless of differences in circumstances. The nature of regulations means that if circumstances don’t fit neatly into the tightly prescribed rules then it’s quite legal for Work and Income to say no. This is the main thrust behind the rewrite Bill currently before Parliament. The government says it’s about tidying up existing complexity etc and that there’s no major change but that’s a load of shite. The Bill is in effect another benefit cut – not necessarily by way of reducing rates but by giving the executive branch of government the ability to make binding regulations that make it legal to refuse people help. Labour began the trend when it axed the special benefit in 2004 and replaced it with the temporary additional support benefit, and then again in 2007 by introducing the ability to make regulations that overrode the statutory definition of income. This latest rewrite Bill takes the concept to dangerously new heights. Work and Income staff won’t be required to treat people badly in order to deny issuing help. They’ll be able to say no ever so politely and with a clear conscience because the law won’t allow any alternative.
Yes, I’ve seen the trailers and felt sad and angry. I think it’s on at NZIFF at the moment. Just viewing the trailers previously, it’s apparent at how NZ’s welfare rules are blending with the UK’s. It’s really quite sinister.
Watched “Where To Invade Next” by Michael Moore the other night. It’s mainly a comparison of a sample of how European states educational, health, and justice systems work compared to USA. A good Vs bad sort of comparison, very simple but there is an important message. One feeling I took away was a sense of growing alarm at how far we have come from our own equitable roots and have marooned ourselves in some vast ocean with no horizon, gradually floating towards the USA.
To me, it says alot about what we have allowed to happen to our society.
There is also a French film called Tomorrow that offers future solutions to the present economic structure to save our society and our planet.
Models to learn from were Finland ( education) , Iceland ( people’s democracy, France ( permaculture) , Bristol, England ( money system ), San Francisco ( waste), Copenhagen ( city design and transport), France ( a new industrial structure)
amongst other inspirational models.
Watch it when it comes to Wellington.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NUN0QxRB7e0
And for those in the provinces?
They made their choice when they moved there so I’ve got not a jot of sympathy.
What if you were born in the provinces?
Well that’s just bad luck. There’s nothing you can do about that. Kind of like nature, you know, survival of the fittest, and all that, eh? It’s about nature. Nobody can fuck with nature.
Thanks Paul.
I’ve seen this film.
It is brilliant.
Bennett, Smith, Key and company are ruthless ******** to allow WINZ to be a carbon copy of the UK model.
Work and Income should make all their staff see it.
Yeah, he really does care.
/
Donald Trump has made restoring American jobs a centerpiece of his campaign, a pledge he reiterated last week when he accepted the Republican nomination for president: “I’m going to bring our jobs back to Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York and Michigan and all of America,” he said.
This month, Trump is bringing jobs to Florida, as he looks to hire 78 servers, housekeepers, and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and the nearby Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/trump-seeks-more-foreign-guestworkers-for-his-companies
Of course! That’s why I included the links to the two party’s policies. I thought it would be good for the facts to speak for themselves. Great post, weka.
Don’t start with me either TRP, I’m not in the mood. I know how both you and CV get into these arguments and your reasonable on the surface comment is classic entry point.
Whatev’s. You’re in the mood to criticise me, but when I accept with good grace your position on this post, you go off on one. Lighten up.
[Banned permanently from this post for telling an author what to do, and picking a fight when already asked not to. I’m making note of the gas lighting too. Subthread moved to Open Mike – weka]
lol…the giants fight
LOL! It’s like watching two mastodons bellowing at each other across the primeval swamp.
Go Te Reo! No, no, get ‘im, weka!!!! How THRILLING this is!
lol…can we have a video clip of a mud wrestling fight?…i bet weka would get a lot of fast pecks in and TRP would wallow around like a baby and splutter and shout
[lprent: Or I could just give my impression of a 5kg troll crushing hammer. Of course I’d need someone to use it on.. ]
You could ban TRP permanently from the site for being a NZ First supporter?
[Bill has set the ban length for telling lies about an author at 6 weeks. Only warning. TRP]
No. I didn’t ‘set’ any ban length. I banned someone for six weeks and explained why I was banning them. That ban could have been for one week. It could also have been for six months. In the event, it was six weeks – a fairly arbitrary decision.
The Power of “Nyet”
I’m reasonably certain that Trump will win the US presidential election. This will be a disaster in many ways for the world but I think it will also do some good as it will expose the complete failure and corruption of our Western systems. IMO, it will be the final nail in the coffin of capitalism.
hey Ms Viper
someone agrees with you
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/26/russian-intelligence-hack-dnc-nsa-know-snowden-says/
Is there anyone else who’s getting fucked off with TS being the playground/battleground of a few likely suspects ? Comment after comment after comment all about them. Which is so childish and John Key.
Clever, erudite, no-ones’ fool, wah wah wah, but Jesus! they love fucking Donald Trump. I just don’t know……