Just been watching something about the Aus refugee camps in Nauru on Al Jazeera. It’ so depressing to hear as Australia and NZ having a special relationship when they are so fundamentally racist and abusive.
We should be applying more pressure. Sadly we seem to lack political will
Please tell us. What pressure do you really think we can apply to make Australia change its ways? Remember when you propose ideas that the Australian Government actions are supported by all the major political parties there and are popular with the Australian public.
Should we declare war on them? Expel all Australian-national residents in New Zealand? Seize all Australian owned property and businesses?
And if you choose to do any of those things what would you do if they retaliate?
No we should publicaly call out their actions on the world stage. Whether it makes a difference or not is irrelevant. We should stand for human rights for all.
But right wing scum like yourself probably don’t give a shit about human rights unless a buck can be made from it.
“But right wing scum like yourself probably don’t give a shit about human rights unless a buck can be made from it.”
You have no reason whatsoever to such a remark. But then evidence for something is never required in your dirty little world view is it?
A**hole.
“Calling out their actions on the world stage” isn’t going to apply any “pressure” at all to the Australian Government. Their actions are popular with their own population and they really don’t give a damn about what anyone else thinks of the matter.
It would be about as successful as simply saying what vile people Iranians are for all the executions they carry out and for wanting to build nuclear weapons.
It wasn’t those statements that had any effect. It was the sanctions that supplied the pressure. The only pressure we can apply to Australia would be something similar. There isn’t really anything effective we can do though is there?
Of course it is not.
What is a “dirty little world view” is accusing someone who asks how you hope to achieve your aim, ie “to apply pressure on Australia” how you expect to achieve.
Your second paragraph abusing me is the crappy composition of an idiot.
How can you possibly think that my question makes me someone who is in favour of human rights abuses?
You want to “apply pressure”. What can you propose that might have any such effect?
I think we would have to ban all their MPs. Both the Government and the Opposition (at least most of them) are thoroughly in favour of the policy.
On the other hand I doubt it would really inconvenience them unless, just possibly, they were going to pass through Auckland on the way to the US.
“Go to Nauru and arrest them”. I’m not sure we would be able to. They probably have more military there than we could deliver to the island.
Would that be an act of war I wonder?
. I admire your disgust at the bastardry of the Australians and their gulags dotted around the pacific ocean and indian ocean. A truly objectionable Mr John Howard got these established.
He was extremely proud of his excruciating punishment of any people his redneck followers disliked.
However if New Zealand were to complain too loudly Australia would simply say go and fix up your own problems. You’ve got 40,000 homeless people living in shitty conditions and you don’ t do a damn thing about it.
The Kettle tries to avoid calling the pot black.
.
South Africa really cared about rugby – while whites only counted, it was their major winter sport, like here. Rugby is only minor 3rd winter sport in Oz, so forget it.
Not just rugby, all sport. Netball, league – the lot, and encourage other countries to do it. Aussies love all sport and the relationship NZ has with Aussie makes the context very different to South Africa. The real problem is that nobody’s got the guts. If they did it it’d work.
Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster) 2
“What we have undergone is a coup d’etat in slow motion, and we’ve lost. They’ve won.”
Chris Hedges, author of ‘Death of the Liberal Class,’ in a lecture delivered at the University of Toronto, November 4th, 2010.
Well, they [the corporates] may have won a battle or two, but the war is still raging. We, the activists are the front-line troops who will/must ultimately triumph. Literally, the survival of the human race is at stake.
But we need to ‘self-ask’: what am I doing to bring about a favourable conclusion in this epic fight?
The Day of Action is a protest, but also an affirmation of reclaiming democracy. We will highlight and celebrate the positive alternatives in communities in Aotearoa – through organics, permaculture, community gardens; local renewable energy, EVs, divestment from fossil fuels; campaigns for better public transport and cycling; UBI, community finance, time banking; refugee support groups; etc.
Chris Hedges is correct, particularly for the US situation. A corporate coup d’etat took over government for the people of the people, sometime in the 1980s or early 1990s.
A corporate coup d’etat took over government for the people of the people, sometime in the 1980s or early 1990s.
5th August 1981, to be precise.
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who’d defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.
It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?
[…]
And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:
The AFL-CIO.
The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that’s just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers — they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.
Apart from supporting Reagan here, the AFL CIO have of course also been long time collaborators of the crony capitalists on the other side of the chamber.
Mr Rolleston said the cattle were downstream from the Havelock North Bores – what sort of pathetic excuse is that, for what shouldn’t be happening ever in NZ. He said its a huge job to get on top of for farmers and there will be lapses from time to time – does that mean he can find it comfortable to allow 4000 people to get sick and just get over it. because of the odd lapse. Disgraceful conduct from Fed. Farmers.
On easy ground such as one finds next to most bigger rivers , one man could easily put up 200mtrs of single wire electric fence in a day, two men with a tractor mounted post rammer could probably do close to a km. It’s not a big job ,it’s just some farmers are ignorant fools.
I’ve just commented below about the need to talk about regenerative practices. So fencing off waterways is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff response (still necessary, we need ambulances). Beyond that is riparian plantings. But even that is not regenerative if we are still overstocking, over fertilising etc. There is still excess nitrogen in that system, still too much soil degradation, too much compaction etc.
My point is that I think we need to get past this idea of we have to protect the waterways, esp now our drinking water is making us sick, and think about the whole system. Because fencing off the waterways so the e coli doesn’t get in the bore won’t stop the other problems and we will have another set of crises to manage next time, some of them much worse and harder to solve eg 20 years of campylobacter filtered through the ground (nicely fenced off) to the aquifer that will take 20 years to clear.
“what sort of pathetic excuse is that, for what shouldn’t be happening ever in NZ.”
Many farms in NZ have waterways which stock have access to. That’s normal and for 150 years that wasn’t the kind of problem we have now. Not saying it was no problem, just that what we are dealing with now is intensitification, overstocking and dairying, and it’s those modern things that create problems for town water supplies. I don’t think it’s realistic to think that all waterways in NZ will be fenced off from all stock at all times. Rather than expecting that, I’d like to see us moving towards regenerative land use, where farming practices increase the health of land, and that may or may not include stock with access to water.
I agree with you that Rolleston’s response was disgraceful, and it had all the hallmarks of PR spin. Rachel Stewart has been pointing out that the pro-dairy people will use the word ‘cattle’ instead of ‘dairy cows’ as a way to obfuscate.
I do not agree with you Weka although you are of course entitled to your own opinion. Livestock should never be allowed to drink or wade in our waterways defecating and peeing in the water and polluting it. It is realistic to expect farmers to keep their stock within fencing parameters, if it had been legislated years ago then it would be just second nature to fit it into their budgets just like any other legislation that other companies have to adhere to. This is an animal sewage problem and should be contained and dealt with.
National have had a love affair with Federated Farmers for too long and needs to get tough with them but I fear intensification has become too much of a problem and the accompanying technology which should have been keeping up with it to manage it hasn’t eventuated to keep the sewage problem under control.
“Livestock should never be allowed to drink or wade in our waterways defecating and peeing in the water and polluting it”
Why?
Animals pee and poo in water all the time. Nature has ways of dealing with that. Animal waste in water is not inherently polluting. It becomes pollution when the number of animals exceeds the natural systems’ abilities to process that waste (which is dependent on things like river flow). That’s basic ecology and basic sustainable land management. There are additional problems with issues like deforestation and other processes that alter the functioning of the ecosystem. But animal pee and poo is not itself pathogenic or necessarily a problem. Not all animal waste is ‘sewerage’. It’s what the humans (farmers) are doing that is the problem. Humans create the sewerage or not.
All dairy farms should be fenced and have riparian strips as a basic minimum, because that kind of farming comes with high stocking rates and a lot of effluent. But in other situations eg large SI sheep and cattle stations, I think the bigger problems are from the foot traffic and from grazing out all the biodiversity along the water way, as well as the related problems from fertiliser use and general land management. The ratios of sheep poo to water flow are such that you don’t necessarily get ‘polluted’ water in all situations.
Are those waterways in pristine condition? No. But if all land in NZ that has stock on it was mandated to be fenced, we’d still have a lot of the problems that come with farming. I’d much rather see those resources go into supporting farms to shift to regenerative agrictulture with riparian planting and fencing where appropriate to the design of that particular land but without being fixated on fence everything regardless.
What I’m arguing here is approach. If we reduce it down to all animal shit is bad and all waterways must be fenced, I think we are going to created a different set of problems and avoid dealing with some of the more urgent ones.
The fear that many farmers have around river fencing in the sheep and beef sector is that they are going to be forced to fence water off in places that are hugely expensive that will require a lot of up keep and or mean fencing out large chunks of productive land, this is why i believe they are being so stubborn about it.
Stock would still need to cross the waterways when being moved right? So there is the extra cost of gate systems presumably.
It’s a tricky one, especially for smaller rivers and streams. They really need riparian planting too, but it’s easy to see how much land would be lost. Probably the riparian planting needs to be productive somehow.
If your talking gate to get cattle trough a 1 or 2 wire electric it’s a $60 set up and an hour or so to build .
It’s going to be about having a policy that forces cattle to be excluded with out having some dipstick with a letter or two behind his name pissing everyone of with unworkable ideas.
(Unitary plan and developers doing as was expected and deciding not to even develop 10% of affordable houses and instead to use the more developer friendly unitary plan rules. With the SHA, only 26 out of 154 managed to complete some houses, but many made a killing out of the zoning changes. Great to see developers and land owners making money while delivering few houses, just as the government ordered (sarc.).
“A nation’s prosperity isn’t measured in exports and show and false fronts, it’s in the way people live and how much sun they get, and where the kids grow up and how the sanitation works.”
“40,000 families living in houses that should have been pulled down, living in rooms and flats, wherever they could find a roof over their heads, sometimes several families in one house. 40,000 families in 1935.”
Thanks so much Paul, appreciated. It’s an excellent glimpse of our history that is just as relevant today, as it was back then. Given what is happening today, we really have gone backwards, haven’t we? The struggle is still the same, nothing has changed except the dates.
Any noticeable difference between the RM and the media ones (eg CB)? Just wondering of the TV networks are moving away from polling as part of the shift to infotainment.
Bad times for the Nats. And maybe AG’s got some bad news coming about Saudi sheep and Mr McCully? Holding fire until Nat spin machine swings into action?
RM had originally stated on their web page that their Aug poll was due on the 19th. Then they changed the date on their web page to the 26th. It is still hasn’t materialised.
It may be something as simple as them prioritising contact centre resources to their more commercial polls this month.
“Well Roy Morgan only polls once a month, instead of every 2 weeks, as I’m sure you know … So that change by itself results in far fewer polls taking place.”
True. But that was already the case last year … and yet look at the comparison – 18 by late Aug 2015 / just 12 this year.
And (naturally enough) Polls are usually fewest in number during the first year after the election. This is the first time in quite a while that the “middle” year of the electoral cycle (2016) has had fewer polls (Jan-Aug) than the “first” year (2015) (as you can see … 12 compared to 18).
Colmar Brunton always release on a Sunday. The gap between each poll has always (well, for a very long time now) been 6 – 8 weeks (excepting the New Year/Summer Recess). It’s now an absolutely bloody astounding 12 weeks (to the day) since their last poll was released. All down, of course, to decisions made by One News.
There hasn’t been much significant, sustained movement in the polls (beyond the notorious bounciness of the Roy Morgan) since 2014. So one possible explanation is that news editors got bored of printing stories saying “National still has whopping majority, Labour+Greens still kind of neck-and-neck with National, Winston still probably going to make the final decision”.
Yeah, but Lab+Green and the Oppo Bloc are well up on their 36% (L+G) and 46% (Oppo) share at the Sep 2014 Election. And the Broad Right (Govt parties + Cons) are well down on their 53% share. (Luckily for National, a broad Nat-to-Lab swing has been largely disguised by the collapse of Colin Craig’s Conservatives).
So the polls haven’t been static. It’s possible to discern a broad swing to the Left (and the wider Opposition) through the middle of last year, then a swing back towards the Right over the Summer months and more recently a move back to the Left and NZF.
And that’s reflected in the National-to-Lab+Green aggregate comparisons.
National’s pollsters struggling to spin it in the Nats favour anymore?
I think the Nats are in trouble Swordfish, and they don’t want any bad publicity of opinion polling to show it.
I agree with your point that Trump is desperate for campaign donations.
Yes, I also agree that Trump is raising far less money than Clinton and is having to push the boundaries harder.
The real problem for Trump’s campaign financing is huge. Simply put, he cannot get the big donations from Wall St hedge funds, bankers and K street lobbyists that Clinton is able to solicit.
That means that Clinton has been able to outspend Trump in TV and other media ads by more than 3 to 1.
The million people who protested in Sana’a against the Saudi invasion were not even mentioned in MSM.
Surprise, surprise…..the BBC, Guardian and the rest are just mouthpieces of the neo-liberal globalist establishment.
It’s funny you say “hysteria”, a word with its roots in assumptions about women’s anatomy and intelligence, when the most notoriously obnoxious Bernie Sanders fans were dudes.
Clinton hasn’t beaten Trump yet. I expect she will – but the US system (voter suppression/Tuesday elections/electoral college etc) is such a clusterfuck I don’t think anyone should crow about it until the votes are counted (and the lawsuits are settled).
Centrist isn’t out of touch, and extra holidays are an extra cost to business. Perhaps we could replace Labour Day with it – society has given up on it anyway.
Primarily the socially progressive left leaning, top economic quintile (that is the top 20%) of NZers.
The bottom 50% of NZers who earn less than $30,000 p.a. are talked about by Labour, but they are never prioritised above the interests of higher earning groups.
Utter crap CV…… for your unhappy wherever you’re at in your deepest being CV…… a bunch of yuppies university degrees etc lucrative public service positions…….that’s the 20%s for Labour ? Stop it ! Stop it right now ! You’re acting like a troubled child shrieking all sorts of shit that no one takes seriously. Grief counseling maybe CV ? Grief about what I don’t know but fuck CV……!
Geeezus, talking about giving up on the principles of Labour Day, now you’re saying that we can’t afford to load business with any more labour costs like holidays???
I’ll tell you what, I think that we need to go to a four day working week, and that penalty rates need to be brought back.
What do you think about that for extra costs on business?
I fully agree. 4 day, 30 hour week, double time for more than either of those, triple time if both, and also triple time on public holidays, 6 weeks annual leave.
Anybody here disappointed with the National government’s anti Kiwi/worker legislation and National’s sycophantic supporters?
Lets face it, in National’s ideal draconian and feudal world, workers would be enslaved to serve it’s elites on no pay at all and there would be no public holidays to give workers break either.
No public holiday for New Zealand Land Wars
The Government has made it very clear: The Land Wars commemoration day will not be a public holiday.
A commemorative day was announced last week after pressure from local communities and a school-led petition asked for a day of recognition.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said some people have misunderstood what has been agreed.
“We’ve taken a view that there’s no need for a public holiday and in any case, there isn’t yet agreement about a date even just for a commemoration.”
The decision had come out of discussion with the Maori Party, and English was “pretty sure” it had approved by Cabinet. Yet, Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox called for a public holiday and believed it was “still up for debate”.
English also said any commemorations on the day should be locally-led.
“The Government provides some resource, but this has to be something that people want to own, not something that’s pushed on them,” English said.
“It’s up to the people who want to see a commemoration occur. There was a bit of a ceremony last week with the handover of one of the pa sites to Tainui where a significant battle occurred in the Waikato. There may be more of that. That’ll unfold as we go.”
Prime Minister John Key said no progress had been made yet on choosing a date: “We are saying it’s likely there might be agreement at some point that that commemoration date can be set, but it would be also subject, I think, to iwi agreeing.”
SWAP EXISTING HOLIDAYS FOR LAND WARS?
A current public holiday could possibly we swapped out, says Labour leader Andrew Little – suggesting provincial holidays could be scrapped in lieu of a national New Zealand Wars commemoration day.
“I don’t understand why we continue to celebrate provincial holidays when we haven’t had provincial government since 1863.”
He agreed the Queen’s Birthday holiday could be another option.
“There is a case to be made for an observance by way of a day off,” he said.
However, Peeni Henare, Labour MP for Tamaki Makaurau, didn’t think it should be made a holiday.
“It was made clear in the first consultation that happened a number of months ago that it would not be made a public holiday, but simply a day for commemoration,” Henare said.
“There are some costs involved, there are already a number of public holidays … I’m quite clear as the Chairperson of the Ruapekapeka Pa Trust that it shouldn’t be a holiday.”
Little supported the Government setting aside a day in principle: “We ought to be observing our own internal land wars in the way that we observe conflicts and casualties in other wars that we’ve participated in.”
Little also believed more needed to be taught at schools about the New Zealand wars.
“We shouldn’t be embarrassed by it, we should accept that it’s happened in the past, and we should learn from it and embrace what we have now, which is a set of legal arrangements that ensure that the Treaty of Waitangi is starting now to be observed – not only in the law but in the spirit.”
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said a public holiday during winter should be part of consideration by the Government.
Lovely day here in Auckland – Friday nights storms are over except that Vector have cut power for hot water here on parts of the North Shore. Seems to be the poorer parts too, again.
Now 36 hours and counting.
This has been a persistent problem for a decade – a bit of rough weather in the north or west and no hot water for a day or more. According to Vector’s fault-line it is due to an ‘architectural issue’ in the old United Networks system acquired by Vector in 2002.
In 2015 Vector paid 8 cents per share in dividends. Total share issue according to NZX is 995m shares.
So it looks like that is $80m in 2015 alone paid out as unearned income for shareholders? I wonder how much it might cost to fix that ‘architectural issue’?
Seems to me that all the 1990’s privatisation of these utilities was a scam, allowing some NZers (the ones well off enough to buy shares) to parasitise other NZers through high electricity charges and in this case poor service and reduced quality of life.
Cutting the hot water circuits is a quick and dirty way (ahem) of reducing load on power distribution components that are near to failing, until something can be done to patch the system up.
Over the next few years, as storm intensity increases, this ‘strategy of fragility’ is going to leave Auckland with bigger and bigger disruptions.
I’m pretty sure large parts of Auckland use pilot wire rather than ripple controlled hot water switching and in my experience restoring supply is paramount with pilot wires a secondary task.
So CV how was Labour responsible for that and how will your darling Drumpf fix that and do you promise ? Egg carried away with your bitterness and a plague on EVERYTHING accordingly. You didn’t used to be like this CV. What’s happened to you ?
And ended up Trump-eting. Like actually supporting the presently ascertainble greater evil. Don’t you understand how fucking ugly that is to people like me, and you CV. And you ! ???
AB, cutting power to hot water systems during bad weather has been going on for decades, if memory serves a sparky once told me some years back, it started in the 1950’s. I thought it was just a West Auckland thing too until he told me it occurs throughout Auckland. If you have the know how it’s an extremely simple and quick procedure to trip and bypass it in your fuse box and then you will never lose hot water again.
“privatisation of these utilities was a scam”.
Given that 75.1% of Vector is owned by the AECT, which is a trust owned by the people of Auckland and with a publicly elected board, it hardly seems that you can blame “Privatisation” for its failings. It wasn’t privatised, was it?
You might do a great deal better if it really was privatised. Thank God Vector sold the lines company here in Wellington. We don’t have anything like the problems that Auckland seems to.
Vector is still 75% owned by the AECT Trust. This Trust is governed by a democratically elected Board.
The AECT is scheduled to be returned to the Council in about 60 years.
Unless a government can be persuaded to accelerate that a whole lot faster.
That would give Auckland Council a fairly large money-printing machine.
Plus comprehensive control of all major utilities, like when we had coherent government.
The kind of people supporting Trump, and the kind of people Trump supports (refusing to denounce endorsements from the bedsheets and brown shirts types, appointing Breibart’s Bannon as campaign manager) :
This review of the film The Childhood of a Leader by Kim Newman is quite apposite:
The adult actors are all excellent, though required to be stooges for Sweet. It takes three parents, several servants, a world war, a corrupt church (Prescott yells “I don’t believe in praying any more” like a mantra) to shape this monster. The failures of these adults and their institutions create the vacuum that allows his eventual rise. This may be the story of the childhood of a leader, but we have to look at the grown-ups who fail to solve or resolve anything – from a dinner menu to an equitable peace – for a sketch of the mass abdication of responsibility that might make a great many people want to be led by a dangerous maniac. This is also the story of those who will be led.
Whoever it is it had better not be one of the “light rail” fanatics. Rather than just accept it is far to expensive for a town like Wellington a group of them have arbitrarily decided that it can be done for half the price. These are the highly qualified engineering consultants like Laidlaw and Kedgley.
Jo Coughlan seems by far the best.
And it had better not be one of the “let’s concrete everything in sight and dig up the basin reserve and put 4 lanes of motorway through to the airport with the $300 million proposed ratepayer subsidy” all of which makes light rail look like petty cash.
Not Jo Coughlan
Rubbish, Coughlan wants to spend $1 billion on roading, including duplicating the Vic and Terrace tunnels, and flyovers and whatever else. That is just crazy in a world that’s already hitting its limits and with fluctuating oil prices.
Laying rails and wires down Campbridge Terrace, Adelaide Rd, Constable St and to the airport will be a shitload cheaper and much less work. Not hard to see that.
It is what happens when I start editing something at 0300.
In this case there was a function I wanted to remove in the trash as part of internal security review. It was hooked into the AEC (Ajax Edit Comments) which hadn’t been updated in 3 years and which provided our re-edit and which had a pile of extra functions that we didn’t use any more. So I hunted for something that just did the re-edit function.
The guy who wrote the AEC originally had done one called Simple Comment Edit (SCE) which after I tested it, turned out to be much better for our needs.
It was on my list last night. But I wound up working on several other issues first.
Coffee and I will try to merge the code bases together again.
In the meantime while I wait for the coffee to take effect, I’m purging 36 thousand revisions of the authors posts that are no longer required. That should save some backup bandwidth.
hehe that makes me feel important , but i’m not involved in nor do i know anyone who is involved with the running of the standard , just a random commenter is who i am.
I was having a chat outside the supermarket in my town with a District Court judge and I advanced the lament that we don’t have any strong moral leadership in NZ anymore……judge obviously understood me and responded – “Well yes, I agree John Key’s a little bit ‘relaxed’ maybe, but……. ”
Like it’s fucking OK overall ? And on the following Monday morning District Court judge went back to dispensing, ahem, justice ??? Yes he did. But none of the subjects of this dispensed ‘justice’ were fucking relaxed……and neither was ‘Mother Justice’. Rich people way up there are always fucking ‘relaxed’. Cos’ they don’t get hit with the unrelaxing shit that ordinary people have to suffer. So I don’t listen to them anymore. District Court judge et al……they’re wanking !
To persuade themselves, their own insides, that they’re selflessly making a difference. No…..!
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. You remind me of an incident that happened years and years ago. I was up before a district court judge on a speeding charge. Before I was called several others were up on the same charge and she dished out $50 fines. I came up before her… never spoke a word (my court appointed lawyer did the talking) and she lumbered me with a $100 fine. There was an audible gasp around the room. I was the only woman up on charges and I have to assume she did it because I was a young – a hell of a lot younger than her.
If I’d had the courage and confidence experience has since taught me, I would have called her out for what she was… a nasty bitch.
Just watch the BBC interviewer’s prejudice in favour of the establishment.
Can you imagine Sakkur treating a spokeperson from the banks in the same condescending manner?
I thought that was good Paul, Keen put his case forward very well while been challenged all the way, that’s what you want and guess why they call it hard talk To be fair to this interviewer he is pretty tough on all his interviews and prepared which is refreshing
For the first time since the Cold War the German government is advising citizens to stockpile food and water for use in a national emergency.
Some opposition MPs said the new civil defence concept, to go before ministers on Wednesday, was scaremongering.
Citizens are advised to store enough food to last them 10 days, because initially a disaster might put national emergency services beyond reach.
Five days’ water – two litres (half a gallon) per person daily – is advised.
I lived in Germany for nearly 2 years. I was impressed – they generally do much less stupid than we do. They discussed economic matters seriously, and conquered inflation long before we did. They also prevented the ridiculous house price problem we have. They are far more heavily populated, and have done far more than we have to counter pollution. And kept a truly successful economy, despite taking on the burden of an impoverished East Germany 26 years ago.
Not a known earthquake zone, but … I would listen if I were there.
But here in NZ we need fear nothing in these Golden Times with our Rocket Economy.
And our PM can find another expert to contradict anyone who points out a threat like filthy waterways…
And Germany has introduced debt-free tertiary education.
Yep – they are way ahead of us.
I expect they will under their small government masters want to normalise classes being held in libraries, staff rooms, resource rooms, and storage sheds in the same way the current government has normalised poverty, homelessness, and crime. After all, according to John Key’s men, this is what happens in tough economic times.
I would really love to see someone in the media track the progress of these “230 new classrooms”, and “six new schools”.
there’s empty classrooms all over the country but hey what the fuck lets all pile into the big cities so we can enjoy all the pleasures of traffic jams and overcrowding.
Dirty fucking cop…….what’re all those (certainly looked like essentially tidy) young fullas gonna think next time…….you humiliated me last time areshole cop……here, feast on this. Whack ! You can see it a mile off. All because of one Rambo Little Dick Cock. That kid on the bike was more a man by a mile than that thick bully fuck cop.
This should be the subject of a criminal charge of assault laid against the doggish bully cop. Won’t happen of course. Assaults BY police are ten fold of assaults AGAINST police. And judges know it but ‘politically’ they close their ears and then they end up believing their own closed ears.
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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, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Just been watching something about the Aus refugee camps in Nauru on Al Jazeera. It’ so depressing to hear as Australia and NZ having a special relationship when they are so fundamentally racist and abusive.
We should be applying more pressure. Sadly we seem to lack political will
Please tell us. What pressure do you really think we can apply to make Australia change its ways? Remember when you propose ideas that the Australian Government actions are supported by all the major political parties there and are popular with the Australian public.
Should we declare war on them? Expel all Australian-national residents in New Zealand? Seize all Australian owned property and businesses?
And if you choose to do any of those things what would you do if they retaliate?
No we should publicaly call out their actions on the world stage. Whether it makes a difference or not is irrelevant. We should stand for human rights for all.
But right wing scum like yourself probably don’t give a shit about human rights unless a buck can be made from it.
“But right wing scum like yourself probably don’t give a shit about human rights unless a buck can be made from it.”
You have no reason whatsoever to such a remark. But then evidence for something is never required in your dirty little world view is it?
A**hole.
“Calling out their actions on the world stage” isn’t going to apply any “pressure” at all to the Australian Government. Their actions are popular with their own population and they really don’t give a damn about what anyone else thinks of the matter.
It would be about as successful as simply saying what vile people Iranians are for all the executions they carry out and for wanting to build nuclear weapons.
It wasn’t those statements that had any effect. It was the sanctions that supplied the pressure. The only pressure we can apply to Australia would be something similar. There isn’t really anything effective we can do though is there?
Being opposed to human rights abuses is a “dirty little world view”?
Of course it is not.
What is a “dirty little world view” is accusing someone who asks how you hope to achieve your aim, ie “to apply pressure on Australia” how you expect to achieve.
Your second paragraph abusing me is the crappy composition of an idiot.
How can you possibly think that my question makes me someone who is in favour of human rights abuses?
You want to “apply pressure”. What can you propose that might have any such effect?
How dirty does a country have to be before a right winger will refuse to trade with them?
Apartheid South Africa? Nope: the right opposed trade sanctions at every turn.
Saudi Arabia? Nope.
Pinochet’s Chile? You copy his policies, for fucks sake!
Face it, at home you confiscate the proceeds of crime. If we applied that to your trade relationships the crown would be a whole lot richer.
Travel ban all the government MPs would be a good start. Also go to Nauru and arrest persons in charge of the facility there on human rights crimes.
I think we would have to ban all their MPs. Both the Government and the Opposition (at least most of them) are thoroughly in favour of the policy.
On the other hand I doubt it would really inconvenience them unless, just possibly, they were going to pass through Auckland on the way to the US.
“Go to Nauru and arrest them”. I’m not sure we would be able to. They probably have more military there than we could deliver to the island.
Would that be an act of war I wonder?
.
.Hi The Extremist
. I admire your disgust at the bastardry of the Australians and their gulags dotted around the pacific ocean and indian ocean. A truly objectionable Mr John Howard got these established.
He was extremely proud of his excruciating punishment of any people his redneck followers disliked.
However if New Zealand were to complain too loudly Australia would simply say go and fix up your own problems. You’ve got 40,000 homeless people living in shitty conditions and you don’ t do a damn thing about it.
The Kettle tries to avoid calling the pot black.
.
Well said OT.
How about we refuse to play sport against them? No rugby, just like South Africa. And get other countries to do the same.
South Africa really cared about rugby – while whites only counted, it was their major winter sport, like here. Rugby is only minor 3rd winter sport in Oz, so forget it.
Not just rugby, all sport. Netball, league – the lot, and encourage other countries to do it. Aussies love all sport and the relationship NZ has with Aussie makes the context very different to South Africa. The real problem is that nobody’s got the guts. If they did it it’d work.
“What we have undergone is a coup d’etat in slow motion, and we’ve lost. They’ve won.”
Chris Hedges, author of ‘Death of the Liberal Class,’ in a lecture delivered at the University of Toronto, November 4th, 2010.
Well, they [the corporates] may have won a battle or two, but the war is still raging. We, the activists are the front-line troops who will/must ultimately triumph. Literally, the survival of the human race is at stake.
But we need to ‘self-ask’: what am I doing to bring about a favourable conclusion in this epic fight?
Talk is never enough!
March for democracy, 10th September.
What March?
Day of Action Aotearoa – check out It’s Our Future NZ.
thanks.
https://itsourfuture.org.nz/event/day-action-across-aotearoa/
I liked this,
The Day of Action is a protest, but also an affirmation of reclaiming democracy. We will highlight and celebrate the positive alternatives in communities in Aotearoa – through organics, permaculture, community gardens; local renewable energy, EVs, divestment from fossil fuels; campaigns for better public transport and cycling; UBI, community finance, time banking; refugee support groups; etc.
What March?
Day of Action Aotearoa – check out It’s Our Future NZ.
You ask twice … you get answered twice 🙂
Lol, it wasn’t me, it was the other weka messing with you ;-p
Chris Hedges is correct, particularly for the US situation. A corporate coup d’etat took over government for the people of the people, sometime in the 1980s or early 1990s.
5th August 1981, to be precise.
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who’d defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.
It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?
[…]
And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:
The AFL-CIO.
The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that’s just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers — they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110908045727/http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/30-years-ago-today
Ahhhh, thanks for the history brief, joe90.
Apart from supporting Reagan here, the AFL CIO have of course also been long time collaborators of the crony capitalists on the other side of the chamber.
A corporate coup d’etat took over government in NZ in 1984, led by Roger Douglas.
Fed Farmers: We reserve the right to poison New Zealand’s water ways.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/environmentalists-exploited-river-cattle-saga—farmers-2016082806
He reminds me of a tobacco company shill.
Mr Rolleston said the cattle were downstream from the Havelock North Bores – what sort of pathetic excuse is that, for what shouldn’t be happening ever in NZ. He said its a huge job to get on top of for farmers and there will be lapses from time to time – does that mean he can find it comfortable to allow 4000 people to get sick and just get over it. because of the odd lapse. Disgraceful conduct from Fed. Farmers.
On easy ground such as one finds next to most bigger rivers , one man could easily put up 200mtrs of single wire electric fence in a day, two men with a tractor mounted post rammer could probably do close to a km. It’s not a big job ,it’s just some farmers are ignorant fools.
I’ve just commented below about the need to talk about regenerative practices. So fencing off waterways is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff response (still necessary, we need ambulances). Beyond that is riparian plantings. But even that is not regenerative if we are still overstocking, over fertilising etc. There is still excess nitrogen in that system, still too much soil degradation, too much compaction etc.
My point is that I think we need to get past this idea of we have to protect the waterways, esp now our drinking water is making us sick, and think about the whole system. Because fencing off the waterways so the e coli doesn’t get in the bore won’t stop the other problems and we will have another set of crises to manage next time, some of them much worse and harder to solve eg 20 years of campylobacter filtered through the ground (nicely fenced off) to the aquifer that will take 20 years to clear.
“what sort of pathetic excuse is that, for what shouldn’t be happening ever in NZ.”
Many farms in NZ have waterways which stock have access to. That’s normal and for 150 years that wasn’t the kind of problem we have now. Not saying it was no problem, just that what we are dealing with now is intensitification, overstocking and dairying, and it’s those modern things that create problems for town water supplies. I don’t think it’s realistic to think that all waterways in NZ will be fenced off from all stock at all times. Rather than expecting that, I’d like to see us moving towards regenerative land use, where farming practices increase the health of land, and that may or may not include stock with access to water.
I agree with you that Rolleston’s response was disgraceful, and it had all the hallmarks of PR spin. Rachel Stewart has been pointing out that the pro-dairy people will use the word ‘cattle’ instead of ‘dairy cows’ as a way to obfuscate.
I do not agree with you Weka although you are of course entitled to your own opinion. Livestock should never be allowed to drink or wade in our waterways defecating and peeing in the water and polluting it. It is realistic to expect farmers to keep their stock within fencing parameters, if it had been legislated years ago then it would be just second nature to fit it into their budgets just like any other legislation that other companies have to adhere to. This is an animal sewage problem and should be contained and dealt with.
National have had a love affair with Federated Farmers for too long and needs to get tough with them but I fear intensification has become too much of a problem and the accompanying technology which should have been keeping up with it to manage it hasn’t eventuated to keep the sewage problem under control.
“Livestock should never be allowed to drink or wade in our waterways defecating and peeing in the water and polluting it”
Why?
Animals pee and poo in water all the time. Nature has ways of dealing with that. Animal waste in water is not inherently polluting. It becomes pollution when the number of animals exceeds the natural systems’ abilities to process that waste (which is dependent on things like river flow). That’s basic ecology and basic sustainable land management. There are additional problems with issues like deforestation and other processes that alter the functioning of the ecosystem. But animal pee and poo is not itself pathogenic or necessarily a problem. Not all animal waste is ‘sewerage’. It’s what the humans (farmers) are doing that is the problem. Humans create the sewerage or not.
All dairy farms should be fenced and have riparian strips as a basic minimum, because that kind of farming comes with high stocking rates and a lot of effluent. But in other situations eg large SI sheep and cattle stations, I think the bigger problems are from the foot traffic and from grazing out all the biodiversity along the water way, as well as the related problems from fertiliser use and general land management. The ratios of sheep poo to water flow are such that you don’t necessarily get ‘polluted’ water in all situations.
Are those waterways in pristine condition? No. But if all land in NZ that has stock on it was mandated to be fenced, we’d still have a lot of the problems that come with farming. I’d much rather see those resources go into supporting farms to shift to regenerative agrictulture with riparian planting and fencing where appropriate to the design of that particular land but without being fixated on fence everything regardless.
What I’m arguing here is approach. If we reduce it down to all animal shit is bad and all waterways must be fenced, I think we are going to created a different set of problems and avoid dealing with some of the more urgent ones.
The fear that many farmers have around river fencing in the sheep and beef sector is that they are going to be forced to fence water off in places that are hugely expensive that will require a lot of up keep and or mean fencing out large chunks of productive land, this is why i believe they are being so stubborn about it.
Stock would still need to cross the waterways when being moved right? So there is the extra cost of gate systems presumably.
It’s a tricky one, especially for smaller rivers and streams. They really need riparian planting too, but it’s easy to see how much land would be lost. Probably the riparian planting needs to be productive somehow.
If your talking gate to get cattle trough a 1 or 2 wire electric it’s a $60 set up and an hour or so to build .
It’s going to be about having a policy that forces cattle to be excluded with out having some dipstick with a letter or two behind his name pissing everyone of with unworkable ideas.
That’s why the blanket thing doesn’t seem right.
I was thinking about sheep, re the gates.
Developers walk away from fast-track process as Auckland house prices top $1m
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11701098
(Unitary plan and developers doing as was expected and deciding not to even develop 10% of affordable houses and instead to use the more developer friendly unitary plan rules. With the SHA, only 26 out of 154 managed to complete some houses, but many made a killing out of the zoning changes. Great to see developers and land owners making money while delivering few houses, just as the government ordered (sarc.).
The solution.
A government that governs and builds houses for its citizens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a42UnqSKMyo
Thanks, Paul.
Two quotes from the film:
“A nation’s prosperity isn’t measured in exports and show and false fronts, it’s in the way people live and how much sun they get, and where the kids grow up and how the sanitation works.”
“40,000 families living in houses that should have been pulled down, living in rooms and flats, wherever they could find a roof over their heads, sometimes several families in one house. 40,000 families in 1935.”
Ain’t progress wonderful!
I have watched this Labour party doco in it’s entirety, and it’s good, can you upload the second part too please Paul?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbgu8fluKug&itct=CA4QpDAYACITCIroodSn484CFU7OWAodqygOGTIGcmVsbWZ1SKrmqKTqk-XGaw%3D%3D
Thanks so much Paul, appreciated. It’s an excellent glimpse of our history that is just as relevant today, as it was back then. Given what is happening today, we really have gone backwards, haven’t we? The struggle is still the same, nothing has changed except the dates.
Poll Drought
Number of Opinion Polls carried out Jan – late Aug:
(* = middle years comparable to 2016)
2016 12 *
2015 18
2014 45
2013 30 *
2012 28
2011 33
2010 24 *
2009 22
2008 43
Next Roy Morgan already overdue, next Colmar Brunton waayyyyy overdue. I mean, what the flying hell’s going on here ???
No landlines left to ring?
Any noticeable difference between the RM and the media ones (eg CB)? Just wondering of the TV networks are moving away from polling as part of the shift to infotainment.
Bad times for the Nats. And maybe AG’s got some bad news coming about Saudi sheep and Mr McCully? Holding fire until Nat spin machine swings into action?
Well Roy Morgan only polls once a month, instead of every 2 weeks, as I’m sure you know.
So that change by itself results in far fewer polls taking place.
Also, the fact that Parliament was on recess for like 6 weeks also means pollsters would have actively avoided polling during that time, I think.
RM had originally stated on their web page that their Aug poll was due on the 19th. Then they changed the date on their web page to the 26th. It is still hasn’t materialised.
It may be something as simple as them prioritising contact centre resources to their more commercial polls this month.
“Well Roy Morgan only polls once a month, instead of every 2 weeks, as I’m sure you know … So that change by itself results in far fewer polls taking place.”
True. But that was already the case last year … and yet look at the comparison – 18 by late Aug 2015 / just 12 this year.
And (naturally enough) Polls are usually fewest in number during the first year after the election. This is the first time in quite a while that the “middle” year of the electoral cycle (2016) has had fewer polls (Jan-Aug) than the “first” year (2015) (as you can see … 12 compared to 18).
Colmar Brunton always release on a Sunday. The gap between each poll has always (well, for a very long time now) been 6 – 8 weeks (excepting the New Year/Summer Recess). It’s now an absolutely bloody astounding 12 weeks (to the day) since their last poll was released. All down, of course, to decisions made by One News.
For Roy Morgan – see CV’s comment.
There hasn’t been much significant, sustained movement in the polls (beyond the notorious bounciness of the Roy Morgan) since 2014. So one possible explanation is that news editors got bored of printing stories saying “National still has whopping majority, Labour+Greens still kind of neck-and-neck with National, Winston still probably going to make the final decision”.
Yeah, but Lab+Green and the Oppo Bloc are well up on their 36% (L+G) and 46% (Oppo) share at the Sep 2014 Election. And the Broad Right (Govt parties + Cons) are well down on their 53% share. (Luckily for National, a broad Nat-to-Lab swing has been largely disguised by the collapse of Colin Craig’s Conservatives).
So the polls haven’t been static. It’s possible to discern a broad swing to the Left (and the wider Opposition) through the middle of last year, then a swing back towards the Right over the Summer months and more recently a move back to the Left and NZF.
And that’s reflected in the National-to-Lab+Green aggregate comparisons.
Take the Roy Morgans as an example:
Nat percentage point lead over L+G:
2014 Election: 11 points
Roy Morgan Quarterly Averages
2014 (4/4) 7 points
2015 (1/4) 9 points
2015 (2/4) 11 points
2015 (3/4) 3 points
2015 (4/4) 8 points
2016 (1/4) 6 points
2016 (2/4) 2 points
National’s pollsters struggling to spin it in the Nats favour anymore?
I think the Nats are in trouble Swordfish, and they don’t want any bad publicity of opinion polling to show it.
Illegal and desperate…
http://www.fastcompany.com/3063185/trump-campaign-continues-to-send-illegal-solicitations-to-foreigners-despite-warnings
Why did the woman hating Saudi Regime and other head chopping Gulf Tyrannies donate tens of millions to the Clintons?
And why did the Clintons accept these millions?
https://theintercept.com/2016/08/25/why-did-the-saudi-regime-and-other-gulf-tyrannies-donate-millions-to-the-clinton-foundation/
I don’t know but that’s not relevant to what I posted.
Why don’t address the topic? After all, you were moaning about foreign donations the other day.
I agree with your point that Trump is desperate for campaign donations.
Yes, I also agree that Trump is raising far less money than Clinton and is having to push the boundaries harder.
The real problem for Trump’s campaign financing is huge. Simply put, he cannot get the big donations from Wall St hedge funds, bankers and K street lobbyists that Clinton is able to solicit.
That means that Clinton has been able to outspend Trump in TV and other media ads by more than 3 to 1.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/clinton-vastly-outspending-trump-ads-hurting/
You know CV it would be fucking like horrific if you CV REALLY put your ahua behind Drumpf so why you been talking like that ?
The million people who protested in Sana’a against the Saudi invasion were not even mentioned in MSM.
Surprise, surprise…..the BBC, Guardian and the rest are just mouthpieces of the neo-liberal globalist establishment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZqDxq2sjXU
RT also has a piece on how Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against 3rd world Yemen has now killed almost 4,000 civilians and displaced 3M people.
But somehow, both the US and UK are happy to keep rearming the Saudis with billions in new weapon systems and munitions.
I guess all that hysteria about how Bernie would beat Trump, but Clinton wouldn’t, was all for naught, eh?
Let me check my calendar…did November already come and go, Lanth? 😛
No, it’s just Trump’s lead in the polls that came and went. And is very unlikely to ever return.
It’s funny you say “hysteria”, a word with its roots in assumptions about women’s anatomy and intelligence, when the most notoriously obnoxious Bernie Sanders fans were dudes.
Clinton hasn’t beaten Trump yet. I expect she will – but the US system (voter suppression/Tuesday elections/electoral college etc) is such a clusterfuck I don’t think anyone should crow about it until the votes are counted (and the lawsuits are settled).
Ah yes the pejorative “Bernie Bros” term that Clinton campaign supporters kept using.
it’s funny you say “hysteria”
With the Clintons Hysteresis is a better noun, as it describes the time dependent selection and inbreeding of their past advisors and big business,
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq4_SO7UIAAv3VX.jpg
Speaking of who has whose ear…..
Anybody here disappointed with Labour’s failure to advocate for the NZ Land Wars commemoration day being a new public holiday?
Is it another telling sign Labour is still to centrist and out of touch?
Thoughts?
NZ Labour is the same as Clinton’s Democrats and the Blairite UK Labour party.
Just another mouthpiece of the neo-liberal globalist establishment.
Centrist isn’t out of touch, and extra holidays are an extra cost to business. Perhaps we could replace Labour Day with it – society has given up on it anyway.
“Centrist isn’t out of touch”
It is today, considering the whole political spectrum has moved so far right the Greens are now often deemed far left.
“Extra holidays are an extra cost to business”
Indeed. And I’m sure a number of employers oppose them. Just as a good number of employees would greatly welcome another holiday.
It’s interesting to see who Labour now represent.
Primarily the socially progressive left leaning, top economic quintile (that is the top 20%) of NZers.
The bottom 50% of NZers who earn less than $30,000 p.a. are talked about by Labour, but they are never prioritised above the interests of higher earning groups.
Utter crap CV…… for your unhappy wherever you’re at in your deepest being CV…… a bunch of yuppies university degrees etc lucrative public service positions…….that’s the 20%s for Labour ? Stop it ! Stop it right now ! You’re acting like a troubled child shrieking all sorts of shit that no one takes seriously. Grief counseling maybe CV ? Grief about what I don’t know but fuck CV……!
Geeezus, talking about giving up on the principles of Labour Day, now you’re saying that we can’t afford to load business with any more labour costs like holidays???
I’ll tell you what, I think that we need to go to a four day working week, and that penalty rates need to be brought back.
What do you think about that for extra costs on business?
I fully agree. 4 day, 30 hour week, double time for more than either of those, triple time if both, and also triple time on public holidays, 6 weeks annual leave.
Anybody here disappointed with the National government’s anti Kiwi/worker legislation and National’s sycophantic supporters?
Lets face it, in National’s ideal draconian and feudal world, workers would be enslaved to serve it’s elites on no pay at all and there would be no public holidays to give workers break either.
No public holiday for New Zealand Land Wars
The Government has made it very clear: The Land Wars commemoration day will not be a public holiday.
A commemorative day was announced last week after pressure from local communities and a school-led petition asked for a day of recognition.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said some people have misunderstood what has been agreed.
“We’ve taken a view that there’s no need for a public holiday and in any case, there isn’t yet agreement about a date even just for a commemoration.”
The decision had come out of discussion with the Maori Party, and English was “pretty sure” it had approved by Cabinet. Yet, Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox called for a public holiday and believed it was “still up for debate”.
English also said any commemorations on the day should be locally-led.
“The Government provides some resource, but this has to be something that people want to own, not something that’s pushed on them,” English said.
“It’s up to the people who want to see a commemoration occur. There was a bit of a ceremony last week with the handover of one of the pa sites to Tainui where a significant battle occurred in the Waikato. There may be more of that. That’ll unfold as we go.”
Prime Minister John Key said no progress had been made yet on choosing a date: “We are saying it’s likely there might be agreement at some point that that commemoration date can be set, but it would be also subject, I think, to iwi agreeing.”
SWAP EXISTING HOLIDAYS FOR LAND WARS?
A current public holiday could possibly we swapped out, says Labour leader Andrew Little – suggesting provincial holidays could be scrapped in lieu of a national New Zealand Wars commemoration day.
“I don’t understand why we continue to celebrate provincial holidays when we haven’t had provincial government since 1863.”
He agreed the Queen’s Birthday holiday could be another option.
“There is a case to be made for an observance by way of a day off,” he said.
However, Peeni Henare, Labour MP for Tamaki Makaurau, didn’t think it should be made a holiday.
“It was made clear in the first consultation that happened a number of months ago that it would not be made a public holiday, but simply a day for commemoration,” Henare said.
“There are some costs involved, there are already a number of public holidays … I’m quite clear as the Chairperson of the Ruapekapeka Pa Trust that it shouldn’t be a holiday.”
Little supported the Government setting aside a day in principle: “We ought to be observing our own internal land wars in the way that we observe conflicts and casualties in other wars that we’ve participated in.”
Little also believed more needed to be taught at schools about the New Zealand wars.
“We shouldn’t be embarrassed by it, we should accept that it’s happened in the past, and we should learn from it and embrace what we have now, which is a set of legal arrangements that ensure that the Treaty of Waitangi is starting now to be observed – not only in the law but in the spirit.”
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said a public holiday during winter should be part of consideration by the Government.
<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83459046/no-public-holiday-for-new-zealand-land-wars
Disappointment doesn’t capture these situations anymore. Par for the course is more apt a description these days.
They don’t see the value of celebrating a one-sided victory.
Discuss.
Lovely day here in Auckland – Friday nights storms are over except that Vector have cut power for hot water here on parts of the North Shore. Seems to be the poorer parts too, again.
Now 36 hours and counting.
This has been a persistent problem for a decade – a bit of rough weather in the north or west and no hot water for a day or more. According to Vector’s fault-line it is due to an ‘architectural issue’ in the old United Networks system acquired by Vector in 2002.
In 2015 Vector paid 8 cents per share in dividends. Total share issue according to NZX is 995m shares.
So it looks like that is $80m in 2015 alone paid out as unearned income for shareholders? I wonder how much it might cost to fix that ‘architectural issue’?
Seems to me that all the 1990’s privatisation of these utilities was a scam, allowing some NZers (the ones well off enough to buy shares) to parasitise other NZers through high electricity charges and in this case poor service and reduced quality of life.
Cutting the hot water circuits is a quick and dirty way (ahem) of reducing load on power distribution components that are near to failing, until something can be done to patch the system up.
Over the next few years, as storm intensity increases, this ‘strategy of fragility’ is going to leave Auckland with bigger and bigger disruptions.
I’m pretty sure large parts of Auckland use pilot wire rather than ripple controlled hot water switching and in my experience restoring supply is paramount with pilot wires a secondary task.
OK that does make sense then, I didn’t know that about the system in Auckland, cheers.
So CV how was Labour responsible for that and how will your darling Drumpf fix that and do you promise ? Egg carried away with your bitterness and a plague on EVERYTHING accordingly. You didn’t used to be like this CV. What’s happened to you ?
I gave up on supporting both the greater evil and the lesser evil
And ended up Trump-eting. Like actually supporting the presently ascertainble greater evil. Don’t you understand how fucking ugly that is to people like me, and you CV. And you ! ???
I’m not asking you to vote for Trump; neither am I asking for your approval of my political preferences.
AB, cutting power to hot water systems during bad weather has been going on for decades, if memory serves a sparky once told me some years back, it started in the 1950’s. I thought it was just a West Auckland thing too until he told me it occurs throughout Auckland. If you have the know how it’s an extremely simple and quick procedure to trip and bypass it in your fuse box and then you will never lose hot water again.
“privatisation of these utilities was a scam”.
Given that 75.1% of Vector is owned by the AECT, which is a trust owned by the people of Auckland and with a publicly elected board, it hardly seems that you can blame “Privatisation” for its failings. It wasn’t privatised, was it?
You might do a great deal better if it really was privatised. Thank God Vector sold the lines company here in Wellington. We don’t have anything like the problems that Auckland seems to.
Vector is still 75% owned by the AECT Trust. This Trust is governed by a democratically elected Board.
The AECT is scheduled to be returned to the Council in about 60 years.
Unless a government can be persuaded to accelerate that a whole lot faster.
That would give Auckland Council a fairly large money-printing machine.
Plus comprehensive control of all major utilities, like when we had coherent government.
Calling it a scam is generous.
It was theft, pure and simple.
Elites betray the people, considering themselves as gods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqYc6qR6xcQ
The kind of people supporting Trump, and the kind of people Trump supports (refusing to denounce endorsements from the bedsheets and brown shirts types, appointing Breibart’s Bannon as campaign manager) :
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/08/25/what-alt-right-guide-white-nationalist-movement-now-leading-conservative-media/212643
This review of the film The Childhood of a Leader by Kim Newman is quite apposite:
The adult actors are all excellent, though required to be stooges for Sweet. It takes three parents, several servants, a world war, a corrupt church (Prescott yells “I don’t believe in praying any more” like a mantra) to shape this monster. The failures of these adults and their institutions create the vacuum that allows his eventual rise. This may be the story of the childhood of a leader, but we have to look at the grown-ups who fail to solve or resolve anything – from a dinner menu to an equitable peace – for a sketch of the mass abdication of responsibility that might make a great many people want to be led by a dangerous maniac. This is also the story of those who will be led.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/film-week-childhood-leader
Out of the candidates standing, who would you like to see become Wellington Mayor?
Johnny Overton, the rest are living in an endless growth/debt extreme political world. That applied to Wade-Brown too.
Whoever it is it had better not be one of the “light rail” fanatics. Rather than just accept it is far to expensive for a town like Wellington a group of them have arbitrarily decided that it can be done for half the price. These are the highly qualified engineering consultants like Laidlaw and Kedgley.
Jo Coughlan seems by far the best.
And it had better not be one of the “let’s concrete everything in sight and dig up the basin reserve and put 4 lanes of motorway through to the airport with the $300 million proposed ratepayer subsidy” all of which makes light rail look like petty cash.
Not Jo Coughlan
Rubbish, Coughlan wants to spend $1 billion on roading, including duplicating the Vic and Terrace tunnels, and flyovers and whatever else. That is just crazy in a world that’s already hitting its limits and with fluctuating oil prices.
Laying rails and wires down Campbridge Terrace, Adelaide Rd, Constable St and to the airport will be a shitload cheaper and much less work. Not hard to see that.
Using what is still there ( pirie street) is a more logical option,then linking it through Hataitai park and down to cobham drive.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/p-22518-pc.jpg
Bernard Hickey: Land is for living, not savings
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11701100
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/83585857/eugene-bingham-the-spectre-of-ghost-crimes-should-have-come-back-to-haunt-police
If you have any info on the police fiddling stats around burglary the chap who wrote this article would like to hear from you.
Holy shit batman the new edit function is the business.
Was that something Lynn did? I thought something had changed from my browser update yesterday.
It seems faster though. And cleaner to use.
Lol yeah, it took me by surprise too!!!
It is what happens when I start editing something at 0300.
In this case there was a function I wanted to remove in the trash as part of internal security review. It was hooked into the AEC (Ajax Edit Comments) which hadn’t been updated in 3 years and which provided our re-edit and which had a pile of extra functions that we didn’t use any more. So I hunted for something that just did the re-edit function.
The guy who wrote the AEC originally had done one called Simple Comment Edit (SCE) which after I tested it, turned out to be much better for our needs.
Oh and it even works in the mobile version of the site with a few quirks 🙂
Do you know whether he plans to provide the “search” function’s capabilities? It no longer abends for me but it doesn’t find any results either.
It was on my list last night. But I wound up working on several other issues first.
Coffee and I will try to merge the code bases together again.
In the meantime while I wait for the coffee to take effect, I’m purging 36 thousand revisions of the authors posts that are no longer required. That should save some backup bandwidth.
My misspellings hitting the dust – thank you
hehe that makes me feel important , but i’m not involved in nor do i know anyone who is involved with the running of the standard , just a random commenter is who i am.
Good news for us Lefties ,Labour has a land slide victory in Northen
Territory .
@PP
I expect our one man band will be relaxed and confortable about it.
I was having a chat outside the supermarket in my town with a District Court judge and I advanced the lament that we don’t have any strong moral leadership in NZ anymore……judge obviously understood me and responded – “Well yes, I agree John Key’s a little bit ‘relaxed’ maybe, but……. ”
Like it’s fucking OK overall ? And on the following Monday morning District Court judge went back to dispensing, ahem, justice ??? Yes he did. But none of the subjects of this dispensed ‘justice’ were fucking relaxed……and neither was ‘Mother Justice’. Rich people way up there are always fucking ‘relaxed’. Cos’ they don’t get hit with the unrelaxing shit that ordinary people have to suffer. So I don’t listen to them anymore. District Court judge et al……they’re wanking !
To persuade themselves, their own insides, that they’re selflessly making a difference. No…..!
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. You remind me of an incident that happened years and years ago. I was up before a district court judge on a speeding charge. Before I was called several others were up on the same charge and she dished out $50 fines. I came up before her… never spoke a word (my court appointed lawyer did the talking) and she lumbered me with a $100 fine. There was an audible gasp around the room. I was the only woman up on charges and I have to assume she did it because I was a young – a hell of a lot younger than her.
If I’d had the courage and confidence experience has since taught me, I would have called her out for what she was… a nasty bitch.
Just watch the BBC interviewer’s prejudice in favour of the establishment.
Can you imagine Sakkur treating a spokeperson from the banks in the same condescending manner?
The media is a large part of the problem.
Steve Keen interview on BBC HardTalk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcNBW9609HM
I thought that was good Paul, Keen put his case forward very well while been challenged all the way, that’s what you want and guess why they call it hard talk To be fair to this interviewer he is pretty tough on all his interviews and prepared which is refreshing
New Zealanders should heed this message.
Australia headed for recession next year, Professor Steve Keen says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vZX8Zh4SBM
Self funding – exploiting the fuck out of everyone and everything to break even or perhaps turn a tidy wee profit.
Have you looked at who is funding Clinton?
The usual culprits…..
Germans told to stockpile food and water for civil defence
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37155060
For the first time since the Cold War the German government is advising citizens to stockpile food and water for use in a national emergency.
Some opposition MPs said the new civil defence concept, to go before ministers on Wednesday, was scaremongering.
Citizens are advised to store enough food to last them 10 days, because initially a disaster might put national emergency services beyond reach.
Five days’ water – two litres (half a gallon) per person daily – is advised.
I lived in Germany for nearly 2 years. I was impressed – they generally do much less stupid than we do. They discussed economic matters seriously, and conquered inflation long before we did. They also prevented the ridiculous house price problem we have. They are far more heavily populated, and have done far more than we have to counter pollution. And kept a truly successful economy, despite taking on the burden of an impoverished East Germany 26 years ago.
Not a known earthquake zone, but … I would listen if I were there.
But here in NZ we need fear nothing in these Golden Times with our Rocket Economy.
And our PM can find another expert to contradict anyone who points out a threat like filthy waterways…
And Germany has introduced debt-free tertiary education.
Yep – they are way ahead of us.
Fascinating method of determining school needs here from the National government ministry of education.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/311981/'overall'-more-space-than-students-ministry
I expect they will under their small government masters want to normalise classes being held in libraries, staff rooms, resource rooms, and storage sheds in the same way the current government has normalised poverty, homelessness, and crime. After all, according to John Key’s men, this is what happens in tough economic times.
I would really love to see someone in the media track the progress of these “230 new classrooms”, and “six new schools”.
there’s empty classrooms all over the country but hey what the fuck lets all pile into the big cities so we can enjoy all the pleasures of traffic jams and overcrowding.
I’d rather a child sex offender living next door than the corrections minister.
Far less dangerous…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/311986/nobody-wants-a-child-sex-offender-living-next-door-minister
Dirty fucking cop…….what’re all those (certainly looked like essentially tidy) young fullas gonna think next time…….you humiliated me last time areshole cop……here, feast on this. Whack ! You can see it a mile off. All because of one Rambo Little Dick Cock. That kid on the bike was more a man by a mile than that thick bully fuck cop.
FFS.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=164677
This should be the subject of a criminal charge of assault laid against the doggish bully cop. Won’t happen of course. Assaults BY police are ten fold of assaults AGAINST police. And judges know it but ‘politically’ they close their ears and then they end up believing their own closed ears.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=164677
Look at it again. Completely unprovoked !
FFS ! Despatch both those flakes. Amendment ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11701284