You miss the point, Morrissey. This was a President expressing emotion, and hope for the future. Gun control is an emotional issue, and will not be resolved by reason alone – many supporters of carrying guns have no reason. In a world where a leader, whether a politician or business leader, is admired for being ruthless, where caring for others is a weakness, where children are discouraged from competing unless they can be a winner – or in singing be as good as they hear from professionals, where if you cannot be certain who to vote for you are encouraged to not vote, where politics is something we try to keep off our TV/entertainment systems, where all politicians lie, cheat and indulge in the activities described in Dirty Politics, where success ins measured in dollars, it does us good to see a Leader expressing emotion over the loss of innocent citizens gunned down by a deranged young person, and speaking of trying to prevent similar people from similar future folly, it is good to see that Obama believes something can be done if American voters want it enough. we need hope in this world, and the peddlers of “might is right” would deny us that hope.
If you care about anything, Morrissey, you will know that such caring involves emotion as well as reason – it does not have to be perfect on its own, but together we can make the sounds that lead us to a better world, where people can have a decent life without being in ear of being shot, of not having food or shelter, that children can have reasonable equal opportunity to succeed regardless of the wealth of their parents, that your vote will be as valued as a voter in any other electorate, that you are part of our community and your views do matter.
Have hope, Morrissey, have both reason and emotion, and understand that you too can make a contribution even if you are not perfect.
This is the same President who every week greenlights the drone strikes in far away lands which have killed thousands of civilians including children, yes?
it is good to see that Obama believes something can be done if American voters want it enough.
Then he probably should have vetoed Citizens United which allowed corporations unlimited spending of big money into election campaigns.
The best a President can do is nominate a Supreme Court judge that will pledge to overturn the ruling when the next one dies or retires. I believe Democrats have pledged to do this, as they also do it for things like abortion. (they will not nominate a judge who will ban abortion, for example)
The White House is fully capable of passing law that violates the constitution. It is active and in-effect until such time as it is struck down by the Supreme Court.
I don’t think there’s any precedent for the White House deliberately passing a law that the SCOTUS has already said violates the constitution, though, but theoretically there’s no reason they couldn’t.
Also, they could pass a law that has the same effect of declaring companies are not people, just do it in a different way to the previous law so that it can’t be declared unconstitutional.
There is currently a group attempting to have a constitutional ammendment introduced to remove big money from politics. Check out wolfpac.com. Essentially they have to get a large number of the states to pass a constitutional amendment bill. Once enough states have ratified it it is passed into law.
The other way to do it would be through legislation in the house to introduce the amendment but with all the money flowing into it there is no chance of that happening in the near future.
I imagine if this wolfpac thing continues to churn along as it is eventually the house will see what is coming and introduce the amendemnt themselves so they don’t have to wear the backlash of being forced into making the change by the states.
Aside from the fact that the White House is empowered to pass laws, but only to faithfully execute those laws as Congress makes from time to time.
The cleverest scheme to effectively “amend” the constitution is a law that a number of states have passed specifying that, in a presidential election, that states electors must support the popular vote winner in the electoral college if a critical mass of other states have also passed the same law.
Ed. I have to agree with you. Obama wasn’t on American Idol. For any failings he may have, his not very good attempt at singing was for different reasons perhaps honourable and was in a different context from the one conjured up by Morrisey.
…his not very good attempt at singing was for different reasons perhaps honourable
Obama oversees a campaign of torture, mayhem and terror from Africa to Syria and Iraq. He, or his henchmen, have pursued, persecuted and imprisoned peace advocates and journalists from within the United States and from overseas. He has signed off on a large number of extrajudicial—i.e., illegal—assassinations.
Unless he’s a complete moral imbecile, Obama was as aware as anyone who cringed throughout his execrable sub-karaoke horror in Charleston, that he is perhaps the most inappropriate person in the world to be preaching a message of peace. To paraphrase the great George Michael, guilty vocal chords ain’t got no sweetness.
Prices aren’t set by international sales but by how much the market that the product is being sold into can bear. That means that the prices go up until sales drop and then prices will fixate around that price. Competition may be able to lower the price (I have my doubts about that because increased competition increases bureaucracy) because the competition would be after increased market share but it’s not happening because of Fonterra – other companies just can’t build up enough of a market share here to get the economies of scale and importing would cost more than buying from Fonterra.
Not necessarily. Just because it’s at the maximum price that the market will bear doesn’t mean that it’s at the price that it should be at as at that price it’s inevitably over priced.
Confusing stuff, so how is it inevitably over priced, if the market will bear that price and it cant be sorced cheaper via overseas or other competitors?
If a large percentage of dairy farms are not getting paid by Fonterra, their cost of production, and Fonterras own share value has dropped by a huge amount in the last two years, I cant see how milk is set at a greater cost than the cost to supply?
someone in the supply chain is “milking” the situation (excuse the pun). I’d say its Fonterra doing their usual thing of extracting maximum money out of NZ consumers, and smaller dairy companies happy to go along with those retail prices as it benefits them too.
I wonder how much the supermarkets buy a 2L container of milk for.
Well if it is Fonterra milking the situation they are doing a poor job of it, they cant even pay the farmers cost too supply.
And they are shedding staff at an alarming rate, as well as share value.
Logic does not follow huh, OK then fill me in what is the cost of supply for milk and whats happening to the money, if Fonterra and farmers are not getting any?
+1
Kiwi milk consumers just can’t win, excuses for high milks prices previously were high international milk solids prices effecting the domestic market. Then when the arse fell out of the international market we got the excuse the domestic market was different.
Shearer is making some noise on the issue which makes me wonder if he is also considering a crack at the title of becoming his worship the Mayor of Auckland?
I do better than that, we buy local farm gate milk, it is cheaper and is the good stuff Dennis. I gave cheese and butter away years ago, no regrets there and replaced them with fresh salads most days. Whole grain bread with the occasional home made garlic bread. Healthy eating isn’t cheap which cuts out many people and we aren’t encouraged like other countries who drop GST/VTA. Apparently part of the difference between our milk and AUS & UK is tax, something the bumbling fool Shearer missed in his excitement to kick farmers in the guts.
“Food and drink for human consumption is usually zero-rated but some items are standard-rated, including alcoholic drinks, confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks, hot food, sports drinks, hot takeaways, ice cream, soft drinks and mineral water.”
yes. Only processed food is taxed in Oz. Vegetables and meat etc is gst free. One of the reasons for placing gst on everything here was that it would make it far too difficult to administer – which as overseas experience shows – is complete bollocks.
Yep computers, spreadsheets, bar code systems make the organisation of this kind of thing bloody easy ffs
Funny how there is no adminstrative problem with different supermarket pricing of booze when the alcohol tax goes up but which doesn’t affect any other products in store etc.
One only has to look at accounting software that are able to handle those components of a business expenses that has GST attached to them and those that doesn’t to know the argument it is too difficult to administer is complete bollocks, and since one of those is a NZ company, than no one can hide behind the ‘NZ firms don’t have the knowledge’ bollocks either.
FFS, if it was possible to have a period of two levels of GST, why can’t you have GST and none?
Not only that; the removal of GST on essential items such as meat and vegetables would help those who live with a very meagre income to buy good food rather than forcing them to buy the processed and unhealthy food, as they are now forced to do, because cheap and nasty food is the cheapest.
So do we Skinny. Yummy!…. and the cream! Enough to make your own butter and cheese. 🙂
When you hear how Fonterra milk is created – you wouldn’t want it anyway! http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9310148/Tests-show-milk-clear-of-Roundup-used-for-silage
Note that it was the dairy industry who did the tests to assure us that it is perfectly ok!
The article says that it has no effect on the health of the animal – how would they know? Cows’ natural life expectancy is 20 years or more, but the average dairy cow lives just 3 to 4 years, exhausted by constant lactation and frequent disease.
Don’t usually agree with you infused but its the same with bread. The cheapest budget bread has the same minerals, protein goodies as the expensive heavily advertised breads. Tastes the same too.
I can’t see many families being able to afford the ten pints a day we used as a family…..oh, I nearly forgot. Milk was subsidised in those days, the rationale being that milk was an ESSENTIAL for families ( as were affordable houses, and jobs to pay them off with).
I just gave milk up , all the stiffness in my spin and joints went in 3 days, my skins better and the kilos are falling off. Now it would be fair to say I have a high maintenance plumbing system (guts) but it makes me wonder how good milk really is.
He outlines the reasons why A2 milk was less harmful to humans, and how our dairy herds are predominantly A1. Many years ago I read an article regarding the higher incidence of African American obesity and heart attacks being linked to dairy consumption. (Unfortunately, can’t remember where it was, I was looking into the impact of food consumption on learning disorders at the time).
I don’t think that milk consumption is necessarily of benefit to all, and depending on genetics – can actually be detrimental to health.
Pretty much. I cut milk, bread and potatos… did a wonder of good. Mainly cutting the bread out. Horrible shit… well actually it’s delicious, but horrible for the body.
Even as a child I never liked milk and refused to drink it straight. The only time I drank milk was when it was in my tea or coffee. Since I now have the choice of soy milk I’ve dropped cow milk out of my diet completely and I too feel much better now.
I was raised on it straight from the cow and had no health problems as a kid but it has been good going off it physically and mentally. Same goes for gluten so some of these things seem to come on with age.
I miss beer pies and ice cream 🙁
“cow milk proteins good for baby cows not good for people”
Yea. No other animal except for rats and some other scavengers consume another creature’s milk.
no other animals cook food either. Or do lots of things that humans do uniquely. It’s a daft argument esp when you look at the cultures that have very good health outcomes that consume milk.
oh definitely, lots of people who do badly on any kind of milk, and lots who do badly on processed milk. Including people who aren’t genetically adapted.
Lots of people do well on milk as adults in a traditional diet. There are cultures for whom (raw) milk is a staple. Saying milk is for baby cows doesn’t make sense in that context (and not all milk comes from cows).
we’re talking about cows milk in this thread unless a specific remark has been made otherwise that you can point me to; also I did not intend my remarks to be applied to milk in all its forms processed or unprocessed, but just to cows milk from the supermarket.
There are cultures for whom (raw) milk is a staple.
yes cow’s milk, but the argument is made that human adults shouldn’t drink milk from other species because of the species and infant/adult issues, not because of which animal it comes from.
“but just to cows milk from the supermarket.”
I have no problem with that being named as a problematic food for many people 😉 I do have a problem with milk being labeled as inherently bad though. It’s not.
I could eat brussel sprouts till the cows come home 🙂
Seriously, I really love the taste of brussel sprouts – they have a real taste, not like so many insipid foods that people tell me they enjoy – e.g., tofu (I know, I know, it can be so, so tasty if only you do x, y or z with it … but then I also have no sense of smell).
Most milk products make me gag (especially thick, slimy ones like cream, whole cream milk, custard, etc.). Truly evil foods.
One unfortunate consequence was that it allowed herding cultures (often male dominated because of the reliance on animals that could be ‘owned’ – a surplus to be dominated tends to create social hierarchies) to displace hunter-gatherer cultures with greater sex egalitarianism.
As the first linked article mentions, milk drinking may have given up to a 19% advantage in fertility which meant rapid displacement of non-drinking populations. Once again, quantity of lives swamps quality of lives. It’s a recurring pattern in human history/prehistory.
Even more seriously, lactose intolerance is the standard human condition.
Yep – so, bad luck for the standard human. There’s a reason why lactose tolerance spread so rapidly, and that reason is that it provided huge survival advantages over “the standard human condition.” Sure, if there’s any species on the planet that’s capable of feeling bad about an evolutionary advantage, it’s humans, but even so – why the fuck feel bad about an evolutionary advantage? We may not be subject to natural selection any more, but fucked if I’m going to assign moral value to genetics.
…the rationale being that milk was an ESSENTIAL for families ( as were affordable houses, and jobs to pay them off with).
Yep. Milk’s an awesome food. It’s used by zoologists as an example of how evolution affects humans, because lactose tolerance was one of the fastest-spreading human adaptations we know about. The reason it spread so fast is because the people who could drink it had a way higher survival rate into adulthood than the people who couldn’t. Every kid should have plenty of it available, preferably without the fat removed.
fermented milk products have always been traditionally regarded as more useful and healthy as many of the troublesome components in the milk are already partially broken down
There’s no evidence of it in modern diets either. Also, keep in mind that pasteurisation was invented for a really good reason and you are actually taking a risk drinking raw milk. I’m all for people taking whatever risks they want, as long as they know they’re taking one – the people selling raw milk sometimes don’t trouble themselves to provide that info.
raw milk became a public health problem when it was industrialised and dairy herds were kept and milked in unsanitary conditions in order to produce mass amounts of milk for a food supply chain.
“Every kid should have plenty of it available, preferably without the fat removed.”
I agree about the fat, but there are significant populations how aren’t genetically adapted to milk and lots of places in the world where milk was never drunk traditionally (i.e. it didn’t spread there).
A Couple of months ago I a designed a series of badges. I embroider them to order. When I noticed people starting to use the images of them as avatars and profile pictures I was upset. A lot of work goes into designing them and my blog also takes up a fair amount of my time and I wanted to sell the badges and not have the images nicked for other purposes!
But with the passing of the fast track bill to allow Obama to facilitate/negotiate the super secret trade agreements designed to destroy our sovereignty and impoverish the global population to enrich the few I have decided to encourage that very use as avatars and profile pictures.
Feel free to order them as embroidered badges too but please share the images far and wide to get the message out there!
the greek people are probably thinking we are fucked whichever option we choose but at least we are choosing, not people whose only care is getting their interest paid, and paid and paid…
To state the bleedin’ obvious (and before Gosman and other trolls start their lies) this situation was inherited by the current Greek government, not caused by it.
by previous governments just kowtowing to the banks and their threats… even with a small amount of push back the EU position has softened in the last months
Certainly looking that way. NRT has a good article on it:
As for what happens next, faced with a concrete threat of departure and a decision in the hands of voters rather than politicians, the EU has finally offered debt relief. So maybe there’ll be a better deal on the table by Sunday which the Greek government and people can accept. If not, and Greece is forced out of the Euro as punishment for debt, then I guess we’ll know that it is bankers and not elected politicians who run the EU.
I’d agree with that. We haven’t been in control our governments for some time and so I expect that Greece will be forced out of the Euro and that the banksters will then demand, and get, sanctions on Greece.
NZ polity being sliced for steaks while still alive! National Party being accused of cruel and unusual punishment by suffering citizens!
Government is not interested in assisting citizens with services, information, advice and standards for guidance as to best practice and legality. You are on your own mate, don’t bother us with your requests and needs. They are nice to haves, but not essential in our National Party and neo liberal view.
National has been given a mandate? by about half of NZ citizens, who appear to be either or both stupid and venal, to divest itself of the proper and expected roles of serving its citizens needs. National is considering selling large blocks of state houses and lands that are of national importance with the most infantile and pathetic reason (and I don’t think that reason is the right word here.)
The Government doesn’t consider it can improve the lives of tenants so it will abandon them to a kindly Australian provider, which will also become a foreign owner with a large stake in NZ residential land. And we just get a large stake through our hearts.
Quote – Housing New Zealand Minister Bill English has said the Government would sell to anyone who could improve the lives of tenants. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/277415/australian-purchase-may-have-benefits-key
Government is limiting R&D in science, and reducing the spectrum of research. It is reducing facilities, now it is cutting into Landcare. They are changing research direction and looking more at water reform and we know why that is of heightened interest, while other topics are less important. And there is likely to be a reduction at head office in Christchurch. Do I divine that water research is a sensitive matter for Christchurch? http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/277437/jobs-to-go-at-landcare
I looked on google for information to help decisions on my house insurance value and got – Estimated building costs data
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment no longer provides data on estimated values for building work. from the Building division now under Mobie, and the advice now is to consult a quantity surveyor. There is no basic background advice now for the citizen available there, and earlier it was only aimed at helping local authorities.
There are offices in Nelson for government departments with notices that these are not open for public use or consultation.
Steaks or stakes – we are being carved up by National. And it is hurting us! Can’t anything be done to stop this villainous government from reducing us to an early 1900’s condition, from strip-mining us, from asset stripping our country, and massively benefitting those in the loop who are hustling our public goods and serivces????
Disclosure of Interest: I have just wondered how Scoop is getting on and looked up to find out how their campaign is progressing. I am considering supporting by giving a reasonable amount.
Thanks Kiwiri
I have wondered and not got round to tracking Scoop’s latest down. I too think we should support it and at that amount it is a no brainer. Use it or lose it – support it. Same goes for Radionz which we don’t have to shell out for. But they do have replay radio, and that can be useful to get content and music which are good to pay for.
Years ago, I helped a little-known (at the time) organisation with an initiative. There was a media advisory that we wanted to put out but, importantly, we wanted it on a news-related webpage somewhere. We sent it to Scoop and, voila, within a few hours, it was up on their site. We were then able to refer to it in our other communications and publicity efforts.
There was no other avenue that could have done what we wanted then, and it was a bonus that Scoop was so quick. Surely that would have been worth more than a small advertisement column in the newspaper.
2014 Oscar-Winning Director Laura Poitras’ in-depth look at Edward Snowden, the man and the extraordinary repercussions for his courageous act of whisteblowing. Free download.
Do please download and watch and tell everybody you know to do the same.
[As far s I can ascertain, that documentary hasn’t been made available for free download by the makers. I’ve removed the link and would appreciate you don’t ever again use ‘the standard’ to promote direct links to illegal downloads] – Bill
I can’t believe that NZer’s are so thick as to overlook our Governments gifting of millions to a country that gifts to those who want to kill our soldiers? I thought we had a law about not giving to terrorist organisations? But isn’t that what our “Government” has just done in gifting a $10m bribe to people, who give to people, who want to kill us? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_Suppression_Act_2002
National has announced that they’ll allow private investors to cash in on mental health patients.
Banks and financial institutions will be paid a bonus by the government for funding mental health services.
This is National using vulnerable mental health patients as guinea pigs.
The details of these plans are yet to be decided by Cabinet. But if enough of us sign the open letter against this proposal, the Government will have to choose between listening to us, the people they’re elected to represent, or listening to investors looking for a profit from vital social services.
“2014 Oscar-Winning Director Laura Poitras’ in-depth look at Edward Snowden, the man and the extraordinary repercussions for his courageous act of whisteblowing. Free download.
Do please download and watch and tell everybody you know to do the same.”
Thats awesome (/sarc) – I know that a lot of people are not huge fans of IP rights or copyright.
But – Here is a group who have put something out that a lot on here would agree with at substantial cost – and you go ‘Great – lets just rip it off the net for free’ – How about if you want it but a copy of the bloody thing because you think its worth it – and tell everybody you know to do the same as opposed to pirated rips.
[Thanks for bringing my attention to that. Link removed from comment] – Bill
The link provided had no donate or pay button. The official site is https://citizenfourfilm.com/ and has no buy options from what I can see. Neither does it have any download links. People hitting torrents is one thing. Using ‘the standard’ to provide links to said torrents is quite another.
Thanks for doing the due diligence, Bill.
The worst possible thing is that I end up unknowingly downloading a virus or spyware, besides breaking the law.
It’s already played in NZ cinemas. It’s also available on various digital (legal) options in some parts of the world.
Now in theaters or on television in Austria, Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, New Zealand, and the United States. Opens in cinemas in Spain on 27 March 2015. Coming soon to festivals and more cinemas around the world and to television screens and digital platforms. Available now on HBO and HBO GO in the US and on iTunes from 24 April 2015; on iTunes in Canada; and, on Channel 4’s 4OD in the UK and on iTunes from 24 April 2015. In Germany, the film broadcasts on NDR in Spring 2015.
The fact that it’s played at the pictures and has been broadcast on TV or whatever makes no difference to the legality of downloading it as a torrent. If people want to torrent, then hey. But to use the standard to link to a torrent download is fucking crap and could likely land the site in the shit.
If Brigid wants to provide a legitimate link to a legitimate download, then all good.
yeah I got all that, I was just highlighing ways that people might be able to see it that benefited the filmmakers financially, which is possibly what James was on about (although it’s hard to tell).
Kaipara District Council ‘test case’ Whangerei District Court Tuesday
30 June 2015 10am.
________________________________________________________________________________
“For those with a concern about democracy in local government, tune in to the district court in Whangarei on 30 June 2015.
There, the Kaipara District Council is going to try to screw arrears of rates out of some ratepayers using illegal and incorrect rates demands as evidence.
The burning question in this case is whether councils have to comply with the law. They argue that they don’t, and that the law is there for ratepayers to obey, not them.
The defendants are putting up hundreds of instances of failure by this particular council to comply with mandatory provisions of the Local Government Rating Act.
Some of the failures by this council resulted in a special Act of Parliament in 2014 that swept a huge list of illegalities under the carpet. It was the worst piece of legislative chicanery ever perpetrated in New Zealand. But nothing changed, and the council, under appointed government hatchet men, carried on as before, piling illegality upon illegality.
Now they are hoping to use the judicial system to help them enforce illegal demands for money. It will be a huge test of the integrity of our system of justice, and if justice prevails, nothing will ever be the same again for Local Government in New Zealand.”
Forwarded in the public interest by Penny Bright, on behalf of those in Kaipara, who are fighting for their lawful rights, as citizens – NOT slaves – and are doing their best to hold the Kaipara District Council accountable to the ‘rule of law’.
(Who will be at the Whangerei District Court at 10 am 30 June 2015, in support, as an independent ‘anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.)
ADDRESS:
Whangerei District Court
105 Banks Street Whangerei
The reality is that money is a very useful medium of exchange (a social technology), material wealth is the goods and services (output) that we produce and enjoy, and that all output has a lifespan (very short in the case of services; slow depreciation in the case of a house).
A good read about the difference between money and the economy.
Quick predictions if Greece exits from Euro to the old Drachma:
1.Rapid devaluation of Drachma against major currencies.
2.That devaluation leading to skyrocketing inflation, making it much harder for citizens to buy things.
3.Capital flight (runs on banks), and a sharp increase in non-performing loans. Greek banks downgraded.
4.Some public sector and pension freezing of payments until there’s actual new cash around. Probably some social unrest about that.
5.Quite hard to get loans for a while, and those you can get are onerous in their terms. Makes it harder for businesses to function.
6.Harder to buy international commodities, so basics like food and petrol imports get tough for a while. A run on the supermarkets, and some social tension about that.
7.The above leading to further contraction of GDP.
8.A partial debt restructuring, but this time with only the IMF willing to deal.
9.Invasion of predatory foreign investors gaining, companies, properties, public utilities at really cheap prices. Foreign private control, in short.
10.Comparative diplomatic and economic isolation from Europe – leading it a little and forgotten country, with Turkey and Russia keen to ‘help’.
Not saying everyone’s playing nicely in this space, but there’s a bit of risk to it.
10.Comparative diplomatic and economic isolation from Europe – leading it a little and forgotten country, with Turkey and Russia keen to ‘help’.
It will still be a NATO and an EU country. Yes, first 2 or 3 years will be very tough on the population. But the Iceland experience is that after that, exchange rates and inflation will come under control very rapidly.
Spain, Portugal and Italy are countries to keep a close eye on.
@CV even the conservative media is sympathetic with Greeks !
“With his call for a sudden referendum, Alexis Tsipras outraged Europe’s elites, who detest nothing more than to be reminded of the will of the people”
Greece has debt defaulted multiple times in its modern history (four or five times since 1800 IIRC) so pretty sure they can handle another go at it. Yes Argentina remains an important warning for why a government should not denominate its debt in a currency that it does not control (US dollars).
Argentina was doing fine until some unscrupulous arseholes got hold of some bonds that had been defaulted upon and took them to court over it in an American Court which should not have jurisdiction over another nation at all ever.
If Greece do exit the Euro and go back to the Drachma I think there’ll be a short period of confusion and then the economy will start to pick up again as money starts flowing.
That’s because the money that’s being printed is going to the rich who use it for financial speculation rather than buying anything or investing in producing anything. In other words, they use it to chase bubble gains on the stock market and housing. Inevitably, this doesn’t produce the flow of money that’s needed to get the economy moving.
If the central banks had printed the same amount and given it as a weekly grant to each individual their economies would be booming by now.
It’s not just a question of what is done but how it’s done.
of course there’s risk. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They have sky rocketing unemployment, they are being told they have to reduce wages to public servants and reduce pensions further. IF they are going to be plunged into poverty, perhaps its better if they choose the path to it…
A number of countries who have lent money to Greece actually are charging little interest and don’t need the money all paid back soon but it impacts the “books” so they are pushing now.
That’s a really good point: it’s all very well to predict doom and gloom if they leave the Euro, but staying in just creates a different kind of doom and gloom for the most vulnerable citizens.
Ad’s line about Russia and Turkey being keen to “help” was interesting: Greece and Turkey are NATO members, but regional competitors (Cyprus coming to mind). Quid pro quo there.
Russia, on the other hand, would also be keen to leverage the opportunity to
a)weaken NATO; and
b)maybe get access to a friendly-ish and stable port in the Med (wishlist).
“This Government’s approach to economic development seems to be to grow the salaries of New Zealanders one government executive at a time,” Labour Party economic development spokesman David Clark says.
That seems to be at least partly true.
Mr Clark says he has been given figures from MBIE showing the ministry is paying staff more than ever, with 196 now above $150,000. The average Kiwi earns about $50,000 a year.
“That’s where we can see that the Government has become arrogant and out of touch,” he says.
But will Labour call for a maximum public servant salary of $100,000 including MP, ministers and people who work for SOEs and other companies with significant(>50%) government shareholding?
But the extra cash is normal to remain competitive and retain “the right people” in the market, MBIE chief executive David Smol said in a statement to ONE News.
Greedy RWNJs are not the right people for public service.
A source close to me says the same pressure has been applied to Radio NZ. Unfortunately for Mr Lung (Ms Collins husband) Winston Peters will be highlighting the shady Kaui swamp trade tonight on Native Affairs, expect this to flow over into the parliament this week during oral question time.
Little wonder the public are suspect when large political donations are made and accepted, they think ‘there is always a catch.’
But they are not even “carved” – just “painted”! I could not believe Flavell could be so compromised – but he obviously is – also evidence his support for the state housing sell off as well. Unbelievable. What is he getting – apart from a nice car and a fat salary?
I’ve been reminded of that ever since the MP joined up with the Nats. Yep, the modern day equivalent is minor ministerial responsibilities (under the Nats M for M. Affairs is a minor portfolio) but with ministerial salaries and free travel expenses. I recall Pita Sharples explaining some years ago he couldn’t stand down as M for M.A. because he’d just bought a bigger house.
“Looks to me like the modern day equivalent of blankets, beads and whiskey”
That’s pretty patronising to the natives there CV.
From what I understand, local iwi have developed a profitable business from a local resource. I don’t like it, and I think it’s abhorrent and immoral, but I can also see why Flavell would be supportive.
I’d also like to point out that NZ still imports old growth timber from places like Canada for building with. When we (a) stop being hypocrites, and (b) honour the treaty properly, then we can probably take the moral high ground.
Oh nonsense, it’s not about the ‘moral high ground’; the chief considerations are the economic, social, environmental, and long-term interests of New Zealand, and this trade is deleterious to those factors.
The valid reasons I see for opposing it are environmental, cultural and spiritual. Economically it makes sense to do what those landowners are doing. If we want iwi to not do this, then perhaps we should think about why they are doing it. Some here think it’s plain greed, and it might be, but let’s not forget the cultural context.
The point about our imports stands. Unless you are saying we get to protect our iwn environment while contributing to the destruction of the environment elsewhere.
It depends on your view of economics and that’s why I included ‘long-term’ as a consideration. I’m also factoring in employment and regional development.
As for: ‘are you saying we get to protect our own environment…’? You could use that argument for doing nothing in NZ about climate change. It’s certainly not what I’m arguing, but I’m realistic about we can hope to influence.
It’s not just the cultural context that makes this issue impervious to the social and long-term factors many of us value, but the short-sighted economic system of exploitation.
Essentially, though, I was only pointing out that most people’s objections relate to those factors, rather than any claim on the moral high ground.
I don’t think people object on economic grounds. They object because they consider the environmental aspects (but how come we import old growth timber?), and they object because kauri has significant cultural importance. Some (myself included) object because of the objectification of nature that is going on.
My main point here is that the argument around economics for the good of NZ is hard to make in the face of iwi taking control of their own economies.
Well, in the media coverage I have followed, such as Morning Report, stakeholders are putting forward economic and regional development arguments, weka.
There are certainly other considerations too, and they do not involve the ‘moral high ground’.
I can see the economic argument, I just don’t think it’s as important as the others, and as I’ve said several times now, which you are ignoring, there are distinct problems with making economic arguments about what iwi are doing.
as fas as I can tell your point is that there are multiple compelling arguments for why this kauri mining shouldn’t be happening, none of which I disagree with.
Swamp kauri is special and shouldn’t be sold overseas as part of the gold rush to strip NZ of all its assets quickly before anyone can gather knowledge and energy to protest. The Roger Douglas method again.
One of the reasons that huia was finally wiped out was that they were in demand and Maori could sell feathers and birds and then also hunted them in greater numbers to wear their feathers at a Royal visit. In the rush the breeding populations that remained were decimated.
The conservationists say that digging for swamp kauri is destructive to swamplands which have been found to be important environmental areas. It is bad that this material isn’t legally controlled so that it is conserved for Maori in New Zealand to use if they wish over the years. At present, from comments made by concerned people, it seems that it’s virtually being mined out and hocked off overseas for a fast buck.
Predation by introduced mammals and, to a lesser extent, human hunting, was the likely cause of huia extinction. Large areas of native forest containing huia were logged or burned in the 1800s to make way for farming, but this would have caused a modest range reduction rather than being a major contributor to their extinction. Maori traditionally prized and wore huia tail feathers as a mark of status. Tail feathers became fashionable in Britain after the Duke of York was photographed wearing one during a 1901 visit to New Zealand. Overseas bird collectors and museums bought mounted specimens and tail feathers. Austrian naturalist Andreas Reischek took 212 pairs between 1877 and 1889. New Zealand naturalist Walter Buller recorded that 11 Maori hunters took 646 huia skins from forest between Manawatu Gorge and Akitio during one month in 1863. Gilbert Mair recorded eating “a splendid stew of Huia, Kaka, Pigeons & Bacon” with Buller at a bush camp in Wairarapa, October 1883, after shooting 16 huia and capturing live birds. Thousands of huia were exported overseas. Protection measures enacted in the 1890s were poorly enforced. Two male birds kept at London Zoo in the 1880s died in captivity. Plans to transfer huia to Kapiti and Little Barrier island reserves never eventuated. A pair captured in 1893 for transfer to Little Barrier was acquired by Walter Buller and apparently sent to Baron Walter Rothschild in England.
thanks for that marty. As I understand it, once NZ native birds were in danger of extinction, the pressure for specimens increased, everyone wanted one before they were gone. The kauri sales seems similar to me, it’s a form of colonisation.
@martymars
This bit gives me a pain in the heart.. It is one example of sticking a stake through the remaining huia by pakeha,as weka comments. A pair captured in 1893 for transfer to Little Barrier was acquired by Walter Buller and apparently sent to Baron Walter Rothschild in England.
If that Buller was the one who specialised in studying the birds here – well how mercenary of him to offer sacrifices of huia to someone who no doubt was giving philanthropic funding. However we know that there are different sorts of philanthropy, think of Talley being made a Sir with his ‘philanthropy’ being a major part.
I am a pro environment advocate. I am also opposed to the export of Kauri in an unprocessed, value added state BUT as an owner of Maori Land myself, I fully sympathise with people who have such an asset and object to other people telling them that their swamp kauri is a taonga and must be protected for everyone. A lot of the lands that whanau, hapu and iwi were allowed to retain post 1840, were then and are now, insufficient for supporting a whanau, inaccessible, or ‘protected’ from development by paternalistic governments and enthusiastic ‘conservationists.’
Along with my whanau, I hold shares in several blocks of native timbers. We have been offered a pittance to refrain forever from any sustainable harvest in the nation’s interest. In one particular block, we received approximately $4000 to refrain from any logging, to manage the land as if it were, in effect, a national park. That was divided between all the shareholders and my mother received approximately $200.00. That was recompense forever. My great, great grandmother, my great grandmother and my grandfather received nothing. My siblings and I, my son, niece and nephews will receive nothing nor will my mokopuna or her mokopuna so tourists and the 1% can pat themselves on the back for ‘saving’ native forest. Everyone else expects tp have a lot of say about what belongs to us!
This is slightly dated but deals with some of the issues in Te Wai Pounamu pertaining to SILNA forests.
As I say, I am not pro logging or exporting raw swamp kauri but I urge people to also consider the viewpoint of those who want to capitalise on an asset for their whanau. What alternatives are being offered them? Poverty so that people with no skin in the game pat themselves on the back and doing down the lazy Maori who just want houndouts all the time?
Of course, I do not condone the illegality of the export company not converting the kauri into tangible goods. I hope they get prosecuted but I am not holding my breath.
AH, but that would cut across the ‘full and final settlement’ mentality that Crown negotiators always seem to come equipped with as their first and final position.
I totally agree, not because my family is interested in getting money every year, but because of the principle involved.
Thank you for the detailed explanation above Hateatea. It’s these stories that are largely missing from the non-Māori communities in NZ but need to be heard and understood if we want to stop things like the export of kauri.
Too often it is seen as greed by the owners but the reality is, that there has often never been meaningful income from the land. It is very difficult to turn down money when it is offered if that means an upgrade to the house or more food on the table, even if it is only for a brief period of time.
We as a whanau don’t need the income but have some resentment to the attitude that it is for the ‘good of the nation’.
I totally agree about the ‘good of the nation’ lines. Kaitiakitanga is not understood very well by our society. The mana of say a waterway was determined by the resources available for the people not how pretty it looked. The resources available directly related to the mana of the people who protected and interrelated with that waterway, and this was utilised when others came around, ie the mana was expressed by the ability of tangata whenua to provide for the visitors.
In todays world the concepts are still there but we have the added complication of money added in.
My whānau too has land in the deep south – but no resources from that – what do you think that says about our mana. I blame the government :).
It often amazes me the different standards applied to indigenous people verses others and all so the middle class can see a pretty view amongst the devastation they caused. Seems like a similar argument to climate change – the western nations have reaped and now they want everyone else to tighten their belts meanwhile they blithely continue on their extravagant planet killing ways.
@Hateatea
I believe still that it is a mistake for hapu to sell off this kauri which is a rare taonga. I know that it is difficult for iwi to get income and jobs and even start their own businesses. But this kauri timber reflects your past history, and your relationship with the land. Considering these things have helped Maori remain strong and fight for their culture, and their pride, and self-belief. And also apparently its extraction badly affects environmentally valuable wetlands. If irreplacable taonga for a quick buck, it is carved away from the people and the land who would no longer have it to draw on over the years for special occasions. Not selling out long term assets in short term desperation is why Northland Maori are objecting to oil drilling there.
Pakeha, since we first arrived, have caused difficulties for Maori to retain their culture, their resources, make a good living, keep self-respect and progress. Negative results from actions were often foreseen and even intentional, and only strong and determined, culturally bound Maori leaders and activists have ensured that the people have survived culturally. When the Treaty was invoked and resurrected it was only because of strength and determination from Maori to reveal truths of fault and gain some redress.
Maori will continue to stay determined to progress and hold onto their culture and mana, and I think are showing us all how to be staunch and struggle to retain the ‘heart’ of the country. A major part of Maori progress will be to get back to a community with working enterprises where people can make a living, establish small businesses and give training for jobs for both young and mature.
Economic development professionals with an interest in co-operative style, employment rich and sustainable businesses need to be central, listening to and advising the keen aspirational people in each local area. There are many young trained Maori getting into business. As local economic development grows accompanied by strategic thinking about the strengths of each area with cautious investment and strong business management, the successes will multiply.
When Maori effectively manage their lives and conditions they will do better than under present regimes with government offering minimum survival assistance, some Maori making themselves wealthy individually but not enabling others also in well managed co-operative ways, and the occasions for loan sharks and retail businesses to hock off impulse goods at high prices with credit traps that bind people with debt will plummet.
I wanted to add more to my piece on Maori development but the system wouldn’t let me in though there was plenty of time left.
I thought it important that any ventures that Maori kickstart to build local enterprise should be financed from within NZ, not with overseas money, and preferably the finance should come from locals so that revenue occurs locally and profits remain for investment in the area rather than become a debt to an overseas entity.
This is where Maori and pakeha views on conservation tend to do differ. Pakeha take the approach that they’ve damaged the land so much since they arrived that any conservation land has to remain untouched and restored back to a pristine paradise. Obviously this is the mantra that the DOC follows. Maori however who were more accustomed to living with their environment want use of that land in a customary way like their ancestors did. You can see proof of that with the latest story about kereru still being caught for food.
In rural Maori communities with Maori owned land they have a huge opportunity I think to create sustainable communities where they don’t have to import any resources. They’ve got essential knowledge in food production going back to their ancestors. Tie that in with an export industry say in cropping and you’ve got a great low cost business model. These types of things probably already happen a lot in Maori communities anyway (not that I’m an expert).
Maori have every right to make money off the land they have, I guess I see the export of kauri logs as a bad way to do it. There are sustainable ways to do it, but I think digging up any existing wetlands and destroying them once and for all for very valuable logs is just short sighted. Sure that might create millions of dollars, but once that money goes you’re back with the initial problem of making a living again.
Newsflash: tory trool linkwhores a shallow regurgitation of an already-discussed propaganda release that doesn’t match the data it supposedly refers to.
I hated Brussel Sprouts as a kid, I would regurgitate them, nearly puke! My parents would make me eat them, until I devised a plan. I decided I had a runny nose, and when I blew into my napkin, I spewed the sprouts out of my mouth into the large napkin, and hid the evidence in this napkin! Then I put it on my lap, and then eventually was able to flush it down the toilet! I remember being very proud of my clever plan, as it was so successful! When there is a will I suppose there is a way!
Strangely enough, now, as an adult, steamed with sesame oil, they are just delicious!
Drop them into boiling water for only a couple of minutes then stop their cooking with cold water. Cut them in half or quarters and toss into a pan with butter and garlic. Or for those who have no objections to bacon, fry off some finely chopped bacon, add the garlic then toss in the halved brussel sprouts. Either way they are vastly superior to the mushy overcooked ones we mostly had to eat when we were kids. Always happy to see them reappear each winter.
That sounds nice Prickles and healthy too. Thanks I want to make myself eat more greens. Turning them into a dish and not a side helping would do it.
About overcooked greens. One old lady told me she always cooked cabbage for 15 minutes. I could visualise the flaccid, pale, clear strands dripping water. It’s a nice green too, when just lightly cooked.
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
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It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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.“$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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
This tone-deaf singer would have been shafted if he’d dared to enter American Idol
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/06/26/obama-sings-amazing-grace-during-pinckney-eulogy-sot-nr.cnn
How Simon would have reacted to the horror….
http://mrwgifs.com/simon-cowell-dead-stare-reaction-gif/
You miss the point, Morrissey. This was a President expressing emotion, and hope for the future. Gun control is an emotional issue, and will not be resolved by reason alone – many supporters of carrying guns have no reason. In a world where a leader, whether a politician or business leader, is admired for being ruthless, where caring for others is a weakness, where children are discouraged from competing unless they can be a winner – or in singing be as good as they hear from professionals, where if you cannot be certain who to vote for you are encouraged to not vote, where politics is something we try to keep off our TV/entertainment systems, where all politicians lie, cheat and indulge in the activities described in Dirty Politics, where success ins measured in dollars, it does us good to see a Leader expressing emotion over the loss of innocent citizens gunned down by a deranged young person, and speaking of trying to prevent similar people from similar future folly, it is good to see that Obama believes something can be done if American voters want it enough. we need hope in this world, and the peddlers of “might is right” would deny us that hope.
If you care about anything, Morrissey, you will know that such caring involves emotion as well as reason – it does not have to be perfect on its own, but together we can make the sounds that lead us to a better world, where people can have a decent life without being in ear of being shot, of not having food or shelter, that children can have reasonable equal opportunity to succeed regardless of the wealth of their parents, that your vote will be as valued as a voter in any other electorate, that you are part of our community and your views do matter.
Have hope, Morrissey, have both reason and emotion, and understand that you too can make a contribution even if you are not perfect.
This is the same President who every week greenlights the drone strikes in far away lands which have killed thousands of civilians including children, yes?
Then he probably should have vetoed Citizens United which allowed corporations unlimited spending of big money into election campaigns.
How could he have ‘vetoed’ Citizens United, CV? He’s the President, not a Supreme Court judge.
Fair point, and Obama has only had a chance to put two justices on to the bench thus far.
The President can’t exactly veto a supreme court decision…
Indeed
The best a President can do is nominate a Supreme Court judge that will pledge to overturn the ruling when the next one dies or retires. I believe Democrats have pledged to do this, as they also do it for things like abortion. (they will not nominate a judge who will ban abortion, for example)
The White House is fully capable of passing law that violates the constitution. It is active and in-effect until such time as it is struck down by the Supreme Court.
I don’t think there’s any precedent for the White House deliberately passing a law that the SCOTUS has already said violates the constitution, though, but theoretically there’s no reason they couldn’t.
Also, they could pass a law that has the same effect of declaring companies are not people, just do it in a different way to the previous law so that it can’t be declared unconstitutional.
There is currently a group attempting to have a constitutional ammendment introduced to remove big money from politics. Check out wolfpac.com. Essentially they have to get a large number of the states to pass a constitutional amendment bill. Once enough states have ratified it it is passed into law.
The other way to do it would be through legislation in the house to introduce the amendment but with all the money flowing into it there is no chance of that happening in the near future.
I imagine if this wolfpac thing continues to churn along as it is eventually the house will see what is coming and introduce the amendemnt themselves so they don’t have to wear the backlash of being forced into making the change by the states.
Correct link is wolf-pac.com
Aside from the fact that the White House is empowered to pass laws, but only to faithfully execute those laws as Congress makes from time to time.
The cleverest scheme to effectively “amend” the constitution is a law that a number of states have passed specifying that, in a presidential election, that states electors must support the popular vote winner in the electoral college if a critical mass of other states have also passed the same law.
is not ^
Ed. I have to agree with you. Obama wasn’t on American Idol. For any failings he may have, his not very good attempt at singing was for different reasons perhaps honourable and was in a different context from the one conjured up by Morrisey.
…his not very good attempt at singing was for different reasons perhaps honourable
Obama oversees a campaign of torture, mayhem and terror from Africa to Syria and Iraq. He, or his henchmen, have pursued, persecuted and imprisoned peace advocates and journalists from within the United States and from overseas. He has signed off on a large number of extrajudicial—i.e., illegal—assassinations.
Unless he’s a complete moral imbecile, Obama was as aware as anyone who cringed throughout his execrable sub-karaoke horror in Charleston, that he is perhaps the most inappropriate person in the world to be preaching a message of peace. To paraphrase the great George Michael, guilty vocal chords ain’t got no sweetness.
You can tell it’s Monday, the PM’s giving his weekly trainwreck interview with Espiner on Morning Report.
An absolute shocker! *He talks in circles with his tongue *A line from a song about a liar by Meghan Train or.
Couldn’t find it on replay radio. Maybe there was nothing to record?
This one, I think this one but I am not looking forward to hearing it:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201760266/foreign-buyers-eyeing-up-state-house-sell-off
or
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20150629-0720-foreign_buyers_eyeing_up_state_house_sell-off-048.mp3
Thanks Kiwiri. A sad interview though 🙁
Hey Aren’t we sad that Craig and Stringer didn’t get elected and are helping to organise our country ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11472754
Kiwis not ripped off over milk price: Key
“Overseas markets were causing high prices for milk at home, Mr Key told Paul Henry this morning.
HUH – the milk prices at auction have NOT fallen then. Dairy farmers will be pleased.
“A price war at the moment in the UK is causing that.” (The high prices)
But don’t price wars cause price falls
Good to see the market works then!!
Prices aren’t set by international sales but by how much the market that the product is being sold into can bear. That means that the prices go up until sales drop and then prices will fixate around that price. Competition may be able to lower the price (I have my doubts about that because increased competition increases bureaucracy) because the competition would be after increased market share but it’s not happening because of Fonterra – other companies just can’t build up enough of a market share here to get the economies of scale and importing would cost more than buying from Fonterra.
So if importing milk costs more than buying from Fonterra, the price must be about right, or competitors would be doing that?
Not necessarily. Just because it’s at the maximum price that the market will bear doesn’t mean that it’s at the price that it should be at as at that price it’s inevitably over priced.
Confusing stuff, so how is it inevitably over priced, if the market will bear that price and it cant be sorced cheaper via overseas or other competitors?
It’s over priced because the price is set at greater than the cost to supply it.
If a large percentage of dairy farms are not getting paid by Fonterra, their cost of production, and Fonterras own share value has dropped by a huge amount in the last two years, I cant see how milk is set at a greater cost than the cost to supply?
someone in the supply chain is “milking” the situation (excuse the pun). I’d say its Fonterra doing their usual thing of extracting maximum money out of NZ consumers, and smaller dairy companies happy to go along with those retail prices as it benefits them too.
I wonder how much the supermarkets buy a 2L container of milk for.
Well if it is Fonterra milking the situation they are doing a poor job of it, they cant even pay the farmers cost too supply.
And they are shedding staff at an alarming rate, as well as share value.
Non sequitur (logic)
Logic does not follow huh, OK then fill me in what is the cost of supply for milk and whats happening to the money, if Fonterra and farmers are not getting any?
/facepalm
I’m really not sure if you’re that stupid or just trying to derail the thread.
But, I’ll put it this way. Fonterra shouldn’t be subsidising their offshore losses from NZ consumers.
+1
Kiwi milk consumers just can’t win, excuses for high milks prices previously were high international milk solids prices effecting the domestic market. Then when the arse fell out of the international market we got the excuse the domestic market was different.
Shearer is making some noise on the issue which makes me wonder if he is also considering a crack at the title of becoming his worship the Mayor of Auckland?
:
Buy the budget stuff. It’s all the same shit anyway.
Yes, only the packaging is different. Pretty much the same with butter – buy the cheapest and skip paying extra for the branding.
I do better than that, we buy local farm gate milk, it is cheaper and is the good stuff Dennis. I gave cheese and butter away years ago, no regrets there and replaced them with fresh salads most days. Whole grain bread with the occasional home made garlic bread. Healthy eating isn’t cheap which cuts out many people and we aren’t encouraged like other countries who drop GST/VTA. Apparently part of the difference between our milk and AUS & UK is tax, something the bumbling fool Shearer missed in his excitement to kick farmers in the guts.
Oh … so milk is exempted from the 20% VAT in the UK and the 10% GST in Oz ?
Seems so, at least in the UK context.
“Food and drink for human consumption is usually zero-rated but some items are standard-rated, including alcoholic drinks, confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks, hot food, sports drinks, hot takeaways, ice cream, soft drinks and mineral water.”
https://www.gov.uk/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services
yes. Only processed food is taxed in Oz. Vegetables and meat etc is gst free. One of the reasons for placing gst on everything here was that it would make it far too difficult to administer – which as overseas experience shows – is complete bollocks.
Yep computers, spreadsheets, bar code systems make the organisation of this kind of thing bloody easy ffs
Funny how there is no adminstrative problem with different supermarket pricing of booze when the alcohol tax goes up but which doesn’t affect any other products in store etc.
Something else other than milk, but while on GST, it looks like Aussie women pay $30m more tax than men.
Given their system of GST exemption on ‘essential products’ and in the interest of gender fairness, tampons and sanitary napkins should be GST-free:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-26/tampon-tax-tony-abbottsays-no-federal-push-removing-gst/6498230
Tony’s cabinet has only one female? The Afghani cabinet has more than that.
Yeah but that’s Tony Abbott! He has even less social awareness than Key – and that is saying something.
He made himself Womens Affairs Minister so what would you expect
One only has to look at accounting software that are able to handle those components of a business expenses that has GST attached to them and those that doesn’t to know the argument it is too difficult to administer is complete bollocks, and since one of those is a NZ company, than no one can hide behind the ‘NZ firms don’t have the knowledge’ bollocks either.
FFS, if it was possible to have a period of two levels of GST, why can’t you have GST and none?
exactly, its totally a smokescreen for lazy governing (from both Labour and National)
Not only that; the removal of GST on essential items such as meat and vegetables would help those who live with a very meagre income to buy good food rather than forcing them to buy the processed and unhealthy food, as they are now forced to do, because cheap and nasty food is the cheapest.
So do we Skinny. Yummy!…. and the cream! Enough to make your own butter and cheese. 🙂
When you hear how Fonterra milk is created – you wouldn’t want it anyway!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9310148/Tests-show-milk-clear-of-Roundup-used-for-silage
Note that it was the dairy industry who did the tests to assure us that it is perfectly ok!
The article says that it has no effect on the health of the animal – how would they know? Cows’ natural life expectancy is 20 years or more, but the average dairy cow lives just 3 to 4 years, exhausted by constant lactation and frequent disease.
Jolly good to hear Marco I enjoy my farm gate milk with my porridge and fruit in the morning, sets me up for the day!
Don’t usually agree with you infused but its the same with bread. The cheapest budget bread has the same minerals, protein goodies as the expensive heavily advertised breads. Tastes the same too.
I can’t see many families being able to afford the ten pints a day we used as a family…..oh, I nearly forgot. Milk was subsidised in those days, the rationale being that milk was an ESSENTIAL for families ( as were affordable houses, and jobs to pay them off with).
I just gave milk up , all the stiffness in my spin and joints went in 3 days, my skins better and the kilos are falling off. Now it would be fair to say I have a high maintenance plumbing system (guts) but it makes me wonder how good milk really is.
An interesting read on that topic can be found in the NZ book: The Devil in the Milk by Keith Woodford.
He outlines the reasons why A2 milk was less harmful to humans, and how our dairy herds are predominantly A1. Many years ago I read an article regarding the higher incidence of African American obesity and heart attacks being linked to dairy consumption. (Unfortunately, can’t remember where it was, I was looking into the impact of food consumption on learning disorders at the time).
I don’t think that milk consumption is necessarily of benefit to all, and depending on genetics – can actually be detrimental to health.
Keith Woodford’s blog has some interesting comments on his A1 and A2 articles.
Pretty much. I cut milk, bread and potatos… did a wonder of good. Mainly cutting the bread out. Horrible shit… well actually it’s delicious, but horrible for the body.
Even as a child I never liked milk and refused to drink it straight. The only time I drank milk was when it was in my tea or coffee. Since I now have the choice of soy milk I’ve dropped cow milk out of my diet completely and I too feel much better now.
I was raised on it straight from the cow and had no health problems as a kid but it has been good going off it physically and mentally. Same goes for gluten so some of these things seem to come on with age.
I miss beer pies and ice cream 🙁
Was the milk as a kid raw? I do much better on raw milk. I get similar stiffness etc as you if I drink processed milk or other dairy.
Yes whole milk as it comes ,still warm if we took a cup to the shed.
nice. I hated raw milk as a child but didn’t grow up with it. It was simply that it tasted so different to what I was used to. Love it now.
immune system reactivity
cow milk proteins good for baby cows not good for people
“cow milk proteins good for baby cows not good for people”
Yea. No other animal except for rats and some other scavengers consume another creature’s milk.
no other animals cook food either. Or do lots of things that humans do uniquely. It’s a daft argument esp when you look at the cultures that have very good health outcomes that consume milk.
Actually, I believe that a number of wild monkeys have been observed to cook their food and use tools.
That I’d agree with but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be some people who would be better off never consuming milk.
oh definitely, lots of people who do badly on any kind of milk, and lots who do badly on processed milk. Including people who aren’t genetically adapted.
That’s not NZ though, is it.
you can buy raw milk in NZ CV.
Sure and it makes up what – less than 1% of all milk sold in NZ?
Hey weka, you’re gonna love this! Admittedly, Kanzi didn’t make his own matches, but still, wow!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQcN7lHSD5Y
lolz trp, there’s always one pedant ;-p
Humans don’t usually greet each other the way Bonobos do either.
“no other animals cook food either.”….so?
Lots of people do well on milk as adults in a traditional diet. There are cultures for whom (raw) milk is a staple. Saying milk is for baby cows doesn’t make sense in that context (and not all milk comes from cows).
we’re talking about cows milk in this thread unless a specific remark has been made otherwise that you can point me to; also I did not intend my remarks to be applied to milk in all its forms processed or unprocessed, but just to cows milk from the supermarket.
I was referring to the NZ context
yes cow’s milk, but the argument is made that human adults shouldn’t drink milk from other species because of the species and infant/adult issues, not because of which animal it comes from.
“but just to cows milk from the supermarket.”
I have no problem with that being named as a problematic food for many people 😉 I do have a problem with milk being labeled as inherently bad though. It’s not.
Is there any food that is not a problematic food for some/many people?
Is there any food that is inherently bad?
Brussels sprouts😨
Brussel Sprouts are evil.
I could eat brussel sprouts till the cows come home 🙂
Seriously, I really love the taste of brussel sprouts – they have a real taste, not like so many insipid foods that people tell me they enjoy – e.g., tofu (I know, I know, it can be so, so tasty if only you do x, y or z with it … but then I also have no sense of smell).
Most milk products make me gag (especially thick, slimy ones like cream, whole cream milk, custard, etc.). Truly evil foods.
Even more seriously, lactose intolerance is the standard human condition .
One unfortunate consequence was that it allowed herding cultures (often male dominated because of the reliance on animals that could be ‘owned’ – a surplus to be dominated tends to create social hierarchies) to displace hunter-gatherer cultures with greater sex egalitarianism.
As the first linked article mentions, milk drinking may have given up to a 19% advantage in fertility which meant rapid displacement of non-drinking populations. Once again, quantity of lives swamps quality of lives. It’s a recurring pattern in human history/prehistory.
Even more seriously, lactose intolerance is the standard human condition.
Yep – so, bad luck for the standard human. There’s a reason why lactose tolerance spread so rapidly, and that reason is that it provided huge survival advantages over “the standard human condition.” Sure, if there’s any species on the planet that’s capable of feeling bad about an evolutionary advantage, it’s humans, but even so – why the fuck feel bad about an evolutionary advantage? We may not be subject to natural selection any more, but fucked if I’m going to assign moral value to genetics.
…the rationale being that milk was an ESSENTIAL for families ( as were affordable houses, and jobs to pay them off with).
Yep. Milk’s an awesome food. It’s used by zoologists as an example of how evolution affects humans, because lactose tolerance was one of the fastest-spreading human adaptations we know about. The reason it spread so fast is because the people who could drink it had a way higher survival rate into adulthood than the people who couldn’t. Every kid should have plenty of it available, preferably without the fat removed.
heart disease and immune disease material.
Really. So, we’re leaving out autism, ADHD and cancer, then? Surely it causes those too?
Drink it all you want, I’m not stopping you.
“heart disease and immune disease material.”
Any evidence of that in traditional diets that include raw milk (especially fermented)?
fermented milk products have always been traditionally regarded as more useful and healthy as many of the troublesome components in the milk are already partially broken down
There’s no evidence of it in modern diets either. Also, keep in mind that pasteurisation was invented for a really good reason and you are actually taking a risk drinking raw milk. I’m all for people taking whatever risks they want, as long as they know they’re taking one – the people selling raw milk sometimes don’t trouble themselves to provide that info.
raw milk became a public health problem when it was industrialised and dairy herds were kept and milked in unsanitary conditions in order to produce mass amounts of milk for a food supply chain.
“Every kid should have plenty of it available, preferably without the fat removed.”
I agree about the fat, but there are significant populations how aren’t genetically adapted to milk and lots of places in the world where milk was never drunk traditionally (i.e. it didn’t spread there).
Meh – they can drink what they like. Kids in this country should drink plenty, unless there’s some indication they lack the genes for it.
consider the milk isn’t a traditional food in Māori, Pasifica and many Asian cultures.
A Couple of months ago I a designed a series of badges. I embroider them to order. When I noticed people starting to use the images of them as avatars and profile pictures I was upset. A lot of work goes into designing them and my blog also takes up a fair amount of my time and I wanted to sell the badges and not have the images nicked for other purposes!
But with the passing of the fast track bill to allow Obama to facilitate/negotiate the super secret trade agreements designed to destroy our sovereignty and impoverish the global population to enrich the few I have decided to encourage that very use as avatars and profile pictures.
Feel free to order them as embroidered badges too but please share the images far and wide to get the message out there!
Thank you!
So is it the return of the Drachma and see ya Euro? Put it to the people.
http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/1987071c-14c8-11e5-9509-00144feabdc0.html
Cue an ill-informed Gosman diatribe in 3-2-1….
the greek people are probably thinking we are fucked whichever option we choose but at least we are choosing, not people whose only care is getting their interest paid, and paid and paid…
Just look at the pictures from Greece here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-28/ignoring-tsipras-plea-calm-greeks-storm-atms-stores-gas-stations
To state the bleedin’ obvious (and before Gosman and other trolls start their lies) this situation was inherited by the current Greek government, not caused by it.
Yep.
By loose borrowing and even looser lending.
by previous governments just kowtowing to the banks and their threats… even with a small amount of push back the EU position has softened in the last months
This article puts the negotiations in everyday perspective.
If the current situation for Greek people is a sign of the last five years’ austerity measures ‘working’ then I’d hate to see them not working.
Certainly looking that way. NRT has a good article on it:
I’d agree with that. We haven’t been in control our governments for some time and so I expect that Greece will be forced out of the Euro and that the banksters will then demand, and get, sanctions on Greece.
Whatever happens, I dont think we will get a happy ending.
Syriza made the mistake of thinking the EU was open to negotiation. It wasn’t. They wanted austerity at all costs.
NZ polity being sliced for steaks while still alive! National Party being accused of cruel and unusual punishment by suffering citizens!
Government is not interested in assisting citizens with services, information, advice and standards for guidance as to best practice and legality. You are on your own mate, don’t bother us with your requests and needs. They are nice to haves, but not essential in our National Party and neo liberal view.
National has been given a mandate? by about half of NZ citizens, who appear to be either or both stupid and venal, to divest itself of the proper and expected roles of serving its citizens needs. National is considering selling large blocks of state houses and lands that are of national importance with the most infantile and pathetic reason (and I don’t think that reason is the right word here.)
The Government doesn’t consider it can improve the lives of tenants so it will abandon them to a kindly Australian provider, which will also become a foreign owner with a large stake in NZ residential land. And we just get a large stake through our hearts.
Quote – Housing New Zealand Minister Bill English has said the Government would sell to anyone who could improve the lives of tenants.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/277415/australian-purchase-may-have-benefits-key
Government is limiting R&D in science, and reducing the spectrum of research. It is reducing facilities, now it is cutting into Landcare. They are changing research direction and looking more at water reform and we know why that is of heightened interest, while other topics are less important. And there is likely to be a reduction at head office in Christchurch. Do I divine that water research is a sensitive matter for Christchurch?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/277437/jobs-to-go-at-landcare
It is mucking around with scientific study of Agresearch shifting from Dunedin to Christchurch,they probably call it consolidating.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/275247/cannibalised-christchurch-cull
I looked on google for information to help decisions on my house insurance value and got – Estimated building costs data
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment no longer provides data on estimated values for building work. from the Building division now under Mobie, and the advice now is to consult a quantity surveyor. There is no basic background advice now for the citizen available there, and earlier it was only aimed at helping local authorities.
There are offices in Nelson for government departments with notices that these are not open for public use or consultation.
Steaks or stakes – we are being carved up by National. And it is hurting us! Can’t anything be done to stop this villainous government from reducing us to an early 1900’s condition, from strip-mining us, from asset stripping our country, and massively benefitting those in the loop who are hustling our public goods and serivces????
Patti Smith
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/28/patti-smith-at-glastonbury-2015-review-punk-rage-dalai-lama
Oh, that is fantastic! Thanks for posting the link, Marty. Hopefully some video of Patti’s set will turn up on the net soonish.
Horses is a fucking awesome album. Also her song Rock and Roll N1gger. Good stuff
I wonder if she still plays that one live? “Rock and Roll N-word” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Yep, still plays it regularly, most recently a month a go in Barcelona. http://www.setlist.fm/stats/patti-smith-73d6a2c9.html
Scoop: Building A Sustainable News Company For The People Of New Zealand
Pledge $16 (minimum) per annum to keep it going.
That’s about 3 lattes bought from a cafe for the whole year.
Do it today or tomorrow before the 1st July deadline:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1506/S00105/16-years-of-scoop-16-to-join-scoop-as-a-member-please-share-this.htm
Pledge your contribution at:
https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/3711-scoop-s-sweet-sixteenth-birthday-crowd-selling-campaign
Disclosure of Interest: I have just wondered how Scoop is getting on and looked up to find out how their campaign is progressing. I am considering supporting by giving a reasonable amount.
Thanks Kiwiri
I have wondered and not got round to tracking Scoop’s latest down. I too think we should support it and at that amount it is a no brainer. Use it or lose it – support it. Same goes for Radionz which we don’t have to shell out for. But they do have replay radio, and that can be useful to get content and music which are good to pay for.
Years ago, I helped a little-known (at the time) organisation with an initiative. There was a media advisory that we wanted to put out but, importantly, we wanted it on a news-related webpage somewhere. We sent it to Scoop and, voila, within a few hours, it was up on their site. We were then able to refer to it in our other communications and publicity efforts.
There was no other avenue that could have done what we wanted then, and it was a bonus that Scoop was so quick. Surely that would have been worth more than a small advertisement column in the newspaper.
2014 Oscar-Winning Director Laura Poitras’ in-depth look at Edward Snowden, the man and the extraordinary repercussions for his courageous act of whisteblowing. Free download.
Do please download and watch and tell everybody you know to do the same.
[As far s I can ascertain, that documentary hasn’t been made available for free download by the makers. I’ve removed the link and would appreciate you don’t ever again use ‘the standard’ to promote direct links to illegal downloads] – Bill
Apart from dozens of public beheadings every year, our governments’ (yes, intentionally plural) Saudi friends have been up to all kinds of dirty tricks, as recent Wikileaks reveal:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/wikileaks-exposes-saudi-dictatorships-dirty-tricks/
I can’t believe that NZer’s are so thick as to overlook our Governments gifting of millions to a country that gifts to those who want to kill our soldiers? I thought we had a law about not giving to terrorist organisations? But isn’t that what our “Government” has just done in gifting a $10m bribe to people, who give to people, who want to kill us?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_Suppression_Act_2002
Sign the open letter against Social Bonds :
National has announced that they’ll allow private investors to cash in on mental health patients.
Banks and financial institutions will be paid a bonus by the government for funding mental health services.
This is National using vulnerable mental health patients as guinea pigs.
The details of these plans are yet to be decided by Cabinet. But if enough of us sign the open letter against this proposal, the Government will have to choose between listening to us, the people they’re elected to represent, or listening to investors looking for a profit from vital social services.
http://action.labour.org.nz/social-bonds?utm_campaign=news_28_6_15&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nzlabour
“2014 Oscar-Winning Director Laura Poitras’ in-depth look at Edward Snowden, the man and the extraordinary repercussions for his courageous act of whisteblowing. Free download.
Do please download and watch and tell everybody you know to do the same.”
Thats awesome (/sarc) – I know that a lot of people are not huge fans of IP rights or copyright.
But – Here is a group who have put something out that a lot on here would agree with at substantial cost – and you go ‘Great – lets just rip it off the net for free’ – How about if you want it but a copy of the bloody thing because you think its worth it – and tell everybody you know to do the same as opposed to pirated rips.
[Thanks for bringing my attention to that. Link removed from comment] – Bill
Can’t quite make sense of that, but there’s nothing stopping the people who can afford it from buying a copy or making a donation.
Torrent isn’t that straight forward, lots of people still don’t use it so I would guess the film makers will still sell plenty of copies.
The link provided had no donate or pay button. The official site is https://citizenfourfilm.com/ and has no buy options from what I can see. Neither does it have any download links. People hitting torrents is one thing. Using ‘the standard’ to provide links to said torrents is quite another.
Thanks for doing the due diligence, Bill.
The worst possible thing is that I end up unknowingly downloading a virus or spyware, besides breaking the law.
It’s already played in NZ cinemas. It’s also available on various digital (legal) options in some parts of the world.
Now in theaters or on television in Austria, Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, New Zealand, and the United States. Opens in cinemas in Spain on 27 March 2015. Coming soon to festivals and more cinemas around the world and to television screens and digital platforms. Available now on HBO and HBO GO in the US and on iTunes from 24 April 2015; on iTunes in Canada; and, on Channel 4’s 4OD in the UK and on iTunes from 24 April 2015. In Germany, the film broadcasts on NDR in Spring 2015.
https://citizenfourfilm.com/see-the-film
The fact that it’s played at the pictures and has been broadcast on TV or whatever makes no difference to the legality of downloading it as a torrent. If people want to torrent, then hey. But to use the standard to link to a torrent download is fucking crap and could likely land the site in the shit.
If Brigid wants to provide a legitimate link to a legitimate download, then all good.
yeah I got all that, I was just highlighing ways that people might be able to see it that benefited the filmmakers financially, which is possibly what James was on about (although it’s hard to tell).
FYI ! Do Councils have to comply with the law?
Kaipara District Council ‘test case’ Whangerei District Court Tuesday
30 June 2015 10am.
________________________________________________________________________________
“For those with a concern about democracy in local government, tune in to the district court in Whangarei on 30 June 2015.
There, the Kaipara District Council is going to try to screw arrears of rates out of some ratepayers using illegal and incorrect rates demands as evidence.
The burning question in this case is whether councils have to comply with the law. They argue that they don’t, and that the law is there for ratepayers to obey, not them.
The defendants are putting up hundreds of instances of failure by this particular council to comply with mandatory provisions of the Local Government Rating Act.
Some of the failures by this council resulted in a special Act of Parliament in 2014 that swept a huge list of illegalities under the carpet. It was the worst piece of legislative chicanery ever perpetrated in New Zealand. But nothing changed, and the council, under appointed government hatchet men, carried on as before, piling illegality upon illegality.
Now they are hoping to use the judicial system to help them enforce illegal demands for money. It will be a huge test of the integrity of our system of justice, and if justice prevails, nothing will ever be the same again for Local Government in New Zealand.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
Forwarded in the public interest by Penny Bright, on behalf of those in Kaipara, who are fighting for their lawful rights, as citizens – NOT slaves – and are doing their best to hold the Kaipara District Council accountable to the ‘rule of law’.
(Who will be at the Whangerei District Court at 10 am 30 June 2015, in support, as an independent ‘anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.)
ADDRESS:
Whangerei District Court
105 Banks Street Whangerei
MAP:
https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/Department+for+Courts+-+Collections/@-35.7229497,174.3198682,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x33d312c2028d7a49
May Justice and the ‘rule of law’ prevail.
Money ‘As If’ it was Magic by Keith Rankin
A good read about the difference between money and the economy.
Quick predictions if Greece exits from Euro to the old Drachma:
1.Rapid devaluation of Drachma against major currencies.
2.That devaluation leading to skyrocketing inflation, making it much harder for citizens to buy things.
3.Capital flight (runs on banks), and a sharp increase in non-performing loans. Greek banks downgraded.
4.Some public sector and pension freezing of payments until there’s actual new cash around. Probably some social unrest about that.
5.Quite hard to get loans for a while, and those you can get are onerous in their terms. Makes it harder for businesses to function.
6.Harder to buy international commodities, so basics like food and petrol imports get tough for a while. A run on the supermarkets, and some social tension about that.
7.The above leading to further contraction of GDP.
8.A partial debt restructuring, but this time with only the IMF willing to deal.
9.Invasion of predatory foreign investors gaining, companies, properties, public utilities at really cheap prices. Foreign private control, in short.
10.Comparative diplomatic and economic isolation from Europe – leading it a little and forgotten country, with Turkey and Russia keen to ‘help’.
Not saying everyone’s playing nicely in this space, but there’s a bit of risk to it.
It will still be a NATO and an EU country. Yes, first 2 or 3 years will be very tough on the population. But the Iceland experience is that after that, exchange rates and inflation will come under control very rapidly.
Spain, Portugal and Italy are countries to keep a close eye on.
So, here on, it is from PIGS to PIS.
@CV even the conservative media is sympathetic with Greeks !
“With his call for a sudden referendum, Alexis Tsipras outraged Europe’s elites, who detest nothing more than to be reminded of the will of the people”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/11703745/Theres-method-in-Greeces-madness-it-could-pay-off.html
Hard to see either Greece or EU wanting to remain in membership.
Argentina still hasn’t recovered from its default.
Greece has debt defaulted multiple times in its modern history (four or five times since 1800 IIRC) so pretty sure they can handle another go at it. Yes Argentina remains an important warning for why a government should not denominate its debt in a currency that it does not control (US dollars).
Argentina was doing fine until some unscrupulous arseholes got hold of some bonds that had been defaulted upon and took them to court over it in an American Court which should not have jurisdiction over another nation at all ever.
If Greece do exit the Euro and go back to the Drachma I think there’ll be a short period of confusion and then the economy will start to pick up again as money starts flowing.
Half of Europe hasn’t recovered from the GFC 8 years ago, despite the banks printing money all over the place. No moment for optimism.
That’s because the money that’s being printed is going to the rich who use it for financial speculation rather than buying anything or investing in producing anything. In other words, they use it to chase bubble gains on the stock market and housing. Inevitably, this doesn’t produce the flow of money that’s needed to get the economy moving.
If the central banks had printed the same amount and given it as a weekly grant to each individual their economies would be booming by now.
It’s not just a question of what is done but how it’s done.
free printed money and capital gains for the top 0.1%; austerity and bedroom taxes for the bottom 90%.
“If the central banks had printed the same amount and given it as a weekly grant to each individual their economies would be booming by now”
You mean effectively giving everyone a Universal Basic Income – UBI. Now we’re talking!
of course there’s risk. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They have sky rocketing unemployment, they are being told they have to reduce wages to public servants and reduce pensions further. IF they are going to be plunged into poverty, perhaps its better if they choose the path to it…
A number of countries who have lent money to Greece actually are charging little interest and don’t need the money all paid back soon but it impacts the “books” so they are pushing now.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/69786141/how-did-the-greek-financial-crisis-happen
That’s a really good point: it’s all very well to predict doom and gloom if they leave the Euro, but staying in just creates a different kind of doom and gloom for the most vulnerable citizens.
Ad’s line about Russia and Turkey being keen to “help” was interesting: Greece and Turkey are NATO members, but regional competitors (Cyprus coming to mind). Quid pro quo there.
Russia, on the other hand, would also be keen to leverage the opportunity to
a)weaken NATO; and
b)maybe get access to a friendly-ish and stable port in the Med (wishlist).
Also Greece is a nice landing point for the ‘Turkish Stream’ gas pipeline to the EU.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/exclusive-ministry-24k-fridge-pays-staff-three-times-average-6348469
That seems to be at least partly true.
But will Labour call for a maximum public servant salary of $100,000 including MP, ministers and people who work for SOEs and other companies with significant(>50%) government shareholding?
Greedy RWNJs are not the right people for public service.
the old Yes Prime Minister line:
So much wastage in the corrupt dept. some heads should start rolling
I heard Collins partner was threatening the media over bad press. Looks like they forced an apology here;
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11472924
A source close to me says the same pressure has been applied to Radio NZ. Unfortunately for Mr Lung (Ms Collins husband) Winston Peters will be highlighting the shady Kaui swamp trade tonight on Native Affairs, expect this to flow over into the parliament this week during oral question time.
Little wonder the public are suspect when large political donations are made and accepted, they think ‘there is always a catch.’
*Mr Tung
*Kauri
🙂
Meanwhile the Tory-Maori Party leader comes out in support of the shady trade;
http://www.waateanews.com/Waatea+News.html?story_id=OTgwNA%3D%3D&v=413#.VYh0Bv7O10I.facebook
But they are not even “carved” – just “painted”! I could not believe Flavell could be so compromised – but he obviously is – also evidence his support for the state housing sell off as well. Unbelievable. What is he getting – apart from a nice car and a fat salary?
Looks to me like the modern day equivalent of blankets, beads and whiskey
Ha ha yip add a broken mirror to the list, self vainty. Fox is far more aloof than Flavell, who just may get rolled by her given enough rope.
I’ve been reminded of that ever since the MP joined up with the Nats. Yep, the modern day equivalent is minor ministerial responsibilities (under the Nats M for M. Affairs is a minor portfolio) but with ministerial salaries and free travel expenses. I recall Pita Sharples explaining some years ago he couldn’t stand down as M for M.A. because he’d just bought a bigger house.
“Looks to me like the modern day equivalent of blankets, beads and whiskey”
That’s pretty patronising to the natives there CV.
From what I understand, local iwi have developed a profitable business from a local resource. I don’t like it, and I think it’s abhorrent and immoral, but I can also see why Flavell would be supportive.
I’d also like to point out that NZ still imports old growth timber from places like Canada for building with. When we (a) stop being hypocrites, and (b) honour the treaty properly, then we can probably take the moral high ground.
Just calling it like it is. If he were a church official I’d be talking about pieces of silver.
the blankets beads and whistky analogy implies that the natives are being ripped off and manipulated. Please explain that in this instance.
most of the natives are being ripped off while a few chosen ones have got something out of it. Is that clear enough for you?
hardly. Who are most of the natives, and who are the few chosen?
Sorry weka I’ve already fucking spelt my position out A B C
Oh nonsense, it’s not about the ‘moral high ground’; the chief considerations are the economic, social, environmental, and long-term interests of New Zealand, and this trade is deleterious to those factors.
The valid reasons I see for opposing it are environmental, cultural and spiritual. Economically it makes sense to do what those landowners are doing. If we want iwi to not do this, then perhaps we should think about why they are doing it. Some here think it’s plain greed, and it might be, but let’s not forget the cultural context.
The point about our imports stands. Unless you are saying we get to protect our iwn environment while contributing to the destruction of the environment elsewhere.
It depends on your view of economics and that’s why I included ‘long-term’ as a consideration. I’m also factoring in employment and regional development.
As for: ‘are you saying we get to protect our own environment…’? You could use that argument for doing nothing in NZ about climate change. It’s certainly not what I’m arguing, but I’m realistic about we can hope to influence.
It’s not just the cultural context that makes this issue impervious to the social and long-term factors many of us value, but the short-sighted economic system of exploitation.
Essentially, though, I was only pointing out that most people’s objections relate to those factors, rather than any claim on the moral high ground.
I don’t think people object on economic grounds. They object because they consider the environmental aspects (but how come we import old growth timber?), and they object because kauri has significant cultural importance. Some (myself included) object because of the objectification of nature that is going on.
My main point here is that the argument around economics for the good of NZ is hard to make in the face of iwi taking control of their own economies.
Well, in the media coverage I have followed, such as Morning Report, stakeholders are putting forward economic and regional development arguments, weka.
There are certainly other considerations too, and they do not involve the ‘moral high ground’.
I think you have missed my point about the moral high ground.
And I think you’ve missed the point in general.
The fact you can’t see an economic/social argument is rather telling.
I can see the economic argument, I just don’t think it’s as important as the others, and as I’ve said several times now, which you are ignoring, there are distinct problems with making economic arguments about what iwi are doing.
as fas as I can tell your point is that there are multiple compelling arguments for why this kauri mining shouldn’t be happening, none of which I disagree with.
it is also illegal.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1949/0019/latest/DLM256602.html?search=ta_act_F_ac%40ainf%40anif_an%40bn%40rn_200_a&p=1
If these people want to use the resource then they should use it profitably and provide employment to the people within the iwi. It is not illegal to export carved wood, tables, cutting boards, etc overseas. But to paint a bit of a design on it, and send it off to be sold as uncut log is a crime, and the people involved should be brought to justice.
Swamp kauri is special and shouldn’t be sold overseas as part of the gold rush to strip NZ of all its assets quickly before anyone can gather knowledge and energy to protest. The Roger Douglas method again.
One of the reasons that huia was finally wiped out was that they were in demand and Maori could sell feathers and birds and then also hunted them in greater numbers to wear their feathers at a Royal visit. In the rush the breeding populations that remained were decimated.
The conservationists say that digging for swamp kauri is destructive to swamplands which have been found to be important environmental areas. It is bad that this material isn’t legally controlled so that it is conserved for Maori in New Zealand to use if they wish over the years. At present, from comments made by concerned people, it seems that it’s virtually being mined out and hocked off overseas for a fast buck.
The comparison with the Huia is apt grey.
http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/huia
So, who killed off the Huia?
thanks for that marty. As I understand it, once NZ native birds were in danger of extinction, the pressure for specimens increased, everyone wanted one before they were gone. The kauri sales seems similar to me, it’s a form of colonisation.
Yes I agree with you that it is a form of colonisation – this exploitation.
@martymars
This bit gives me a pain in the heart.. It is one example of sticking a stake through the remaining huia by pakeha,as weka comments.
A pair captured in 1893 for transfer to Little Barrier was acquired by Walter Buller and apparently sent to Baron Walter Rothschild in England.
If that Buller was the one who specialised in studying the birds here – well how mercenary of him to offer sacrifices of huia to someone who no doubt was giving philanthropic funding. However we know that there are different sorts of philanthropy, think of Talley being made a Sir with his ‘philanthropy’ being a major part.
Well said greywarshark…
This petition may be worthwhile signing for those opposed to this disgusting illegal trade in swamp kauri
https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/saveourfallenkauri-stop-the-illegal-trade-of-swamp-kauri-and-save-our-wetlands
I am a pro environment advocate. I am also opposed to the export of Kauri in an unprocessed, value added state BUT as an owner of Maori Land myself, I fully sympathise with people who have such an asset and object to other people telling them that their swamp kauri is a taonga and must be protected for everyone. A lot of the lands that whanau, hapu and iwi were allowed to retain post 1840, were then and are now, insufficient for supporting a whanau, inaccessible, or ‘protected’ from development by paternalistic governments and enthusiastic ‘conservationists.’
Along with my whanau, I hold shares in several blocks of native timbers. We have been offered a pittance to refrain forever from any sustainable harvest in the nation’s interest. In one particular block, we received approximately $4000 to refrain from any logging, to manage the land as if it were, in effect, a national park. That was divided between all the shareholders and my mother received approximately $200.00. That was recompense forever. My great, great grandmother, my great grandmother and my grandfather received nothing. My siblings and I, my son, niece and nephews will receive nothing nor will my mokopuna or her mokopuna so tourists and the 1% can pat themselves on the back for ‘saving’ native forest. Everyone else expects tp have a lot of say about what belongs to us!
This is slightly dated but deals with some of the issues in Te Wai Pounamu pertaining to SILNA forests.
http://www.otago.ac.nz/titi/hui/Main/Talks2/Devoe.htm
As I say, I am not pro logging or exporting raw swamp kauri but I urge people to also consider the viewpoint of those who want to capitalise on an asset for their whanau. What alternatives are being offered them? Poverty so that people with no skin in the game pat themselves on the back and doing down the lazy Maori who just want houndouts all the time?
Of course, I do not condone the illegality of the export company not converting the kauri into tangible goods. I hope they get prosecuted but I am not holding my breath.
sounds like you should receive an annual sum to look after the land to set conservation standards.
AH, but that would cut across the ‘full and final settlement’ mentality that Crown negotiators always seem to come equipped with as their first and final position.
I totally agree, not because my family is interested in getting money every year, but because of the principle involved.
Thank you for the detailed explanation above Hateatea. It’s these stories that are largely missing from the non-Māori communities in NZ but need to be heard and understood if we want to stop things like the export of kauri.
Too often it is seen as greed by the owners but the reality is, that there has often never been meaningful income from the land. It is very difficult to turn down money when it is offered if that means an upgrade to the house or more food on the table, even if it is only for a brief period of time.
We as a whanau don’t need the income but have some resentment to the attitude that it is for the ‘good of the nation’.
I totally agree about the ‘good of the nation’ lines. Kaitiakitanga is not understood very well by our society. The mana of say a waterway was determined by the resources available for the people not how pretty it looked. The resources available directly related to the mana of the people who protected and interrelated with that waterway, and this was utilised when others came around, ie the mana was expressed by the ability of tangata whenua to provide for the visitors.
In todays world the concepts are still there but we have the added complication of money added in.
My whānau too has land in the deep south – but no resources from that – what do you think that says about our mana. I blame the government :).
It often amazes me the different standards applied to indigenous people verses others and all so the middle class can see a pretty view amongst the devastation they caused. Seems like a similar argument to climate change – the western nations have reaped and now they want everyone else to tighten their belts meanwhile they blithely continue on their extravagant planet killing ways.
Kia kaha Hateatea
@Hateatea
I believe still that it is a mistake for hapu to sell off this kauri which is a rare taonga. I know that it is difficult for iwi to get income and jobs and even start their own businesses. But this kauri timber reflects your past history, and your relationship with the land. Considering these things have helped Maori remain strong and fight for their culture, and their pride, and self-belief. And also apparently its extraction badly affects environmentally valuable wetlands. If irreplacable taonga for a quick buck, it is carved away from the people and the land who would no longer have it to draw on over the years for special occasions. Not selling out long term assets in short term desperation is why Northland Maori are objecting to oil drilling there.
Pakeha, since we first arrived, have caused difficulties for Maori to retain their culture, their resources, make a good living, keep self-respect and progress. Negative results from actions were often foreseen and even intentional, and only strong and determined, culturally bound Maori leaders and activists have ensured that the people have survived culturally. When the Treaty was invoked and resurrected it was only because of strength and determination from Maori to reveal truths of fault and gain some redress.
Maori will continue to stay determined to progress and hold onto their culture and mana, and I think are showing us all how to be staunch and struggle to retain the ‘heart’ of the country. A major part of Maori progress will be to get back to a community with working enterprises where people can make a living, establish small businesses and give training for jobs for both young and mature.
Economic development professionals with an interest in co-operative style, employment rich and sustainable businesses need to be central, listening to and advising the keen aspirational people in each local area. There are many young trained Maori getting into business. As local economic development grows accompanied by strategic thinking about the strengths of each area with cautious investment and strong business management, the successes will multiply.
I mention caution because it is important that there not be repeats of the sad situation of Matauri X failed spring water bottling company. It jeopardised Maori land and this 2005 link detailed how it had been seized and put up for mortgagee sale.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10118748
The problems continued into 2013 Maori Television revealed.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/struggle-ahead-tackle-matauri-x-incorporation-debt
When Maori effectively manage their lives and conditions they will do better than under present regimes with government offering minimum survival assistance, some Maori making themselves wealthy individually but not enabling others also in well managed co-operative ways, and the occasions for loan sharks and retail businesses to hock off impulse goods at high prices with credit traps that bind people with debt will plummet.
I wanted to add more to my piece on Maori development but the system wouldn’t let me in though there was plenty of time left.
I thought it important that any ventures that Maori kickstart to build local enterprise should be financed from within NZ, not with overseas money, and preferably the finance should come from locals so that revenue occurs locally and profits remain for investment in the area rather than become a debt to an overseas entity.
This is where Maori and pakeha views on conservation tend to do differ. Pakeha take the approach that they’ve damaged the land so much since they arrived that any conservation land has to remain untouched and restored back to a pristine paradise. Obviously this is the mantra that the DOC follows. Maori however who were more accustomed to living with their environment want use of that land in a customary way like their ancestors did. You can see proof of that with the latest story about kereru still being caught for food.
In rural Maori communities with Maori owned land they have a huge opportunity I think to create sustainable communities where they don’t have to import any resources. They’ve got essential knowledge in food production going back to their ancestors. Tie that in with an export industry say in cropping and you’ve got a great low cost business model. These types of things probably already happen a lot in Maori communities anyway (not that I’m an expert).
Maori have every right to make money off the land they have, I guess I see the export of kauri logs as a bad way to do it. There are sustainable ways to do it, but I think digging up any existing wetlands and destroying them once and for all for very valuable logs is just short sighted. Sure that might create millions of dollars, but once that money goes you’re back with the initial problem of making a living again.
I’m sure there are ways to keep on improving the land base and making a living, providing jobs in the community, etc. I think someone posted a link about this group recently that goes in this direction.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/268427/maori-orchard-success-story
Thanks for the education
If we stamped “swamp stump” on her ass, could we just export Judith Collins?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/69733931/inequality-in-nz-hasnt-risen-in-20-years-treasury-paper-says
– Well done National and Labour, bet theres more’n few countries that wish they could claim the same
Hmmmmm inequality not worsened from the depths of Ruthanasia…hooray
Newsflash: tory trool linkwhores a shallow regurgitation of an already-discussed propaganda release that doesn’t match the data it supposedly refers to.
Fuck off, tory-come-lately.
Yes but it hasn’t fucking decreased has it !
that report is from the Business Roundtable, what do you expect?
Ah, I’d forgotten that.
Explains a lot.
yup
I hated Brussel Sprouts as a kid, I would regurgitate them, nearly puke! My parents would make me eat them, until I devised a plan. I decided I had a runny nose, and when I blew into my napkin, I spewed the sprouts out of my mouth into the large napkin, and hid the evidence in this napkin! Then I put it on my lap, and then eventually was able to flush it down the toilet! I remember being very proud of my clever plan, as it was so successful! When there is a will I suppose there is a way!
Strangely enough, now, as an adult, steamed with sesame oil, they are just delicious!
I ate them tonight actually!
they are a super food, and my favorite, plus I love that quite a few people don’t like them
Drop them into boiling water for only a couple of minutes then stop their cooking with cold water. Cut them in half or quarters and toss into a pan with butter and garlic. Or for those who have no objections to bacon, fry off some finely chopped bacon, add the garlic then toss in the halved brussel sprouts. Either way they are vastly superior to the mushy overcooked ones we mostly had to eat when we were kids. Always happy to see them reappear each winter.
Thanks marty and Prickles. I boiled some the other night and they were not nice. To respect the sprouts I will try some of your ideas.
they will cook quicker than you think ianmac, they look dense but are not really
or just chopped them up and stir-fry them as you would with a mixture of vegetables.
That sounds nice Prickles and healthy too. Thanks I want to make myself eat more greens. Turning them into a dish and not a side helping would do it.
About overcooked greens. One old lady told me she always cooked cabbage for 15 minutes. I could visualise the flaccid, pale, clear strands dripping water. It’s a nice green too, when just lightly cooked.
They need to be fresh(ish) and not overcooked, and I am with you, they are like a different veggie