“Our mission as adults is to protect our children from politicians,” one Finnish childhood education professor told me. “We also have an ethical and moral responsibility to tell businesspeople to stay out of our building.
Both primary and secondary teachers must have a master’s degree to qualify. Teaching is a respected profession and entrance to university programs is highly competitive. A prospective teacher must have very good grades and must combat fierce opposition in order to become a teacher. Only about 10% of applicants to certain programs are successful. The respect accorded to the profession and the higher salaries than the OECD average lead to higher performing and larger numbers applying for the positions, and this is reflected in the quality of teachers in Finland.
Imagine the howls from the union if National said teachers would get higher pay but you must have a masters degree to teach
Bollocks. Most teachers would happily welcome further training for an increased wage, you know nothing about teaching or teachers, much like this recent ODT editorial…
Nah, shithead, it took me less than a minute to expose your malicious lie: a blanket statement about “the union”. It’s quite clear from your subsequent comment that you are motivated by hate.
The PPTA can say whatever they like, I don’t consider what they have to say of any relevance because its comes from a position of looking after themselves first
Damn straight Stephanie, whatever the PPTA want the Govt should just give it to them that way the PPTA (with a heavy heart and a deep sadness that its come to this of course) won’t strike
Imagine the howls from the union if National said teachers would get higher pay but you must have a masters degree to teach
There would be none. The teachers really do want the best for the children that they teach.
But imagine the howls of outrage that the RWNJs would make once the taxes were raised to cover the higher salaries and ongoing education of the teachers.
The entire secondary school teachers’ collective agreement is published on the PPTA website, for anyone who genuinely wants to know the answer to see. http://www.ppta.org.nz/collective-agreements/stca
I started teaching in 1970 with a Master’s degree. I support PPTA to the hilt – teachers learn to care about other people’s children, which can make them tend to be lefties – for good reason. I hold in utter contempt the likes of Puckish Rogue who spin malicious anti-union lies.
“Despite being a conscience vote, all Labour MPs opposed Easter Trading, as did all other opposition parties.
“Labour believes everyone deserves some time off with their family. We will re-examine this law in Government to make sure workers aren’t being forced to work when they’d rather be spending Easter Sunday with their loved ones,” Su’a William Sio says.
Interesting. Despite being a conscience vote, all Labour MPs opposed Easter Trading. Yet, there is no commitment from Labour to overturn the Bill if they regain power. Albeit, they may tinker around the edges.
Did Labour strike the right balance taking this position or is it another example of Labour falling short?
What I read from Sabine’s comment was that you’re usually asking everyone else’s opinion without offering your own. A little bit one-sided, that.
From my perspective you also seem to recycle issues days after they were discussed as a result of being in the news – if you wanted to know what people thought, you could just read those discussions, for example.
Yes, I tend to seek the opinions of others before later offering my own. And there are a number of reasons for doing that.
Nevertheless, that shouldn’t prevent people from formulating and sharing their own opinions on a highlighted matter. Additionally, if they genuinely want to know my position, all they need to do is ask.
As for Sabine’s comment, it was posted after I already expressed my thoughts, thus bringing into question Sabine’s genuine intention.
As for this discussion, it relates to a more recent press release which differs from (and was put out after) the discussion from the other day.
I think you’re missing the point of the comments on here. It is not about sensible discussion of current events. You are meant to express a strident view on it and then have others abuse you for daring to express a view counter to the echo.
I think the Easter trading idea was silly. They should have just answered the question rather than devolve yet another politically problematic topic to local government. A bit like fluoridation.
Labour won’t repeal it though, they will be just as happy to get it off the central government hands. Their opposition is just tokenism, but that is the status quo.
Enjoyed the sarcasm, but going off some of the discussion on here, it holds some merit.
When Labour opposes something but fails to commit to overturning it, it helps to strengthen National’s position (TINA) while generating voter distrust and confusion. As shown with their position on the TPP.
Flexible” Drone Regulations Add Concern for NZ Pilots
The concerns of New Zealand pilots and air traffic controllers about the ‘woeful inadequacy’ of safety regulation around the commercial use of drones, or Unmanned Aerial System/Vehicles (UAS), are yet to be taken seriously.
Despite our numerous pleas, the government response was “flexible” regulations designed around a ‘wait and see’ approach, rather than legislating ahead to prevent a major accident occurring.
Commenting on a pizza company’s plans to trial delivery by drone, NZALPA President Tim Robinson said that Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations that came into force in August last year did not take into account the informed and often repeated advice of pilots and the increasing number of ‘near-miss’ accidents that have underpinned pilot’s safety fears.
Comments from whitebait article:
“The only unregulated fishing in NZ – why is it you can catch as much bait as you like? No licensing, no quota – a free for all !!!
Then sell sell your il gotten gains for $100 kg – tax free !”
” I find it astounding that in this day and age of food accountability and tractability, that whitebait can to sold without a license by anyone to anyone, how much of that advertised “westcoast” whitebait is actually brownbait from the Avon”
There is something to be said for local election season.
The parties are largely incoherent on it, and all there is, is people knocking on doors, putting up signs, selling their own self to get in there, fundraising one drinkie session at a time. So less mechanised – and up here in Auckland there are some really good leftie candidates.
Dmitry Orlov speaks of the growing cognitive dissonance of western empire, the changing balance of geopolitics and the Middle East, the risks of war and how Russia and China are defending their interests
‘What the US tried to sell as its main product since WWII is stability: financial stability, political stability. But that was not working as well as becoming a mafia-like global protection racket’
An example of this is how Slobodan Milosevic has been declared by the ICTY as being innocent of war crimes, after two decades of demonisation by the west and being used as a core part of the west’s excuse for the bombing and dismemberment of Yugoslavia.
And the mindset which allows ordinary middle class Americans to ignore the negative effects of US exceptionalism throughout the world and even within their own country.
An example of this is how Slobodan Milosevic has been declared by the ICTY as being innocent of war crimes, after two decades of demonisation by the west and being used as a core part of the west’s excuse for the bombing and dismemberment of Yugoslavia.
1. Yugoslavia dismembered itself, long before “the west” had the slightest interest in the place.
2. The only reason “the west” was eventually, reluctantly, forced to take any interest in the place was due to the flood of refugees into western Europe once Milosevic and his pals started on their apparently non-criminal “ethnic cleansing” of Yugoslavia in pursuit of a Greater Serbia. I was living in Germany at the time and attending learn-to-speak-German classes with those refugees, people like engineers and architects now working as cleaners in a foreign country because that was way better than being shot by Greater Serbia enthusiasts.
3. There’s a big gap between a trial finding there was insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict, and being “declared innocent.”
You seem to not know that NATO was quite happy with Yugoslavia under Tito.
I don’t think it is credible to blame the multiple civil wars in Yugoslavia on the West any more than you can blame Assad on the West. Mind you that is exactly what you do.
The reality is that these civil wars have their own origins and imperatives. For instance the US only really got involved in Bosnia after the Sebrenicia massacre. Stopping the Bosnian Serbs led to the Dayton Accords. And that basically ended the war (Kosovo excepted).
What would you have done after a massacre of 8,000 within Europe, given the history?
Strange – the media reports use the term ‘exonerated’. That sounds more like ‘declared innocent’ than ‘insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict’. Accordingly, it appears CV is more credible than PM.
You could flip through the judgement (big pdf) or use handy citations in footnotes from wikipedia, and find that although he wasn’t directly linked to genocide, he did supply the perpetrators with knowledge of their actions. Not to mention the ICJ judgement back in 2006 with reckoned that Serbia violated the genocide convention by not preventing it and shielding the perpetrators.
Strange – the media reports use the term ‘exonerated’. That sounds more like ‘declared innocent’ than ‘insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict’. Accordingly, it appears CV is more credible than PM.
It mentions “does not have sufficient evidence…” and multiple instances of “not satisfied that” particular charges against Milosevic were proven, but doesn’t mention anything about declaring him innocent. But if you prefer media reports and loony right-wing nutcase web sites over the actual judgement, I can’t stop you.
Sorry, yes, wrong judgement – given the “common plan” element of the charges against them it’s easy to end up in the wrong one. However, the correct one McFlock linked to has the same feature: plenty of “not satisfied” and “insufficient evidence,” but nothing to suggest Milosevic was actually innocent of the charges.
well, it’s the correct judgement, but the bit dealing with Milosevic was too minor to include in the media summary as opposed to the full 2.5k-page judgement.
But then the paragraph or two “exonerating” (lol) Milosevich is a straw big enough for the ‘it’s all a western conspiracy’ crown to grasp at, I guess.
No, now you’re persisting in being an idiot. Check out the full judgement, p1303.
Fuck it, I’ll give you a freebie. This is your so-called “exoneration”:
3460. With regard to the evidence presented in this case in relation to Slobodan Milošević and his
membership in the JCE, the Chamber recalls that he shared and endorsed the political objective of
the Accused and the Bosnian Serb leadership to preserve Yugoslavia and to prevent the separation
or independence of BiH and co-operated closely with the Accused during this time. The Chamber
also recalls that Milošević provided assistance in the form of personnel, provisions, and arms to the
Bosnian Serbs during the conflict.11026 However, based on the evidence before the Chamber
regarding the diverging interests that emerged between the Bosnian Serb and Serbian leaderships
during the conflict and in particular, Milošević’s repeated criticism and disapproval of the policies
and decisions made by the Accused and the Bosnian Serb leadership,11027 the Chamber is not
satisfied that there was sufficient evidence presented in this case to find that Slobodan Milošević
agreed with the common plan.
So yeah, apparently he wasn’t entirely cool with genocide, but nor was he so disturbed by it that he was going to cut off supplies and keep his army out of it.
edit: basically in line with the ICJ judgement a few years back that said Serbia didn’t actively participate in the genocide but failed to prevent it and hid the perpetrators
This bit I think especially rings true in terms of mindset displayed by many Herr
‘“I’d come back to my predominantly liberal social circle and try to explain that the other side isn’t ignorant or malevolent,” he says. He faced harsh rebukes for his open-mindedness, including accusations of treachery’
“However, whatever you do – don’t use this article to try to change someone’s mind. Given evidence against our beliefs, the “backfire effect” tends to make us believe our original views even more strongly. It looks like you’re unlikely to win that debate with your friends any time soon. “
White-collar criminal resents accusations of treachery – “It’s hard enough betraying one’s country without the ghastly spectre of accountability” he said.
I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. By this, I do not mean the death of actual expertise, the knowledge of specific things that sets some people apart from others in various areas. There will always be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists in various fields. Rather, what I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live.
The most highly qualified people in the world, the leading politicians and bureaucrats who went to the most prestigious universities in the world have led our multi-decades long charge into this industrial technological financialised neoliberal nuclear confrontational GMO polluted mess.
No wonder the credibility of experts with the ordinary working class person is in a state of collapse.
The irony being that the working class person in any given society is better off, lives longer, and is probably happier than they would have been without the assistance of all those experts.
John Armstrong’s blog piece on the Havelock North water poisoning scandal doesn’t just hit the whole issue out of the park, it smashes it into orbit. He sums it all up brilliantly to the point it warrants IMHO a linked post all of it’s own so it be read by a wider audience.
The usual story, if you want to be fed and not live day to day like a pauper, you need to compromise your personal values and thoughts to some degree in line with the expectations of status quo power.
Thanks Sanctuary-very interesting reading. When Armstrong is not being ordered by the Herald to write anti-Left attack pieces he can be quite balanced.
Love the conclusion. Key’s government has always been a “do-nothing” regime, except for tinkering to help the top 5% and the farmers while spinning (lying) continually about issues such as the environment.
There has been a fair bit of snickering and schadenfreude around Hawkes Bay at the, *ahem* “democratising” impact of this event on so many of the self-appointed royal posteriors of Havelock North.
Six or eight soldiers of the post Charlie Hebdo killings anti-terrorism ‘Sentinelle Project’ stood outside the Bataclan concert hall and did nothing during the massacre
These French soldiers were fully armed with army issued Famas assault rifles, on anti-terrorism detail, and outnumbered the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist attackers who were slaughtering the concert goers inside the hall.
The final death toll was 90.
When the first lightly armed police units finally arrived and asked the soldiers for support (which they refused to provide), then asked the soldiers to lend them their assault weapons to use against the terrorists, the soldiers refused to hand them over.
“They felt that they were not to intervene because their rules of engagement did not anticipate that they had to intervene. Their rules stipulated that they could protect themselves. It is entirely unbelievable, amazing.”
Yeah I can see that happening (if that’s what happened of course) it would probably be drummed into the soldiers to be careful, that if they get it wrong they can be done for murder etc etc
Similar thing happened during the training for the soldiers going over to Timor, how important it was to follow the rules, how you had to be certain and examples were given of soldiers that didn’t and were sentenced for murder etc etc
Of course after the Pte Manning incident the ROE were interpreted differently
Sucks to be everyone there, including the six soldiers, but I much prefer soldiers/cops who don’t shoot when not allowed vs them that shoot off their own bat.
At worst it simply looks to me like the old “lack of single identified commander in charge and aware of all resources at the scene” problem, i.e. someone who could change the soldiers’ ROE or get them to do something useful.
At best someone on the interwebs got the wrong end of the stick, it’s not as if that’s happened before…
Sucks to be everyone there, including the six soldiers, but I much prefer soldiers/cops who don’t shoot when not allowed vs them that shoot off their own bat.
I prefer police and soldiers who are on duty, and assigned to anti-terrorism duties to use their professional initiative in order to intervene and save dozens of civilian lives during an ongoing terrorist attack in progress, instead of wondering whether or not .
Otherwise why are we bothering with funding this security surveillance state and the massive resources and human rights it sucks up and spits out?
Of course you would, because you want it both ways, and you have the magical power of hindsight and the intrinsic intelligence of the universe telling you what to do.
How were they to know it wasn’t going to be a hostage situation, and if they ran in it wasn’t going to turn out like Beslan when the bombs went off? How did they know that if they go in one side, that some cops won’t similarly use their “professional initiative” and go in the other, and both groups end up shooting each other in the dark and catching civilians in the crossfire? Or maybe they save the day only to be shot by the cops when they try to leave because nobody knows who’s in there?
Now yes, Captain Hindsight, maybe there will be command and control lessons learned from this incident. But when soldiers start using their “professional initiative” in a situation that blurs with civilian policing, we end up with all sorts of really nasty things going on, things that no doubt you’d bitch about with your 20/20 hindsight. Almost as bad as when cops start pretending that they’re soldiers.
While armed soldiers on anti-terror duty stand around listening to the screams of dozens of their countrymen being shot to death inside a concert hall by Islamic terrorists.
You’re assuming that they all had the same knowledge of the situation as you do now. And yet if they’d rushed in, and the gunfire was just into the air to corral hostages but the impromptu storming by half a dozen soldiers was faced by a couple of dozen hostage-takers who set off their bombs when confronted in a confined auditorium and the ensuing blaze killed as many or more than what occurred in reality… oh but then you’ll have been judging it as an amateur response by gung-ho rambo-wannabees and decrying the surveillance state from that angle.
I’m sure if you’d been one of those soldiers you’d have saved the day. /sarc
Sue Bradford has managed to get her left wing think tank off the ground. The launch will be on Friday but the website is already live. At last there will be some quality research available to counter the right wing spin that comes out of the NZ Initiative.
All I know is that she lists being chairperson of it on her university profile page. I just used google (same as the guest poster of this post but perhaps a bit more carefully).
I’m not the one making the accusation that the organisation is fictitious. At least on its face it is not.
(same as the guest poster of this post but perhaps a bit more carefully).
Oh do fuck off.
You ignored the poster noting that – we tracked down a small group of people (like, 4-6 people, it seemed) at the University of Canterbury that might be the Special Needs Association! Was this it? No. And anyway, that small band of merry folk are disbanding – the same organisation your supposedly superior google foo turned up .
I did not find the “Special Needs Association”. I didn’t even look for that. I have no idea whether that organisation exists, or is disbanding.
What I looked for was the “Special Education Association” (the one mentioned by the Minister according to the post above), and what I found was the “New Zealand Special Education Association”. And I found it appears to have a chairperson who seems a serious sort of academic.
It took me 30 seconds. I claim no searching skill, just looked for the organisation that was said to exist.
Next time I’ll just ask on twitter I guess, or phone a couple of like minded mates.
For an organisation that provides seminars and conferences it has surprisingly little web presence. I could find the relevant contact email, (on a Christchurch directory) but that was it.
I’m willing to bet it’s probably just CV padding at this stage, although I suppose I could be wrong.
It’s actually the first result on google (for me), even without quotes or without searching for NZ websites.
Hard to tell if it was like that at the time when blip searched though; google does update its index fairly frequently and so the discussion around this point could have promoted the site higher.
The exchange on Facebook does make it look like the Minister was not actually quoting someone from the Association, and hence that the answer in Parliament may have been unclear (choosing a nice word), but what got my back up was that the accusation being made was so easily check-able and yet no attempt seems to have been made to do so.
If it had been checked and the apparent organisation discounted then there ought to be some explanation about that, like it used to be but is now defunct as confirmed by its apparent chairperson. But a flat out statement that the organisation doesn’t exist fails at the most rudimentary investigation.
Hansard was clear that Parata was emphasising the name like an official organisation, and the skilled stenographers capitalised it accordingly. The Minister tries to fudge this by using lower-case in her Facebook responses, but there is absolutely no doubt what the words mean. If she meant the whole ‘sector’ she would have used that word.
The post author has identified and discounted the grouping your google-fu led you to. Stop trying to defend the indefensible.
No, the poster identifies and eliminates the ” Special Needs Association”.
What my simple search discovered was the “New Zealand Special Education Association”.
Look, I see see what you mean about the facebook comment, it is at odds with the statement in parliament. But when someone is accusing a Minister of lying in Parliament they ought to be more careful. “I phoned a couple like minded mates”, asked on twitter, and (apparently incompetently) did a google search doesn’t cut it for me.
And then the Minister, herself, did *not* say it was the group you’re crowing about being able to find on Google. So enough of this weaselly “it’s at odds”, “it does seem unclear” defence of Hekia Parata. She lied to Parliament and the evidence is in her fudging when called on it.
I’m not defending her at all. She seems to have stuff up royally. All I’m saying is that the accusation made appears to be wrong.
If you’re pointing the finger at someone like this, you ought to do so carefully.
At the moment, the only evidence that she lied to parliament is that the comment in parliament is inconsistent with a later facebook comment attributed to her. So what? It needs more digging, and a more careful accusation.
The accusation is that Parata made up the organisation. The fact that an organisation exists (or, existed) with this name does not disprove that accusation.
But I don’t know if she did or not. I’m simply pointing out to those who say that “the Google proves Parata didn’t make this up” that it does no such thing.
Well yes it does, because if the organisation exists then she did not fabricate the organisations existence.
Now she might have made up what she attributes to it, or have wrongly attributed it to them. But those are not what the headline and the body of the post say. They say she simply made the organisation up. The existence of the organisation would appear to disprove that particular accusation.
Have it your way Scott…….in which case she didn’t lie about the association but she lied about what it said. Can’t have it both ways boyo. Are you OK ?
The ministers “Special Needs Association” and the “New Zealand Special Needs Association” are not the same thing – the former is missing the words “New Zealand”.
But your argument “but I found the organisations that she was talking about” fails because you didn’t find the organisation she named. You found a similarly named one.
It her job to get things right when questioned. We are meant to trust that when she says the name of an organisation that she correctly names the organisation.
But it turns out to be even worse than that because she just made up some stuff that sounded like it was some official body when it was just odds and ends of people she talked to.
So either the Minister was lying about the support, or got support from perhaps one member of an organisation, that was so organised it disbanded from lack of interest.
I suppose the only grounds for not resigning at that point is that all the alternative candidates are worse. This being the National Party, that seems quite likely.
She’s answerable to this same corrupt rabble, so nothing will come of this perjury and/or gross incompetence.
On the winz beneficiary site there is this insidious series of entries from the stats dept about trends taking up 2/3 of the space on any page stating information about the particular benefit available
Why is there a need for a beneficiary to be sidetracked from what they need to know is beyond me as this stat info in trends is of no use to a beneficiary
As it is there is nothing to direct beneficiaries to further help outside of winz and this is what we get for all the supposed increases for beneficiaries
Bigger fatter salaries for what less help for beneficiaries
“It’s become a well-accepted fact in Christchurch that wealthier areas of the city received a better deal from government agencies and quicker responses to the disastrous earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 than poorer suburbs.”
+100 this is very true…and John Minto was a superb columnist for the Christchurch Press….I really missed his insightful, hard hitting, truth telling columns when they dis-established him
I guess now that Minto is standing for mayor the Christchurch Press (which is usually right wing and pro National in slant ) will have to give him coverage again.
Also sincerely hope he becomes Mayor of Christchurch
+1 Chooky – yep no matter your politics Chch should vote Minto in to get rid of all the corruption and get the reconstruction back on track and fair for all.
But I don’t know if she did or not. I’m simply pointing out to those who say that “the Google proves Parata didn’t make this up” that it does no such thing.
And this is the KEY to the misunderstanding of yourself (and others) and what Scott is saying.
Scott has not said “the Google proves Parata didn’t make this up”.
Scott has said “the Google evidence contradicts the statement made in this article, that no such organisation exists”.
I agree with your stance in this matter Scott, but I’ll note that the sort of careful semantic argument you’re making here is very often mis-read by others – not deliberately, just that for many it’s hard to see the very precise point that you’re making. So they put it together in their own mind and assume that you’re defending the minister, when of course you’re doing nothing of the sort.
I didn’t bother to raise this particular argument on this post because past experience told me of how this would end up. Ultimately it doesn’t matter a lot either way, since as others have shown there’s already sufficient other evidence (primarily from her statements on facebook) to think that Hekia just made her attribution up.
There does appear to be a story here, but like so much lately the desire to make it as spicy as you can leads to hyperbole, and ultimately to the message being lost.
Oh, puhleeze, just fuck off. The message of the post has not been lost, despite your attempts to cloud the issue with a public demonstration of failure to comprehend. If your objection really is about the style of the post rather than the content, feel free, by all means, to join the ranks of Guest Authors and show us all how it should be done.
When an item produces a debate of 74 posts of whether she made it up or not, it is probably an indication that this particular attack on the Minister is going nowhere.
Most people will just give up on determining the the exact correctness of what was said, and on what basis.
Surely it would better to focus on the policy itself, which I am certain will be of much more interest to parents.
A Wellington-centric debate of who said what when is missing the point.
The passive/aggressive Wayne’s “going nowhere” is Wayne doing exactly what Scott has been doing all along…..derailing. What does remain is yet another example of National Party arrogance and dishonesty.
Actually Wayne, most of the debate has been about the things this article says.
It very plainly and clearly says a google search was carried out, but no such organisation as “Special Education Association” exists. Except when I and others perform this same search, they appear as the first google result.
Nope. Hekia Parata fabricated a Special Education Association which is a different entity than the Special Education Association which appears in Google, and that latter entity is moribond which, functionally, is the same as non-existent. Hekia Parata’s Special Education Association, on the other hand, is entirely imaginary. The post author specifically references the Google result and easily dismisses it as being the Special Education Association, Hekia Parata is then quoted, confirming this.
Hopefully, an MP concerned about National Ltd’s orchestrated and perpetual mendacity will follow up with this latest example. A good question to ask might be: “Show us the DOX where the Special Education Association said this latest policy will provide the benefits you claim”.
Nope. Hekia Parata fabricated a Special Education Association which is a different entity than the Special Education Association which appears in Google, and that latter entity is moribond which, functionally, is the same as non-existent.
And people call me a sophist.
The article says:
I tried Googling. I’m good at Googling. But nothing.
If your version of events is to be believed, it should say something like this:
“I tried Googling. I’m good at Googling. I found a reference to the New Zealand Special Education Association, so I thought I’d found it! Some quick further research showed this group to be moribund, and after talking to the chairperson, I confirmed that despite having the same name as the organisation Hekia quoted, they had in fact not spoken to her”.
But the article didn’t say that. It said this:
I tried Googling. I’m good at Googling. But nothing.
The article is wrong.
If only the article said what you claim it says, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But it doesn’t say what you think it says.
I understand your point. I disagree. Now drop it, please. Enough. Saying the same thing over and over again does not make that thing any more true or false. What it does indicate, though, is an attempt to clutter a conversation with a trainspotters’ squabble to detract from the main point of the post. Such behaviour sometimes require’s a strident response if it goes on too long.
Yes Lanth’, and you and Scott are wearing green cardigans, no hang on they’re purple aren’t they, no, yellow…….oh bugger, they’re cardigans for fuck sake. Talk about pedantry…….one for the sake of it the other to protect a liar.
That debate of 74 posts only occurred because a couple of trolls are deliberately ignoring the blatantly obvious truth that Hekia Parata lied her pants off, and for whatever reason are trying to disseminate away from that. As are you. Obviously you support Hekia Parata lying in parliament. Perhaps this is because you did the same?
Scott hasn’t been derailing, he’s been making a very specific point that most people have mis-read.
Now, the point he is making is ultimately not important in the grand scheme of things (which seems to be a large part of why people are mis-reading what he is saying), but the point he is making is valid, none-the-less.
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Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
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 ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
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Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said: “Grant Robertson has now admitted that he ...
Dear Leader washes cars well.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11701284
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmI2yDAyWYI
Although Winston Peters has shown he knows how to use a hammer…..
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/video-winston-peters-nails-it/
Wonder if that was a cunning plan to present the average guy at home? A funny flitting way to clean a car?
A cleaner less rapey use of soap after last week
What a pillock is he looking to test a new microwave from the USA
How the wealthy regard the law.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11701240
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/83651875/this-is-why-finland-has-the-best-schools
“Our mission as adults is to protect our children from politicians,” one Finnish childhood education professor told me. “We also have an ethical and moral responsibility to tell businesspeople to stay out of our building.
Yet we copy this system…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-charter-schools_us_574db2a9e4b03ede4415678c
…all because right wingers hate the freedoms of speech and association: targeting children to attack unions.
Yes dear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland#Teachers
Teachers
Both primary and secondary teachers must have a master’s degree to qualify. Teaching is a respected profession and entrance to university programs is highly competitive. A prospective teacher must have very good grades and must combat fierce opposition in order to become a teacher. Only about 10% of applicants to certain programs are successful. The respect accorded to the profession and the higher salaries than the OECD average lead to higher performing and larger numbers applying for the positions, and this is reflected in the quality of teachers in Finland.
Imagine the howls from the union if National said teachers would get higher pay but you must have a masters degree to teach
Bollocks. Most teachers would happily welcome further training for an increased wage, you know nothing about teaching or teachers, much like this recent ODT editorial…
https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/education-changes-coming
We don’t have to imagine it, you lying malicious piece of shit.
PPTA.
I have as much faith in the PPTA do whats best for children as I’m sure you do in National
The PPTA can say what they like but they are for teachers first and everyone else second
Nah, shithead, it took me less than a minute to expose your malicious lie: a blanket statement about “the union”. It’s quite clear from your subsequent comment that you are motivated by hate.
It defines you. Choke on it.
The PPTA can say whatever they like, I don’t consider what they have to say of any relevance because its comes from a position of looking after themselves first
Got to keep on with and defend the lie now that you’ve been shown that you were wrong.
No I’m not, I don’t believe anything that comes from the PPTA
“We care about the children that’s why we’ll strike during exams”
“We don’t get paid enough” “how much do you get paid?” crickets chirping “We don’t get paid enough”
Strike action can only be taken during collective bargaining, so why not blame the Government for not settling more quickly?
Damn straight Stephanie, whatever the PPTA want the Govt should just give it to them that way the PPTA (with a heavy heart and a deep sadness that its come to this of course) won’t strike
It’s relevant because it exposes your malicious lie and low character.
What is good for the teachers is good for the children.
That’s an impressive level of trolling, well done 🙂
Yeah, the same way, “what is good for the CEO is good for the employees”
Settle OAB you will pop a vein
Teach us more about the ” Deranged Key Syndrome” that your in the know about RedD …………
something as important as that and you only mention it once………
If nothing else do it for poor Puckish ………. he’s feverish with it :0
There would be none. The teachers really do want the best for the children that they teach.
But imagine the howls of outrage that the RWNJs would make once the taxes were raised to cover the higher salaries and ongoing education of the teachers.
What do teachers get paid at the moment?
Whatever it is, it won’t stop you telling malicious lies about them.
Nor will it stop the PPTA claiming its not enough, its never enough
I note that the last time you told everyone what the union would say, it was a malicious lie that exposed nothing but your gutter right wing agenda.
So what? Doesn’t change that you can’t trust the PPTA except to do nothing but further their own plans
That’s you lying again.
The entire secondary school teachers’ collective agreement is published on the PPTA website, for anyone who genuinely wants to know the answer to see.
http://www.ppta.org.nz/collective-agreements/stca
What’s that got to do with the price of fish?
I started teaching in 1970 with a Master’s degree. I support PPTA to the hilt – teachers learn to care about other people’s children, which can make them tend to be lefties – for good reason. I hold in utter contempt the likes of Puckish Rogue who spin malicious anti-union lies.
+1 Tony P
Easter Trading
“Despite being a conscience vote, all Labour MPs opposed Easter Trading, as did all other opposition parties.
“Labour believes everyone deserves some time off with their family. We will re-examine this law in Government to make sure workers aren’t being forced to work when they’d rather be spending Easter Sunday with their loved ones,” Su’a William Sio says.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1608/S00504/councils-shouldnt-rush-into-easter-trading.htm
Interesting. Despite being a conscience vote, all Labour MPs opposed Easter Trading. Yet, there is no commitment from Labour to overturn the Bill if they regain power. Albeit, they may tinker around the edges.
Did Labour strike the right balance taking this position or is it another example of Labour falling short?
Thoughts?
What are your thoughts?
What is your view on the Labour position?
Express your ideas so we can respond to them, rather than simply saying ‘Thoughts?’
I feel Labour’s position falls short.
I also feel Labour continually falling short is costing them support.
But this is not just about what one mere voter thinks, hence I put it out there to see what others think.
Well maybe next time you tell us first what you think and then we can tell you what we think.
Thoughts?
+ 1
+2
Yes. Once again, ‘Thoughts?’ = Pomposity. That’s my thought.
Harsh for a Monday morning, maybe he/she was interested in what other people were thinking?
The feedback loop in action.
Sabine, are you implying people can’t formulate and share their own opinions on a highlighted matter without initially hearing mine?
Moreover, I expressed my thoughts on the matter when asked by Paul above, yet you failed to comply with what you asserted.
What I read from Sabine’s comment was that you’re usually asking everyone else’s opinion without offering your own. A little bit one-sided, that.
From my perspective you also seem to recycle issues days after they were discussed as a result of being in the news – if you wanted to know what people thought, you could just read those discussions, for example.
Yes, I tend to seek the opinions of others before later offering my own. And there are a number of reasons for doing that.
Nevertheless, that shouldn’t prevent people from formulating and sharing their own opinions on a highlighted matter. Additionally, if they genuinely want to know my position, all they need to do is ask.
As for Sabine’s comment, it was posted after I already expressed my thoughts, thus bringing into question Sabine’s genuine intention.
As for this discussion, it relates to a more recent press release which differs from (and was put out after) the discussion from the other day.
Pompous verbiage.
I would hate to be in any meeting chaired by you.
I think you’re missing the point of the comments on here. It is not about sensible discussion of current events. You are meant to express a strident view on it and then have others abuse you for daring to express a view counter to the echo.
I think the Easter trading idea was silly. They should have just answered the question rather than devolve yet another politically problematic topic to local government. A bit like fluoridation.
Labour won’t repeal it though, they will be just as happy to get it off the central government hands. Their opposition is just tokenism, but that is the status quo.
Enjoyed the sarcasm, but going off some of the discussion on here, it holds some merit.
When Labour opposes something but fails to commit to overturning it, it helps to strengthen National’s position (TINA) while generating voter distrust and confusion. As shown with their position on the TPP.
Labour believes everyone deserves some time off with their family.
Discuss.
“Labour believes everyone deserves some time off with their family.”
So they say.
Yet, although they may tinker around the edges, there is no commitment from Labour to overturn the Bill if they regain power.
Nor did Labour advocate for the NZ Land Wars commemoration day being a new public holiday.
Labour often seem to talk the talk but fail to walk the walk.
It’s bullshit because Labour no longer believes in the fundamental right to a 40 hour work week.
+1 CV
As much as I hate appearing to chime in with certain trolls.
Flexible” Drone Regulations Add Concern for NZ Pilots
The concerns of New Zealand pilots and air traffic controllers about the ‘woeful inadequacy’ of safety regulation around the commercial use of drones, or Unmanned Aerial System/Vehicles (UAS), are yet to be taken seriously.
Despite our numerous pleas, the government response was “flexible” regulations designed around a ‘wait and see’ approach, rather than legislating ahead to prevent a major accident occurring.
Commenting on a pizza company’s plans to trial delivery by drone, NZALPA President Tim Robinson said that Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations that came into force in August last year did not take into account the informed and often repeated advice of pilots and the increasing number of ‘near-miss’ accidents that have underpinned pilot’s safety fears.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1608/S00308/flexible-drone-regulations-add-concern-for-nz-pilots.htm
Thoughts?
They are leaving the door open for the operation of covert and semi-covert military, intelligence and law enforcement drones.
Most likely, CV.
To paraphrase my brother the JetStar skipper, everything’s peachy – until a fan engine necks one and brings a ship and a couple of hundred souls down.
Indeed.
The problem with New Zealand being used as a test case in this manner is New Zealanders are put at risk of the consequence of things going wrong.
And with “flexible” regulations designed around a ‘wait and see’ approach it’s far from reassuring.
Whitebait and Ecan.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/83640393/ecan-whitebait-mistake-goes-to-high-court
Comments from whitebait article:
“The only unregulated fishing in NZ – why is it you can catch as much bait as you like? No licensing, no quota – a free for all !!!
Then sell sell your il gotten gains for $100 kg – tax free !”
” I find it astounding that in this day and age of food accountability and tractability, that whitebait can to sold without a license by anyone to anyone, how much of that advertised “westcoast” whitebait is actually brownbait from the Avon”
Are you thinking whitebait should be put into the Quota Management System?
Manage it like duck hunting season. This is your month to go white baiting. These are the only places/ways you can do it. And then that’s it.
Good idea
That’s a good, sensible idea
Cheers PR and TE
There is something to be said for local election season.
The parties are largely incoherent on it, and all there is, is people knocking on doors, putting up signs, selling their own self to get in there, fundraising one drinkie session at a time. So less mechanised – and up here in Auckland there are some really good leftie candidates.
A prominent propagandist for the National Party has posted a link about their leader and his son. This is seemingly to give good PR to the leader.
In the future the same propagandist will bitch when others use information about the son to give bad PR to the leader or merely for news purposes.
Dmitry Orlov speaks of the growing cognitive dissonance of western empire, the changing balance of geopolitics and the Middle East, the risks of war and how Russia and China are defending their interests
‘What the US tried to sell as its main product since WWII is stability: financial stability, political stability. But that was not working as well as becoming a mafia-like global protection racket’
An example of this is how Slobodan Milosevic has been declared by the ICTY as being innocent of war crimes, after two decades of demonisation by the west and being used as a core part of the west’s excuse for the bombing and dismemberment of Yugoslavia.
And the mindset which allows ordinary middle class Americans to ignore the negative effects of US exceptionalism throughout the world and even within their own country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEp9d1bUTec
An example of this is how Slobodan Milosevic has been declared by the ICTY as being innocent of war crimes, after two decades of demonisation by the west and being used as a core part of the west’s excuse for the bombing and dismemberment of Yugoslavia.
1. Yugoslavia dismembered itself, long before “the west” had the slightest interest in the place.
2. The only reason “the west” was eventually, reluctantly, forced to take any interest in the place was due to the flood of refugees into western Europe once Milosevic and his pals started on their apparently non-criminal “ethnic cleansing” of Yugoslavia in pursuit of a Greater Serbia. I was living in Germany at the time and attending learn-to-speak-German classes with those refugees, people like engineers and architects now working as cleaners in a foreign country because that was way better than being shot by Greater Serbia enthusiasts.
3. There’s a big gap between a trial finding there was insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict, and being “declared innocent.”
Sorry it breaks with the narrative you bought into.
NATO wanted to see Yugoslavia broken up into little pieces and then assimilated into the western alliance, and that is the result they got.
CV,
You seem to not know that NATO was quite happy with Yugoslavia under Tito.
I don’t think it is credible to blame the multiple civil wars in Yugoslavia on the West any more than you can blame Assad on the West. Mind you that is exactly what you do.
The reality is that these civil wars have their own origins and imperatives. For instance the US only really got involved in Bosnia after the Sebrenicia massacre. Stopping the Bosnian Serbs led to the Dayton Accords. And that basically ended the war (Kosovo excepted).
What would you have done after a massacre of 8,000 within Europe, given the history?
Nothing?
Strange – the media reports use the term ‘exonerated’. That sounds more like ‘declared innocent’ than ‘insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict’. Accordingly, it appears CV is more credible than PM.
lol which media?
You could flip through the judgement (big pdf) or use handy citations in footnotes from wikipedia, and find that although he wasn’t directly linked to genocide, he did supply the perpetrators with knowledge of their actions. Not to mention the ICJ judgement back in 2006 with reckoned that Serbia violated the genocide convention by not preventing it and shielding the perpetrators.
So hardly “exonerated”.
Strange – the media reports use the term ‘exonerated’. That sounds more like ‘declared innocent’ than ‘insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict’. Accordingly, it appears CV is more credible than PM.
The judgement summary is here (PDF): http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/tjug/en/160324_judgement_summary.pdf.
It mentions “does not have sufficient evidence…” and multiple instances of “not satisfied that” particular charges against Milosevic were proven, but doesn’t mention anything about declaring him innocent. But if you prefer media reports and loony right-wing nutcase web sites over the actual judgement, I can’t stop you.
Are Radovan Karadžić and Milošević one and the same person? Check out the judgement you linked to then perhaps try again.
The finding is mentioned in the full judgement I linked to above.
Knock yourself out. Milosevic is sure not “exonerated”.
Sorry, yes, wrong judgement – given the “common plan” element of the charges against them it’s easy to end up in the wrong one. However, the correct one McFlock linked to has the same feature: plenty of “not satisfied” and “insufficient evidence,” but nothing to suggest Milosevic was actually innocent of the charges.
well, it’s the correct judgement, but the bit dealing with Milosevic was too minor to include in the media summary as opposed to the full 2.5k-page judgement.
But then the paragraph or two “exonerating” (lol) Milosevich is a straw big enough for the ‘it’s all a western conspiracy’ crown to grasp at, I guess.
So Dragomir Milosevic is one and the same as Slobodan Milosevic is he?
No, now you’re persisting in being an idiot. Check out the full judgement, p1303.
Fuck it, I’ll give you a freebie. This is your so-called “exoneration”:
So yeah, apparently he wasn’t entirely cool with genocide, but nor was he so disturbed by it that he was going to cut off supplies and keep his army out of it.
edit: basically in line with the ICJ judgement a few years back that said Serbia didn’t actively participate in the genocide but failed to prevent it and hid the perpetrators
Interesting article that has a huge relevance for blog sites such as this one
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160823-how-modern-life-is-destroying-democracy
This bit I think especially rings true in terms of mindset displayed by many Herr
‘“I’d come back to my predominantly liberal social circle and try to explain that the other side isn’t ignorant or malevolent,” he says. He faced harsh rebukes for his open-mindedness, including accusations of treachery’
I like this bit:
“However, whatever you do – don’t use this article to try to change someone’s mind. Given evidence against our beliefs, the “backfire effect” tends to make us believe our original views even more strongly. It looks like you’re unlikely to win that debate with your friends any time soon. “
There’s an exception if people challenge the opinion with facts quickly, although stuffed if I can remember where I read that…
White-collar criminal resents accusations of treachery – “It’s hard enough betraying one’s country without the ghastly spectre of accountability” he said.
I reckon a growing anti-intellectualism combined with everybody’s a fucking expert is the worry.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201407/anti-intellectualism-and-the-dumbing-down-america
I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. By this, I do not mean the death of actual expertise, the knowledge of specific things that sets some people apart from others in various areas. There will always be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists in various fields. Rather, what I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live.
http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/
The most highly qualified people in the world, the leading politicians and bureaucrats who went to the most prestigious universities in the world have led our multi-decades long charge into this industrial technological financialised neoliberal nuclear confrontational GMO polluted mess.
No wonder the credibility of experts with the ordinary working class person is in a state of collapse.
The irony being that the working class person in any given society is better off, lives longer, and is probably happier than they would have been without the assistance of all those experts.
John Armstrong’s blog piece on the Havelock North water poisoning scandal doesn’t just hit the whole issue out of the park, it smashes it into orbit. He sums it all up brilliantly to the point it warrants IMHO a linked post all of it’s own so it be read by a wider audience.
https://armstrongonpolitics.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/somethings-in-the-water-somethings-astray-in-the-bay/
I have to say, being freed from the shackles of the NZ Heralds pro-National agenda has been very good for Mr. Armstrong’s writing.
The usual story, if you want to be fed and not live day to day like a pauper, you need to compromise your personal values and thoughts to some degree in line with the expectations of status quo power.
Thanks Sanctuary-very interesting reading. When Armstrong is not being ordered by the Herald to write anti-Left attack pieces he can be quite balanced.
Love the conclusion. Key’s government has always been a “do-nothing” regime, except for tinkering to help the top 5% and the farmers while spinning (lying) continually about issues such as the environment.
+1 Sanctuary worth reading – gives you a good insight on the Havelock North from a National voting perspective.
There has been a fair bit of snickering and schadenfreude around Hawkes Bay at the, *ahem* “democratising” impact of this event on so many of the self-appointed royal posteriors of Havelock North.
Six or eight soldiers of the post Charlie Hebdo killings anti-terrorism ‘Sentinelle Project’ stood outside the Bataclan concert hall and did nothing during the massacre
These French soldiers were fully armed with army issued Famas assault rifles, on anti-terrorism detail, and outnumbered the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist attackers who were slaughtering the concert goers inside the hall.
The final death toll was 90.
When the first lightly armed police units finally arrived and asked the soldiers for support (which they refused to provide), then asked the soldiers to lend them their assault weapons to use against the terrorists, the soldiers refused to hand them over.
And on and on.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/french-military-bataclan-massacre/
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6be88540c0a7407fb4563f6eef7a7df8/french-legislators-urge-intel-overhaul-after-paris-attacks
http://thestandard.org.nz/fair-and-sustainable-economics/#comment-1224936
Okay I read both those. Still don’t get your point. Are you suggesting complicity, incompetence, or what, that something else is afoot.
I’m suggesting that I’d prefer to be looked after by a unit of the NZSAS any time of the day or night.
But yeah, a mix of tactical leadership incompetence and bureaucratic paralysis.
They’d just follow orders too.
“They felt that they were not to intervene because their rules of engagement did not anticipate that they had to intervene. Their rules stipulated that they could protect themselves. It is entirely unbelievable, amazing.”
Yeah I can see that happening (if that’s what happened of course) it would probably be drummed into the soldiers to be careful, that if they get it wrong they can be done for murder etc etc
Similar thing happened during the training for the soldiers going over to Timor, how important it was to follow the rules, how you had to be certain and examples were given of soldiers that didn’t and were sentenced for murder etc etc
Of course after the Pte Manning incident the ROE were interpreted differently
Sucks to be everyone there, including the six soldiers, but I much prefer soldiers/cops who don’t shoot when not allowed vs them that shoot off their own bat.
I guess to me its how the rules are laid out but then we don’t know if what the links are saying is actually true or not
Yeah.
At worst it simply looks to me like the old “lack of single identified commander in charge and aware of all resources at the scene” problem, i.e. someone who could change the soldiers’ ROE or get them to do something useful.
At best someone on the interwebs got the wrong end of the stick, it’s not as if that’s happened before…
🙂
I prefer police and soldiers who are on duty, and assigned to anti-terrorism duties to use their professional initiative in order to intervene and save dozens of civilian lives during an ongoing terrorist attack in progress, instead of wondering whether or not .
Otherwise why are we bothering with funding this security surveillance state and the massive resources and human rights it sucks up and spits out?
Of course you would, because you want it both ways, and you have the magical power of hindsight and the intrinsic intelligence of the universe telling you what to do.
How were they to know it wasn’t going to be a hostage situation, and if they ran in it wasn’t going to turn out like Beslan when the bombs went off? How did they know that if they go in one side, that some cops won’t similarly use their “professional initiative” and go in the other, and both groups end up shooting each other in the dark and catching civilians in the crossfire? Or maybe they save the day only to be shot by the cops when they try to leave because nobody knows who’s in there?
Now yes, Captain Hindsight, maybe there will be command and control lessons learned from this incident. But when soldiers start using their “professional initiative” in a situation that blurs with civilian policing, we end up with all sorts of really nasty things going on, things that no doubt you’d bitch about with your 20/20 hindsight. Almost as bad as when cops start pretending that they’re soldiers.
The risk averse bureaucratic mindset at work.
While armed soldiers on anti-terror duty stand around listening to the screams of dozens of their countrymen being shot to death inside a concert hall by Islamic terrorists.
You’re assuming that they all had the same knowledge of the situation as you do now. And yet if they’d rushed in, and the gunfire was just into the air to corral hostages but the impromptu storming by half a dozen soldiers was faced by a couple of dozen hostage-takers who set off their bombs when confronted in a confined auditorium and the ensuing blaze killed as many or more than what occurred in reality… oh but then you’ll have been judging it as an amateur response by gung-ho rambo-wannabees and decrying the surveillance state from that angle.
I’m sure if you’d been one of those soldiers you’d have saved the day. /sarc
Great news!
Sue Bradford has managed to get her left wing think tank off the ground. The launch will be on Friday but the website is already live. At last there will be some quality research available to counter the right wing spin that comes out of the NZ Initiative.
https://www.esra.nz/
Awesome stuff.
She is quite a fighter.
Nice one. Great to see, good site.
I don’t agree with a lot of what she says but shes one of few people whose integrity I’d never question, hopefully it keeps going
Interesting read about fighting for rights
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/08/25/dakota-access-pipeline-protests-recall-americas-historical-shame
Lots here, marty.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/GenIndigenous?src=hash
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/a-political-turning-point-for-native-americans-20160726
“Strident moderation will be exercised in the comments section”
I think you mean “strict”.
[Off-Topic Dribble – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
stringent is probably the word being searched for.
Ah, yes.
All I know is that she lists being chairperson of it on her university profile page. I just used google (same as the guest poster of this post but perhaps a bit more carefully).
I’m not the one making the accusation that the organisation is fictitious. At least on its face it is not.
[DERAIL – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
Oh do fuck off.
You ignored the poster noting that – we tracked down a small group of people (like, 4-6 people, it seemed) at the University of Canterbury that might be the Special Needs Association! Was this it? No. And anyway, that small band of merry folk are disbanding – the same organisation your supposedly superior google foo turned up .
I did not find the “Special Needs Association”. I didn’t even look for that. I have no idea whether that organisation exists, or is disbanding.
What I looked for was the “Special Education Association” (the one mentioned by the Minister according to the post above), and what I found was the “New Zealand Special Education Association”. And I found it appears to have a chairperson who seems a serious sort of academic.
It took me 30 seconds. I claim no searching skill, just looked for the organisation that was said to exist.
Next time I’ll just ask on twitter I guess, or phone a couple of like minded mates.
For an organisation that provides seminars and conferences it has surprisingly little web presence. I could find the relevant contact email, (on a Christchurch directory) but that was it.
I’m willing to bet it’s probably just CV padding at this stage, although I suppose I could be wrong.
It’s actually the first result on google (for me), even without quotes or without searching for NZ websites.
Hard to tell if it was like that at the time when blip searched though; google does update its index fairly frequently and so the discussion around this point could have promoted the site higher.
[DERAIL – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
The exchange on Facebook does make it look like the Minister was not actually quoting someone from the Association, and hence that the answer in Parliament may have been unclear (choosing a nice word), but what got my back up was that the accusation being made was so easily check-able and yet no attempt seems to have been made to do so.
If it had been checked and the apparent organisation discounted then there ought to be some explanation about that, like it used to be but is now defunct as confirmed by its apparent chairperson. But a flat out statement that the organisation doesn’t exist fails at the most rudimentary investigation.
Hansard was clear that Parata was emphasising the name like an official organisation, and the skilled stenographers capitalised it accordingly. The Minister tries to fudge this by using lower-case in her Facebook responses, but there is absolutely no doubt what the words mean. If she meant the whole ‘sector’ she would have used that word.
The post author has identified and discounted the grouping your google-fu led you to. Stop trying to defend the indefensible.
No, the poster identifies and eliminates the ” Special Needs Association”.
What my simple search discovered was the “New Zealand Special Education Association”.
Look, I see see what you mean about the facebook comment, it is at odds with the statement in parliament. But when someone is accusing a Minister of lying in Parliament they ought to be more careful. “I phoned a couple like minded mates”, asked on twitter, and (apparently incompetently) did a google search doesn’t cut it for me.
And then the Minister, herself, did *not* say it was the group you’re crowing about being able to find on Google. So enough of this weaselly “it’s at odds”, “it does seem unclear” defence of Hekia Parata. She lied to Parliament and the evidence is in her fudging when called on it.
Scott is not defending Hekia at all.
He is criticising this post for making an accusation that is unfounded.
It is quite possible to think Hekia is a lying twit, and also think that this post is making an untrue accusation.
I’m not defending her at all. She seems to have stuff up royally. All I’m saying is that the accusation made appears to be wrong.
If you’re pointing the finger at someone like this, you ought to do so carefully.
At the moment, the only evidence that she lied to parliament is that the comment in parliament is inconsistent with a later facebook comment attributed to her. So what? It needs more digging, and a more careful accusation.
The accusation is that Parata made up the organisation. The fact that an organisation exists (or, existed) with this name does not disprove that accusation.
Why would she make up something?
You know Andrew said stop barking at every passing car? This is one of those cars.
To make her answer sound more credible?
But I don’t know if she did or not. I’m simply pointing out to those who say that “the Google proves Parata didn’t make this up” that it does no such thing.
Well yes it does, because if the organisation exists then she did not fabricate the organisations existence.
Now she might have made up what she attributes to it, or have wrongly attributed it to them. But those are not what the headline and the body of the post say. They say she simply made the organisation up. The existence of the organisation would appear to disprove that particular accusation.
Have it your way Scott…….in which case she didn’t lie about the association but she lied about what it said. Can’t have it both ways boyo. Are you OK ?
to North
Yes, quite happy with that. She may have either made up what she claimed she was told, or wrongly attributed it.
But what we can be increasingly sure of she that did not do what the headline and the article accuse her of.
Any chance of Nicola Standing’s phone number?
Sorry we do not encourage posting anyone’s contact details on this blog.
Fabulous Scott…….you’ve made a sort of a point well away from the real point…….Hekia lies. One way or the other she lies.
The ministers “Special Needs Association” and the “New Zealand Special Needs Association” are not the same thing – the former is missing the words “New Zealand”.
But your argument “but I found the organisations that she was talking about” fails because you didn’t find the organisation she named. You found a similarly named one.
It her job to get things right when questioned. We are meant to trust that when she says the name of an organisation that she correctly names the organisation.
But it turns out to be even worse than that because she just made up some stuff that sounded like it was some official body when it was just odds and ends of people she talked to.
Elegant, mpledger. Elegant.
The minister also admitted immediately when challenged that she was not actually talking about any particular organisation. #gameover
Do not be too hard on Scott, the intransigent Glaswegian.
There are a number of other websites, sporting his Tory BS tactics.
So either the Minister was lying about the support, or got support from perhaps one member of an organisation, that was so organised it disbanded from lack of interest.
I suppose the only grounds for not resigning at that point is that all the alternative candidates are worse. This being the National Party, that seems quite likely.
She’s answerable to this same corrupt rabble, so nothing will come of this perjury and/or gross incompetence.
On the winz beneficiary site there is this insidious series of entries from the stats dept about trends taking up 2/3 of the space on any page stating information about the particular benefit available
Why is there a need for a beneficiary to be sidetracked from what they need to know is beyond me as this stat info in trends is of no use to a beneficiary
As it is there is nothing to direct beneficiaries to further help outside of winz and this is what we get for all the supposed increases for beneficiaries
Bigger fatter salaries for what less help for beneficiaries
“It’s become a well-accepted fact in Christchurch that wealthier areas of the city received a better deal from government agencies and quicker responses to the disastrous earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 than poorer suburbs.”
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/08/29/if-this-isnt-corrupt-practice-what-is/
+100 this is very true…and John Minto was a superb columnist for the Christchurch Press….I really missed his insightful, hard hitting, truth telling columns when they dis-established him
I guess now that Minto is standing for mayor the Christchurch Press (which is usually right wing and pro National in slant ) will have to give him coverage again.
Also sincerely hope he becomes Mayor of Christchurch
+1 Chooky – yep no matter your politics Chch should vote Minto in to get rid of all the corruption and get the reconstruction back on track and fair for all.
And this is the KEY to the misunderstanding of yourself (and others) and what Scott is saying.
Scott has not said “the Google proves Parata didn’t make this up”.
Scott has said “the Google evidence contradicts the statement made in this article, that no such organisation exists”.
[DERAIL – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
When, and from whom, did Sue Bradford get a PhD?
I had heard that she was studying for one but not that she had actually received it.
[Derail – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
Are you offering to pay someone to do your homework for you? Otherwise I don’t think much of your chances.
I got mine years ago you silly little fellow. What has that got to do with my question? Have you learnt to read yet?
I was curious where Sue went.
*whoosh*
I’ll find out for you for an exorbitant fee. I reserve the right to ridicule your inability to use Google while I’m at it.
I take that back: I’m going to ridicule your inability to follow the links in the post instead. Now let’s discuss my fee 😆
Cha…I’m a fucked right wing Doc/Coc/onetime Labour voter. We lie down down to you Tralwyn.
[Settle down – First and last warning – BLiP]
You’re not another one of these people that won’t accept anything unless they’re fed links, are you?
Gossip gossip gossip nasty cow Tralwyn !
I agree with your stance in this matter Scott, but I’ll note that the sort of careful semantic argument you’re making here is very often mis-read by others – not deliberately, just that for many it’s hard to see the very precise point that you’re making. So they put it together in their own mind and assume that you’re defending the minister, when of course you’re doing nothing of the sort.
I didn’t bother to raise this particular argument on this post because past experience told me of how this would end up. Ultimately it doesn’t matter a lot either way, since as others have shown there’s already sufficient other evidence (primarily from her statements on facebook) to think that Hekia just made her attribution up.
[DERAIL – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
Cheers.
There does appear to be a story here, but like so much lately the desire to make it as spicy as you can leads to hyperbole, and ultimately to the message being lost.
‘
Oh, puhleeze, just fuck off. The message of the post has not been lost, despite your attempts to cloud the issue with a public demonstration of failure to comprehend. If your objection really is about the style of the post rather than the content, feel free, by all means, to join the ranks of Guest Authors and show us all how it should be done.
Or, we could just comment on the posts. Since discussing posts is what the comment section is for, after all.
When an item produces a debate of 74 posts of whether she made it up or not, it is probably an indication that this particular attack on the Minister is going nowhere.
Most people will just give up on determining the the exact correctness of what was said, and on what basis.
Surely it would better to focus on the policy itself, which I am certain will be of much more interest to parents.
A Wellington-centric debate of who said what when is missing the point.
An all too frequent occurrence on this blog.
[DERAIL – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]
The passive/aggressive Wayne’s “going nowhere” is Wayne doing exactly what Scott has been doing all along…..derailing. What does remain is yet another example of National Party arrogance and dishonesty.
Well good luck with getting any traction whatsoever on this with normal people. You know most people. Who vote.
Actually Wayne, most of the debate has been about the things this article says.
It very plainly and clearly says a google search was carried out, but no such organisation as “Special Education Association” exists. Except when I and others perform this same search, they appear as the first google result.
So the article is clearly wrong.
Nope. Hekia Parata fabricated a Special Education Association which is a different entity than the Special Education Association which appears in Google, and that latter entity is moribond which, functionally, is the same as non-existent. Hekia Parata’s Special Education Association, on the other hand, is entirely imaginary. The post author specifically references the Google result and easily dismisses it as being the Special Education Association, Hekia Parata is then quoted, confirming this.
Hopefully, an MP concerned about National Ltd’s orchestrated and perpetual mendacity will follow up with this latest example. A good question to ask might be: “Show us the DOX where the Special Education Association said this latest policy will provide the benefits you claim”.
Or someone does an OIA asking for all material related to her communications with the Special Education Association.
heh
And people call me a sophist.
The article says:
If your version of events is to be believed, it should say something like this:
“I tried Googling. I’m good at Googling. I found a reference to the New Zealand Special Education Association, so I thought I’d found it! Some quick further research showed this group to be moribund, and after talking to the chairperson, I confirmed that despite having the same name as the organisation Hekia quoted, they had in fact not spoken to her”.
But the article didn’t say that. It said this:
The article is wrong.
If only the article said what you claim it says, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But it doesn’t say what you think it says.
‘
I understand your point. I disagree. Now drop it, please. Enough. Saying the same thing over and over again does not make that thing any more true or false. What it does indicate, though, is an attempt to clutter a conversation with a trainspotters’ squabble to detract from the main point of the post. Such behaviour sometimes require’s a strident response if it goes on too long.
Yes Lanth’, and you and Scott are wearing green cardigans, no hang on they’re purple aren’t they, no, yellow…….oh bugger, they’re cardigans for fuck sake. Talk about pedantry…….one for the sake of it the other to protect a liar.
That debate of 74 posts only occurred because a couple of trolls are deliberately ignoring the blatantly obvious truth that Hekia Parata lied her pants off, and for whatever reason are trying to disseminate away from that. As are you. Obviously you support Hekia Parata lying in parliament. Perhaps this is because you did the same?
Scott hasn’t been derailing, he’s been making a very specific point that most people have mis-read.
Now, the point he is making is ultimately not important in the grand scheme of things (which seems to be a large part of why people are mis-reading what he is saying), but the point he is making is valid, none-the-less.
[DERAIL – Moved to Open Mike – BLiP]