She’s got to go

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 pm, June 14th, 2016 - 98 comments
Categories: paula bennett - Tags: ,

Te Puea Marae is doing all that the government should be, but isn’t.  The government are even forced to offer them help.

Paula Bennett does her best not to visit, to meet them away from media, as it’s too embarrassing, this show of community action in place of government inaction over the housing crisis.

At that meeting, she is told in confidence by a straight up guy about his being investigated.

A couple of days later… Paula’s staffer just happens to drop this confidential information into a conversation with media.

Staffers don’t leak confidential information without getting the word from their boss.

Either Paula Bennett is lying and trying to throw her staffer under the bus to save her skin and needs to go, or…

Paula‘s incompetent and has an out-of-control office and needs to go.

But she has form of leaking personal data to silence anyone who embarrasses her, so one can draw the obvious conclusion.

We thought we’d got rid of Muldoon and his authoritarian ways, but his spirit lives on in the National Party.

Oh, and everything NRT says.  (we’re going to put her in charge of lots of personal information?!)

98 comments on “She’s got to go ”

  1. Gabby 1

    It would be lovely to see the staff member being interviewed. apparently it’s not Puller’s place to go into it.

    • Muttonbird 1.1

      This. In a proper society it should be easy to find out who called who with respect to this conversation between Bennett’s office and TV One.

      Not in National’s NZ though.

  2. Paul 2

    Shameful by Bennett.

    “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go”

  3. NZSage 3

    It takes integrity to resign due to your own or your subordinates failures.

    Integrity is not a word in Bennett’s vocabulary so don’t hold your breath.

  4. Paul 4

    Many questions to ask after this interview by John Campbell.
    Her story does not add up.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORwipM3wGeo

    • Chris 4.1

      It’s incredulous that she’s talking about “them” and “their”, the language of the “other”, distancing herself as much as she can. Talking about “beds” as if it’s some kind of institution/patient relationship, that the people she’s talking about need treatment, need to get “fixed” because the problem’s really about “them”. She makes my fucking skin crawl.

      • Paul 4.1.1

        “It had about it the campaign trail sense of boxes being ticked rather than being examined.”

      • Chris 4.1.2

        When asked about the housing crisis Bennett says:

        “And it’s those who’re most vulnerable who’re affected the most.”

        Just moments before when asked about the huge motel debts in the tens of thousands Bennett says:

        “They borrowed under those circumstances and we’re not looking at going back.”

        Those huge debts aren’t about borrowing money in a normal sense as Bennett’s trying to make out. People have to meet pretty strict criteria that’s governed by legislation. In fact, an applicant’s circumstances have to be regarded as “exceptional” for those debts to get up around the $1500 to $2000 mark in the first place, let alone $60k or $70K. But according to Bennett people are going to be lumbered with that debt. And there’s no discretion now not to recover debt that’s not the result of the ministry’s error, (thanks to government legislation voted for by Labour).

        Bennett agrees that it’s the most vulnerable who’re affected the most. Does this mean, then, that she thinks it’s okay to screw the most vulnerable over in this way? That by deciding the assistance a family needs to meet the cost of emergency accommodation must be paid back even when that assistance could have been made non-repayable? Even when it’s $60k or $70k? Heck, that’s more than some students end up with and we try to justify that by saying a tertiary education leads to better paying jobs so students can afford it. We’re talking the poorest of the poor here, under Bennett’s own admission “the most vulnerable”.

        Bennett also said it was not true to say that she and the government didn’t care. That’s right, sweetie, that’s really caring for the most vulnerable.

      • M. Gray 4.1.3

        Agree with you Chris shes not the only one and remember she is serving her master

      • mary_a 4.1.4

        @ Chris (4.1) … good points raised.

        I guess in the eyes of NatzKEY, including the venomous Frau Bennett, “THEY” are subhuman, so are treated with contempt. Best to depersonalize “THEM.”

        If looks could kill, John Campbell would be dead by now. Boy, was she giving him the evils during that interview!

        Now we wait for RNZ to receive some funding reductions! In the best interests of the nation of course!

    • Mosa 4.2

      Right credentials for Keys replacement then !

  5. Paul 5

    “Why do you think that something that Hurimoana Dennis told the minister on Friday is public on Tuesday?”

    “Simply because Hurimoana Dennis has come out in the last month and shown the government that it has holes in its social housing policy and that Paula Bennett has not been doing her job in terms of fixing these problems…..”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHJ1gxJM8E

    • Muttonbird 5.1

      “Why do you think that something that Hurimoana Dennis told the minister on Friday is public on Tuesday?”

      Yikes. When you read it laid bare as simply as that it looks awful.

      • emergency mike 5.1.1

        Doesn’t it.

        Paula would have you believe that this information that she received in the spirit of full disclosure, which had nothing to do with the issue at hand, was repeated to her staff member, who then repeated it to at least one journalist. If that last step had really happened without the minister’s instruction, the staffer would have been sacked.

        It might not have been a secret, but it was not ‘in the public domain’. But it is now eh.

        But hey what do you expect when you have a go at the govt by, um, doing your best to help homeless people.

  6. Richard Rawshark 6

    I can get the truck, but we’ll need to borrow a forklift,and a crowbar.

  7. Greg 7

    The question should be, is how did the staffer know about the police investigation,

    leaked info is bad, looked what happened to police Commissioner Doone,
    when Helen railroaded him out of the position.
    she appointed chicken sex Broad as commissioner,

    • Paul 7.1

      The staffer knew because Bennett told her.
      or maybe the staffer did it because she knew what Bennett wanted.
      “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?”

      Bennett has form on this.

      • Kiwiri 7.1.1

        ‘Tis convenient outsourcing of a leak!

      • Skinny 7.1.2

        Make no mistake the leak is a smear by implying a policeman sheltered an apparent sex offender. Which of course is a total beat up. One was 16 & the other a 15 years old, puppy love really.
        It is typical of this nasty woman, what really annoyed me was Bennett comes out saying no action will be taken against the staffer. In most instances the offending staffer would be stood down on garden leave pleading a full investigation.

        No such process as Bennett appears to have vetoed such a process.

        Leave her there she tars the Natcorp brand which is a good thing.

    • Muttonbird 7.2

      They’re saying the staffer, the one she threw under the bus, what at the Friday cafe meeting between Bennett and Dennis.

      They are also then saying the staffer took it upon his/herself to release this information to the press.

      What is so far unclear is whether the release was engineered (according to TVNZ), or if it was dropped in at an appropriate time (Bennett’s version)

      • AB 7.2.1

        If the staffer was at the meeting – it seems improbable that they would come out of that meeting mistakenly thinking the information was in the public domain and that no harm would come from mentioning it to the media.

        You can imagine the tenor of that meeting – most likely Hurimoana Dennis was confidentially disclosing something that wasn’t public in order to be upfront with the Minister and to ensure there would be no surprises if the Government chose to work with the marae on helping the homeless.

  8. NZJester 8

    I find it laughable that Paula Bennett in a recent article was talking about being a victim of online bulling. Meanwhile she is an even bigger bully to anyone that makes her look bad in the public eye.

    • Paul 8.1

      She was whining in that John Campbell interview about what a tough job she has.
      Simple.
      Resign.
      Tomorrow.

      • Stuart Munro 8.1.1

        I don’t think she fancies being on the other side of the counter from Winz post her brutal and stupid ‘reforms’.

        • Gangnam Style 8.1.1.1

          Remember this?

          http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10720149

          “And for someone in control of such a large chunk of the country’s purse strings, operating a cash register was worryingly tough. “Paula was intimidated by the till. She was grappling with it,” said Gardner.”

          I also remember reading in another article where Bennett was worried people were going to be rude to her, but no one was, because not everyone is a crazy psychopath in the real world, its called projecting I think.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1.1.1

            The perception is that people have reached this situation through their own fault through drug or alcohol abuse…

            She actually came close to denying the liturgy there. I wonder who’s “perceptions” she isn’t quite ready to call out as vicious lies.

    • M. Gray 8.2

      Sounds like you are describing most of the pnats Brownlee is one of the worst offender as many of them think they are above the law they breach peoples privacy and break the law on a regular basis its in their DNA ( dirty nasty arsewholes attitude)

  9. the pigman 9

    Even if she didn’t instruct the staffer to leak the information, the fact that she passed it on to the staffer at all shows a tremendous lack of judgment. Future PM material indeed…

    Collins communes with those same dark forces through arms’ length operatives like Slater, but is really a bird of a feather.

    Collins or Bennett the next National PM? Both are more toxic than Shipley.
    (Not saying the male candidates are any more capable. Joyce? Bridges? Bishop? *shudder*.)

    • Chris 9.1

      Bennett is incredibly thick.

      • red-blooded 9.1.1

        Don’t let’s underestimate her. She’s a toxic bully, but she’s not thick. She’s playing to an audience that doesn’t comment on this site.

        • Hanswurst 9.1.1.1

          I don’t think you need intelligence to play to that audience (which is not to say that that audience is necessarily thick).

        • Stephen Doyle 9.1.1.2

          I dare not go over to Kiwiblog, but my guess is they love her over there.

        • Chris 9.1.1.3

          You can equate being a toxic bully with a lack of smarts because if that’s all she’s got then one kind of follows the other. Her performance on Checkpoint gave her away yet again.

      • M. Gray 9.1.2

        Shes not the only thick one in the pnats party

    • tc 9.2

      The PM’s office has increased media resources under nact so similar matters can be dealt with by minions many steps removed from the PM.

      So if she makes PM such trifling matters as taking care of dissention and items getting in the way in the neoliberal path can get the ‘Jason Eade’ division assigned.

    • M. Gray 9.3

      They are all toxic and have damaged our country and will continue to do so because stupid NZers keep voting for them

  10. Keith 10

    The National Party reverting to type. Looks like the dirty politics smear machine is alive and well.

    And anyone who thinks she acted alone has forgotten what a well oiled coordinated machine National is. The truth is she should have been fired years ago leaking that beneficiary’s private information after she showed them up but Key did nothing. What we didn’t know then was the disgusting low life smear machine operating out of our Prime Ministers office.

    National are a disease, Bennett is simply one of the symptoms.

    • Paul 10.1

      30 years of neo-liberalism creates people like Bennett.
      30 years of neo-liberalism creates people like Hosking.

      Greedy, uncaring, selfish and cruel.

  11. dave 11

    we have the cure labgreen 2017

    • Paul 11.1

      I am not sure Labour has denounced Neo-liberalism.
      Shearer, for example, is a product of the 1980s and such thinking.
      People prepared to vote for the TPP are not on the side of the people.

      • Colonial Viper 11.1.1

        Plenty of people in the Labour Party who still see Rogernomics as painful, but very necessary.

        And Little has recently reiterated that the Labour Party stands by “free trade.”

  12. bernard 12

    you can see it in her face-she cannot stand being held to account even a little.Would be good to see a reporter really hound her and get stuck into her,see if they can get her to spectacularly blow up.

    • Rae 12.1

      Paula Bennett’s facial expressions are a dead giveaway. Trying watching her answering some of these questions with the sound off, and tell me what you think is going on inside her head.
      In fact, her facial expressions are so obvious, you can see them, even if all you have is sound.
      Wouldn’t mind a few hands of poker with her.

      • Gangnam Style 12.1.1

        When she was interviewed by Jack Tame she coudln’t handle it, it was unusually long for NZ, about 10 minutes? & Bennett had this twitch in her eye that wouldn;t go away when she couldn;t answer the questions straight & being called out for it. Was on Q&A or The Nation around the time she went to that Climate Change thing in the USA a month or so back.

  13. Puckish Rogue 13

    I’d sack her, far too many trips to the well in my opinion

  14. Sabine 14

    Well, if the guy would have been a prominent New Zealander who is of importance to the National Party then of course his identity would have been protected at all cost, but alas he is just a suspended copper and as such he is fair go.

    I wonder what the Police thinks about a Minister gossiping to the media about an ongoing investigation? But then I guess the police by now knows that this current National Party led Government can’t give a flying fuck about the police and the work they do.

    Cut funds
    Close Cop shops
    Complain about Coppers enforcing speed limits
    and now outing a police investigation.

    Fuck these National Party MP must be the biggest gossip tarts ever. Who needs a newspaper when you have Paula Bennet on your payroll.

  15. Colonial Viper 15

    Paula aint going anywhere until the front pages of the dailies are calling for her head.

    • Keith 15.1

      The Herald is silent.

      • Colonial Viper 15.1.1

        of course they are. And Bennett isnt going until Key pushes her, and Key isn’t pushing her until mass media pressure forces his hand. Does the Left get this.

        • Kiwiri 15.1.1.1

          And if Bennett falls on a conveniently placed sword, she will return pronto from the grave just as Collins did (remember Collins announced standing down in the middle of the graveyard shift on a Saturday afternoon of an election campaign?) or Nick Smith.

          While it is important to hold Ministers to account, keep the bigger picture in view and hammer harder on the issues and the much needed policies.

          • Colonial Viper 15.1.1.1.1

            Exactly. The NATs have already got contingency steps all planned out. Why can’t people see that these are the very same plays from their same playbook.

        • AB 15.1.1.2

          “Does the Left get this?”
          Can’t speak for “the left” but I do. She will survive because there is no channel for popular outrage and because, well, there is no popular outrage. Any smear that somehow associates Maori and criminality will just tick so many mental boxes for Kiwis.

    • Rosie 15.2

      And let’s not forget how hard it was to get rid of Judith Collins for her ministerial misbehaviour……….Pullya Benefit has her seat seriously bolted to the trough side.

      Collins in the end, only got to go sit in the naughty corner for a bit and then her constituents happily returned her in 2014.

      • Colonial Viper 15.2.1

        And Collins does not have the favour of Key and English, as far as I can discern. I think Bennett does – at least more so than Collins does.

  16. Neil 16

    Nothing will come of this & Bennet will not be made to stand down. Everyone who voted national are responsible for this debacle.

    • Colonial Viper 16.1

      the real blame goes on the Official Opposition for not providing a clear and attractive alternative to voters.

      • mauī 16.1.1

        Paula Bennett is all Labour’s fault in 3, 2, 1…

      • marty mars 16.1.2

        Lol yep that’s where the REAL blame lies – #brokenrecordboringrightwingmemes

      • Colonial Viper 16.1.3

        I see. So how is your political strategy of blaming Kiwis for being self serving and ignorant, while giving a pass to political parties who get millions in tax payers money, working for you?

        • marty mars 16.1.3.1

          Are you asking yourself???? Oh dear. Even being generous your question is bizarre and self serving

          • Colonial Viper 16.1.3.1.1

            If you don’t get my question, then you don’t get why people keep voting for National.

            • marty mars 16.1.3.1.1.1

              And you do? because?

              Watch out for hubris – I don’t think you know as much as you think you know.

              • Colonial Viper

                Hey mate, if you think that blaming a million plus kiwi voters for Paula Bennett does anything positive for the Left then good on ya. Your political compass has demagnetized.

                • Yeah you’d rather blame Labour -you aren’t left as you’ve said so what you say about ‘good for the left’ can be taken like any other non left uninformed commenter.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Next Roy Morgan due out Fri (if they can get it out on time). It’ll capture the initial public reaction to the MOU announcement.

                    And I’m not Left. But unlike you I can see why each move like this makes the traditional Left increasingly irrelevant.

                    • Iirrelevant to you and your ideology. If you live by the poll’s you die by the poll’s – I prefer to see them as fixes for political junkies – for that purpose they are useful.

  17. Sabine 17

    Question time in Parliament will be fun.

    I wonder if she is going to chicken out of these ‘interviews’ as well.

    Ahhh, poor Ms. Bennett, clearly the job she got is too big for her shoes, her plate and even her ego.
    Time to go home and spend time with the family, knitting socks and eating cupcakes. Or something like that.
    Heck, she could even get a job in her beloved ‘ private market’.

    • Anne 17.1

      I’m picking Madam will not be in the House for question time today. She will be… otherwise engaged on pressing ministerial business.

      • Colonial Viper 17.1.1

        There is a housing crisis somewhere out there which undoubtedly requires her personal attention

        • Kiwiri 17.1.1.1

          Need to magic away the issues for her boss, well in advance before election year kicks in from Jan 2017.

          So some magic pop-ups will make their appearance very soon, to be accompanied by many tactically arranged photo-ops.

          Pity can’t shrink some homeless citizens to fit under mushrooms that can be grown overnight 🙂

    • mary_a 17.2

      @ Sabine (17) … “Question time in Parliament will be fun.”

      Yes, literally fun for the hideous sideshow to the right of the biased Speaker … NatzKEY that is! Because the ministers don’t actually answer questions do they? Instead preferring to either skirt around them, or make insulting comments directed at Labour, past and present!

      And even more galling is the fact corrupt Speaker Carter continues to allow this behaviour, without reprimand or warning to the ministers concerned!

      I doubt Frau Bennett will be there today … best way to avoid responding to challenging questions is to go AWOL. Either that, or make sure she follows in dear leader’s footsteps when embarrassment is likely (FJK and the Panama Papers), play up, so she is forced to leave the House!

      The NatzKEY mob are as cunning and dodgy as sewer rats and even then, I’m sure they could teach the sly rodents a thing or two about playing dirty!

  18. BM 18

    Why would a reporter leak their source?

    Also, who is her Press secretary?, the last one left in Jan this year

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/76274216/Top-government-spin-doctor-to-Paula-Bennett-resigns

    Who replaced him?

    • weka 18.1

      Why are you asking here?

      • BM 18.1.1

        This is a political board, full of people who are interested in politics?

        Chances of some one knowing who Paula Bennett’s new press secretary are is probably quite high.

  19. Takere 19

    Poor Pullah has still not recovered from her mental illness. Having to deal with poor people reminds her of the days when she was on a Bene and having to deal with them all now too is a painful reminder of herself when she was surrounded by all of these people at the WINZ office when she was a Beneficiary. Its a memory she wants so badly to forget. The only way she feels she can do this is to eliminate poverty, the poor and those that remind her from where she came from and who she is. A Westie, a solo mum. (She needs to do this to become PM she feels). Anybody that tries to impede her mission is seen as an enemy, an impediment an adversary. Her only MO is to treat them with absolute contempt, vindictiveness & cruelty as well as hostility with no acknowledgement or recognition of their plight which is caused by her incompetence! Her only “Tools” are Bullying, Threatening and Undermining anybody that gets in her way.
    Because of her mental state and inability to accept who she is, its best that she resign as she is not fit to be the an MP to serve the public who some are poor, impoverished and those in need of the very same help she received when she was a poor (you have to be when you are in receipt of a bene) many years ago.
    With the Housing Crisis & Poverty and a Collapsing Economy ….the slow car crash is in progress. I’m guessing an early election somewhere August-Early Oct 2017 or earlier if the Bubble Burst Officially in the next few months. Bye Bye Pullah!

  20. Corvidae 20

    One has to ask why the staffer hasn’t been relieved (or have they been – what has become of the ‘staffer’?) Isn’t this government big on accountability? We all know what would happen to any of us if we did this in our jobs? Perhaps some financial recompense may be in order for the marae? And what effect will this have on the course of justice. Is this sub-judice (something this government uses when it suits them) or still being investigated? Will this taint a future jury?

    However, ‘at the end of the day’ this is what this episode tells us: people from all sorts of backgrounds are working to relieve us of the societal wrong of poverty and homelessness through charity and sacrifice. The Minister, the person paid by the nation to solve this problem, could perhaps draw some guidance from that.

    No matter how this was made public, it is irrelevant. The government needs to be told it is irrelevant; the Minister having to apologise is about a problem with her own Ministry is a secondary issue. It is a ‘meanwhile’ issue. Poverty and homelessness remains relevant.

    Keep your eye on the ball.

  21. Gabby 21

    I’m not understanding the coyness in naming this press secretary. S/he would surely be eager to chat with the press, that being his/her job.

    • Rosie 21.1

      “She” apparently, according to this quote in the RNZ piece linked below at 23

      “Mrs Bennett said the staff member involved had offered to resign but she had not accepted, “because I don’t think she needs to resign”.

      “She deeply, deeply regrets it and I just can’t apologise enough.”

    • Tiger Mountain 21.2

      Ms Bennett’s press secretary will likely immediately join the ranks of the “disappeared” like Jason Eade from the PM’s office did a couple of years back, a decent media would give her a good old fashioned tabloid hounding till she coughed, but then that would be mean right?

      except when the PM does the hounding, that is fine, like he did with Eleanor Catton and Nicky Hager and Glen Greenwald and even Paul Buchanan I am told

      • Rosie 21.2.1

        “………but then that would be mean right?”

        And Pullya Benefit would cry crocodile tears as the hypocrite who talks about “bullying”. She would have that angle well and truly covered.

  22. Bearded Git 22

    Bennett in the house today refusing (at 2m35s though the whole video is worth a watch) to confirm who leaked the info re the police investigation. This stinks.

    http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/43961

    • Anne 22.1

      We know who it was. Her press secretary. We know it’s a she… we just don’t know her name. Come on someone. It’s not a “national secret”. Who is she? If she was in on the smear campaign (and she obviously was) then she doesn’t deserve to be protected.

      • Chris 22.1.1

        Who’s that woman in the blue standing behind Bennett when she’s talking to John Campbell? There are a couple of moments in the clip where she’s walking behind Bennett, too.

    • Anne 23.1

      From the link:

      Mrs Bennett said she could understand Mr Dennis was disappointed and concerned this whole situation had reflected badly on the marae and the work it was doing with the homeless.

      Well now, wasn’t that the whole point of the exercise? To discredit the marae chairman and therefore the marae?

      • Rosie 23.1.1

        Exactly. You know, I think she’s really sunk to a new low with this one.

        She just doesn’t have the cool aloof commanding unflappability of Collins that would have this matter brushed under the carpet in seconds. That is the only difference between these two nat women. They both deceive, deflect and divert but one does it more expertly than the other. Hopefully the weakness in Bennett will bring her down but it would seem she’s lucky, it won’t, because the PM ain’t bovvered.

    • Tiger Mountain 23.2

      yes heard our glorious leader at 3pm endorsing Ms Bennett’s position, no resignation, no censure, staff member to stay without sanction (perhaps she enjoyed the shade of the nearby bus she spent the last two days under)

      meanwhile nearly 3000 state houses remain empty

  23. save nz 24

    Goodbye Bennet. Shut the door behind you.

  24. Sorrwerdna 25

    Why has no one here perhaps thought TVNZ may also be to blame for making the information public? If this was a “hit job” wouldn’t the reporter consider protecting her source?

    • lprent 25.1

      Why? If Paula Bennett had wanted to do one of her oh so typical hitjobs, then she’d have just found someone else to do it. Probably someone creepier and with fewer morals. Like the sleazeball Mike Hosking or that other idiot friend of National who does a TV morning comedy

  25. mac1 26

    Parliament today.
    Supplementary question to Minister Paula Bennet from Phil Twyford, “Why did she discuss the information about the police investigation with her staff.”

    Reply, verbatim, from Ms Bennett “In the context of just the whole meeting, I’d gone through the meeting from start to finish, and as a consequence of that was why it was raised in that context.”

    Who can make meaning of that? Two uses of the word ‘context’ which has become a catchword to allow wiggle room for later challenges.

    All I can read from that answer is that she, Paula Bennett, went through the meeting from start to finish and introduced the issue of the police investigation when she said “and as a consequence of that, (referring to her going through the entire meeting with her staff, which sounds like her reporting what went on), was why it was raised in that context.”

    So Bennett told her staff about the police investigation. Why did she do that? Bennett told the House that a staff member talking to a reporter “in an aside she discussed these issues.”

    I ask when does an ‘aside’ become a ‘discussion’? An aside is not a discussion. An aside is a short comment. A discussion is a two-way conversation. So which was it?

    Whichever way it was, it should not have happened.

    The important question is, though, did the staff member in question have the Minister’s approval, tacit or otherwise, to smear the man and the marae?

    • Rosie 26.1

      “The important question is, though, did the staff member in question have the Minister’s approval, tacit or otherwise, to smear the man and the marae?”

      Well, it’s very whiffy isn’t it? Especially after the reply to Phil Twyford, you supplied us with.

      Given Pullya’s track record, nat MP and Minsterial behaviour in general, and their inclination to revert to dirty politics styled tactics to achieve political gains and goals I’d be surprised if Pullya didn’t, either covertly or directly, direct her staff member to leak info about Mr Dennis in an effort to discredit him as punishment for making her department and herself personally look indifferent and ineffective.

  26. emergency mike 27

    It says a lot about about Bennett, and by this govt, that a political opponent deserving of a smear campaign is such because he is doing to good a job of charitably helping the homeless. Says it all really.

    No one is sacked, John Key is comfortable with it. A new low indeed.

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    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    9 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    9 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    9 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    11 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    14 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    16 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    17 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    19 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    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; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$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 ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    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. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    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 Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    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 ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    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 ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    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 ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    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. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
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