Spying on China

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, April 19th, 2015 - 100 comments
Categories: China, Spying - Tags: , ,

The latest in the Snowden / GCSB spying leaks, as emerging in The Herald:

Leaked papers reveal NZ plan to spy on China for US

Our spies and America’s top government hackers cooked up a plan to crack into a data link between Chinese Government buildings in Auckland, new Edward Snowden documents reveal.

The project appeared aimed at tapping data flowing between the Chinese consulate and its passport office in Great South Rd — and using the link to access China’s computer systems.

One of the source documents included appears to show that “Phase 1” was completed.

In the case of spying on Korea Key claimed that they wouldn’t care:

Mr Key says the Koreans simply do not care, “because they wouldn’t give a monkey’s and they probably wouldn’t believe it”.

He can’t play that nonsense card in the case of China – from the Herald piece again:

The revelation is the most explosive of the information about New Zealand revealed in the Snowden documents — and has sparked a firm Chinese diplomatic response giving rise to concerns our security relationship with the United States is impacting our trade relationship with China.

A Chinese Embassy spokesman told the Herald on Sunday: “China is concerned about relevant report. We attach great importance to the cybersecurity issue.

See further analysis from Hager and Gallagher.

So, great, now we can add China to the growing list of countries that are pissed off with us. What could possibly go wrong?

100 comments on “Spying on China ”

  1. Paul 1

    What a bunch of incompetent clowns.
    Pity we didn’t fire the lot of them in 2014.

    Actually pity they were ever hired.

    Wake up New Zealand these guys do NOT care about you.

  2. ianmac 2

    Whilst the GCSB is not we are told, spying in NZ what is there to stop other 5Eyes from spying on us and in return we spy on them then swap information gleaned. That way the PM can say hand on heart that the GCSB is not spying on NZers. Simple.
    The Chinese might retaliate with Trade sanctions. The dairy industry might be concerned?

    • Paul 2.1

      There is clearly a lot of milk about. They could easily buy elsewhere.
      Maybe some National supporting farmers might start to realise that this government does not put their interests as high as they say they do.

      Key worked for Merrill Lynch and big US banking interests.
      He still does.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1

        There is clearly a lot of milk about. They could easily buy elsewhere.

        Give the Chinese time and they’ll outstrip us in milk production and export as well. Same as the US is doing already (I really have NFI why people think that the US is ever going to be a market for our agricultural produce). Agriculture is not how you develop a nations economy.

    • weka 2.2

      trade sanctions on milk exports is probably one of the better things that could happen at this point.

  3. Penny Bright 3

    How is it LAWFUL for the GCSB be involved in the alleged planned spying on Chinese Consulate diplomatic communications?

    How ‘two-faced’ is ex-Wall Street banker, ‘smiling assassin’ NZ Prime Minister John Key?

    Whose interests was / is NZ Prime Minister John Key serving, as the (then) Minister responsible for the GCSB, in the alleged planned spying on China – NZ’s major trading partner?

    The New Zealand public or U$A corporate interests?

    Surely the issue is not (again) HOW these leaked documents were obtained – but whether or not they are FACTUALLY ACCURATE??

    Penny Bright

    http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz

    • Paul 3.1

      Penny, it is clear that Key still works for Wall Street.

      • Murray Simmonds 3.1.1

        In answer to the concluding sentence in Anthony Robins’ post:
        ” What could possibly go wrong? ”

        Well the worst thing that could possibly go wrong is that this bunch of diplomatically dense, myopic clowns (who kid themselves that they are successfully running to country according to plan) could get re-elected for yet another term if we are not careful . . . .

        And ‘according to plan’ in the above statement of course means “according to Uncle Sam’s plan”.

      • mary_a 3.1.2

        @ Paul (3.1) Yes, Wall Street. And Washington. One and the same? Possibly.

        Doesn’t matter because one thing is definite, Key does NOT work in the best interests of NZ and Kiwis!

        Key’s spying activities on amiable nations, is not keeping us on an even keel throughout the international community. When more of this leaks out and becomes common knowledge, NZ will find itself under suspicion and isolated. And Key will be gone, lucratively paid off for his treason towards his homeland.

        Key is more of a threat to NZ than any outside terrorist could ever be.

        Wake up Kiwis!

        • Draco T Bastard 3.1.2.1

          Key is more of a threat to NZ than any outside terrorist could ever be.

          QFT

          And that also includes the entire National Party as they support their leader.

  4. david 4

    The government has plenty of ways to duck out of this: say they can’t remember; blame it on out of control bureaucrats; launch an enquiry; or blame it on the Greens.

    • BassGuy 4.1

      Don’t forget “Labour did it, too!”

    • mickysavage 4.2

      I don’t think they can claim they did not know. Section 8B of the GCSB Act says:

      8B Intelligence gathering and analysis
      (1) This function of the Bureau is—
      (a) to gather and analyse intelligence (including from information infrastructures) in accordance with the Government’s requirements about the capabilities, intentions, and activities of foreign persons and foreign organisations; and
      (b) to gather and analyse intelligence about information infrastructures; and
      (c) to provide any intelligence gathered and any analysis of the intelligence to—
      (i) the Minister …

      Presuming intelligence was collected Key must have been told.

      http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0009/latest/DLM5647924.html

      • dukeofurl 4.2.1

        As well the PM ( or minister) has legal authority to know operational matters for GCSB that isnt normally available for routine government departments.

        I can imagine the chinese having taken particular care over the coms between the two different buildings.
        The consulate is a building on its own site, which I presume they would own, while the visa office is down the road in an office park.
        Maybe they had noticed the attempted intrusion and could rely on line of sight comms from then on.

  5. ianmac 5

    Note that the Herald has slipped the online story down the page to be sandwiched between a story about heavy rain and one about a cricketer taking his kids to a takeway. Priorities?

    • dukeofurl 5.1

      Thats what happens automatically on online versions.
      It may have different stories up top depending on your history or if you have looked at the story in question

      • Lanthanide 5.1.1

        Yes, but they can also choose to promote a story to the top. Clearly they have not chosen to do that in this case.

  6. Sanctuary 6

    The essential contradiction of NZ foreign policy is it’s desire to trade with Chinabut fight with America. We just about manage to pull it off, but when a sycophantically pro-American like Key is in charge the balance is lost.

    Wait for an obscure change in health regulations leaving tons of our exports on their wharves while China “apologetically” tries to work it through with our officials.

  7. saveNZ 7

    It’s pretty simple to see NZ government has put NZ into an extremely dangerous position.

    They are absolute MORONS. I mean we already knew that but it keeps getting worse.

    They seem incapable of saying NO to either US or China and therefore endangering the relationship with both and screwing our country up permanently. They also are in breach of international law, good will etc.

    Somehow we are now owned or indebted to, two rival superpowers both internally and externally.

    Will this nightmare government ever end?

    If they just have one pinch of common sense and spine to do what is right morally and for the people of this country they would not have got caught up with illegal spying for the US or selling our country off to non resident foreign owners and would not have put NZ in this position.

  8. Colonial Rawshark 8

    There’s no problem, I think someone’s knighthood is now pretty secure.

  9. adam 9

    Dear Chinese government,

    The New Zealand government is a nasty, vindictive, amoral piece of work. They worship at the alter of cupidity, and are sycophants to wall street, all. It is doubtful these epigone to Washington could organise a piss up in a brewery – just look at our economy.

    Our Prime Minister is a hubristic fool, prone to vainglorious moments – on a much too regular basis. This is the opprobrium of being closely associated with gangsters, like the USA corporations.

    That said, I think you understand, we the people who live here, are really not responsible. We had a lot of propaganda, and indeed some real dirty politics so these politicians could stay in power. Maybe that the real problem – we the people don’t run our country. Because if we did – we would not bother spying on you – that would be to much effort.

    So please, please, please don’t stop sending the flat screens. We won’t question the daily suicides in your factories again. And please, most of all, just remember when you play games of state – you will always get people like, John Key.

    • Bill 9.1

      Excellent! 🙂

    • Tracey 9.2

      china are not saints. their wealthy are getting wealthy on the back of human rights abuses and exploiting working conditions. i get what you are saying but like attracts like. keys ethics are mirrored in who he grovels to. the dollar. no matter how bloodstained it is. he insulated himself from it by getting someone else to clean it off before he pockets it.

    • Once was+Tim 9.3

      PS Dear China,
      Do you mind if we adopt your solution to the problem of corrupt politicians and officials?

    • cogito 9.4

      🙂 🙂

      But, personally, I have no time at all for the Chinese, their corrupt communist dictatorship, their repression of the Hong Kong democratic movement, their abysmal record on human rights, their criminal drug activities in NZ, their financial invasion of NZ land, properties and businesses…. As for their flat screen tvs – they can keep them.

      • Once was Tim 9.4.1

        Agreed. But can we import the firing squads for corrupt officials and politicians? They’ll be a lot more ‘seemly’ and less upsetting for the littluns than corpses hanging from lamposts when the inevitable happens if we continue to persue the direction we’re heading. We seem to have lost the ‘learnings’ from history, and even ‘understandings’ of basic mathematics (the 99% up against the 1).
        (Like those pesky split hairs and the Pantene solution – it won’t happen overnight, but it WILL happen – royalties to Rod’s ex; GST to IRD)

    • Draco T Bastard 9.5

      That said, I think you understand, we the people who live here, are really not responsible.

      Actually, we are because we voted the fuckers in. What you say here is a good example of the disassociation that comes with Representative Democracy. It allows people to say the government did this, the government did that and it’s not what I wanted thus it’s not my responsibility. This is complete bollocks. We are the government and parliament is working for us and if it’s not doing what we want then we need to get rid of it.

      Personally, I think we need to change the system because of the faults that it has. It really is more of an elected dictatorship than democracy and it was purposefully set up that way so as to prevent the people actually governing themselves.

      • Once was Tim 9.5.1

        …..”It really is more of an elected dictatorship than democracy…”
        ain’t that the truth!. I think there’s been a sort of cultural shift (part of the I I I me me me culture in fact) where the winner takes all.
        MMP went part of the way to fixing the FPP fuckup but many still think in FPP terms.
        As Kelsey noted in one of her early books, at least MMP reigned in treasury to a degree because they found themselves having to negotiate and compromise a little. That’s not to say they haven’t now figured out other ways of pushing their barrow.
        How can we fix this ‘elected dictatorship’? – I’d be interested in your thoughts @DracotBastard (knowing of course you’re a hard left wing kinsprissy thereist pink commie bastard).
        I’d like to see some sort of upper house or mechanism providing the powers of veto (such as a ‘senate’ for want of a better word, that’s comprised of elected local/regional council reps) – at least some means of localising/regionalising reps….. along with things such as term limits, and as someone in here once suggested – a 3 year time limit on any legislation passed under urgency.

        • Draco T Bastard 9.5.1.1

          How can we fix this ‘elected dictatorship’?

          Progressively shift to a more referendum driven policy development and passage. That will, IMO, require online voting and a reduction in working hours from our excessively high working week.

          I’d like to see some sort of upper house or mechanism providing the powers of veto (such as a ‘senate’ for want of a better word, that’s comprised of elected local/regional council reps)

          The US and the UK have one of those. It hasn’t made anything better. When both houses are dominated by the same parties then the upper house merely becomes a rubber stamp and when the houses oppose each other the upper house becomes a restriction preventing law changes no matter how necessary.

  10. Murray Simmonds 10

    ‘. . . .desire to trade with China but fight with America.”

    Unfortunately its not just “fight with America”. Its also bend over backwards to meet their every whim and desire.

    The Pan Pacific Trade agreement shows just how determined the big USA corporates and multinationals are to dominate global market share at all costs.

    Including in our case the cost of our sovereignty and our right to determine our own economic direction in the world.

    And this idiot government just can’t wait to sign us up to it.

  11. Colonial Rawshark 11

    Listen to this useless so-called academic from Victoria University in the Herald article. Apparently policy making is not an area of government which is helped by “public scrutiny”:

    Victoria University’s Dr Jim Rolfe, director of its Centre for Security Studies, said there were areas of government which were not helped by public scrutiny.

    He said the Snowden revelations had produced benefits in revealing over-reach in some intelligence operations, although “90 per cent of it is prurient”.

    “I suspect things have been hurt rather than helped by Snowden because it has distracted policy makers from their work.”

    I’d like Jim Rolfe to come forward and point to the 90% of Snowden’s revelations which are “prurient.” What a dick. Sounds like he has been too closely linked to the establishment for far too long. Especially considering that the Snowden relevations have been very carefully selected and reported on by Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other leading media exactly for their relevance to democracy and accountability (or the lack of it) behind the activities and technologies of our spy services. But lets worry more about his high up unaccountable policy maker friends being “distracted” by Snowden’s revelations.

    The irony is that it was the deep state PR machine which put out all the stories out there about Snowden being “attention seeking”, “narcissistic”, a “high school drop out”, having failed his military training etc. Now that was really “prurient.” Didn’t see him criticising the establishment PR though.

    • Tracey 11.1

      he means most people are too dumb to cope with knowledge. a few selected bright sparks, like him for example, know what is best for us lower beings. k?

      • Colonial Rawshark 11.1.1

        So much for our academic institutions highlighting abuses of power and holding the establishment to account.

        • Bill 11.1.1.1

          Outside of a short time around the 60s, when did they as institutions ‘highlight abuses of power’ or ‘hold the establishment to account’? They are the establishment.

          Whenever I think of ‘academic institutions’ I remember my grandfather telling me that it was university students who ran the trams during the 1926 General Strike. And then I reflect that those ‘academic institutions’ are becoming more and more the preserve of the monied and privileged these days…conservative and reactionary…at least in NZ.

          • Tracey 11.1.1.1.1

            you mean like professor jane kelsey

            canty students mobilising post quake. i dont recall vice chancellors ever speaking except to want more money that they had already spent… academics always spoke out tho… less now than then but they do speak out

            • Colonial Rawshark 11.1.1.1.1.1

              She’s literally a one in a thousand out of all the PhD types that the state employs, and you know it.

              • Murray Rawshark

                Hey. I’m a PhD type employed by the (Australian) state. I speak out, but quantum physics doesn’t have as much relevance as Jane’s work. I do suspect the Chinese will be moving to quantum cryptography for any diplomatic traffic within Aotearoa though. It’s not only unbreakable, but you know when someone’s tried.

    • dukeofurl 11.2

      This is his bio. Work out if he independent or not ?

      Rolfe has had a career in both the public and university sector. He started his working life in the New Zealand Army, moved to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as a policy adviser dealing with a range of security issues and completed his PhD while there. He was Deputy Director of the Centre for Security Studies and Associate Director of the Master of International Relations Programme at VUW in the period 1991-2001. Rolfe then moved to the United States as an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies for six years. He returned to the Ministry of Defence where he was Principal Adviser, Strategic Policy for several years and from where he was seconded to the Australian Civil-Military Centre as Deputy Director.

      he may even be a ‘recruiter’ for the security services from amoung the graduate students.

      Its a bit like asking the police Union to comment on some situation- you know the approach they will have

    • Murray Rawshark 11.3

      Dr Jim Rolfe is an ex-Army major who worked with Bananarama in Fiji and has had a position at a security think tank in the US and A. He’s as Kiwi as FJK.

  12. Tracey 12

    we spy on our friends to get a business advantage we spy on our enemies to fuck up our business advantage

  13. The Murphey 13

    Q. Remember the protracted and numerous accusations against Huawei ?

    • Lloyd 13.1

      The irony is that Huawei manufactured exchanges are most likely tapping GCSB and that they are listening to what GCSB has extracted out of the Chinese land-line…….

  14. fisiani 14

    China is spying on NZ. We still trade with China and they with us. Another failed attempt to somehow smear Honest John.

    • Stuart Munro 14.1

      Yup right – it’s pretty hard to further soil the image of an oozy turd like John Key.

    • Colonial Rawshark 14.2

      China is spying on NZ. We still trade with China and they with us. Another failed attempt to somehow smear Honest John.

      So the damage to our (false) position as honest brokers is irrelevant to you? Sad, fisi, just sad.

      • felix 14.2.1

        Guys like Key and even little fisiani don’t really have to get to grips with words like “honest”.

        It’s just a word, like “fact” or “actually” or “reality”, they’re all just words and depending what you use them for they can mean anything really.

        “Honest” might just mean “good at golf” for all we know.

        • Gosman 14.2.1.1

          Why do you think we are some sort of neutral honest broker?

          • felix 14.2.1.1.1

            I didn’t say we were.

            However successive governments of all stripes have talked up our “independent foreign policy” and our international reputation as an “honest broker”.

            You only have to go back as far as the current govt’s statements on our recent appointment to the UNSC to find examples of both.

            As it turns out neither are true as we spy for the U.S. on our friends, neighbours and trading partners around the world.

    • Draco T Bastard 14.3

      Have you actually got proof of that or are you just going with the BS lines from Crosby/Textor/National Party HQ?

    • BassGuy 14.4

      It’s not a smear if he actually was involved in it, now is it?

    • Fran 14.5

      Best satirical comments everytime fisiani. I don’t know why so many people think you are serious, your comments are so out there they must be satire.

    • keyman 14.6

      all these left wing clowns have no idea how the world works ,john key is working for new zealand and all these people want to do is run our great leader down.

    • keyman2 14.7

      china will not care the important thing is John key is out doing it for new Zealand

  15. Penny Bright 15

    NEW ZEALAND PLOTTED HACK ON CHINA WITH NSA

    https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/04/18/new-zealand-china-gcsb-nsa-auckland-hack/

    “New Zealand spies teamed with National Security Agency hackers to break into a data link in the country’s largest city, Auckland, as part of a secret plan to eavesdrop on Chinese diplomats, documents reveal.

    The covert operation, reported Saturday by New Zealand’s Herald on Sunday in collaboration with The Intercept, highlights the contrast between New Zealand’s public and secret approaches to its relationship with China, its largest and most important trading partner.

    The hacking project suggests that New Zealand’s electronic surveillance agency, Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, may have violated international treaties that prohibit the interception of diplomatic communications.

    New Zealand has signed both the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, international treaties that protect the “inviolability” of diplomatic correspondance. The country’s prime minister, John Key, said in a recent speech on security that New Zealand had an obligation to support the rule of law internationally, and was “known for its integrity, reliability and independence.”
    ______________________________________________________________________________________

    So – how LAWFUL was this planned spying on Chinese diplomats in New Zealand?

    Looks like the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security may have yet ANOTHER ‘inquiry’ on her hands?

    (I know the ‘spin’ will focus on HOW these documents were obtained, rather than their FACTUAL ACCURACY?)

    Penny Bright

    http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz

  16. Wayne 16

    Penny,

    You simply have no idea what you are talking about.

    Last time I checked China was a foreign country. And that is what GCSB primarily does, spy on foreign countries. It is specifically what it was set up for.

    China is hardly going to be surprised by this “revelation”, and apart from proforma protest will do nothing.

    • Colonial Rawshark 16.1

      China is hardly going to be surprised by this “revelation”, and apart from proforma protest will do nothing.

      So we recently decide to systematically violate the sanctity of their diplomatic communications on US orders, and despite this change in our posture towards them, China will simply shrug its shoulders? LOL

    • McFlock 16.2

      China might hardly be surprised, but I will hardly be surprised if some of our more perishable exports have “customs misunderstandings” in the next few months.

      Just a little smack to keep us in line.

      • emergency mike 16.2.1

        That was my first thought about this also. Expect a correction to Chinese requirements for NZ imports in the not too distant future.

    • Murray Rawshark 16.3

      Jeez Wayne, can you tell us about the Vienna Conventions on diplomatic communications? It’s also probable that Kiwis applying for visas were being spied on. That’s another breach of our own laws.

      While I’m happy you’re out of parliament, I fear that whoever replaced you probably has the same flexible ethics.

    • Pascals bookie 16.4

      So why bother keeping it all secret then Wayne?

      Actual question there. I mean, what’s the point in keeping it all secret if everyone knows?

  17. McFlock 17

    NZ is a small state geopolitically. We need to straddle the gulf between the larger powers and strengthen inter-governmental diplomatic organisations, not become a client state of one or the other – that weakens our position with both.

    It’s one thing to openly assist the US against 4th parties, but directly and covertly assisting the US (which is possibly entering a decline phase) against another superpower is a bullshit move that would likely have MFaT officials headdesking.

    • cogito 17.1

      As a small state geopolitically, NZ would do well to decide who its friends are and then behave accordingly.

      • McFlock 17.1.1

        States don’t have friends. Just “stateswho aren’t working to attack us”, “states who are probably working towards attacking us”, “states we will protect to serve our own interests while extracting as much as possible from the arrangement”, and “states who are serving their own interests by protecting us while extracting as much as possible from the arrangement”.

        Basically, our objective would be to maintain as much independence as possible, rather than being overcome or ceding our sovreignty to another nation.

        • cogito 17.1.1.1

          “States don’t have friends”

          Yes they do.

          • McFlock 17.1.1.1.1

            Only in the shallowest “nice if I can get something out of it, drop you like a hot potato if you don’t give me a port of convenience for my nuclear-armed vessels” sense of the word.

            The sort of “friendship” one sees between sociopaths or drunk teenagers.

      • Colonial Rawshark 17.1.2

        Then make sure you pick friends which are on the ascendance, not friends whose fortunes are on the wane.

  18. Penny Bright 18

    So you don’t believe in the ‘Rule of Law’ Wayne?

    Penny Bright

    • adam 18.1

      What ‘rule of law ‘Penny?

      Laws, good people don’t need them, and the bad will just break them.

      To many of our so called laws – uphold bad peoples virtues – like the reserve bank act, or that little nugget which brought us the super city.

  19. Sable 19

    Utter bunch of screw ups. Well done Shonkey. Now the country with the fastest economic growth on earth is ticked off with us. Whilst the sad defunct USA with 18 trillion in debt is our friend……Well done…..

  20. keyman 20

    you clowns don’t know what your taking about all countries spy nothing to see here no smoking gun move on

  21. Murray Rawshark 21

    This is the sort of thing that could see China cutting off diplomatic relations. It seems clear that it violates the Vienna conventions. I’d laugh if FJK visited China and got arrested. At least his family could afford to pay for the bullet.
    And Dr. Jim Rolfe seems to be a total moron.

  22. dave 22

    i sort hope china is pissed

  23. infused 23

    You guys should do a little bit of research on China’s spy ops, mainly cyber related.

    All this tells me is you guys are completely clueless.

    Here’s a tip. Go do some research on a company called Nortel and follow the bread crumbs. Your faux outrage is hilarious.

    • Colonial Viper 23.1

      maybe you think our intelligence services should be poodles at the beck and call of the NSA even against our own interests, but not everyone else does.

    • Draco T Bastard 23.2

      It’s one of those points that the right-wing just don’t seem to get: Just because someone else engages in immoral behaviour doesn’t give us carte blanche to do the same. Also known as: Two wrongs don’t make a right.

      We need to protect ourselves from their spying and call it out when we catch them but not actually engage in spying on them.

    • emergency mike 23.3

      Here’s a tip infused. If you read the OP you’ll find it’s about our spies spying on China, possibly in breach of an international treaty that we’ve signed up to.

      You seem to be concerned about China’s spying operations. Don’t sweat it, easy mistake I’m sure. Perhaps you could write a letter to the Chinese embassy about it? Or maybe become a Chinese citizen and vote against the Chinese Communist Party at the next election? Let us know what you decide to do and how it goes.

      I know you’re not pulling the old ‘but they did it too’ excuse for your mate John’s risky and rude treatment of one of our biggest trading partner’s representative guests in our country. Primary school kids don’t get away with that one. So that would be idiotic of you.

      Just like ol’ Honest John’s weekly “Labour did it too” and “Helen Clark did worse” lines for his weekly fuck up. They seem to go down a treat with the idiotic. Some of them even come around here and proudly, obediently, repeat them, apparently completely unaware how fucking idiotic it makes them look.

    • Pascals bookie 23.4

      lol Infused.

      last time you followed breadcrumbs you reported back that there would be a full scale war on the Korean peninsula within ten days, and Iran would attack Israel, or some shit.

      • infused 23.4.1

        Hey, we were close.

        This has already happened. Years ago, and explains many other cyber related spying issues in the process.

        • Pascals bookie 23.4.1.1

          No we were not close.

          You said a bunch of things were going to happen on account of your superior knowledge gleaned from deleted internet posts.

          A bunch of other people laughed at you said ‘no it won’t; you’re full of shit’

          Turned out those other people were correct.

  24. One Anonymous+Bloke 24

    The official response makes for ‘interesting’ reading.

    The Chinese Embassy in New Zealand issued a statement Sunday, saying that China was concerned about the report and attached great importance to the cyber security issue.

    “We will firmly safeguard our security interests and continue to guarantee our cyber and information security with concrete measures,” said the statement.

    “At present, cyber space is riddled with chaos and uncertainty. China proposes to settle disputes through dialogue and formulate codes to regulate cyber space behaviors that are acceptable to all sides.”

    Chaos and uncertainty, eh? Sounds quite inharmonious.

  25. Gosman 25

    Guess what guys. China spies on us as well. Shock Horror!

    • One Anonymous+Bloke 25.1

      The difference being that they’re in a position to do something about it, and we, um, aren’t.

      The story is high on the page. The National Party’s owner/donors will be nervous about the potential for a consumer boycott. “We won’t open all your mail” will be a great point of difference their competitors can exploit.

    • Sable 25.2

      The real question is why are we not fostering closer relations with China? Instead of backing the defunct USA?

      • cogito 25.2.1

        Judging by Auckland these days, I would say that we are. The Chinese already own our businesses and houses, won’t be long before they’re in our beds and we’re reciting passages from Chairman Mao’s little red book…. in Mandarin.

  26. Instauration 26

    MITM – LOL

    588 Great South Road – CONSULATE-GENERAL OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN AUCKLAND

    600 Great South Road – Endace Measurement Systems Limited – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8859155/NZ-firm-linked-to-suspect-spy-row

    630 Great South Road – CONSULATE-GENERAL OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN AUCKLAND Visa Office

    Follow the unstamped duct covers – dark fibre below.

    MEET-ME At Your Riser
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzSB1__vHoM

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  • 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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
    7 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
    9 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
    21 hours 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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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
    2 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
    2 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
    2 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
    2 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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 ...
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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 ...
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
  • There’s a name for this
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    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 ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Funding hole for tax cuts growing by the day
    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 KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Luxon’s brave climate change promise
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days 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
    3 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
    5 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
    5 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
    19 hours 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
    23 hours 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
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