Thankfully, the election isn’t tomorrow

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:05 am, February 19th, 2009 - 148 comments
Categories: john key, national, polls - Tags:

When John Key and Pita Sharples were jostled by two Maori men opposed to the National-Maori Party alliance, the thing that stuck in my mind was Key’s smile. Like Donald Trump’s hair, it was back in place immediately, covering whatever lies underneath.

That smile, and the intensive, expensive, extensive image management it represents, are the most powerful force in New Zealand politics today. Of course it is an image fundamentally divorced from reality – an image of a government that cares about the ‘underclass’ when, in fact it has risen taxes on the poor and taken away their work rights; an image of a government that cares about the environment when it has actually cancelled the ETS, is holding a select committee to question whether climate change is real and is moving to block environmentalists opposing development under the RMA; an image of a government tackling the recession when it has done nothing of any significance, just a slight reshuffling of spending that Labour had budgeted before the recession; an image of a conservative party that has learnt to not be anti-Maori when Maori are those who suffer most from the Fire at Will law, the low and middle income tax hikes, the RMA reforms, the abuses of human rights in its law reforms; and an image of a government that is bringing a ‘new age of accountabilty’ but has abused Urgency, cancelled Question Time, and voted for laws that violate human rights.

You’ve got to respect a PR operation that can turn a broken arm into a bigger story than the removal of the work rights of a hundred thousand New Zealanders. You’ve got to acknowledge the skill of a PR operation that can entrall the media, and the people, so completely and translate that into such impressive poll results (Roy Morgan: 48%, TV3: 60%).

Of course, we’ve seen huge popularity evaporate before (Bush once polled at 90%). I remain fundamentally convinced that governing is about more than smiles; ultimately, image can’t work forever. But, by God, it’s working now.

For the Left, well, we can at least be glad the next election isn’t tomorrow. 🙂

We’ve got nearly three years. Three years that will expose the hollowness of Key and National, and their inability to deal with the crises we face. And three years in which the Left, in particular Labour, needs to build a compelling narrative, one of positive, real change.

148 comments on “Thankfully, the election isn’t tomorrow ”

Comments are now closed

Tim Ellis 1

19 February 2009 at 11:15 am

Quite apart from the diatribe of your rhetoric SP, it’s good that you’ve provided a forum to discuss this. It doesn’t seem to me that Labour have a clue where to go. In Parliament, they are obsessed with such trivialities as how much money senior ministerial staff are being paid, what constitutes a quantified or unquantified fiscal risk in the Crown accounts, and whether Ryall was justified in sacking the ODHB chair.

I think Phil Goff will be hounded out of his leadership by the “Mr 3.7%” label, for the same reason that Bill English was hounded out of his leadership after getting 22% in the polls. Labour doesn’t seem to have any traction. I’ve been quite impressed with Cindy Adern and Phil Twyford, who seem to be knuckling down and getting on with it, but the old guard are floundering. Any hope of recovering within three years is in my view completely irrational.
Steve Pierson 2

19 February 2009 at 11:24 am

Goff’s here to stay. It’s perfectly understandable that his poll rating is low right now.

And you might argue those are trivial issues but they are just the most trivial examples you could find, in fact most of what Labour has been talking about have been important issues. they do need to learn to ask their questions better, though. And, given the issues National used to talk about in question time, I think it’s a bit rich to be attacking Labour.

Who calls Jacinda ‘Cindy’? Met her a number of times, never heard Cindy.
Pat 3

19 February 2009 at 11:31 am

What most NZers are discovering, despite the best leftist spin merchants, is that there is no wolf in sheeps clothing. Instead of decades of rapid left and right wing ideologies, we finally have a Prime Minister guided by common sense.

And those middle NZers, the productive, law-abiding, caring Kiwis now have a sense that their Prime Minister represents them. And middle NZ decide elections.
Steve Pierson 4

19 February 2009 at 11:34 am

Yeah, and I’m confident that in three years middle NZ will look at their do-nothing PM who passed laws favouring the rich and powerful and shuffled the cards while the recession rolled and say ‘that smile’s attraction has faded, time for competent government’
Kevin Welsh 5

19 February 2009 at 11:46 am

When most peoples idea of being current with politics begins and ends with a Duncan Garner soundbite, is it any wonder NACT and Key are polling as high as they are?

Considering the worst is yet to come, I think that behind the smiles they are quietly shitting their pants.
Brett Dale 6

19 February 2009 at 11:55 am

Key and Sharples were jostled by a man who opposed their alliance????

Is that what the left calls assault?

I can imagine what you would be saying about kiwiblog, if someone assaulted Aunty Helen, and kiwiblog wrote what you just wrote.
tsmithfield 7

19 February 2009 at 11:55 am

Perhaps the popularity is something to do with National moving as quickly as possible to keep their election promises; something voters aren’t accustomed to..
@ work 8

19 February 2009 at 11:58 am

Labour needs some better PR operators. National are massively abusing parliamentary process, trampling the BORA, and seem to have no concept of political independance. Any kiwiblogger will retort that “labour did it first”(which in most cases is questionable at best), if that makes it ok, you have to question whether it was really wrong for labour to do it in the first place (If they did it at all that is). National are getting a free ride on way way to many scandals, its just not on.
Brett Dale 9

19 February 2009 at 12:05 pm

National are passing laws, something they were voted into do.
Daveski 10

19 February 2009 at 12:21 pm

Fundamentally, SP, you simply can’t admit when you are wrong.

EFA – wrong
Nats and Maori – wrong
Cuts to wages – wrong

Moreover, for a supposed Greens supporter, your slant surprises me. Surely, given everything that you’ve said in the past, now is the perfect opportunity for the Greens to grow their support at the expense of Labour and become the defacto left opposition. From your position, this should be a celebration, not a funeral.

Sadly, the hollowness being exposed is from the left who can’t see how the world has changed. Moreover, the born to rule mentality now fairly sits with the left who still refuse to accept the election result and the changes since, as evidenced by this and other posts here.

I’m genuinely concerned that what was an open-minded forum that encouraged robust debate based on issues and analysis has become (or perhaps more kindly is becoming) a rabid left equivalent of KB where it’s spin, fixed positions, and denigration and abuse of whatever doesn’t fit your fixed views. Prove me wrong
Ari 11

19 February 2009 at 12:23 pm

National are passing laws, something they were voted into do.

Funny how they’re breaking all of their “conduct” promises to be a more efficient, consultative, more supportive of free speech, and less arrogant government.

Not to mention that Paula Bennet is over-managing MSD- National seems to be unclear on the difference between ministers and chief executives, meddling in departmental affairs directly instead of setting directives and policy.

No wonder the party and its ministries are leaking like sieves.
Ari 12

19 February 2009 at 12:31 pm

Fundamentally, SP, you simply can’t admit when you are wrong.

EFA – wrong
Nats and Maori – wrong
Cuts to wages – wrong

The EFA wasn’t wrong, it was just unclear, overcomplicated, and didn’t set the caps right. (Not to mention that it was too friendly to anonymous donations)

I’ll give you that he was wrong on Nats and Maori working together, but then again I was against him on that too 😉 I have to agree with SP though that the Maori Party is getting a pretty terrible deal so for. Where’s the co-operation? The only good thing thus far has been the whole Maori flag issue, and while it’s a nice symbol, it’s also probably pretty irrelevant for many Maori.

Cuts to wages- The minimum wage has pretty much stayed the same, (keeping in mind inflation and increased costs) true, but instead laws are much more friendly to employers and landlords, who already had a lot of power in their respective relationships. So instead of a paycut, National have exposed employees and tenants to potential abuse by their employers and landlords. Yay.
vinsin 13

19 February 2009 at 12:35 pm

@Work i totally agree with you, Labour do need some better Pr operators; however it’s certainly not time to panic yet, there’s still another 800 odd days for Labour to get a strong message out there.

I think the brand new smell of the current government is starting to fade, i’ve read articles on the herald by Fran and Armstrong that have actually surprised me in terms of how critical they were of the governments stimulus package and i imagine other journos will follow suit on a myriad of issues in the near future. There are a few possibilities i see happening in the coming years that fill me with glee: a smiling Key saying, ‘we’ll have a look at it,’ then not doing anything, the lunatic fringe of National’s party support realizing Key is fairly centrist and moving further right – just look over at kiwiblog, if you dare, to see the shock at Key dancing at the big gay out – and last but not least the Maori vote coming back to Labour after the Maori Party sells their supporters down the river to hold together a government.

Indeed it’s very lucky the election isn’t tomorrow.
Kerry 14

19 February 2009 at 12:42 pm

SP:- from your mouth to gods ears.
Daniel 15

19 February 2009 at 12:46 pm

New Zealanders seem spellbound by Key’s money and business success. That poll is scary. I suspect Key could do just about anything he wanted with New Zealand and the public would be ok with it. As a country we are very naive.
Brett Dale 16

19 February 2009 at 12:48 pm

Well the public seem to like what they are doing, they have the highest poll numbers in history.
Felix 17

19 February 2009 at 1:10 pm

Brett I used to think you were a bit thick but I’m starting to wonder if you’ve just been taking the piss all along.
Brett Dale 18

19 February 2009 at 1:18 pm

You dont agree?
bobo 19

19 February 2009 at 1:23 pm

Poll ratings can drop as fast as they rise, I suspect alot of Labour voters wouldn’t be bothered with answering a phone poll so soon after a loss.
Felix 20

19 February 2009 at 1:24 pm

I’m referring generally to your ability to wildly miss the point of a discussion in a way that seems humanly impossible. In this instance I don’t think you’ve even read the post.
Brett Dale 21

19 February 2009 at 1:27 pm

By missing the point you really mean, I disagree with your point of view.
Felix 22

19 February 2009 at 1:34 pm

No Brett, I mean you’re too thick to follow a discussion.

Like here for example where you’ve been arguing since 10.45 this morning against what you think you have.
northpaw 23

19 February 2009 at 1:41 pm

Brett Dale,

Civil question.. you wrote National are passing laws.. this appears to me as ‘National’ the absolute. Is this meant, if not what is ‘national’ to you?
Matthew Pilott 24

19 February 2009 at 1:42 pm

I’m genuinely concerned that what was an open-minded forum that encouraged robust debate based on issues and analysis has become (or perhaps more kindly is becoming) a rabid left equivalent of KB where it’s spin, fixed positions, and denigration and abuse of whatever doesn’t fit your fixed views. Prove me wrong

Prove yourself right first!
Brett Dale 25

19 February 2009 at 1:47 pm

northpaw:

A party that gets things done, you may not agree with the laws they are passing, but they are working.

Kinda like here at the local level, for too long we had do nothing Garry Moore as our mayor, now we have Bob Parker who is actually working, its great!!!

By the way, this was the first election I voted National in, I had always been a labour voter in the past.
Brett Dale 26

19 February 2009 at 1:48 pm

Felix:

I stand by everything I write.
Daveski 27

19 February 2009 at 1:52 pm

MP 🙂

If it comes down to a vote, I’ll lose.

My point is that issues that have been raised recently would have in the past been associated with some genuine attempt at analysis.

At least IMO, there is now too much simplistic, hyperbole and spin coupled with as I’ve noted a complete failure on behalf of some to acknowledge that they have been wrong with fundamental lines of attack.

I know – if I don’t like it I can go. And fair enough too. Yet this site was undoubtedly different when the left were in government.

Still, I can voice my opinion and argue semantics and still come back so that’s a positive.
Felix 28

19 February 2009 at 1:54 pm

Yes Brett, that’s why it concerns me that what you write is so riddled with contradictions of which I assumed that you were blissfully unaware, but I’m beginning to think that you’re actually quite pleased with them which makes me wonder if you’re just taking the piss and pretending to be a bit thick.
higherstandard 29

19 February 2009 at 1:57 pm

Ah everything becomes clear.

captcha deliverance territory … he he
Brett Dale 30

19 February 2009 at 2:01 pm

Felix

A little bit from column a and a little bit from column b.

I thought you guys on the left were against name calling and the such.
Matthew Pilott 31

19 February 2009 at 2:05 pm

daveski – we had a very open and robust debate about whether there had been a clampdown on workers’ rights just the other day.

I think you’re also posting from the position you’re protesting. Do you want an open apology from SP because some of his predictions or statements haven’t come true within the first 100 days of government? You’re asking a bit too much, and I reckon it’s fairly unreasonable. Plenty of us are waiting for the policies that will reduce wages in one way or another, and are looking at the NACT/MP relationship with interest – perhaps we have more patience!

I’ll be happy if the former never eventuate, and ambivalent about the latter, but I won’t be expecting published retractions.

You’ve been carrying this theme for some time now, but I just don’t see it – it’s BAU for everyone else while you’re tendering such ‘advice’…

You may have a point about the analysis side, I can’t really comment because my time has been somewhat limited in that respect – I am picking and choosing what I comment upon – perhaps The Standard is also adapting to ‘opposition’ blog. I haven’t considered analysis lacking though, perhaps your opposition to the views posted are becoming stronger.
Pat 32

19 February 2009 at 2:07 pm

“And three years in which the Left, in particular Labour, needs to build a compelling narrative, one of positive, real change”.

Does these mean a “change back”? Scrap Nationals tax cuts, reinstate the EFA, relax sentences and parole requirements, call the Maori party a cab etc

Obviously not, so what room for “positive, real change” is there if Key maintains a centrist approach?

The Left can’t spend 3 years hoping John Key is somehow a demon in disguise.
Ari 33

19 February 2009 at 2:16 pm

A party that gets things done, you may not agree with the laws they are passing, but they are working.

So you think more people are employed now thanks to the fire at will bill? We’ll just ignore those pesky extra unemployed kiwis in the recession, who aren’t helped by National’s lack of new stimulus spending (all that’s being done is speeding up some pre-committed spending and adding in some broadband cash and two new bloody roads) and approaching job cuts in the public service.

I think the fact that kiwis are pleased with our new PM shows how badly the news (both TV and papers) are doing their jobs of reporting on the government. Unless their jobs suddenly changed from “report all controversies” to “ignore all controversies” since the election. Kiwis are willing to trust people who haven’t got it wrong, and seeing we’re not being told about how badly this government is starting off, (after a few promising peeps before parliament got to business, I suppose) we’re still trusting Mr. Key. Sadly.
Daveski 34

19 February 2009 at 2:31 pm

MP

Points noted. I don’t intend to preach and will desist forthwith.

I’ve been prickly about the broad statements that I clearly disagree with. In particular, I’m positive about the Maori Party relationship (as are my Maori friends).

I’ll just take a can of HTFU.

Anyway, you realise your comments and Ari’s to an extent prove me wrong so perhaps i need to apologise and admit I was wrong 🙂
Policy Parrot 35

19 February 2009 at 2:34 pm

What is the te reo equivalent for bauble?
@ work 36

19 February 2009 at 2:36 pm

The main weekness of democracy is its potential for mob rule. This is basically what National has done, ignored the rights of every one but 50% + 1 vote, for the benefit of good news headlines and re-election.
Billy 37

19 February 2009 at 2:43 pm

@work,

Have you seen the poll? I think you mean 69% + 1%
Matthew Pilott 38

19 February 2009 at 2:43 pm

daveski – call out every broad statement you disagree with, each and every time they are made. Should you be right about them, the authors will probably stop making them so you can’t keep calling them out…but expect people to support those statements where they are percieved to be correct!
Redbaiter 39

19 February 2009 at 2:54 pm

Hey c*mmi*s, the Kl*rk government won in 1999 because the left had succeeded so marvelously over the preceding decade or so in controlling the debate in NZ. Sure sure sure, they weren’t the government, but they were still large part of the National Party and almost very public institution in NZ had gradually fallen into their grasp. The media, the education system, and public discussion revolved around issues the left wanted to be prominent. They almost fully controlled speech and thought and they attempted to pursue this even further once they were elected to government.

Then the left’s big downer- the internet. The middle class at last had a forum. No more having their letters to the editors rejected by sneering New York Time’s style liberals editing The Dominion and The Herald. No more could those liberals or their counterparts running other sectors of NZ’s mainstream media write endlessly leftist crap and not be challenged on it.

The internet has allowed the middle class to understand that its OK to think and speak in ways that the guardians disapprove of. They understand now that the emperor has no clothes. They see the left are helplessly mute when they’re challenged. But what can the left say anyway, when the Emperor is exposed as more naked everyday by the blogosphere and so many other sources of information that the left cannot control???

Rearguard actions like the Standard just don’t cut it. The leftist can’t hack the realism of a political state that has had its white underbelly ripped open by the sharp knives of the fed up long ignored middle class using the internet and other means to express their disgust and anger at what the left have brought this once fine country to.

Sure its a long way to the next election, but its only going to get worse for the left. And Hooray for that. The right say- “Let’s drive these troglodytes and their destructive religion back into the holes they crawled out of.”

There’s only one outcome for them and its oblivion. Unless they turn to Chavez style fraud and corruption and stand over tactics. And they could very easily choose this path. For myself, I can’t wait for them to try it.
Mike 40

19 February 2009 at 2:57 pm

Strange thing about the TV3 poll is they have changed polling company but they did not mention this at all in the televised news item.
So yes it is the “highest ever” rating for a party, but of course it would be as it’s the first ever TV3-Reid Research poll.
@ work 41

19 February 2009 at 2:57 pm

Billy
Have you seen the poll? I think you mean 69% + 1%

No, I mean exactly what I said.

But oh, only trampling the rights of 30% of people, thats all right then, carry on!
The Fox 42

19 February 2009 at 3:07 pm

now we have Bob Parker who is actually working, its great!!

Would this be the same Bob Parker who blew $17 million of rate payer’s money on a load of crap property to bail out a failed property developer when he could have waited for a mortgagee sale an got it all at a fraction of the price. And the same Bob Parker who paid a fortune for a flower show and decided to hold it in Autumn!!! If thats what you call getting things done then you must be having a laugh.
Matthew Pilott 43

19 February 2009 at 3:32 pm

Redbaiter, I see this time you’re the self-appointed spokesperson for ‘The Middle Class’. Who are they, whom do you purport to represent and speak for now?

You’re also generously speaking on behalf ‘The Right’. If you and I put forth our ideal Government, and then asked anyone commenting on this blog who considers themself to be ‘Right Wing’ which government model they’d prefer, what do you think would result?

As I asked you two days ago – what is this mysterious ‘Right’ you’re claiming to speak for?

It doesn’t seem to have much in common with those who consider themselves ‘Right’, Redbaiter excluded of course.
Redbaiter 44

19 February 2009 at 3:41 pm

Naughty naughty Mr. Pillock. Ignore is the command. Please comply. Of course there’s nothing to respond to in your post anyway other than a lot of infantile questions based on false premises. What is it that makes you believe people should freely subject themselves to interrogation by the likes of you?

Sure, over the last few decades you have succeeded in entwining socialism into NZ’s culture.

That’s what is changing.

Slowly but surely, you’re losing your grip.

Can’t you feel it?
Ari 45

19 February 2009 at 3:49 pm

I don’t think asking you to explain why you claim to be able to speak for people you don’t know is too much to ask, or in any way infantile 😉
jimbo 46

19 February 2009 at 3:59 pm

@ Work – what do you mean “trampling on the rights of” people? Do you have an argument or is it just empty rhetoric?

You guys need to get over your totally irrational belief that “left” policies are automatically good/kind/fair and right-leaning politicians are only interested in making themselves and their friends wealthy. You also need to let go some of the inflammatory language (e.g. “trampling”).

It’s a hopeless starting point for any reasonable discussion about policy.
Matthew Pilott 47

19 February 2009 at 4:00 pm

“What is it that makes you believe people should freely subject themselves to interrogation by the likes of you?”

Nothing at all. The beauty of blogs – you will be judged whether you answer or not. If someone considers my questions infantile and you don’t respond, then they will not think less of you, but will think that of me.

If they think the questions are worth a response and you don’t give one, the next time you comment they’ll remember and be less likely to listen.

The only thing as deafening as silence, by the way, is abuse heaped out to cover for it. Don’t presume this has been missed, Redbaiter.

What makes you assume I expect an answer? I can ask any question I want of you, and I will be judged based upon those questions, likewise you and your answers.

There is no presumption, apart from yours.

“Can’t you feel it?”

If anything, I feel the old forces of nationalism and protectivism creeping in as resources become more scarce, wars are on the increase and poverty and injustice spread. Is that what you’re referring to?

The entwining in our culture – you think this is unique to NZ? You think this is something new? What are these heady pre-socialist days to which you refer? You’re pining for the halcyon days in your mind that never existed in your lifetime or mine.
@ work 48

19 February 2009 at 4:01 pm

I mean they are proposing numerous peices of legislation which obviously go agaisnt the BORA, and cannot possibly be interpreted in a way consistant with it.
Redbaiter 49

19 February 2009 at 4:09 pm

“I don’t think asking you to explain why you claim to be able to speak for people you don’t know is too much to ask, or in any way infantile”

Wow, its such a damn knockout Ari that you would think that. Totally unexpected..!!!

I’m not speaking for anybody in the above text in any real sense. I’m describing a public groundswell of rejection of leftist attempts to control thought and speech, as exampled by the poll that is the subject of this thread, and simultaneously advancing what I think are the reasons for this groundswell.

Mr. Pillock’s questions are the usual incomprehensible rubbish, typical of the thinking you get from zealots whose views are blinkered by a stone age ideology and who have never managed to break free from that thinking.

That is the difference you see. There’s hardly a right winger that hasn’t at one time in their lives (usually when they were young and impressionable and easy prey for the predators of the left that stalk the education system) been ensnared in the stupefying ideas of the left. But we broke free. We grew up, We matured. we experienced different things. We changed.

The bottom line is tho, although most right wingers once saw things as a leftist sees them, very few leftists have ever been able to truly see things from a right wing viewpoint.

It is this partisan blindness that makes Mr. Pillock’s questions so insufferably idiotic.
jimbo 50

19 February 2009 at 4:10 pm

Ari,

If your only criteria for assessing a govt decision is whether “more people are employed”, then I ask you: Do you reckon more people are employed as a result of the minimum wage being increased?

Policy-setting involves analysis of different incentives and effects. The 90 day probation period will have an impact on employers’ willingness to “try out” new employees. Raising the minimum wage will increase employers’ costs and therefore make it LESS LIKELY that new jobs are offered.
Matthew Pilott 51

19 February 2009 at 4:13 pm

And yet you think National are virtually as bad as Labour, Redbaiter – National are an order of magnitude closer to Labour than they are to your idea of Small Government; the ‘groundswell’ of support for National hardly proves your theory.

Hence my questioning you of this mysterious ‘Real Right’, shall we call them, that you purport to speak for. They definitely aren’t where you’ve just described.
jimbo 52

19 February 2009 at 4:15 pm

Redbaiter is correct. Left-wingers who refuse to let go of the rhetoric and inflammatory slogans are effectively turning up at the debate with a big sign on their head saying “I’m not mature enough to approach this discussion is a proper way”.

Examples of the sloganeering include repatedly referring to the 90 day probation period as “fire at will”, or calling the National govt’s tax cuts “lowering wages” based on speculation about what a re-elected Labour government might have done.
Redbaiter 53

19 February 2009 at 4:17 pm

“The beauty of blogs – you will be judged whether you answer or not.”

Your problem Mr. Pillock is your presumption that I give a flying fuck for your “judgment”. I don’t. I merely want to defeat you politically, and in spite of your frequent attempts to inform me on the matter, I really could not care less concerning your opinion of Redbaiter.

It is the mainstream that has to be swayed. Not the extreme left school that you represent. NZers need to be warned about the approach of Chavezism here in NZ, and it looks like (going by the poll) they might be at last awakening to that danger.
Redbaiter 54

19 February 2009 at 4:26 pm

“the â€˜groundswell’ of support for National hardly proves your theory.”

Its not theory its opinion. You can take it or leave it. National are only like Labour because after the way you have surreptitiously integrated leftist thought into NZ culture, the only way out is by incrementally dragging things back to the right. Bit by bit by bit. Just as you dragged it to the left.

The difference I am trying to bring to your attention is that you no longer have the control of the sources of information that you once had. For one thing your media toadies have been exposed. For another thing your control of education is under threat and will eventually be wound back.

These are factors that will allow the return to sanity to be exponentially accelerated. The recovery will be much quicker than our blind descent into the chasm of socialism.
Tim Ellis 55

19 February 2009 at 4:28 pm

You really are a bore Redbaiter. All bluff and bluster. I especially enjoy how you have the courage from behind your pseudonym to make fun of somebody else’s real name.
Matthew Pilott 56

19 February 2009 at 4:34 pm

“Your problem Mr. Pillock is your presumption that I give a flying fuck for your “judgment’. I don’t. I merely want to defeat you politically, and in spite of your frequent attempts to inform me on the matter, I really could not care less concerning your opinion of Redbaiter. ”

Not my judgement (I think we can forget about that…another of your flawed presumptions, learn to comprehend a comment and you’ll see I am not implying such a thing), but everyone who reads your comments. And mine.

If you don’t care, why post here? If you think it will help defeat the Left politically, then you should care.

Otherwise all you’re engaging in is self-indulgent grandstanding.

“Its not theory its opinion. ”

That’s all I was after.
Redbaiter 57

19 February 2009 at 4:36 pm

“You really are a bore Redbaiter.”

Thanks for that opinion Mr Ellis. You know now I’m going to rush home, run a warm bath, sit in it and slit my wrists.

That you would so often waste time and bandwidth with such worthless crap is only proof of your inability to think logically and develop politically coherency.

Compliant suckholing little darlings like you are the reason the left have been winning for so long. Patronising shithead. Just keep kissing c*mm*e arse and leave me out of it.
Lew 58

19 February 2009 at 4:37 pm

Oh, look – the bÃªte noire du jour has changed from `Mugabe’ to `Chavez’!

L
Redbaiter 59

19 February 2009 at 4:37 pm

“That’s all I was after.”

Why would anyone capable of rational thought ever think otherwise??
Tim Ellis 60

19 February 2009 at 4:39 pm

Redbaiter I’ll take your word for it that you have managed to “develop politically coherency”.

You write:

I merely want to defeat you politically, and in spite of your frequent attempts to inform me on the matter,

And how’s that going for you then, RB? Do you find you win a lot of people over, politically, by abusing them and ranting furiously?
Redbaiter 61

19 February 2009 at 4:39 pm

“Oh, look – the bÃªte noire du jour has changed from `Mugabe’ to `Chavez’!”

Soon it will be Obama, who is clearly another Mugabe ( at last vanquished) in the making.
Matthew Pilott 62

19 February 2009 at 4:42 pm

“Why would anyone capable of rational thought ever think otherwise??”

It took you a while to admit it, so…
Ag 63

19 February 2009 at 4:45 pm

Why would the Labour Party say anything?

We’re at the beginning of what may be the most serious economic crisis since the 1930s. What used to be capitalist countries are now effectively nationalizing the financial system, including private banks. Political elites, to put it mildly, are operating on faith, as are the majority of citizens.

If I were Goff, I’d be using the next year to scope out a major reorientation of party policy, similar in scope to the neoliberal change of the early 80s.

If ever there was a good election to lose, it was the last one.
Redbaiter 64

19 February 2009 at 4:47 pm

“Do you find you win a lot of people over, politically, by abusing them and ranting furiously?”

Mr. Ellis, you need to learn to read and comprehend. It is not my mission to “win over” zealots like Mr. Pillock. It will never happen. They need to be shamed and brought into public ridicule. ..and I have succeeded well enough in those objectives over the time I have been pursuing them. Y’know, only as far back as 2000 it was considered impolite to even refer to “the left”, and at the time, I was subject to fierce and powerful criticism for doing so.

Whilst all you have ever done with your sappy need to show them respect is allow them to drag NZ further and further into the socialist mire. You go your way I’ll go mine. I don’t need appeasers.
Redbaiter 65

19 February 2009 at 4:50 pm

“If ever there was a good election to lose, it was the last one.”

Yep, that’s right. The electors are too damn thick as shit stupid to ever realise what is really going down right?? Typically arrogant ivory tower leftism.
Tim Ellis 66

19 February 2009 at 4:56 pm

RB, I’m sure you thought it was fierce and powerful criticism, and in that slightly unhinged little world that you inhabit, it must have been a curious mix of joyful megalomania and genuine anxiety about how the great forces of evil were determined to silence you. I suppose the true history of your courageous, and I repeat, pseudonymous endeavours to bring about an end to pinko-fascism is yet to be written. You might want to write that history yourself, since I suspect that the legions of academic historians are too cowardly or stupid to do so.

In the meantime, I don’t think you’re winning any favours from anybody by behaving obnoxiously. It is all very well to go around abusing people and their intelligence, but it speaks volumes that you don’t appear to have the social skills to engage people in rational debate. I am saddened that you have so little respect for your own intellect that you don’t believe you can convince others of your world view. I don’t profess to be very clever, but for one I do believe that if you speak civilly and have a good argument, you can convince some people. By jumping up and down and raving I think you’ll tend to be dismissed as a nutjob.
Santi 67

19 February 2009 at 4:58 pm

“If ever there was a good election to lose, it was the last one.’

Incredibly arrogant comment that assumes the voters are stupid and know little or nothing at all.

Unfortunately for the lefties the next two elections will be also very good to lose. The political wilderness awaits!
ak 68

19 February 2009 at 5:00 pm

Redbaiter: Slowly but surely, you’re losing your grip. My exact thought at your every comment. Fascinating, but: just how long can one individual carry on generating such vast amounts of hate-drenched inanity before the system breaks down under it’s own toxicity? Carry on Reddy, you’re a marvel.

Good post Steve, though a trifle pessimistic. If the RMA tinkering and Fire at Will (already de facto for most workers I would posit) are the worst of the First (100 days), then Bill and Ben’s “rolling maul” has Tinkerbell as hooker.

No real surprise in this poll: reportage from the privately-owned media has of course tended to justify their pre-election selection, and the honeymoon is extended for their paymaster-advertisers and captive audience.

At the same time, Kiwis naturally enjoy lower petrol prices, cheaper mortgages, gestures of inclusive leadership, retention of public assets, increased minimum wage and dole payments, willing govt intervention etc etc (as in fact they embrace most traditional Labour policies and progressive tendencies), and will reward whatever government enacts them – no matter what that govt may call themselves.

No wonder our righties are stirred: they’re shaken. Their “evil” hate-figure is about to assert our country’s proud progressive heritage astride the world stage where it matters, and their grinning messiah is stumbling towards an abyss created by his own ilk and chosen ideology – all the while paying for his “me-too” election bribes with a rousing rendition of what can only be called National socialism.

To re-quote the noted philosopher: “The ironing is delicious” (Simpson,B; c.2003)
Pat 69

19 February 2009 at 5:00 pm

“If I were Goff, I’d be using the next year to scope out a major reorientation of party policy, similar in scope to the neoliberal change of the early 80s”

This is the crux of what needs to be discussed (to get the thread back on track).

What exactly are the things Labour can do to be differernt, but not scare the electorate?

.
Tim Ellis 70

19 February 2009 at 5:02 pm

Goodness. I must have said something rude because my last comment is in moderation.
Lew 71

19 February 2009 at 5:04 pm

RB,

Soon it will be Obama, who is clearly another Mugabe ( at last vanquished) in the making.

The jokes, they write themselves!

L
Redbaiter 72

19 February 2009 at 5:14 pm

“In the meantime, I don’t think you’re winning any favours from anybody by behaving obnoxiously.”

So you keep saying, and as long as you keep saying it, I’ll keep responding the same way. I do not care what you think.

Why don’t you confront the real question here. What the fuck have your methods achieved?? I’ll tell you. Worse than nothing. You’ve been completely outflanked by the left. If you had some kind of track record, maybe I’d grant you an iota of credibility. You’ve got nothing but abject failure.

..and don’t keep telling me that rationale will win the day. If they had any regard for rationale they wouldn’t be fucken leftists (that religion that depends upon intimidation and silencing its critics for its success),in the first place.
jimbo 73

19 February 2009 at 5:19 pm

Ak, how on earth is NZ’s current economic situation “an abyss created by [John Key’s]” own ilk and chosen ideology?!

After 9 years, what would you say is the previous Labour govt’s level of responsibility?

50%
10%
5%
0%

Seiously – I’m fascinated by how you get to blaming John Key “and his ilk” over and above the people who governed for the previous decade.

(The comment I am expecting is “Helen Clark couldn’t have stopped the credit crunch”, as if that somehow settles it.)
Redbaiter 74

19 February 2009 at 5:22 pm

“Goodness. I must have said something rude because my last comment is in moderation.”

Rudeness???

Oh you’re such a naughty naughty fellow.

FFS..!!

These people want to enslave us, and rob us of our income, and take away our rights to own property, and stifle our political voice, and destroy our democracy, and you’re worried about being “rude” to them???

Jezuz H Christ on a bike- no wonder the left have been winning when the so called right has been represented for so long by panty waisted limp wristed lemmings like you.
Matthew Pilott 75

19 February 2009 at 5:27 pm

“The comment I am expecting is “Helen Clark couldn’t have stopped the credit crunch’, as if that somehow settles it.)”

Umm, presaging it doesn’t make it false, you know. let’s try this tack:

jimbo, what percentage of New Zealand’s current economic situation would you blame upon international, and not domescic, concerns.

100%
80%
65%
50%
10%
5%
0%
Matthew Pilott 76

19 February 2009 at 5:29 pm

“…no wonder the left have been winning when the so called right has been represented for so long by panty waisted limp wristed lemmings like you.”

Have you ever met someone like Redbaiter on the blogs or usenet, Redbaiter?

Has anyone else out there met another Redbaiter?

Wonder why not?

No?

Don’t blame you.
Kevin Welsh 77

19 February 2009 at 5:30 pm

Santi

“Incredibly arrogant comment that assumes the voters are stupid and know little or nothing at all.”

They are and they don’t.

Average Joe Punter only knows what hacks like Duncan Garner and that rednecked halfwit Mark Bennett on Radio Live, tell them. They, for the most part, do not actively seek out the information that will answer their questions. A casual conversation around the smoko table at work is enough to convince me that very few have a grasp of what is going on out there and what the ramifications of political decisions will be.

Sad, but true.
Ag 78

19 February 2009 at 5:38 pm

Incredibly arrogant comment that assumes the voters are stupid and know little or nothing at all.

They don’t. But it’s a separate issue.

But it has nothing to do with my point. Anyone who wants to be in government right now is obviously a masochist, because things look like getting really nasty, such that any government, no matter what it did, would end up pilloried and hated. I’d personally prefer that party to be the National Party and not the Labour Party.
Kerry 79

19 February 2009 at 5:38 pm

I fail to see what is so impressive with a government that strips away rights and rams through laws with no consultation……as we have seen in the past three months…oh sorry, 30 days since holidays finished….and righties think that Labour were anti democratic!
Ag 80

19 February 2009 at 5:42 pm

These people want to enslave us, and rob us of our income, and take away our rights to own property, and stifle our political voice, and destroy our democracy

No they don’t.

I know this because I am one of the few people who fits your description, and I am well aware the majority of the Labour Party and its supporters do not come anywhere close to sharing my unorthodox political beliefs. Fortunately for you, I would think.
Redbaiter 81

19 February 2009 at 5:46 pm

“Have you ever met someone like Redbaiter on the blogs or usenet, Redbaiter?”

You know that I’m winning Mr. Pillock, or it wouldn’t be an issue. I take credit for knocking down a large part of the wall that the left had built around freedom of expression in this country. You do not have anything like the control over political expression that you had in 1999, and everyday, more and more people are speaking out against your soft tyranny, and the voices of those people will grow louder and more impatient and will increasingly express the feelings and ideas that you and your cohorts have for so long succeeded in silencing.

An experiment for lurkers out there- just try calling them c*mme*s and see how good it feels..!!!
jimbo 82

19 February 2009 at 5:47 pm

Matthew,

My point was never to try and prove that NZ is immune from international events and circumstances.

A previous poster seems to believe that John Key and “his ilk”, who have governed for less than 6 months, will somehow have greater responsibility for the economic position this country finds itself in than the government that led us for 9 years up until November 2008.

I think that previous poster’s position is comical. Do you?
jimbo 83

19 February 2009 at 5:50 pm

Kerry – a lot of people don’t believe any “stripping away of rights” has occurred. Drop the slogans, mate. Try engaging on the substance.

[Tane: The right to a fair process in employment has been removed from more than 100,000 workers at any one time. That is a fact. The newfound insistence of right-wingers that there’s been no removal of rights is absurd and shows just how desperate they are to defend this indefensible law.]
gobsmacked 84

19 February 2009 at 5:54 pm

Shock! Horror!

The latest poll out (Morgan) reveals that National have lost an incredible 11.5% support in just 24 hours. “The worst disaster in political history”, says Our Resident Expert Who Gets Excited Easily.

The people have spoken: KEY MUST GO!

(for the super-saddoes who actually take this stuff seriously, here’s the latest real poll of real voters: Beach 50% Black Caps 25% Other summer activities 24% All politicians combined 1%).
Ag 85

19 February 2009 at 5:55 pm

I take credit for knocking down a large part of the wall that the left had built around freedom of expression in this country.

You are widely regarded as a lunatic, even by supporters of the National Party.

All you have accomplished is a slight lowering of the online standards of debate about New Zealand politics. This is, and has been, a pattern with you for at least ten years now.

Captcha: Old Eggers (!)
northpaw 86

19 February 2009 at 5:57 pm

Brett Dale,

Excuse me, but again.. with some further explanation since I don’t believe you answered my question at all..
I wrote: “Civil question.. you wrote National are passing laws.. this appears to me as â€˜National’ the absolute. Is this meant, if not what is â€˜national’ to you?”

Politics.. government is about passing laws… the functional. Whereas my request related to structural and/or representational. I could hardly leave the context out of asking the question. Couldn’t say National are for instance.

The name Labour OTOH says what it is.

So, and perhaps the moreso significant for your change of personal views as you declare what is/are National to you. More than a promise for action surely. Given that we all have a huge external economic problem refracting through us the quality of action is most important.

Care to tackle this now….
Matthew Pilott 87

19 February 2009 at 5:57 pm

“You know that I’m winning Mr. Pillock, or it wouldn’t be an issue.”

What, that you claim to be part of a groundswell of opposition to leftist ideas, if not instigating and propagating that groundswell with your very actions and ideas, yet you’re also a one-man army and people who consider themselves Right-wing have no discourse with you?

I await with baited breath the vast numbers of people speaking out against Leftist oppression. Shall we re-visit this discussion in six months or even six years to see what’s changed?

You’re paradigm isn’t on the fringes of reailty for ‘Mainstream’ NZ and you know it – it’s the source of your anger and dysfunction.

jimbo, you clearly have no idea what that comment was referring to. Nothing to do with National, but speculators in the financial market. I can see why you thought the comment was comical, given your laughable interpretation of it.
Redbaiter 88

19 February 2009 at 6:06 pm

“even by supporters of the National Party.”

Hahahah. Its a demonstration of how fucked your own thinking is that you can’t understand that pissing the National supporters off is not something that I’m going voluntarily into rehab over. Pack of useless pricks most of them. Who the fuck lost this country??

Mr. Pillock- “What”

What is correct. What the fuck is that mish mash of leftist double speak meant to say?? The inescapable point is this. If I was as ineffective as you claim, there is no way you (and other leftist dickwads) would be putting such effort into discrediting me.
Matthew Pilott 89

19 February 2009 at 6:17 pm

“If I was as ineffective as you claim, there is no way you (and other leftist dickwads) would be putting such effort into discrediting me.”

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this.

In case you still don’t get it, you’re sport, Sport. You’re like a marlin – ever gone sport fishing, Redbaiter? If so you might understand.

Work on the comprehension, though, it’s not as much fun when I lose you (or you pretend to be lost, like you did with that last comment. Cut a bit too close to the bone?)…
Ag 90

19 February 2009 at 6:18 pm

Pack of useless pricks most of them. Who the fuck lost this country??

More insane drivel. No-one needs to discredit you, as you do a fine job of it yourself.

You annoy people, but the only opinion that changes is the one people have of you.
Redbaiter 91

19 February 2009 at 6:35 pm

“In case you still don’t get it, you’re sport, Sport. You’re like a marlin – ever gone sport fishing, Redbaiter?”

So lame. The only sport here is shoals of reef fish like you and AG.
Matthew Pilott 92

19 February 2009 at 6:41 pm

“Lame?”, Redbaiter? …pretending not to understand what I said:

“What the fuck is that mish mash of leftist double speak meant to say??”

That was lame, Sport.
jimbo 93

19 February 2009 at 6:53 pm

Tane – more than happy to engage on the “workers rights” issue as I was doing on the other thread. You’re picking and chosing your forum now (marking up an edit on one of my comments here) so you don’t have to respond to any of the substance of my arguments.

YES – the process for dismissing a worker has changed for people who are within the first 90 days of employment. Unless your concept of “workers’ rights” is ludicrously wide, how is that “taking away workers’ rights”?

Was the “anti-smacking” law a case of “taking away workers rights”? Each time the speed limit goes up, are we “taking away workers rights”? (Workers used to be able to smack and speed more, you know).

Society forms (and adjust) rules for the benefit of society as a whole. You guys keep sloganeering (“WORKERS’ RIGHTS! FIRE AT WILL!”) because you cannot be bothered to argue the merits of the change properly.

It is a totally “defensible” law and is commonplace is many countries around the world. Once there was no employee protection at all (i.e. everything was “fire at will”). Then came “due process”. Now “due process” has been amended for the first 90 days because society belives that we’ve gone too far down that path and some adjustment is needed.

Stop frothing at the mouth about this law because you demean your arguments by overstating your position. Which of you are prepared to state on the record now that the next Labour government will repeal 90 days probation periods when it next gets into government…?
Andrew B 94

19 February 2009 at 6:54 pm

Has anyone seen this: http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/big-rise-in-nationals-support-post-election-2493982. Listen to this:

“Since it won power, the National-led government has spent most of its time dealing with ways to soften the impact of the international recession.

It has announced several initiatives to help businesses survive and it is keeping its promised tax cuts which come in on April 1.

The government has brought a batch of law and order bills to Parliament as well as it fulfils its campaign promise to get tough on crime.”

(Complete with spelling mistakes too!) I knew reporting was bad, but not this bad! TVNZ is often slightly better than granny, but WTF?! where did this one come from? They’ve spent jack all time doing anything about the recession and anything they did “do” was already on its way through the house or in the pipeline. We all know this, so where the hell are TVNZ getting their reporters from? The national party caucus? Or are they lapsing into copying and pasting press releases?
Redbaiter 95

19 February 2009 at 7:07 pm

“You’re paradigm isn’t on the fringes of reailty for â€˜Mainstream’ NZ and you know it – it’s the source of your anger and dysfunction.”

@#%$^@&@^@%$@#@…???????
Tim Ellis 96

19 February 2009 at 7:13 pm

Let me get this right, Redbaiter. For the last eight years you have been a legend in your own time, on the interweb, verbally trolling, harassing and abusing other people into intellectual submission.

Yet it took a mild-mannered, polite, civil, middle-of-the-road man like John Key to get rid of Helen Clark.

Change your methods, buddy. They don’t work, and really I’m afraid you’re not as important to stamping out socialism as you think you are.

[lprent: Surely you mean “legend in your own mind”]
Brett Dale 97

19 February 2009 at 7:17 pm

northpaw:

HUH???????????????
Andrew B 98

19 February 2009 at 7:25 pm

Jimbo – I’ve used this analogy many times, particularly with fellow high school students as it applies to us.
Imagine you get a part time job at a local cafe. You’re close to the end of your third or fourth shift and your boss has had a particularly hard and bad day. Close to the end of the day, you are carrying a tray of cups of coffee. You trip and fall into him, breaking all the cups of coffee down his front. He gets angry at you.
Now, what does he do?
Under the new law he could fire you without a sufficient reason, simply just because you made a mistake. You would’ve caused limited financial damage and the cafe patrons would be most likely to understand. So at the end of the day, you’re left without a job. Now extend this analogy further – perhaps you are a single parent with three or four kids. Where does this leave you?
jimbo 99

19 February 2009 at 7:28 pm

Brett Dale – that is both correct AND funny.
mike 100

19 February 2009 at 7:32 pm

“Three years that will expose the hollowness of Key”

Gee I hope the left share your fantasy Pierson.
Keep attacking and name calling and watch his popularity grow like it did in 2008.
Roll on 2011 – labour under 20% I’d say
jimbo 101

19 February 2009 at 7:32 pm

Andrew,

Your analogy leaves you designing a whole system of legal rights and remedies to deal with what I’m sure you will agree is an “outlier” – an employer who is so irrational that he will fire an employee (with the consequent inconvenience and financial costs of finding a replacement) all because of an accident.

You’re giving far more weight to your outlier case than it deserves. The economic incentives of running a business work against it happening (I’m not saying it never would, just that it’s not a circumstance you need to design laws around).
Andrew B 102

19 February 2009 at 7:56 pm

Jimbo – Indeed. I forgot to tag on the end “However, the chances of this exact analogy happening are quite low.” Often cafes have a very high staff turnover, so the loss of one employee won’t effect them much.
But do you see how this could affect employees? It gives employers the right to fire, when they like, without giving a reason. The ramifications of this are huge – you could be fired for a personality clash or something as petty as that. Another example comes to mind: what if you have been working in a job for two months and you and another employee (who has been working there for much longer than you) do not get on. The other employee reports that you have been doing something illegal/against company policy or whatever to your boss. Your boss fires you. Hopefully a boss would see through this, although I personally know people who have been fired because another employee said something malicious to their boss (and under old law, claimed compensation for it). Now in these current economic times, unemployment is going to rise and has already risen. The government needs to balance workers rights with the economic problems faced by business. I vaguely recall Key (or someone in the government) saying that the way out of the recession was to stimulate the economy by everybody spending. (ah, I remember Gareth Morgan opposing this on TVNZ, so someone must have said it.) Therefore, for people to spend, they must have money and if they don’t have jobs, they don’t have money, so they can’t spend. (tagged on to this could be: and more people without jobs, means more crime, which means work for the police which means more government funding and less government money means fewer infrastructure and “stimulus” plans (not to mention additional strain on the kit bag where the benefit is dished out because of rising unemployment) the government cannot cut working for families anymore, as this would mean less money for low-middle income NZers, which means less spending. (Not that national haven’t already increased tax on low/middle income families))
Can anyone else see a vicious cycle developing here? Really the government is saying something and creating a law to oppose it. Interesting huh?

However, this does not mean that I agree with National’s Spend Spend Spend plan.
Travellerev 103

19 February 2009 at 8:01 pm

Jeez RB,

Why don’t you take a chill pill, I worry about you. You sound like your going for a heart attack.

I know this one will end in moderation and possibly quit rightly so and I most certainly don’t want to equate John Key with the man I’m going to mention next but there was a period in time when, while hundreds of thousands of civilians died in air raids, the corporately and governmentally owned news outlets still spoke of the then FÃ¼hrer as their dearly beloved infallible leader and told the dying and wounded Germans that they where winning.

Later, when interviewed, German citizens said, “the radio kept telling us that we where winning and that the FÃ¼hrer was in control and every thing would be alright but everyday we heard that we where winning a little bit closer to home and when the Russians/Americans (depending on which side of Germany your lived) came the radio’s still told us that we where winning.”

At this moment the global economy is collapsing due to the greedy actions of a small group of bankers. Here in New Zealand 9 out of 10 people still thinks that we’re going to be sweet and that someone who smiles all the time is a nice guy.

All the crappy laws signed today don’t mean shit to Average Joe because he ain’t doing anything bad but when the shit hits the fan and Average Joe the middle class dork becomes the hungry street bum with his wife and his kids that’s when he will understand that what you wish on others will come back to bit you in the ass.

Perhaps it dawns on him when his son just kicked out of the house he bought a year ago against inflated prices while his wife just had a baby daughter gets caught stealing a loaf of bread because he lost his job and he did not want his child to go hungry and while he promises not to do it again perhaps he gets caught stealing some more food and after the third time bingo the three strike rule kicks in and he gets send to jail for 25 years.

Perhaps it will dawn on that Average Joe the angry middle class Pakeha that John Key was smiling for all the wrong reasons and maybe my dairying friend will finally understand that John Key really is not his friend.

What was that again? That thing that Jesus said again? Don’t do to others what you would not have done unto you. Well, you never know when life puts you in the position where that what you wished on others is applicable to you.

In the same time that the media kept saying that the leader was infallible and winning, some 65 years ago someone concluded:

When they first came for the Jews, I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t Jewish, when they came back and took the Socialists I said nothing because I wasn’t a Socialist and when they came back to take all the Gypsies I kept Schtum because I wasn’t a Gypsy but when they came back to take me away there was nobody to speak up for me because there was nobody left to speak.

First it is the young crims to boot camp, than it is the activist Maori’s, than the lefty Greenies and after than it’s the suckers who bought into the “we’ll make it right for the upstanding, angry, middle class pakeha”.

Not long now, RB, Not long and you’ll wish there was somebody left to speak up for you.
Matthew Pilott 104

19 February 2009 at 8:11 pm

Normal discourse for Dummies One: what Redbaiter wants isn’t what everyone else (viz. ‘mainstream NZ’ ) wants, and that is why Redbaiter is angry and can’t communicate properly.

It’s not that hard, Sport.
Pascal's bookie 105

19 February 2009 at 8:25 pm

I think the baityboy has knocked off for the day. Mum wants the computer back, so our demented hero has retired once again to his attic to reread The Turner Diaries and watch his archived news reports about the Murray building.
higherstandard 106

19 February 2009 at 8:53 pm

Eve

….. no I can’t be feckin bothered……
northpaw 107

19 February 2009 at 9:28 pm

Brett,

Slow down.. take a breath.. try.. Else we shall conclude you do not know why you “changed” to National.. Not that I’d want to, y’follow, but that inane responses leave no alternative..
Daniel 108

19 February 2009 at 9:41 pm

The new Roy Morgan poll makes much more sense- their numbers show results similiar to the election night results. I think TV3 need a new polling company.
jimbo 109

19 February 2009 at 9:55 pm

Andrew –

Understand your concerns but all your examples are basically predicated on employers acting in a way that is “wrong”. If you had a cafe owner who regularly fired people over spilt drinks, the word would get out and no one would accept his offers of employment UNLESS he was paying heaps to compensate you for the risk of being unfairly fired in the first 3 months…

Employers have massive incentive effects to act sensibly when it comes to new employees – the incentive effect is the time and monetary cost of hiring a replacement and the consequences of being short on employees until the replacement is found. As explained above, over time the cost of being a jerk during the 3 month trial period will be greater difficulty in filling positions and eventually an increased labour cost.

Again, that’s not to say there aren’t some d1ckhead employers out there or that morally unsupportable dismissals can and do happen. It’s just not the right thing to design your policy for the outliers (i.e. the employers who do things that are stupid, irrational, financially irresponsible, etc.)

Here’s another example for you:

What in your view are incentive effects that affect candidates when they apply for a job? Do you think a potential applicant is ever incentivised to “over-sell” themselves in order to get a particular job…? If the applicant “oversold” themselves (meaning that another honest – better qualified – applicant missed out), should the employer have to expend time and money on training that person (or “managing” their dismissal and replacement)? In my view, such overselling by candidates happens a lot. Sometimes it’s intentional, sometimes it’s not, but in all cases why should the employer suffer?

I don’t disregard your examples of potential problems at all. I don’t lack sympathy for people who are unjustifiably dismissed or who miss out on getting jobs because another candidate has “oversold” themselves during the interview. I just believe my example is more likely to happen than your ones (because of incentive effects at work), and also my problem has a bigger negative impact on the wider economy than yours does.

Hence, I like this law. It balances the position better and is therefore fairer to everyone. The policy is consistent with the incentive effects that exist in the real world.

Andrew – you are clearly an economic conservative at heart… You are right about the need for employment to move an economy out of recession, but that’s only one small part of the equation. You don’t get employment by “forcing” it on people though. A law saying “everyone must hire an additional 4% staff” or “redundancy is temporarily outlawed until the recession is over” would not magically fix the economy. Economies grow because entreprenuers take risks – that is the essential ingredient that can never be “conjured up” by government policy. Entrepreneurs borrow money (paying the bank an interest rate), build factories (paying for land and buildings and equipment), take on employees (creating jobs and GUARANTEED income source for Joe Public) and sell products that other people want. They do all this for the CHANCE to earn profits – their own reward is not guaranteed and many of them lose the shirt off their back.

This recession will pass only when enough business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs step back out into the world like blinking newborn lambs and start taking business risks again… Some of them will succeed, some of them will fail, but all of them will create jobs and economic activity at far greater rates than you or I could by buying a new Chinese flatscreen TV from Harvey Norman.

When a right-winger likes me argues in favour of pro-business policies, it’s not because I have no sympathy in circumstances where an individual employee is poorly treated by their boss. It’s also not because I’m concerned for the plight of specific rich business-owning mates (I wish I had some). It’s because I understand that successful ENTREPRENEURS are essential for all of the rest of us – occasionally they need and deserve a little bit of love!
mike 110

19 February 2009 at 10:02 pm

“I think TV3 need a new polling company.”

lol…thats before TV1 was bad and TV3 “made more sense” keep running kids
haiku dave 111

19 February 2009 at 10:39 pm

redbaiter’s comments
are like a Big Mac, read one
and you’ve read them all
haiku dave 112

19 February 2009 at 10:46 pm

Redbaiter: “I take credit for knocking down a large part of the wall that the left had built around freedom of expression in this country.”

ha ha ha ha ha!
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
ha ha ha ha ha !
Andrew B 113

19 February 2009 at 10:50 pm

Sorry, unfortunately I don’t have the time this evening to reply to all of your reply. However, I understand where you are coming from in relation to employment only being part of the equation of ‘getting out of the recession’ and I completely agree with you. It would be ridiculous to ban redundancies etc., as then the economy would be in a much much worse shape. However, it does not make it right to not go through ‘due process’ when firing an employee. If anything, it makes sure that no one is being fired for unjust reasons. This is important as everyone has, or should have, the right to work regardless of anything that could cause discrimination – which is one of the serious risks involved with passing a law like this. It law allows employers to effectively fire at will, which seems to me could, in certain circumstance, be a breach of s19 of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 (I know that it is not in BORA anymore, but in HRA 1993, but I can’t find which section in the HRA). However, this is most likely to be limited to a few cases. To me it seems like a sort of double dealing, whilst it does allow employers some liberty to move with employees, it seems to make no sense that an employer would be able to fire someone without a reason and without the right of appeal to that dismissal. That just doesn’t seem fair, especially not being able to appeal.
In regard to my extrapolation over National wanting the public to spend – I was just demonstrating what could happen if that was the way that the public and government went. Hence, I am not suggesting that we go to Harvey Norman and spend up!

On to my next point, (which I had forgotten about!): You hit the nail on the head Jimbo, when you effectively talked about how entrepreneurial and business confidence is low. A lot of blame lies in the media’s camp for creating so much hype, if there wasn’t so much hype, business would be more confident and the economy would be stronger. I’m led to understand (although I have done no personal research on the topic) that confidence dropped when the credit began to crunch, if you will, in America and that affected the rest of the world (although there was also the obvious affect of the American housing crisis etc). I’m hypothesising here and feel free to critique: The media, therefore, have the power to pull us out of the recession, as news (especially here in NZ) is so sensationalised, as soon the media get bored of “the recession” and “the credit crunch” and stop reporting on it, it will leave the worlds collective consciousness and we’ll get back to business. We saw similar things happen with the avian flu. Everyone was out buying tamiflu and stock piling food like Armageddon was on its way, yet as soon as the media stopped talking about it – everything went hush and back to normal. The problem of avian flu stayed the same however. Whilst this example is radically different from the credit crisis/recession, it does demonstrate how influential the media is.

The government also appears to be going in a radically different direction to the rest of the major politicians in the world. Whilst Obama is pouring a trillion dollars into his economy, we’re pouring just under $500million in (most of which was already planned and not part of any stimulus package). That works out to (I lost the calculations that I did last week somewhere on my desk and I can’t find them) roughly NZD$3000 per American and less than NZD$100 per NZer. Whilst NZ does not have the financial capacity (especially after tax cuts for the rich(I know I’m bitter)) to pay for $3000 per capita – we could at least come up with something better! Obama, Rudd and Brown are all taking pro-active steps to ensure the stability and growth of our economy by investing in such things like R&D, little ol’ NZ is taking a hands-off approach and waiting for our big siblings to fix the problem for us. Instead, the government takes away tax credits for resource and development – one of the sectors that will pull us out of the economy. As you said, once the entrepreneurs come out of the dark…., but hang on, the National government is keeping the closet door shut.

(I’d like to apologise for my lack of economic knowledge – I am only 16 and have never studied economics. However, I do understand the way in which small business works as my family owns several of them)
haiku dave 114

20 February 2009 at 12:06 am

curse of false named scribe
on blog, smash the state but get
no credit for it
Redbaiter 115

20 February 2009 at 12:59 am

What kind of uneducated dumbfuck says “baited breath”. Some kind of air breathing reef fish?
expat 116

20 February 2009 at 1:53 am

Another bitter hollow diatribe from Mr Pierson.

Labour hate being less relevant than the Maori Party.

[lprent: Ok that is offensive to me because it attacks the poster rather than the opinions in the post. So I’ll undertake a bit of toilet training for this puppy……

Added you to auto-moderation. I’ll let the acceptable ones through, enhance others with probable explanations for your behaviour, or add them to the anti-spam bot in the morning. ]
haiku dave 117

20 February 2009 at 4:23 am

Redbaiter: “I take credit for knocking down a large part of the wall that the left had built around freedom of expression in this country.’

best redbaiter quote
since he said whaleoil was fat,
thinking it r nome
haiku dave 118

20 February 2009 at 4:25 am

shine on you crazy
righty, caught in crossfire of
childhood and bedtime
Clint Heine 119

20 February 2009 at 6:02 am

Travellerev, Godwins law at its worst! Jeez. NZ is not even close to it, nor has, in its oh so short history. Calm down… although I demand I get my 20 seconds back from reading that silliness!
Andrew B 120

20 February 2009 at 7:03 am

Hey – Where did my post go? I spent forty minutes writing that and its not here…?

[lprent: Can’t see it anywhere on this end. Most likely you didn’t get the recapcha correct.]
Travellerev 121

20 February 2009 at 7:05 am

Tell me Clint,

You huntsman you, you still think the US is Democracy? LOL
tsmithfield 122

20 February 2009 at 7:42 am

A whistling woman and a crowing hen, Is neither fit for God nor men
rave 123

20 February 2009 at 7:44 am

Andrew its probably in quarantine because you used a naughty word by mistake. Keep up the good work. As one old enough to be your grandfather I enjoy reading thoughtful stuff from one so young.
Tim Ellis 124

20 February 2009 at 8:36 am

I can’t help thinking that this thread has turned into a total train-wreck, caused by trolls who have nothing constructive to say about the principal topic.
Redbaiter 125

20 February 2009 at 9:07 am

“trolls who have nothing constructive to say about the principal topic.”

That’s rich considering most of your drivel, like some demented hen pecking school teacher, is focused on admonishing Redbaiter for his language and attitude.

For the dipshits who still don’t get my point- its never going to be the same again. 1999 was easy because socialism held all the propaganda cards, the opposition was lame, but more importantly, the left held a large part of the culture.

Since the internet, the left have suffered considerable damage to their flagship operation- that being their mainstream media propagandists posing as objective journalists, and have also suffered because people have finally rebelled against their attempts to control thought and speech (most often referred to as political correctness).

The left’s objective is to make a country’s culture and leftism inseparable. A large wedge has been driven in to this plan, and NZ is at last on the way back to freedom and choice, and away from totalitarianism. Its a long voyage, and the ship is only moving slowly and steadily, but it will eventually get up momentum, and the left that won the election in 1999 will soon recede over the horizon for ever.
vidiot 126

20 February 2009 at 9:18 am

And the 2009 Labour Party Anthem is now officially – “The only Way is Up by Yazz”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lwlr5ZAoQ4

ReCAPTCHA: were kicked – now what is that trying to say ?
echspat 127

20 February 2009 at 9:47 am

[deleted]
[lprent: expat being an idiot. I’ve deleted all of his subsequent comments and added all previously used IP’s to moderation.
A crude form of outbreak protection…]
northpaw 128

20 February 2009 at 10:02 am

Do I take it correctly that Andrew’s comment has appeared.. certainly the length of what appears above looks 40minutes in the making..

touching on employment issues mentioned therein I think, will conference next week attempt benchmarking – pro tem at least – employment status.? Will this or can conference additionally consider the extent of under-employment in enzed..?

States-wise I have it from ML’s (respectable) economist Rosenberg that unemployment at 13.2 percent is the more likely figure for the administration to be looking at and that an included under-employment summation in the order 2-3 percent ranks consideration.

Should such significance be given here then can we rely upon subsequent government (or its agency) monitoring so as to relate actual figures etc..
northpaw 129

20 February 2009 at 10:12 am

lprent, webbies @ thestandard blog..

On my screen just now an ad or advice re Internet protest at (I’m guessing) some intended statute or clause or whatever..

This ad’s bg panel is too big. The reverses could say their thing in less space.. suggest you cut 15px or so from the bottom..

Reason for my protest being: â€” chopping off the definite article ‘The’ to the blog title is not on.. not really.. Whereas resize is so simple..
echspat 130

20 February 2009 at 10:15 am

northpaw is on drugs – philu?
northpaw 131

20 February 2009 at 10:21 am

RB,

you don’t know what my point is

Why not cut all yo’ crap and tell us upfront about M3 and RP.

You don’t know about M3 and RP?â€”says YOU don’t know what yo’ point is..

Nice weekend everyone.. could be some interesting listening along the way..
Travellerev 132

20 February 2009 at 10:23 am

I agree with Redbaiter, it’s never going to be the same again.
northpaw 133

20 February 2009 at 10:25 am

echspat,

(with contempt) Which ones, dude?
Redbaiter 134

20 February 2009 at 10:31 am

“I agree with Redbaiter, it’s never going to be the same again.”

Left political views are fine. Just stop trying to weave it into our culture, and stop trying to use government as a means to impose socialism. This is a corruption of democracy, and as more and more people come to realise this, and fight with all their might against this corruption, you will lose to a much greater extent than you’re losing now.
northpaw 135

20 February 2009 at 10:34 am

repeat:

(with contempt) Which ones, dude?

no answer makes technical k/o.. thort yo’ should know..
Alain Bonard 136

20 February 2009 at 10:47 am

Ah, that might explain John Key’s sunny dispositon in the face of increasingly hard times for many New Zealanders .. and that enigmatic Mona Lisa smile.
Brett Dale 137

20 February 2009 at 12:07 pm

Travellerev

You dont think the US is a democracy? They have just elected African American liberal to president and the house and senate is controlled by the liberals.

I guess you think, Cuba is more democracy.
jimbo 138

20 February 2009 at 2:32 pm

Andrew – A couple of points in response:

Re: probations periods – again I think the reason we disagree is because you are still building your policy response around an assumption that employers, if given the “freedom” to do so, will abuse the 90 day probation period and fire workers for the fun of it. It’s interesting that your family is involved in small businesses – do your family members hire and fire based on personal prejudices?! You might have had one or two bad experiences already in your part-time jobs, but the caricature of “evil bosses” is exactly that, a caricature.

What is an employer doing each time they hire a new worker? They are taking a risk. The risk could either help their business (making them wealthier), or it could hurt their business (making them poorer). Even without ANY employee protection laws, employers have an incentive to “get it right”. Sadly, too many abuses were happening so “due process” rules for hiring/firing now exist (which is a good thing). However, the government now believes that the “due process” rules and they way some employees are “gaming” them have dampened small business owners’ appetite for risk. So the adjustment has occurred for (1) small businesses only; and (2) 90 days only.

Despite the inflammatory rhetoric on this site, it’s a SMALL change and a good one. It is commonplace overseas (indeed, I’ve twice been emplyed in places where I had to “survive” a 90 days probation – I can tell you it focuses your attention pretty sharply! That said, its not a keep-you-up-at-night concern.)

Of course there are some stupid/cruel/irrational small business owners out there, but most of them can be “trusted” by the government to act reasonably and sensibly. The business owners face large financial disincentives if the decide to act irrationally during the 90 day probation periods. If you refuse to introduce a probationary period law because you are worried about *some* employers acting irrationally, you are throwing away the baby with the bathwater.

Look at this way – some small business owners out there might make “wrong” decisions about their business which will cause the business to fold, meaning that all their employees are out of a job and the government no longer earns tax revenue from the business or the employees. That’s a fact of life. It could happen. No one suggests that the government should pass laws whereby the government checks every business decision to make sure it is “right”. Why not? (1) Because the business owner is already massively incentivised to make economically sensible decisions; and (2) because the government would not necessarily know the “right” decision anyway.

A stupid/cruel/irrational decision during the probation period will cost the business owner money. In the long run, even if the NEW employee loses his job (which, of course, is a bad thing), at least he’s no longer working for a stupid/cruel/irrational employer.

It’s a balancing act. “Due process” has changed for someone in the first 90 days of employment. I think the re-balancing works fine and will help the economy.

Re: Obama/Brown spending – I wouldn’t be picking sides on this one yet! A lot of people have jumped on the word “stimulus” and now use it instead of “spending”. Taking on debt and spending it on goodies is not a magic proescription for ending a recession. Again, the government cannot “create” confidence from no-where. NZ has almost no manufacturing so even if we all bought new cars, appliances, TVs etc, the money will go to offshore enterprises. Yes – NZ needs more infrastructure but for years that type of spending has been ignored for political reasons (roads?). Spending/stimulus carries a cost – the interest payments that the government will have to meet (out of yours and my taxes) to pay off the debt. When the debt/interest payments get too high, govts have to raise taxes which discourages future entrepreneurs from going into business. What the Australians have done is crazy – giving people cash lump sums to spend on (usually Asian) imported goods helps confidence how…?! When people are worried about the future, they SAVE and wait for opportunities to emerge. I’m not saying our govt shouldn’t spend at all, just that I don’t mind being cautious at this stage because it is the sensible and natural approach.

I suggest each time you hear the word “stimulus”, you replace it with “spending borrowed money”, and see if the solution sounds quite so good then!

Finally, Andrew, I’d say definitely take some economics at uni. You’ll find it fascinating and far less “academic” than you might expect (as long as you don’t take microeconomics for too long because it suddenly turns into pages and pages of calculus at about year 3!).
Travellerev 139

20 February 2009 at 5:44 pm

Go Redbaiter go,

You fight corruption dude. Jihar, See that corruption go.

Brett,

Black men can get bought and paid for too. Most of his money came from the big financiers and all his advisors and secretaries for money business are ex CEO’s from the privately owned Money Masters.
Andrew B 140

20 February 2009 at 6:35 pm

Jimbo – a (hopefully short) note on your comment regarding Obama/Brown/Rudd “spending” policies. Whilst I’m not saying that what they are doing it correct, all three will have the best economic advice in the world, ever. NZ does not have this. Therefore, this means that some of the best economic brains in the world, ever, are advising these governments to spend spend spend. Whilst we don’t see this economic advice being given (as it does not filter through in the media) governments are not going to spend a trillion dollars on a whim. Especially if its borrowed money. Therefore, whilst I don’t think we should spent $3000/person on stimulus, a little more than $100 would be good. ( I use these ratios as a way of demonstrating the amount of money spent, not how much each person is given or whatever…) I think we should really be following the lead of countries who are being proactive in dealing with the recession, not sitting and waiting for someone else to do something about it. This action is advised by some of the best economic brains in the world who have a plan, unlike NZ’s supposed top economist, Gareth Morgan (who only sees doom and gloom).

Whilst I don’t want to imply a sort of doomsday prophecy, we don’t know what could happen – so its better to do something now, rather than wait until there is a need for an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.

I am very aware Jimbo, of how stimulus is the buzz word for spending.

Btw, I still do not see how roading will stimulate the economy… Moving goods from A to B a little bit faster doesn’t seem to make that much sense from a stimulus perspective. The govt seems to be repackaging roading (and other infrastructure) into an “economic stimulus” plan – however a lot of this stuff will not directly impact the economy, merely it will gain kudos for the govt.

Also, I was thinking today about the role of the government and what their job is. The government is the people’s elected representative, therefore it is their job to enact policy/law that is for the benefit of most, if not all, people. 90-days only benefits a certain percentage of the population (although there are obviously economic considerations here). Its the same with the tax cuts for the wealthy – it benefits a minority of the population, whilst disadvantaging the low/middle income families (whilst I believe in the redistribution of wealth, unfortunately people get up in arms about the government taking away their money, even if it doesn’t impact their economic prospectives (from an investment/FOREX perspective) or their luxuriated style of living). Don’t get me started on how the Nats fooled the nation into voting for them (even people in parliament have been saying this) and how they haven’t delivered.

Yes, I almost wrote down about spending on imported goods does not stimulate the economy in the last post, (only helps the retailers and distributors in NZ).

Now a proposal:
Why does the government not invest in local manufacturing? Maybe they could help save business that are about to close down because of cheaper imports – maybe subsidise their costs or something. To help them compete for a share of the local (and perhaps international market). Sure this does seem a bit like economic protectionism, but it would help stimulate the local economy.

Another idea: why doesn’t the government utilise the unemployed by employing them to build roads/help with infrastructure improvements etc? That would keep people employed as well as helping the country. I don’t have time to discuss the ramifications of this now, but there are various problems involved. But its better to have people in work than not.
jimbo 141

20 February 2009 at 8:20 pm

Andrew – I hear what you’re saying about “best economic minds”, but ask yourself what got the world into this mess…?!

Some of the best financial and economic minds in the US and Europe dreamt up fancy structures for dealing in sub-prime loans. Somehow those brilliant minds convinced themselves, and investors, that loans to people who could not afford them could be bundled together and sold with AAA ratings! Those people (and famously, Gordon Brown) believed that they had re-engineered risk so that it no longer existed and “boom and bust” would not occur.

The US and Britain are still working our their reponse to the credit crunch. It is by no means a “consensus” of everyone whose opinions matter. Don’t make the mistake of following the herd on matters to do with money – that’s exactly how bubbles and crashes occur. If you take the shortcut of saying “this is what everyone else is doing”, then you are accepting you will also crash and burn when they do.

There are smart people with sensible opinions on both sides of the debate. Even amongst the fire and brimstone on this site, you’ll notice people “talking sense” from both ends of the political spectrum. Good leaders listen to well-argued and often contradictory advice, then they make decisions that consistently turn out to be right. Key is not automatically wrong just because he is not following the path of the (socialist) governments of Britain, USA and Aus.

Deficit spending to “stimulate” growth is not a guaranteed solution to anything. It is part of the equation, but definitely not all of it. Too much deficit spending would create problems in the future (i.e. too great a debt burden so that when the good times return internationally, NZ misses out because we’re too tied up paying out interest bill). Caution is fine at this point.

There’s no point in trying to turn NZ into a manufacturing nation. We are a tiny island miles away from the rest of the world (meaning high transport costs). We have a high standard of living and a high cost of labour. It’s simply not where our skills and natural advantages lie. It would be like asking a 6ft 10 inch 130 kg man to become a ballerina – sure he *might* eventually be able to do it after lots of training, but it’s just not worth the wasted time and effort when you can throw him a rugby ball in the lineout.

As to your spending proposals, the only one that I’d agree with is to spend on infrastructure.

This is the same rule you should apply to your own financial planning. Don’t borrow for consumption, instead borrow only to buy income-producing assets or assets which increase your ability to generate income (with one exception – explained below). Despite what some people believe, some basics will ALWAYS be true – you get wealthy by spending less than you earn and, if you borrow, you’d better be earning more than the interest rate or else you’ll go bankrupt.

Applying this rule to personal spending – you’d always pay your credit card off each month. Want a new car and the cap company offers hire purchase? You ignore it – you can’t afford the car. Nice big TV but too expensive right now? Save another couple of months.

On the other hand, if you want to go to university but can’t afford the fees? OK to borrow because the study (should) directly improve your income-earning capacity. Want to borrow money to become a landlord? Fine, so long as your business analysis shows that you can turn a profit (your reward for taking the risk of home ownership).

(The one exception on borrowing for consumption is borrowing to buy your own residence/house. If you want to own a house, then obviously you need to borrow. You should simply pay it off as fast as you can because it’s tax-paid dollars that pay the interest.)

Applying this philosophy to government, I would much rather have the NZ government spending on schools, bridges, roads, internet cables etc than giving away cash gifts to the citizens. The projects themselves will keep people occupied while we wait for private businesses to regain their appetite for risk. When private business confidence returns, they will be more productive (because of the better roads, internet, bridges, etc).

I don’t care if Rudd is the smartest economic mind in Australia, he is simply wrong with what he’s done. It is irresponsible and foolish and I would be thoroughly p1ssed off with our government if it decided to do something similar.

My posts seem to be getting longer and longer…!
northpaw 142

20 February 2009 at 9:16 pm

Jimbo,

There’s no point in trying to turn NZ into a manufacturing nation. We are a tiny island miles away from the rest of the world (meaning high transport costs). We have a high standard of living and a high cost of labour. It’s simply not where our skills and natural advantages lie.

Thanks for extended response.. As to the above whatever happened to the high-value export manufacturing sector..?
Andrew B 143

21 February 2009 at 10:04 am

Again Jimbo, how is spending money on roads going to stimulate the economy? Spending money on schools is a very long term fix (20+ years at least), internet has advantages (however, the advantages to high speed internet do not out way the importance of keeping unemployment low i.e. its better to spend that money on keeping businesses afloat and therefore keeping their employees than having faster internet (I agree this is necessary, but fast-tracking it isn’t)). I am not proposing in ANY way that we GIVE money to people. That would be ludicrous and really would be a waste. However, the government could give money or loan (perhaps with no interest) to some of our largest employers if they need to start making people redundant.

I wasn’t agreeing with your ideas on spending on infrastructure. I was proposing that we take people who have become unemployed and the government employ them (sorry to sound a bit conservative here, but perhaps at a lower hourly rate (having a job is better than being unemployed!)) to do infrastructural work. i.e. to create a government employed work force. Not to mention the greater societal benefits of having people work in a job contributing to society:
1. Greater sense of community within the work force – “we’re all in the same boat mentality”. This would create a greater sense of community within society in general which would contribute to a more peaceful, less violent etc nation.
2. Sense of Pride with the work you’ve done. Whenever you or your family drove over a road that you worked on, there would be a sense of pride in what you’ve completed. (I have a personal example of this: it gives me some sense of pride to know that my great-grandfather worked on digging the hill out where Wintec now sits in Hamilton).
4. It keeps people (and more importantly, families) off the streets – which means that there will be even less crime etc.
5. It will give previously untrained people skills. Or even trained people new skills. That can only be a good thing.
An example of this would be in pre-Nazi Germany (yes, fault me on using a Nazi example, however this has nothing to do with Nazism – also the idea was not concieved by Nazis – look it up on wikipedia) where they took unemployed (ignore the use of slaves, please!) and set them to work on the autobahn. Now look what they’ve got. Whilst that is a terrible example, the Germans were able to build the autobahn amazingly quickly (i.e. faster time = less government expenditure on roads).
You may argue that the cost of getting this skilled workforce up and running would be impossible and preventative – however, it is likely that the cost of getting this team up and running would be less than the extra time it would take to build these roads with the current size work force. I guess one would have to set up a whole new department at Transit to manage and train all the new workers (not to mention all the new office jobs created by this new department), but maybe this could be a longer term solution to unemployment full stop.
Please note, however, that I am using the example of roads as that, an EXAMPLE. I’m sure that the government would be able to find places for most unemployed people – anyone from lawyers and accountants to tool manufacturers and welders. (but, of course, we would rather have people unemployed and poor than employed by the government. Think of all those bureaucrats! gosh!)

I don’t propose that we turn NZ into a manufacturing nation – I’m saying that the government should give incentives to local manufacturing businesses to stay open and to help them expand. Wouldn’t it be great if “Made in NZ” was seen on more locally available products? Anyway, we did once do a great deal of manufacturing – before the world was as globalised as it is today. My prediction for the future is that as warfare spreads, climate change destroys massive populations and we cannot move between continents as easily – nations will move back to a more local system of production. Therefore, we need to think ahead and start developing, not only strategies, but methods of coping with this. We need to experiment with different crops that we can grown in NZ, with renewable energy, with local manufacturing etc. If international trade suddenly falls because of some global problem (perhaps climatic), we need someway in which to sustain the population. You mentioned it yourself: we are a small island nation, far from anywhere (except Aus, which could become entirely desert and therefore be of no use to us anyway as a trading partner), therefore we need to develop systems that will be ready for use in as little as 50 years. We really need to start thinking that far ahead. I.e. building and staffing factories for everything from canning food to making clothes. Sure, we have some of these, but not enough to sustain 4.2 million people (well in 50 years, maybe 5 or 6 million people) Here, perhaps, is where the necessity to improve infrastructure comes in. However, the intention of the government is not to plan for the future, it is to improve its ratings in the polls and to fulfill their election promise. Well, at least that’s what it seems like.

(Btw, please don’t give me financial advice. When I say I do not know much about the economy, I mean I don’t know the formula for GDP etc.)

Anyway, I have spent far too much time discussing this, so this will be my last post for a while. Thank you jimbo for this conversation – We certainly brought up the standard of comments on this post!
logie97 144

22 February 2009 at 10:49 pm

wait up – is this the first banana skin? Remember Ashcroft’s visit and Key having difficulty in fielding reporter questions… seems the UK are investigating Ashcroft now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7904033.stm
jimbo 145

24 February 2009 at 11:58 pm

Andrew – you are instinctively an economic conservative/libertarian, I reckon! I don’t think any of your more dramatic concerns will come to pass in our lifetimes. Trade will not collapse totally. NZ won’t have to be economically self-sufficient. The capitalist system has not irretrevieably failed and the world will go on spinning.

There is plenty to debate in the plans you support, but in most cases I think my respose would draw upon three themes (1) the “government” is highly unlikely to have the skills needed to simply start running big high budget businesses at the drop of a hat; (2) there is not an unlimited pot of money – the govt has to borrow or raise taxes OR it has to encourage private sector economic growth so that the tax base increases (I know which one I prefer); and (3) many of the policies have very negative incentive effects.

In a nutshell, having dealt at various times with MPs and other political leaders, I simply don’t have anywhere near your level of belief in the “government’s” ability to PLAN a big business or economic undertaking.

Since you’re interested in history, you’ll know that previous efforts by state governments to guarantee employment for all tend to end up with a lot of people hungry or killed. It’s an idea that sounds great but does not work!

(ps. No intention of giving you lessons in personal financial management – more trying to show how illogical it is to deal with a credit crunch (caused by people/companies borrowing and spending more than they could afford) by … borrowing and spending more. It’s not what we’re each going to do personally, so why should government do it at a macro level?)
Andrew B 146

28 February 2009 at 2:10 pm

I said I wouldn’t reply – but here we go:

Firstly, what have I suggested that would convince you to think that I have conservative economics? Most of the stuff I’ve said has been quite socialist (excluding examples I’ve used) – particularly in the last post.

I’m not proposing the government create a big business at the drop of the hat – merely it might be a good idea to start thinking ahead now. We do need to have the ability to become completely self-sustainable in the next 50 years, if not shorter. When one looks at how fast ice-shelfs in Antarctica can break because of Climate Change, it brings home how such a little change in temperature can do. Anyway, that is beside the point. The government and the next government in three years (because it WILL change!) and into the future, need to develop serious plans to become able to be self sustainable. NZ is lucky, cause we can become self sustainable, whilst other countries can’t (which is why, maybe, we need to build up a military to keep invaders out (that sounds a little immature, however, we will need to work out a maximum population that we can sustain and then keep everyone else out, just to be realistic). We have the opportunity now to create a significant labour force to create some of the infrastructure needed during this recession, so why not? Of course, it would be expensive and it isn’t exactly high priority (as people only ever think about the here and now, particularly NACT), but regardless, it needs to be done.
Andrew B 147

28 February 2009 at 2:14 pm

By the way, your attack on Stalinism and Maoism is a bit false – the majority of state employment schemes work. They certainly do in NZ – KiwiRail, NZ Post, the government, TVNZ plus all the other state run organisations/companies. You seem to have limited knowledge of communism if you would call Stalinism and Maoism communism – they have different names for a reason.

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7 hours ago
As Our Power Lessens: Published

So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

12 hours ago
By Any Other Name.

The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...

Bowalley Road

17 hours ago
Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024

The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

19 hours ago
Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

22 hours ago
2024 OIA stats

Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

2 days ago
Climate Change: A perverse incentive

The government published its first Biennial Transparency Report under the Paris Agreement yesterday, and the media has correctly noted that it is missing any plan to actually meet our target. While it hypes domestic emissions reductions so far - which have been good, but will likely get worse thanks to ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

2 days ago
Economic Bulletin December 2024

Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

2 days ago
NZCTU make submission in opposition to Treaty Principles Bill

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

2 days ago
ZB’s Power Couple

I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

2 days ago
Austerity thumps GDP most since 1991

Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

2 days ago
Weekly Roundup 20-December-2024

Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...

Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland

2 days ago
The Hoon around the year to December 20, 2024

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

2 days ago
The baby-boomers’ last gasp

The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

2 days ago
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024

Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...

Skeptical Science

2 days ago
Join us at 5pm for 2024’s last Hoon

Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

3 days ago
Christmas Gifts: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.

“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...

Bowalley Road

3 days ago
GDP Figures No Christmas Present for New Zealand

Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...

NZCTUBy Stella Whitfield

3 days ago
Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys

One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

3 days ago
MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day

Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

3 days ago
The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.

It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...

PunditBy Brian Easton

3 days ago
Back on Track

This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

3 days ago
Book Review: How Big Things Get Done

This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner Want to know how to do something big? Ask someone who has done it before! Professor Bent Flyvbjerg has spent his career studying megaprojects. In 2023, ...

Greater AucklandBy Guest Post

3 days ago
Gordon Campbell On Why We Can’t Survive Two More Years Of This

Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

3 days ago
Dragging our way towards the finish line, the end of this year can’t come soon enough for many…

Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...

exhALANtBy exhalantblog

3 days ago
Handling Democracy.

String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...

Bowalley Road

3 days ago
Open letter to the Minister of Dwindling Finances

Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

4 days ago
Open Government: The joke ends

The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

4 days ago
An unusual sort of press conference

Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

4 days ago
This substack has talked about this government’s seeming corruption & pro-corporate issues...

This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEO Our news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

4 days ago
NZCTU: Minister needs to listen to the evidence on engineered stone ban

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...

NZCTUBy Stella Whitfield

4 days ago
Wednesday 18 December

The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

4 days ago
Can the government change its mind on the ferries?

The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

4 days ago
Notes from Afar: Will Luxon Attend Waitangi Day? And Opposition Calls Out Nicola Willis for “C...

Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

4 days ago
Member’s morning

Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

4 days ago
Going Backwards

We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

4 days ago
Blaming Treasury & Labour, Willis looks for even more Austerity

Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
December-24 AT Board Meeting

Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

4 days ago
The Making of a Mental Health Rockstar

Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

4 days ago
It could have been worse

Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

4 days ago
The Deep Divisions of Local Government

The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

4 days ago
Willis’ austerity strategy just isn’t working

Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
Sabin 33 #7 – Are solar projects hurting farmers and rural communities?

On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia ...

Skeptical Science

5 days ago
Join us for a pop-up Hoon at 5pm on HYEFU

Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

5 days ago
‘Ideas Worth Saving’: A Call for Papers

Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

5 days ago
Corrections is torturing prisoners again

In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

5 days ago
HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track

New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

5 days ago
“Better economic management”

At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

5 days ago
Shameless, clueless

AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

5 days ago
Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

5 days ago
Crazy ’bout a Sharp-dressed Man

Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

5 days ago
How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...

Skeptical Science

5 days ago
8% ACT Party Creates One Ring To Rule Them All

In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour 1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

5 days ago
When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP

Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

5 days ago
Govt to double number of toll roads

On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

5 days ago
Luxon’s pre-emptive strike

The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

5 days ago
Gordon Campbell On The Coalition’s Empty Gestures, And Abortion Refusal As The New Slavery

This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

5 days ago
More public service contempt of parliament

Back in 2023 the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties raised concerns about the inherent conflict of interest involved in public service agencies supporting parliamentary select committees. Our parliament is run on a shoestring, so depends on the public service for advice. But public service agencies work for Ministers, not ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

6 days ago
If There Is A God

And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

6 days ago
A Lipstick Government

Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

6 days ago
NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings

Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

6 days ago
Why you won’t hear me advocate for electric cars

This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate. I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...

Greater AucklandBy Guest Post

6 days ago
Coalition forced to back down on tolling Pahiatua track

A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

6 days ago
Thank You

Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

6 days ago
2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50

A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...

Skeptical Science

6 days ago
Making Gravy

I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

7 days ago
Nothing here but the shadows

Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

7 days ago
The United Right: the FSU’s Continued Efforts to Undermine Academia

The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

1 week ago
Showing the Americans how to do it

Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

1 week ago
2 Men, 1 Haircut

Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

1 week ago
Chris Penk’s Hate Parade

What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

1 week ago
Tell me a story

All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
As Our Power Lessens: Accepted

2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

1 week ago
Six years of work wasted – Holidays Act reform now years away

Brooke van Velden has wasted six years of work from businesses, unions, and government by binning planned Holidays Act reforms, said Acting CTU President Rachel Mackintosh in response to today’s announcement from Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. “The Minister has cynically kicked the can on Holiday Act reform even ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

1 week ago
Come Undone?

Words, playing me deja vuLike a radio tune, I swear I've heard beforeChill, is it something real?Or the magic I'm feeding off your fingersWho do you need?Who do you love?When you come undoneSongwriters: John Taylor / Simon Le Bon / Nick Rhodes / Warren Cuccurullo.When this three-way coalition was being ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago

National’s Greatest Misses 2023-4

National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step

Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: National buries 1019 planned homes

It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab

The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...

Labour Blog

3 days ago
Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom

The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...

Greens

3 days ago
Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession

The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...

Labour Blog

3 days ago
Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis

Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
ECE no place to cut corners

The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...

Greens

4 days ago
Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders

A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects

Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects

The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...

Greens

4 days ago
Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity

The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less

The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis

With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’

Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...

Māori Party

5 days ago
Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again

For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards

The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes

All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again

The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers

The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...

Labour Blog

6 days ago
Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex

The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...

Greens

6 days ago
Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty

The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat

The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction

New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day

The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families

Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas

Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation

Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker

The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
One year on, still no progress on new ferries

Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more

After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban

The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Greyhound racing industry ban marks new era for animal welfare

After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Rangatahi voices must be centred in Government’s Relationship and Sexuality Education refresh

In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Govt introduces archaic anti-worker legislation

The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Winston Peters – Kinleith Mill Speech

Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...

NZ First Press Release

2 weeks ago
Swarbrick calls on Auckland Mayor to end delay of revival of St James Theatre

Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
He Ara Anamata: Greens launch Emissions Reduction Plan

Today, the Green Party of Aotearoa proudly unveils its new Emissions Reduction Plan–He Ara Anamata–a blueprint reimagining our collective future. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago

PM appoints business leader to APEC Business Advisory Council

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
New intelligence oversight appointments

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
New housing developments able to progress more quickly

Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Actions to speed up air travel delivering results

The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Ending contracted emergency housing in Rotorua

The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Vocational education and training decisions support return to regions

The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Reducing the environmental impact of synthetic refrigerants

The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Ngāruawāhia section of Waikato Expressway back to 4 lanes for Christmas

People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Appointments to the ENZ board

Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Government to celebrate Waitangi Day around NZ

The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
More gangs added to Gangs Act list

Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Judicial appointment announced

Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
GDP data highlights importance of growth

The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Strengthening Free Speech in Universities

Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Launch of Emergency Cellular Priority Service

Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Minister reopens Mangamuka Gorge

State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Funding confirmed for second Ashburton Bridge

The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Government boosts support for avian influenza response

The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Levelling the playing field for media advertising

Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Inspector-General of Defence appointed

Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Fire and Emergency New Zealand final levy rates confirmed

Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
More AML relief on the way for Kiwi businesses

The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Hawke’s Bay Expressway moving at pace

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Government seeks partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned-land

The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Wide ranging legislation to make justice system more efficient

Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Diverse skills in community trust appointments

A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Torture redress for survivors of the Lake Alice Unit

The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
A busy year in the House

It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Consultation opens on working with engineered stone

“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Greater reporting on Treaty settlement commitments

Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New appointments to the Charities Registration Board

Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Building consent processing times improve

More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Faster access to support through Innovation Fund

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New Zealand to assist Vanuatu on earthquake response

New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Government takes steps to reduce card fees for Kiwis

The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Review recommends ECE regulation shakeup

Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Offshore Renewable Energy Bill passes first reading

The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Local Government (Water Services) Bill passes first reading

Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Gene Technology Bill passes first reading

New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New Zealand ratifies AANZFTA Upgrade

New Zealand has ratified the Upgrade to the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), Minister for Trade Todd McClay announced today. “ASEAN which is comprised of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, is New Zealand’s fourth largest trading partner in two-way trade – ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago

Israeli-American historian describes attacks on Gaza as ‘war of annihilation’

Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

3 hours ago
NZ govt plans to make ‘heavy handed’ change to free speech rules for universities

The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

3 hours ago
Caitlin Johnstone: Where does the aggression really begin?

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...

Evening ReportBy David Robie

6 hours ago
OECD Report Highlights That More Is Needed

This report reflects that gap in our dealings overseas, and it shows that legislators, the public sector and businesses need to walk the talk. ...

Scoop politics

15 hours ago
Government quietly scraps waste minimisation policies

The government has quietly cancelled plans to improve recycling and roll out a kerbside food scraps composting scheme. ...

Radio NZ – political

15 hours ago
MEAA welcomes News MAP funding ‘leg up’ for Australian journalism

Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

16 hours ago
Transmission Gully partnership breakdown will not hurt future public-private partnerships, Infrastru...

The roads partnership unravelled under a confidential settlement this week, meaning NZTA will now finish off what it had said was incomplete work. ...

Radio NZ – political

21 hours ago
Funding cuts to charity particularly felt over Christmas period

The number of people seeking help from Lifeline is expected to increase by 10 to 20 percent over Christmas. ...

Radio NZ – political

23 hours ago
Nelson Hospital conditions ‘unbearable’ – staff

One worker says the building is decrepit and falling down around them. ...

Radio NZ – political

23 hours ago
The Secret Diary of .. Luxon at Xmas

MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...

NewsroomBy Steve Braunias

24 hours ago
Stand by for cricket’s Smash Palace

It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...

NewsroomBy Aiden McLaughlin

24 hours ago
Early-onset dementia under the microscope

Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...

NewsroomBy Shruti Sharma and Dr Brigid Ryan

24 hours ago
Keeping the pirates at bay: Should the Australian ‘Blocking Order’ case prompt a discussion in N...

Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...

NewsroomBy Tania Goatley and Oscar Zambuto

24 hours ago
‘We were as famous as Tom Cruise’: Craig Parker on 90s Shortland St fandom

As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...

The SpinoffBy My Life in TV

1 day ago
‘I prioritise the mission, not my health’: Adam McGrath’s perfect weekend playlist

The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...

The SpinoffBy Weekend playlist

1 day ago
The rescue dog bringing joy to Christchurch retirement homes

Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes. Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...

The SpinoffBy Alex Casey

1 day ago
Fiji pro-Palestine nativity scene exposes Gaza as ‘hell on earth’ at Christmas

Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

1 day ago
Vanuatu quake: ‘Our shop was flattened like a deck of cards’

By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

1 day ago
How diplomats have broken the law in NZ – and what happened next

A handful of foreign diplomats have misbehaved during their time here - and not all of them have been brought to justice. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Swim schools report sinking enrolments as downturn deepens

Being able to swim is often considered a life skill, but tough economic times are forcing many families to pull their children out of lessons. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
‘There will be deaths because of this’ – Warning over Health NZ IT cuts

A West Coast IT worker is warning patients will die as Health New Zealand aims to slash its data and digital staff. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Polytech sales possible but unlikely when Te Pūkenga disestablished – minister

In a surprise move, the sale of polytechnics will be on the table when the national institute of technology Te Pūkenga is disestablished. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
Parliament’s final sitting day an insight into party factions

On Parliament's last day of the year, there was a rare glimpse of the factions within the major parties. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
Former Labour MP, North Shore mayor Ann Hartley dies

Former Labour MP and mayor of Auckland's North Shore City Ann Hartley has died. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
The closest thing Australian cartooning had to a prophet: the sometimes celebrated, sometimes contro...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker. Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
Labour moves Speaker from the ‘nice’ to ‘naughty’ list

Last week's fights with the Speaker over the Fast Track schedule may have changed the tone in Parliament. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
Govt ends pilot programme for Māori and Pacific, sparking outrage

The Government announced the end of the programme that allowed Māori and Pacific people to acess bowel cancer screening at 50-years-old. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
Parliament fits an extra morning into final sitting day

The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
The Friday Poem: ‘Bejeweled log’ by Holly Fletcher

A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...

The SpinoffBy Holly Fletcher

2 days ago
Sunglasses don’t just look good – they’re good for you too. Here’s how to choose the right p...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
How does franchising work?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
The one episode of Shortland Street you need to watch this year

If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...

The SpinoffBy Tara Ward

2 days ago
As China expands its cyber espionage and sabotage operations, how will the Trump administration resp...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
The Unity Books bestseller chart for 2024

Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...

The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books

2 days ago
Government confirms plan to dismantle Te Pūkenga, re-establish polytechs

The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
AI can’t do your Christmas shopping just yet – but next year might be different

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Whittle, Director, Data61 Ganjalex / Shutterstock I’m a computer scientist and a bad Christmas shopper. Over the weekend, I wondered whether AI systems might be able to help me out. Could I just prompt ChatGPT to pick a personalised ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
Heading on an overseas holiday? The Australian dollar tumbled this week – but that’s not bad new...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor of Economics, Monash University Michael Leslie/Shutterstock This week, the value of the Australian dollar fell to 62 US cents, its lowest level since October 2022. The acute cause? A revelation by the United States Federal Reserve that ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
Former political figure who abused teens confirms appeal

The former political figure who sexually abused two teens in the late 1990s will challenge his case in the Court of Appeal next year. ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago
The real NZ Wrapped: Analysing the 2024 NZ Music charts

A couple of weeks after Spotify Wrapped comes a much more comprehensive survey of New Zealand’s listening. Duncan Greive casts an eye over the official 2024 end of year music charts. Streaming has changed music listening, and what we know about it, forever. Where once our charts were sales driven, ...

The SpinoffBy Duncan Greive

2 days ago
End of Clean Car discount, road user charges see EV sales decline

Subsidies are gone, road user charges are in, and ACC levies are up. So do electric cars still make financial sense? ...

Radio NZ – political

2 days ago

Thankfully, the election isn’t tomorrow

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