TV3 – The Hui – Special report on poverty

Written By: - Date published: 11:13 am, May 15th, 2016 - 43 comments
Categories: benefits, class war, poverty, tv, welfare - Tags: , , , ,

Sunday 9:30 an on TV3, Mihingarangi Forbes fronts an excellent current affairs show, The Hui. This morning was a special report on poverty. From the Facebook page:

Coming up on ‪#‎TheHui‬..
Doing it tough..

We come face to face with some of Aotearoa’s most desperately in need, forced to rely on welfare and not getting the help they’re entitled to.

We look at why are so many are being locked out of the gates of our rock star economy.

A special 2 part report on poverty..

9:25am Sunday’s on TV3.

We’ve missed it live but it will appear at The Hui archive for streaming.

For a while now I’ve been asking a quick question – what happens to people forced out the benefit? Some of them are telling their story on Twitter #TheHui.

43 comments on “TV3 – The Hui – Special report on poverty ”

  1. save nz 1

    There is something wrong when the government is more interested in protecting cronies in offshore tax havens than actually caring for people living in cars or being forced out of their communities by an insane policies and low and insecure wages…

    • mauÄ« 1.1

      It’s an effective ponzi scheme. The people at the bottom aren’t ever going to get anywhere near the top. The people running the scheme ignore that the bottom dwellers continually fight it out (gangs, violence, crime, suicide) and the thing rolls on.

      • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1

        The people running the scheme realise that it’s better that the poor people fight each other rather than fight them.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.2

      Yes, the government is corrupt.

    • johnm 2.1

      It’s disgusting this dehumanising treatment of beneficiaries reducing them to destitution. These are our fellow New Zealanders for God’s sake! We’re making them into home grown Syrian Refugees on our streets begging! 🙁 Meanwhile Shonkey keeps giving tax cuts to those who already have more than enough.

      When people have lost everything and have nothing else to lose they lose it!

      Re the shootings down south in a WINZ office. Most though would just suicide it’s easier. What if you need money for medication and seeing a doctor? You, just die!?

      Shame on this heartless tyranny.

  2. The Chairman 3

    Here’s the Noam Chomsky film that was mentioned.

    https://youtu.be/mmpWtjVUtRs

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1

      +1

      Must watch. Chomsky details what I said to Wayne that the rich tried to prevent democracy in the US and still try to prevent it today.

      You cannot have democracy in a capitalist society.

      • Ch-ch Chiquita 3.1.1

        I’m not sure that what Chomsky is saying is you can not have a democracy in a capitalist society, mainly because he claims we do not actually have a capitalist society.

    • Bill 3.2

      Thankyou for putting up the link. Precise. Informative…and not visually tedious 😉

  3. jcuknz 4

    After supporting the Nats in two elections the stopping of a neighbour’s benefit is what makes it highly unlikely there will be a third time.
    I can see some argument for it if the person is anti-social et al… but just for being pretty clueless … no way … However annoying for their case manager.

  4. Jack Ramaka 5

    The Auckland Housing Market is effectively a Ponzi Scheme driven by offshore money being fed into the marketplace via an Investment Category Immigration Scheme, whereby offshore citizens can gain residency by floating $$$’s into the Auckland Housing Market.

    There are virtually guaranteed capital gains as there is a limited supply of housing stock and ever increasing demand from offshore investors for houses.

    Also NZ is seen as a safe haven for parking $$$’s.

    • jcuknz 5.1

      “Also NZ is seen as a safe haven for parking $$$’s.”
      Until the bubble bursts ? Then the miss-management will arrive to bite all of us.

      • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1

        And then the government will bail out the rich with money from the poor.

    • Keith 5.2

      By an investment house, claim a tax rebate on a percentage of the interest paid, claim on “depreciation” or loss and the coup d etat, score the housing suppliment from your tenant. At least 3 ways of paying less tax whilst bludging off the taxpayer, distorting the housing market and denying those who want to buy a house to live in the ability to do so, much less an affordable one. National not only love it, they encourage it!

      Who is a beneficiary again and are they going to crack down on these parasites?

  5. adam 6

    Thank goodness that the wonderful Mihingarangi Forbes hosts this.

    The problem is this is just to uncommon, actually let me rephrase that to rear – that we speak about the hell that the bottom rug of labour have to deal with. And that the bottom rung of labour is disproportionately made up of Maori and Pacific.

    The divide between working and non-working poor is almost non-existent. Again with Maori and Pacific being disproportionately working poor.

    If the standard is a reflection of society, and I think it is much of the time. Then we are poor in recognising, that the poor, working or other wise, are labour.

    That labour, people who now essentially wages slaves in one form or another – are in this country, going backwards.

    • weka 6.1

      Sorry do you mean Labour the political party? Didn’t quite follow that.

      • Bill 6.1.1

        I believe he’s referring to labour as working class people or/and the precariat.

  6. Richardrawshark 7

    I had my invalids benefit under the new rules, but they had sewn the seeds of doubt and I went and got a job at an engineering company.
    \
    Because it was full time I quickly ran out of sick days, ended up getting paid 2-3 days sometimes. went two weeks no pay once. Never got paid at xmas, apparently bosses don’t have to pay you, the bank does and if it’;s a bank holiday well, tough.

    Got told to work through my smoko’s about 30 times and when I asked for remuneration for loss of my break he told me he already pays me for smoko and to basically fuck off.

    I ended up spinning out over a bird in the loft grabbing a fellow work mate and telling him if he didn’t stop trying to kill the bird I would kill him, I meant it literally and at that moment had lost reality I am bi-polar and wasn’t taking medication as I could not and work at same time. I realized after why i can’t work, at all, but had never experienced lossd of reality and impulsive reaction before, I will not be returning to work as I am now aware of what the issues really are with my illness.

    I am back on stable meds and stable, but working and bi-polar, is not going to happen for safety reasons.

    So I went to winz, dec 15, it’s May now I had to see a psychologist in Hams and they lady said since you went back to work you can work. LOL

    I have had to go into details with them of the issues which are many and far more than I wrote above. Still waiting an answer.

    Slow, refuse to listen, think they know you better, a nurse,(told she wasn’t a nurse by the tokoroa winz manager I know really well) that I was fit to work.. a nurse..not a nurse.

    WTF?

    • Rosemary McDonald 7.1

      That’s a terrible thing to have had to endure.

      You may have read about this….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11457938

      …with the pilot scheme aimed at getting those with mental health issues back to work. It all sounds oh so happy clappy…with the person going to their GP, expresses a desire to work and there is a facillitator right there at the doctors surgery ready and waiting to guide the person into supported employment.

      It is quite likely to be trialed in the Waikato, through the Wise Group….http://www.wisegroup.co.nz/

      This is not something I would EVER advise people to have any faith in.

      On the other hand, there is this….The Revision of the NZ Disability Strategy….mental health comes under this…

      http://www.odi.govt.nz/nzds/2016-revision/index.html

      They are calling for submissions….probably a waste of time…but…you might want to give it a go.

      Mt partner, who has lived with a significant disability for most of his life, says that he has never felt so worthless and undervalued as he does now. Forty six years ago…things were tough, but folk gave you a go. Over the past 20 years….there is more being spent by the government to “providers” of disability supports and way less confidence in the supports offered.
      He is working on his submission as I type.

      Kia kaha.

    • Nikki T. 7.2

      Hi Richard,

      I’m in Tokoroa too on the Job Seekers. I’m schizophrenic but I’m not in the mental health community. I usually just go to the doctor for medications. I used to live in Auckland and saw a great doctor there. I was able to talk to her and at that time I used to be on the medical certificate. I lost my job in 2007 and have been on the benefit since.

      Ever since coming to Tokoroa two years ago I have had a myriad of doctors and they never get to know you. One doctor asked if I was looking for work. I’ve always hoped to get back to work but with my illness and lack of skills I can only do so much. I said yes. He immediately took me off the medical certificate. At that time, I was made available for full time work and not the 15 hours I was used to. I went away quite uneasy and I should have spoken up.

      Next minute WINZ required me to go to meetings. And have cut me off when I was ill. In the last two years I have been under pressure personally and I have had a lot of stress. I ‘talked’ about suicide (not an intention to do it but I was so damn low) with my friend (who was a darling) but I was concerned how low I was getting.

      Trouble with mental health is that you get put away if you talk to a counselor. Therefore I don’t want to be locked into this situation. It’s ok the feeling has gone but I don’t like what happened to me. When I’m ill, I hear voices and I get confused as to where I am. I literally get lost. I’m planning to go back to my doctor to get on the medical certificate. What I would like is Supported Living but they have made it so impossible. With a history of never going to the doctor for help (whinging) it doesn’t look like I can get on. But as it stands, I finally understand and accept I will never be normal and will just about need this assistance to live.

      I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. But yes, I’m going to get the help soon. Living on such a low income would be easier if I didn’t have the pressure of attending interviews. If there were jobs in Tokoroa I’d probably have applied.

      • Richardrawshark 7.2.1

        Nikki I can certainly relate, I have for years been swapped Dr’s and never found the right medications, I don’t think you ever do now, all you can hope for is one that keeps you stable with the least annoying side effects.

        I too was offered counceling there is not a lot more mental health could do, i’;m not doing counceling cannot afford it.

        As for Winz, they new me well and know of the reasons I will not be returning to work. I tried and I gave it a bloody good honest try. Lack of sleep, unable to take criticism led me to massive reactions and suicidal thought, impulsiveness was dangerous especially with rotating lathes, Missing meds because of rushing off to work. Sick periods and running out of sick days left me nearly penniless and losing my house. That I fixate upon things , I say strange things that offend people and caused friction. All those things I didn’t know and more, they never mentioned the issues I might face, just work will make me better..ahh no it didn’t I have been more stable off work than on, I was fully more suicidal and more often down cyclked whilst working due to increased pressures and more negative critisim.

        Those were the realities I faced.

        Now I am trying to explain this to winz.. wish me luck i’ll need it.

        My suggestion is to try and see Hilary Wilson at the medicentre she’s good and replaced Wiles, she’s much better and working weith us instead of brushing people off.

        I had a heart to heart with lisa and she got me sorted at winz. I just told the truth and the issues I had, at Tokoroa they were actually good about it. It’s this visiting lady and Hamiltons board that make the decisions and they are not well. Not well at all.

      • Bill 7.2.2

        Your doctor should have issued the medical certificate even though you were looking for or undertaking some type of preparation for work…WINZ would have sought a renewal after three months. (Maybe it’s one month initially and then every three months) That’s the whole point behind the … damn, I can’t keep up with the bloody name changes…sickness benefit (someone will have to provide the current name). Invalids benefit (again, that’s the old name) means you neither have to look for or prepare for work.

        And for anyone reading this, I think I just made a point I wasn’t setting out to make. The system has to be approached by ridiculously convoluted routes and the signposts along the way are as confusing as hell. Once you’re ‘in’ and doing it ‘by the numbers’, is easier. But finding the door in the first place and supplying the right password or set of passwords…it’s an arse even if you’re ‘on to it’, articulate and assertive. And if, for any number of reasons, you’re a wee bit vulnerable or uncertain, well…

        • weka 7.2.2.1

          Jobseeker, with medical exemption? is the new SB.

          Supported Living Payment is the new IB.

          • Bill 7.2.2.1.1

            Thanks.

            So there is only ‘jobseeker’ and ‘supported living payment’, but ‘jobseekers’ are split into two categories – those with a medical exemption and those without one.

            Just finished watching the Hui episode (after watching the rather excellent Chomsky film linked above) . Wish there’d been more of a systemic investigation going on rather than just a series of multiple ‘human interest’ stories. The idea that knowledge of the WINZ system and simply asking for help will go anywhere is wrong. The idea that a couple of extra bucks a week will make everything okay is wrong. The notion that most people will find work and stay in work and be reasonably secure as a result is also wrong.

            New Zealand needs to get honest with what has been going on these past 30 years and re-orientate its priorities – hugely.

            • Rosemary McDonald 7.2.2.1.1.1

              “Wish there’d been more of a systemic investigation going on rather than just a series of multiple ‘human interest’ stories. ”

              Funny you should say that Bill. Just the other day a friend (who also daily battles within the disability arena) was saying that the only way to get it through to the voting public about how shit it has become for so many individuals, is to find a forum in which those individual stories can be told.

              The day before, at a disability meeting, my disabled partner and my voices where silenced when we tried to do just that…tell our story as an example of how current policies are failing those with high and very high needs. In that environment, with other disabled people, one would think it would have been safe for us. No, we were told that they were looking for ‘big sky’ ideas….not detailed examples of system failures.

              Then we realised that the majority of those in the room were in the pay of the government to provide some form of disability support or ‘advocacy’. Government $$$ buy the narrative.

              One of those “human interest stories”, the mother unable to work because of her commitment to her son with Down Syndrome typifies how compromised the system is…how dangerous.

              The ‘story’ said how she had not been paid the Child Disability Allowance, and I imagine this had continued not to be paid to the son when he turned 18. Up $40 bucks per week….

              Just last year…it was reported that some 11,000…that’s eleven thousand parents of sick and disabled children had lost their CDA.

              http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?
              c_id=1&objectid=11419782

              “More than 11,000 disabled children have lost access to a welfare benefit that is supposed to support them, as officials try to rein in previously-ballooning costs.

              A Child Poverty Action Group report on disabled children, launched in Auckland today, said children supported by the child disability allowance almost trebled from 17,600 in 1998 to 45,800 in 2009, but were then cut back to just 34,500 last June.

              The cut has been achieved both by tightening criteria and by simply not publicising the allowance.

              Zach’s asthma has got better as he has got older. In his early years he often had to go to hospital, but last year he went only once.

              But he still needs two puffs a day on Ventolin, which costs $18 a month, and two adult doses of asthma preventer Serevent, at $5 a month.

              In winter, he gets wheezy two or three times a month. He then needs to take steroid medication Redipred, at $10 a month, and a daily tablet, Singulair, costing $96 a month.
              “He’s supposed to take Singulair every day but I don’t give it to him every day because I can’t afford it,” Ms Reid said.

              Doctor’s visits cost another $10 a visit about three times a month in winter.

              Ms Reid said the steroids Zach takes when he is wheezy makes him “hyper” and she is afraid to send him to school on those days after she found him with blood all over his face when he ran into a wall.

              “He takes probably a good 10 weeks off school a year,” she said.

              For that reason Ms Reid can’t get a job and survives on a sole parent benefit. She also receives a $60 a week disability allowance for her own asthma, which covers medical, heating and lawnmowing costs.”

              The mistake Zach’s mum made was to be a New Zealander…a country with one of the highest incidents of asthma in the developed world.

              • Bill

                Just to be clear Rosemary, I’ve no interest in silencing people. Hell, I’ve even used this forum to highlight my own WINZ situation in the past. More than once actually.

                But I’d rather see documentary or current affairs programmes tell those stories against a backdrop of rigorous, no holds barred breakdowns of the larger policy framework – the politics – that unfortunately, or for the most part, just seem to float on by quietly and unseen in the shadows.

                • Rosemary McDonald

                  My ‘tell the stories’ friend is, like many of us, rather desperate to see a change of government.

                  Was in a state of desperation before the last election.

                  Stunned, when so many were doing it tough, that National won.

                  How many know National voters who would not have voted National again had they only known how badly some people have been treated. So many hide the fact that times are hard….shame is a powerful silencer.

                  “Hui” could have dispensed with the panel session at the end and put up some solid graphics showing policies and legislation that have brought us to this.

                  All in all though an excellent program.

                  • weka

                    I was thinking about the need for a forum too, and then I thought about how many ill and disabled people aren’t safe to speak out. I’m not sure how many people realise just how far down that track we are.

                • Rosemary McDonald

                  “But I’d rather see documentary or current affairs programmes tell those stories against a backdrop of rigorous, no holds barred breakdowns of the larger policy framework – the politics – that unfortunately, or for the most part, just seem to float on by quietly and unseen in the shadows.”

                  Remember this guy….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10768107

                  “Investigative journalist Bryan Bruce fronted the hour-long insight, and focused on how child health had deteriorated over the last century. He painted a picture of hungry kids, mouldy damp rooms in slum-worthy houses, and rising medical and electricity bills.

                  The documentary claimed 150 children who died in New Zealand last year would have lived had they been born in Japan, Sweden or the Czech Republic.”

                  One of a number of docos that not only told the stories, but how we did in the past, how other countries manage to do it better and how we could do it better….y’all remember the shitstorm?

            • weka 7.2.2.1.1.2

              Thanks for the synopsis, I don’t think I can bring myself to watch it. Does Tolley say that they have no idea what happens to people that get kicked off a benefit?

  7. Sabine 8

    just came a accros this

    http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/05/12/poor-people-deserve-to-taste-something-other-than-shame/

    quote:Kids!” she announced excitedly, “I’ve got a treat for you!”

    My brother and I gathered around the table as she produced a cake from the grocery bag. “Ever have a Boston cream pie?” she asked.

    I was furious with her.

    By 6th grade I had already figured out that we were poor and that it was a moral failure on our part. We were defective, and therefore unable to afford the things that normal families could afford. My friends had snack cabinets full of treats that they could just reach into whenever they felt like it. We had no phone, often no electricity, and if there was a package of ramen in our cupboard, it was a very good day. I wasn’t quite sure why, but I knew that this was all my mom’s fault. She had married the wrong man, she had gotten the wrong job, she hadn’t saved enough or scraped enough or worked hard enough. But we had no food in our fridge and I was pretty sure this Boston cream pie was why.

    …………………………………………………………………….

    I didn’t want any part of it. I didn’t want my mom to enjoy any part of our poor existence. I wanted her to be ashamed and sorry.

    I didn’t understand that my mom already was ashamed and sorry. I didn’t know that she walked around ashamed and sorry every day. I didn’t see that she stood in food bank and church lines ashamed and sorry. I didn’t see that she went to holiday collection services ashamed and sorry. I didn’t see that she took us to our free dental appointments ashamed and sorry. I didn’t see that every time she passed over those food stamps to try to feed us she was ashamed and sorry. I didn’t realize that every message that had surrounded me and told me that we were poor because my mom was a bad mom who couldn’t take care of us had not only surrounded my mom, but had filled her lungs and rested in her heart. I understood only what the pundits had wanted me to see—that she was a poor woman who was squandering what she already didn’t deserve. ” Quote end.

    as for the poor in NZ that don’t get help from Winz, they move in with their families, their friends, into a garage, a shack under a bridge. They beg, they steal, they try to live of cashies, they sell themselves, anything to make a buck and make it another day.

    NZ does not care.

  8. slumbergod 9

    I’ve had enough of life at the bottom. It is just too hard dealing with WINZ; they do everything they can to deny you entitlements and threaten you with fraud. It just isn’t worth it. You ask for help and they just refuse to help you so its like waiting for things to get increasingly worse as each new set of welfare reforms is shunted through.

    That Labour and NZ First supported the lastest welfare reforms absolutely DISGUSTS me. They are are such hypocrites. I expect BS from the Natzis but from Labour too 🙁

    • Richardrawshark 9.1

      If your having trouble with Winz getting things you have a right to, seek a Winz advisor to assist your claim. You will get it straight away if you need it, they work well keeping the winz service agents following the letter of law and not denying things based on attitudes.

    • Jenny Kirk 9.2

      These are dreadful stories, and absolutely awful for the people targetted by WINZ. But don’t blame Labour and NZFirst Slumbergod – they didn’t support the Natzi’ social welfare reforms – not at all.

      • weka 9.2.1

        They do and they don’t. They have voted for some of the legislation. And everytime National bash benes and Labour doesn’t stand up for them, it’s another affirmation that bludger culture rules and that beneficiaries are third class citizens. There are those of us who also believe that Shearer’s painter on the roof story was unforgivable. Until Labour make some kind of ammends for that, it’s hard not to see them as part of the problem.

        When the time comes I don’t feel confident that Labour will do right by beneficiaries. That unfortunately is based on experience.

  9. weka 10

    Listening to the stories of people here and on twitter (and having heard many in my own life), this is why we should be working for the wellbeing of all people. I understand the big push to address child poverty, but I also think that underlying that is the abandonment of beneficiaries. The left and the people of conscience deciding to go for the gains they can get for one group that necessitates the sacrifice of others, because at least some gains can be made that way.

    That Labour have abandoned beneficiaries is clear*. The best I have heard is that Little, when prompted, will state that Labour work for all NZers. So at least he is aware of the issue and still has some conscience. But in action Labour are actively following the path that says don’t mention the welfare. And that is hurting people. Real, live people.

    I’m not sure where the Greens are on this. Their focus on child poverty is understanablde and still problematic. They have at least voted against National’s welfare reforms. But still there is very little voice from them in standing up for what is now an intentionally created sub class of NZers.

    This happened on our watch. The thing that really gets me listening to the stories above is that we knew that people with mental health issues were already at risk. We knew that in the 90s, when the health reforms were happening. It’s hard for me not to see us as having thrown those people under the bus. I’m talking about the left here.

    • Rosemary McDonald 10.1

      “It’s hard for me not to see us as having thrown those people under the bus. I’m talking about the left here.”

      Finally.

      An acknowledgement that Labour could have done better.

      Much, much better.

      For some of us, its as if Labour paved the way.

      • weka 10.1.1

        Is that ‘finally’ aimed at me? If so, please have a look at my many years on TS of criticising Labour over benefit issues (and many other issues).

        (sorry if it’s not aimed at me, still cautious after all the Labour bashing for the sake of it stuff).

        btw, that last sentence of mine wasn’t about Labour. It was about the left in general, including here on ts. You and I know what’s been happening to people with disabilities all this time. It doesn’t get much attention in the cut and thrust world of macho politics.

  10. weka 11

    As an aside to that, for the lefties who think that data sharing is a good thing because it will provide better health care, I want you to go and reread the stories above and think about the serious breaches of humans rights that are already happening. That people can have their income removed completely by the stroke of a pen from a prejudicial doctor (god knows why people think that doctors are better humans than the rest of society. There are just as many neoliberals within medicine as without). At the moment it still takes effort for the system to do that.

    If Bill English gets his super data system, it will be very very easy for the system to pull out whatever data it wants and use that to punish people or simply just push them away. In the UK, mass data is now being shared with non-govt organisations, and this is starting to happen in NZ. English wants to include NGOs. The upshot of all that is that people like the beneficiaries in this thread and on twitter will have yet another level of disempowerment laid upon them. Some will be able to fight back to protect themselves, most won’t. Please bear in mind that ones posting on the internet are the ones still doing relatively well despite the sometimes huge harm they are describing. We need to remember the ones who have no voice at all as well.

  11. Rosemary McDonald 12

    Someone really, really needs to superglue his arse to a chair and make him watch this “Hui” program.

    Seriously.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/80013933/prime-minister-john-key-says-homeless-families-should-contact-work-and-income

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    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    13 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
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