When the wolf cries boy

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 pm, December 6th, 2013 - 128 comments
Categories: blogs, news, spin - Tags: , ,

Matthew Blomfield, the defamation plaintiff against Cameron Slater who has been exciting the journalistic and blogging communities this week asked to make a statement to clear up some issues that have arisen in the blog space.

There was a lot of stupidity and outright bullshit (like allegations that Mr Blomfield was an undischarged bankrupt) in the comments in an earlier post that put this site at a legal risk (including comments from Cameron Slater). So I agreed to do it only if the post was fully moderated. Rational discussion without unsupported assertions of fact will be let through where they do not impede the case currently in front of the courts.

Mr Blomfield’s statement is as follows..

In 2010 I was adjudged bankrupt on personal guarantees of $3.5 million. I don’t have a lot of excuses. I had too many interrelated companies. We made some poor business decisions. We simply ran out of cash and the whole house of cards crumbled taking me with it. Very humbling, very embarrassing. I have since been discharged from bankruptcy without objection and am slowly rebuilding my commercial life in a far more considered manner.

In the midst of all of my troubles, there was in 2010, a burglary at the office I shared with a business associate. I believed my hard drive was taken, by who I don’t know. The statement I gave to the police says

What was originally taken and what ended up in the storage container [a shipping container owned by my associate] I will never know. I can categorically say that a whole lot of boxes with my files and my stuff went missing and my mountain bike and other stuff went missing when the burglary happened.

A number of reasons have been offered up for why Slater has the drive. I’m not sure what is true, but the discovery I seek will answer that question. The fact remains, it was stolen, by friend or foe, and the information was accessed illegally. The law is very clear on that (storage and stored data are defined as a computer system). It doesn’t matter how Slater got it. My associate later left the company I was working for in the face of a very significant dispute with the other main shareholders, of whom I was not one. I certainly believed that I had been let down by him and said so. It was the end of a very close friendship as well.

I adjusted to my new circumstances in a rented small home that my father in-law purchased out west and concentrated on my wife and family whom I love dearly. I had never been a public figure and by May 2012, I was all but invisible. I had barely heard of the Whaleoil Blog, did not read it, and certainly had had no dealings with Mr Slater whatsoever.

It was therefore a considerable shock to me to be directed to his blog site and to see the contents of my hard dive published therein. If Mr Slater had stuck to saying what he has in the last few days (with some exceptions), namely that I was a (now former) bankrupt and banned company director (I am now allowed to act as a director of the company I work for BTW) who took $3.5 m of other people’s (all institutions, no individuals) money with him when I went down, I could hardly complain.

Instead, he wrote a series of articles and published attendant comments which accused me of a series of crimes and then made disgusting and denigrating claims against my wife. As recently as Thursday this week she received anonymous text messages stating “Headhunters are waiting”. While the stories were running it was commonplace for her to receive updates of what atrocities were in store for her (all the detail is before the court and Slater knows it). His supporters then amused themselves with online hate speech. He mocked my attempts to reason with him. That is when I decided to sue him. I had no money and legal aid would hardly be appropriate even if it were available so I did it myself. He responded with a high profile law firm. Was I angry? He wasn’t just attacking me!

After a slow start, I have been improving as a lay litigant. The offending material has all but been removed from the internet. I have also been helped by the fact that, at Mr Slater’s behest, every investigative body in the land has had a look at the information on the hard drive he acquired, and nothing has come of it. I even went through a Judicial Review with Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to get my hard drive back after an intensive investigation by the Official Assignee, provoked by Mr Slater, of all of the files on it. The defamation case moves slowly towards trial and Mr Slater claims truth and honest opinion as defences.

In Slater’s attempts to prove wrongdoing after the fact, to date, the Official Assignee has recorded $111,953.02 (taxpayer funds) for cost and disbursements in administering my estate. That is just one of many of the government offices that received complaints during Slater’s tirade. And to the best of my knowledge they haven’t had any of my creditors contact them (only Slater and his cohorts’).

For the past year I have been trying to get discovery from Mr Slater. I served a notice and he ignored it. I obtained a Court Order in September 2013 and he ignored that. In November 2013, I went back to Court and asked that he be jailed in contempt. He then said he will apply to the High Court to appeal the September 2013 Order and the District Court has given him time to do so. The part he wants to appeal is where the learned Judge said, not only must he provide discovery, he must provide all discovery including emails from my above-mentioned former associate and his cohorts.

A lot happened on that day. Judge Blackie looked into discovery in detail, reviewed vast amounts of evidence, and then reserved his decision. It was an interlocutory hearing, one of many you have on the way to the main event. What is clear is that his honour and the Court know a lot more about what went on than is currently out there. All will be revelled in good time.

This is not about bloggers – it’s about Slater. I’m all for freedom of speech. Like most of us, I just think public statement s should be true – pretty simple in my mind.

I told the Court that I believe Mr Slater published this material at the behest of a third party and that, directly or indirectly, he received a benefit from doing so. If he is just a crank being a crank, that is one thing, but if he is a gun for hire masquerading as a commentator, that is a different ball game. The damages will increase substantially.

In an attempt to avoid having to hand over this information, Mr Slater claimed that he is a journalist. The Judge, without any real prompting from me, decided that he is not. I agree. Journalism is a profession. It has standards and he has none.

Whilst I well understand the commentators who say that, because his blog apes a news medium, he should be given his own tea set, the High Court can assess the application of the privilege afforded by the Evidence Act in this case.

The protection of journalists’ sources is a “public interest” privilege. It is hard to argue for a public interest privilege in the absence of any public interest. There was no public interest in my hard drive. If I am right about who gave it to him, Mr Slater has, for whatever reason, allowed himself to be a megaphone for one source individual who wishes to inflict considerable damage on another individual and his family from behind a cloak of anonymity. In this instance, there is no public interest in allowing that source to remain in hiding.

I believe Mr Slater himself has a great deal to hide with respect to my hard drive. That is why, as Martyn Bradbury so pertinently observed, we have the wolf crying boy. A person who has previously eschewed the mainstream media and made so much of his swashbuckling outsider status now begs the protection afforded to the establishment. Rather than point to any aspect of the public interest that arises in this case, Mr Slater hopes that he can acquire the mantle of a journalist and get blanket protection. He points to his recent achievements to qualify.

Mr Slater highlights the substantial increase in page views arising from the swell of readers driven by a prurient desire to absorb the masturbatory and ejaculatory details of the Auckland Mayor and his mistress (understanding that this is irrelevant to my matter before the court as it’s almost two years after the fact). Self censorship has never been an effective tool and that’s why we have others to do it for us. Acting in a totally unregulated environment, Mr Slater committed a gross breach of privacy of the sort that garnered Max Moseley significant damages. Whatever the newsworthiness of the affair itself, the Mayor could have expected that sort of sheet sniffing perversion would never see the light of day.

Mr Slater also exhibits delusions of grandeur by touting his webpage as a groundbreaking news organisation. That is patently incorrect. He did not “break” the Len Brown story. Luigi Wewege used him to disseminate it. Luigi could have taken the story the New Zealand Herald which I understand has confirmed that it would have at least printed the fact of the affair. He chose Mr Slater. Why? Because Mr Slater and Stephen Cook will go lower than anyone else. Why? Well from their own words: Cook aspires to that kind of material. Mr Slater? He just likes to see things burn.

When Mr Slater demonstrably acts in the public interest, then that is when he should be afforded the public interest privilege that he desires.

Matthew John Blomfield

128 comments on “When the wolf cries boy ”

  1. mickysavage 1

    Cheers Matt.

    Can I wish you the best of luck with your case.

    I posted on one particular aspect of the judgment, that Slater’s website was not a “news medium” because I was worried at the precedent value of such a finding. I did have to have a shower afterwards! Supporting particular freedoms means that you have to support your enemies also having those freedoms!

    I left open the question of whether Slater was a journalist. This is the second limb of the test for people wanting to protect the identity of sources. For confidentiality of a source to be respected not only would his site have to be classified as a news medium but he would also have to be a journalist. And this is where Slater’s cuteness with his income and the funding of stories could hurt. If he is not being paid then he is a hobbyist not a journalist and if he is getting paid then he is probably a lobbyist and not a journalist.

    His claim could of course have been met with an application that the informant’s identity be disclosed and I am sure that this would be met sympathetically although it involves an application to the High Court and that is of itself a considerable hurdle.

    You may have seen the tweet today where Cameron with all the style that he can muster said about his former lawyer Jordan Williams that he “loses to former bankrupts who are litigants in person”. I am sure that Jordan will now seek payment of his fee with gusto.

  2. Te Reo Putake 2

    Wow! That’s nicely laid out, Matthew. All power to you.

  3. One Anonymous Knucklehead 3

    Slater’s problems are genetic in origin. National Party DNA.

  4. weka 4

    I’m not familiar with the original case, and google is not proving much use (no way am I going to WO). Can someone please explain what WO published and why?

  5. ghostrider888 5

    all very interesting.

  6. Pau; 6

    Slater has your HD without your permission, that is under any law in the country possession of stolen goods. He has published private information (not in a for-the-greater-good WikiLeaks manner) that he has no right to?

    How is this offensive oik not in Jail?

  7. Ianmac 7

    As an absolute layman I find the argument compelling. According to respected columnists such as Edgler, Brown, Geddis etc the issue hangs on the definition of journalist and the protection afforded journalism. It seems that from Matthew’s point of view as a court concern, the issue is much wider than that. It will have significant outcomes for all of us. So let justice prevail. Good luck Matthew.

  8. fender 8

    Unusual for a burglar to take files, unless that was their target.

  9. T Wilson 9

    Matthew, given how many lives you have ruined and people you have stuffed over in Auckland, i call it just desserts.

    Tom.

    btw, I don’t know Mr Slater, nor do I like his work. In this case though at least he’s attacking someone that deserves it.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.1

      When you invest with money you’re taking a risk. The risk is that you’re not going to get it back. The people doing the investing understood that at the time and if they didn’t then shouldn’t have been investing. To late now to blame the person they were investing with.

    • bad12 9.2

      T Wilson, your comment is wrong on numerous levels, as Draco points out to you, IF you are an investor who lost money through your dealings that’s whats called RISK even us lot here at the Standard who despise the capitalist system understand such RISK and we have little sympathy for those who ‘play’ such games who then lose and go on to ‘whine’ about it,

      Matthew Bloomfield is not a ‘public figure’ and thus deserves all the protection of the law that those of us who are not public figures deserve and i say that having read and laughed at Bloomfield’s mea culpa over His business dealings,

      To say that Blubber boy and ‘wail oil’ is not a journalists arse-wipe i think is grammatically incorrect in that while the first part of such a conjecture is obviously in its entirety incorrect i believe that we could find a broad consensus on the latter part of such conjecture,

      Which simply leaves me with the impression that if that Arse-wipe gets His slimy self heavily spanked by the Courts over this matter it will simply be well deserved…

      • @ Bad12 – I concur.

        @ T Wilson – Hmmmm… Can we ask what your interest is in this case?

        @ Matthew – you’ve put your case very well, and going by the information you’ve shared with us, it seems that you are indeed the victim of a nasty little vendetta.

        One thing that Slater may (or may not realise) is that whilst “honestly held opinion” can be a defence in defamation – malicious use of such is not.

        “The judge referred to this latter condition as “the objective criterion”, noting that even if the objective criterion is satisfied, the defence of honest comment can be defeated if the claimant establishes that the defendant was actuated by express malice (i.e. that the defendant did not honestly believe in the truth of what she had said).” – http://inforrm.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/case-law-thornton-v-telegraph-media-group-no-defence-of-%E2%80%98honest-comment%E2%80%99-in-malicious-falsehood-sara-mansoori/

        I trust Slater’s lawyers have mentioned that to him.

        As I wrote on The Daily Blog,

        We keep hearing about “rights”. The right to free speech. The right to free media. The right to do this, that, or the other.

        Nowhere do I hear about the other side of the Rights coin; responsibilities. (Which right wingers are supposedly very Big on. They certainly keep demanding it from the rest of us.)

        The media has certain responsibilities when it carries out its work. When will bloggers like Slater be responsible in his actions? Because as far as I can see, publishing details that identify the victims of sexual abuse is hardly an exercise in journalistic responsibility.

        When Slater shows himself to be responsible, and not just a glorified hate-merchant of sleaze, then I’ll look at his “rights”. Until then, he is subject to the same defamation laws each and every one of us is also subject to.

        • T Wilson 9.2.1.1

          Blomfield doesn’t take risks, he lies and defrauds people. Then when he falls out with people he runs to the media will bs to soil your reputation.

    • greywarbler 9.3

      T Wilson
      How many private individuals losing money has the collapse of this man’s business resulted in? Can you be specific. It’s not enough to condemn someone who has been called to account in the legal way, because we have heard of so many who have created mighty frauds.

      It is the nature of businesses to sometimes fail or lose money. Each failure is not a fraud. Matthew talks about being bankrupted on personal guarantees of $3.5 million. Others have taken many investors for millions each.

  10. Marty 10

    Before we all run off and order a hall to have a party at Slater’s expense, can we have some questions answered here?

    Like: where the hell do the Headhunters threatening Blomfield’s wife come into a story about defamation case between Blomfield and Slater?

    Where is the connection here?

    What is the inference?

    Has Slater ordered a hit on his wife?

    Why are the Headhunters part of this all of a sudden?

    • mickysavage 10.1

      Well if it happened then someone needs to explain why …

    • Murray Olsen 10.2

      My experience suggest to me that if the Headhunters were involved, they wouldn’t be sending threatening texts. I’d guess they’re not, and that any texts would have come from one of the idiots around the sewer that is the WhaleSpew blog. If I’m right, and it becomes common knowledge who is using the Headhunters’ name, court action is likely to be the least of that person’s worries.

  11. John Drinnan 11

    Smart decision going with The Standard. – puts campaign for legal protection in different light – argument more complex than some depicted. Good example why Blogland needs a regulatory body

    • Colonial Viper 11.1

      Prose, not tacked together discombobulated sentences, would be helpful.

      • John Drinnan 11.1.1

        I am terribly sorry. I reverted to the constraints of twitter,

      • Dumrse 11.1.2

        Interesting, when was the last time you told Phillip Ure that?

        • lprent 11.1.2.1

          I have. CV probably has. Many have over the years. But that is how his taste goes, it doesn’t violate site policies, and I suspect thgast most of us have gotten to the merely sighing stage.

          • phillip ure 11.1.2.1.1

            heh..!..strike that man a special condescension-award..!

            ..anyway..i don’t write in stilted-twitter..i just eschew the irrational dictates of the likes of capital letters -commas – etc..

            ..and..fwiw.. i attempt to write with/in a (spoken-out-loud) rythmn..

            ..(and there i was..in the annual whoar-awards..(to be published soon..)..going to present you with the most-improved-web-censor-award..(!)..this glory/gong was within yr grasp..)

            ..i probably still will..

            ..but it’ll be done with a ‘sigh!’..eh..?

            ..i ‘suspect’ i am at that ‘stage’..

            ..eh..?..)

            ..phillip ure..

    • Sacha 11.2

      “Blogland” – not sure it has legs, sir.
      Sounds like a theme park.

    • Marty 11.3

      Hey, you interviewed Farrar and Slater, when do LPrent and Bradbury get their turn?

      • lprent 11.3.1

        I did my interview back in 2008 with Russell Brown. It was a pain getting there and back again as it disrupted the progress of the code I was trying to get to work in an EFTPOS for gas pumps we were exporting to India.

        They can trawl my 11k+ comments here, the 500+ posts here, the ones on the other blogs and use groups, the traces back through usenet, university, etc. I’ve been on the nets for more than 30 years. The only thing they will find hard to get is an image.

        Concentrate on the issue in the post will ya..

    • lprent 11.4

      On the blogs, where is the best place to point out flaws on another blog? Newspapers? Most of the audience for newspapers don’t read blogs. Many of the younger generations have largely stopped hanging around most broadcast media including newspapers. Making stories about the terrible blogs is good titillation for the non-bloggers and pretty damn ineffectual for those who read them every day.

      And it is a silly idea regulating blogs. It is the usual problem John.

      Where exactly are the incentives? It costs between nothing for something like No Right Turn and what would be a smallish fraction of my income from other sources to run The Standard even if we didn’t advertise. And I’m just one amongst a mass of authors. Most of us participating would simply ignore the regulators, especially if they wanted us to pay more than the blogs operating costs for their unskilled and largely illiterate do-gooding.

      The history of guilds and their regulatory bodies require some kind of income is present to fund them and people are willing to pay something to secure their future incomes through higher standards or legal immunities. Few in the blogging world wish to make it either a main income or a job. It is the same reason I didn’t want to be a politician. It’d cut into my programming time which is my main focus.

      Sure there are some people who seem to want to regulate the blogosphere. They mostly seem to come from outside the nets. Or they are the usual strange people who like to tell everyone else how they should operate apart from themselves. The Mrs Grundys of the world include people like Cameron Slater. After all in this case he is a good example of someone who tries to do exactly that.

      Most of us who grew up with the net really don’t trust such people. I’ve seen them come and go ever since I started playing with networks back in 1979. They usually have no skills of any significant note. They just attract a cortège of similarly badly skilled sycophantic mini-bullies.

      If you wanted to do something about particular bloggers then the current laws are actually pretty good in principle, but way too slow in practice. Speed up the courts and make it so the dragging out proceeding is way more expensive for those dragging the status hearings out.

      Often simply asking a system operator where there are egregious cases is a whole lot faster. Something as sluggish and ineffectual as the current media *regulatory* bodies is just pointless. An apology buried on page 20 a year after after you’ve screwed the pup on someone’s life in page one is simply gross.

      Sure there are some bloggers who are in at least part becoming interesting investigative journalists. But they’re people like Keith Ng. Now they’d be worth pulling in to the journos protective area. Usually the problem is convincing them that they want it.

      Meanwhile there are a pile of jonolists who don’t deserve those protections. Perhaps cleaning them out would provide the poor benighted bloggers are better standard to look up to? 😈

      • rhinocrates 11.4.1

        Yeah, I noted a superannuated hack in a bad wig attacking me personally as a “toxic troll” in Granny a couple of weeks back (cheered on by Pete George, bless) – I felt as if I’d been savaged by a rabid lichen and my only reaction was mild amusement. “Delusions of relevance” is the phrase that springs to mind.

    • bad12 11.5

      John Drinnan, No Thanks, i see no reason why the Standard ‘needs’ a regulatory body, it is one particular ‘Blogger’ that is currently befor the Courts for His behavior,(or lack of it),

      If any blog or blogger wishes to have themselves ‘seen’ as ‘the media’ or part of it then fair enough that particular blog or blogger should subject themselves to the same standards as the mainstream media…

    • newsense 11.6

      Not sure it needs anything beyond the law as applied. The concern of regulation would be more the possibility of politically motivated regulators and appointees which would be a much worse situation than currently is the case.

      I think the discussion here and on other blogs shows the strength of relative freedom in the blogosphere.

      • john Drinnan 11.6.1

        bad 12 – i can buy that argument – not every blogger wants to be regarded as news media – and they can take or leave limited legal protections based on whether they accept regulation

        But newsense – isn’t it just self regarding to believe media that is at the centre of the argument and not people who are damaged by the media.
        Judith Collins agreed with you. The government shelved the law commission recs to make (self-regulatory) standards body a prerequisite for blogs having protections By doing so this government ensured that WO and other blogs go without scrutiny in election year.
        Judge Blackie – who has a background working in defamation – found that WO was not news media. That is subject to an appeal – that would cost both players an arm and a leg.

        Im sure it suit many bloggers to leave it as it is – and some clearly deserve protection – but some want their cake and eat to too. You might feel different you had been defamed or attacked by a blogger who – if they lost a defamation claim – would simply throw up their hands and claim personal bankruptcy.

  12. John Drinnan 12

    Blogging community?

  13. chris73 13

    “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”

    – The left might like to look objectively at the people they’re championing and wonder what it says about them

    • lprent 13.1

      You are completely missing the point. Probably deliberately. I don’t know much about Blomfield and really don’t need to. But as far as I can see the legal and business processes have dealt with him. It is a hard process to go through losing businesses, and I’m sure that there are people who are pissed with him.

      But I know a lot of about how people use and misuse the net and I judge those people. I’m infuriated that Cameron Slater and a pile of cowardly dickheads are using the net to attack people and their families for no more *apparent* reason than they think torture is fun. That I suspect that Cameron Slater as a blogger was paid to pursue a vendetta just annoys me even more.

      More a case of bloggers looking at how other bloggers are using their blogs, commenting on it, and redressing the balance. Now that the project at work has entered a phase requiring less work, I have time to address the arseholes of the local blogging scene. If that means providing a platform for those unfairly attacked by arseholes like Cameron Slater, then so be it.

      • LynWiper 13.1.1

        +100

      • “That I suspect that Cameron Slater as a blogger was paid to pursue a vendetta just annoys me even more. “

        Interesting that Slater hasn’t posted here demanding a retraction or correction of that statement, Lprent. He was very, very prickly when I made such an unintentional inference in one of my blogposts about his usual sleazy stories…

    • lprent 13.2

      Hey Chris. Your missing comment was the first comment I moderated out. You asserted as fact a number of things that were clearly not true or were simply allegations or charges. Thius included a number of people, authors, and commenters. You did it all without any links.

      If it’d been in a usual thread, I would be warning or banning for the author part.

      • chris73 13.2.1

        Oh please, you’re being precious and you know it. However it doesn’t change the gist of what I’m saying and that is you’re judged by the friends you keep or in this case support

        • lprent 13.2.1.1

          On that definition of “friends”, you’d be a close one because I talk to you at all, whereas I don’t know most of the people you’re bullshitting about personally. But basically it is clear that you just have problems with defining social relationships.

          Just to be clear, we follow the norms of society which says judge people on what they do, no what Whaleoil makes up about them.

  14. john Drinnan 14

    jonolists?- Freudian slip 😉

  15. john Drinnan 15

    Nobody arguing the Keith Ngs of this world deserve legal protection.

    Its whether there should be carte blanche for every blogger.

    Maybe. But your You’re argument arse about face – need for regulation is to protect public not yourselves. You seem to believe that you have having private conversations.

    Like yourselves many in public cannot afford defamation action when the offender will plead poverty,

    “Most of us participating would simply ignore the regulators, especially if they wanted us to pay more than the blogs operating costs for their unskilled and largely illiterate do-gooding.”

    I think you’ve pretty much summed up the problem.

    • lprent 15.1

      I will come back to this. Shopping. But I don’t want protection for bloggers. What I would like is a speedier court system to deal with the dumb bloggers.

      We at TS don’t get sued or charged. We seldom even get misguided and toothless threats of suits.

      We stay well within the legal constraints of any citizen. Having complete arseholes like Cameron around is as embarrassing to us as I am sure some of your fellow journalists are to you.

      • rhinocrates 15.1.1

        lprent, I’m amazed that you can translate that gibberish in order to respond to it. I use Granny columns in my writing classes to show students how not to write (Armstrong is a particular favourite).

    • lprent 15.2

      John…

      Maybe. But your You’re argument arse about face – need for regulation is to protect public not yourselves. You seem to believe that you have having private conversations.

      I suspect that you are still thinking in terms of broadcast print news media. Which this isn’t. There is an intermediate step (and always has been legally) between private conversations and broadcast.

      Many eons ago, I used to work as a barman in a public bar in Hamilton. What you read on here is in exactly the type of public conversation that a barman and regulars in any pub hears every day. Sometimes it is exactly the same level. They are conversations in a privately owned space accessible by the public and where almost anyone is able to overhear them if they choose to be at that pub at the same time a particular comment is made.

      The only real difference is one of scale and time. It also that many more can “hear” that conversation than are within physical earshot. This space also leaves a echo for those who were not present at the time a comment was made. But in legal terms what we do on the nets is equivalent to conversations in a public accessible space.

      This is a system that has been running on the nets for the whole of the 30 years I’ve been involved with them. It doesn’t matter if it is a BBS running on a 1200 baud modem, BIX in its heyday, usenet running uucp, gopher and eventually http running on ethernet. All of them have the same underlying characteristics.

      But the legal position of this kind of private space being used as a public area is also the same as a “public house”. Ultimately the operators are responsible for what is said and done on their sites. Which is why pubs and bars reserve the right to say who is allowed to be in their bars, employ bouncers, and have various other measures to ensure that their legal obligations are met. Just as we do. It is also why our providers of servers and services explicitly state that we are not allowed to do anything that may increase their legal liability.

      When you are looking at Whaleoil in mid-2012, just view them as a badly run bar trying to cop out of their legal obligations now by trying to suddenly and conveniently claiming special legal rights.

      This “bar” is probably just as rough as whaleoil in many ways. But we didn’t have an incompetent publican in charge back in the middle of 2012 who encouraged actions that were legally dubious.

      Like yourselves many in public cannot afford defamation action when the offender will plead poverty,

      I repeat, we have never had a defamation or criminal action against us. We’re bloody unlikely to have one either. That is because we stay well within the legal limits of the type of establishment we are.

      We’ve had a few people send us emails about various matters over the years, typically three or four per year. It could be the police asking us to take down their logo, to people asking us to remove their name that someone has put in a comment, to a company wanting us to unlink them for legal reasons, to people claiming ownership of an image. Most of the time I’ll do it if it doesn’t substantially change what the conversation had in it (for instance I tend not to remove names where the discussion is about a news medium story with their name in it). Some of the time I ask for proof that what they claim is valid (how does someone prove ownership of an image?).

      At least once a year and more in election year, we will get people threatening to sue for defamation – invariably with blanket demands. My standard response is to send back a response seeking clarification with some discussion about what I could find on the system that matched their criteria, and a discussion on legal aspects of defamation related to that. I usually never hear back from them. I have never needed to remove anything when someone is claiming defamation. In fact I have come to view people threatening it as having some strange ideas about the law around defamation.

      I think you’ve pretty much summed up the problem.

      Not really. You haven’t managed to state what you consider that the “problem” is. I could as equally well ask how The Truth managed to survive for a century with its rather strange idea of the “news” and ask why The NZ Herald using a similar type of technology was also permitted to publish.

      • john Drinnan 15.2.1

        I can see how the notion of a non-public public space appeals to you .

        • lprent 15.2.1.1

          Look around. You will find them everywhere. Politics in particular is littered with them. Communities have lots of them. God knows I have been in enough cold halls in such meetings.

          What is actually weird is a broadcast media like newspapers. It is a result of a relatively high capital costs of broadcast media for the last few centuries.

      • Chooky 15.2.2

        Like the idea of the Standard as being a well run, civilized public bar, frequented by Lefties….. with a good barman in charge

        ….and Whaleoil a bar of ill repute, frequented by the somewhat lawless…. and where anything and everything scurrilous and scrofulous goes….

        …..much prefer to drop in and drink at the Standard…. hear good political discussions, learn the most up- to- date important news of the day, feel the pulse and state of the nation, given by insiders…. and occasionally make a comment and get up on a soap box and pontificate ….. as the mood brings it on

  16. Rat 16

    T Wilson…..

    Doesnt happen to be “Tom The Torch” does it ?

  17. Marty 17

    Matthew, I had a night to think about this, and although I would like nothing more than to see one run up Blubber Boy, something doesn’t feel right to me about that Headhunter text.

    Have you been to the police? Have you laid a complaint? Is the text submitted as evidence?

    If my wife received threatening communications from any source, I’d lay a formal complaint and insist on a Police investigation.

    Have you done this?

    Texting can’t be done anonymously. It will have a phone number associated with it. A court order can be obtained to track down the owner of the number, or if it is pre-paid, I’m sure further investigations are possible, such as which cell tower it was one when it sent the text, and so on. If it is still used, etc.

    Can you explain why the Cameron Slater would get the Headhunters involved?

    I wouldn’t be writing this in a blog mate – I’d be off to the cops.

  18. Matthew Blomfield 18

    Your comment is totally valid. Yes I am dealing with it as anyone would. In hindsight I agree I should have not included it in this statement it does detract from the point. Sorry.

    • lprent 18.1

      Looks like you missed the reply. Could someone point to the comment he was replying to? I’m juggling Xmas shopping while lyn selects the next victims prize.

      • fender 18.1.1

        Marty at 17.0 I think.

        Just because “Headhunters” was used I’m thinking it doesn’t necessarily mean the gang?

        Then again if Slater had gang connections I wouldn’t be surprised either.

        • felix 18.1.1.1

          For Slater’s own sake I certainly hope he hasn’t been dropping the name of the gang for his own ends.

          A person can get in an awful lot of trouble like that.

  19. Matthew Blomfield 19

    First time ever that I comment and muck it up. It was about the texts sent to Rebecca. I think I’ll leave the blogging to the bloggers.

    • Rogue Trooper 19.1

      Carry On our wayward son…

    • greywarbler 19.2

      Matthew
      You can direct your reply by putting the name of the blogger at the top and if it is a long thread, put the blog count number or the nearest number, as well.

      Blogs can get quite mixed up sometimes, one made in the morning can end at the end by evening because of a large interest building from an earlier-numbered blog.

  20. Rogue Trooper 20

    12: meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands (Yep!) had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another (to be first with the news), Jesus began to speak to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. -Luke (anticipating Gutenberg and the Internet 😀 )

    “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16

  21. red blooded 21

    Come on mate – I know it’s December, but I don’t need biblical allegories to illuminate every aspect of life…

    • rhinocrates 21.1

      Well, RT is a Christian and sees the teachings of Jesus as being relevant to all aspects of life. I’m agnostic myself, but my gf has a similar consciousness. We manage to get along.

    • Rogue Trooper 21.2

      😀

  22. Tracey 22

    Interesting account matt. Thanks for taking the tine. I will watch with interest.

    as for who can own material on a computer may I direct you to an auckland high court case.

    Citicorp New Zealand Ltd and Citibank N.A. v Blomkamp and White unreported 1070/92

  23. felix 23

    Anonymous threatening text messages, eh?

    Not the first time we’ve seen that where Slater is involved.

  24. Matthew Blomfield 24

    Thanks Tracey. I’m not sure if its a good thing that I’ve just spent the last two hours reading about that case. Made me feel quite paranoid.

    I see the police got stuck in with the investigations in that case. I have had no joy whatsoever with the police in relation to my hard drive. As far as they are concerned the drive was not illegally obtained and the data on it is a free for all. I have had opinions even from a retired judge who said that its a matter for the police…theft of find, accessing without authorisation etc pretty simple stuff but nothing from the police. Similar treatment in relation to the threatening texts to Rebecca.

    Lastly, I’m aware of three copies of my drive that associates of Slater have and they are all a bit marginal and for those that are wondering the drive contains 10 years of data that I have collected from my clients and staff including all of the payroll data for the Crane Group of companies (by memory about 5000 employees) including bank account details and home addresses and so on, sample data of ANZ Bank customers (I worked on a white label banking project a few years ago), full copies of the Hell customer database and customer details and countless other files from various clients. I worked out how many peoples private details were on that drive for the Privacy Commissioner and it was a number like 250,000.00 people. Seems strange that the police have made the decision not to even approach the people who have copies…Quite astonishing really!!

    And for those who are thinking it, yes yes I should have taken more care with that much information…

    • Tracey 24.1

      Most importantly that case showed that even if your hard drive was NOT illegally obtained, there IS an argument that as NONE of your employees or clients gave their permission for the release or dissemination of their information, accordingly no one else is entitled to disseminate it.

      Perhaps send the police a letter/email citing the case and number and referring the police to its actions in that case and asking in what ways they consider your case ( and the situation of the clients and employees involved) is different?

  25. Jimmy 25

    Seeing that waste oils sister was involved with a headhunter, and that it took a lot of effort for the Slater family to extricate her from that situation, I don’t think Cameron and the HH would be on very friendly terms.

  26. Matthew Blomfield 26

    Thanks Jimmy. I’m pretty sure that the HH have nothing to do with Slater. I suspect its one of his friends or readers. Not very nice though.

  27. Grumpy 27

    Jesus Matt, that’s a lot of information to have on your hard drive. I hope you were authorized to retain that. I would have thought that when a contract/project was finished that the data needed for that project would be returned or deleted as once the need was exhausted you probably had no more right to the information. I’m thinking here of Crane payroll data and bank records.
    Care to explain why you still had them?

    • Tracey 27.1

      and the same argument prevents slater or anyone else from disseminating it.

      • Grumpy 27.1.1

        There are two issues. One is the 3rd party data such as Crane payroll and ANZ customer info. that Matt had that should not have been there and Slater has not and definitely should not have used, nor retained.
        The issue of Matts emails is another matter and it seems they have been used to expose matters of concern, in the same time honored traditions of the left with other people’s emails. Anyone remember Hager, Manning, Snowden???

        • Tracey 27.1.1.1

          yes. And they all could claim public interest. Like governments spying on its people having said they werent, or allies, what was slater trying to save us all from?

          Do you accept that a number of government departments have investigated Matt’s business and found no case to answer, or do you consider this is a lie by Mr Blomfield?

        • Frank Macskasy 27.1.1.2

          @ Grumpy – it appears you are trying to shift attention and suggestion of wrong-doing from Slater to Matt? What the data was doing on his hard drive is between him and his clients. None of your (or my) business.

        • Grumpy 27.1.1.3

          I find this whole Hells pizza thing puzzling. Some of the issues, I don’t see as seriously as others do but generally I have seen how receivership and liquidation can be distorted to lead to very unfair outcomes.
          I cannot fathom why anyone would get into a franchise operation, very few are anything other than get rich quick schemes for the franchiseor. If you like, one of the less attractive aspects of capitalism. Again, not the sort of issue I would expect this blog to get into, unless, of course, it’s just a dislike of Slater?

          • lprent 27.1.1.3.1

            If it was just Slater then we’d probably not be interested. Same with Hell Pizza – that becomes a matter for the magazines interested in franchises.

            The issue as far as I’m concerned is with blogs and bloggers getting the protections that should be aimed at journalists like Jon Stephenson, Nicky Hager, David Fisher, (trying to think of others in NZ) etc etc. The ones who actually do investigative journalism.

            Sure I have a known great dislike of Slater. Which is hardly surprising after the panty-sniffer arsehole attempted to have a go at one of my former employers because I used to be employed there and his mindlessly dumb attacks trying to “out” authors here. He isn’t a sufficient reason to get interested in this case. What is interesting is if the source protections that should be given to investigative journalists, should also be given to Cameron when he gets is (at least potentially) being paid to attack attack private citizens, unions, political opponents in the National party, or whatever.

            Tell me, do you think that he should be protected by the Evidence Act if that is what it turns out he has been doing?

            • Grumpy 27.1.1.3.1.1

              Since you ask, I think bloggers in general should have the limited protection for their sources given to journalists under the Evidence Act. I find it very hard to make any distinction and their is a huge overlap of poor journalists and good bloggers. I don’t believe I am blinded by ideology either and have no problem if the blogger was Slater or Bradbury. Truth is good.

  28. Grumpy 28

    ….and another thing while I’m waiting for my earlier comment to come out of moderation. You claim that the money lost was only from institutions, not individuals? There is no such distinction. The institution is only a collection of individuals whether they be investors, depositors, shareholders etc. it may allow you to sleep better at night but a loss to an institution certainly finds it’s way through to individuals.

    • felix 28.1

      Yes I agree. And I hope you remember that next time you see someone attacking those collections of individual workers known as unions.

  29. Grumpy 29

    Yes, Felix. When those unions accurately reflect the wishes and best interests of the members I will. But, when they act against their members, I will treat them exactly as the rogue finance companies, and I hope you also recognize that distinction. unfortunately, some unions accord their members the same regard as rogue finance companies gave their depositors.

    • Tracey 29.1

      You will let us know the different situations though wont you grumpy, seeing as you are the self appointed arbiter of such things?

    • When those unions accurately reflect the wishes and best interests of the members I will. But, when they act against their members, I will treat them exactly as the rogue finance companies, and I hope you also recognize that distinction. unfortunately, some unions accord their members the same regard as rogue finance companies gave their depositors.

      No doubt you can provide instances and references to back up those assertions, Grumpy?

      You claim that the money lost was only from institutions, not individuals? There is no such distinction.

      Institutions can insure or spread/minimise their risk – much harder for individual investors.

      But as others have pointed out above, Grumpy, that’s the nature of the capitalist system; risk.

      • Grumpy 29.2.1

        You can read all about more obvious excesses in any Aussie newspaper, the HSU and AWU are textbook examples of corruption. Locally we have The wonderful example of Actor’s Equity trying to destroy the NZ film industry.
        I exclude the education sector unions who are certainly echoing their member’s educational attitudes but that reflects on the members, not the unions.

        • One Anonymous Knucklehead 29.2.1.1

          In this exchange, it helps to remember that “the wishes and best interests of the members” is code for “things that Grumpy agrees with”.

        • Frank Macskasy 29.2.1.2

          I won’t comment on the Australian situation, but the NZ Actor’s Equity thing is another matter and your suggestion that “locally we have The wonderful example of Actor’s Equity trying to destroy the NZ film industry” is sop much rubbish.

          Especially when Jackson himself later admitted that there was little risk of his movies being shifted overseas. (Sir Peter: Actors no threat to Hobbit)

          Actor’s Equity wanted only one thing: talks with the Producers “union”, SPADA. Jackson panicked and went nuclear. Warner Bros exploited the opportunity to wring more concessions from Key (for whom giving out corporate welfare is a normal occurrence).

          So your example of Actors Equity” being a rogue union doesn’t cut it. Just a bit of union bashing.

          Next.

  30. Matthew Blomfield 30

    Thankyou T Wilson. Can you please point the readers to the facts for which you base that assertion? Or could that be an assertion based on what? My hard drive and every single email and document I have ever done has been investigated by multiple government departs. As I pointed out the OA alone spent over 100k. They all found nothing. Thank you for pointing out why it is important for me to continue this case so that people who have formed such baseless opinions can find the truth. Thanks

  31. Matthew Blomfield 31

    Grumpy. The drive was my backup and had everything I had ever done on it. We reviewed all the contracts with the various clients whose information i was holding and I am comfortable with my position. in saying that its not ideal and I should taken more care. That can be said about a lot of what I did.

  32. Grumpy 32

    Dunno Matthew, seems very much like trying to relitigate via competing blogs to me.
    Surprised that TheStandard has provided the forum.

    • Rogue Trooper 32.1

      yet, here we are. 😀

    • Tracey 32.2

      It’s called two sides to the story grumpy. TS ran two threads one “supporting” slater as a news medium and another saying he aint no journalist. Slater climbed in and selectively answered questions (including leaving one from me unanswered – and before he was censored, and when he replied to others of my queries), now Mr Blomfield gets a say.

      Given your predisposition in this thread to be a kind of dictator of thought with your pronouncements of how things are, I am not surprised you object to the other party being given space.

      Quite aside from this, the more Matt and Slater write on a public blog the more they may actually reveal about themselves. Given your belief that Mr Blomfields behaviour is of public interest, this should be welcomed by you.

      • lprent 32.2.1

        He wasn’t really censored so much as got chopped because he and a few others were making me legally liable for their unsupported statements.

        That may have been because the supporting posts were all on his blog (and nowhere else) and they appear to have all been removed.

        • Grumpy 32.2.1.1

          I saw that exchange and think your actions were fair. It was obvious what your stance was and Slater could have framed his points accordingly.

    • Tracey 32.3

      How can someone relitigate something in litigation in the courts now. It hasnt even been litigated yet so logically is some way off being relitigated.

  33. greywarbler 33

    Well TS does provide a place for a wide range of people trying to get a society that operates fairly. Even you come here Grumpy, though I don’t know why we provide the forum seeing your idea of ‘fair’ is so skewed that it’s hard for you to find anything to agree with, or even vaguely consider.

    • Tracey 33.1

      He has agreed with everything he has written. he is kind of the literate version of Naki Man.

  34. Tracey 34

    thanks lprent. couldnt think of the right word.

  35. Bruce 35

    This is all rather puzzling – as i recall Slater states he used Blomfields own emails when writing the posts, and he had made contact with the various parties to verify facts so hard to see a valid claim of Blomfield being defamed. Otherwise its one hell of a story! excuse the pun. My knowledge of law is limited but also perhaps Slater is looking to protect sources due to what he believes is not only in a journalistic sense, but perhaps a personal safety issue as well. I have to say the banter here about gangs etc is all rather amusing and i struggle to see the validity of it in this argument. It will certainly be a ruling that will have a profound effect on the media

    • lprent 35.1

      The post isn’t about the contents of the Slater’s posts. That is something that a court will decide. Nor is it about the personal safety of sources. In the unlikely event that something is a problem, then that is something for the police.

      It is a post about Salter’s claim that he was a journalist in the May-July period in 2012 and if he should be entitled to the limited legal protections that journalists have to protect their sources. That Judge Blackie ruled he was not by saying that the Whaleoil blog then was not a news medium.

      This was the same period in which he was declaiming to all and sundry that he wasn’t a journalist and should be held to the same professional levels that journalists were expected to maintain. The questions he was responding to at the the time were specifically directed at his complete lack of balance in his posts and his habit of using his blog as a way or pursuing vendettas. See the links in the post.

      From what I have seen his posts on wayback about Mr Blomfield, it’d be hard even for a known hypocrite like Slater to argue that they were balanced.

      It will certainly be a ruling that will have a profound effect on the media

      Hard to see how. Blackie ruled that the Whaleoil blog was not a “news medium”, and implicitly that most blogs were also not “news mediums”.

      This is exactly what most of the broadcast media and journalists have been arguing ever since they first started getting popular.

      Your comment doesn’t appear to have much apart from wishful thinking in it.

      • Grumpy 35.1.1

        Does a blog have to be balanced? Indeed much journalism is even less balanced than blogs. More confusing is the court held him to be a journalist on the issue of breach of suppression but not on protection of sources? It seems the classification changes in order to whack him. I share Bruce’s concern and believe this fishing expedition by Blomfield is only a means to intimidate.
        Surprised to see TS being part of it. It is not Slater at risk here, it is his sources.

        • Tracey 35.1.1.1

          So, posting his side of the story here is a means to intimidate Slater? Does that mean everytime Slater posts anything on this topic he is truing to intimidate Blomfield to drop his action?

          Grumpy

          Please quote your sources for

          Court “held” him to be a journalist. That is, formed part of the judicial decision; and
          Where it was material to his breach of suppression order whether he was a journalist o rnot

          Funny how this advocate against name suppression didnt see fit to publish the sex offender up north’s name so as to protect the wider community from him.

          ” Judge Harvey said the internet made everyone a publisher and with that came responsibility.

          “One of those responsibilities is to abide by the law. You have chosen to use your website, blog for the purposes of a political campaign and that is absolutely legitimate.I have no quibble with that.

          “But the fact of the matter is you stepped over the lines when you chose to publish names subject to non-publication orders.

          “You made value judgements about the names you were going to publish and those you were not.

          “You set yourself up as a judge and jury knowing those names were subject to orders but willing to flout the law notwithstanding.

          “I don’t imagine anything which happens today or is about to happen today will change your point of view but I hope it will change your behaviour.” “

        • Tracey 35.1.1.2

          I’ve read the suppression decision. I wonder if you have?

          That case was squarely about publication not about journalism or journalists.

          Some VERY interesting stuff in there. Journalist is mentioned but interestingly the judge seems to be suggesting that what makes you a journalist is not where you are publishing. That is, he mentions jounralists having blogs. My observation is that having a blog doesnt make you a journalists.

          in any event I think you are being led astray by some red herrings.

          “[14] Blogs can be part of mainstream media or may be separate from it. Many
          journalists and news commentators maintain blogs where they may expand upon
          stories that they have written or interact with others who wish to comment up
          on them. In this respect the blog facilitates a conversation between the journalist or
          reporter and other individuals. However the conversation differs from that which
          may take place over a cup of coffee or across a dinner table. The first difference is
          that the material that is posted upon the blog is posted primarily in the form of text.
          Thus, unlike a conversation, the blog becomes a record which is preserved and
          available on the blog site until such time as it is removed by the person responsible
          for administering it. For some blogging is seen as a way of getting around the
          restrictions that are normally imposed upon mainstream news media. Unlike
          newspapers which are subject the oversight of the Press Council or advertisers who
          are subject to the Advertising Standards Authority or radio and television which is
          subject to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, there are no similar regulatory
          organisations in place in the blogosphere. Of course, subject to issues of jurisdiction, bloggers are subject to their domestic laws. “

    • Tracey 35.2

      So Bruce, do you believe everyone’s diary can be published if someone gets hold of them and decides to just cos it’s in their own words. Seems an odd notion to support.

      • grumpy 35.2.1

        What do you think about the theft of Don Brash’s emails as published by Hager?

        • Sacha 35.2.1.1

          You mean the emails leaked by a senior Nat insider? Nice try.

          • Anne 35.2.1.1.1

            Yes… and it’s a pity we don’t know who they are (?) because they did this country a major service and it would be nice to say thank-you to them.

  36. captain hook 36

    I guess you cant expect that much better from someone who has legs on their belly and hides under rocks!

  37. Tracey 37

    You and Mr Slater have something in common grumpy, you both answer selectively. Would love your responses to my questions within 9.38am and 10:47am

  38. Ross 38

    “In an attempt to avoid having to hand over this information, Mr Slater claimed that he is a journalist. The Judge, without any real prompting from me, decided that he is not. I agree. Journalism is a profession. It has standards and he has none.”

    I completely disagree, and I’m not sure why this is an issue for you.

    Journalists disseminate information and provide commentary on the news. That is what Slater does. It might not be to your liking, it might not be to my liking, but what you and I like is irrelevant.

    • Arfamo 38.1

      Well, they do quite a bit more than that actually. But he doesn’t. So, I’m happy to let the story go on to tell itself via the legal system.

    • Tracey 38.2

      can you post your source for the legal definition of a journalist, because that is the only definition that matters in this, under the evidence act how has “journalist”been judicially interpreted.

      All people who provide comments on the news are NOT journalists. All people who disseminate information are NOT journalists.

      I doubt any one would disagree that Slater meets the definition of publisher (and see his suppression verdict decision for this) but as for whether he is a journalist, that’s a whole other ball-game.

      Some of you need to actually read some of the judicial decisions before commenting. Slater’s suppression defence sounded like a strong ego telling his lawyer some things he MUST argue. I would hate to be his lawyer for that reason. Next you will tell me Slater is a lawyer cos he knows some stuff about the law?

  39. Ross 39

    [deleted]

    [lprent: Your entire comment is entirely irrelevant to the topic. In fact it looks like a deliberate diversion. ]

  40. Ross 40

    A deliberate diversion? A diversion from what? Mr Blomfield’s main complaint seems to be that he thinks Slater isn’t a journalist. That is clearly false. I’d hate to think that this blog’s hatred of Slater is so great that it will print anything negative about him and to hell with the consequences. I’m no fan of Slater but even a stopped watch is correct twice a day.

    • lprent 40.1

      Perhaps you haven’t caught up yet. Perhaps you should read the decision rather than trying to gain a reputation of being willfully ignorant. Your fantasies have little bearing on the legal process. Read back into this post and the two previous ones on this topic to help educate yourself.

      Judge Blackie ruled that in mid-2012 that the whaleoil blog was not a news medium. That is what the High Court has to hear an appeal on. Now I’m sure that Cameron will screw up on trying to argue every other point except the one that he’ll have to pass first, because screwing up is his particular skill in life. Now I happen to agree with Judge Blackie. I don’t think that whaleoil, this site, kiwiblog, public address, facebook, twitter, most blogging sites, and many other parts of the net constitute “news mediums”. Mickey disagrees largely based on the protection it’d offer people who are in fact acting as journalists (often in their spare time) and researching all of the angles of stories. His example is Keith Ng. I’d probably extend that to Idiot Savant. Most bloggers don’t get deep enough into a story to either require the protection of their sources.

      The only reason that I suspect that Cameron would like such protection is because he has been known to sell his services writing for whaleoil to pursue vendettas for his “sources”, and they’d rather like to not be exposed as part of the transaction. When I look at many of the bigger “stories” that Cameron has written about over the last few years, that is what I see. He is being used by people who have something that news mediums won’t touch that they want to use to smear opponents. By his own admission Cameron “demands” payment for doing exactly that. Not what I’d consider to be a news medium.

      I suspect we’re going to find that the high court takes as dim a view of that as I do of a blog dedicated to the sale of smear vendettas against opponents. I suspect that they won’t find that the whaleoil blog is a news medium.

      Under the evidence act, unless Cameron could show that he was intending to take his source’s information to a actual news medium he can’t claim the protection of being a journalist. The question of if Cameron being a journalist didn’t even arise.

      However if the question of if Cameron was a journalist during the 2012 period that the case is about, then the plaintiff would merely use Cameron’s words against him. He spent much of 2012 explaining that he was able to write some blantant lies and strange vendettas because he wasn’t a journalist. I’d agree..

      Perhaps you should ask Cameron why he suddenly finds the need to go back on those rather emphatic statements?

      As I said at the start – perhaps you should actually have a close look at the judgement and your hero. Personally I find him to be a rather spineless fool.

  41. Long time listener, first time caller. Intrigued by the ramifications of this story, I have been keeping an eye on the Whale Oil website to how he responds to the very serious suggestion that he defames for reward. The silence is deafening.

    As there are clearly participants in this discussion who will not open that site on principle, allow me to share my observations.

    WO has clearly read the Blomfield story. He wrote a post saying that he owes a duty to disclose his income to the IRD and no-one else. He quoted an academic who posited that he did not mind if bloggers got paid. No way in the world could that person be talking about the type of mercenary conduct suggested. WO has blagged this site but in doing so, completely avoided the issue. Apart from that, the great gonzo of our time, the man Luigi runs to when he has some shit to spread, is silent.

    WO has instead recruited a couple of complete imbeciles who are filling his pages with post pubescent blather garnered from You Tube coupled with some inane thoughts of their own. It is pitiful.

    • lprent 41.1

      I’d noticed it’d gone quiet over there

    • felix 41.2

      “WO has instead recruited a couple of complete imbeciles who are filling his pages with post pubescent blather garnered from You Tube coupled with some inane thoughts of their own.”

      Err, that’s been the MO of WO for a couple of years, posting literally thousands of popular youtube vids to get his page views up. And around the time he became Truth Editor, he made up a few new handles so as to pretend it’s not just him.

      “It is pitiful.”

      Yes it is.

Links to post

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    1 hour ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    4 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    5 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 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
    10 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
    10 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
    10 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
    12 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
    13 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
    15 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
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    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
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    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
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    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
    3 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
    8 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
    10 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
    11 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
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T07:32:56+00:00