Archive for May, 2009

NACT policy – like pistons in a Vespa

Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, May 8th, 2009 - 18 comments

Jeanette Fitzsimmons has written a very good post from the Emissions Trading Scheme special select committee* about her views on the impact of farming on our Kyoto obligations. She commented on the Federated Farmers submission which essentially said that they thought farming should be excluded from paying anything. That really isn’t feasible in NZ because… […]

When more is less

Written By: - Date published: 3:31 pm, May 8th, 2009 - 2 comments

Colin Espiner writes: “Another thing that’s being clearly signalled is that Labour’s previous spending promises in health and education won’t be honoured in the Budget. That $3.4 billion of spending Labour planned for 2009/2010… At the same time, Key and English are at pains to say that health and education spending will increase – and […]

From the picket line

Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, May 8th, 2009 - 19 comments

A Zeal worker on the picket line in Wellington explains why she and her workmates are taking strike action at Air New Zealand: There’s also a report from the picket line at The Hand Mirror, photos from the pickets here and a timetable of when pickets are happening around the country here for those who […]

Whatever it takes, except anything

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, May 8th, 2009 - 6 comments

A reader has spotted that Hide wasn’t the only minister telling porkies in Parliament yesterday. Fortunately for Bill English, he’s too smart to breach privilege: ‘The Government is concerned about anyone losing their jobs; that is why we will do anything we can to help people to keep secure the jobs they have or to […]

New Left blog

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, May 8th, 2009 - 19 comments

Red Alert, a blog by Labour MPs. A good idea – the blog format allows for a lot more freedom than the press release, and will hopefully them a chance to express their own personal views rather than just the official line of the party. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out. So […]

On the shootings in Napier

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, May 8th, 2009 - 65 comments

I’m sure I speak for everyone when I express my condolences towards the victims in the Napier shootings and the families of everyone involved. As someone who grew up in Napier, it hits very close to home. Chaucer Rd, where this is all taking place, is right in the heart of Napier, one of the […]

Hide on his way to Privileges Committee?

Written By: - Date published: 5:32 am, May 8th, 2009 - 44 comments

Has Rodney Hide breached privilege by seriously misleading the House? This is one for you legal types out there but from a layperson’s perspective it looks like it. Here’s what happened (the full transcripts are below): On Wednesday, Phil Twyford (or Twif-ford as Hide insists on calling him) asked Hide whether “he has costed the super-city proposal outlined […]

Oh dear – Hyde the costs

Written By: - Date published: 9:40 pm, May 7th, 2009 - 71 comments

How embarrassing. Rodney Hide has been forced to admit that he has no idea of the costs of his super-city proposal. Phil Twyford with the aid of the speaker cornered him into an admission that he’d been bullshitting. The Minister has been caught out trying to mislead Aucklanders about whether the Government has done those […]

CycleWatch

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 pm, May 7th, 2009 - 4 comments

Time: 42 days Jobs created: 0 Built (km): 0 out of 1500 Cost thus far: $0 Govt estimated cost (English): “less than the $50m estimate originally put forward by Mr Key” Country status: In recession

Dogwhistlin’

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, May 7th, 2009 - 53 comments

Interesting article in the Herald today. It concentrates on a conversation between Melissa Lee and an old racist pharmacist from Mt Albert who won’t vote for her because she’s Asian. It turns out that the Herald has interviewed many reasonable people (most of whom supported Shearer) for this piece. So why spend half the article on what some […]

Zeal320 strike underway

Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, May 7th, 2009 - 26 comments

Zeal320 workers are on strike for four days from today. Ads in every major newspaper explain what they are fighting for – the same pay for doing the same work as other fligh attendants on Air NZ flights. Check out ZealGirl for stories of how management has tried to break the Zeal320 workers’ resolve and […]

Bad or not too bad?

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, May 7th, 2009 - 24 comments

The latest unemployment figures look better than expected but appearances may be deceptive. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is up to 5.0%, lower than expected, but the unadjusted number is 5.6%. There is a seasonal adjustment unemployment usually climbs in the March quarter, then falls later in the year, whether that will happen this year […]

Act creates Wanganui fashion police

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, May 7th, 2009 - 54 comments

Last night, Chester Burrows’ bill allowing the council of Wanganui to ban people from wearing the insignia or symbols of any organisation they decide to call a gang was passed. No-one seriously believes banning patches will hurt gangs so we’ve just given a council tremendous unchecked power for no good reason. As Idiot Savant puts it: […]

School support staff fighting for a fair deal

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, May 7th, 2009 - 13 comments

Cut public spending then we can have tax cuts! It’s such a nice, appealing slogan when you say it fast without engaging the brain. The reality though is real people who spend their lives working for the greater good are losing their jobs and seeing their incomes fall, and the services they produce will suffer […]

Fringe candidates: The spammer from the city of hot-air.

Written By: - Date published: 4:04 am, May 7th, 2009 - 10 comments

Ok I give up, the craziest Mt Albert candidate isn’t John Boscawen urging National to declare support for an above-ground motorway in Waterview. That has to be a real vote winner for both Act and National in the electorate – yeah right! On the other-hand how far will National go to support Act? What is […]

How Hyde is wasting my taxes on an uncosted project

Written By: - Date published: 5:09 pm, May 6th, 2009 - 20 comments

It appears that the propaganda campaign from Rodney Hide to push his proposal of the super-city has cost $533,000 in PR costs in the last 4 weeks. Phil Twyford (Labour’s Auckland issues spokesperson) comment is that:- It’s outrageous that the Government is prepared to spend an average of $133,000 a week on a publicity blitz, […]

The challenges for the Mt Albert candidates

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, May 6th, 2009 - 45 comments

Bit of a group effort this one. John Boscawen MP – Boscawen is mad as a hatter and pretty damn ignorant. So he should appeal to the hard-right voters. In Parliament, he has argued against the Waterview tunnel and for a surface motorway. That’s not going to fly with the people of Mt Albert, especially […]

New Kiwi blog

Written By: - Date published: 2:42 pm, May 6th, 2009 - 5 comments

Zealgirl, a blog from a Zeal flight attendant involved in the current industrial dispute at Air New Zealand. [Hat tip: The Hand Mirror]

Not my Leaders

Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, May 6th, 2009 - 2 comments

Hide and Banks do not strike me as the kind of men you feel safe about having too much power. They never have been and they never will be. Yet so far the ongoing review of the so called ‘Supercity Plan’ has suggested it’s only weakness is that the Lord Mayor wouldn’t have enough power. Instead, […]

Herald cracks down on free speech

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, May 6th, 2009 - 41 comments

Sick of the Herald? Try Editing the Herald instead. With intelligence and wit, James lays out the daily journalistic disgraces of our beloved Granny and makes you laugh. Granny doesn’t like it either. Can’t have people mocking you and pointing out your flaws on the internet! So they threatened him with legal action for using […]

See no evil

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, May 6th, 2009 - 12 comments

The Fire at Will law has been in place for two months. It’s still very early days but how is it going? Are workers being forced into 90-Day periods against their will? Are people being fired for no good reason? The government can’t tell us because it isn’t bothering to monitor its implementation and effects. No […]

Lobby group wants motorways to drive over locals

Written By: - Date published: 5:58 am, May 6th, 2009 - 48 comments

Owen McShane’s lobby group the Centre for Resource Management Studies has a set of questions up about the Waterview Tunnel option of SH20. Essentially they argue for ramming an above ground motorway through the Waterview houses and green belt for the benefit of the motorists, and that the pesky locals should be ignored. One of […]

Key decked over supercity

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, May 5th, 2009 - 40 comments

A much better performance from Goff today in the House today. Finally, after weeks of fluffing, he managed to score a direct hit on Key. Goff’s questions on the Auckland supercity had Key denying the obvious, that the people of Auckland do not like his government’s supercity and do not believe they have been adequately […]

Courage under fire

Written By: - Date published: 6:10 pm, May 5th, 2009 - 47 comments

Last week Russel Norman, Wellington resident and Green candidate for Mt Albert, publicly labelled Aucklander David Shearer, Labour’s candidate, as “a grey machine man “. In its 1992 review of the year, the Herald made David Shearer and his wife Anuschka Meyer “New Zealanders of the Year”. The previous week the Herald had also reported […]

TVNZ upholds Paul Henry complaint

Written By: - Date published: 5:03 pm, May 5th, 2009 - 29 comments

I see TVNZ has upheld the complaint against Paul Henry over his disgraceful abuse of a guest on his show. TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said TVNZ had upheld the complaints against Henry because Ms Mills was treated unfairly. It had written back to the about 30 people who complained and apologised to them, she told […]

Public want banks pulled into line

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, May 5th, 2009 - 29 comments

Last week I posted on Finsec’s petition to make job protection a condition of the Government’s bank guarantees. Today Finsec are delivering that petition to Parliament, along with more than 10,000 signatures in support. Great stuff to all of you who signed the sheet and sent it in. The union’s position is pretty simple. At […]

Backlash building on supercity

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, May 5th, 2009 - 25 comments

The unseemly haste with which the National/Act Government is pursuing its undemocratic supercity is causing more and more people to wake up to the con job they are pulling. A Reid poll (ignored by the Herald but run by the community newspapers) shows where just weeks ago the public was split evenly on the proposed […]

National carrier? National disgrace more like

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, May 5th, 2009 - 37 comments

It’s a few days late but last Saturday’s Herald story about Air New Zealand preparing strikebreakers for the Zeal 320 strike this weekend depressed the hell out of me. What exactly is our national carrier, which is more than 80% publicly owned, doing boasting about how it can break its own workers? Let me be […]

Suspending the Cullen Fund

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, May 5th, 2009 - 47 comments

Bill English seems set to suspend the government’s contributions to the Cullen Fund. Here’s a little-known fact, one that Bill English probably doesn’t want you to know: The Cullen Fund made money in March, the sharemarkets are rising and we’re making money on that. In fact, the Cullen Fund out-performed the market. The markets might […]

Oh dear.

Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, May 4th, 2009 - 36 comments

A while back we heard a rumour that National had already printed its billboards for the Mt Albert campaign – with Melissa Lee as the candidate. We decided not to run it. It was too implausible to think they would run the risk of doing that before they have their selection process tonight and name […]

Retrograde NZ

Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, May 4th, 2009 - 18 comments

I had the pleasure of meeting lauded climate activist and author Bill McKibben this morning. McKibben is in New Zealand as part of a tour encouraging action on climate change, in the lead up to the big UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December. He’s a good guy tall, frank and realistic about the distinct […]