Archive for December, 2013

ImperatorFish – John Key: I believe the children are our future

Written By: - Date published: 1:27 pm, December 10th, 2013 - 7 comments

Scott gives us John Key’s full response to the Child Poverty Report.

The new right wing party

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, December 10th, 2013 - 172 comments

With ACT’s imminent demise, the Conservatives appearing to be decided flakey and National losing its free market credentials by engaging in crony capitalism the temptation to set up a new political party on the right is increasing.  And you can be assured that money will not be a problem.

Rent freezes in disaster zones

Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, December 10th, 2013 - 80 comments

You need little more evidence of how Gerry Brownlee’s lazy-faire approach to the Christchurch rebuild has failed than the story of the (working) single mother forced to live in a tent with her 3 kids because there’s no affordable rentals. One of the automatic moves in a large scale disaster should be to freeze rents in the disaster zone. The Human Rights Commission agrees.

Open mike 10/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:35 am, December 10th, 2013 - 138 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step right up to the mike …

NRT: Climate change: More windfall profits

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, December 9th, 2013 - 19 comments

The Emissions Trading Scheme was never a particularly good way of curbing greenhouse emissions and the way that National gutted it made it distinctly worse. Now we are in a position where National has found a way to use it to providing even more polluter welfare.

What chance is there of a bipartisan approach to child poverty?

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, December 9th, 2013 - 354 comments

The findings of the child poverty monitoring report are being released today.  One in four or 265,000 children live in poverty and one in ten live in severe poverty.  Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills has called for a bipartisan political approach to the issue but Paula Bennett has replied by saying that she is incredibly proud of the Government’s record.  How can you be incredibly proud of allowing one in four children to live in poverty?

Open mike 09/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:50 am, December 9th, 2013 - 277 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step right up to the mike …

Child Poverty in New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, December 8th, 2013 - 212 comments

The Herald on Sunday this morning has produced a series of chilling articles showing that a computer glitch has caused the under reporting of abuse notifications, and a worrying increase in admission to hospital of children suffering form third world diseases.  And the Children’s Commissioner had to secure funding from a private trust so that the data for this report could be collated.  It makes you wonder if the Government wants to know the extent of child poverty in Aotearoa.

Open mike 08/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, December 8th, 2013 - 108 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step right up to the mike …

Open mike 07/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, December 7th, 2013 - 42 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step right up to the mike …

Labour shoot themselves in the foot, again!

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, December 7th, 2013 - 247 comments

Just when you begin to think Labour are looking like a Government, one of the has-beens from the Rogernomics era, again! shows that they have NFI how to get elected and they are still clinging desperately to the Neo-liberal paradigm.

When the wolf cries boy

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 pm, December 6th, 2013 - 128 comments

Matthew Blomfield asked for a opportunity to refute some of the bull that has been stated about him and his defamation case against Cameron Slater. I’ve put it on the site because it seems fair that bloggers help fix the unfair damage that nutty bloggers like Cameron Slater can do to private individuals. Regardless of the outcome of this long-running court case, it is quite clear that Cameron Slater has used his blog to pursue someone’s vendetta far outside the realms of “journalism”.

Hypocrisy-watch

Written By: - Date published: 6:24 pm, December 6th, 2013 - 85 comments

After today’s platitudes, it’s worth remembering where Key stood on apartheid when it mattered.

ImperatorFish: Hekia Parata on the PISA report

Written By: - Date published: 11:43 am, December 6th, 2013 - 15 comments

Hekia, in her own succinct words. Or at least Scott’s.

Nelson Mandela has died

Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, December 6th, 2013 - 158 comments

Nelson Mandela’s death in South Africa has been announced.

The value of Sick Leave

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, December 6th, 2013 - 109 comments

Business NZ says sick leave costs us $1.26 billion per year.  Some might say that illness costs us more than that, and that’s business paying their share, to look after their employees which will benefit the business in the long run.

Open mike 06/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:53 am, December 6th, 2013 - 137 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike …

Prosecuting Cunliffe

Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, December 5th, 2013 - 56 comments

No Right Turn writes on what should happen with David Cunliffe screwing up on election day. Sensible advice and commentary on what looks like a typical example of some of the innumerable silly mistakes and accidents that happen during election campaigns. The reaction of some on the right has been pretty damn hilarious when they compare what looks like deliberate concealment of electoral finance with a silly tweeting mistake

A tale of two taxpayers

Written By: - Date published: 2:19 pm, December 5th, 2013 - 50 comments

In news this week a Putaruru woman walked 25 kilometers to attend a compulsory WINZ meeting despite there being no jobs available and the Government signalled that it was going to help Chorus with costs overruns despite Chorus having a contractual obligation to roll out the fibre optic network.  On Planet Key beneficiaries are obviously expected to comply with their requirements no matter what but rich corporations will be given a helping hand when times get tough.

‘Mum & Dad’ right to be angry with Nats

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, December 5th, 2013 - 40 comments

Mighty River, Meridian, and Air New Zealand are all now trading well below their listing prices costing ‘mum and dad investors’ who were taken in by National’s ad campaign tens of millions of dollars of their savings. Bill English’s angry response is ‘you would be complaining if they had made windfall gains too’. He’s right. And there’s the rub.

A knighthood I would back

Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, December 5th, 2013 - 46 comments

I don’t support knighthoods. I especially don’t support knighthoods being handed out to people who have just done their jobs at the end of their careers. You know, the gongs for ministers and CEOs. But if you are going to have honours, they should go to ordinary people who have truly gone above and beyond and acted where others failed. Arise, Sir Graham McCready.

Asset sale disaster

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, December 5th, 2013 - 30 comments

The Government are lowering their lowest estimate for how much they’ll raise from asset sales. They’ve done a terrible job implementing a stupid policy – if you’re going to put your ideological blinkers on and do it, at least do it right. Now it must stop.

Open mike 05/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:54 am, December 5th, 2013 - 229 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step right up to the mike …

Time to end perception of degrees for sale

Written By: - Date published: 6:14 pm, December 4th, 2013 - 50 comments

The All Blacks do not give out honorary test caps to the chief financial officer of insurance sponsor AIG. Politicians no longer give seats in a House of Lords to their almsgivers and patrons. Perhaps it is time to question why our most prestigious universities give away honorary doctorates to significant benefactors. A couple of […]

Why New Zealand’s educational standards are crashing

Written By: - Date published: 4:29 pm, December 4th, 2013 - 55 comments

National’s carefully constructed Educational Policies, designed to give the impression of action but based on the transfer of riches to the children of the wealthy and the bashing of Teachers Unions, are in tatters following the release of the Pisa Report.  Cuts made to Teachers Professional Standards in 2009 made against advice are obviously having an effect.  And increasing child poverty must be having an effect, despite the Government’s refusal to even measure it.

John Banks set to quit at next election

Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, December 4th, 2013 - 126 comments

John Banks will not seek re-election at the 2014 general election.

Census 2013: increase in inequality

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, December 4th, 2013 - 26 comments

NZ Census 2013 shows a widening income gap: rises for the haves; more struggle for the have nots.  Gains for women in education and some in the highest income brackets; more struggle for those on low incomes, especially beneficiaries impacted by Bennett’s punitive welfare reforms. Welcome to Key’s “Brighter Future”.

Transmission Gully: they profit, you pay

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, December 4th, 2013 - 34 comments

The proponents of Public-Private Partnerships offer two justifications for the extra cost compared to normal government financing: 1) a mystical claim that the private sector will find efficiencies in a PPP that they wouldn’t find if they were just contracted to build a project normally and 2) risk is shared between the taxpayer and the private investors. Except it’s not.

Chorus sings a Dirge

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, December 4th, 2013 - 36 comments

I welcomed Amy Adams independent review of Chorus’s financial claims in response to Chorus’s sad song. Not something I should say in a left leaning site but it does show an increasing awareness from government of big business endeavours to manipulate NZ to their advantage. I felt that the Minister had a gun to her […]

Open mike 04/12/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:49 am, December 4th, 2013 - 199 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step right up to the mike …

Banks to go to trial: confirmed

Written By: - Date published: 5:57 pm, December 3rd, 2013 - 117 comments

John Banks will stand trial over an alleged fraudulent electoral return.  Meanwhile Key, running out of untainted friends, is looking to re-instate the, now vindicated, Peter Dunne.  Bit John Key’s role in the inquiry into information leaked to Andrea Vance is looking dodgy. [Breaking: Banks press conference 11am]