Andrew Little’s speech to the Labour 2015 conference
Written By:
- Date published:
12:07 pm, November 8th, 2015 - 182 comments
Categories: Andrew Little, labour -
Tags:
Andrew’s speech can be viewed on his Facebook page. The speech is due to start at 1:30 pm. The text will be added as soon as possible.
From the Labour website:
On Sunday November 8, Labour Leader Andrew Little will address the 99th Labour Party Conference. In his speech, he’ll outline his and Labour’s vision for a better New Zealand. Labour will create more good jobs, protect New Zealand’s sovereignty and will back the Kiwi dream.
This is a public event, open to all, at Regent on Broadway Theatre in Palmerston North. Doors open at 1pm.
November 08, 2015 at 1:30pm – 2:30pm
WHERE
Regent on Broadway
53 Broadway Ave
Palmerston North 4410
New Zealand
Andrew Little’s Speech to Labour Party Conference
E nga mana
E nga tapu
E Te whanau o te roopu reipa
Tena Tatou Katoa
Over 100 years ago, a group of miners gathered in a small union hall in Waihi and voted to take a stand against a company that was exploiting them.
The dispute had gone on for months already.
The miners’ hopes were simple.
They wanted to be treated well at work, to be paid fairly, and they wanted to know that when they went to work they would come home safely.
So the miners went on strike to press their case.
The response was immediate and devastating.
The full power of a corrupt and cosy establishment was unleashed against them.
The Prime Minister of the day branded them “enemies of order.”
One miner was beaten to death.
A young union organiser, a recent immigrant from Scotland, was helping the miners with their cause, travelling the country to raise money and give speeches in support.
He saw first hand the lengths that powerful interests would go to in order to cling on to their position.
He saw that if the dreams of ordinary people were going to be possible, they needed more than a voice — they needed to have their hands on the law-making power of Parliament.
That young man’s name was Peter Fraser.
The party that he helped found, our party, has been on the job for nearly 100 years.
- 100 years of fighting for a more just New Zealand.
- 100 years of standing up to the smug and the self-contented.
- 100 years of making life better for all New Zealanders;
All the people who organised together and campaigned together over the last century, people like you and me; they’ve left us an awesome legacy.
Just think of what our party has achieved:
- Think of Joe Savage, who built our modern social safety net, our health care, our pensions, and who carried the furniture into the very first state house.
- Think of Peter Fraser, fighting for a state education system at home, and a lasting peace abroad.
- Think of Walter Nash and his fight for affordable home loans.
- Think of Norman Kirk walking onto the grounds at Waitangi hand in hand with a young Māori boy, sending the powerful message that it was time to restore mana to the Treaty of Waitangi.
- Think of David Lange and the courage it took to stand up to a superpower. To assert what he called the power of humanity, the power of decision, over the madness of nuclear war.
- And, just a few years ago, think of all the good Helen Clark did to lift New Zealand families through the Cullen Fund, KiwiSaver and Working for Families.
Our party has never been afraid to take on the big fights:
- To lift New Zealanders up.
- To restore opportunity.
- To help us live our dreams.
You know, as New Zealanders, we don’t ask for the world. We have some simple aspirations.
Owning a home; having security for the people we love; a chance to enjoy the outdoors and the environment we love; and a job that gives us the time and the money to lead a fulfilling life.
These are the aspirations that we all share.
Together, they’re the Kiwi Dream, a dream that’s central to our country’s identity.
We’ve always been a progressive, big hearted people.
We believe in looking out for each other and doing the right thing.
We believe everyone should have the same opportunities to make the most of this life.
Our forebears in this great party put these values at the heart of the Labour project.
Whenever the Kiwi dream has needed a lift, Labour lifted it.
Whenever the rights of New Zealanders needed defending, Labour defended them.
Now it’s our turn. Now it’s our turn.
We’ve come together this weekend to begin the work of rebuilding the Kiwi Dream.
I came to this party because Labour has always stood up for a fair go — for opportunity for everyone.
It’s an enormous honour to have been elected your Leader — I don’t underestimate the responsibility I hold.
But I’m not one of those people who can say I was born to Labour.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
The first time my Mum voted for a Labour candidate was when she voted for me.
My Dad was another story altogether. He was a staunch National supporter.
He used to yell at the TV whenever political opponents came on the telly.
The people who most got under his skin? Union leaders, and pretty much everyone in the Labour Party.
So, “Andrew Little, Leader of the Labour Party and former union leader” probably isn’t the ambition he had for his son.
He’s probably up there right now going “god, look at my boy, where did I go wrong?”
But the truth is, he did a great job.
He and mum taught me some basic values.
Think for yourself. Make up your own mind. Stand up for other people and never be afraid to lend a helping hand to someone who needs it.
So Dad, you did the right thing, you were just in the wrong party.
My own political views were forged in the era of the Springbok Tour, and of the controversies over justice for Arthur Allan Thomas and justice in the Erebus Disaster.
I watched these events unfold and discovered in myself an intolerance for injustice.
When I see injustice, it sticks in my craw and I am compelled to stand up to it, and fight it.
The injustice I speak of is when the powerful and the privileged abuse their position to take advantage of the weak.
Here’s what I believe
- I believe in dignity. The dignity of the person matters most; and every person must have the opportunity to realise their full potential;
- I believe in equality. A system that shuts people out because of where they live, or who they are, or who they love, or who their parents are is unjust and cannot stand;
- I believe in the great freedoms that make us who we are. Freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of association.
I know that the freedom I cherish cannot come at the expense of other people’s freedom. And I am very clear: there is no freedom in poverty and deprivation.
And I believe in fair rewards, too. Everyone who works to make this country great should share in the rewards.
It’s those values that I have carried with me my entire life.
The experiences I’ve had in my working life have taught me the type of leadership you need if you want to fight and win for progressive causes.
I learnt that it isn’t about making everyone happy or trying to avoid confrontation and disagreement.
Instead it’s about taking a stand because it’s the right thing to do.
I learned that real change — lasting change — change that’s worth fighting for takes patience, and resolve and determination.
It takes a long term view, keeping your eyes on the prize, not being drawn into every battle and skirmish and never giving up on what matters.
It’s these values and a lifetime of fighting for them that’s led me to believe we need to change the direction of our country.
Because right now this government isn’t living up to our values.
We aren’t being true to who we are, and that means more people are being shut out of the Kiwi Dream.
Most Kiwis believe that hard work should bring fair rewards.
But our economy is increasingly weighted in favour of those already doing well, while throwing up barriers that stop other people getting ahead.
That’s why the incomes of the top 10 percent of New Zealanders are now ten times the income of the bottom 10 per cent. Ten times.
Most New Zealanders grew up with the expectations that they would be able to own their own home if they worked hard and saved hard.
But our houses have become playthings for speculators, many of whom live offshore — putting home ownership out of reach of ordinary New Zealanders.
That’s why in Auckland last year, the average house made more than three times as much as the average worker.
That’s right, the average Aucklander made $58,000 last year, but the average house price went up by more than $180,000.
And now home ownership rates have hit their lowest level in 64 years.
That’s crazy. We have to turn that around.
Most Kiwis also expect New Zealand to be a force for good on the world stage.
But this government is ducking its obligations and turning us into a lightweight in the international community.
We enlisted the support of many countries to get onto the UN Security Council.
We promised we would be the conscience of the world — that we would provide moral leadership.
But when we were faced with a real question of moral leadership: a humanitarian crisis engulfing millions of Syrian refugees, New Zealanders looked on in horror as the government dithered because they were waiting for a poll to tell them what the right thing to do was.
This is not the legacy of our great internationalist leaders: Fraser, Kirk, Clark.
If you want another example where this government’s lost its way, look at health.
Most Kiwis believe when you get sick, the public health system will be there to help you get well.
But our health system is stretched to breaking point, slashing services and denying Kiwis the care they need.
That’s why when Graham Higgins from Northland needed a procedure to diagnose his cancer, he had to wait over 6 months — by which time his cancer had become terminal.
I’ve battled cancer myself.
I know what it’s like to wait for the results of that test that could change your life.
So I’m making this commitment right now: when I’m Prime Minister I’ll make sure Kiwis get the care they need when they need it and I’ll give our doctors and nurses the funding they need to do their jobs.
But these aren’t the only values we’ve lost in the last few years.
Most Kiwis believe we owe it to our kids to give them a better life than we had.
But this government has turned a blind eye to appalling rates of poverty in this country.
That’s why the children’s wards of our hospitals are seeing Kiwi kids sick with third world diseases.
It’s why Emma-Lita Bourne died in a state house because her home was mouldy and unhealthy and no one was willing to help.
We must never let anything like that happen again.
New Zealand, we have to be a better country than that.
We have to turn the page on the last seven years;
We have to turn the page on rising inequality, on child poverty, on the housing crisis and on cuts to our health system,
If we want to restore the Kiwi Dream then we have to change the government.
And, once we’ve done that, we have to change the way we govern, too.
Right now, it seems the government is more interested in slapstick and personal sledging than in genuine leadership;
It’s more interested in flags and pandas than in serious issues.
It seems like the latest political sideshow is often more important than what is happening to you or your family.
I didn’t become an MP to play palace politics.
I came into politics to help people.
To change lives.
To take this country forward.
I ran for the leadership of our party because I want to lead a Government that makes a genuine difference.
Today, I want to give New Zealanders a clear idea of the shape and character of the sixth Labour Government.
I want to show you how we’ll put Kiwi values back to work in our government, so everyone can live the Kiwi Dream.
It starts with restoring the values that should underpin how we run our economy.
We need to remember who we run the economy for.
People. New Zealanders. Their families.
This government’s forgotten that.
They’ve been rewarding property speculators, tax dodgers and big corporates at the expense of Kiwi families.
And here’s the truth: It hasn’t worked.
Just look at what’s happened in the last few months
Kiwis worked hard to make it through the recession and we were told better days were coming.
But just when we should be soaring, we’re stalling again.
Just this week we’ve learned the economy lost 11,000 jobs in the last three months.
Unemployment has hit 6% and it’s forecast to reach 7% by the end of next year.
That’s the highest level since the height of the GFC.
The economy is actually going backwards in half of our regions.
If we’re going to restore the Kiwi Dream of opportunity for everyone, we need a stronger economy
That starts with getting more New Zealanders into higher skilled, better paid jobs.
Ask me my three priorities as Labour Leader?
Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.
You can ask me my top ten as well but I think you get the gist.
A job is about more than just a pay packet, it’s about the dignity of work. It’s about a place and a purpose in your community.
Every Kiwi who can work should be able to work.
Every business that needs a skilled worker should be able to find one.
And where people can’t work, the government should support them because we don’t believe in throwing Kiwis on the scrap heap.
From day one, we’ll kick-start the economy.
- We’ll bring forward major infrastructure projects like the City Rail Link in Auckland and passenger rail in Canterbury.
- We’ll build better schools so every Kiwi kid can learn in a modern, high quality building.
- We’ll set up a Regional Infrastructure Fund for major development projects to create jobs and boost our regions.
We will be relentlessly focussed on the future. That’s why I’m proud of Grant Robertson’s Future of Work Commission, which is showing us how to build a better economy for the future.
We’ll help create thousands of new jobs in new industries by restoring research and development tax credits — giving our businesses a tax break on every dollar they spend on innovation.
We’ll modernise our education system so our kids are better prepared for jobs that haven’t even been invented yet.
And we’ll tackle climate change, because the only way our economy has a future is if our planet has a future.
That means aiming higher on renewable energy — we should be bold enough to say we want to see 100% renewable energy in New Zealand.
That also means doing better on reducing emissions. I want us to reach across the political divide, bring parties together and agree on ways to make New Zealand a leader on climate change. We don’t want to be a shirker on this issue. It’s too important.
That’s why Labour’s proposal for the Paris conference is a 40% CO2 reduction below 1990 levels. That’s the kind of ambition we need on this issue.
We also need to improve our social safety net so it works better in a world where people change their careers more often.
And today, I want to add the next element of Labour’s economic plan.
As you might have guessed, it’s about jobs.
It’s about the government lifting its game and living its values.
There are 151,000 New Zealanders out of work already and that number is only going to rise. 151,000.
On top of that, there’s 90,000 underemployed New Zealanders, and another 200,000 who can only find temporary work.
For everyone to have a fair shot at the Kiwi Dream, everyone needs a chance at a decent, secure job, and the government should be doing its bit to make that happen.
But it isn’t.
Not even on the most basic decisions.
The government spends $40 billion a year purchasing goods and services.
That’s huge buying power but, currently, government bodies only consider their own bottom line when they make purchasing decisions. Not the country’s bottom line, just their own.
They buy ‘cheaper’ options, often from overseas, regardless of the impact on New Zealand, even if it means Kiwis will lose work.
That’s the kind of dangerously short sighted thinking that has been behind some of the biggest government botch ups in the last few years.
- the Hillside workshop closure in Dunedin and asbestos in imported rail wagons;
- The Novopay debacle
- Kiwi businesses shut out of the $1.9 billion IRD computer system contract.
At a time when our economy is stalled and our regions are struggling, there is a better way.
So today I’m announcing the first part of our jobs plan.
We’ll use the government’s buying power to create jobs here at home instead of sending them off overseas.
We will make job creation and the overall benefit to New Zealand a priority in how the government chooses its suppliers.
No more shipping tax-payers’ money offshore and starving our own companies of business.
No more sending jobs overseas when they should be supporting a stronger economy here at home.
That’s billions of dollars that we will focus on creating jobs here in New Zealand.
And because we are putting existing money to better use, this policy has little to no fiscal cost.
Our plan, which we’re calling “Our Work, Our Future,” will put people to work, boost our businesses and it won’t break the bank.
Rebuilding the Kiwi Dream also means restoring opportunity to the thousands of New Zealand kids who are missing out — robbed of their future by the circumstances of their birth.
It means shining a light into dark corners of our country where people are trapped.
We still have 305,000 children living in poverty. 305,000.
2 out of 5 of those children have a parent who is working.
This can’t continue. It is unjust and it’s not who we are.
We all know this, but we’ve shrugged our shoulders and ignored it for far too long.
Well, that ends today.
I’m committing our party to a new principle:
We will not tolerate poverty in New Zealand in the 21st century.
We won’t tolerate the poverty of the human spirit that means we choose to leave hundreds of thousands of children languishing in deprivation.
We won’t tolerate the poverty of imagination that means we stop thinking of creative ways to bring that poverty to an end.
Because I know that when this speech is over we will hear the usual chorus of jaded and cynical voices. They’ll say:
“It can’t be done. It’s too ambitious. You’re dreaming.”
To the cynics I say this:
Even if you’ve given up, I haven’t. I won’t. Ever. It’s not who I am.
New Zealanders are sick and tired of a politics that’s defined by cynicism and devoid of ambition.
It’s time to do better.
New Zealand, I’m asking you to join with me in a concerted effort to eradicate poverty in our country.
In government, we will put action on poverty at the heart of everything we do.
We’ll increase the number of hours people can work without having their benefit cut — to give more people a pathway back into full time work.
We’ll work towards 100% qualified teachers in ECE centers so every kid can get the best start in life.
We’ll feed hungry kids with our food in schools programme and we’ll make sure every child grows up in a warm, safe, dry home with our Healthy Homes Guarantee.
And we will get serious about lifting wages by working with unions and employers on modern and progressive workplace relations that lifts productivity and shares the gains fairly.
Every decision my government makes will be checked against its impact on child poverty.
So, every Budget, every year, we won’t just report on GDP growth or how much money we’ve spent, we’ll front up and tell the country how many children a Labour government has lifted out of poverty.
The final part of rebuilding the Kiwi Dream is having a government that stands up for Kiwis again.
For many of us in this room, I know the TPPA is very important.
There are many things we still don’t know about what’s in the agreement.
But there is one thing we do know.
The National Government has signed us up to a clause that says we will not be able to make laws restricting the sale of land or housing to non-resident foreigners.
That’s what they’ve done.
They’ve signed us up to a commitment to other governments, and other people who don’t live in New Zealand, who don’t want to live in New Zealand, who don’t care about New Zealand.
That commitment limits what our democratically elected representatives in parliament can do.
And it’s wrong.
It’s wrong.
It’s an attack on democracy. It’s selling out our democratic right to make our own laws.
And this matters to me because I’ve had some fights for New Zealanders under some very bad laws.
I started my law career under the Employment Contracts Act — a terrible law that cut the wages of thousands of New Zealanders.
The reason I came to Parliament was to make sure that we had laws that were good for New Zealand.
And I’m not giving that away to anybody.
But I’m not the only one with that view.
Remember Peter Fraser — one of the founding voices of our party. He saw what was happening to the Waihi Miners and he saw that for ordinary people to have a shot at their dreams they needed a democratic government on their side.
That’s what is at stake here.
Can we hold on to our democratic rights? Not if we let National trade them away.
So, I’m telling you, when it comes to undermining our democracy and our sovereignty in the TPPA, I am totally opposed and I will fight with every fibre in my body to stop it, to resist it, to make sure it never happens in New Zealand.
Our party has always backed the Kiwi Dream.
For nearly 100 years Labour has been fighting for New Zealand.
And today, it’s our turn to continue that fight.
Today, too many people feel like their dreams are slipping away.
And this government isn’t standing up for Kiwis or for what we believe.
It’s up to us to turn this around.
In just two years, we can change the government and we can change this country.
We can restore opportunity.
We can create jobs.
We can end poverty and help Kiwis get ahead again.
Together, we can rise to the challenge of a new era, and chart a better course of our country.
I’m asking all of you today to make your voice heard.
I’m asking you to join our campaign, to talk to your neighbours and your friends and your family, to show them there is a better way.
Let’s send the message out from this hall today that the days of doing the easy thing are over.
It’s time to do the right thing.
The days of cowering to powerful vested interests are over.
It’s time to stand up for New Zealand.
The days of shrugging our shoulders and tolerating poverty and inequality are over.
It’s time to aim higher and do better.
It’s time to raise our sights.
We can do this.
We must do this, and we will do this.
New Zealand, together, it’s time for us to rebuild the Kiwi dream.
182 comments on “Andrew Little’s speech to the Labour 2015 conference ”
- Comments are now closed
Links to post
- Comments are now closed
Recent Comments
- Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 27
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...3 mins ago - Ticket To Anywhere
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...45 mins ago - Stories of varying weight
5 hours ago - Balancing External Security and the Economy
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...18 hours ago - Weekly Climate Wrap: The unravelling of the offsets
23 hours ago
- What makes us tick
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...24 hours ago - Foreshore and seabed 2.0
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...1 day ago - Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...1 day ago - The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...1 day ago - Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...1 day ago - God what a relief
1 day ago - Trust In Me
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...1 day ago - The Hoon around the week to July 26
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...1 day ago
- The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...1 day ago - Radical law changes needed to build road
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...1 day ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024
Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...2 days ago - First they came for the Māori
2 days ago - Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...2 days ago - Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?
2 days ago - Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...2 days ago - Olywhites and Time Bandits
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...2 days ago - Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...2 days ago
- Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...2 days ago
- The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...2 days ago - The Possum: Demon or Friend?
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...2 days ago - Not a story
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...2 days ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...2 days ago - A tougher line on “proactive release”?
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...3 days ago
- 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...3 days ago - Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...3 days ago - Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...3 days ago
- Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...3 days ago
- Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...3 days ago
- The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...3 days ago - LXR Takaanini
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...3 days ago
- Four kilograms of pain
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...3 days ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...3 days ago - Luxon gets caught out
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...3 days ago
- A worrying sign
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...4 days ago
- Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...4 days ago - Let's Win This
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...4 days ago - Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...4 days ago
- A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...4 days ago
- The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...4 days ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...4 days ago - HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...4 days ago
- 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...4 days ago - Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...5 days ago - Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...5 days ago
- Reported back
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...5 days ago
- Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...5 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...5 days ago
- Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...5 days ago - Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...5 days ago - Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...5 days ago - A speed limit is not a target, and yet…
This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...5 days ago
- The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...5 days ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...5 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...6 days ago
- I'd like to share what I did this weekend
6 days ago - For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...6 days ago - A friend in uncertain times
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...6 days ago - The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers
Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...6 days ago - It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...1 week ago - Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...1 week ago - Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...1 week ago - Flooding Housing Policy
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...1 week ago - A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...1 week ago - The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...1 week ago - The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...1 week ago - Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...1 week ago
- Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...1 week ago
- Tobacco First
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...1 week ago - Trump’s Adopted Son.
Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...1 week ago - The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...1 week ago
- Speech: Chris Hipkins’ Auckland hui address
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...2 hours ago - Release: Charter schools to remove the rights of teachers
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...23 hours ago
- Te iwi Māori will not stand for another Foreshore and Seabed
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...2 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Acknowledge the Need for Fundamental Change in State Care
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...2 days ago
- National disgrace for children in poverty
Shifting the goalposts on child poverty is a new low for the National-led government. ...2 days ago
- Release: National disgrace for children in poverty
Shifting the goalposts on child poverty is a new low for the National-led government. ...2 days ago
- Government quietly waters down child poverty targets
The Government’s move to dilute child poverty targets is a reminder that it is actively choosing to preserve hardship for thousands of households. ...2 days ago - Release: National jumps on Labour’s trains
National is so short on ideas it is now announcing Labour’s rail announcement from a year ago, Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...2 days ago
- Release: Opposition parties unite to protect ECE
Labour, the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori are uniting to stop the Government’s dangerous changes to the Early Childhood Education sector. ...2 days ago
- Release: Another step forward for survivors of abuse in care
Labour welcomes the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care’s final report and the government committing to a formal apology in November. ...3 days ago
- Govt must listen to experiences of abuse survivors
The Government must do all it can to bring abuse in care to an end following the release of the independent inquiry. ...3 days ago
- Release: Health New Zealand exposes Minister spinning in freefall
Health New Zealand contradicted the Government’s spin that back-office bureaucracy is the cause of overspend in the public health system. ...4 days ago
- Govt must act on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...4 days ago
- NZ Government Must Enforce ICJ Ruling
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...5 days ago
- Release: Listen PM, boot camps don’t work
Refusing to listen to evidence, experts or experience the Government is stubbornly marching ahead with its boot camps. ...7 days ago
- Release: Govt must act on ICJ ruling on illegal Israeli occupation
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...7 days ago
- Release: Rents up under National, promises fall flat
National Party policies which promised to put “downward pressure” on rents are having the opposite effect. ...1 week ago
- MSD figures show Govt determined to punish beneficiaries
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...1 week ago
- We need real solutions, not more failed boot camps – Willow-Jean Prime
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...1 week ago
- David Seymour is Unfit to Serve as Minister
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...1 week ago
- Renters suffer as soaring rents feed rising inflation
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...1 week ago
- National’s climate strategy undoes good progress
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...1 week ago
- Green Party releases executive summary of independent investigation
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...1 week ago
- Government back off track on climate action
Today’s Draft Emissions Reduction Plan shows the Government couldn’t care less about a liveable climate for all. ...1 week ago
- PM needs to step in over Shane Jones’ undeclared meeting
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori Opposes Three Strikes Amendment Bill
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...2 weeks ago
- Govt Determined to Make Aotearoa a Country of Disposable Renters
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...2 weeks ago
- Statement on retail crime Ministerial Advisory Group
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...2 weeks ago
- Statement from Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt Continues to Destructively Withhold Information
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...2 weeks ago
- Statement from Labour climate change spokesperson Megan Woods
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...2 weeks ago
- Eight ways National is making life harder for workers
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...3 weeks ago
- Waitlists up and workforce down under National
Health New Zealand’s recent quarterly performance report shows the public health system is going backwards under the National government. ...3 weeks ago
- Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...17 hours ago - AG reminds institutions of legal obligations
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...20 hours ago
- More young people learning about digital safety
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...20 hours ago
- Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...23 hours ago
- Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...1 day ago
- Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...1 day ago
- Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...1 day ago
- Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...1 day ago
- Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...2 days ago
- Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...2 days ago
- Test for Customary Marine Title being restored
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...2 days ago
- Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...2 days ago
- Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...2 days ago
- Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...2 days ago
- Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...3 days ago
- PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...3 days ago
- Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...3 days ago
- Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...3 days ago
- Half a million people use tax calculator
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...3 days ago
- Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...3 days ago
- Rebuilding the economy through better regulation
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...3 days ago
- ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...3 days ago
- Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...4 days ago
- Accelerating Northland Expressway
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...4 days ago
- Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...4 days ago
- Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...4 days ago
- NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...4 days ago
- Backing mental health services on the West Coast
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...4 days ago
- NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...4 days ago
- Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...4 days ago
- Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...5 days ago
- Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...5 days ago
- Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...5 days ago
- Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...7 days ago
- Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...7 days ago
- Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...1 week ago
- Update on global IT outage
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...1 week ago
- New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...1 week ago
- New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...1 week ago
- 'Pacific Futures'
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...1 week ago
- 'Enough is enough' – Chris Hipkins blasts government over Māori policies
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins says the coalition government is unfairly targeting Māori: "Each week they find new ways to keep Māori down." ...1 hour ago - Focus on Politics: Abuse in care report delivers demands for justice
The government has promised to listen to survivors, but how it responds and whether justice is served remains to be seen. ...6 hours ago
- Green AGM: Party processes will be respected on Darleen Tana issue, Chlöe Swarbrick says
A Green Party member is concerned that proper process will not be followed - but the party's co-leader says a vote will not be forced. ...6 hours ago
- Anne Salmond: What track was that?
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...6 hours ago - The Secret Diary of .. NZ’s Olympics hopefuls
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...6 hours ago
- Finally heard, seen – and believed
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...6 hours ago
- Short story: Fire Engines, by Gina Butson
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...6 hours ago
- Alice Munro’s shocking silence
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...6 hours ago
- Re-writing the timeline of the universe
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...6 hours ago
- The Weekend: If in doubt, go to the funeral
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...7 hours ago - ‘What a privilege’: Whitney from The Traitors NZ on life as a funeral director
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...7 hours ago
- Rich and rare: Bad Archive by Flora Feltham, reviewed
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham. In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...7 hours ago
- ‘Possibly the best live gig I have been to’: TRiPS’ perfect weekend playlist
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...7 hours ago
- Every sport at the Paris Olympics, ranked from least to most fun to watch
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch. The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa. But what sports ...7 hours ago
- The Sunday Essay: Remembering my brother
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...7 hours ago
- Dog of the month: Babushka, who is notorious in Newtown
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2 Breed: Border Collie X poodle If rescued, ...8 hours ago
- Photojournalist targeted by Israeli army carries Olympic torch in Paris
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...14 hours ago - 70 years on from tests, Marshallese women still fight for nuclear justice
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week. SPECIAL REPORT: By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...15 hours ago
- 'Israel must listen' – Luxon, Albanese, Trudeau issue joint support for US-backed ce...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...16 hours ago
- Politics with Michelle Grattan: ‘Teal’ Zoe Daniel on political donations, representing Jewish vo...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...17 hours ago
- China: still the world’s biggest emitter, but also an emerging force in climate diplomacy
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xu Yi-chong, Professor of Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University fuyu liu, Shutterstock Seven years seems a lifetime in politics. In 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. It prompted Canada, China and the ...17 hours ago
- Federal Court finds insufficient evidence Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. What does the science sa...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...17 hours ago
- The Week in Politics: Parliament set a vital task, Darleen Tana returns
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...17 hours ago
- Māori leader says government's controversial boot camps the wrong approach
Meihana Durie is concerned a camp draws from methodology popularised by the US marines. ...18 hours ago
- Twice as good for half the respect: Kamala Harris’ battle for the White House
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...18 hours ago
- Drone food delivery is spreading across Australia. Research suggests we will eat more junk food as a...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...18 hours ago
- Our research shows 4 in 10 Australians in aged care are malnourished. What can we do about it?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...18 hours ago
- Before there was diving and relays, there was the Poetry Olympics
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788. Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...19 hours ago
- Abuse in Care inquiry: Judith Collins warns of possible prosecutions if records destroyed
Judith Collins is reminding all state and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records. ...19 hours ago
- Health star labels move closer to being mandatory. But food companies could still (legally) game the...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...20 hours ago
- Abuse in Care inquiry: Call for Pacific focused redress pathway
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...21 hours ago
- Education Review Office Pragmatism Will Really Help The Sector While The Regulation Review Is Underw...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...21 hours ago - Watch: Christopher Luxon's security cut short visit ahead of protest
The prime minister was speaking to reporters during a walkabout with police in central Auckland. ...22 hours ago
- Christopher Luxon calls for witnesses to alleged '80s politician paedophile ring to speak out
Christopher Luxon says anyone with evidence about claims involving politicians and civil servants in the 1980s should go to police. ...22 hours ago
- Co-chairs Of Te Rūnanga Nui O Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori Welcome The Waitangi Tribunal Report –...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...22 hours ago
- Why this season of The Traitors is the best reality TV NZ has ever made
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...22 hours ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘The clothes of the dead’ by Fiona Kidman
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...22 hours ago
- Ngāi Tahu Challenges Changes To MACA
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...22 hours ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 26
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...23 hours ago
- Overturning Court Of Appeal Decision On Foreshore And Seabed Is Abuse Of Power
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...23 hours ago
- Gang crackdown: why anti-patch policies backfire – and what would actually work
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...23 hours ago
- Watch: Christopher Luxon's security cut short visit short ahead of protest
The prime minister was speaking to reporters during a walkabout with police in central Auckland. ...23 hours ago
- Overruling court on coastal rights risks new protests, Te Pāti Māori warns
Te Pāti Māori is warning a move to overturn a court decision risks a return of the big foreshore and seabed protests of 20 years ago. ...23 hours ago
- New Zealanders in action: When and who to watch in week one of the Paris Olympics
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...23 hours ago
- The local science that just made a huge cameo in The Kardashians
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...24 hours ago
- Can Israel and Hezbollah be pulled back from the brink of war?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...24 hours ago
- Lupus is more common and severe in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Learning why is cr...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...24 hours ago
- Government Fails To Recognise Parallels Between Whakapakari And Its Boot Camps
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...1 day ago
- Crown breached Treaty principles in school reform – Waitangi Tribunal
A Waitangi Tribunal report has found the Crown breached Treaty principles in its review and reform of schools between 2018 and 2022. ...1 day ago
- Zero stars: Rating the experience of death and dying in Aotearoa
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...1 day ago
- Not one, but two meteor showers are about to peak – here’s how to catch the stellar show
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...1 day ago
- Ministry of Education puts 100 school building projects on ice
Deferring the builds and rescoping 110 others will save $2 billion, the ministry says. ...1 day ago
- How Tāmaki Makaurau became home to the world’s only lesbian museum
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...1 day ago
- Protest At French Embassy Calls Out Hypocrisy In Kanaky As Paris Olympics Begin
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...1 day ago
- Chicken wire, AI and mobile phones on sticks: how the drone war in Ukraine is driving a fierce battl...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...1 day ago
- What happens in my brain when I get a migraine? And what medications can I use to treat it?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...1 day ago
- How old, inefficient housing and time-of-use electricity rates are leaving some households worse off
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...1 day ago
- Landmark new research shows how global warming is messing with our rainfall
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...1 day ago
- Timber venues, river swimming and re-use: how the Paris Olympics is going green – and what it’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, Paris Ekaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...1 day ago
- An Ode to Newtown Sports Bar, Wellington’s last great pub
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...1 day ago
- Health commissioner in meetings over new Dunedin Hospital cost blowout
The spotlight will then turn on the proposed new regional hospitals for Nelson, Hawke’s Bay, Tauranga and Palmerston North The post Health commissioner in meetings over new Dunedin Hospital cost blowout appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Declining PhD student numbers are a warning sign for NZ’s future knowledge economy
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...1 day ago
- Migrant workers have long been too scared to report employer misconduct. A new visa could change thi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...1 day ago
- The chaotic history of the Olympics in Paris, where one games nearly ended the movement – and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...1 day ago
- ‘Bloodbath’, ‘bullseye’, ‘America’s Hitler’: why has our political rhetoric gotten so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from both sides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...1 day ago
- Politics, security and the Seine: where the Paris Olympics’ flashpoints will be
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...1 day ago
- Leaked Health NZ restructure proposal shines light on latest job cuts
There's "shock and dismay" at the health body with another "brutally fast" round of redundancies looming, one insider says. ...1 day ago
- Revisiting the cost of dying
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The cost of dying ...1 day ago
- The state care decision that rippled through four generations
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...1 day ago
- Mt Victoria Tunnel, Basin Reserve plans: NZTA spent seven times more on consultants than on its own ...
Staff working on a second Mt Victoria Tunnel and the Basin Reserve upgrade were paid $175,000 - but consultants were paid nearly $1.3 million. ...1 day ago
- Will Gen X ever be able to retire?
Caught between ageing parents and struggling kids, retirement planning is tough for a whole generation. ...1 day ago
- Minister defends lowered child poverty targets as 'achievable'
Louise Upston has rejected criticisms of lowered child poverty reduction targets, saying they are achievable and ambitious. ...1 day ago
- What is the wildest Brokenwood Mysteries death of all time?
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...1 day ago
- ‘It’s a no-brainer’: Why Aotearoa needs to ride the wave of water cremation
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...1 day ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 July
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
Very much looking forward to the speech. It’s going to cap off what’s been a terrific weekend. 500 plus delegates at conference, a united caucus, debate without divisiveness or rancour, and plenty of humour and positivity. Top work, people!
I won’t hold my breath for anything demonstrating an understanding of, or commitment to, the principles of social justice. Just vague, open-ended clichés uttered to appear all things to all people and camouflage the schisms within the Party hierarchy (the grassroots haven’t counted in the Party for a long time now). The only positive that I can see is that this outfit won’t be forming a government any time soon. Perhaps another political group might take up the challenge?
Just got back from Palmerston North having seen Andrew Little’s speech. He was outstanding! Absolutely inspiring. Wow, just Wow.
Haha! “Nothing demonstrating an understanding of or commitment to the principles of social justice.” ? Still got both feet in your mouth, Mike? Admit you were impressed!
Yes, I have my worries too, with social justice being honoured.
Also, there will be a huge challenge for Annette King, to convince with Labour’s new direction and policy on health, which we do of course have little or no detail about, as she does continually get slammed for the long waiting queues in hospitals under Labour’s last term, and for some cancer patients having had to go to Australia for treatment.
It is easy to get excited about inspirational speeches, it is another thing to convince with the policy and more detail that needs to follow next year. Having had a “mixed record” will mean King has to work extra hard, despite of her mature age, to turn enough middle class voters around, which Labour seems to still largely focus on.
didn’t sound like Andrew was talking about middle class voters….
It was mentioned often enough over the year, before the conference, and all Labour have done so far, is designed to win votes off National, where National did in the last elections take votes off Labour (see some electorates voting Nats for party vote and only the Labour MP for the seat). So it is a logical conclusion, which includes the reasoning for doing away again with the capital gains tax.
And ditching the NZ Power policy. Middle class property owners don’t care if their power bill is $20 more a month. Only beneficiaries and those on low wages do.
Hey, they will get “jobs, jobs, jobs”, CV.
It seems that there are too many malingerers that need to see their doctor again, or one of Dr Bratt’s hatchet doctors:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/BO%2012%20830am%20David%20Bratt%20Benefit%20were%20a%20Drug%20V2.pdf
Trust the still employed Ministry of Social Development “expert” who was brought in under the Labour government in 2007 (taking up ideas from the UK).
And it is all “evidence based”, people just need to work and try harder, and they will see the light, and climb up that ladder and join the middle class property owners. Question is what size and shape “property” will they be able to buy from say the minimum wage or just above?
Renters “happily” pay those 20 extra dollars for power a month, when passed on by their landlords, will they not?
Great MCing from Tamati Coffey, who introduces special musical guests The Eastern. Wow! Anybody know who sings at National Party gigs? Are they even allowed to have fun at their conferences?
The speech is being held at the gorgeous and historic Regent Theatre. It’s packed.
Is it being streamed any where?
the Regent seats over 1500 people.
It’s live now on Facebook – like Andrew’s page. The speech has been emailed round as well.
https://www.facebook.com/AndrewLittleLabour/videos/vb.144189409008536/914021465358656/?type=2&theater¬if_t=live_video
Just getting sight can’t be found page.
Is it dawning on anyone yet that James Shaw is about as green as the Cookie Monster? I cannot see this guy going into government with Labour but as long as he can hold 5% of the vote his version of the “Greens” should comfortably see National back in in 2017!
Never ever underestimate the power and the influence of corporate wealth!
Ok, any evidence at all that shaw is all about corporates? Or is it just because he was a high flyer in business that he must have a similar agenda. Great to see so much concern from your side of the fence, hes obviously a threat.
Shaws not a threat, especially not to the big business establishment. And neither is Labour.
No one is really a threat to big business until big it’s power is on the wane – the capacity for meeting that moment well is what is needed, and a less sycophantic attitude to big business, as in The days of cowering to powerful vested interests are over.
This is a general, positioning speech, and as such, I like it. “We will not tolerate poverty in New Zealand in the 21st century,” is a strong, unambiguous statement, especially when coupled with a stated commitment to not throwing people on the scrap heap. I also like the emphasis on jobs and wages, and the non-coy mention of the unions in relation to this. I would like to hear more about housing – not just that more will own houses, or that houses will be warm and dry, but that everyone will have a roof over their head, and will no longer be at risk of being uprooted at the whim of a property developer. At the same time I can see that it will take effort and imagination to move the economy from speculative bubbles to real activities.
But at least it is clear now that Labour is moving on from third way triangulation and violent hostility to anyone who rejects it, toward something that looks far more positive and inviting.
sorry but Labour cant even hold firm to watered down policy like NZ Power. Their ability to stand by anything truly left wing which isnt just small scale tinkering on the edges is zero.
Nothing would ever make you happy mate. If you’d paid attention you’d know Labour has said it’s going to tackle high electricity bills and explicitly called out overpaid power company execs. But NZ Power was too complex and bureaucratic, and people didn’t understand it or believe it would actually bring down their power bills.
There are more ways to skin a cat and it’s a wise move to revisit that policy. But you just want to use every chance you get to attack the Labour Party. Why don’t you just leave and let the rest of us get on with trying to organise and win? All you do is drag us down and it’s time we stopped tolerating people who do that.
“All you do is drag us down and it’s time we stopped tolerating people who do that.”
You sound like a fucking dictator. I’m not a member of the Labour party so I can’t leave it but I won’t be told to stop voicing criticism of a party that holds itself out to be a left wing party but then does everything to suggest that it isn’t. The Labour party does not have a monopoly on all things left wing and it certainly cannot tell people to stop criticising it for helping to maintain the stronghold on political thought the right-wing currently enjoy in New Zealand. Believing it can be so easily “dragged down” by those it wants to silence is pretty telling.
@KK
Completely agree with you. For some it doesn’t matter what Labour do or say, Labour are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
haha free speech all that …. this is why left won’t win … this attitude of … damn the dissenters, strike them down, shut them up, don’t let them speak … too many lefty Hitler nutters like you ruin it for the rest
[lprent: You realise that I look at behaviour rather than opinions don’t you? Too many comments like this bit of stupid trolling and I will be happy to show you just how much I dislike dumbarse trolls who can’t say anything worth reading. KK wrote a reasonable comment that people may or may not agree with. It included the reasoning, and an analysis of effect.
You just wasted bandwidth with being a stupid munter and with a clear intent of starting a flamewar. You also stated an untruth about this site, which I detest. I’d suggest that you read the policy and don’t try that again. I’m liable to start treating you as another idiot troll. This is your warning. ]
Your concern is so sincere and not in any way infested with malice 🙄
If you can’t handle the truth that some ( I repeat some) nutters on here want to silence anyone with a different view, then that says a lot more about you, than me. “All you do is drag us down and it’s time we stopped tolerating people who do that”. Words of free speech? I don’t think so. That was my point. If me calling BS on that line is trolling, fine. I have a different definition. Ban me then, and further highlight my point. Well, it won’t highlight anything, because no one will see it. I will be silenced, in silence. Nice work!
😆
Calling BS on that line, and adding several more lines of your very own malice-infested BS.
Slow clap. Munters unite.
The power scenario is changing rapidly at the moment, with massive take up of solar, etc. Revisiting it regularly is essential – maybe this is something being chewed over with the Greens. Patience, you old moaner.
yeah theres a massive take up of solar amongst the 1% to 2%.
“Shaws not a threat, especially not to the big business establishment”
The idea that Shaw is a right wing corporate shill is a right wing dirty politics meme. Pretty sure that maui meant that Shaw is seen as a threat by the right, not because he is right wing but because he’s the GP co-leader and can move in traditional right wing circles. He’s also set to take the GP more mainstream with the idea of picking up more votes. Hence the need to undermine the Green vote by pushing the idea that Shaw is a rightie.
Had the chance to meet Shaw for the first time a couple weeks ago. Interesting fellow – I certainly got the impression that he’d be very comfortable in the corporate world; he’s got the sort of brain that makes connections, sees opportunities to advance one’s position and so forth. Add this to his clear capacity to ‘speak the lingo’ and you can certainly understand why the sorts of comments we’re talking about continue to have legs. That all said, if you listen to what he’s actually saying, you’ll immediately realise he’s anything but a Tory and has a deep commitment to the Green cause.
I think that’s very true Alethios and I wish more people would listen to what his words directly. It also reminds me of what people used to say about Norman when he was first co-leader. The GP didn’t end up selling out or being captured by the corporate world. People fear that Shaw is a Trojan Horse, but they don’t realise that his job is to co-opt the corporate world not the other way round.
“Hence the need to undermine the Green vote by pushing the idea that Shaw is a rightie.”
Interesting when the same people painted former Greens leaders as the loony left. What a funny world we live in.
He was a low flyer in a high flying business. He has vastly overstated.
Getting more threatening by the hour.
re …” James Shaw is about as green as the Cookie Monster?”…yup I think he is bringing down the Green vote…certainly some I know wont be hosting Green Party billboards again
….these former Green Party supporters will probably go to NZF or Labour…cant see them going to jonkey nactional (…if I were a Green MP I would be worried though)
How’s that relevant to a post on labours speech!
Andrew’s section on Climate Change?
And, eg “we should be bold enough to say we want to see 100% renewable energy in New Zealand.”
100% renewable energy!
Imagine the Nats saying anything like that?
Labour should put David Cunliffe as spokesperson on Environment and Climate Change…it would be a BIG HIT vote winner for them!
(…I know of environmentalists that almost voted Green last Election but decided on Labour in the last week before the Election because they were worried the Greens were going soft on jonkey nactional )
….that said Labour MUST come out against the TPPA…or the environment is stuffed
Yeah. What did Little say about looking after the poor? Very Little? That Labour is the party for the workers…err…I mean the employed?
Chris, I was there, I heard the speech. He was talking passionately about reducing poverty and being very accountable for reducing child poverty. Read the speech. He was also talking about creating jobs, so those who wanted to work could.
I’ve read the speech. And yes, he talked about reducing poverty. But his rhetoric was couched in terms of the mecca that is employment. No difference from what the fucking nats talk about. There’s nothing there referring to the group David Lange called “those who can’t quite cut it”. Until Labour start talking about all New Zealanders instead of just their productive contributors they’ll continue to prop up every neo-liberal government that beats them at the polls.
Right-wing enough for you, Leftie? Fuckwit.
@Chris
Obsessed much? Try and exercise some self control, people might think you are a fuckwit, no doubt they already do.
Yes he did, Chris – it sounds as though you were just too exercised to be listening properly
“And where people can’t work, the government should support them because we don’t believe in throwing Kiwis on the scrap heap.”
But the rhetoric is still clamped to employment. What Little has said here (and it’s throwaway in the context of everything else he said) is no different from what Jenny Shipley, Paula Bennett or Anne Tolley today would say. If you want to get down to analysing precise words it’s in what’s meant by “can’t work”, but that’s not the point. The point is that Little has not said anything that says Labour is going to change its position on how it believes those who are not employed should be treated. At the moment that position is no different to the severe nastiness the current government is dishing out to those unfortunate to be in need of a social welfare benefit. Ask Shipley, Bennett, Tolley if they believe in a social welfare system that looks after those who cannot look after themselves and they’ll yes. So will Labour, but the reality for that group is very different. It’s not a coincidence that the government’s latest nasty legislative attack on beneficiaries was supported by Labour. How the fuck does that work?
Are you being paid to talk this rubbish?
Labour’s position on welfare benefits is indistinguishable from National’s. This has been the case for a while now. Labour voted with National in support of the government’s latest nasty attack on beneficiaries. Are you saying this is rubbish? What has Little said at the conference that suggests things will be different? If you think that him saying “where people can’t work, the government should support them because we don’t believe in throwing Kiwis on the scrap heap” is evidence of this, what makes this different from what the likes of Shipley, Bennett and now Tolley have always said?
“Shipley, Bennett and now Tolley” chgrhchhhyuk….. furball
are you for effing real?
rtfs
@JanM
Wondering that myself, obviously he is being paid by the National party.
Shipley, Bennett et al have never stopped saying “there will always be help for those who truly need it”. I see no difference between this and what Little said at the conference. Until he and Labour come up with the detail to back up the rhetoric that lack of difference remains. And I’m not holding my breath because not once since 2008, while in opposition, has Labour ever attempted to provide that detail. To the contrary, they’ve gone so far as supporting anti-beneficiary government legislation. I do not know why people become so hostile whenever this is pointed out. It’s as if the left no longer care and that making sure we maintain an adequate safety net for ‘those who can’t quite cut it’ isn’t fashionable anymore so we have to stomp on anyone who has the temerity to raise the issue.
We won’t be able to look after the unemployed if hardly anyone has got a job!
If hardly anyone has a job we’ll have to rethink our values.
No, we’ll have to rethink our socioeconomic structures.
Is it dawning on anyone yet that James Shaw is about as green as the Cookie Monster? I cannot see this guy going into government with Labour but as long as he can hold 5% of the vote his version of the “Greens” should comfortably see National back in in 2017!
Never ever underestimate the power and the influence of corporate wealth!
You’re ill-informed. Shaw doesn’t get to dictate who the GP goes into coalition with, and it’s virtually impossible for the GP exec/caucus to choose a coalition with National without the members’ support. The GP, members and Shaw have all said multiple times that they are opposed to a National government and are actively working towards a Labour/GP coalition.
http://thestandard.org.nz/green-politics/
You are making shit up, which begs the question of why. Get your facts right, or you look like a dirty politics right wing trole.
Posting off topic like this also makes you look like a trole.
Its not “troleing”, its thinking wider than just this speech. To quote The Daily Blog “At this Conference, Labour were going to tell New Zealand who their preferred political partners would be so that there is no confusion about what form of coalition government could be formed post the election, but those plans of transparency were put on hold when the Greens and NZ First refused to agree to that announcement”.
Leaving NZ First to one side, Andrew Little’s speech is looking forward, laying out a general vision but it can only work if the Greens are firmly on board! But right when Labour want to give the electorate a clear picture of where they are going the Greens go missing. I don’t know why but the pissing around with the Red Peak fiasco that bailed National out was an own goal by the Greens or was it?. So either Shaw makes the right noises and stops fence sitting or one cannot help but feel he is having a dollar each way and that would be awfully convenient for National wouldnt it, because the wheeler dealer that Key is, will milk the indecison for all its worth. I hope I am wrong and the Greens are on board but who knows?
Thanks for putting your comment in context. It always helps to link so people know what you are referring to. Here’s Bradbury’s comment on Waatea News,
http://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_story_id/MTE2MjM=/opinion/NZ-Labour-Party-Conference-2015
There’s a few probems with that. One is that we only have Bradbury’s word that Labour had intended to make an announcement re coalition partners and that NZF and the GP refused. I’d like to see that corroborated somewhere else (Bradbury’s stance on the whole GP/National thing doesn’t make any sense, he also hasn’t backed up his claim and I think this makes him a biased and unreliable source on this issue).
If it is true, we’d also need to see the reasons that the GP refused, they might have been quite valid.
The other problem is that Bradbury is expressing opinion that Shaw can make the GP form a coalition with National, but it goes against all the evidence. Please have a look at my link above for an explanation of why it’s not Shaw’s choice, and how it would be extremely difficult for that to happen even if Shaw wanted it (which he doesn’t). It would require a nationwide change of stance amongst the membership including going through a remit process at least one AGM. Have a go at explaining how you think that might happen, because I can’t see it.
When you make factually incorrect assertions as you did with your first comment, you damage the left. What you said is almost word for word a right wing dirty politics meme aimed at undermining the GP and thus preventing a left wing govt. Is that what you want? If you can back up your statements, please do so, but I’m afraid ‘Bradbury said it’s true’ doesn’t count in this case.
Please also have a look at what the GP and Shaw himself actually say (not what others say they say). Read/listen to Shaw’s speeches and interviews. He is very clear that he is actively working against a National govt and for a Labour/GP coalition.
Yes that is the elephant in the room and if anyone remembers how it was when Big Norm died and the party slid down the inevitable slope into Piggy’s hungry mouth only to be shat out into the shocking corporate abyss of ultraconservatism and to have the same thing with Bolger and Shipley and the ultimate insult of this present yappy yuppy govt
We have got a battle to convince this country that once Key has done his job for the OVERSEAS INTEREST who need the strategic position of this country for their ends we wont have a country we can call our own
Instead of ryegrass and clover it will be kikuyu and paspalum, and global warming for your future
Here’s a word cloud of the speech.
And here’s the text of the speech itself.
Thanks ovid
As part of cost cutting at fairfax verson small is using smaller words in place of words actually used by Little
Great Speech !…but unless Labour rejects the TPPA…they won’t get my vote
Nor mine
+ 1
Well that’s just fine then – happy to take responsibility for NZ to get another 3 years of this lot?
+1.
As far as I can see, the direction that Andrew Little has indicated with putting Kiwis first is incompatible with the TPP clauses of “no less favourable than
that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own …”
Remember that Labour do not get to vote and it is the executive, ie National Party Cabinet who vote yes or no to TPP.
I expect to see Labour out in force this coming Saturday in the marches.
@ TPP +1
+100
And not just on the overseas buying up our country part. The TPP is dirty through and through for Jobs, education, sovereignty and the environment. In fact I am least worried about what nationality is buying up the country, compared to corporates destroying our environment (oceans, rivers, forests, urban design etc) and suing the government over not getting their own way on tenders and contracts like Serco and taking Kiwi jobs and lowering wages and work conditions, forcing ideology on us like charter schools, making us pay more for health and welfare.
If Labour focus just on some tenuous property clause they leave the idea lingering that they still support the rest of the TPPA which destroys the above. And the China TA has already given up our property rights anyway in real terms.
The only utility in his speech is that it provides broad rhetoric for showing later on that there was never an intention for anything to change and explaining how under Labour the rich got richer and the poor died.
what rubbish – you still haven’t read the speech have you….
I still don’t get it – why isn’t he allowed to favour keeping the OK bits in the TPP, and reject, or demand renegotiation of, the bad bits, as he’s saying? True, the latter would probably amount to ditching the whole thing; but in the meantime, isn’t that a reasonable attitude?
It’s bigger than both of us, Marsha.
Loved this.
“Jobs jobs jobs”
Yes.
Labour refuses to spend extra billions into the economy ergo there will be few new jobs.
“We’ll set up a Regional Infrastructure Fund for major development projects to create jobs and boost our regions.”
Sounds like spending to me.
It is spending, higher tax’s or will he print money ?.
“”We’ll use the government’s buying power to create jobs here at home instead of sending them off overseas.””
Hire kiwis to build stuff instead of farming out the jobs to the lowest overseas bidder. It might cost more but as the wages are paid and spent here it all ads to the churn of cash in the system.
For overseas companies in countries where we have free trade agreements the Government is not permitted to do what you are suggesting. Australian companies for starters.
and thats where the absurdity of Labour’s pro free trade pro TPP positioning becomes obvious.
He’s already signaled he wants a fairer tax system.
I think you can take that to mean higher taxes. For the rich.
Higher taxes for the rich might help a small number of people for a short period of time but do nothing to address the thinking that drives neo-liberal values that are now firmly embedded in our culture. Not only can higher taxes for the rich be wiped out as quickly as an election result, Labour has to actually introduce and implement them (let alone become the government, although I suppose eventually they might in government again, I guess when is the question). Labour’s track record carrying out what it says it will do is abysmal so hearing them say things like they’ll tax the rich rings pretty empty. Just look at the recent CGT announcement? I’d put a hundy on Labour trying to reintroduce lifting the age of NZS, too. They’re not even in bloody government yet.
It all comes down to the fact that Labour’s philosophical foundation is fractured, inconsistent, incoherent, contradictory, fundamentally flawed, non-existent…whatever you want to call it it’s broken. Until that’s fixed or that some other viable option emerges that replaces the current Labour arrangement the left in New Zealand is fucked.
yep, Labour is riven by class contradictions. Whereas National is the party of the self interested top 1% Labour is the party of the socially conscious top 10%.
But each of those groups is as heavily invested in the current capitalist order as the other.
Viewed through that lens, the behaviour of todays Labour is utterly understandable.
or a crackdown on avoidence?
major development project = more jobs = more tax revenue = more funding
Andrew talked of ensuring govt departments procure stuff from NZ rather than overseas, worth some billion. Its a winner.
foreign corporations will sue NZ if Crown tender terms are biased against them.
Does it say that in the TPPA Colonial V? Genuine question.
the investor chapter of the TPP gives corporates wide lattitude in suing the government if government actions damage their business interests.
But, that doesn’t mean they *will* sue. Just that they can.
I think you’d need a specific action by the government that was directly against the interests of a particular company or industry in order to engender a lawsuit (eg, plain packaging of tobacco).
A generic / blanket change in tender terms seems unlikely to get anyone het up, especially as we’re most likely talking about government projects in the millions to tens of millions range. Very small plankton in the global marketplace.
another good reason that Andrew is opposing TPPA “with every fibre in [his] body to stop it, to resist it, to make sure it never happens in New Zealand. “
How is he going to do that when several free trade agreements – including CER – prohibit it? If an Australian company submits the lowest price in a tender (and meets all the other tender requirements) they get the contract.
What do you think would happen if Australian governments did that?
What is being proposed is called “protectionism”. It is not a vote winner at all. The Labour Party will be ridiculed and lose the next election on this policy alone.
So many easy wins out there and Andrew Little can’t see them.
What’s wrong with protectionism?
If we didn’t protect our industry we would still be in the 1870’s.
http://www.paecon.net/PAEtexts/Chang1.htm
“Almost all of today�s rich countries used tariff protection and subsidies to develop their industries. Interestingly, Britain and the USA, the two countries that are supposed to have reached the summit of the world economy through their free-market, free-trade policy, are actually the ones that had most aggressively used protection and subsidies”.
you are soooo slow –
opposing TPPA is a quick win …. the TPPA is clearly stacked in favour of the big lobby groups, undermines the very essence of ‘free trade’ and ‘level playing field’ and runs counter to the ‘kiwi dream’
The fact Little said this is good and if it actually happened it’d be good but it’s also a drop in the ocean when you’re talking about making New Zealand a fair society. It’d also be good if saying these things were intended to be part of a beginning of building a fairer New Zealand but I fear Labour’s too fractured for this to be the case. And even if it were the case, it would only take the likes of Nash and Davis and their wee army of mates to shut down anything that came close. And that’s why Labour’s fucked.
Chris
You are entitled to your opinion but I disagree, particularly your last sentence.
Thanks John. I should’ve added that I also hope that I’m wrong.
No point having a job though if you can’t earn enough to live on and have zero hours to work. He did mention high paid jobs but it is the ‘high paid’ that is important and the security of the employment.
Is that it?
It’s a Conference Speech, not a policy release.
the lead up to Conference was ditching policy. Conference didn’t fill the resulting vacuum with new policy. Lets see if and when Labour can introduce ideas that it is willing to stick by.
It’s a good speech. It hits on the core issues and does so by drawing strongly on Labours heritage. It presents with clarity and a declared sense of purpose.
If this is Little’s starting point – then I await the next steps with interest.
Yes a bit of inspiration instead of all this aspiration rubbish we’ve had to listen to for 8 long years.
+1 – That is a good way of putting it.
If I hear a left of centre politician mention THE WORD (aspiration – oooh that hurt) even in passing… they’re off my Christmas card list. 😈
Well, there was “ambition”, “opportunity”, ‘the Kiwi Dream” (repeatedly, not unlike the “American Dream”), the “aspirations that we all share”, “simple aspirations” and “every person must have the opportunity to realise their full potential”.
Admittedly, these phrases tended to be more aligned with Kirk’s comments about what most New Zealanders wanted than with the hyperventilating aspirational ‘Masters of the Universe’ rhetoric that people like John Key seem enamoured with.
One criticism I’d make of Little’s choice of rhetoric is that it didn’t target structures and systems (not that those particular words would need to be used).
Instead, it was still the individualistic lexicon of ‘hard work’, ‘opportunity’, who ‘can’ and ‘is able’ to work, ‘values’, etc..
And, other than continual reference to ‘kiwis’ there wasn’t much direct reference to a sense of us being a collective – just comments about what “most [individual] Kiwis believe” or value.
As if we are only united to the extent that we, individually, have certain values or beliefs in common. (And, of course, tomorrow some of us may ‘change our minds’ and have different beliefs or values from each other …)
I listened via the fb link through the entire speech – I was applauding (out loud – my dog looks a bit bemused). I feel more optimistic about the future than I have felt at any time in the last ten years.
Were you not optimistic when Cunliffe was rolling out policy 18 months ago, and if not, wht not?
Well, that was great! A really nice touch afterwards; Andrew ignored the media and went outside to talk to migrant families (Palmy is one the main places new Kiwis are settled in).
A couple of points from the speech stood out. Firstly, stating that the Government will spend it’s money here first and foremost. Putting those billions to work here in NZ has to be a direct and immediate challenge to the TPPA. Secondly, ‘the Kiwi dream’. I think we’re going to be hearing more of that phrase in the next couple of years. It sure beats John Key’s Honolulu dreaming.
Speaking of Key, Little didn’t mention the current PM by name. I think that’s clever; it minimizes and diminishes National’s only asset.
Didn’t help the aussies in the rwc.
Rugby isn’t a personal popularity contest like the Nats have made NZ politics.
Quite right, but I think England used the same tactic when they won their RWC. The point is that I reckon there’s a switch from focussing on what a pants government we’ve currently got and promoting what the alternative party offers. That’s possibly a quite significant change in tack.
Agreed – it’s important IMO to not just frame the issues in terms of failure of the government, but to also frame them in terms of solutions that the Opposition will put into place once in Government.
People no this government is “pants” if labour can stay the course and avoid getting trapped by the dirty politics coming there way there’ll be a good old fashioned landslide in 2017.
+1. Good to see you back in town too, te reo putake
The other thing Labour should do is to concentrate on civil servant jobs (council and government) as their security is being eroded by the Natz floozies being put into every post as their bosses and constant restructuring and rebranding.
They should also look at the difference in pay between lowest to highest worker. That will be the way to reduce inequality.
Also a lot of people who could be voting Labour have jobs but are scared of instability
so they should concentrate on stable change AWAY from neoliberalism.
Not stable change INTO Neoliberalism i.e. supporting TPP.
+100 savenz
“The other thing Labour should do is to concentrate on civil servant jobs.”
_____________________
Just take a deep breath and read that 3 times. Now you seriously think this is a strategy to win an election? It is not.
What amazes me is how many intelligent people are still inclined to vote Labour, but simply will not do so when there is a dearth of substantive policies, and reigning Key Derangement Syndrome. So to provide a variation on a theme I have mentioned previously, how about some sensible policies that people will actually vote for?
1. Early Childhood Education. The capture of early childhood education by middle and upper income earners is a disgrace. They can pay for it themselves. Get high quality ECE into South Auckland, in serious volume. It will change lives. Why is that not on the Labour agenda? The current policies are regressive. They should be a prime target for the Labour Party to fix.
2. Fix schools. The last Labour government poured huge funding increases into schools. It made almost no difference. So what is the Labour plan? I don’t see one.
3. Climate change. Reverse deforestation, and put a price on carbon. Champion international emissions trading.
4. Be bold on housing. Auckland is a disaster. It needs a serious response. I have seen nothing from Labour that seriously responds to the NZPC report on housing affordability.
5. Mental health in young people, especially young men. It is a national emergency and it needs to be addressed.
6. Helping older men retrain. Too many men in their 50s are ending up on the scrapheap.
7. Investing in infrastructure and congestion charging. Pricing access to roads is something that politicians simply will not tackle.
8. Improving the efficiency of local government. It is a debacle. You can’t have a country with local government taxes (rates) going up in real terms forever and people being shafted by enormous consenting fees. Done properly, local government reform policies could win serious numbers of votes.
I could keep going.
What this very short list shows is that you could launch a credible centre-left agenda that would win votes. But it needs to be substantive. Stop the slogans and agree on some worthwhile outcomes and real policies.
And stop dreaming that everything the current Government does is crap. Nobody is going to buy that line. Figure out what you can do better and campaign on that. Stop even mentioning John Key. Give it up.
Or Labour can carry on like they are and National will be in office until at least 2023.
“7. Investing in infrastructure and congestion charging. Pricing access to roads is something that politicians simply will not tackle.”
That will basically price the poor off the roads.
2. Fix schools. The last Labour government poured huge funding increases into schools. It made almost no difference.
Yes, comparing our PISA scores from 2003 and 2008 we were right up there with the best in the world for the whole of Lab5. Since then we’ve been going backwards.
As you know, however, the most influential factor on education outcomes is household income. Pretending society stops at the school gate is just another way of shifting the blame from incompetent troughing public policy advisors and right wing dogma.
Sry’s solution to our education system would be ‘privatisation’ and ‘competition’.
He would probably hand over all of South Auckland’s schools to Destiny Church — end up having a generation of kids who think homosexuals are vermin and the earth was created by a magic wand.
please don’t
“take a deep breath and read that 3 times. Now you seriously think this is a strategy to win an election? It is not”.
Unlike running down the civil service to the stage where it cannot fulfil it’s functions.
“What amazes me is how many intelligent people are still inclined to vote Labour, but simply will not do so when there is a dearth of substantive policies, and reigning Key Derangement Syndrome. So to provide a variation on a theme I have mentioned previously, how about some sensible policies that people will actually vote for”.
It always amuses me when the right wing tell a left wing party what to do to get votes. It almost always involve becoming more of a “right wing” party.
“. Early Childhood Education. The capture of early childhood education by middle and upper income earners is a disgrace. They can pay for it themselves. Get high quality ECE into South Auckland, in serious volume. It will change lives. Why is that not on the Labour agenda? The current policies are regressive. They should be a prime target for the Labour Party to fix.”
Almost sound like a socialist there, Srylands. Watch out we are infecting you.
“2. Fix schools. The last Labour government poured huge funding increases into schools. It made almost no difference. So what is the Labour plan? I don’t see one”.
I am not a Labour fan, but the evidence based “New Zealand curriculum”, and initiatives like Te Kotihatanga were showing signs of making a difference, until they were dismantled by National in favour of repeating failed policies from the USA and UK.
“3. Climate change. Reverse deforestation, and put a price on carbon. Champion international emissions trading.”
Emissions trading and carbon pricing has turned out to be yet another international rort for the “money traders”. Carbon taxes, however, have worked where they have been used.
“4. Be bold on housing. Auckland is a disaster. It needs a serious response. I have seen nothing from Labour that seriously responds to the NZPC report on housing affordability.”
Exactly. 12 000 State houses, CGT, limiting immigration, limiting overseas ownership, and wealth taxes on speculators would sort it rapidly.
“5. Mental health in young people, especially young men. It is a national emergency and it needs to be addressed.”
Yes. See above. But, but, but, that would require more taxes to pay for it. I always thought you were a closet socialist.
“6. Helping older men retrain. Too many men in their 50s are ending up on the scrapheap.”
I seem to remember National removed student loans for those over 55.
“7. Investing in infrastructure and congestion charging. Pricing access to roads is something that politicians simply will not tackle.”
Great idea. Then we could put more money into public transport and fossil fuel replacement technology.
“8. Improving the efficiency of local government. It is a debacle. You can’t have a country with local government taxes (rates) going up in real terms forever and people being shafted by enormous consenting fees. Done properly, local government reform policies could win serious numbers of votes.”
Start by bringing back local democracy in Auckland and Christchurch so we do not have to pay for Wellington’s grandiose ideas, like casinos and conference centres. And funding Auckland properly.
Don’t forget that most of the council building fees are to cover their arses and keep councils from liability after the central Government boondoggle that was “deregulation” of house building, and privatisation of building inspection. Forgotten “leaky homes” already.
I liked the speech. Strong, progressive, and he sounds like a Prime Minister in waiting.
John key didnt sound like a PM til 20…
the current PM sounds like a shock jock, not a PM
i expect more from my prime minister than ponytail stroking and comments about what he does in the shower…
Being in there in the theatre was really inspiring.
Andrew was fantastic. Feeling very inspired.
initially had my doubts about Little.No longer,he can lead Labour back to the treasury benches.
Yes – a good, straightforward speech – bringing back the Kiwi dream.
And various changes of personality in the Party’s organisational structure appear to have also happened. I await with interest to hear exactly what these are, and who is in what position.
It sounds to me as if this has been a change-making Conference – for the good.
Now we’ll get all the trolls in denial, the MSM looking for the smallest bit of negativity,
and the Nats looking a bit rattled.
Joyce was just on one being asked his views and he came across like a sulky little brat.
As usual
Andrew , you are a good man BUT why the tacit endorsement of the TPPA .
It is NOT a foregone conclusion
With a bit of luck the yanks will kill the tppa and we can all move on.
+ 100%
Lots of tub thumping – which is to be expected given Angry’s background.
Jobs, jobs, jobs..they are going begging in NZ. The general work ethic for trades & semi skilled is a bloody disgrace, too much entitlement mentality fostered by welfarism.
The day we see anyone from the Parliamentary Left (& much of it’s support) putting their balls (or female bits) on the line to actually CREATE some jobs, or IP, will be the day they have some credibility.
Otherwise it’s just a very dishonest way of saying that we will raise taxes to buy votes.
please try and make some intelligent comments not based on insane US Republican sound bites.
Your intellectual giantism as usual goes over my head CV.
Little wonder that even the Labour Party has cast you adrift.
please freemark, come up with something original, not BS philosophy sourced from the American right wing.
Freemark
Perhaps your intellectual giantism is something like this.
“Freemark” is a “wealth creator”.
In the mould of Fay and Rich, Gibbs, and Brierly.
Only not as rich!
So, Freemark – when YOU care about stuff, you’re allowed to be angry? Only Andrew Little isn’t?
the moniker ‘angry’ is quite pathetic,an attempt by the Natz and their acolytes to brand Little in a negative light with nothing to substantiate it ,apart from the kneejerk reaction to his very welcome comment to ..’cut the crap’!
Freemark Blah Blah Blah if you have nothing worth saying don’t.
…jobs, or IP…
Hi there Cheap Mark. Been there done that. Still doing it in fact.
Have you got any more ignorance you’d like to display?
it’s this kind of sneering arrogant rwnj comment that will win Labour the votes of the people you so unpleasantly denigrate
“FreeMark”. Someone who has obviously NOT learnt how to use a hammer.
I was at the speech. It was inspiring. I even teared up at one stage. Andrew Little came across as real, committed and genuine. I am still buzzing.
As someone with an interest in housing. I felt Andrew is someone who can lead through genuine reforms to get rid of this fake bubble wealth -landed gentry creating nonsense and to an economy based on real productivity and a fair division of rewards.
Bredon Harre 1000+ I was there too, it was fantastic.
Great speech delivered with passion and sincerity. It was also an important speech for Andrew’s leadership, and I believe it has cemented & strengthened his Prime Minister in waiting credentials.
Under his leadership Labour aren’t going to change what we are or what we believe, and for me, that is not only reassuring but also surprisingly refreshing.
Speeches can be great and inspiring, but I have heard and read many speeches, and one exciting speech more does not necessarily convince me.
From Andrew’s speech:
“Ask me my three priorities as Labour Leader?
Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.
You can ask me my top ten as well but I think you get the gist.
A job is about more than just a pay packet, it’s about the dignity of work. It’s about a place and a purpose in your community.
Every Kiwi who can work should be able to work.
Every business that needs a skilled worker should be able to find one.
And where people can’t work, the government should support them because we don’t believe in throwing Kiwis on the scrap heap.”
I particularly look at this comment:
“Every Kiwi who can work should be able to work.”
So the whole speech may sound promising, it means little to me, especially with such comments that can be interpreted in various ways. Who for instance is under the present welfare regime considered “able to work”? As MSD and WINZ have “learned” from the UK, and the DWP there, and as Paula Bennett has beaten the drum for the “relentless focus” on work, there is too much room for interpretation. Especially while we have such Advisors as MSD’s Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt in charge, who stands for this:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/BO%2012%20830am%20David%20Bratt%20Benefit%20were%20a%20Drug%20V2.pdf
He got his job in a newly created position in 2007, under the last Labour led government, and is also involved in developing or advising on policy:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/msd-o-i-a-request-princ-health-advisor-position-description-highlighted-points-jan-2007.pdf
As for the rest of Andrew Little’s speech, and Labour’s conference, I ask, where to from here? I suppose persons like I, who expect some clearer signals, will have to wait yet another year, for some policy to be presented. To be honest, I am rather disappointed with the outcome of this conference.
The time for nice speeches has long passed, I expect clear commitments, a clear direction, clear messages and policy, that is unapologetic “Labour” (for what it once stood for).
no one cares ..what YOU expect…next year,is the timeline, it has been clearly stated that policy will be developed and presented.
Thank YOU, so we will have a continuation of UK “inspired” welfare reforms then, will we?
As for the rest, it sounds good of course, but the devil is in the detail, and one such issue may already arise with this:
“We’ll use the government’s buying power to create jobs here at home instead of sending them off overseas.”
How will that be done without breaching existing trade agreements, where overseas trading partner country based suppliers may make a better offer, will they be turned down simply for not being based in NZ? Some FTAs may need to be renegotiated, how will that go, I wonder?
And it is all good to talk about “Kiwi homes” and so, what will they look like, how large will they be, perhaps 30 sqm as proposed by Auckland Council under the Unitary Plan now in hearing processes?
I just do not fall for speeches anymore, so will wait and see what will ultimately be delivered.
people are falling for another iteration of good sounding left wing Labour rhetoric from a Labour Party which remains part of the neoliberal, pro-financial capital, ruling establishment.
Carbon trading scheme, underfunded health boards, unemployment benefits set at poverty levels.
And given the fact, that next year will be the centenary celebration for Labour, I may presume, that the conference then will mainly be about UNITY, and some policy, that ALL in Labour’s caucus can live with, whatever that may then mean.
The message will be, do not upset the unity by demanding too much, also be mindful of the potential middle class voter that does not want to lose value in her/his three or four bedroom home in Auckland or any other place. So much then for “affordable” Kiwi homes.
I share your concern, but there was a sentence that did give me hope that Little intends to do more than pay lip service to reducing poverty :
“So, every Budget, every year, we won’t just report on GDP growth or how much money we’ve spent, we’ll front up and tell the country how many children a Labour government has lifted out of poverty.”
I’ve got a reputation for being a naysayer now so I’ll just continue.
We need to lift one hundred thousand NZ families out of poverty. Labour doesn’t know how. It is locked into an economic thinking framework which prevents it from acting effectively.
Further, I doubt Labour is going to be in government come 2017 because plans to lift that many families out of poverty would need to be radical and practical revolutionary.
Labour apart from the First Labour Government, none since has come close.
And dedicated to shipping NZ jobs overseas as fast as they can thru FTA’s – Labour remind me of Pooh Bear – lovable but a party of very little brain.
MtSO…. you need to buck up and take things at face value
what Andrew means is exactly what he says
– the problem he’s referring to is increasing unemployment, and the solution he’s going to put his shoulder to is getting willing and able – but unemployed kiwis – back to work
Is Labour going to provide every Kiwi with a jobs guarantee?
c’mon CV, it’s not a detailed policy speech it’s a vision speech
It’s hard to look at the reality versus the fairy tale. I like to be able to suspend belief and enjoy the ride too. But sooner or later reality hits: Labour does tolerate poverty. It does tolerate unemployment. It doesn’t believe in opposing international agreements which costs NZ money, jobs and sovereignty.
When are Labourites going to wake up to the very simple fact that the more stuff we ship in from off shore through FTAs the less jobs are available to workers in NZ? Your can shout “jobs! jobs! jobs!” as much as you like – but unless you get the fundamentals right – ie stop the importation of stuff we can just as well produce here, then your simply whistling in the wind. FTA’s open up our workers to competition from workers in China and elsewhere who work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, for very little pay. It’s crazy! And the Labour Party – the party that is supposedly the party committed to workers – let this happen.
Jobs are good but seriously when you paraphrase that around my background in unon life time experience – just a bad look.
However I am really concerned about Kings speech – this is so badly set up.
Annette is going to ban my meat pie.
This has played into Nationals hands
Outtake
I am Andrew Little and I am from the union
I want jobs jobs jobs
We are going to ban meat pies
We are going to run our economy based on talkfeast and community decision – markets move quick – Grant needs to be clear precise and not fluffy
10 out 10 for clarity in message
0 out of 10 about giving me confidence and telling me I cant buy a meat pie.
Come on, re meat pies, Annette made it clear on either Q+A or the Nation that they will NOT abolish the meat pie!
Sugar additives in processed food is her concern, not even normal “sweets”, which is already confusing and disappointing some:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/289128/failure-to-back-sugar-tax-'disappointing‘
I see her point. If you look at the total amount of sugar that you eat in processed foods compared to what most people eat directly in known sugary foods, you’d probably be surprised at which is the larger contributor. Most people (like me) don’t binge on sweets or even sugary drinks. But they eat a lot of sauces and processed foods that have relatively large mounts of ‘hidden’ sugar in them. It is instructive reading the labels of your latest shopping expedition, and finding sugar in things like the breadcrumbs on fish fillets.
So stop buying processed foods. People who eat commercial tomato sauce deserve what they get.
I’d agree. When I’m at home and doing the shopping and cooking, I certainly do. But the reality is that processed foods are often more popular than unprocessed foods for several reasons.
1. They are often as cheap or cheaper.
2. They are often more convenient.
3. They are usually better presented than meat dripping blood or vegetables with their assortment of extra protein crawling over it.
4. They are usually carefully formulated to be tastier – with sugar, spices, and salts.
Since they also have a huge impact on the health budgets and the taxes required to maintain those health budgets running through the decades of peoples lives, then I think it is common sense for the government to control what goes into them.
It is the same logic as to why we don’t have manufacturers adding the kinds of drugs and other nefarious products as they used to into a variety of products as they often did in the 19th and early 20th centuries. When was the last time you could buy a food product with added mercury?
Hard to make bread without something sweet for the yeast to feed on.
Bread. Who cares about the yeast in bread – what about the beer !
Talking of which, the sun has well and truely gone down – a beer seems appropriate at this point in time.
Enjoy – I can assure you Monday is just around the corner.
“Most people (like me) don’t binge on sweets or even sugary drinks.”
Same here, I do admit to eating some processed food though, exactly for the reason that it is more convenient to use and eat them, as preparing sauces and so yourself can involve a lot of work and time.
The problem with the suggested approach by Annette King is that it may be a complex, cumbersome exercise to classify which processed food needs to get the particular attention, and how producers can be pressured to reduce the sugar contents. Labour struggled with exempting fresh fruit and veges from GST, as that caused some apparent problems to implement, so I fear this may be a bit difficult to do also, by ignoring sugar in many other products (chocolate, Milo, ice cream and so forth).
A flat sugar tax or ban on sugar in certain products would seem more practical, but to do it may not be quite as easy. But surely something needs to be done on that front.
Your very keen on the meat pie huh? But I thought the emphasis was on lowering sugar content of some foods, which is not really relevant to meat pies.
Btw – have you tried the pies at The Ol Plum Duff at Shannon- superb!
Most commercial meat pies have some sugar in them. The commercial tomato sauce that goes with them has a whole lot more.
There are quite a lot of links on google that are accessible to even fumble fingered dickheads. But to further your education out of blissfully stupid ignorance, here is one from Consumer.
https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/sugar…
Perhaps you could try thinking with something other than your dick? Try google.
Lets hope the traditional values that Andrew Little is trying to reinstill in our politics and a general attitude in the day to day lives of our people that no matter where you come from you get to live in a democracy that is open to all to benefit from equally and the majority gets to have a say in what is indigenous to this country not fuckin england or anywhere else
Sir Richie McCaw
In breaking news Labour members and activists say Andrew Little’s speech is greatest speech ever, surveys of the rest of the population show that no one else knows Labour was having a conference and Andrew little’s approval rating remains in the doldrums.
uniting the caucus and the party is merely the first step, but the most important one, it will snowball now, meanwhile National are floundering around trying to distract and obfuscate themselves into a steaming pile of puss
I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much. I had been wary of Andrew Little’s sincerity, in general, and commitment to those who are really struggling. In fact, he wasn’t my number one choice when it came time to vote in a new Labour leader. It’s fair to say I’ve been pretty luke warm about the prospect of Andrew Little leading us to a Labour/Green/NZ First victory in 2017. Harsh but true.
But all thats been blown out of the water. I was VERY impressed. His leadership skills really showed in his hour long speech. He HAS got what it takes to be PM.
The concept he spoke of, the “restoring Kiwi dream” was a big split from where we are now, a different vision altogether from the Key Government. “We aren’t being true to who we really are”. That’s saying it. That says we have departed from our roots, as a nation. Glad he acknowledged that.
A few points jumped out. Was relieved to hear that public health service will receive increased funding under a Labour Government Was reassured to hear that child poverty is intolerable in the 21st and that each budget would incorporate measurements against child poverty. I liked that all goods and services purchased by the Government would be sourced from NZ suppliers, therefore boosting the profits and health of these onshore companies, which recycles back into our economy. (Remember what the natz got in they did the opposite? One example. The successful Levin company, Swazi had a contract with the defence force to make uniforms. Natz come in and cancel the contract and give it to a Chinese factory instead. The natz intentionally killed off jobs in Levin when they did that).
That speech restored hope and it restored confidence. We CAN do it!
It’s a start, but just because it was said, doesn’t mean it will happen – isn’t that the problem? The trust has been lost…..My 89yr old father, a lifetime labour supporter couldn’t bring himself to cast a party vote at the last election…what does that say?
“Even if you’ve given up, I haven’t. I won’t. Ever. It’s not who I am.”
Peter Ellis will be delighted to hear that, not that he has given up thinking one day he will get justice.
The Leader of the Opposition spoke out against the TPPA. and addressed the ECA 1991.
He will oppose both and for that stand I m right behind him.
He does have a one hell of a job ahead of him and I can only wish him Godspeed.
He will need it.
I feel we have a good man at the helm of NZ Labour.